Big Blue Huddle

And thank you for the memories, Lenn. Growing up we would often take a family vacation to Hershey Park with a stop in Lancaster. I loved it. I remember stopping in the "Amish Country" and sitting down to huge family dinners where strangers visiting from all over would be at the same table breaking bread and getting to know each other. I also remember the food was great! Never anything fancy, but always hearty and very tasty. That was also where I had my first piece of Shoo Fly Pie! Great stuff!!

Quote from: ozzie on August 21, 2022, 08:37:21 PMAnd thank you for the memories, Lenn. Growing up we would often take a family vacation to Hershey Park with a stop in Lancaster. I loved it. I remember stopping in the "Amish Country" and sitting down to huge family dinners where strangers visiting from all over would be at the same table breaking bread and getting to know each other. I also remember the food was great! Never anything fancy, but always hearty and very tasty. That was also where I had my first piece of Shoo Fly Pie! Great stuff!!

Ah yes, Shoo Fly Pie.  YUMMY.

Funny, we always took our kids to Hershey Park EVERY year, the last week in August. Kids go back to school in PA then and the park was so less crowded. We did this every year for God knows how many, and like you, many times, spent a day or tow in Amish Country. Remember the old pretzel factories?

Still in Rome and onto the Vatican..


on the grounds:












And some of the many treasures inside:

Just a few more from the elaborate works of art on the ceiling:

Now, Naples....
Just some shots of various things...

And maybe my favorite stop of the day in a little seaside village....




Blurry or not, Now THIS is a cannoli...

Quote from: ozzie on September 01, 2022, 07:47:10 PMAnd maybe my favorite stop of the day in a little seaside village....

I too love street food and the street market when I'm overseas. Nice pictures. But I have to ask, what the hell is that thing in your hand?

That is an authentic pistachio cannoli.
And it was delicious!!

Ok, Venice. Our last stop in Italy, I promise...
We took a boat tour around the lagoon which leads to the various canals












A very unique sculpture..




and of course, A Gondolier

And here are some of the sights once we got on land and were able to explore the city

OK, I took a little breather from posting vacation pix. I figured whoever has been looking probably needed a break!
But I'm back now with the continuation of our trip. Our next stop was Dubrovnik, Croatia. We didn't really know what to expect, but it was beautiful! Here we go..






Our bus tour had to traverse up a mountain with 25 hair pin turns. That was quite an experience, but once we got to the top, the views were fantastic!
This island is where portions of Game of Thrones was filmed.




Here are some other views of the area from above

Still in Croatia, this is the Old City in Dubrovnik








This is the Monastery.










And on our way back to port..

Lou

Sorry, we have been away so this is the first chance I have gotten to view some of your amazing pics. Some of them are truly stunning--you did a great job. Several of the ports, like Venice and Naples we have never been to, and after viewing your pics I want to go sooner rather than later. Just a great bunch of pics. Incredible.

I'll see what I can do to get some of my more recent pics up. It usually takes me a while to edit them as I am quite lazy about it.

What type of camera are you using now?

Lenn, don't ever apologize for taking a vacation, HAHA! There is absolutely nothing wrong with that!
I can't wait to see what's going to be coming out of your camera.
We had a couple of different cameras on the trip. My main one is a Nikon Coolpix L830. It's really just a fancy point and shoot camera with a few bells and whistles. It's small and easy to carry and takes decent shots.
My wife is not much of a shutter bug, but she brought along a true point and shoot Lumix. Together I think managed to get some good memories on "film".

I use a Canon Rebel TR-3 or something like that, and it takes wonderful pix. My problem and it was a huge one, we did an Artic Crossing, and we went out every night to try and see the Northern Lights. We were lucky enough to view them on 4 different occasions as the rest of the time the weather was just bad.
So I try and take a pix of the 'Lights' and I get nothing. I even went to the photo shop on the ship for some suggestions, camera settings. They told me what I already knew, I needed a tripod and need to keep the shutter open for at least 15 seconds, which was impossible. Yet, all these other people, who probably never took a pix in their lives, had iPods/IPads and they took amazing pics of the Lights, truly amazing. I couldn't believe how they just pointed up to the night sky and after a second or two, had pics of the Northern Lights. I see everything thru the lens of my camera, but the Northern Lights have to remain in my head.