Special visit with Aunt Dar and Uncle Ralph

Our arrival back to the USA was made extra special by Aunt Doris and Uncle Ralph driving to LaGuardia Airport and joining us for lunch! This was not an easy trip for them since the airport and its parking had changed so much since they had last visited.
Our trip to the airport was MUCH easier! We elected to leave the ship early and pulled/pushed out our own luggage as soon as the ship was cleared. Customs was a breeze and we had to cross Twelth Avenue to catch a taxi since we were put in at 48th street rather than the newer terminal at 55th. The taxi took us directly to LaGuardia.
We then flew JetBlue to Orlando and this was our most pleasurable domestic flight in years! Two checked bags - for free! Drinks and snacks on the house and adequate leg room! Our flight was ontime - in fact it had an early arrival into Orlando!
Rennie met us at the Orlando Airport and drove us to their house where Marian had cooked a wonderful dinner. After dinner we loaded up the car with the cat and all his stuff and headed back to the motorcoach.
Wonderful trip!

New Jersey and New York from the Hudson River

It was fun to watch both sides of the river and sites we remembered and many new buildings we had never seen before on the New Jersey side of the Hudson river! Such a pretty time of day to arrive.

Entering New York Harbor

How exciting to enter New York Harbor! I have departed it but never arrived. One more check-off on My Bucket List!
What would New York be without tug and tow boats!
The Verrazano Narrows Bridge and dawn appeared almost at the same time!
Miss Liberty had not received her sun rays for the day and New York is starting to light up!

More wave action!

We had such fun just watching the waves - each one was different and we had many pretty rainbows!

Crossing the Atlantic

Before entering the Straits of Gibraltar, I got out the Bonine and started taking it. I know from experience that it works and you take it before you need it!
Our cabin stewards (Rosita and Pedro) were great and we loved the nightly folded towels!
Because of the storms at sea we did not follow the great circle route but headed straight across the ocean crossing just south of the Azores (we could see them clearly). We had very rough seas with over 30 foot waves and spray in the windows on the 13th deck! Was pretty exciting and beautiful. Even with the huge size of our ship and the stabilizers - we had lots of motion on board and many passengers and crew ended up confined to their cabins. We did just fine with the Bonine and Bill joined me just to "be sure" and I doubled my dose and we didn't miss anything. Access to the exterior decks was not allowed but all the planned programs and entertainment continued.
I had my Kindle loaded with books to read but there were enough activities during our six days at sea that I only managed to read two books.

Straights of Gibralter

This is the first time either of us have crossed through the Straits of Gibraltar and it was surprisingly narrow! The brightness of the full moon caused the camera to not show the lights of Gilbraltar to the north but we could easily see them and to the south the lights of Morrocco are easily seen in the picture. The straits are only 8 miles across and it was pretty exciting to see.

Hope all of you get to visit!

We hope all of you will get to travel to this spectacular location some day! Our December visit worked out great with fleece-lined light-weight jackets.

Alhambra #4

Washington Irving was responsible for the Spanish taking up interest in restoring and saving the ruins of the Alhambra. As you can see it is a place for weddings!

Alhambra #3

Bill the Sultan (sitting in the Sultan's chair)! Dreaming of a harem and concubines!

Alhambra #2

One would not want to be the enemy of the Sultan - you wouldn't have had much chance! The details and ornate decorations and planning was amazing! The use of water for defense and beauty was wonderful.

The Alhambra

The Alhambra is an ancient Muslim palace. These ruins, both restored and non-restored, were GREAT! The plantings and old walls were amazing. In the 4th picture the interior of a square building is a circular one - pretty cool!