A million thank yous still wouldn't be enough. Every parent of young children could use a break, and we are so blessed that you gave us a very memorable one! And bonus! We got to celebrate Father's Day with them too! Our other hero.
Wednesday, June 28, 2017
Our heroes
Of course, our long-distance vacation could not have happened without Oma and Papa who persevered through food poisoning to feed, chauffeur, and entertain our kids while we were away!
A million thank yous still wouldn't be enough. Every parent of young children could use a break, and we are so blessed that you gave us a very memorable one! And bonus! We got to celebrate Father's Day with them too! Our other hero.
A million thank yous still wouldn't be enough. Every parent of young children could use a break, and we are so blessed that you gave us a very memorable one! And bonus! We got to celebrate Father's Day with them too! Our other hero.
Wednesday, June 21, 2017
Medi-versary Cruise, Part 2
The last stop in Italy was Naples. However, we drove through Naples to play tourist on the Amalfi Coast and Pompeii. After the history of Florence and Rome, it was nice to turn off the brain for a bit and just take in the breath-taking coastal scenery out the window. Our first stop was the very vertical Positano. The road became one-way down through the town where our driver gave us an hour to walk around. We opted to head to the beach. Overall very pretty, but a little overrun with tourists.
Southern Italy is known for its produce; Amalfi is especially famous for its lemons. See all the different kinds (in yellow) below.
The next stop was Sorrento, which was larger but somehow felt less crowded. We enjoyed our third consecutive pizza lunch on a quiet, shaded side street.
Sorrento is on a cliff, so the beach is a long staircase or side road winding down quite a ways. We got this view from an overlook. You have to earn that cold dip in the sea!
Then we met our guide for a couple of hours in Pompeii. The city was so much larger than I had pictured, and it's still being excavated. At least 10,000 people lived there when Mt. Vesuvius erupted nearly 2000 years ago. Crazy to think that Vesuvius is still active and nearly a million people have decided to live around it today.
We were impressed by the art still remaining on the walls and the detailed mosaic floors. The 20+ feet of volcanic ash preserved most of the inorganic stuff, and they had a huge building filled with vessels, tables, statues, and plaster figures that had been buried for centuries. Hard to wrap our minds around it all!
By that time, we were thankful for a day at sea to relax, read a book, and explore the ship. Our ship even had an ice rink complete with shows!
The cruise ended in Barcelona, and we opted to spend an extra day there, which wound up being our favorite day. We had tickets for Sagrada Familia that afternoon, so we relaxed at the hotel for a bit and walked across the old town on our way over. It was so beautiful with lots of gothic features to admire. Love me some gargoyles!
We did a walking tour out of our guidebook and found lots of hidden gems, like Roman columns from the temple of Augustus, the church of Sant Filip Neri, which bears Spanish civil war wounds, and a gorgeous wooden coffered ceiling in the Viceroy's Palace.
All of our walking warranted a delicious tapas lunch and a giant pitcher of sangria! Oh my goodness, it was so good!
Then on to the Sagrada Familia. It was a little overwhelming with all of the details and symbolism, and they have a lot of work to do in the next 9 years (their goal of finishing in 100 years total), but it was definitely worth seeing!
We also ventured up the Nativity facade towers on some narrow stairs for birds-eye views.
We metro'ed back to the hotel to crash for a while, but then managed to stumble upon a musical light show at the Magic Fountain down the street after dinner.
What a trip! I'd absolutely do it again, but even better, I'd plan to take more time in each city so we could really savor each place. To quote Patricio, our Roman driver, "It's fantastic!"
One thing we did not enjoy about Europe: digging in our pockets for change and having to locate the pay toilets.
Southern Italy is known for its produce; Amalfi is especially famous for its lemons. See all the different kinds (in yellow) below.
The next stop was Sorrento, which was larger but somehow felt less crowded. We enjoyed our third consecutive pizza lunch on a quiet, shaded side street.
Sorrento is on a cliff, so the beach is a long staircase or side road winding down quite a ways. We got this view from an overlook. You have to earn that cold dip in the sea!
Then we met our guide for a couple of hours in Pompeii. The city was so much larger than I had pictured, and it's still being excavated. At least 10,000 people lived there when Mt. Vesuvius erupted nearly 2000 years ago. Crazy to think that Vesuvius is still active and nearly a million people have decided to live around it today.
We were impressed by the art still remaining on the walls and the detailed mosaic floors. The 20+ feet of volcanic ash preserved most of the inorganic stuff, and they had a huge building filled with vessels, tables, statues, and plaster figures that had been buried for centuries. Hard to wrap our minds around it all!
By that time, we were thankful for a day at sea to relax, read a book, and explore the ship. Our ship even had an ice rink complete with shows!
The cruise ended in Barcelona, and we opted to spend an extra day there, which wound up being our favorite day. We had tickets for Sagrada Familia that afternoon, so we relaxed at the hotel for a bit and walked across the old town on our way over. It was so beautiful with lots of gothic features to admire. Love me some gargoyles!
We did a walking tour out of our guidebook and found lots of hidden gems, like Roman columns from the temple of Augustus, the church of Sant Filip Neri, which bears Spanish civil war wounds, and a gorgeous wooden coffered ceiling in the Viceroy's Palace.
All of our walking warranted a delicious tapas lunch and a giant pitcher of sangria! Oh my goodness, it was so good!
Then on to the Sagrada Familia. It was a little overwhelming with all of the details and symbolism, and they have a lot of work to do in the next 9 years (their goal of finishing in 100 years total), but it was definitely worth seeing!
We also ventured up the Nativity facade towers on some narrow stairs for birds-eye views.
We metro'ed back to the hotel to crash for a while, but then managed to stumble upon a musical light show at the Magic Fountain down the street after dinner.
What a trip! I'd absolutely do it again, but even better, I'd plan to take more time in each city so we could really savor each place. To quote Patricio, our Roman driver, "It's fantastic!"
Tuesday, June 20, 2017
Medi-versary Cruise, Part 1
We had the opportunity of a lifetime when Oma and Papa offered to baby-sit the kids so that we could celebrate our 15-year anniversary in style. We took them up on the offer and then some, as we planned a Mediterranean cruise, which I've always wanted to do. I'll just hit a few highlights, since I could probably go on forever! We flew to Barcelona, went straight to the ship, and cruised overnight to...
Marseilles, France. We pretty much walked across the city to the train station and headed to Cassis, a little seaside town about half an hour southeast, where we hiked to the calanques (Mediterranean fjords). The more spectacular calanques were beyond our time scope, but we did make it to the first, small one before we had to turn around and retrace our journey (hike, cab, train, walk, shuttle) back to the ship.
The next day the ship tendered in Villefranche-sur-Mer, which is between Nice and Monaco. It was a picturesque little town built into the hillside with sweeping views of the Mediterranean. We wandered around town a bit, soaking up the lack of crowds, narrow lanes with refreshing sea breezes, and the bulging bougainvillea.
Then we hiked up to Fort Mont Alban, which sits on the hill between Nice and Villefranche. It was closed, but had amazing views of the town, sea, and our massive cruise ship anchored at the mouth of the bay.
After our hike, I felt I had earned a crepe (this one topped with melting gelato)! Then we walked down to the pebbly beach for a few minutes before returning to the ship.
It was pretty marvelous to wake up and realize that you are in new city/country/scenery every morning. The next stop was La Spezia, Italy, where we opted to join a large cruise walking tour of Florence (2 hours away), mostly for the transportation into town. The drive was comfortable and we got to enjoy the lovely Tuscan countryside (vineyards, marble quarries, hilltop towns) out of our windows.
And finally, Florence! I can totally see why people could spend months here studying the Renaissance. It was incredible - overloaded with details and symbolism all throughout the old town. It was also packed with tourists, but at least they only allow pedestrians through the main area. My favorite was probably the cathedral with duomo and campanile. Cliche, I know.
Of course, Florence = the David. We had to settle for the replica outside of the Palazzo Vecchio, since the museum was booked up. Still pretty impressive, and he was next to a dozen other stellar outdoor sculptures.
When our 2-hour guided walking tour was up, we headed to get a quick pizza lunch al fresco with wine, of course. We had 3 hours on our own!
We did have tickets to the Uffizi Gallery after lunch, where we saw many Renaissance masterpieces, including the Birth of Venus by Botticelli. It was lovely, but if I had to do it again, I would probably just stroll around Florence taking it all in at a slower pace.
Ah, Rome. Chaotic, crowded, cringe-inducing traffic, but stunning historical, cultural, and religious significance on every corner. We ended up with a private driver for a very reasonable price, and he fancied himself a historian. I loved it! He took us around to all of the major tourist traps: The Colosseum, Trevi Fountain, Spanish steps, and the Pantheon.
After another pizza lunch, it was on to the Vatican City. We had 2 hours to explore the Museum's tapestries, maps, and art covering every surface. I was most impressed with the ceilings as we shuffled from room to room with the crowd.
The School of Athens stood out in the Raphael room, and sadly they don't allow photography in the Sistine Chapel, which was beyond words.
Our 2 hours also included St. Peter's Basilica and Square. The sheer size (overheard a guide say that the gold letters near the top of the wall are 7 feet tall) was mind-boggling considering its age, and once again every surface was covered in incredible detail by master artists.
Marseilles, France. We pretty much walked across the city to the train station and headed to Cassis, a little seaside town about half an hour southeast, where we hiked to the calanques (Mediterranean fjords). The more spectacular calanques were beyond our time scope, but we did make it to the first, small one before we had to turn around and retrace our journey (hike, cab, train, walk, shuttle) back to the ship.
The next day the ship tendered in Villefranche-sur-Mer, which is between Nice and Monaco. It was a picturesque little town built into the hillside with sweeping views of the Mediterranean. We wandered around town a bit, soaking up the lack of crowds, narrow lanes with refreshing sea breezes, and the bulging bougainvillea.
Then we hiked up to Fort Mont Alban, which sits on the hill between Nice and Villefranche. It was closed, but had amazing views of the town, sea, and our massive cruise ship anchored at the mouth of the bay.
After our hike, I felt I had earned a crepe (this one topped with melting gelato)! Then we walked down to the pebbly beach for a few minutes before returning to the ship.
It was pretty marvelous to wake up and realize that you are in new city/country/scenery every morning. The next stop was La Spezia, Italy, where we opted to join a large cruise walking tour of Florence (2 hours away), mostly for the transportation into town. The drive was comfortable and we got to enjoy the lovely Tuscan countryside (vineyards, marble quarries, hilltop towns) out of our windows.
And finally, Florence! I can totally see why people could spend months here studying the Renaissance. It was incredible - overloaded with details and symbolism all throughout the old town. It was also packed with tourists, but at least they only allow pedestrians through the main area. My favorite was probably the cathedral with duomo and campanile. Cliche, I know.
Of course, Florence = the David. We had to settle for the replica outside of the Palazzo Vecchio, since the museum was booked up. Still pretty impressive, and he was next to a dozen other stellar outdoor sculptures.
When our 2-hour guided walking tour was up, we headed to get a quick pizza lunch al fresco with wine, of course. We had 3 hours on our own!
We did have tickets to the Uffizi Gallery after lunch, where we saw many Renaissance masterpieces, including the Birth of Venus by Botticelli. It was lovely, but if I had to do it again, I would probably just stroll around Florence taking it all in at a slower pace.
Ah, Rome. Chaotic, crowded, cringe-inducing traffic, but stunning historical, cultural, and religious significance on every corner. We ended up with a private driver for a very reasonable price, and he fancied himself a historian. I loved it! He took us around to all of the major tourist traps: The Colosseum, Trevi Fountain, Spanish steps, and the Pantheon.
And because there were just two of us, we got to spend time where we wanted to, see some sweeping overlooks of the city, and stop at some additional sites, like the Monument of Victor Emmanuel II (Italy's first united king) and the Fountain of the Four Rivers.
After another pizza lunch, it was on to the Vatican City. We had 2 hours to explore the Museum's tapestries, maps, and art covering every surface. I was most impressed with the ceilings as we shuffled from room to room with the crowd.
The School of Athens stood out in the Raphael room, and sadly they don't allow photography in the Sistine Chapel, which was beyond words.
Our 2 hours also included St. Peter's Basilica and Square. The sheer size (overheard a guide say that the gold letters near the top of the wall are 7 feet tall) was mind-boggling considering its age, and once again every surface was covered in incredible detail by master artists.
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