Day 6 :: Wine and Pizza in Tuscany

Leaning tower of Pisa

They both need a V8

 

Another day another city.  On cruise day 4 the port city was Livorno, Italy and our plan was to go to Pisa first and then Florence if we had time.  When I was researching the trip I found out that this port was not walkable so we booked a round trip shuttle to and from the train station through Royal Caribbean for $18 each and we had to meet on deck at 8:15am.  I still don't know how I became one of those freaky people who bounces out of bed every day full of energy especially given how long and exhausting our days were but once again I popped out of bed before the alarm while Mj had to hit snooze.  We had breakfast at the Windjammer and then headed for the gangway to get off the ship and find our shuttle.  The deck is pretty busy and chaotic in the mornings.  There are tour buses lined up and people running every which way.  We tried to find our shuttle but kept getting the run around.  We asked one bus driver who sent us to the next bus and that bus driver send us back to the first one.  Someone even told us we needed to go to some parking lot.  Finally someone knew what they were talking about and we were told that due to a Livorno train strike our shuttle had been canceled.  Without a train we couldn't get to Pisa and we would've been screwed but luckily they were able to find us a spot in the Pisa and Florence on your own shore excursion bus.  Shore excursions are fairly expensive but we were more then willing to to pay $99 each if it saved the day and let us go about the business of enjoying our vacation.  It was actually nice not having to worry about making the train and making it back to the ship in time.  All that is taken care of for you on a shore excursion.  It's like being on a middle school field trip. 

 

Another beautiful cathedral

Yep, it's crooked! :: That's the cathedral behind me on the left

 

We were so excited that finally we were going to have a warm sunny day with no umbrellas.   We made it to Pisa and the world famous Leaning Tower of Pisa around 9:00am and then we were left alone to walk around and take pictures for about an hour.  The leaning tower is so cool!  It's so crooked and you know that but it's still so puzzling and bizarre to look at.  It was so cool to see it in person.  We didn't book tickets to go inside.  To go in you have to book a time slot in advance because they can only have so many people in the tower at a time.  Wouldn't want it to totally fall over!  We didn't  know exactly when we'd be there and didn't really care that much about going in anyways so we were fine with just seeing it.  Apparently there was a soil problem that caused it to lean and they tried to fix it but couldn't.  It was closed to the public in 1989 for about 10 years, closed again for some work and opened to the public again most recently in 2008.  The cathedral behind it was beautiful.

Pizza AND wine?  We're doing fine!

 

From there we got back on the bus and it was about 1 1/2 hours to Florence.  We got there around 11:30am.  We finally made it to Italy so you know what that means?  PIZZA!  Our first stop was lunch at a cute little restaurant.  We wedged ourselves into the tightly packed outdoor seating area.  We would find that throughout Europe they don't have hostesses.  You pretty much walk in and seat yourself wherever you want.  Mj and I split the most delicious Pizza I had ever tasted in my life.  It's thin, cheesy, just the perfect amount of oily and the crust is so good.  We had some wine and it was so nice and relaxing to sit and enjoy Pizza and wine under the Tuscan sun.   

 

Inside the Duomo Cathedral :: The mural was painted on the domed ceiling

I got my usual coffee flavor Gelato, Delicious!

 

Now that we'd had our Pizza fix we could set out to explore the city.  We walked the Duomo Cathedral and went inside.  It was beautiful. We spent time just walking around and taking in everything around us.  I bought a scarf from a street side vendor for 5 €.   You can't go to Italy without getting Pizza OR Gelato.  It was the perfect dessert.

 

Those steps went up and up for ever!!

We still had time so we decided to walk to Michelangelo Square and make the hike to the top.  It was pretty rigorous but we are always up for a physical challenge on vacation.  There were so many stairs!  I was breathing hard and starting to sweat by the time we made it to the top.

Awesome view of the Duomo Cathedral :: Mj used the zoom lens for this and the one below

We walked across that bridge to get here::  Those buildings sticking out are shops

We made it! :: Duomo Cathedral on the right

 

There was an amazing panoramic view of Florence at the top and it was worth every single step.  I mean seriously?  I turned around and just couldn't believe what I was seeing.  It's spectacular to look at.

Pizza #2, Not sure which one was better!!

 

After that Mj wanted more Pizza so we stopped to eat at the same place again around 3pm and had the same waiter.  Is it me or did he look at us funny?  I was still full from lunch but I found room for another slice.  We met our tour guide around 4pm and he lead us back to the bus.

We both fell asleep on the ride back to the ship.  We were a little nervous about this whole train strike thing so we stopped at the shore excursion desk to see if we could book a tour for Rome even though at $89 per person plus they are pretty expensive but they were all full.  Then it was time for our obligatory cat nap.  It might seem surprising that there was so much napping on vacation but we seriously needed it.  We were always up before 8am and our days were averaging 8-9 hours off the ship and then we had shows at night.  It was fun but exhausting!  We woke up and went to the Ice Skating Show at 7pm.  After the show we weren't hungry enough for the dining room which was fine because it was formal night so we couldn't go anyways.  Packing for two weeks was hard enough so we decided not to bother with formal attire.  We went to Windjammer to grab a bite to eat and then went to bed.  We needed to rest up for Rome which I was guessing would be our most exhausting day yet.

Next stop:  Rome, Italy

Day 5 :: Rain in Nice Sun in Cannes

I just love the architecture.  So much character.  So beautiful.

Beautiful tall buildings and narrow walkways

Our second port city was Cannes, France but originally we were supposed to port in Nice.  They switched it at the last minute but we still wanted to go there.  Here, and for the rest of the trip we'd be in port from 7am to 7pm and the last tender back to ship was 5:30pm.  We were up bright and early around 7:30am.  For the 3rd morning in a row I lay in bed wide awake just waiting for the alarm to go off and bounced out of bed while poor Mj had to hit snooze.  We went to breakfast at the Windjammer and then we were off the ship for the day.  We had to be tendered from the ship to the shore in a boat but the whole process didn't take very long at all.  This port was cool because the walk to the train station was pretty quick and then we just had a 45 minute train ride to Nice Ville station.  Our round trip train tickets were 13 € each.  We were really excited that there was no rain but it didn't last for long.  By the time we got to Nice it was sprinkling and we had to pull out our umbrellas again.  Mj forgot to put the memory card back into the camera and we didn't realize that until we were off ship so we were stuck with my old digital camera for the day.  Thank goodness I had it in my bag though or else we would have lost an entire day of pictures.  The rain was annoying the hell out of me but I really tried to take in the beauty of Nice anyways and not to let it spoil my mood. 

We walked towards the area where the shops were and I ducked into stores along the way to shop and get out of the rain.  We made our way towards the Old town section which was the coolest with all the narrow cobble stone streets and tall bright buildings.  Even with the rain there was kind of a swap meet/antique sale going on in the streets and there were still lots of people walking around and eating in cafes.  Like Provence the majority of the seating is outdoors.  The roads are so narrow and they are cobblestones so you almost don't realize that you are actually in the street until a car comes by.  There were tons of people on motorcycles and mopeds so you have to be really aware of everything around you. 

Partial castle ruins on the way to the top

Pretty waterfall

Made it to to the top.  Nice View.

Then it was time to climb Castle Hill aka Le Chateau.  It was part of my original plan for that day.  I wasn't sure if I wanted to because it was raining but we were walking anyways right so what difference did it make?  There are a lot of inclines and the road wound around and around leading us up a giant hill that was more like a mountain if you asked me.  It was a pretty good walk and then we finally made it to the top and were rewarded not with an actual castle but a beautiful panoramic view of Nice.  The rain finally stopped about half way up the hill thank goodness.  As we made our way back down the sun started peaking through the clouds and our mood lifted.  I stopped at a shop and bought a long sleeved royal blue shirt that I had my eye on earlier. 

View of our ship from Cannes.  There were 3,500 people on our cruise.

View of Cannes from the ship

After rain comes a rainbow.  View of beautiful Cannes coast from the ship

We took the train back to Cannes and then walked around there a bit.  The Harbor area is so beautiful and by then the sun was fully out.  This is where we had our one and only disagreement of the trip.  Mj was really hungry as we hadn't eaten all day and wanted to stop for food.  The ship was right there so I wanted to go back and eat where it wouldn't cost us anything.  There was a slight breakdown in communication.  I thought we were just looking for a small not super expensive cafe like many of the ones we'd seen in Nice and that if we didn't see one we would just go on ship since we were so close.   Most of the cafe's along the Cannes harbor were pretty pricey so when we came to the last one and he wanted to eat there I still wanted to go back to the ship.  I didn't realize that he didn't care about price or how close we were to ship.  He was irritable, starving and just wanted to eat right then.  And yes, we did end up eating on the ship because I'm a mean wife and I made my husband starve.  I am sorry that he was upset at me and that we communicated so poorly but looking back on it I'm glad we didn't spend $50 bucks on a meal that day when we were 30 minutes from ship where it was free because we spent plenty of money on food later on in the trip.  To add insult to injury and more silent daggers directed at me the Windjammer was closed until 6:15pm!  Oops.  We grabbed some pizza at Sorrento's which is the pizza shop on the main deck that's also free.  Then, perhaps as revenge, he made me wander around with him taking pictures on deck with the good camera even though I was really tired and told him I wanted a nap.  I ended up with barely enough time for a really quick one because we had a show at 7:00 pm.

Saturday Night Fever was so good!  It was a Broadway style musical and the singing, acting dancing and story line was so good.  We went to dinner in the dining room after that.  The first night we had our assigned table to ourselves but this time our table mates were all there.  It was such a good match because one couple were newlyweds on their honeymoon and the other couple had been married for one year.  I sheepishly told them I'd taken a nap every day so far but I didn't feel so bad when they said they were taking naps all the time too.  Once couple was too tired to even get off the ship that day.  We saw them around the ship a couple times after but we never shared our table again for the rest of the trip.  By the time we finished with dinner it was around 10:00pm and I was so sleepy I could barely keep my eyes open so after dinner it was off to bed with a nice full tummy.

Next Stop:  Pisa and Florence, Italy

Day 4 :: Plan Fail in Aix En Provence

in Toulon waiting for the next train

Our first cruise port city was Toulon, France.  There isn't much to see there so we went to Aix En Provence.  It was the shortest port stop from 8am-6pm and we had a 1 hr train ride there and back so we got up early to get going.  We ate a quick breakfast at the Windjammer and then went down to the gangway to get off the ship.  My meticulous plans were immediately foiled.  It turns out we were not within walking distance of the Toulon Train station even though the port info guide and the lady in the tourist office right there said so.  According to Mj's GPS it was about 5 miles.  We turned around, headed back to port and ended up having to take a pretty expensive cab ride.  In all the confusion we missed the 9:20 am train so had to wait until 10:20am.  We took the train from Toulon to Aix En Provence TGV station and then took a bus into town to the central Aix En Provence train station.  From there we walked to the town center.  We took the high speed TGV train even though it didn't go direct to Aix En Provence because otherwise we would have had to take the slower trains to Marseille, switch trains and then continue on to Aix En Provence and it would have taken us close to 2 hours to get there.  Once we got to town we saw that we missed the last Petite Train tour around the city that we would have had time for.  Another failed plan.  Instead of doing that we just walked around on our own. 

Bread in France is so good.  It's not called French bread for nothin'

I realize that rain is necessary for the survival of our planet but I pretty much hate it unless I'm at home in my pajamas.  I was bummed out when the rain started but hate it or not, I wasn't going to let it ruin our day.  It was a light rain so at least we could work with it.  Provence is such a charming little town.  Most of the shops were closed because it was Sunday but some of them were still open and there was a street fair going on. Some areas are like a maze.  There are rows of tiny narrow alley ways going every which direction.  I just loved wandering around this little town despite the rain.  There are these amazing little shops filled with bread and pastries so we bought some warm bread along the way.

Cathedral Saint Sauveur is soooo beautiful

Cathedral Saint-Sauveur was closed so we had to wait about 40 minutes to go in but it was well worth the wait.  I seriously almost started crying when I walked in.   My eyes got all teary.  Cameras were not allowed but it was absolutely breathtaking.  I had anticipated seeing these cathedrals for so long and once I got inside the beauty of it far exceeded my expectations.  It was so beautiful and I was just so happy to finally be there and seeing it with my own eyes that I got a little emotional.  I had never seen a building so big and so beautiful in my entire life.  I had never seen an actual confessional outside of television and there was a row of them inside.  It was quiet, cool and dark and there was a live organist playing beautiful music.  You could almost smell the stones that were used to build it and the realization of just how old and how long this building had been standing here was mind boggling. 

On the way back to the train station.  Rain, rain go away.

Waiting for our train back to Toulon

Around 2:30pm  that it was time to make our way back to the train station so we could catch our bus and train and cab back to the ship.  It was funny because I had to go the bathroom really bad even before we started walking to the train station so once we got there I ran into the first bathroom I saw.  Some lady is there telling me "0,50 € "  I was confused so I just turned around and walked out.  It took me a minute to realize that I had to pay to pee!  Another note about European bathrooms.  A lot of them in Europe are either unisex or without much separation between men and women.  For this one it was men to the left, women to the right and shared sinks for hand washing.  I also noticed that not once even in our hotel rooms did I ever encounter a traditional hand toilet flusher.  It was always a button and usually two to be used depending on if it's #1 or #2.  Also, a lot of the public restrooms had a foot control for the faucet.

She's balancing on top of his feet!!

We took the 3:47pm train back to Toulon.  When we got there we ran outside to find a cab.  We cut it a little close but we made it back by 5pm and then went straight to dinner at the Windjammer.  Mj had the bright idea of going to the gym afterwards but I was absolutely exhausted.  I could barely keep my eyes open so I took a nap and he worked out.  Later that night went to our 9pm show Air.  It was a really cool aerial act.  I cannot believe the crazy tricks they were doing with no net. We were back in our rooms by 10pm and then it was time to get ready for bed.

So why didn't I just book a ship shore excursion and call it a day?  First of all, if you can't get around in a foreign country you really have no choice and you need to book one.  I knew that Mj could get us around so I kept going back and forth on it.  My research told me that I should consider a tour for Aix En Provence and Rome.  Aix En Provence because of higher train ticket prices, distance and shorter port day and Rome because of distance and just how big it is.  I was just all decisioned and researched out.  Mj wasn't home to talk it over with and I knew the weather was gonna be iffy.  I just didn't know what to do so I did nothing.  In retrospect, I should have went with my instinct.  At $55 each Aix En Provence was one of the cheapest tours and because we were ported in a different place and couldn't walk to the train station we spent more on our own.   The train tickets were 33 € which translates to $42.50 USD each but with the unexpected cab rides it ended up being more expensive because it was 25 € each way on top of that.  It's my job to save us money and I was mad at myself for dropping the ball on this one, but as a whole we did save a ton of money by NOT doing the tours.

Mj told me a saying that he picked up in the Army, "Your plans are only as good as the day you make them."  Unfortunately, this day was a perfect example of that in so many ways.  That being said, we still had a great day there.  It was a fun adventure getting there and back and I'm glad we went even with all the effort and expense it took to get there.

Next Stop:  Canne and Nice, France

Day 1-3 :: I'm going to Europe!!

Haven't had a hot free meal on a plane in years and it was good + Free Wine

Day 1-2 was basically spent traveling to Europe.  After an anxious night of triple checking my luggage, tying up loose ends around the house and very little sleep I headed to the airport very early on Thursday morning for my 6:30am flight.  I was freaking out because I took the wrong parking garage card for Mj's job where I was planning to park my car and I had to find airport parking at the last minute.  It wasn't until I made it onto my flight on time that I was finally able to relax.  I had a 4 hour flight to Chicago, a short 1 1/2 flight from there to Toronto and then the worst one of all was 8 hours to Barcelona.   Normally I want as few lay overs as possible but with that many hours of flight time the extra lay over was welcome so I could escape and stretch my legs.  I spent the first leg reading magazines and half sleeping.  The 2nd leg was nice and short. The 3rd leg just really sucked.  It's way too long to be sitting upright, cramped, exhausted and unable to move around.  I guess they don't want anyone starving to death so at least they're willing to feed you with no extra charge on International flights.  Eating kept me occupied and I watched two movies.  United has a really good selection of new releases and you have your own screen on the seat in front of you.  It was my first time seeing what Business class looks like.  It's even better then 1st class so instead of being the usual 2nd class I got to be a 3rd class citizen crammed in coach. 

Ick!!!!

I left home on Thursday morning my time and arrived in Barcelona on Friday morning around 8:30am Europe time.  I got my first passport stamp in customs, got my baggage and then waited for Mj to arrive on his flight in from Stuttgart.  He spotted me first and it was soooo good to see him and be together again.  I'd missed him so much.  Of course I felt all ragged and worn out from traveling and I probably didn't look all that cute but oh well.  Our vacation together had finally begun.  It took us a while but we found our hotel shuttle and then checked into Hotel Frontair Congress.  It was in this random sort of industrial area and I knew that but it was close to the airport and had a shuttle.   It was basically a one night pit stop to rest up before the cruise so as long as it was clean it would do.  We both took naps and when we woke up took the hotel shuttle to Placa De Espana which is a central area of the city and then looked for a place to eat.  We actually saw someone get mugged a couple minutes after we got off the shuttle.  The poor guy was yelling "Stop, Stop!!" and sprinting down the street.   The rumors were true.  I crossed my bag over my chest and held it a little closer.  We found a place to eat.  The Tapas on the menu were unlike any Tapas I'd ever seen so I played it safe and ordered Pizza.  It wasn't bad, but it wasn't really good either.  I guess that's what I get for ordering pizza in Barcelona.  Mj got the Brave Potatoes (very spicy) and something else.  We made our way back to Placa De Espana and waited for the city bus that would take us back to our hotel.  Thank goodness Mj was able to figure out when we should get off.  I was still sort of in a tired haze so it was pretty much right back to bed.  Day one in Barcelona was not so exciting but that's okay because I knew we'd be back.

The next morning we took the 11:00 am hotel shuttle to Placa De Espana.  From there the plan was to take the metro to the Drassanes metro station, walk to the Columbus Monument and then take the Blue Bus to the port but it was pouring down rain.  Hard.  We hustled out of the shuttle and Mj waived down a cab so we could get out of the rain.  The cruise port was a mad house.  There were wet people running every where and wet luggage all over the place.  We could hardly find anyone to take our bags and when we did she just said to leave it there and someone would get it.  We ran inside to check in.  We got our sea pass cards, made our way onto the ship and this is when it felt like our vacation truly began.  We didn't have access to our room yet but we were able to eat which was just fine because we were starving.  We hit the buffet at Windjammer.

[Photo Source]

Our cabin::One of the  most comfy beds I've ever slept in.

Excited to be on ship

After that we explored the ship; Royal Caribbean International Liberty of the Seas.  It's HUGE, like 3,500 people huge and really nice!  It's like it's own little city.  At around 3pm we were able to go to our room.  It's tiny but they do a great job of making sure that there is plenty of lighting and storage.  I had plenty of room for toiletries and there was room for our luggage.  The shower was tiny but even in the bathroom there was plenty of counter space and a little cabinet to put toiletries.  My luggage came first and I started unpacking.  Mj had some illegal alcohol he'd picked up abroad so his was confiscated and delayed.  He didn't get it until well after the emergency drill meeting.  By 5-6 pm I was really tired.  We took a nap and woke up in time for a welcome aboard variety show and then went to dinner at 8:30pm in the formal dining room.  After that we were ready for  bed.  The bed in our cabin was so comfortable and it's pitch black with the lights out so I slept good.  When we woke up the next morning we would be in France.

First Stop:  Aix En Provence, Italy

Area Rugs, Bar Stools and Floating Shelf

7'6" X  9'6"Hand Tufted Alexa Pino Floral Red Rug from Overstock.com

I'm still getting my Vacation posts together so for now I'll show you the new rugs we got before I left for vacation.  The red one for the dining room came in first.  Mj was gone and it's so heavy that I wasn't able to put it down for weeks until my family came down because I couldn't do it by myself.  It is so soft and thick.  It feels like really good quality.  The size was perfect.  All of our chairs fit with room to spare.

5 X 8 Damask Trellis Navy Blue Rug from Rugs USA

The blue one was on back order so it came about a week before I left for vacation.  We don't actually have any Navy Blue decor pieces so we weren't even sure how that would look but we loved the color and pattern.  We'll be adding some Blue to tie in with the rug but even as is it doesn't look out of place at all.  It's 100% wool so it's a bit itchy but I can still sit on it.  After we got the hardwoods our sectional was sliding all over the place but the rug keeps it in place perfectly.  Both were on sale.  The Blue one was $149 and the Red one was $227 and although at first I felt like it was kind of a lot of money for rugs after seeing them I can say it was definitely money well spent.   I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE them both.  Sometimes I'm at a loss when it comes to decorating.  I see amazing pics and different pieces that I like and then I look at my house and can't quite figure out how to put it all together.  It's always so hard for me to tell if I'll really like something or just how it will fit into our decor based on the picture but I think we done good. . 

These are the bar height stools I finally picked out in March after the usual obsessing after we raised the counter.  I found them for a decent price at a Bar Stool store.  They were $149 each.  I thought the back of the chair would be higher then the counter.  It's not, but it's the right height and it still looks okay.  It's a perfect red.  Not too bright or too dark and fits in nicely with our color scheme.

These are the floating shelves that Mj finally got around to putting up.  He wasn't totally sold on it but I really wanted them and after they went up he liked them just as much as I did.  Our house has really been a work in progress.  We've been here for two years now and we still have some bare walls and empty shelves.  We still haven't painted any of our bathrooms or spare bedrooms.  They are still builder basic White and who knows when or if that will ever happen!  I hate painting.  We've taken care of the areas that matter most to us though and I like the way it's come together.

Some Post Vacation Confessions

I'm back!!  Did you miss me?  You don't have to answer that.  Thanks so much to Lauren and Janna for your great guest posts and everyone who read or commented on them.  Our vacation was amazing.  A lot did not go to plan but it truly was the European vacation that I've always dreamed of.  It was exciting, fun, beautiful, confusing and so much more.  I can't wait to blog about it and share all of my pictures.  In the meantime, here are some confessions for my first post back.

Snapshot from Amsterdam

I confess that I was a nervous wreck the night before I left.  Something about packing and trying to tie up lose ends just really puts me on edge.  I worry about EVERYTHING and it makes preparing for a trip very stressful.  Once I step out the door I'm fine because by that time what's done is done and I can't do anything about it but until that moment I'm a HOT MESS.

I confess that because I screwed up it cost me $165 bucks in parking fees.  The plan was to park at Mj's job for free and take a cab to the airport.  Six weeks prior when Mj left he told me which one to bring but I forgot and it wasn't until the night before amidst all of my pre trip anxiety that I was texting him to try to remember which one to bring.  I grabbed the wrong parking badge so I couldn't get in the gate and had to use airport parking.  Now that was an expensive mistake I really didn't need right now.  I suck.

Link up with Leslie on Friday's @A Blonde Ambition

I confess that of all of my hours of research and planning for the trip maybe about 60% was useful and helpful.

I confess that I am not one of those freaks of nature who manages to lose weight while on vacation.  As expected I gained but I had so much fun doing it that I don't even care.

I confess that I didn't work out not once while I was gone.  There was one day that I could've and Mj did but I was just too dang tired to bother.  I did work out first thing this morning.  Too little too late but better late then never right?

I confess that I spent a crap ton of money.  It was really fun getting screwed over by the Euro to Dollar conversion that does not work in our favor.   I pulled out 160 Euro's from the ATM and it showed up as $208 USD at my bank.

I confess that I have the most horrible sense of direction on the face of the planet.  I already knew this but going to Europe truly magnified it times 10.  Were it not for Mj I might still be wandering around Paris right now trying to figure out how to get back to our hotel.

I confess that I really didn't miss having my phone all that much.  Okay maybe a little bit.  Most of our hotels had free wi-fi so I did manage to catch up on blogs, post a few things on Facebook and delete some junk mail with my i phone.  It was nice being free from the chains of technology.

I confess that I have a ton of shows to catch up on in my DVR which means many, many hours catching up on the couch.  I have 10 episodes of House Hunters among many others.  Hmm...maybe I really do watch way too much TV.

I confess that 10 cities in 15 days is exhausting!!!  We were vagabonds; always on the move from ship to plane to countless train rides and 4 different hotels but it was so much fun.

I confess that I feel like I don't even know where to start in terms of recaps.  It's kind of daunting just thinking of writing about 15 days of travel.  I guess I'll just start at the beginning and once I get started everything else will follow.

I confess that I wrote this entire blog post standing up while still wearing my sweaty gym clothes and waiting for over 600 vacation photos to load.  I didn't really plan on posting so soon but here it is.  Guess I just can't stay away.

I confess that it's 7:30 pm in Europe right now and I kinda wish I was still there.