travel – Page 3 – Lois and Clark Explorers

This is the only shot we got before boarding.

We left ‎⁨San Casciano in Val di Pesa⁩, ⁨Tuscany⁩, ⁨Italy⁩ about 8:30 and headed for Ravenna, Italy to board our cruise. There was a bad accident that held up about 20 minutes. It was cutting us close. The guys, Leeman and John were going to drop us off at the docks and then return our rental cars and take a taxi back to meet us. Needless to say, we went to Ravenna but we were suppose to be on the other side at Porto Corsini, so Christy, me and the trips had to roll our luggage onto a ferry and walk for about 20 minutes in the heat before we got to the ship. It was another scorcher of a day and I had to sit down a couple times. We actually walked almost the entire time John and Leeman were gone. We had just gotten through security when John and Leeman text to let us know they were here. Whew!

Once on board it was great. We explored the ship some, put our bags in our room, hit the buffet with all its options.

We all went up top to see us back out of the port and out into open water.

Unfortunately I did not take pictures of John but, Leeman signed up John and Leeman for an archery shoot. There were about 20 people and John got the highest points. Look at this proud winner.

After archery in the Reflections Lounge we roamed around the ship. All the ladie received a free chain so we could earn charms. And we all guessed on the wt of a diamond. None of us were winners but Leah was the closest of all of us. No prize. We went back as directed to get our first charm. We ate at the buffet. John and I were there as the son was going down but the rest of the crew came too late.

John took that last picture. And he even went outside to get it good. The is no edit that picture is straight out of camera.

After everyone ate we head back to the 5th floor corridor for some silent disco. Everyone had a good time. John especially. I never saw him enjoy something so much. But then again, he was dancing and singing with no clue, I could hear him. FYI Silent disco is when everyone has headphones on listening to one of 3 different channels and singing and dancing.

And I think that pretty much took us to the end of the day. John and I left the kids to continue dancing and having fun. It was already 11:00 so we headed to our room to go to bed.

We started our day with a morning walk to see the sunrise. This was around 5:30 am

I woke up about 1:00 am and could not fall asleep. I could hear the kids upstairs so I knew they were awake too. I could see the sun was coming up so I called to them to come downstairs and go for a walk. Christy was up too so off we went. Who’d of thought I would be caught up and walking at that early hour. No one! lol

After our walk we had breakfast here at Fattoria Laloggia. We drove to a parking lot to take a train into town because rental cars are not allowed to park in town. That is reserved for the locals. It is a huge fine if you park a rental in most of the big cities in Italy. The drive was about 20-30 minutes (much longer on the way in due to traffic) then the tram/bus was about 15 minutes. From there we walked everywhere. It was 93 degrees and so crowded. We knew this would be the case before we got there but it really took a toll on me. Whew! Lines were out the door and wrapping around building around the block. We really saw nothing because of it. I was too hot to even eat. The kids wanted a gelato and I didn’t even want that. But, luckily we were able to get a seat inside and I could sit down in air conditioning and rest. I was ready to go and so were the kids. Bazlo said, “She’s too old and we are too young!” So we took them with us and went back to the pool. Best part of the day.

After playing in the pool we all took a nap and headed out to dinner at Capanna De Gallo. A small restaurant only 7 minutes away.

Our first stop for the day was Barataria Preserve. It is one of 6 sights scattered across Louisiana as part of the Jean Lafitte’s National Parks. We arrived to discover, not only are dogs not allowed but there was only one short trail open. We put Chanel in the car with a window open and walked the .25 mile trail. Luckily it was early and the temperatures were in the high 60’s low 70’s by the time we finished. This guy is the only wildlife we saw. After walking the trail, getting my National Park stamp, we head to the city. New Orleans has lots of dog friendly restaurants and we chose
Flamingo A Go Go. It didn’t disappoint. We had lunch and they even brought a bowl of water for Chanel. She is soooo good. She sat quietly while we ate. After lunch we headed, on foot, to the French Quarter. After getting lost, we went back to the car and drove to the French Quarter. It was a full day and we got back in time for a not so spectacular sunset on Lake Pontchartrain and dinner and a few games of scrabble. John slaughtered me in both games. OMG! It was bad.

This was our favorite sunset pictures from that night.

The next morning we got up to go to a walk at a Bayou but unfortunately we could not find it. Our gps said we had arrive but there was nothing there. We tried another address–same thing. We were in the middle of a bayou but there were no walkways or parking lots. We did find a parking lot along the street with a dock and boat launch. We stopped and took a few pictures of some ducks and headed for another location. We arrived there only to discover–no pets. Ugh. We went back to the campsite and decided to go ahead and leave. The trails were closed at the park and we could be home in 6 1/5 hours so why not. It was only noon.