Mediterranean Cruise

To celebrate 20 years of marriage, we splurged and took a trip of a lifetime to the Mediterranean.  It was such an amazing week that I will never forget.  Worth every euro in my opinion!  We flew in to Barcelona and boarded our ship "The Liberty of the Seas."

The dining room in the ship was amazing!  We definitely enjoyed the food!


BARCELONA, SPAIN



Las Ramblas is the main walk way through Barcelona.  There are street performers and artists everywhere. We only spent a couple hours here.  We need to go back someday to see all the sights.

 

 


TOULON, FRANCE

 




Our first attempt at trying to speak French did not go so well.  I ordered a cream puff and water, but had to resort to pointing and grunting since I had a brain fart during the whole transaction.  Pretty humbling. 
 



The bells began to ring at this old church.  Maybe this is where Jean Val Jean came to repent in Les Miserables??

 
 
NICE, FRANCE
We got a little lost in France.  We boarded a bus and the driver asked us where we were going and Mike told him "We don't know!"  As we took our seat, he looked at us like we were crazy.  We rode all the way to the end of the line.  Realized we had gone the complete wrong way and bought a ticket for the return trip all the way back to Nice.  We laughed hard about that for awhile.  The plus side was we saw some beautiful scenery.






Our lunch in Nice was so memorable. The weather was absolutely gorgeous and I loved the vinegar and oil in spritzer bottles. 
 
 
VILLEFRANCE, FRANCE
 






Our boat was docked here in this quaint little town.  We probably walked 10 miles this day.  Didn't hurt us to get a little exercise after all the food we consumed each night.


 
 
FLORENCE, ITALY
 
This was the most stunning city from an architectural perspective.  I've never seen buildings be so beautiful you feel like weeping.







 
 
 
The gelato was even beautiful. 



 
 
 
VATICAN CITY, ITALY



  



 
The ceilings were a sight I will never forget!! This one was all painting, but it looks like sculpture.




ST. Peter's Basilica






This was our guide for the day in Rome.  We didn't take our eyes off her green umbrella because if you did you would be lost in a sea of people. The Sistine Chapel was one of the highlights (Mike's favorite) but we were not allowed to take pictures there.


St. Peter's Basilica

 






 
We wished we could have seen Pope Francis because we love his approach to religion, but at least we were standing where he delivers his messages.
 
ROME, ITALY





Our guide took us to an authentic Italian restaurant in Rome.  The food was delicious!  We sat at the table with two couples from South Africa and one from Florida.  There was so much diversity and languages everywhere we went.  I loved it!



 





NAPLES, ITALY--AT SEA
Naples was a very dirty city and our least favorite spot.  We got off the boat and walked around for about 20 minutes and then realized we were going to get mugged or shot if we didn't get back to the boat.  But we enjoyed our time relaxing since we had been sight seeing for 3 days straight.
 





A BIG, BIG THANK YOU TO THESE TWO
 
My parents came out for a week and stayed with the kids.  None of this trip would have been possible without them.  This is a picture of my dad telling his spectacles/testicles joke.  

Comments

  1. Eric and RozanneJanuary 2, 2014 at 11:27 PM

    SO JEALOUS!! :) We were supposed to take a Europe trip for our 20th anniversary this year too. BUT...we went and had a baby instead! :) He pretty much kept us close to home this year, but it's ok. There will be other years, and we have really enjoyed him. BUT...it still would have been nice.

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