St. Ann's 59th Reunion and Snow (Hail)

We had a lovely time today with 7 grads from 59 years ago when we graduated from St. Ann's Academy, our Catholic girls school in New Westminster.

Then we woke up to astounding thunder, lightning, and hail the next morning at my nursing buddy's Penny M. Just unbelievable weather for White Rock in October.

Suzanne's New Office

We started in July, wallpapering one wall in Suzanne's basement office. It had been green too long, thus a bit dark in winter.

We primed everything else white and found we liked it. Very bright.

All the furniture is moved around with a leather chair, footstool and our old fireplace.

The best is shelving with a few of the books she's published and the old blue door white as well.

Breakfast with the Cousins

We were invited to Nick and Sarah's for brunch.

Their little ones go to bed by 7pm so breakfast works for a great visit.

The crepes were great and the company even better.

Final Sea Day to Rome

Back to Rome and end of cruise. After all my walking, I needed R & R on the deck.

A visit to the Captian's Bridge was impressive. It is entered by going down a spiral staircase from the forward lounge. Extremely clean and organized.

We were in very good hands with Norwegion Cruise Lines and had an excellent time.

Valletta, Malta

Malta is an archipelago in the central Mediterranean between Sicily and the North African coast. It's a nation known for historic sites related to a succession of rulers including the Romans, Moors, Knights of Saint John, French and British. It has numerous fortresses, megalithic temples and the Ħal Saflieni Hypogeum, a subterranean complex of halls and burial chambers dating to circa 4000 B.C.
The entrance to Malta, with its orange stone in extensive.

I did a hop on/hop off 4 hours bus tour, We saw local farming

beautiful churches,

Interesting houses with enclosed balconies.

Interesting shops and forts.

We stopped at the Murrano Glass works where many glaziers worked at the same time.

The glass industry in Italy and Malta was beautiful.

Olympia, Greece (Katakolon)

The first Oympics were held in 776 BC. These are the ruins of the Temple of Hera.

They went through many periods, Deometric and Archaic, Classical when the baths were added and on to the Hellenistic period, the ruins below.

The  site was constanting being rebuilt due to eathquakes, landslide, tsunamis and is still being escavated and preserved today. Shows shells and mollusks.

Entrance to the stadium which held 45,000 spectators on stone bleachers.

We were told all about the athletes, training, housing, area anad beliefs through the times.

We even saw the altar where sacrifices were made and the stone where the olympic torch is still lit today by a parobolic mirror and sent around the world every 2 years to the current Olympics. Then we went into the the little town of Olympia, tasted ouzo, saw vineyards, olive groves Greek food, local wine and a Syrtaki dance.

 I went into the Archimedes' Museum, the inventor who inspired Leonardo da Vinci and is the scientist who influenced Galilaeo and Issac Newton. An amazing place, showing ancient Greek Technology with 300 inventions. 

Corfu, Greece

Corfu, an island off Greece’s northwest coast in the Ionian Sea, is defined by rugged mountains and a resort-studded shoreline. Its cultural heritage reflects years spent under Venetian, French and British rule before it was united with Greece in 1864. Corfu Town, flanked by 2 imposing Venetian fortresses, features winding medieval lanes, a French-style arcade and the grand Palace of St. Michael and St. George.

The island is bound up with the history of Greece from the beginnings of Greek mythology. Its history is full of battles and conquests. Ancient Korkyra took part in the Battle of Sybota which was a catalyst for the Peloponnesian War, and, according to Thucydides, the largest naval battle between Greek city states until that time. Thucydides also reports that Korkyra was one of the three great naval powers of fifth century BC Greece, along with Athens and Corinth.^[7] Medieval castles punctuating strategic locations across the island are a legacy of struggles in the Middle Ages against invasions by pirates and the Ottomans. Two of these castles enclose its capital, which is the only city in Greece to be surrounded in such a way. As a result, Corfu's capital has been officially declared a Kastropolis ("castle city") by the Greek government.^[8] From medieval times and into the 17th century, the island, having successfully repulsed the Ottomans during several sieges, was recognised as a bulwark of the European States against the Ottoman Empire and became one of the most fortified places in Europe.^[9] The fortifications of the island were used by the Venetians to defend against Ottoman intrusion into the Adriatic. Corfu eventually fell under British rule following the Napoleonic Wars. Corfu was eventually ceded by the British Empire along with the remaining islands of the United States of the Ionian Islands, and unification with modern Greece was concluded in 1864 under the Treaty of London.
In 2007, the city's old quarter was added to the UNESCO World Heritage List.
I took another tour, otherwise you don't know what you are seeing. I find the history fascination, all those things we learned in school.
The entrance to one of the castles.

This is the Achilleion Palace, built by Empress Elizabeth of Austria, completed in 1891, overlooking the sea.

The the Greek history and mythology are abundant.

And beautiful gardens.

We walkedthrough the picturesque streets of Old Town, and past the Venetion quaarters, out to the Esplannade with the view of a arch looking out to sea. This white stone street was for Aristacrats only and the peasants had to stay back.

I went into the Church of Saint Spyridon, Patron Saint of Corfu, beauitful.

These are 5' tapers (candles) by the door anad the amount of gold was staggering.

                                           Amazing.