The Day of Preparation

The day of preparation arrived. I finally have finished booking all of the core items of the trip and now I am trying to string it all together. A stack full of printed confirmation emails and vouchers and itineraries now had to be sorted (and it was quite a big stack). First I sorted them into order and put a small sticky note with the date each item is occurring - i.e. Hotel in Cordoba, July 26.

The final fun part was adding an extra day to our time in Prague and the comfy apartment I found that is 30 feet from the main square in the old part of Prague.

The next step was quite easy as I have been using google calendar to track all the details (and it is fun because Mom and Nelson both check the calendar for updates). So I printed out the detailed view of the trip from google calendar (chronologically). Now my job is going through it day by day to make sure I have printed all the information for day (Hotel, train, plane, car rental, cruise, etc). I soon discovered not everything had been printed and also realized that in some places I had paid completely, some I had put down a deposit, some were reserved and needed me to pay by credit card upon arrival, and others I have to pay in cash when we arrive. TOO MANY DETAILS to remember. And I don't want to try and remember them all when I relaxing on a holiday - the point of planning is to not worry later (oh yeah, and get the discounts).

Last week we had a phone chat with Mom to review the tour options for each of the places we are visiting. The cruise offers tours (for pay). Take this one in Olympia:

"A classic, highly impressive itinerary that takes you through the ruins of ancient Olympia, set in a hilly landscape at the foot of Kronion Hill. The excavations, which began in 1875 by the Germans and which are still in progress, have brought to light this sacred area, which encloses within its walls an imposing complex of monuments including the Temples of Jupiter and Hera, the Grammar School, the Gymnasium and the Stadium. You'll visit the Museum where the famous statue of Hermes of the Praxiteles will be seen."

In total it is only a four hour tour, but in the heat of the Greek sun and filled with some many archaeological sites.

The other fun trip that we booked for only Nelson and I is a gruelling 8 hour tour in Rhodes - while we are on this tour Mom is doing a much shorter 4 hour tour by train.

"You will depart for enchanting Lindos which is situated 56 km from the port of Rhodes. Here you'll visit the village with its maze of narrow cobblestone streets and typical white houses. At the top of the promontory, which overlooks the town, stands the Acropolis with the Colonnade, the temple to the goddess Athena and the remains of the Via Sacra. To reach the Acropolis it is necessary to climb many steps. There is free time for shopping after lunch in a nice hotel. The tour will then take you to the ancient part of Rhodes, along the wonderful Knights' Road, a late-Gothic street. You will visit the museum inside the Castle before returning to the ship."

I have never really been a guided tour kind of person, but when you are only in a place for a short time it makes a lot of sense. But our biggest wisdom was to have only 2 tours during our whole cruise and the rest of the time during shore visits to explore ourselves. By the way, if you ever want some quick travel info, use google books and search under Lonely planet and the name of the country. It takes you to a pdf of the books (some pages are missing, but most of the time you can find the details you are looking for for free).

For me this i s a whole new experience to go on a cruise - no idea if I will like it.

But regardless, I will be doing the cruise with 2 people that I love dearly and getting to have really easy and relaxing adventures, and that has just got to be fun.


On last tale that i will tell is the adventure we will have with classical music and stunning architecture in Prague.

I found the classical music concert schedule for Prague for September (check it out). So we booked 2 concerts. The first one on September 4th is Gershwin in Rhapsody in Blue II and is happening at this stunng building called Klementium (so I also booked a tour of the place just before the concert).

It is amazing how much better things sound when there is also such beauty all around you. The tour is includes:
- Mirror Chapel: beautiful chapel built in 1724, with extensive frescos and carvings. Has two 18th century organs, one played by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart on his visits to the Klementinum.
- Baroque Library Hall: the stunning home of the Czech National Library, with 20,000 books, some dating from the 16th century.
- And the Astronomical Tower

The second concert is performed by the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra. Their opening concert of the Prague season is a homage to Czech Music
A. DVOŘÁK: Concerto for piano and orchestra in G minor op. 33
B. MARTINŮ: Paraboles for full orchestra H 367
L. JANÁČEK: Taras Bulba, rhapsody for orchestra

My favourite part was how you choose your tickets (have a look). Some clever designer built a graphic of all the seats in the concert hall and when you mouse over each section it not only highlights those seats, but also shows you a picture of what you would see if you were sitting in each section.