Perhaps last blog from Europe

Split to Venice

Sunday in Split: Split is the 2nd largest city in Croatia (about 400,000). The main tourist site is the palace of Diocletian. Diocletian was the last pagan Emperor of Rome and built this 10 acre palace as his retirement home. The walls remain as well as several interior structures. Very impressive.

The girls of Croatia: While Dubrovnik was filled with tourists, Split (at least on Sunday) seemed to be filled with locals who paraded the beautiful boulevard along the waterfront or who sat in the many restaurants where they seemed to drink and never eat anything. The young women were lovely to watch. The dress code seemed to be short skirts, knee high boots, pantyhose, and fur jackets (despite temperatures in the high teens).

Long day in Italy: Yesterday (Monday) we docked in Ravenna, Italy for a two-day stop. Ravenna is known for mosaics and many chemical plants. We decided to skip the above (at least for the first day) and along with 20 or so others arranged a bus tour to San Marino. San Marino is an independent republic with only 31,000 citizens. Yet, it has a seat at the U.N. and also sends archers to the Olympics. It is very scenic and quite lovely. As it is a tax haven there is lots of money.

We were met at 8:30 a.m. by our tour guide who could easily pass for Attilla’s mother. She announced that we would drive to San Marino on the motorway and return on the small roads along the coast. This would have been a good plan except that there is light in the morning and she saved all the scenery until after dark. As the day progressed it became more and more clear that our guide knew little (the fact that the bus got lost twice was the first hint). Whenever anyone asked a question she either answered a different question or made stuff up. My favorite, however, was when she described Pope Alexander VI as a man of good works. Those of you who watch CBC will remember that Alexander VI is the infamous Borgia Pope who murdered his way onto the throne.

There was one bright spot, however, in an otherwise tedious day. Somewhere we stopped to visit a church. The entrance fee was 5 Euros. However, our guide told us that Canadians over 65 got in for free. Americans over 65 were to pay the full fare. I asked why this was so and she diplomatically responded: “Americans are rich, they can afford to pay.” You can imagine how that went over with a busload of mostly Americans.

A second bright spot perhaps was that we got back so late that there were no seats available in the Main Dining room. Consequently our group of six got upgraded to one of the specialty restaurants for which there is normally a surcharge.

Venice, then what? The sail into Venice this morning was very beautiful, past St. Mark’s Square, through the Lagoon, etc. Surely entering Venice by boat is the best way. We had lovely weather for our one day here and spent almost all of it getting lost, getting found, getting lost, etc. Now we are back on board with some unpaid credits so I guess I’ll have to order the Caymus.

We are scheduled to fly home tomorrow but the Italian Unions have declared a general strike beginning at midnight tonight. As far as I know we will be taken to the airport and then just sit there until we can get a plane out.