Hard to Say Good Bye

leaving the dock

This past week was busy.  Had to get our personal stuff packed away, and get the house ready for our house sitters to move in.  Plus get stuff placed onto SunDaze, and provision for our trip.  Busy as bees this week.  But we got it done.  Handed the keys to the house sitters and waved good bye.  

We had Thanksgiving with our families during the past week as well.  Always hard to say...we will see you in a few months.  But time flies by too quickly.  We will miss you guys!!!

We woke up to a chilly beautiful morning and left the dock, ready to get our trip underway.

 

Lovely early morning

We stayed on the ICW for a couple of days.  Our goal was to head to Cape Fear River Inlet and then go out of the inlet on towards Charleston, SC.

Hobucken on the ICW

ICW

We moved along during the day, and anchored out at night.  Cold, but tolerable.  We brought along some winter wear for this part of our trip.  

I started by first read for this trip...another D. Brown book, Angels and Demons.  Ahhh..nice to have some time to do nothing but read and relax.

We are traveling with a buddy boat, Moon Pie. Glad to have another boat along for the trip.

Moon Pie

 After a couple of days, we headed out of the Cape Fear Inlet, Charleston bound. 

Cape Fear Lighthouse

Sun setting on the Atlantic

Last of the days light

This sun set lasted over an hour

After being off shore for about 28 hours we headed into Charleston Harbor.  What a welcome sight.  I can tell you I am not a true sailor at heart.  Off shore passages are not my favorite thing to do.  I deal with them as best I can, and count the hours until we head back inside.   While I love the water, I do not love the constant motion for hours on end.  After about 8 hours, it starts to wear on me.  While it may look calm in pictures, on the boat, it is a continuous roll.  And if the roll comes from behind us, I tend to get sea sick.  During this part of the trip, the sea was kind to us, up until the last few hours.  Coming into the harbor took much longer than it should due to the state of the water.  But once inside the harbor, we were back into settled waters and we were happy!

Moon Pie inside the harbor

SunDaze docked at marina....resting!

We stayed in Charleston for a few days, catching up on boat chores, laundry, and visiting.  We love the low country and always plan to stop here to catch up with our good friends and enjoy this city.

 

Charleston sky

Walking from the marina into town

Triple berry cobbler at our favorite bakery in Charleston

a beautiful yacht that we heard was for sale at the bargain price of $75,000,000.  or so we heard?

Mast from a boat that did not make it through the hurricane

We left Charleston after a few days via the ICW as the weather was unfavorable for going off shore, Yay!!!!...  Off to Beaufort, SC.  and it was cold!  Lots of soup and hot tea for us during this part of our trip.  Plus fuzzy clothing!

 

Trying to keep warm!

Shrimp boats

When we are traveling on the ICW, we try to get as many miles in during the day light hours, because it is not advisable to travel on ICW at night.  So it is often times a long tedious day at the helm when traveling this way.   Plus it is mostly motoring and no sailing.  But it is much calmer than the ocean and we get to sleep at night because we are anchored in a safe little spot.  On the ocean, or what we refer to the outside (of land), someone must be at the helm at all times...day or night.  I much rather be sleeping!

So that's the wrap up of our first week, or leg of our journey.  

Until next time...

Enjoy! 

 

Lay Over in Paris!!!

Eiffel Tower

Sometimes things not planned can be a good thing!  We left Rome early...our flight was 6am.  We were to catch another flight in Paris at 10am.  We checked our connection and found it was delayed until  12 noon.  Then 3pm, then  6pm.  By that time, my daughter was telling me...don't get on that plane!!!  We spent the whole day in the airport waiting for some sort of decompression problem to get resolved.  By that time, I was a little apprehensive as well. 

waiting for all clear to get on plane

still waiting for all clear

Finally, we are told we can board...that was around 6pm.  Once seated, we waited some more.  By 7:30pm, we were still in the plane.  My daughter was then say to me "DON'T GET ON THAT PLANE".

 

waiting almost 2 hours on the plane

 

Around 8pm, the pilot informed us that we would need to get off the plane and would be staying in Paris for the night.  Whew...made me feel better.  We were sent to a hotel and told that the next available flight would be the next day at 8pm.  So, we were stuck in Paris for the next day.  We decided to Uber into town and see a little bit of Paris.

 

We walked along the Seine River and along the Champs Elysees.  

 

Seine River

Beautiful canal boats

Arch de Triumphe

Champs-Elylsees is known for its theaters, cafes, and luxury shops.  Thought I might have to bring my granddaughters here one day. 😊

It was a cold so we stopped for something to eat and something warm to drink.

My lunch...shepherd's pie ... not French but warm and hearty

Everyone opted for dessert and this was my treat.  It was so good!  I shared a bite with everyone and thought, I need another.  So I ordered another one.  I think that's the only time in my life that I have ordered two desserts in one sitting!

 

Strawberry cream filled pastry...was divine!

Pastry shoppe next door to restaurant

 

Time to get back to the airport and hopefully get on the plane for home!

And the flight went without any issues.  Got home a day late, but what a unexpected treat!  We will have to make plans to return for a longer stay in Paris.

Until next time...

Enjoy!

Italy - Day 11 - Our Last Day - Rome

The Colosseum - HUGE!

Our last full day in this magical place.  After our usual breakfast of wonderful coffee, fruit, and pastries, we took off.  Today we wanted to visit the Colosseum, AKA the Flavian Amphitheatre.  As we approached the famous structure, we were struck by its massive size.  Although according to data, almost 2/3 of the amphitheatre has been destroyed, it is still one of the main attractions of Italy.  

Just one side of the Colosseum

another side

The Colosseum was commissioned around A.D. 70-72 by Emperor Vespasian as a gift to the people.  It opened in A.D. 80 with 100 days of "games"...gladiator combats and wild animal hunts, and executions.   I read somewhere that over 2000 gladiators were killed during the 100 opening days! The Colosseum remained active for over 500 years, but natural and man made disasters took its toll.  Earthquakes, floods and even bombings from WWII destroyed much of the amphitheatre.    Today it is visited by millions of people each year.

Arch of Constantine

Arch of Constantine

Arco di Constantino

Up close carvings on the Arch

While you could spend all day walking around the ruins, we had more to see and more to eat on this our last day.   We started off toward the district of Testaccio.  Once again, it was the food that sent us in that direction.  True Roman cuisine is the trademark of Testaccio.  

On our way, we stumbled into a small piazza, with this church in the square.  

 

San Pado Della Croce

By Rome standards, it looked unadorned from the outside.  But once inside....on my!

Inside San Pado della Croce

My sweetie keeps referring to this church as the church of chandeliers.  I think he stopped counting at 32.

 

Becky staring in amazement

Absolutely beautiful

The churches are amazing...the art, sculptures, marble tiles...can go on and on. Can't imagine the cost of this in its day.  Or now...priceless.

I did not get any more pictures after leaving the church.  We walked into Testaccio and absorbed the sights and sounds, had our last dinner in Italy in a wonderful Italian restaurants whose owner was a elderly Roman who spoke little with his mouth but volumes with his eyes.  He was proud of his heritage and the food he presented.  The food was amazing.

As we were heading back to our hotel, I was saddened by the fact that early the next day we would be leaving.  Our stay here was magical...my dream come true.  Each day in this country was beyond words.  I said when I started this adventure that I loved this country.  As our time here was ending...I can say that I truly love, love this place. Historical richness, majestic landscape, beautiful people, captivating language, and food...delizioso!!!

Arrivederci  Italy...I leave a little piece of my heart with you.

Until next time...

Enjoy!