Bari, an exploration of nap time.

I've never had a window room on a cruise, so I have no way of knowing if I'd prefer it, but I actually really like inside rooms for one main reason: it stays pitch black into the morning so I get fantastically deep and restful sleep.

Our first morning, we almost missed breakfast (except not really, because the buffet doesn't really close, it just transitions between one meal to the next). We weren't pulling into port until 12, so we took our books and headed to the pool deck to shade bathe (it's beautiful, but too warm to be in the sun, so we don't join the lobster squad). When we arrived, some crew members were setting up what I thought was going to be a burger/hot dog roast, but actually turned out to be giant pans to make paella poolside. IT SMELLED AMAZING! The pan was about 2 feet in diameter, and two guy had to stir it using giant paddles. The first step is to sauté onions and peppers, and even though we had just walked out of breakfast, my mouth started watering.

Trying to be clever and outsmart the crowds, we waited an hour or so before we got off the ship once we docked in Bari, Italy. Conveniently, that gave us time to try the paella. When we got off the boat, we the port of Bari to be helpful with signs like this.



The main attraction in Bari is its ancient buildings, and while I'm sure they are beautiful, we were more interested in trying to find a cafe with wifi, and a store that sells conditioner. Rather than starting in old town, we followed the map into the newer part of town figuring our chances were better there. 10 minutes later, we were on streets filled with shops that were closed and no people in sight. It was like a scene out of a creepy movie.



After stopping into a Best Western to ask for directions and an explanation of the ghost town, we learned that basically every shop in the city shuts down from 1 to 4 in the afternoon. It would have been helpful if the port information on the ship had mentioned that.

We did find this castle, which we did not go into, but we took advantage of the shade provided by the trees in front of it.



The water was gorgeous, brilliantly blue.



And after all of the wandering and finding nothing in town, it turns out that this little minimart right on the dock had the conditioner and sunscreen that we needed. :)



We returned to the ship for another swim and reading session, and then it was time for dinner. Two of our table mates had actually switched seatings because they are on board with another group who were all assigned to the 9 o'clock seating. One actually disembarked today in Bari (there's a weird little overlap thing that happens with this cruise with Venice and Bari), and the family of three did not show up for dinner. That left us and one other couple who are on their honeymoon. They are also both high school teachers (math, though), and it was such a fun evening! We had a leisurely dinner, and then after went to get drinks together and to the show in the theatre that night. While Dane and I love spending time together, I think we both enjoyed spending time talking with other people. :)

Day 2 of the cruise? Overall, a success.

Day 3 was in Corfu, Greece. We were only in port until early afternoon, and basically all we did off the boat was find a place that had (incredibly slow) Internet so that we could post our blogs and generally check in to let people know we were alive. There were a few other housekeeping tasks we needed to take care of as well. To get on shore, we had to take tender boats (which I hadn't realized that they just use some of the life boats). We road on the top both ways, and it was beautiful.









Look how beautiful this water is!



It is so clear, too. You can see straight through to the bottom closer to the shore.



See that island behind me? that's where we wished the tender boats had taken us.
You can see how the water is darker as you get out into deeper water. When you looked down the side of the cruise ship, it looked like someone had poured blue ink into it. And the sun shining on it made beautiful starburst patterns.



The picture is dark, but this was our view of sunset after dinner. Our table mates told the server that it was our anniversary, so we got a song and an extra dessert (because that's what we needed...). It was sweet, though.


I'd resisted dragging Dane to karaoke, but tonight we were in the lounge for a game before it and just stuck around. Some people were pretty awesome. Some were fantastically awful.


I have a weird thing about the room steward coming in to make up the room because I always feel like have to clean it up a little for them first and then it seems redundant. However, we did have Jose do it tonight, and even though I knew it was coming, I was so happy about the towel animal.


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