Day 8 - Ephesus

Today was spent in good old Turkey! It wasn't easy when the alarm went off at 6am this morning... but we needed to get up and get ready for our tour. After grabbing breakfast at the buffet, we headed into the theatre to wait for our tour to be called. We had signed up for the tour that covered the most... this means all day! At about 8:30 we were called to begin heading out to our bus.

The first stop on the tour was at the house of the Virgin Mary! It was about an hour drive from port... but was well worth the drive. When we arrived we all got off the bus and our tour guide began to give us the history of her house. Once the tour guide was done we were released to go through the house and tour the grounds on our own. The house was small, maybe 400 square feet and stone both inside and out. It was really cool to see and kind of weird to be walking through the house knowing the history! After spending about an hour at the house we made our way down to the city of Ephesus. Our guide said the city has been rebuilt 5 times and the one we were about to visit was the first. We pulled up and all piled off the bus... we were brought through the city by our guide while she gave us the history. The city was amazing... dating back to around 600BC she shared with us that it is considered one of the seven wonders of the world! The city was discovered as they began work on the roads in Ephesus... and as funding becomes available they continue to uncover more and more of this city! After about close to three hours, we moved onto our last stop at the Basilica of St John. This church is believed to be built over the burial site of St. John. We spent about 30 minutes at the church at then moved onto the provide lunch.

Lunch was served outside at a train museum in Ephesus. At the beginning of our tour we were told lunch was provided at we'd all be treated to Turkish cuisine... I could hardly wait!!! Actually it didn't end up being too bad. Lunch started with a salad, then these cheese tortilla and then they plopped these leaf wraps on our plate, I could barley look at them, but Jennifer actually gave one a try! The main course was chicken, lamb, rice and veggies... the chicken and rice were good. After lunch we boarded the bus and made our way back to port. We pulled up to the ship about 5:15 headed to our room!

So far there's been a lot of walking on the trip so we figured it was time to spoil ourselves... so we made massage appointments in the spa! Our appointments were at 7:30, but around 6:30 we headed to the spa to take advantage of some of it's other amenities. We started by relaxing in their giant whirlpool which consisted of jets, bubbles and waterfalls! After hanging there for a bit we moved to the heated tile lounge chairs that overlooked the front of the boat and waited to be called for our appointments! Needless to say the massage was great, just what we both needed!

After the spa and getting ready we headed to the atrium and met up with Vern and hung out with him and some others for the rest of the night.

We were able to see a bunch of pics from the engagement party... and we're sorry we missed it, looks like it was a really good time! Hope everyone is doing good... tomorrow is Istanbul... a little shopping and our second party at night!

Day 7 - Athens

Today our time was spent in "Hot" Athens, Greece... but still not as hot as we've been hearing from Chicago! We again chose not to sign up for any tours and to do things on our own.

We began the day like every other and headed over to the never ending breakfast buffet! We left breakfast around 9 o'clock... and began our trek to Athen's version of Chicago's "L" train. We initially thought we'd be able to walk it.. but soon realized it was further than we thought and grabbed a cab. About 5 minutes and 2 euros later we were at the train station. The train ride to the historical sites of Athens took around 30 minutes and two train transfers.

9:45, we arrive at out destination! We first headed over to the Acropolis.. which sat high above the city... so we definitely worked off our breakfast walking up. Up top sat a citadel that over looked the city. Along with the citadel were a few other structures such as a theatre. After spending a couple hours touring this spot we headed back down to the city.

Once down we found a nice little shopping area to spend some time in, but first we had to eat! In the middle of the shopping area we again found a nice little outdoor cafe.. I again did the pizza and Jennifer did a caesar salad, both very good! After lunch we began to tour the shops of Athens.. all which lined these unique brick walkways. Once 3 o'clock hit we headed over to another historical structure, "Temple of Olympian Zeus," which sat right in the middle of the city. A little side note.. Greece had a wild animal that took us a while to get used to... Dogs! Everywhere we looked we'd see a dog whether it was lying on the sidewalk, under a tree or just walking around, it was actually kind of sad. Anyways we toured the Temple of Olympian Zeus for about a half hour.. then began our trek back to the train.

On our hike back to the train we passed through the shopping area and ran into Gayle shopping around... so we stopped and chatted with her for a couple minutes. For those that don't know, Gayle is the "O's" best friend.

After the train, bus ride and walk back.. we arrived at the ship around 5:15 and headed to our room for a nap! After 2 hours of a much deserved nap.. we got ready and headed out to the ships Italian restaurant. The restaurant was good.. again I got a caesar salad and cheese tortellini and Jennifer got the penne pasta.. both very good! After dinner we headed to the theatre for their nightly show... which this time was a jazz singer / trumpet player / tap dancer. We hung around for a bit after the show but headed to bed early to rest up for our day in Turkey!

Hope April and Joe's engagement party went well! We miss everyone and hope everyone is doing good!

Day 6 - At Sea

Today was a good day to kick back and not do a whole lot. We woke about 8 o'clock and headed up to the breakfast buffet.. which seems to be our daily routine. After breakfast we headed out to the deck by the pool to grab some seats for the day. Jen layed out, and I had signed up to be in a volleyball tournament, so I headed to the back deck for that. Another guy and I teamed up and played around 10 games throughout the day.. pretty exhausting! In between games I found time to scale the rock wall they have on the ship. Once 4 o'clock rolled around Jen and another girl went off to play bingo... but unfortunately didn't have any luck. While she tested her luck at bingo I took a dip in the pool and hung out there for a bit.

Once we were all showered and cleaned up we headed out with friends to the ships steak house, so far this has been our favorite meal. We both got filet mignon and mashed potatoes.. for dessert Jen got creme brulee and I tackled another Caesar salad (it was good)! After dinner we head in to the theatre for their "Dance Through the Decades" show. We headed to bed around 1 o'clock.. which we consider early compared to other nights.. time on the ship seems to be a lot different than when we're at home.

Today we tackle Athens...

Day 5 - Sicily

Today the shipped docked in Sicily at the town of Messina. We didn't have any excursions planned for today so we went off on our own. Unlike other stops where we'd arrive sometime in the early morning... this time we rolled in around noon which allowed us time to relax in the morning. After eating lunch on the ship we headed out into Messina to hunt down Italy's version of the Metra. We walked for about 10 minutes and soon stumbled on the dumpy station and trains. After using hand signals to communicate what we wanted we were soon on our way with roundtrip tickets in hand. The train ride to the city we were going to took us an hour and a half. We got to our destination around 3:45 and grabbed a cab into the mountains to the town of Toarmina, where we were told was some good shopping.

We arrived in Toarmina around 4:00 and unfortunately only had about 45 minutes before we needed to catch a cab back to the station to catch the 5:20 train back to Messina. Even though we only had 45 minutes it was well worth the time and hassle of getting there because the view we had was pretty nice. The cab ride down was rather interesting too. For some reason the mojority of cabs on this trip have been Mercedes.. and nice ones to. The ride down consists of a lot of tight turns and narrow roads, our driver was driving like he was on I88.. driving fast and passing cars all the way down, he almost had a mess to clean up in his car!

Our train arrived back in Messina around 6:45.. so before our 8:30 curfue to get back on the ship, we toured downtown Messina. Unlike the United States, Italy takes three hours for their lunch breaks. So when we had left the ship Messina was a ghost town... and when we returned it was the happening place. We ended up boarding the ship around 8:00 and grabbed some dinner, played a couple games of bowling and headed to their magic show in the theatre. After the theatre they did a game called "How Well Do You Know Your Co-Worker" in the atrium, which I didn't participate in but we did watch. After the game we decided to turn in for the night.

We hope everyone is doing good.. and yes even though we're on a cruise ship we did hear about Michael Jackson, and the rest as well! Hope you have a good day.. we'll chat tomorrow!

Day 4 - Rome

Get comfortable... today was a lot of fun, so I have a lot to cover! Originally we thought we would be completely on our own today but we decided to sign up for the tour "Rome On Your Own"... which basically provided transportation to Rome, then from there we were on our own. After grabbing breakfast, which by the way seems like a never ending buffet of anything you can think of... we boarded our buses. From the port into Rome it was about an hour and a half, so that gave us the opportunity to see a lot of Italy as our bus director narrated the ride for us.

We pulled into Rome at about ten thirty and got off the bus at the Vatican City / Sistine Chapel. Once off the bus we were completely on our own and free to do whatever... our plan of attack was to see as much as we could, which meant a lot of walking, thank goodness Jennifer wore her flip flops!

Our first stop was the Vatican City. We just walked around the outside of the church and city rather than paying and eating up a lot of time touring the inside. Actually St. Peters Square was full of people because the Pope was there addressing the crowd, so we were able to see him from a distance! From there our next stop was the Colosseum, which happened to be across town. It probably took about a half hour to walk... but was well worth it! It was pretty cool because the way we took, took us down a long street where the Colosseum was sitting at the very end. Once we got there and before looking around we stopped at an outdoor cafe to have some "real" Italian pizza... which was really good! Once we were finished with lunch we toured around the Colosseum and the Arch of Titus. We originally didn't plan on going inside the Colosseum, but it was too cool that we had to see the inside. So for twelve "euros" each we were in the Colosseum! It was pretty crazy to be there and see it in person... there's really no words to describe it, the building is massive and sat right in the middle of the city!

Our next stop took us to the Trevi Fountain. What your supposed to do when visiting the fountain is stand with your back to the fountain and with your right hand toss a coin over your left shoulder and wish for the following. 1 coin = you'll return to Rome, 2 coins = you'll get married and 3 coins = you'll get divorced... so we threw 3... kidding we actually didn't throw any, it was pretty crowded. Next we made our way over to the Spanish Steps... not sure the history but it was marked on our map so we thought we should see it. The two big "eats" in Rome seem to be pizza and Gelato. So during our walk and after our pizza we stopped and had some Gelato, if you ask me it's just a fancy name for ice cream, but every time we saw a place that sold it Jennifer got weak knees. It actually was very good, I got the lemon ice and Jennifer had some chunky cherry thing?

So pretty much after the Spanish Steps we made our way back to our meeting place. Even if we weren't able to see any landmarks, just experiencing Rome was cool... everything about the city, the way people live, drive and act is so different from what we're used to. So far in each city, motorcycles / scooters seem to be the preferred method of transportation, they're everywhere!

We got back to the ship about six thirty and met some friends for dinner at eight, we went to the French restaurant on the ship. I had to prepare myself and check out the menu before dinner... but Jennifer and I ended up both getting their beef tenderloin. For dessert the four of us split ice cream, chocolate fondue and desert crepes... don't worry Bev, Jen said yours are still better! After dinner we tried our luck at the casino and actually walked out with a hundred dollar bill!

That was it for today, as I'm writing this we're on our way to Sicily. The weather so far has been perfect, each day has been sunny, around 80 with no humidity! Well that's it for now... off to tour Sicily!

Day 3 - At Sea

Well we didn't do a whole lot today. Monday night we stayed out pretty late so we took advantage of sleeping in Tuesday morning. We grabbed some lunch and headed out to the pool for some laying out... which we did for most of the afternoon. Once we got ready for the night we headed out to dinner with some friends. We end up just going to one of their larger "nicer" restaurants.. I had a steak which was good and Jennifer had chicken breast. It's been a lot of fun grabbing some good food to eat and leaving once we're done.. no check needed! After dinner we checked out the casino on board where several people have been getting lucky.. one girl actually walked out with a $1000 win while we were there. Once ten o'clock rolled around we headed into the theatre for their show "Music Inspired From Around the World"... it was a good show.

After the show we took a walk to the other end of the ship where they had a buffet and grabbed some snacks and ice cream!

Sorry, we didn't take any photos today... but I included one I snapped just now of us pulling into Rome.

Day 2 - Barcelona & Montserrat

Two days down! Yesterday (Monday) we had the day to spend roaming through Barcelona. The day started with everyone who was go on a tour to meet in the theatre. Two of the ships captains came in down by one of the front rows and pulled a worker from between the seats with a sheet wrapped around him.. apparently some of the workers went out in Barcelona the night before and he passed out in the theatre for the night! Unfortunately I wasn't quick enough with the camera!

The tour we did was a trip up in the mountains to Montserrat and then a driving tour through Barcelona. The drive up to Montserrat was nice... through the mountains, tight roads and nice scenery! We spent about 3hrs touring Montserrat... they had little shops and the church to see. We actually got to sit in on a 20min mass that they had, the had a really nice kids choir. After that we headed into Barcelona for a driving tour.. the guide on our bus gave us the history as we drove. It was nice to get a flavor of where April spent some time!

We got back to the ship around four.. ordered room service then passed out. We did get a nice alarm at six o'clock when the captain came on the intercom to announce the boat drill. So we woke up, grabbed our life jackets and headed to our meeting spot. After, we went back to sleep until eight or so.. the time change messed us up a little. Then we headed to the theatre for a show for a taste of things to come show. They had each of the ships acts perform a little something to give us a flavor of what to expect on our trip. We grabbed a bite to eat at the Mexican restaurant.. and met up with some people to hang out the rest of the night.

They day was pretty busy and non-stop so we're looking for to the day at sea today!

PS: The photos are from our point and shoot camera.. we'll have to show you the good ones when we get back!

Day 1 - We Made It!

Hey everyone.. well we made it, we're officially in Barcelona, Spain! From the moment our car touched the Rockford parking lot we've been getting the first class treatment.. it's been fun! Right away they grabbed our bags from us in a special check-in spot in the parking lot and directed us to where the valet parking was! We sat in the airport waiting for our flight which was actually scheduled to leave at 11:45pm. They had snacks, drinks and music set up for us, so it wasn't too bad.

We boarded our MD-11 airplane about 11pm.. and were one of the several unfortunate guest to sit across the aisle from each other rather than right next to each other. But it was nice that we were each on the aisle for stretching and getting out! The flight was just under 8 hours.. throughout the flight they spoiled us with our choice of steak or chicken a salad and appetizer. Unfortunately neither of us ate just because it was around 1am in the morning.. however we did partake in the Ben and Jerry's ice cream at 3am during one of our movies! Then again towards the end of the flight when they served us breakfast. The flight wasn't so bad, but each of us was able to only get around 3hrs of sleep!

Once arriving in Barcelona they walked us all through the airport to the several shuttle bus waiting to take us to the ship. So far we've been impressed at how smooth every things been going. They really went over the top on the amount of staff they took on to help with everything.. all which sport a fluorescent green "Trip of a Lifetime" shirt. We arrived at the ship around 3:30pm or so (8:30am Chicago) and went through a process similar to checking in for a flight. Our room is on the 9th floor of the ship and has a balcony that looks over the Mediterranean. We had about an hour to explore the ship before we needed to get ready for the nights event! Around 7pm we boarded another shuttle that took us away to a Spanish village about 15mins from the ship where we stayed til around 11pm. The event was a lot of fun.. we started at the entrance to this village where they brought in a bunch of sidewalk acts (painted people), to perform as we walked in. We navigated our way through the cobblestone village where we were able to stop at the little shops along the way to shop. Our destination was a large center courtyard where they had food, drinks and entertainment! Words can't really say what this look like but it was pretty impressive! The food was a bit over the top... probably the highlight was the deer leg they had clamped in this contraption as they sliced meat from it's leg! Needless to say the mozzarella sticks and potato skins tasted good once we got back to the ship!

I'm typing this and it's about 7am and were preparing to tour the streets of Barcelona today! Unfortunately the phone we brought doesn't look like it will work.. but we'll try to figure something out! We'll be checking email throughout the day so feel free to email! We miss everyone, especially Riley.. but watching the other couples wrestle with their kids confirms we did the right thing! Thanks for reading!