We got to the dining room for breakfast just before 7 a.m. As soon as the doors opened, we were greeted by our head waiter. He seated us by a window where we could watch the shoreline pass by, then went and got a (special dairy-free) blueberry muffin and scone for me right away.

We ate a leisurely breakfast with multiple courses, since the ship was not scheduled to dock until 9 a .m. For the main dish, Bryan had pancakes and I had eggs. Seated at the table next to us were a couple from Oregon. We swapped info on our upcoming stop at Dubrovnik. They had planned to walk into old town but a two mile walk wasn't what they had bargained for. And, considering the heat, we opted to take Princess' shuttle bus service that they had arranged. It cost us twice as much as taking the city bus, but it meant we wouldn't have to get any of the local currency. Seeing as this is our only stop in Croatia, that seemed like a good move.

After I had finished off my second cup of tea, we left our beautiful view. On our way out, Francesco assured me he would be sending another muffin and scone to my room. "Otherwise, you know, you have nothing." Seeing as last night he sent me away from dinner with two full packages of dairy-free cookies and crackers, I would hardly have "nothing." But I think he meant of the pastries. And there are a lot of them on the boat. There is a little glass case down in the Piazza over by the bar (where you would get espresso and so forth) that is set up like a European bakery . It is really fun, actually. I got Bryan a chocolate croissant yesterday, just because I could. :)

We walked out onto the promenade and watched as the shore drew nearer and the colors richened out of the haze. We snapped some photos and amused ourselves trying to figure out where old town and the city walls might be. Then it was time to apply some sunscreen (even Bryan wore some!) and wait to be able to go ashore. We were among the first people ashore and on the first bus into town. We had heard that the city walls, the most popular and best attraction the city affords, can become terribly crowded and unbearably hot later in the day, so we made a beeline directly there.

The city walls were amazing. The views were both spectacular and quaint. Spectacular as you looked out over the deep blue water of the Adriatic Sea; quaint as you gazed the other way over rooftops and through laundry lines into courtyard gardens and narrow walkways . There were a number of stairs to climb and descend as you walk the walls. And it was HOT. No way around that. But we had gotten there early enough that it was not flooded with other tourists yet, and we were able to take our time and snap our pictures, and stand a moment in the occasional bit of shade. There were just enough people around that it was not difficult to find someone to take our picture occasionally. Perfect!

When we made it around the wall (about a mile and a half, I think) we took the stairs back down into (a much more crowded) street. We sought out an Internet cafe, where we purchased first 30 minutes, and then 30 minutes more of WiFi access. The room was air conditioned, and we were able to cool off some while we checked our email, bank balance, FaceBook, etc. Then I posted to the blog the entries I had written up previously, and we moved on.

We wanted to see more of the old town, so we wandered down the street and into a couple of churches. I got the opportunity to use a real "European style" pit toilet. After looking around some more, we got gelatos and walked back out to the shuttle. I am sure there was more of Dubrovnik to see, but we were both hot and Bryan was hungry, so we decided to skip the formal walking tour and just go back to the ship. I was convinced that staying longer was not going to increase my enjoyment of the city. ;)

Back on board we had cold drinks and lunch then lazed around enjoying the AC . We had a leisurely afternoon, enjoying snacks, a nap and some live music. Then it was time for our dinner. I had ordered the chicken breast, but they brought me a 1/2 of a chicken. Francesco came by and explained, "You ordered only the chicken breast. But this, this is a half a chicken. It is the leg and the breast, cooked in olive oil. You know, olive oil? It is very good. This is better than chicken breast." (then to the rest of the table) "Don't be jealous."

By the time I had made my best effort at the chicken (remember, this is already the third course) it was time for dessert. Our waiter, Dell, brought me the delicious chocolate cake that I had had the first night, this time garnished with strawberries in a surgery glaze. I was thrilled. I tucked into that, while everyone else got their dessert. Later, Dell returned with the lemon sorbet. So I had a couple bites of that. Pretty tasty. Finally, Francesco arrived with carmalized pear and vanilla soy ice cream, and seemed a bit put out that Dell had served me the cake which I had already had before. At this point, all of my table mates are poking fun, because their dishes are cleared away and I am sitting with four desserts before me. Unbelievable! I tried a bit of the pear, it was okay. I took a scoop of the ice cream and added it to my cake and finished that off. Perfect.

Bryan got a special desert because we were celebrating his graduation from grad school . So he had chocolate/chocolate cake with chocolate ice cream. Not a bad gig if you can get it.

Then we went on a stroll around the promenade and I saw a small whale. I may have squealed a bit in delight (I had asked Bryan if we would see any wildlife, and he hadn't thought we would). Then we caught the comedian's show in the Princess Theater. Afterward we walked the promenade again (it had cooled off to the point of maybe 78*) and we went to the back of the boat and looked for stars in the sky while I dipped my feet in the pool.

Another enjoyable day!

One of the cool things about cruising is that we got to see some hard to reach places. We never would have gone to the trouble of trying to see anywhere in Croatia with our railpasses, but when the cruise ship delivers us there, it's perfect. For what we paid, the cruise is already a really good deal for just food and lodging. We were eating better and had nicer accommodations than any other part of our trip. Then the deal gets ridiculous when you add in what the transportation costs would be to get to the various ports on your own. Cruising has its drawbacks and I would not want it to be the only way that I travel, but in this case, we felt like big winners.