Ajaccio 12/3/09

We got a gorgeous view of the sunrise over the mountains on the French island of Corsica! Thank goodness I just happened to wake up at 7:15 so we could see it! I had to wake up Natashia so she could see it, too! From our balcony, we had a front row view of the sunrise, and also of the snow capped mountains!

It was a slow morning...we didn't dock until 10:00am, so Natashia and I took our time getting up and ready for the day. At 10:00am, we walked down to the 4th deck and got off the ship. We walked through the port and towards the Town Square. We passed a market on the way, and had fun looking at all the flowers, wines, cheeses, fruits, and veggies that were for sale.


We walked along the coastline and in a couple of minutes, arrived at the old walls of the Citadel. Down in what used to be the moat around the fortress, there was a donkey and a goat. I made a bleating noise to greet Mr. Goat, and an elderly woman standing about 10 feet from me exclaimed, "Oh! Did you hear the goat! He's talking to us!" She thought I was the goat! Hahaha! I didn't want to disappoint her, so I just went along with it! :-P

Beyond the Citadel was the beach! The water was chilly, but beautiful!




Next, we headed across the street to the Cathédrale Notre Dame de l'Assomption. This is where Napoleon Bonaparte was baptized and attended mass as a child.

We meandered through a few of the narrow streets and found Napoleon's House. We did not want to pay the admission fee, so we just took pictures at the front door and went on our way! There are two main shopping streets in Ajaccio that run parallel to the coast. This was our next destination, but we also wanted to find a post office. We stopped in a park on the way, and I successfully asked three young men how to get to "la poste." They gave their answer in French, and I understood it! I was quite proud of myself. :-) Of the three languages in which we had to communicate on this trip, I enjoyed using French the most! Anyway, we found the post office, sent some more post cards, and then did some window shopping. Natashia had certain items that she was looking for, but I had already promised myself that, in order to save money, I would not buy souvenirs aside from the postcards I was sending. When I travel, I am usually quite satisfied to let my photographs and my memories be my souvenirs!
Around 1:00pm, we found a cute little cafe to have some lunch. The owner of this restaurant was very friendly and helpful. He recommended we try a wine that I ended up loving (Moscato), and I had some delicious homemade lasagna and a huge salad...all for only about 12 euros!

After lunch, it was starting to rain lightly. I wasn't interested in more window shopping, but Natashia still hadn't found what she was looking for...so we decided to split up for the afternoon. I went back to the ship, took a long, hot shower to warm myself up, drenched myself in body lotion (don't you just love that?!?!), and rested up a bit while Natashia shopped. Natashia got back to the ship at about 4:30pm. She had used the calling card to call her mom in the port building, so I decided that I would go call my dad before all aboard at 5:00pm. We ate dinner at the Grand Pacific Dining Room. We got there about 15 minutes before it opened, and there was already a line! We requested a seat at the window so we could watch when we were leaving port. We admired the Christmas decorations in the room as we ate. A woman at the table next to us was celebrating a birthday, and she shared her cake with us, so we got a nice little extra dessert! At 7:45pm, we decided to go to Evening Trivia in the Spinnaker Lounge. We ran into Judi and Patsy there and decided to be on their team. I don't remember exactly, but I'm sure we did pretty well. :-) We also met James and William, two guys who were traveling home after two years overseas in the Peace Corp. After trivia was over, we went to talk to Rob "Sugar", the Assistant Cruise Director. He had a contest going on that day...a prize to the person who could guess his real last name. With just two clues, I correctly guessed that his last name is Barker, and I won a Norwegian Cruise Line pen and a free Bingo card! Woohoo! Lol!
We went back to our room to rest. I also called Chad and Scott and left a message that we would love to have dinner with them one night soon. At 10:45, we went to a game called If You Know It, Sing It. I knew it was a crowd participation game, but I was not prepared for all that it entailed! I ended up being a very content observer of the crazy festivities! :-) By that time, the ship was rocking and rolling a bit, and there was a light rainstorm, so it definitely helped lull me to sleep...but not until after some precautionary motion sickness medicine! That night, the storm picked up and the ship started its creaking...a noise that became very familiar to us as we crossed the Atlantic!

See more pictures from "Ajaccio 12/3/09" HERE

Cannes/Monaco 11/30/09

We woke up at 7:30am, got dressed, went down for breakfast, and then the ship docked in Cannes, France at 10:00am. We took an excursion with the cruise line to Monaco and Monte Carlo, so we were instructed to meet in the ships theater until it was time to go. Once we got there, we met Judi and Patsy. I had chatted with Judi on Cruise Critic and on Facebook before the trip, but they became good friends during the trip. Once it was time to go, we were hearded off the ship and onto tender boats. The bumpy ride took us to shore where we got on numbered buses for our tour. The drive to Monaco took about an hour and a half. We drove through Cannes, and then through beautiful countryside, passing through Nice on the way to Monaco.
Our first stop in Monaco was on top of the "Rock." We passed the Oceanographic Museum and the Cathedral of Monaco (Prince Ranier and Princess Grace were married there). Then, we moved on to the Palace of Monaco. We had a little bit of free time to wander the area and take some pictures.


We also grabbed lunch at a little deli/cafe nearby before having to meet back up with our group. Our next stop was at the casino in Monte Carlo.
We had some free time there to explore the area around the Casino...shops like Cartier and Louis Vuitton...Maseratis and Lamborghinis parked along the street. We just kept to the window shopping and picture taking!



(Fun with reflections!)
On our way back to the bus, I heard someone calling out my name. It was Chad! He had sent me a message on Facebook before the trip and we had agreed to get in touch while on the cruise. We headed back with Chad and Scott, chatting and showing each other pictures of our dogs while we walked! We drove the hour and a half back on the bus, got back on the tender boat, and reboarded the Norwegian Gem.
Back on the ship, we headed to the Cruise Critic Meet and Greet. We were a little late getting there, so we missed most of the officers welcoming us onboard, but we stayed for a bit and met up with a lot of the people I had been talking to on cruisecritic.com prior to the cruise.
We also met Andy, our Cruise Director.
We took the opportunity to ask him a question about the itinerary that had been delivered to our room. We noticed that on one of the sea days, the show was listed as, "International Super Group Il Divo." Well, we kinda didn't believe that, so we wanted to ask Andy if it was the real Il Divo. He said that it was!! We were so excited! We vowed to get to the show hours early in order to ensure a front row seat! Anyway, we met Judi and Patsy in the Magenta dining room for dinner, and then went back to our room for a rest. Singin' in the Rain was on one of the limited TV stations we got in our stateroom. Its one of my favorites and Natashia had never seen it, so we watched a little bit of it. We ventured out for a late night snack, and ran into Dawn and Anthony. We talked to them for a while, and then went back to the room to start winding down for the evening. The seas were a bit rough (although it was nothing compared to what we would be experiencing later on in the cruise!), so we took some motion sickness medicine and got rocked to sleep by the movement of the ship!

See more pictures from "Cannes/Monaco 11/30/09" HERE (Album 1) and HERE (Album 2)

Paris Day Two 11/28/09

We had our wake-up call set for 6:00am, but when it rang, we chose to ignore it and sleep for three and a half more hours! When we finally got up and got ready, we ventured out to grab a bite for breakfast, and then took the metro over to the Latin Quater. Our first stop was the Church of the Miraculous Medal. It was the site of Mary's apparition to St. Catherine Laboure in 1830. The incorrupt body of St. Catherine Laboure lies in the sanctuary of the church.
After our stop there, we walked through the streets, stopped to get a taste of french chocolate, and wound up at St. Sulpice.
Our next stop was Notre Dame.

We crossed over to the Ile Saint Louis where I got a crepe with Nutella, made fresh before my very eyes!
After that, we hopped back on the metro and rode up to the Montmartre area. Our first stop was the Moulin Rouge!
We walked from the Moulin Rouge down a very racy street, and headed up the hill to the Sacre Couer Basilica. It was starting to drizzle and was very cold, but we made it up all 350+ steps to go inside the church. We could not take pictures inside, but it was gorgeous! We sat for a minute to rest and get warmed up. There was a group of nuns decorating the altar while we there, so we got to watch them for a little while.





(I "borrowed" this picture of the interior of the Basilica from Google Images since it was so pretty!)
We left Sacre Couer, and by that time, the rain had started to pick up. We went back to our hotel, picked up our bags, and took the metro to Paris Austerlitz train station. We got some dinner and waited in the terminal to board our train to Barcelona. I had to use the restroom, and was desperate enough to pay the fees required to do so! At least it was very clean!!
While we were sitting in the train station, Jonathan and Maureen, a couple about our age overheard us and we struck up a conversation with them. It just so happened that we were all traveling to Barcelona and would be on the same cruise together! Small world, eh? :-) Jonathan and Maureen were so sweet, and we were very glad that we met them! Finally, a little after 8:00pm, we boarded our train. We were in a different car than Jonathan and Maureen, so we said goodbye and see you on the cruise! Natashia and I found our cabin, and had a good laugh at how tiny it was!

The conductor, who was very nice, came around at about 10:00pm to bring our beds down from the wall. Even though I was exhausted, sleeping was not particularly easy, just because of the motion of the train. We were traveling through the Massif Central Mountains and the Pyrenees Mountains overnight, which caused some ear popping and a bumpy ride. I'm not sure what time I finally fell asleep.

See more pictures from "Pari Day Two 11/28/09" HERE

Paris Day One 11/27/09

Five hours after leaving NYC, we landed in Reykjavik, Iceland. It was 6:00am (1:00am at home). It was still very dark (this time of year, it stays dark in Iceland until about 11:30am...I don't know how people there motivate themselves to get up in the morning!), but we could see through the windows that there was snow on the ground! We made a short trip through customs, and then visited a few gift shops in the airport before returning to our terminal to board our next and final flight. Our flight left at 7:00am and landed in Paris at 12:15pm! We got off the plane, and were surprised that we weren't directed through a customs check. We went to baggage claim and we so relieved when our suitcases were some of the first out of the gate!

(Paris Charles du Gaulle airport)

It took us a few confusing minutes to figure out the RER train system that would take us from the airport to downtown Paris, but once we did, we had a great view coming into the city! The first landmark we saw was The Basilica of Sacre Couer (Sacred Heart). It was so majestic set on top of the only hill in Paris...and then we saw the Eiffel Tower! We made two metro transfers, and after much effort lugging our suitcases up and down countless stairs (although locals were generally very helpful in this matter!), we made it to our Hotel...Best Western Au Trocadero! All the reviews I read of the hotel were nice, but the hotel seemed to always be having trouble with the elevator. Our visit was no exception. Thankfully, the hotel staff was very nice and they were able to put us in a first floor room. It did not have the Eiffel Tower view we were hoping for, but at least we did not have to lug our suitcases up more stairs! The hotel was very clean and comfortable, and the staff was helpful and nice. We showered and changed, and then by 4:00pm, we were back out on the streets of Paris! (The view from the front door of our hotel...just a 5 minute walk to the tower!) We walked through the Trocadero to the Tour de Eiffel...and I fell in love with it! We waited in the short line to go up the tower. The top level was closed off, so we only made it to the 2nd level, but I had heard the view from the 2nd level was the best anyway, so I wasn't too upset.





We stayed up there for about an hour, and in the meantime, the sun was setting and the tower was starting its hourly light show! We made our way back to ground level and then headed across the Champs de Mars. We got a great view of the tower lit up, and then headed past the Eccole Militaire (Military School), Les invalides (site of Napoleon's tomb), crossed Pont Alexandre III, to Concorde Plaza. I was so excited...I had studied maps of Paris so intently that I knew my way around without having to look at a map while we were walking around! I felt like I had been there before! We stopped at a crepe stand for a crepe with jambon et fromage! It was warm and yummy! As we ate, we walked along the river to the Louvre. We purchased our tickets in advance, so we were able to just walk right in. We did not spend much time in the museum since we were so tired and jetlagged, but we did get to see the Mona Lisa, Wedding at Cana, and Venus de Milo, just to name a few. After our brief time in the Louvre (about 7:30pm to 9:45pm), we hopped on the metro and rode to the Arc du Triomphe. The Champs de Elysees was lined with Christmas lights, and the Arc at the end was illuminated. We walked from there back towards our hotel and the Eiffel Tower. We grabbed a snack at a food stand and found a seat to watch the almost 20 minute long Eiffel Tower light show at 11:00pm.





After the show, we walked back to our hotel, called home to let our parents know we made it safely, and finally got into bed around 1:00am.

I would like to add that, although we had always heard that the French, and Parisians in particular are not very nice, we found the exact opposite to be true! The people in Paris could not have been more helpful and happy to speak to us and help us when we asked! It was wonderful!



See more pictures from "Paris Day One 11/27/09" HERE

Flying to Paris 11/26/09

Happy Thanksgiving! Instead of having the traditional celebration, on Thanksgiving day, I flew to Paris! I arrived at the Louisvile airport at approximately 9:30am. I was so proud of myself...I managed to get everything into one suitcase (only 42 lbs!), one carry-on, and a purse. At the time, I thought I had packed pretty lightly, relatively speaking! The first leg of my flight was to Detroit. I had a very brief and uneventful layover before boarding my flight to New York's JFK airport. I arrived at JFK Terminal 4 around 3:30pm. My excitement level crept up as we flew over Manhattan!!
I picked up my luggage and made my way to terminal 6 to meet Natashia. She got her luggage, and then we both trecked to terminal 7. We very early began to regret packing such large suitcases...lugging it all that way was not easy!

(Me with a Christmas tree at JFK airport)

We checked in, flirted with a cute security guy, and then got some dinner before heading to our terminal to wait for our flight. Around 7:45pm, we began boarding our Iceland Air flight! Each seat on the plane had its own TV monitor. You could watch movies or TV shows, listen to music, or track the progress of the flight.
We tried to sleep a little, but since it was still such an early time at home, we were wide awake for most of the flight. We played cards...Go Fish and War. I think I only managed to get about an hour and a half of restless sleep on the flight.

See more pictures from "Flying to Paris 11/26/09" HERE

Slideshow - Ajaccio

"ah-YAH-cho"
Beautiful Capital city of the French island of Corsica, and birthplace of Napoleon. :-)

Slideshow - Cannes, Nice, and Monaco

Our ship docks in Cannes, France. Natashia and I have not yet decided if we are going to venture out to see Nice, Monaco, or both. Here is a little bit of all three locations!

Slideshow - Paris

Bonjour! I decided that I am going to post a slideshow of pictures from each of the major cities we will be visiting on our trip. I want to share some of the fun things we might get to see! First up...PARIS!