Florence/Pisa 12/1/09

We had our wake up call set for 5:00am! We heard it, and laid back down. I planned on just shutting my eyes for a few more minutes...but a few minutes turned into an hour! We woke up, got ready, had breakfast at Garden Cafe, and by 7:30am, we were headed off the ship. We had to ride a shuttle bus from the ship to the middle of the town of Livorno. Then, we had to buy another bus ticket at a news stand to take us to the train station. We got in line at the train station and got our round trip ticket to Florence with just minutes to spare! We ran to our platform, validated our ticket, and got on the train in the nick of time!
On the train, we met a woman from the U.S. who had been living in Florence for a few months. She was very nice and gave us some good information about catching the train back from Florence. We exited the train station in from of the church of Santa Maria Novella. We walked East and passed the church of San Lorenzo and lots of street vendors, mostly selling leather.
We passed a little cafe, and the proprietor saw us out taking pictures. He spoke to us in perfect English and asked where we were from. When we told him Texas, he produced a Longhorns keychain from his pocket. He said it was a gift from his good friends who live in Texas. Small world! We continued to walk, and before we knew it, we could see the Duomo peeking out at us above the rooftops!
When we got up right next to it, I was utterly amazed! It was so breathtakingly beautiful...and HUGE!!! I think my jaw was on the ground the whole time we were there! It felt like something out of a dream! I was stunned!


After the Duomo, we headed to Piazza della Signora. This is where the Uffuzi Gallery is, but there are also statues out in the courtyard, including a replica of Michelangelo's David.
It would have been nice to go into the Uffuzi, but there just wasn't time on this trip. Definitely a reason to go back! We continued to walk and ended up next at the church of Santa Croce. The facade looks very similar to the Duomo, just smaller. :-) We headed to the Arno river, and it was so beautiful! Storm clouds were starting to roll in, and it drizzled a little bit, but not too bad. We walked along the river to the Ponte Vecchio. It is the only bridge in Florence to have survived WWII...supposedly because Hitler thought it was too beautiful to destroy!


We went to the middle of the bridge, got some pictures, and then started heading back towards the train station. The rain was starting to pick up, so we decided to stop at a little cafe for some lunch. I got a huge plate of delicious, homemade pasta, and Natashia got a Margherita pizza. We each had bites of both, and they were so good! After lunch, we got our first taste of gelato. I wasn't too impressed with it overall, but it was very pretty to look at and fun to say I had it in Italy!
As we ate our gelato, we walked back to the train station (in the rain!). We looked at the schedule boards and saw that our train was leaving from the platform furthest from the door in just a matter of minutes! We RAN to the other end of the station, went to the wrong platform first, then got to the correct train only to remember we hadn't validated our tickets...so I RAN back to the validation box and RAN back to the train and got on just before the doors shut! Whew! We settled into our seats on the train started our journey to Pisa. We thought it would only take about 45 minutes, but we soon realized we were on a local train, not an express. It stopped in every single little town between Florence and Pisa! If I remember correctly, it took at least an hour and a half to get to Pisa! Once we were there, we quickly walked 20 minutes to the Field of Miracles...where the Leaning Tower of Pisa is located! Upon first glance, the tower was much shorter than I had thought. I don't know why I thought it should be much taller...I guess after seeing the Eiffel Tower, anything looks short! Lol! Anyway, we only had time to get a few pictures before we had to run back to the train station.


We got to the train station right as our train pulled away, so we had to wait about 20 minutes for the next one. We were getting a little nervous about our time until we saw that some of the crew of the ship was waiting for the train with us, too! We got back to Livorno Piazza Grande a little bit after 5:00pm, and went to wait for the shuttle bus that would take us back to our ship. When we arrived at the bus stop, a woman from Princess Cruise Line was there. She told us that the Norwegian bus service had ended at 5:00pm! There was a mini crowd uprising because we had been told multiple times that the buses would run until 5:30pm! The woman called the bus driver and told him we were waiting, and he did eventually come back for us! We made use of the time we were waiting by getting more gelato! We made it back to the ship and had dinner at the Blue Lagoon. It is supposedly the place to go for good old fashioned "comfort food"...burgers, fries, chicken fingers, etc. Unfortunately, we were definitely NOT impressed with the quality of the food. Oh, well. After dinner, we went to the Stardust Theater to see "Los Locos Ole" in what they called a "Comedy Flamenco" show. It was hilarious!!! It was three guys playing guitars and singing, but they mixed it with a great sense of humor...lots of physical comedy. It was good fun! After dinner, we ran into our friends, Jonathan and Maureen in the stairwell. We ended up chatting with them for a good while before heading back to our room. Before bed, we ventured back out into the ship to explore a bit. We walked through the casino and then I sent an email home (for $.75 a minute!). Then, it was time for beddy-bye!

See more pictures from "Florence/Pisa 12/1/09" 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)

Barcelona 11/29/09

We set our alarm to wake up at 6:30am. We cleaned up a bit, then went to the dining car for our breakfast. It was included with the price of our ticket!
We arrived at the Barcelona Franca Station at 8:30am.
We took a taxi from the station to the port. The first glimpse of Barcelona and then of our ship at port was VERY exciting! We dropped our bags off at the terminal, and then got a cab back into Barcelona. We had the taxi driver let us out at the Christopher Columbus monument. There was a marathon in Barcelona that morning, and we got stuck for a while waiting for the runners to pass while we were trying to cross the street!
We had so much planned for Barcelona, but we were exhausted from hitting Paris so hard, that we only saw three things from our list. First, we took the metro to see Casa Mila.
I really wanted to see Casa Batllo, but we overshot it on the metro, and I was too tired to turn around and go back! Then, we walked to La Sagrada Familia. It was pretty incredible! It has been under construction for over 100 years, and still has a lot more work to be done.

Next, we took the metro over to Placa Espanyol. We walked up to Palau Nacional on Montjuic. The marathon was ending here, so it was packed with people and music. I was sad that the big "Magic Fountain" was not on, but the palace was pretty, and we could see Mount Tibidabo in the distance.

We were pretty much wiped by then, so made our way back to the ship via taxi. We stood in line to check in, and then we were on our way on board the Norwegian Gem!
We were given a celebratory glass of champagne as we got on board. Then, we had lunch in the Grand Pacific Dining Room.
After lunch, we were allowed to go to our stateroom. We had intentions of unpacking and getting settled in, but once we got into our room, we both fell asleep for about an hour!
We woke up at 4:00pm, walked around the ship a bit, went to the muster drill at 5:00pm, and then went to have dinner at the Garden Cafe. After dinner, we caught up with some of our new friends from Cruise Critic out on the patio. We stayed and chatted for a little bit, and then Suzanne and Barbara took everyone up to see their suite and the private courtyard that all the suites share. After a bit, we went back to our room to unpack and get organized, take hot showers, and hit the hay.

See more pictures from "Barcelona 11/29/09" HERE

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

I'm baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaack!!

I made it home safe and sound! I have almost 4000 pictures to sort through and lots of upacking and laundry to do, but I promise I will start working on a blog as soon as I can!!