Its currently 10:30 pm…and I’m on the Mediterranean sea approaching the tip of the boot in Italy en route to Messina, Sicily…Our room is in the back of the boat with a huge patio and I’m on my laptop watching the ½ moon rise and the reflection of the moon beams on the rippling water made by the swirls of the propellers…Craig is at the Casino.  We just finished watching an awesome show.  I’m calling it an early night as I have to get up and off the boat by 8 am for my trip to Mt. Etna.
 
So after I last wrote, I headed back to the ship and went to the gym for an hour. I then met up with Craig and had lunch.   Craig went to do laundry on the ship…I on the other hand hate hate hate doing laundry so I splurged an paid the cabin steward $15 to do a load of laundry for me.   The ship sailed out of the harbor of Venice at 5 pm….it was beautiful…the sun was beginning it’s descent casting an orange glow over the city as the ship sailed past the piazzos, canals, bridges, and cathedrals.   We did our usual evening stuff...show, gamble, eat and chit chat.

Today was  a “Fun Day at Sea” as we voyage toward Sicily.   I woke up late  at 9 am…which is late for me.   After having some breakfast and coffee I went to the Travel talk for the next few ports.  Apparently there was an earthquake in Sicily last week which triggered mudslides and rockslides and a lot of people were killed.   So parts are shut down and tomorrow is a national day of mourning…but this will not effect my trip to Mt. Etna but will effect the port of Messina.   They also informed us that Monday Oct. 12th…is a national Holiday in Spain (Columbus day) so many things will be closed there as well.
 
After the travel talk I went to the gym and ran 5.1 miles in an hour on the treadmill.   I didn’t see Craig nearly all day…he was out sunning and swimming. I then had lunch and then went shopping on board for some watches and colognes since it is duty free.   At 4 pm Craig and I went to Yoga which was really nice.   Then it was off to dinner, a meeting and then the show….so it was anice full relaxing day.
 
One of the things I’ve learned on this trip is 1) I have a really hard time just relaxing I get caught up in this fear “that I’m missing something” or “I’m missing the fun” and 2) I don’t do well when I don’t have a schedule or routine…I find myself very anxious and self absorbed.   So just some new things for me to look at and work on.
 
Tomorrow as I said…we arrive in Sicily….the main thing there I want to see is Mt. Etna as it is the most active volcano in Italy and you all know how I love my volcanoes!!!   Sunday will be a day at sea..and Monday will be Barcelona.
 
The weather on this trip has been phenomenal…it has been sunny and 80 every single day!! And my health has been phenomenal as well!  The ship is gorgeous and it is it’s 2nd sailing…they are still varnishing some of the stuff and ironing out a few “bugs” but over all is wonderful…..13 stories!! I often take the stairs.  Well, I am about to head to sleep soon.  I hope all is well with you….I will probably send out another shout out on Sunday.