Our last stop was Split, Croatia. It was a nice city and the people were glad that Game of Thrones stopped filming there. It puts a real damper on their tours - things are closed off and tourists aren't allowed to take pictures of major sites. They were filming earlier in the summer and now they are in Dubrovnik and things were closed off when we were there. I went to change some USD into Kuna and the letters next to the American flag were SAD. The initials for how to say United States of America in Croatia and SAD - like USA. For some reason I found this HILARIOUS!!
Two women came up to me and asked if I was Irish - this happens to me all the time! I think some of it is the freckles, but several people say I sound Irish. I didn't know the Irish had a Texas drawl and said "y'all". They were from Ireland and we talked about my summers in Dublin and Galway. After the tour, I went home and napped and read - seriously the best way to spend a vacation. many of the older people I meet are shocked I travel alone and say I'm "brave" but cruises are easy! It would be much hard to trek through Cambodia on my own!
On Saturday, the ship docked in Venice and I booked a tour so I could see some of it before they took me to the airport. The Irish women found me and wished me well on my journey home :)
I was wearing my Goofy challenge long sleeved t shirt because Venice was chilly and this woman asked me what year I did it. She had done it several times! Once was enough for me! (you run a half marathon (13.1 miles) on Sat and a full marathon (26.2 miles) on sunday. I talked to her and her husband for quite a bit - this woman is my hero. She ran her first marathon at 50! and runs 15-18 a year! She has done all the major marathons - Berlin, London, Dublin, Belfast, Bucharest, Vienna, Athens, NYC, Chicago. She picks the race and her husband follows along for vacation. Last summer she did the Camino in Spain. All 500 miles of it in 33 days. wow. I can only dream of the things she has done. They were fun to talk to and I want to be her when I grow up!!
Venice was lovely. It got warmer and was a bright, sunny day. we toured St. Mark's Square and saw the Bridge of Sighs and other landmarks.
When I went back to the meeting point for the boat to take us back to our luggage, a man asked me about Mumbai (he had heard me talking to the other couple) He and his wife run a NGO in Kenya called Organics for Orphans and they teach people how to grow their own food. many poor people there depend on aid donations which is a "white diet" bread, rice, etc. They help them create sustainable gardens and they eat the food and sell some to earn money to go to school. They work with a lot of HIV people and their immune systems improve greatly after eating real vegetables and fruits. He was a preacher for many years and now they run a business that funds their NGO work. They were from the Toronto area and I was impressed they were Canadian missionaries - they are rare. On the boat ride back, I sat with both couples and they talked about the Salvation Army. The Canadian couple now attend Salvation Army churches in Kenya since they aren't running their own church anymore. The other man was from Scotland and his grandfather was high up in the Salvation Army and he has pictures of him with William Booth (the founder). So it was really cool to hear their stories and conversations about the Salvation Army. I meet a lot of people traveling on my own that I might not meet if I was busy talking to friends!
Two women came up to me and asked if I was Irish - this happens to me all the time! I think some of it is the freckles, but several people say I sound Irish. I didn't know the Irish had a Texas drawl and said "y'all". They were from Ireland and we talked about my summers in Dublin and Galway. After the tour, I went home and napped and read - seriously the best way to spend a vacation. many of the older people I meet are shocked I travel alone and say I'm "brave" but cruises are easy! It would be much hard to trek through Cambodia on my own!
On Saturday, the ship docked in Venice and I booked a tour so I could see some of it before they took me to the airport. The Irish women found me and wished me well on my journey home :)
I was wearing my Goofy challenge long sleeved t shirt because Venice was chilly and this woman asked me what year I did it. She had done it several times! Once was enough for me! (you run a half marathon (13.1 miles) on Sat and a full marathon (26.2 miles) on sunday. I talked to her and her husband for quite a bit - this woman is my hero. She ran her first marathon at 50! and runs 15-18 a year! She has done all the major marathons - Berlin, London, Dublin, Belfast, Bucharest, Vienna, Athens, NYC, Chicago. She picks the race and her husband follows along for vacation. Last summer she did the Camino in Spain. All 500 miles of it in 33 days. wow. I can only dream of the things she has done. They were fun to talk to and I want to be her when I grow up!!
Venice was lovely. It got warmer and was a bright, sunny day. we toured St. Mark's Square and saw the Bridge of Sighs and other landmarks.
When I went back to the meeting point for the boat to take us back to our luggage, a man asked me about Mumbai (he had heard me talking to the other couple) He and his wife run a NGO in Kenya called Organics for Orphans and they teach people how to grow their own food. many poor people there depend on aid donations which is a "white diet" bread, rice, etc. They help them create sustainable gardens and they eat the food and sell some to earn money to go to school. They work with a lot of HIV people and their immune systems improve greatly after eating real vegetables and fruits. He was a preacher for many years and now they run a business that funds their NGO work. They were from the Toronto area and I was impressed they were Canadian missionaries - they are rare. On the boat ride back, I sat with both couples and they talked about the Salvation Army. The Canadian couple now attend Salvation Army churches in Kenya since they aren't running their own church anymore. The other man was from Scotland and his grandfather was high up in the Salvation Army and he has pictures of him with William Booth (the founder). So it was really cool to hear their stories and conversations about the Salvation Army. I meet a lot of people traveling on my own that I might not meet if I was busy talking to friends!
No comments:
Post a Comment