Back on board the Le Ponant, the sails were raised for the first time on our cruise. We had been at Tall Ships in Chicago and saw sails raised with ropes. On the Le Ponant, this process was mechanical – but still a beautiful site! When attending the briefing given by our tour directors, we learned that we would be passing the island of Stromboli overnight. Stromboli is home to a “constantly active volcano” and I decided to set my…
After we left Herculaneum we drove to Naples where we boarded the Le Ponant. It is a French ship and has three masts which can be used with the engine when there is wind. We were two of the 53 passengers on board. The cabins were small but efficient. The pictures below were taken as we left Naples and of the sunset our first night on board. The next morning we were anchored off the Amalfi coast and went ashore…
This post will include some other sites in Rome from our Rome, Amalfi Coast, Sicily and Malta tour. The places in this section were not stops on our tour, but they are ones we saw while traveling around Rome. The first picture depicts the ruins of the Stadium of Emperor Domitian. The stadium included a running track. It is not known if the public was ever allowed on the grounds of the Stadium. The Circus Maximus would have been in…
The Pantheon was originally built as a temple to pagan gods but became a Christian church in 609AD. It is considered the best preserved ancient building of its time. The best estimate of when it was originally built is 27BC, but this is not a certain date. It suffered two fires – the present structure was built in 120AD. Looking at the building from the front, you might assume it is a rectangular building, but behind the portico, the interior…
Tauck arranged for our group to visit the Vatican Museums and the Sistine Chapel after hours. This had the great advantage of not needing to deal with huge crowds, estimated at 25,000 people per day. The pictures below are ones I took in the Vatican Museums. The first is the ceiling in the Gallery of Maps. The ceiling has paintings depicting the history of the Catholic Church and the lives of saints. The next two pictures are paintings found in…
We traveled with Tauck on their Sicily, the Amalfi Coast and Rome Southbound tour in June of 2018. Since we opted for the southbound tour, we flew into Rome and arrived a day early. High on our list was seeing St. Peter’s Basilica, the Vatican Museum and the Sistine Chapel. These are all part of the Vatican City, a city state established in 1929 with an agreement between the Holy See and the government of Italy called the Lateran Pacts. …
When our cruise ended, we debarked in Vancouver. On our first day there, we took a “hop on – hop off” bus to see some of the sites. The first picture below is of Canada Place which is located on the waterfront in Vancouver. It is owned by the Vancouver Fraser Port Authority and is the site of educational exhibits, traditional Canadian experiences and special celebrations. It served as the Canada Pavilion for Expo 86, the year Canada Place opened….
Ketchikan, our next port of call, is located on an island. Ketchikan is known for salmon, totem poles and its proximity to Misty Fjords National Monument. The average rainfall is 162 inches per year – residents call it “liquid sunshine.” When we first visited Alaska in 2006, we took a shore excursion to Misty Fjords. We traveled by boat and then took a float plane back to the harbor where we would return to our ship. We saw some beautiful…
Our next port of call was Juneau, Alaska. Juneau is the only state capital in the United States that is not accessible by road. It is only accessible by water or air. Juneau was once home to three of the largest gold mines in the world. The mines are now closed and Juneau is home to over 30,000 people. With an area of over 3,200 square miles, it is the third largest municipality (by area) in the world. We arrived…
Our next port of call was Skagwag, Alaska. Skagwag is an old mining town. Reports of gold in the Yukon Territory first spread in 1896. Gold seekers came to Skagway around 1897 – Skagway served as the starting point for their search. The existing routes – Chilkoot Pass and later the White Pass – were very rugged. We took a journey along the White Pass and Yukon Route Railway. The route was carved out in 1898. It is an international…