Mediterranean - Sailing Rome to Alexandria

5/13-14/2012 The next few days were blissfully restful.  I was able to sleep in, eat, chat with Mom, watch a show, enjoy a glass of wine.  This was the second half of the cruise and a new "segment".  The ship will be traveling from Rome to Venice, via stops in ports in Egypt, Turkey, and Greece.  We are definitely taking the long way home.  I know where I will be for the next few days!

I attended a photography class presented by the staff master photographer.  As we were getting acquainted, a murmur went through the ship following the announcement.  We were coming up on some pretty exciting views.  The ship was slipping through the narrow opening between Italy and Sicily.  See the red circle on the map.

Looking to the east, we could see the coastal towns in Italy.

 To the west was Sicily.  You can see Mt. Etna in the distance and it looks like it still has some snow.   This is an active volcano. We passed through here in May, 2012, and the last activity was recorded in April...ah yes..2012.  Yikes!  There is more information about the history and current seismic activity.

 A close-up of Mt. Etna.  I'm not sure if the foggy area on the upper left is clouds or smoke from the active volcano.

The class regathered and discussed photography. It was a good class.

I had some lunch and then went up on the top deck.

 The ship has some pretty interesting shapes.

 This look over the side shows the area for the navigators and other staff.

 Those are big windshield wipers!

 I thought that the repeated shapes of the balconies looked cool.  Then I got nervous that I might accidently photography some balcony action that I didn't want to witness!

 Beautiful tile work throughout the ship. I like the high gloss woodwork also.

 I can't think of the ship name for this, but it tells how fast the wind is going. It spins.  I practiced my camera skills to get it to freeze in motion.

 I also took a watercolor class from Paula Epstein.  Click here for her website and work samples.  This is one of my samples. I've not painted a "watercolor painting" before. Sure, I've painted with watercolors but I used them the same as acrylics or other paints.  Paula taught me that there is a difference.  I learned some fun techniques and want to continue this at home. I think that there is a stack of paper and paints at the house.

 The next two days were peaceful.  I put the camera away and rested.  We made a beeline directly to Alexandria, Egypt.