Guest Post: An 18 day Cruise

Hey, hey friends!

I'm Janna, and you can find me at Perception Is Everything.

As you all know, our lovely CeCe is off gallivanting in Europe, so I thought I would share about my trip to that beautiful part of the world. I'm hiding in CeCe's luggage, but sssshhh don't tell her.

A few years ago, my grandparents surprised my siblings and I by taking us to Europe for a WHOLE month! I must say, it was one of the best experiences of our lives....

It all began with a NEVER-ENDING flight from Ft. Lauderdale, Florida to Amsterdam, in The Netherlands in August of 2007, along with loss of sleep from our first major time zone change.

Next stop: NORWAY! 

Probably THE most breathtaking country I have ever been to.

We hopped on a 700 passenger cruise ship in Amsterdam, and it became our home for the next 18 days and three countries ;)

The waterfalls along the way were incredible...

And it just got better from there...

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After Norway and a jaunt into the Arctic Circle, we headed down to The Shetland Islands.  Where they really have those little Shetland ponies, by the way.

And then Scotland!

At the end of the 18 days, we were sad that our seaward journey had come to a close, but at least we still had a few more days to explore Amsterdam!

Our Hotel for the last week:

Die Port Van Cleve Hotel, Dam Square-Amsterdam

How gorgeous, RIGHT?  It was the old Heineken Brewery, until the brewery needed to expand.  It is definitely not a Holiday Inn or anything "Americans" are used to, but that's the charm of it...Over stuffed with furniture and no AC, it might dissuade some from staying here, but for the history, location and charm-we LOVED it!

How cool is this outdoor potty?  These were all over Amsterdam, and I was only sad that they didn't have anything for females.  In case you don't know- you have to pay to use public restrooms over there, so you need to have options like this!

As I mentioned, it was the time of our lives, which is what I'm sure CeCe is having right now!

Most importantly, she gets to be reunited with her MJ!!
We are both Military spouses, so I know just how amazing it is to reunite with our soldiers.
I know that I can't WAIT to hear the romantical stories and fabulous pictures that she will have.

Hurry home girl! Well, I know that you won't and shouldn't, but we MISS you!!

Cece's 2 cents:   Thank you Janna for this great post  I love it!  Those pictures are so beautiful.  What an amazing unforgettable vacation.  That is so cool that you got to do this with your family.  I'll be very interested to see those outdoor potties when we get to Amsterdam.  How random is that?  And yes, I do miss you all too!  Logging into Blogger every morning is such an enjoyable part of my routine but clearly it's nice to be unplugged for a while seeing the world...instead of a computer monitor.