Pompeii. I had a brief recollection of it but to be honest, it had been filed in the deeper recesses of my brain, so long ago, I couldn't tell you much about it. But friends here at home and on the cruise told us “You must visit Pompeii. You’ll be blown away by it”. And I was. If your mind is at all like mine, let me dust it off a bit. Pompeii was a city of south of Naples, Italy, that was obliterated by the eruption of Mt. Vesuvius in A.D. 79. That’s right – 2094 years ago. It was covered with Continue Reading

One of the greatest benefits of traveling is the opportunity to dispel stereotypes and misplaced notions about people or areas. That is exactly what happened to me in Turkey. I certainly wasn’t expecting camels and donkeys, but I also wasn’t expecting the large harbor filled with pleasure boats as we sailed into Kusadasi, a beautiful modern port city of 110,000 that was our gateway to Ephesus.We opted for a four hour bus tour of Ephesus that gave us the highlights, but not time to go exploring Continue Reading

(I am still learning how to post to my blog. If you are looking for Final Thoughts from the Two Hat Tour, please scroll down and you will find it after this one. In the meantime, this post has been updated with additional pictures from Rome.)Rule number one when taking a taxi in a foreign country - determine the cost before you get in. Not after you close the door and start down a busy street. After it was apparent we would lose the price argument and the driver refused to stop, Kathy determined Continue Reading