Castello di Amorosa

Entrance

Linda entering Castle

Inside

Another Inside View

Great Hall

Note Frescoes on Walls

Fresco

Like I said, you could be in a European castle

Napa Valley Part II

While in SF I had found an ad for hot air balloon rides in Napa and

decided I wanted to do that. We knew Wednesday was not a good

day so booked for Friday. We had to get up really early because they

go up around sunrise. We waited about an hour before being told

the weather would not allow us to go that day. They were fully booked

for Saturday.

When we got back to hotel, we found out there were other balloon

companies and so booked for Saturday. Unfortunately we went through

the same process. So I’m still waiting for that balloon ride.

However we did get back to Castello di Amorosa for a tour and it was

great. The owner is of Italian descent and his great grandfather had a

small winery that he lost because of prohibition. He decided he wanted

to revive the family business and opened the winery several years ago.

He traveled to Italy and fell in love with the Tuscany area and log

ruined castles. He decided he wanted to build a castle in Napa and

wanted it to be like the castles of Tuscany. He bought rocks from

old ruins, imported bricks from Austria, and hired painters to paint

frescoes on walls. It is a beautiful castle and you can imagine yourself

in Europe in a real castle.

Napa Valley Wine Train

Napa Valley Wine Train

Train Car where we had Appetizers

Foster enjoying Train Ride

Train Engine

Napa Valley, Part I

On Wednesday we headed to Napa. My preconceived picture

was of a few wineries and lots of vineyards and countryside.

Instead there are lots of wineries, some of them called boutiques

which only sell locally or ship.

After checking in we headed out to find a winery built as a castle.

Castello de Amorosa, but when we got there realized camera was

back at hotel so decided to come back another day. Instead we

stopped at a boutique winery and had a tasting on the lawn. I had

on a shirt I had bought on a Princess ship which had “PC” on it so

we began talking to the couple sitting next to us about Princess

cruises, and they were regulars on Princess, so we had a nice

 conversation. They had picked up lunch at a local grocery store and

purchased a bottle of wine at the winery and were enjoying their

lunch with a view.

 On the second day we took the Napa Wine Train.  It was great.

We had appetizers and wine on trip out and lunch on trip in.

The train was beautiful.

Views of Yosemite

Yosemite Falls

Through the Trees

Ponderosa Pine

Cloud over Mountain

Huge Rock

Train to Yosemite

On our last day in SF before heading to Napa we took a trip

to Yosemite. Since we like to go on trains when available, we

chose the tour that went part way by train. It was the first train

tour of the season. We went about half way by train and half by

bus. The bus ride was through beautiful country.

We had about 3 hours in Yosemite and were supposed to take

a bus tour around the valley, but because we were late arriving

(trains are notoriously late in America), some of the tickets were

sold to standbys and we got left out. So we walked around the

nearby area which was nice. All in all a good day but would have

liked to see more.

Scenes of San Francisco

Linda on Cable Car

Scene in Japanese Tea Garden

Another View in Japanese Tea Garden

Span of Golden Gate Bridge

Golden Gate Bridge

San Francisco

Late yesterday we watched from our hotel room as our ship

sailed away without us. Oh well, soon we start planning for

our next cruise.

In the meantime, we are spending a few days in and around

San Francisco before we return home. Yesterday we rode the

cable car and today we took a hop on hop off bus around town.

We stopped at Golden Gate Park and went to a Japanese Tea

Garden. The California Academy of Science is there and it looked

like it would be very nice but somewhere you should spend a

few hours. I didn’t want to spend $30 each and be rushed. Maybe

we’ll have another opportunity.

We rode across and walked across the Golden Gate Bridge. The

walk was only about 40 minutes. I wanted to walk on the

“crooked street” but we never seemed to be at a good access

point.

Last Day, Boo Hoo

Packing day, how awful! It has been a wonderful trip.

 We have seen a lot of beautiful places from land, sea, and air.

The guest speakers we had throughout the trip definitely

did their job as “enrichment speakers.

First we had our maritime expert who told wonderful stories

about cruising through the years.

Then we had both a former NASA employee and a naturalist

who works with the Hawaiian volcanoes, and they gave very

Interesting presentations. (Two more today).

I won’t close this blog until after we get home because I

may remember things I want to add.

Moon over Pacific

I told you about the moon. The next night it was one of the most

beautiful moons I have ever seen. We got some pictures but they

did not capture the full beauty.

A Distant View

A Little Closer

Really Close

After Dark

In the Clouds

WHALES! WHALES! WHALES!

One of the few we captured on film

It was there

At a distance\

A Nice Picture (finally)

Almost caught it

YES!

See what I mean about trying to 

photograph around others

Pal Sunday Part 2, WHALES!

Our afternoon adventure was incredible! I have not had

an interest in whale watching until recently. We keep sailing

through areas that have lots of whales and I never see any.

I decided we would have to take a tour and hope we saw

some.

 Did we ever pick the right day and time. We saw whales

Whales, and more whales. It was fantastic. People were moving

all over the boat trying to see them.

Whales do not surface and hang around, so you have to focus

quickly. The boat is not steady. Sometimes it bounces really

bad. Therefore, it is difficult to get good pictures. But I promise

you everyone was ecstatic at the number of surfacings we saw.

The guide with us described what we were seeing.

We saw a mother and calf with her escort several times. We

saw two whales that seemed to be trying to make a claim on a

female. We saw tails surfacing, we saw flukes. And we just
saw lots of whales.

It was an incredible new experience. We couldn’t have asked

for a better day.

After dinner as I was walking outside, we saw a small whale near

the ship. It was so small I wondered if it were really a whale,

but was told it was a calf. It had a small tail compared to most we

had seen earlier.

Then to top the day off, a beautiful full moon.

It was a really wonderful Palm Sunday.

Maui Helicopter View and Beyond

Grand Princess from Helicopter

Maui Mountains and Valley

More Maui Mountains and Valley 

Foster and Linda after great helicopter ride 

World's Largest Banyan Tree?

And this is not the Complete Tree

Aerial Views of Molokai

Coastline

More Coastline 

And More Coastline

Mountains and Valley 

Reef 

Closeup of Reef

Palm Sunday Part 1

What a day!

When we came into Maui the sky was almost covered

with clouds. I was concerned about our helicopter ride.

The clouds did not all go away, but we still had a fantastic

ride.

We went first to Molokai and then returned over our

ship back to Maui. We flew over and around mountains,

saw lots of waterfalls, and the reef around Molokai was

beautiful. Just the experience of seeing all this from the

air is incredible.

Since we were tendering, we did not want to go back to

the ship before our afternoon tour, so had lunch at a

local restaurant. We had seats at the bar and could watch

the NCAA. We did not get to see FGCU win but knew they

were close at halftime and I reminded Foster they were a

good second half team. We were delighted when we got

back to find out they had won. Way to go Eagles!

While we were sitting at the bar a waitress came by to pick

up beverages and Foster began talking to her. She said she

was born in Maui but attended high school in West Virginia

and Florida. We found out it was in Fort Myers and the

school she attended is very near us. Small world.

All grown up Hawaiian Children's Hula Dancer

Hawaiian Children's Hula Dancers

Last night we were entertained by the Children's Hawaiian Children's Dancers.
They were delightful.

More Hawaiian Children's Hula Dancers

Two more young hula dancers

Narrator and dancer

Hula

More Hula

Hawaiian Children's Hula Dancers

Young Dancers

One of the beautiful young girls

More of the lovely girls

Dancing the Hula

More Hula