It has been a little over a week since we arrived at home. It took our bags SIX days to find us at home! I meant to check to see if the flight last night ever DID take off at 3:00am, but my guess was that it did not and we were much better off spending a couple of hundred bucks on hotel rooms and a good night’s sleep. They were very accommodating in giving us a 12:00pm flight on Friday, so we were happy to sleep until 9:00 and slowly make our way to the airport. We found a Burger King and feasted on American food for the first time in 21 days! My arteries never felt better!

It felt GREAT to be home again. As predicted, within minutes of getting home, I was changed into riding clothes and off to see my horse, Sydney. It was WONDERFUL riding again after SO long!


HIGHS:

Monte Carlo – I don’t know what it was about Monte Carlo that was just so awesome. Every square inch was beautiful and screamed MONEY. It is definitely a place I would love to see again.

Sardinia – Here is a place I never heard of and turned out to be a highlight of our trip. It is BEAUTIFUL there. The water is a little cold – for a Florida girl. However, it is great to see your toes when you are walking in waist deep water. I just had a great day there with my family and I think that is my best memory from the entire trip.

Florence – I don’t know if Luca was just a great guide, or if this city was just that amazing. You just fell in love with the city and the architecture.

Quiet Cove Pool – I just LOVED coming back to the ship and lounging in the Quiet Cove pool. They kept the water nice and warm, so it felt great to have a frosty drink and relax in the pool. Patrick and I also enjoyed the hot tubs. In the evening, it was great to watch a movie on the Aerial screen while relaxing in the hot tub.

Palos – Awesome! Brunch and dinner were both excellent!

Having the whole family on the trip – My husband does not come on vacation with us too often, so it was really nice having him there. He was always game for anything – except Bingo. For the most part, Peyton was great. He had one night where leaving the camp was just not his plan, but I think that was more due to being hungry and tired. He definitely discovered that his Dad knew all about Pokemon and wanted to play with him constantly.


LOWS:

Having our luggage lost in Paris – Thank goodness at least we had a washing machine in the villa and could at least wash our clothes every night. I felt SO bad for all of the families that lost their luggage on the ship and had NOTHING to wear!

Having our luggage lost in Miami – It would have been nice to be able to get everything put away the first weekend we were home. It was also a bummer not to have any of the souvenirs I got for friends.

Pisa – Totally unimpressed. Just a bell tower with an architectural problem.

Getting on a dang BUS every morning for SIX days! – I don’t know how the 10-day Med people will stand it. By Monte Carlo, I did not even want to LOOK at a bus. Granted, I get nauseated being cramped in a bus full of people with little air conditioning, so my only recourse would be to try to sleep the entire time. This may not bother other people and they may enjoy the views.

Not a lot of time to shop – Not that I am a ‘shop-a-holic’, but it would have been nice to have more time to go into some of the stores we passed. The only tour where we had time to ‘walk around’ was in Cassis and there is not much there.

Speaking of Cassis… - I would not recommend this tour. The boat ride was not that long and the bus ride was WAY too long! If you do go on this tour, make sure you get a crepe from GRAND MARNIER Crepes. They were the BEST crepes we had the entire trip. The Calanques were pretty, but I am sure there are better excursions out there.

Thanks for reading our adventure and please let us know if you are going on the Disney Cruise in the Med this summer. We would love to hear about your adventures!

I HATE to fly!

Oh my goodness, did I mention that I HATE to fly? Not only does it make me a nervous wreck, but I just can’t stand bouncing around in a huge metal container that temporarily defies the laws of gravity. Debarkation in Barcelona was a breeze, we said goodbye to Stephanie (our wonderful steward), Ancel and Mariano (our waiters) and then our car service to the airport was waiting outside the port terminal for our bags. We got a brief tour of the city and arrived at the airport with plenty of time to make our flight. The lines for Iberia were VERY long and it took about a couple of hours to check in to our flight to London. We got the brilliant idea to check 5 of the bags right to Miami and 2 of the bags just to London so we would not have to carry all of the bags with us to the London hotel. My Mom even made friends with the guy next to her on the plane that gave her the name of a cheap car service to take us to Canary Wharf. Everything was going great. Then, Heathrow airport closed due to a gas leak in London – all heck broke loose. We were diverted to Paris! I already SAW Paris! The next problem came when we landed at Charles de Gaulle, they said that Heathrow was now open and as soon as the plane re-fueled, we could now go to London. Sooo, SEVEN hours later we landed in London to a mad house. Many planes were circling in the sky waiting for their turn to land. By the time we got our bags, the traffic was so bad, it took over 2 hours to get to the hotel. We were SO exhausted that we just decided to get room service and go to bed. The funny thing about London is that everything is CRAZY expensive. A small bowl of soup on the room service menu was over $15. It was good, but not THAT good. We were all so tired, that none of us really cared what the bill was, we just wanted to go to bed.

We woke up around 8:00am and got ready to catch our flight to Miami. Forgoing the $30 per person breakfast buffet, we decided to wait until we got to the British Airways club lounge in order to eat. We were able to get a small tour of London. We saw Big Ben, Westminster Abbey, the London Eye, the Tower of London, Tower bridge and even MI-6 (which I thought was REALLY cool). We got checked in at British Airways with no problem and I was able to purchase Internet access via T-Mobile for $20 for 24 hours. At least the connection was decent.

After landing in Miami, our bags never made it on the plane. Our plane was scheduled to leave Miami at 10:50pm, so we had a nice 4 hour layover waiting on the flight. At 10:45pm, they announced that our plane was there, they had a captain, but the flight attendants were stuck in Philly on the tarmac since 8:00pm. If they took off immediately, they would land and be ready to leave Miami at 3:00am! Now having flown for years, I knew EXACTLY what was going to happen. At 3:00am when the Philly plane landed, they would say that the flight crew had been awake for too long and they would be now able to leave at 6:00am with a different flight crew. Instead of "sleeping" in the airport waiting for them to cancel the flight, we opted to find a hotel and go on a later flight on Friday. Poor Peyton passed out cold in my arms and I had to carry him to the hotel. Oh well, I guess this is just one more day we get to spend on vacation!

Last Day at Sea!

We woke up to a VERY rocky ship. The Mistrals had arrived. The captain came on the intercom to explain that the Mistrals were winds that would go from a light 5 knots to gale force winds in under 5 minutes. According to the cruise director – Rachel, the weather has been HORRIBLE at every port we have docked the day BEFORE we landed. She said the Villefranche was SO bad two days ago, a different cruise ship could not even dock there and had to skip the port. The day before we landed in Marseille, it was very cold with high winds and we got a beautiful day!

It was a good excuse to stay in bed until 9:00am, then Patrick and I were off to find a nice sit-down breakfast together that did not involve a buffet line! After breakfast? Nap time of course! I finally got a great nap and when I woke up around noon, the sun was trying to come out! Peyton was in the camp and could not be dissuaded to come out. Patrick and Mom went to high tea at Paolo’s while I went to go look at the pictures Disney took of us while we were in the different ports and wandered around the boat. The sun was out by now, but the winds were still VERY heavy.

Mom and I went to the early show and enjoyed the illusionist and ventriloquist (Taylor Mayson). By the time we got out of the show, the seas were calm again and the sun was shining! Patrick and I went back to the room to pack everything up and then we down to our last dinner – depressing.

We ended the night at the hot tub watching Zorro on the Aerial screen. You can’t quite hear what they were saying with the bubbles from the hot tub, but it was even more fun making up the plot! We DRAGGED Peyton out of the club around 11:00pm and went to bed. We dock in Barcelona in the morning and head to London.

Villefranche, Monte Carlo and Monaco

Karen on the tender in Villefranche

The town of Villefranche

We missed the Monaco International Horse Show by only THREE days!!

The Casino in Monte Carlo

Cafe de Paris and the Casino in Monte Carlo














The BEST banana split at Cafe de Paris
















Patrick in Monte Carlo by Princess Grace Theater













View of the Disney Magic from the train in Villefranche








We slept until about 8:00am today and awoke to Rachel (the cruise director) announcing our arrival into Villefranche. This cove is simply beautiful. When you think of the Med, this is the kind of place you picture in your head. There are several million dollar yachts anchored around, villas dotting the landscape and purple bougainvillea growing on every wall. Mom had another tour late in the afternoon, but Patrick and I could NOT face getting on a bus again! We decided to hop on the train into Monte Carlo. This was quite easy and after 6 tour buses in a row, it was SO nice to be on our own. It could not have been an easier walk up to the train station (maybe a 10 minute walk along the harbor). The shore excursion desk had a list of train departure times, so we arrived in time to buy two round-trip tickets (4.80 each – you need exact change too) and catch the train to Monaco. The train was very nice and it was only a 15 minute ride to Monaco. We even passed Bono’s (from the band U2) house on the way. Needless to say, it was incredible!

When we arrived at the train station, we followed the crowd of people heading up the escalators to get to the ‘street’. Keep in mind that Monaco is built on a mountainside, so what you think is the ‘ground’ in one place, may still have another shop underneath! One of the first things we saw while walking to the Grand Casino was a red convertible Ferrari. We knew we were not in Naples anymore! It was about a 10 minute walk to the Casino (when you get out of the train station, turn left and follow the signs – the locals are also quite helpful, but speaking some French will go far). We saw posters for an International Horse Show all over the streets – I missed it by 3 days! Patrick lucked out!

The Casino was incredible! Out front, they had every kind of Mercedes, Rolls Royce, Jaguar and Ferrari you can imagine. I heard that the property values were 10,000 EURO per square meter – wow! The Casino was closed until 2:00, so we walked around and took a bunch of pictures of the gardens and shops. By this time, I was parched and asked one of the locals where a good place to eat would be. He recommended Café de Paris right in front of the Casino. If you are ANYWHERE near Monte Carlo, you HAVE to try this place. Patrick and I split a mixed greens salad which came topped with REAL, fresh blue cheese, pine nuts and a light oil dressing. For something so simple, it was just delicious! Afterwards, we shared a banana split. It was the BEST I ever had in my entire life. I cannot recommend this place highly enough!

We then walked into the Casino to take a look around, but we decided not to gamble. If you want to go IN the Casino, make sure you have your passport (NOT a copy) or your driver’s license. I also heard that if you won more than 800 Euros, you needed your passport as well.

We decided to be adventurous and stroll by SEVERAL multi-million dollar yachts in the harbor. Our waiter on the Disney Magic told us that it was possible to rent one of these boats for only 150,000 EUROS a week – per PERSON! Many of them were well over 100 feet in length and just beautiful!

A local showed us the path to the train station and we hopped on at the last minute. The tricky part about catching the train back was that the monitors did not show the destination as being ‘Villefranche’. It had a different town. The train time did match the guide from the Shore Excursion desk, so we figured it was the right train. We did have a little luck on our side. When we got on the train, the conductor spoke quite rapidly (in French) to Patrick. I was not paying attention, so I told the conductor (in French) that Patrick did not speak French, but we were heading to Villefranche and were we on the correct train. He asked for our tickets and then looked at them as if he had no idea what they were. I guess he was more used to people having yearly passes on the train rather than just one round trip ticket. He then asked me if I was ‘Italian’ – I guess I speak French with an Italian accent! I told him we were American and I asked if the tickets were good. He said he wasn’t sure, but he stood in the way of the policeman checking the tickets so ours were not checked. Oh well, we got off at the next stop anyway and I thanked him for his help.

Once we got on the ship, we tried to pick up Peyton from the camp – failed again. We headed up to the Quite Cove pool for a relaxing time in the hot tub. Afterwards, we saw the “When Mickey Dreams” show. It was kind of a Cirque show crossed with Mickey Mouse. I was off to bed by this time, while Patrick stayed up to see the chocolate dessert buffet.

Marseille and Cassis

Chateau d'If off the coast of Marsallies

The fishing village of Cassis













The first Calanques.











A sailboat anchored in one of the coves.















Calanques of Cassis





This morning, we tried to sleep late since our tour did not leave until noon, but no luck. I was wide awake at 7:30, so I got some stuff done on the internet and lounged around the room. We woke Peyton and Mom up so we could go eat at Parrot Cay for breakfast. Afterwards, Peyton, Patrick and I headed back to our room to relax (aka the boys played video games while I worked).

We had a little trouble convincing Peyton to get off the ship, but he eventually acquiesced and we were headed for Cassis – on a bus. It look about an hour of winding through the city of Marseille and over the mountain to Cassis before we finally arrived. There were tons of people waiting for the ‘train’. After about 20 minutes, we were able to board the ‘train’ which was nothing but a glorified tram made to look like an old open air train. The ride could not have been 5 minutes before we were dropped off at a small fishing village. We got on a boat – about 40 feet long, that had an elevated deck on the bow and a covered stern. We opted for the stern in order to keep Peyton and my Mom out of the sun. It was a good thing we did because the waves were quite high and several people got soaked on the upper deck.

After about a 10 minute ride, we went into a narrow cove filled with boats to catch a quick glimpse of the cliffs, the boat then left the cove and quickly went into two more coves before returning to the village. It was very pretty, but we really did not get to see the cliffs for very long and before you knew it, the ride was over! I don’t think we spent 30 minutes on the boat and 20 minutes of that was going back and forth to the village. Although the village and ride were pretty, I would think time could be better spent than a 2 hour bus ride for a 30 minute boat ride.

We were given a voucher to have a drink at a small restaurant by the sea. It was very nice there in the open air café. For the first time in a month, I was served a Coke Light with a glass of ICE. I thought I died and went to heaven. After a quick drink, we wandered through the village. Mom and I stopped at Grand Marnier Crepes and THIS place I HIGHLY recommend. They do not speak English, but they were very accommodating while we ordered white chocolate and Grand Marnier crepes. They made the entire trip worthwhile! I was also able to pick up some postcards and hand made soap for friends back home.

We finally got back to the ship at 6:15 and ran back to the room to change for Disney Dreams. This is Peyton’s favorite show about a girl who meets Peter Pan and tries to learn how to fly. It is a wonderful show and if you ever find yourself on the Disney ship, this show is not to be missed.

We then took Peyton to play at the camp while we grabbed a quick bite and watch Casino Royal in the Buena Vista Theater. Right as the movie ended, Peyton paged us to get picked up. I took him back to the room to change into his PJs while Mom and Patrick went up to the Pirate deck party and grab some food from the late night buffet. I think I fell asleep about 2 minutes after my head hit the pillow.

Florence and Pisa!

The Disney Magic at La Spezia

On the tender into port.

A pretty tower with an architectural problem.

The baptistery in Pisa

Church in Florence

Statue of Neptune in Florence. He has a look of disdain because there is not enough water to run the fountain. This is a picture of the horses below his feet.

Karen on the Ponte Vecchio bridge in Florence.

An artist draws on the sidewalk in Florence.

A church, bell tower and baptistery in Florence.

In Florence, Italy

We woke up at the crack of dawn and there was a message light on the phone. The shore excursion desk offered to let 1 person out of their tour, so my Mom volunteered so we could go to Florence and Pisa. Peyton was thrilled, but I had mixed emotions, I was really NOT looking forward to spending 10 hours on a bus, but I did not want Patrick to have to go by himself. Oh well, it worked out for Peyton.

We got on a BUS, and I promptly fell asleep. We did have a quick stop at a glorified gas station for snacks and a restroom break. I had a nice croissant and Patrick got some cookies. Back on the bus for another hour where we drove through some of the most beautiful countryside I have ever seen. When we finally arrived in Florence (the capital of Tuscany), it was a beautiful crisp sunny day. The guide we had was named Luca – he was wonderful! You could tell he truly loved his city of Florence and gave us a wonderful background of the area. We saw the bell tower, church (Basilica di Saint Maria del Fiore) and baptistery that were made entirely of marble. They had three different colors of marble. The white stands for faith, the green stands for hope and the pink stands for charity. He also showed us a bronze door that was covered in 24 karat gold – very beautiful. We then walked to the Ponte Vecchio bridge and got a beautiful view of the river. On the way, there was a bronze statue of a wild boar in the corner where the ledgend has it if you put a coin in his mouth and it falls to the grate, you will have good luck. We then strolled over to where there was a copy of the David statue as well as a statue of Perseus slaying Medusa in bronze (by Cellini). I must admit that Florence really is a beautiful city. I am SO glad that we did not get out of the tour, it was really such a wonderful city. After the statues, we got to see the church (I think it was Santa Croce Square) where many famous people were buried – Dante, Galileo, the two men who built the gold doors to the church, Cellini and Michelangelo.

There are lots of street vendors around selling pictures. We were told that it was illegal to buy anything off ‘the floor’. The pictures were very pretty, but we quickly learned they were mass produced when we noticed that nearly everyone had the same image! There were some ‘real’ artists that were actually drawing and then displaying their work. It reminded me of New Orleans around the cathedral at Jackson’s Square.

We had lunch at this ultra-modern restaurant (at least it had great air-conditioning). We dined on antipasti, pasta Bolognese, some kind of risotto and the main course was some kind of tender beef in a tomato sauce and fresh vegetables. For dessert, we had a tiramisu cake that Patrick insisted was ice cream cake, but I knew it just had not defrosted properly. :)

After Florence, we got on the bus for the hour trip to Pisa. I must say I am SO glad I did not cancel Florence in favor of just seeing Pisa. It was quite a disappointment. It was cool to see the leaning tower, church and baptistery, but you could not go inside any of them without a reservation and ticket. We just did not have any time to go inside any of the monuments. I can certainly understand why they kept the tower leaning. If it didn’t, I can’t imagine the tourism there surviving. If you are just doing the Pisa tour, I would HIGHLY recommed against it when you compare it to Florence.

Patrick and I left to go get some PHENOMINAL gelato at the local store and headed back to our bus. I slept almost the entire way back – we were over an hour and a half late because there was an accident on the highway back to La Spezia. I am so glad we did not have Peyton in the camp.

Tomorrow, we are taking Peyton to Marseille to see the Calanques of Cassis.

Another beautiful day at Sea!

We had a VERY lazy day at sea today. We still woke up around 8:00, but lounged in bed. My Mom called our cabin because she had an early appointment for a facial and left Peyton in our room. We played around for about an hour and then we decided to go have some breakfast at topsiders.

After breakfast, I went to the Shore Excursion desk to see if I could get out of our trip to Florence and Pisa the next day. They said it was too late to cancel. My Mom and my husband and I had planned all day excursions that would not get back until very late in the day and we felt guilty and worried about leaving Peyton on the boat all by himself in camp for that long. I spoke to a supervisor and begged her to let us out of the tour and she said she would see if the tour sold out and someone wanted to buy our tickets.

After that – nap time for me! Well, at least I tried to take a nap. I think I may have gotten a good 15 minutes, but at least I got to stay in bed for 3 hours! We then went up on deck and found a very nice couple that wanted more information about the Disney Vacation Club. They spent 1300 points on 2 INSIDE cabins! Total waste of points.

Mom and I went to go lose at BINGO – although I did win $170 earlier in the week. We came back to the rooms to find Peyton and Patrick sound asleep – it was 5:30 in the afternoon! Oh well. We told Mom we would take Peyton in our room for the night since her tour was going to leave earlier than ours. It was nice to have him in the room. He and Patrick stayed up late playing video games while I fell asleep.

Rome, Italy

The beautiful Trevi Fountain.

Inside St. Peter's in Vatican City.













Inside the Pantheon.












The Colosseum.

Karen at the Colosseum!

This is a HUGE building that is just a facade. It is empty behind all of these walls! It is a monument to the wars and you can barely see the men guarding the tomb on an Unknown Soldier.

















Patrick on the train to Rome!

We got up early (again) and had a quick bite from room service before meeting for our excursion to Rome. We boarded a bus (again!), but this time the ride was only about 5 minutes to the train – The Roma Express. It was gorgeous. It had beautiful leather seats, AIR CONDITIONED, large windows and wood accents. We had a comfortable 20 minute ride on the train through Civitavechia (pronounced Chee-vee-ta-vek-kia). There were huge fields of blooming sunflowers everywhere. It was beautiful!

Once we arrived in Rome, we headed to our bus (yes, another bus). It was a quick ride to the Colosseum. It was awesome. You just could not even imagine how old it was with the ancient Romans watching Gladiator fights. The center of the arena used to be empty and filled with water and the gladiators (mostly slaves) would fight in the middle on boats. An Emperor then came up with the idea of building the ‘lifts’ and covering the floor with sand in order to have the animals appear at once from the floor. There were as many as 30 lions and/or tigers appearing to attack the Gladiators at one time! Some of the Emperors considered it prestigious to have many animals/gladiators killed and one Emperor even killed over 5,000 animals and 2,000 slaves in just one year! There was an Emperor named Comidus (depicted in the movie Gladiator) who wanted to become a Gladiator, but had little courage. He used to fight lions and tigers in the arena that had all of their teeth and claws removed!

After the Colosseum, we headed to the Trevi fountain. It was the most beautiful fountain I have ever seen. It was built in 1762 and looks sparkling new. The water is said to have been flowing underground for 2,000 years and it was ‘virgin water’. There was a spigot on the side of the fountain where people could drink the fresh cold water. Patrick and I gave it a try and it was delicious! There were Disney people taking pictures of everyone at the fountain and even a person from Disney passing out pennies!

We each tossed a coin in the fountain and then the tour took us to the Piazza Navona. Apparently, many films with Sophia Lauren were filmed there and it was a popular spot for Italians to have dinner in the square. There was an incredible toy store there that would make any child go nuts. One of the window displays had about 20 dolls dressed as fairies and the costumes were SO detailed and beautiful. Patrick said he saw one of the price tags at 600 Euros!

We strolled over to the Pantheon. The funny thing was that directly across from this marvelous ancient structure, was a McDonalds. It was ironic to see ‘the old and the new’ staring at each other from the square!

The Pantheon was nice. There is a huge opening in the top and when it rains, there are drains in the floor that take the water to the Tiber River. The sun shining through the ceiling’s opening would even tell them what time of day it was.

After the Pantheon, we stopped for lunch and dined on delicious bruchetta, cheese and olives, rustic bread and a cheese lasagna. For dessert, they brought out the MOST delicious Tiramisu I have ever had in my life!

Lunch took a little longer than everyone would have liked (about 2 hours), but afterwards, we boarded the bus to take us to St. Peter’s Square. We got to see Michelangelo’s Pieta all made in a beautiful white marble. We got to see three mummified Popes – kind of creepy. I touched the foot of the Apostle – which is not only for good luck, but so many have touched his foot that the toes have worn away on the statue! Down the center of St. Peters, you can see where the length of the other churches end. Maybe half way down the center aisle, there is a mark showing the length of Notre Dame in Paris. St. Peter’s is huge!

On the way out of the Vatican, we were heading through the crowd to get to our bus and a little old lady and her friend walked right in front of us to cross the street. She had her purse tightly under her arm, but the end of the purse was sticking out behind her. A gypsy boy (maybe 11 or 12 years old), walked right in front of me and unzipped her purse and was stealing her wallet. I was SO shocked, I grabbed his arm and pulled it out of the woman’s purse and yelled at him not to steal! I don’t know what I was thinking, but I thought it was terrible that someone would brazenly steal from another within eyesight of the Pope! I pushed the boy out of the crowd and by this time my husband who heard me yelling was running through the crowd like a bull in a China shop to find out why I was in distress. The Americans surrounding us from the tours were congratulating me on my ‘sharp eye’ and told me I did my good deed for the day. I figured it was just good Karma!

Tomorrow is a sea day and I am REALLY looking forward to not getting on a bus!

Olbia, Sardinia

Peyton at Madellana. You can see the boat that brought us to the beach in the background.














Beach at Madellana.

On our way to Sardinia.

Sardinia is INCREDIBLE! I must admit this is the prettiest place we have visited so far. This looks just like what you always imagined a little Italian village to look like – beautiful blue water, little homes dot the mountainside and flowers blooming everywhere.

We began the morning getting on a bus – the past 5 mornings have begun by getting on a bus! The hour drive crossed Sardinia to the city of Palau. The bus dropped us off at a marina where we boarded a boat (maybe 45 feet with a deck below and a deck out in the sun. The boat was nice and clean and I went up on the top deck with Peyton and Patrick to enjoy the sun. The boat ride was about 20 minutes to the island of Maddalena. We docked on a rocky outcropping and disembarked on a short walk to the beach. Our boat was pretty much the only inhabitants of the beach except for one topless sunbather – my guess from one of the small boats anchored nearby.

Peyton had a blast running around in the cool, blue water. You could see the bottom from at least 20 feet down. It took a little getting used to the cold water, but once you got in it was fine.

-Note to anyone going on this excursion – bring Mosquito repellant. They were not bad in the water, but they were DEADLY by the trees and rocks. I have a ton of bites on my legs and arms.

After our swim, we headed back to the boat for a nice lunch of pasta. After lunch, they brought around a hard white cheese, flatbread and salami. Everything was nice and tasty. The water, wine, coke and lemonade were free, but you could get something else from the snack bar if you had Euros on you.

The ride back to the dock was very nice and Peyton sat on my lap and we gazed out the window at the passing boats. Once we arrived, everyone was treated to a gelato at the local bar. It was very tasty, but get in line early because they run out of the popular flavors quickly.

We skipped dinner that night in favor of the snack bar and took Peyton to Disney’s new show – Art of the Story. It was very enjoyable and we headed to bed early since we would have a LONG day in Rome tomorrow.

Naples, Italy

A body of a slave (identified by his belt) found at Pompeii.

The ruins of Pompeii.

The top of Mt. Vesuvius




Today we hiked to the top of Mt. Vesuvius. If you have never been to the top of an active volcano, it just looks like a mountain with a big hole in the top of it. I must say the hike to the top burned a bunch of calories though!

-- For those of you doing this excursion, it was about an hour hike up to the top. It was pretty tough, but if you go slow and don’t have a problem climbing loose gravel on a path, you will be fine. We got down the mountain in about a half an hour. It was not too hot since we went in the morning and there was a nice breeze.

The view was just incredible and there were wildflowers growing all over the volcano. We walked around the rim for awhile and you could see a wide swath of barren land where the lava flow from the 1944 eruption went. It was fascinating.

After Mt. Vesuvius, we took the bus to a restaurant in the city of Pompeii. We had a nice lunch of pizza and an antipasti buffet. From the restaurant, we walked directly into the ruins of Pompeii. It was just fascinating. The tour guide was wonderful and very enthusiastic for the ruins. We went into a ‘house’ (the “House of the Dancing Fawn’) where a wealthy person used to live. He had a sauna, a personal theater, and two gardens inside the house! They had several of the original frescoes on the walls still in beautiful shape. There was also a mosaic that had over a million and a half pieces in it on his floor. It was of Alexander the Great in a battle scene and it was just beautiful.

-- Again, for people on this tour – it was HOT, very HOT. Make sure you have a hat and lots of sunscreen. We were running from shady spot to shady spot! I would also recommend a handkerchief that you could wet with water to cool yourself off and lots of water. You do get a bottle when you climb the volcano, but if you keep the bottle, you can refill it at the restaurant.

Once we got back, we tried to get Peyton from the kids camp. He was happy to see me, but he decided he wanted to stay. Patrick and I went off for a quick dip in the adult pool – which was nice and warm (just the way I like it and Patrick HATES it). We had a quick dinner at Animator’s Palette and headed off to bed.

Tomorrow is Sardinia and we are taking Peyton on the excursion with us!

Palermo

The view from our restaurant in Erice.

Temple at Segesta

Patrick and Karen at Segesta

The ancient Theater at Segesta















Patrick and I woke up early to head off on our excursion to Erice and Segesta after a quick bite to eat from room service. We were placed on a bus for about an hour to get to the ruins at Segesta. I actually wanted to visit this place because I saw it on TV in The Amazing Race. The ancient Theater and Temple were really cool. There was a bit of a small hike to the Temple, so if you have trouble walking on uneven surfaces, this is not the tour for you. Once we got up the hill, the Temple was filled with thousands of birds. It sounded so pretty the way the chirping echoed in the open ruin.

After the Temple, the tour took us to a beautiful restaurant overlooking the Mediterranean. There were full floor to ceiling windows that opened up to the view where we dined on pasta Bolognese, fresh vegetables, potatoes and a rustic bread. We had a good nap on the way back to the ship and we then wrestled Peyton out of the kids camp. I tried to get him to go back to our room and he said “how about you babysit me in MY room”? Oh well, lost that battle too. We relaxed before the ‘Golden Mickey’ show (which is like a knock-off of the Oscars). Peyton would not go to the show - back to the kids camp. We skipped formal night in favor of a quick dinner and a soak in the hot tub. Pirates of the Caribbean I was playing on the large screen.

Tomorrow – Napoli!

Sea Day

Karen on the back deck of the ship.

Peyton making flubber in the kid's camp!






A Beautiful Day at Sea on the Disney Magic!










We had quite a lazy day at sea today. The weather is better than anything you could imagine. We woke up around 8:00am and lounged in the room (and waited for TRRs to appear – work stuff). We got Peyton some food from room service and took him to the camp around 10:30am. My Mom made us a reservation for Palo’s at 11:00am for brunch. It was fantastic. I had an asparagus soup that tasted incredible. I also enjoyed the fresh seafood – shrimp, Alaskan King crab and stone crab claws.

After brunch, we met a bunch of DISers on the secret deck for a gift exchange. We got everything from jelly bellys to magnets to key chains from everyone on the boards. Some people even got REALLY creative and made notepads with the dates of our cruise – very cute. All of us then headed up to the Roy Disney suite to meet a fellow DISer who was staying there during the cruise. The suite was awesome. It had two huge bedrooms and two bathrooms and was beautifully decorated. We met a lot of people – even one family whose luggage was lost. As bad as it was not having luggage in Paris, at least we have it for the cruise. I felt REALLY bad for them.

We finally dragged Peyton away from the kid’s camp to take him swimming – ok I told him I met a bunch of cute girls that were going to the pool. We sat in the hot tub and watched Cars on the aerial screen for a bit and munched on chicken, fresh Bing cherries and a ham Paninni.

After a quick nap, we skipped formal night in favor of a quick dinner at Topsiders. None of us were very hungry and the food was just ok. We then tried to pick Peyton up again at the camp to go to the Golden Mickey’s and failed. He just LOVES the camp. We are getting ready for bed now, but he STILL won’t leave the camp. It looks like they had a big party in the Oceaneer’s Club and he had a blast. His age group made chocolate chip cookies and Flubber (i.e. he made a MESS)! I am glad we decided not to try to take him on any excursions. I think he will have a MUCH better time in the camp.

Good night everyone!

The Disney Magic!!

HELLO from the Mediterranean! Our flight was luckily uneventful and ALL of our luggage arrived on the ship! We boarded the ship just in time to grab a quick bite to eat on Deck 9 before the lifeboat drill. It was really over with quick and we headed off to the kids camp to register Peyton. He remembered everything about the camp and did NOT want to leave to see the ‘Welcome Aboard’ show in the Disney Theater. I am SO glad we dragged him away because the show was fantastic! There was a ventriloquist named Michael Harrison that had the entire audience in hysterics! He pulled a 12 year old boy out of the audience and made him his ‘puppet’. Peyton was laughing so hard I thought I would never get him settled down. If you have a chance to see this guy I highly recommend him. After the show, we acquiesced and took Peyton off to the camp so we could have dinner at Animator’s Palate. The broccoli and Maytag blue cheese was awesome!

After dinner, we collected Peyton from the kid’s camp and headed up to the ‘sail away’ party on Deck 9. We had a BLAST. Peyton did not quite make it to the end of the show, so Mom took him back to the room. Patrick and I danced until the party was over and took a leisurely stroll around the top deck before retiring for the night.

For all of you internet junkies, VPN does work in your cabin now! My room is on deck 5 and the connection is great!

We are off to brunch in about an hour. Today is going to be a lazy day at sea!

To Barcelona!

On our way to Barcelona! We are currently waiting for our plane in the Orly airport. Our driver at TVR Transportation was early and came with a nice big car to take us to the airport – I must say their service has been exemplary. They were on time for both airports (early actually) and had cars large enough to fit the four of us quite comfortably. I was able to pre-pay with a credit card, so there was no need to carry all of that cash to pay for the driver.

Orly airport is very nice – no free internet though. If I had more time – or planned a little better, I would have gotten a pre-paid card for Orly and Charles d’Gaulle.

Here are the details for anyone traveling here in the near future:
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The Hub télécom Wi-Fi® card is available in four different versions: for 30, 60, 120 minute and 24 hour sessions.For 30, 60 and 120 minute sessions, the connection time can be split over a period of seven days starting from the client's first connection; the 24 hour session, on the other hand, does not allow splitting and automatically expires 24 hours after authentication on the Hub télécom Wi-Fi® network.Every minute started is debited from the time credit available on the card purchased.Charges applied :
· 30 minute card : 6,00 euros
· 60 minute card : 10,00 euros
· 120 minute card : 15,00 euros
· 24 hours card : 30,00 euros
These cards provide you with a login and password, so that you can then connect to the Internet.Pre-paid cards are sold in the “Relay” shops in our terminals.

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We are all anxious to get on the ship. We arrive in Barcelona around 3:00 and the ship leaves port at 9:00 tonight. If you see this post, it means we made it to Barcelona!

Looking back on Paris, it was a lot of fun. I wish we had more time to visit the gardens or maybe Versailles. I also wish our bags would have arrived with us. It seems that all of the bags were delayed at Heathrow. That airport is insane. We had to take a bus out to the plane because there is no room at the terminal. There were tons of planes parked in huge lots – no wonder the bags got lost.

Pictures from Paris

View from the 2nd platform of the Eiffel Tower. The mound in the distance is the Sacre Coeur on Montmartre.

At the Eiffel Tower













Peyton at the back of Notre Dame










Mommy and Peyton at Notre Dame










Daddy and Peyton outside Notre Dame














Mommy and Peyton at the River Seine.