HOME SWEET HOME I am happy to be back home although I am still recovering from jet-lagged. Had a wonderful and life-changing cruise and trip from the Mediterranean. I came home with many artistic and beautiful spiritual memories. I will be sharing them to you in my future blog.
CARNIVAL FREEDOM This is the fantastic and gigantic cruise ship that we sailed on during our 12-day Mediterranean cruise to Italy, Greece and Turkey. This impressive ship was designed and decorated by a well known artist named Joe Farsi. The theme of this five-months old brand new cruise ship is "blending the old and the new." I will be telling you more about this great ship later on.
ONE OF MY BEST BIRTHDAY GIFTS This photo was taken as we got down the ships gangway for our tour of Athens. Special thanks to my wonderful and loving husband who gave me one of the best birthday gifts ever (a cruise to the Mediterranean). I am very grateful and happy to celebrate another birthday during this cruise. On this special day I was in Athens, Greece. During our tour, there were 3 of us (mostly women) who celebrated our birthdays on Sept. 29th. We all wore red hats. What a coincidence! This was a birthday to remember as long as I live.
ARTISTIC ACROPOLIS (ATHENS) This is an aerial view of the Acropolis with the Parthenon and Mt. Lycavitos in the background. I celebrated my birthday with a tour to the famous Acropolis, with a breathtaking view of antiquity as I looked upwards towards the marvelous structure of the Parthenon. Together with our Greek guide, tour group and my husband we climbed up the pathway and steps through the massive Propylaia onto the rock of the Acropolis. We relived the "glory that was Greece" as we walked over this masterpiece and view the Parthenon, the delicate temple of the Wingless Victory, the Erectheion and the entire city of Athens below. What a wonderful way to celebrate a birthday that was connected to antiquity! I felt so young compared to the ages of the ruins, many built even before Christ. I was so energized that the climb up to the Parthenon was like a "walk in the park." No kidding! Before this tour, I dreaded the climb since I heard lots of exaggerated comments about how hard the climb. I made it to the top and was proud of it.
THE PARTHENON May be considered the most perfect and most significant ruin in the world. Situated on the highest platform of the Acropolis, the Parthenon rose so high above. The Greeks are famous for its architectural columns, known as "Doric, Ionic and Corinthian." The Parthenon is a great beauty due to its simplicity. Its columns are the simplest kind, using Doric style. I wonder why the builders didn't use the Corinthian columns which are more elaborate. It's always true that "simplicity is beauty" as shown in the enduring beauty of the Parthenon.
AT THE END OF THE JOURNEY As always, in the best old fairy tales, at the end of every adventure and journey....... "and Ebb Tide and her Prince live happily ever after."
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31 comments:
Well come back! Belated Happy b-day! You're very fortunate and blessed to celebrate your recent b-day on a cruise ship. May God continue to bless you.
Thanks Angel! Had a was great trip and good b-day memories. God protected us wherever we went. I am sure there were many guardian "angels" along the way too.
Glad that you had a grand time celebrating your b-day on board the cruise ship in Athens. Welcome back and hope you get adjusted to doing work around the house again after being pampered for 12 days by the cruise staff.
Thanks Rhoda for the belated b-day wishes. It isn't easy going back to normal life but I am trying to recover as quickly as I can. After an overdozed of seeing and admiring so much art during our trip, I can hardly wait to go back to my paintbrushes.
Welcome back...and belated Happy Birthday.
Praise the Lord and thank God for the many opportunities that you have in traveling! It is a great blessing also to be able to share the beauty of God's creation to people like us! We can see it also through your eyes and giftings. God soo richly bless you.
Aida and Greg -Thanks for visiting
again. What a wonderful and beautiful comment! That's very kind and encouraging. God bless you too.
Thanks Mari. I will e-mail you again, "when" we can have lunch together. Give me another week to recover from jet-lagged and attend to many necessary errands waiting.
I am jealous but you deserve such a fabulous birthday gift. Belated happy b-day to a wonderful artist and colleague.
Thanks Anonymous! Don't be jealous!
I will pray that you too will be lucky to cruise on your next b-day to distant land. Someday, remember to send me a postcard.
Rip Tide made a note of your arrival
Hi! I've spent sometime today reading your blog. It's the first one I've seen so it's a new experience for me. What wonderful trips you have been able to take. I see 3 huge blessings so far, 1) your CI 2) the miracle life of your tiny tiny grandson 3) Camille, who has been such a wonderful help to me on the CI journey that I'm traveling. I will continue to read with interest and I enjoy seeing what you look like and can then picture you during your travels.
Hi Ruth! Welcome to my blog and thanks for your visit. I am happy to know you read my blog with interest. Take your time and you'll get to know me more through my blog. Good luck on your CI surgery.
Thanks Lloydfor heralding my arrival! Thanks for giving me a new name too. When I get tired of Ebb Tide, I'll switch to Rip Tide.
Just a few words to congratulate you on your b-day. Glad you had a terrific time.
Lidia, thanks for remembering my b-day year after year. You're a very nice supervisor and haven't forgotten me although we no longer work together.
Hi Ebb Tide,
Kamusta na? Thank you very much for admiring my sunflower painting. I am so happy to see your photos and some traveling experiences you had. What a wonderful gift from God!
I am painting a lot of tropical flowers and now I am working on an abstract painting. You can see my work at www.Boundlessgallery.com. Just search for my artist name Jude Maceren and you will see most of my work. Your painting (sunflower with lady) is lovely!
Okey Ebb Tide, I wish you all the best! By the way I am from the Philippines too based in New Jersey and painting in Costa Rica. Hope to hear from you when you have time. Please keep in touch.
Salamat,
Jude
artist
Jude, welcome to my blog! Thanks for your wonderful comment about my Sunflower painting and traveling. I am very happy to connect to another Filipino artist. Good to know you're painting from Costa Rica. It's a beautiful country with many tropical flowers to paint. During our cruise to the Panama Canal about 2 1/2 years ago, I had the chance to visit San Jose, the capital. Had a good impression of Costa Rica. Good luck on your painting career.
I wanted to wish you a very HAPPY BIRTHDAY. How can I forget? Ha ha! Glad your day was special and lots of fun.
Thank you Bing! You'll never forget my b-day, since we have the same birthday. Happy b-day to you too!
Hey Mom,
I'll wish you a happy birthday again. I'm glad you had a wonderful birthday. I can't wait to visit Greece one day. I wish I could have gone on the cruise too. haha. Anyways, welcome back home. I hope you guys are settling in.
Love,
Rodney
Thanks again Rodney!Someday, you and your family should visit and cruise the Mediterranean. I'll post more about Athens and some other islands we visited in Greece like Rhodes and Katakolon in my future blog. So watch out for it
HAPPY BELATED BITHDAY. The pictures are gret. I'm sooo glad you had a great time and back home in Cali.
Thanks Lissa! Had a great time but my hair which you styled was ruined during many crowded tours while in Rome. Hope my other photos will come out good. Had my hair done in the cruise ship for the formal night by a Canadian hair stylist but she's not as good as you.
Welcome home and good to know you are back safely and enjoyed your cruise. I saw your blog....glad to know you enjoyed Greece. It is different feeling to be in the ancient world, isn't it? But it is a great feeling to trace ancient history and be part of the glorious past. Happy birthday-belated. I am looking forward to seeing more of your trip. We should get together and talk about our trips this year.
Thanks Julie! I will post my latest cruise in the future. With 2,000 digital photos, it will take a while to process them. But it will be worth the wait.
You are sooo...cute. Sooo...glad you had a great time.
I am glad you are doing well and enjoy all of your adventures. I like hearing about them and hope one day to go as well.
Thanks Dr. J. As always, I am very happy to hear about your comment.
Greece is lovely, I was there for 3 years. I enjoyed its rich culture. I'm sure you'll find interesting subjects for painting, the islands are beautiful.
Hi Linda! Good to hear from you. Wow- three years in Athens, Greece? What a wonderful job, being a diplomat huh? You must have mastered every corner of the Acropolis and Parthenon, while you took those Philippine government visitors around.
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