And very happy to be home. We had experienced about all the fun our old bodies could endure! 

If this blog entry is disjointed, blame it on jet lag after an exhausting 24-hour travel day yesterday from a Rome hotel to our comfortable bed in Vegas. I hope our grandchildren never move to Europe – Brad and I have said we will never go back to Europe again unless it moves between Las Vegas and Pahrump. 

Venice – we loved the city – no cars – friendly residents – beautiful Murano glass - and we finally took a gondola ride, something we were too overly frugal to do on our previous 2 visits there. 

Cruise – Seas were astoundingly calm most of the time, but even when there was gentle rolling I did not get seasick. A welcome surprise since on our previous 13 cruises I got queasy when I looked at the lapping water at the pier before we even sailed. At first I took my ginger pills but soon realized I didn’t need them. 

Cruise Tours – Our favorites were in Turkey, especially Ephesus, an outstanding “city” of amazingly extensive ruins. We enjoyed seeing the evidence of Istanbul’s rich history but were disappointed in the Grand Bazaar. Instead of it being the colorful open-air market I saw in wild adventure movies, where spies lurked and chased, it was a huge indoor “mall” of small shops, where the only “danger” was aggressive salesmen trying to pull you into their lair. I must confess I fell prey to a “Genuine Fake Prada” purse. 

Rome – After 10 days of exhausting sightseeing, and since we had already “done” Rome in depth on our last two visits here, the high point was finding a McDonalds for some good old American fast food. 

After I get caught up on some pressing paperwork that piled up during our two weeks away, I’ll tell you in my next blog entry about the gambling we did on the trip. 

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