When in Rome...

Our first stop was Rome, one of the places that Chris and I have always wanted to visit together. We woke up early and headed to the "Stardust Lounge" to wait for our tour number to be called. Try to picture an immensely crowded room, filled with anxious cruisers, all of whom just know that THEY will be the ones who missed their tour! It was quite comical actually! Anyway, our number was called and we were soon herded to the buses. Our tour guide, bless her heart, seemed to have done one too many tours of Rome and wasn't just the most enthusiastic lady we've ever met. Thankfully, she's the only one who seemed to be this way, as all of our other guides were unbelievably helpful & kind. But, we did get to see all the major sites. The Colosseum, the Pantheon, the Roman Forum, and many of the arches that leave their mark throughout the city. We then headed to Vatican City and the beautiful St. Peter's Basilica. It was so fun to look out and see the same view that the Pope has each time he speaks from the church steps. We stood in a seemingly never-ending line (there's a picture of us standing in it on the left), but eventually made it inside the most spectacular church we have ever seen. The sheer size of it is enough to move you, but add to that the beautiful mosaics, sculptures, writings and design, and it just simply takes your breath away. We saw Michelangelo's "pieta`", which is now my most favorite work of art. It just leaves you speechless when you see it in person. We were also impressed with the 9 foot tall letters around the dome that had this message: "you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church. ...I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven....". Such magnitude and grace. I just can't explain how beautiful it was.

We ended our tour there, did a little shopping in St. Peter's Square, and (of course) had some wonderfully delicious gelatto before getting back on the bus. The day was everything that we hoped it would be!

Cruise Tidbits

Much to our dismay, we are steadily getting back to our daily routine here in England. Gone are the leisurely mornings, the relaxing days by the pool, and the delightful midnight chocolate buffet! Yes, sadly, we are back to the grind...but at least we have pictures and made memories that will last a lifetime.

I think the best way to write about this trip is to cover a different place every day. We got to see and experience so many amazing things that if I tried to write about them all tonight, I'd be here til next week!! So, first just let me say that our cruise line (Norwegian) was just awesome! We flew to Barcelona early on a Sunday morning and then caught a cab to the port. Now THAT was an interesting cab ride!! Our cabbie got lost and actually had to pull over and look at one of those gigantic maps on the side of the road. He also didn't speak a WORD of English. He knew less English than Chris and I know of Spanish, so we quickly knew we were in for an adventure! We understood about 3 of his words..."andale" (hurry), "cinco" (five...we're still not really sure why he was screaming this), and "oh" (as in "oh, oh, oh", which he said over and over and over again!!). We really couldn't help him at all because we were too busy laughing in the backseat, really hoping that we didn't miss the boat!

The ship was just incredible. There were two swimming pools, 12 restaurants, a spa, a fitness center, a huge theatre, a casino, & so much more. It was overwhelming when we first boarded, we didn't stop getting lost until our 3rd day at sea! I played Bingo (those of you who know me, know that I'm a huge bingo fan) and won about $70! We also played Blackjack and won a little money there too! BUT, the thing that I'm most proud of winning is the bottle of champagne that we won while playing the Newlywed/Not So Newlywed Game! We were competing against 4 other couples, one of which had been married 64 years! We also did a Murder Mystery Dinner. We'd never done one of those before, and it was actually really fun. Chris ended up being the "murderer", and completely fooled everyone all night...pretty funny! We also got to see some wonderful performers. Magicians, singers, dancers and even a Cirque du Soleil type act that was unbelievable. They really turned the ship into something spectacular!

More tomorrow :)

Cheers!

This is why I love working with children!!

So, I went to work today and in my class we were talking about cities and states. Here's just a just one excerpt of our 30 minute discussion....

Me: "So Caleb, what city and state were you born in?"
Caleb: "Mississippi"
Me: "Okay, that's the state, but do you know the city?"
Caleb: "Uhhh, Mrs. Duncan (insert very exasperated little face here) I was a baby when I was born, how do you expect me to remember what city it was in?"

LOVE IT!

Anyway, we're obviously back from our WONDERFUL cruise. I still have trouble putting into words just how amazing this trip was. Don't worry, pictures are coming soon! We're still trying to get acclimated to being back at home...not having someone cook for us, not having constant entertainment, and not having a pool to lounge around by all day long. And that was just on the boat!! We're thankful to be home safe, and to have had the opportunity to explore some of the most beautiful places on earth. What a blessing that was :)

Istanbul or Bust!!!

So, Chris and I leave tomorrow morning for our 12 day cruise, and I am so excited that I can barely stand it!! A friend (a very, very sweet and wonderful friend) is picking us up at 5 in the morning and taking us to the airport. Our first stop is Barcelona, Spain where we'll board the ship and head to Italy. I am almost overwhelmed at the fact that we're actually going to be in Italy in 2 days. So fun!! Traveling there has been a dream of mine since I was a little girl, and being able to actually go now with Chris is just almost unbelievable!! We've already picked all of our "excursions" (did I mention that I am a little obsessive about planning things??), and I'm most looking forward to our Wine Tasting Adventure in Tuscany. I think Chris is most looking forward to climbing Mt. Vesuvius...funny how our tastes are just a little bit different :) Our next stop is Athens, Greece. (I'll let y'all know how that goes since I've heard a rumor about a few tiny fires somewhere in that vicinity!) Then it's on to Dubrovnik, Croatia where we'll be visiting a coastal yachting village. Then we head to Izmar & Istanbul, Turkey. We've heard such wonderful things about Turkey that we decided to stay an extra 2 days there at the end of our trip! I think Istanbul is going to be just amazing. I can't wait to go to the Beylerbeyi Palace, the Grand Bazaar and the Spice Market!! It is going to be such a fantastic experience, something that we never even imagined that we would be doing! We'll be sure to take plenty of pictures and we'll let y'all know how it was when we return :)