Chocolat

One last picture to share from our trip to Europe and this one is my favorite. My friend, Janette, took this in the prettiest little "Chocolat" shop you've ever seen in France, near Versailles. I believe the expression on my face says it all. There is nothing quite as amazing or so sweet as chocolate in the heart of Europe. I believe that the wrapper of a Dove candy I opened once says it best, "Chocolate always loves you back."


À bientôt.

Nice, France

Our last stop on this cruise was Nice, France. Here is another place I wouldn't mind having a vacation home in. We were torn on what to do in this port. Monte Carlo was just a bus ride away and there was a lot to see in Nice as well. However, we decided to visit a medieval village called Eze instead.


This village is built on the top of a hill. It's a pretty steep climb to the top. So of course, before climbing, one must have something for strength. Baguettes, especially hot ones, are so much better in France than anywhere else.


Eze is tiny with little steep twisting streets. Villages such as this were not for the feeble. Heaven help the handicapped or the elderly in the medieval days.


We discovered that there was a hotel in this tiny village. We peeked inside of one of the rooms. Very nice. And when we checked out the prices, we found that if you want to visit from January to March, it is actually very reasonable. It would be fun to come back and spend a night in this place. If you ever come, know that there is a bell boy to bring your luggage up the hill. Just make sure you are generous with your tip.

After Eze, we toyed with the idea of taking a bus to Monte Carlo but decided to head back into Nice. We were short on time so we decided to just go and see what we could see in about an hour. We made it to the shore and touched the Mediterranean.


We had a teenage boy in our group so we ventured ahead to make sure the beach was safe for teenage viewing. This beach was pretty mild. Other than a naked two year old, not much to see much to the relief of the teenager's mother.

Near the beach was an open air market. It was fun to just wander. Flowers everywhere. Nice is known for its flowers. And there were vegetables, spices, and pastries. We bought some of these and they were yummy.



I can't tell you much more about Nice because after wandering the market, we had to catch a bus back to the port to get on the cruise ship. Of all the ports, this was the port I felt that we saw the least in.

And thus our cruise ended. The morning after Nice, we docked back in Barcelona and then flew home. It was an amazing once in a life time trip and I am so glad we were able to go. But now back to real life, work, laundry, etc. It's good to be home to the kids but oh, I don't look forward to worrying about what to eat each night. Wish my home had a cruise ship dining room and buffet where we could all go whenever we were hungry.

Florence and Pisa, Italy

Our next stop, Tuscany! Yes, we docked at a little city called Livorno in the part of Italy known as Tuscany. I can't even tell you how beautiful our drive was from Livorno to Florence. Green hills, vineyards, olive tree orchards. Here is a view of our future vacation home.



Don't you all want to come and visit us here someday?

Florence was amazing. Our driver in Rome had told us that Florence was like an outdoor museum. He was so right. Here we were in the city where the Renaissance flourished.



Everywhere you turned there was something interesting to see. We started off the day by climbing the bell tower of this church (I think this is the Cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore. I wish I could tell you for sure but by this point in the trip, all of the church names were blending into one).



414 steps later...,



we had a breathtaking view of the city. Here is the top of the cathedral viewed from the bell tower.



We even watched a student protest come into the piazza below from the bell tower(they were protesting cuts in university funds).

We didn't spend any time in museums here. We had decided that instead of visiting museums, we would just wander the streets since Florence is much like an open air museum. The bridge behind us is the Ponte Vecchio.



It is known as the "Old Bridge" and is in fact the oldest bridge in the city. It is full of little shops. Here is one of the shops.



Looking pretty old isn't it? I was dying to go inside one of the apartments above these shops. I really wanted to see what it was like.

Here in the piazza by the Uffizi Museum, we saw a whole assortment of statues.



The copy of Michelangelo's David stands here. The original stood here once but was eventually moved to the Galleria dell'Accademia museum. We decided to just see the copy and unfortunately, found it under scaffolding. Had we known this in advance, we would have paid to go to the museum to see the original. Many of our friends who went there commented on how amazing it was.

When we entered the piazza in front of the Santa Croce church we saw this building covered with paintings.



As I said, it's like an open air museum here.

Here is the Santa Croce church.



Inside Santa Croce, we saw the tombs of Galileo, Dante (although he's not actually buried here), and Michelangelo. The three mourning women on Michelangelo's tomb represent architecture, painting and sculpture.



We ran out of time in this beautiful city. On our way back to the ship, we drove to Pisa to see the Leaning Tower.



And of course, we had to take this picture along with every other tourist there (notice the man in the background doing the same thing).



I did one too. It's cheesy I know but isn't it a requirement of visiting Pisa? We wanted to climb the tower but only so many people can go up at a time so you have to purchase tickets for a certain time. The next available time was at 5:00 and we had to leave at that time to get back to our ship. Once again, something for another trip.

Rome, Italy

The day after Naples, we arrived in Rome. So little time, so much to see.

We started our day out at the Vatican. We had hired a tour guide for a three hour tour. Thank heaven we did because Luisa kept us on track. Without her, we would have wandered aimlessly and spent the whole day here and still not seen everything that could have been seen. Luisa helped us catch the major highlights. Here is a view of the garden. St. Peter's Basilica is visible.



I took so many pictures here and I can't even begin to share them. Here though is a shot of what was once the library. Picture desk after desk of priests studying here.



The Sistine Chapel was definitely the highlight of the tour. We saw Michelangelo's beautiful ceiling and his painting of the Final Judgment. We were not allowed to take any pictures in the Sistine Chapel so I don't have any to share. But take a minute and google it and learn a bit about it. It was very impressive.

St. Peter's Basilica was closed to the public while we were here because of a commemorative event (the anniversary of the death of one of the Popes). I was disappointed we didn't get to go inside but we did take some pictures in the Piazza in front of the Basilica. We saw the Pope on the big screen outside as he was officiating.






After the Vatican, we went to a little Pizzeria by the Pantheon. Okay, this place was awesome. You walk in, select a pizza, they cut you a big old slab, weigh it, fold it up and wrap it in paper and hand it to you. It was delicious. As we sat outside eating it, I thought, "Here we are, eating pizza next to the Pantheon. How cool is this?!"



After pizza, we looked around the Pantheon. Amazing.



And I listened to this man play his violin outside. I gladly tipped him before taking his picture. This is one of my favorite photos from the day.



Then it was on to the Trevi Fountain. It was so crowded here, not at all like I had pictured it from "Roman Holiday". Dean and I did throw a coin in so hopefully, we'll be back to Rome again.



Because the day was such a whirlwind, we drove by a few other sights and then went to the Colosseum. Amazing. Outside the Colosseum...



Inside...



We were almost out of time when we exited the Colosseum but we did have a few minutes to wander around the Forum.



I so wished for more time here. Rome wasn't built in a day, it shouldn't be visited in just one day either. Again, Dean and I will have to come back someday.

Naples, Italy--Herculaneam, Sorrento

We had hardly rested up from our day in Valleta when we were in Italy. Our first stop was Naples. First of all, can I say that the drivers in Naples are insane? We saw a mother driving down the street on a scooter with her toddler in front of her, both without helmets. When someone in our van commented on it to the taxi driver, he said, "That is nothing. Wait until you see a mother, father, and two or three kids on a scooter." We also saw a scooter and car accident. Both seemed to come out okay. Thank goodness most of the cars are tiny like this Fiat.



By the way, Dean is now on the lookout for an old Fiat. If you know of one, let him know.

Nearby Naples is Pompeii, the city buried in ash in 79 AD by the eruption of Mount Vesuvius. On the other side, closer to Naples, is Herculaneum (Ercolano in Italian) that was buried by lava in that same eruption. Herculaneum was actually discovered first and the archeologists thought it was Pompeii. It was later they discovered the true Pompeii. Pompeii is huge. Herculaneum is not so huge, only because several apartment buildings were built around it and it is not possible for them to excavate further without tearing down the buildings. Herculaneum was a resort town. We decided to visit this one because of the time factor. It was pretty amazing. You could see mosaics, paintings, tile work that was preserved. We were only supposed to spend two hours here but were all so fascinated that we ended up staying there for three.



The only downside to three hours in Herculaneum were that we didn't have time to drive all the way down the Coast of Amalfi as planned. However, we did make it to Sorrento which was beautiful. Here are the bunch of us on the way to Sorrento.




At this overlook, we found all sorts of locks. I guess this is how you declare your undying love. You drive up on the coast, put your names and date on a lock, lock it to something and throw the key in the ocean. All is great as long as you don't break up (grin).



In Sorrento, we ate pizza. Since pizza was founded in Naples, we figured we should have it here. Very different from American pizza but also very good.



In Sorrento, we happened upon this little wood makers shop. He makes wood inlaid boxes. We bought Sidney and Kristina music boxes here. This man has been making these for 20 years, his father for 60.



Sorrento had some amazing wood work. I found a nativity that I would have loved. But everything is very expensive here, cheaper than Rome, but still very expensive. Not quite sure how these people afford to live.

Once again, Dean and I are going to have to come back here. We didn't make it to Capri or Positano which we would have loved to have seen. This is the downside to a cruise because the time is so limited. But hey, it's still amazing to have been here.

Valleta, Malta

This was an incredible stop. Malta is a grouping of islands in the Mediterranean Sea. It is often associated with the Knights of Malta, or the Knights Hospitaller which were charged with the defense of the Holy Land. The fortifications on the isle are from the 1500's. Coming into this port was like stepping back into time. Just look at this view taken as we were pulling into port.



We jumped on a Maltese bus. Dean was in love with the old versions of the bus and was disappointed that the bus we took was a newer model.



We rode to a tiny village called Mdina, the Silent City. The only cars allowed in the city are those of residents. It was amazing. Tiny little streets like this. (And look at how clean they are!)



Here is another shot in front of a cathedral in Mdina.



The countryside was beautiful. They recently had brought in the harvests. The fields were separated into plots, each surrounded by a low wall of stones.



Back in Valleta, we visited the Barrakka Gardens. The Knights used to practice their maneuvers here. And then we visited another cathedral, St. John's Co-Cathedral. This cathedral was one of the main cathedrals used by the Knights and the floor was covered with tombstones like this.



Towards the end of our time in Valleta, we got hit with a rain storm. It poured rain! We had an umbrella but it didn't do us much good. Valleta is on a hill so the water runs down the street to the ocean which meant as we walked back to the street that the water ran down hill with us. It was like a waterfall coming down some of the stairs. But it was all part of the adventure. Here is a view of a street in Valleta taken from the Gardens. This was before the rain but seeing the slope of the streets may help you envision walking down these streets in a downpour.



I really need to read up on more of the history of this country. It has been a player in many different wars. And I was very impressed with the people here. They were very gracious and everyone spoke English. English and Maltese are both taught here. And I was most impressed with the fact that there was no graffiti and the streets were so clean. That says a lot for the people I think. Dean and I would both like to visit here again and stay for longer than a day.

Barcelona, Spain

I tried to update you from Europe but the internet connection on the ship was so slow, it just wasn't worth it. Dean and I are now safe and sound and updating you from the United States. I am still breaking these posts into chunks just to make them more manageable for you and me.

First of all, maybe I should explain why Dean and I took off for 12 days to Europe when the stock market was crashing and we had already blown our life savings in Russia just a few months prior. Close to My Heart offers cruises/trips to its consultants that achieve certain levels of sales, etc. during the year. I earned this trip with Close to My Heart. The Paris portion was an add on (with free airfare why not take a stop in Paris) but since we used the subways and buses and bought museum passes, we did Paris very cheaply. It was truly a once in a lifetime trip that we have been looking forward to for several months. I feel very blessed that I had a good year with my Close to My Heart business and was able to earn this amazing trip. And now, on to Barcelona.

We left our cute little chateau at the Marriott Vacation Club in Paris at 4:30 am Saturday morning and flew to Barcelona, Spain. Wow, what a contrast in cities. Both are beautiful. But both are very different.

By the time we made it to our hotel and grabbed something quick to eat, it was late morning so we took a train to the monastery of Montserrat above the city. Beautiful place. You can see the monastery here. We took a tram up which was a little nerve wracking for Dean but not as bad as the elevator up the Eiffel Tower he says.



We didn’t expect a small city at the top of this hill but there it was. Shops, restaurants, a church, the monastery. There was even a hotel you could stay at here. The church was amazing. There was a wedding going on so I felt like we were intruding (along with a few hundred other tourists). Here we all are in front of the square.



If you proceed up the stairs and through the arches behind us, you will find this.



And if you go inside, you find this.



Beautiful isn’t it? The wedding party was up at the front.

Here is another view of the monastery from the top.



Barcelona is a partying city. We walked down Ramblas Street and it was packed with tourists and locals. This is in the Gothic part, the older part of the city. The little side streets are so narrow. Along this street there were bird shops, flower shops, sidewalk cafes, street performers. We got our picture taken with one.



We found out some of the people traveling with Close to My Heart were pick pocketed on this street while taking pictures with one of the many street performers. Either we got an honest one or we just got lucky. We were pretty careful.

We walked what seemed like miles to get to a recommended restaurant called Freeway. We got there at 8:15 pm, starving and tired. Dean said it was the first time I had worn out before he had on a vacation. We found out the restaurant didn’t open until 9:00 pm. So we waited. It was worth the wait. It was a big buffet. You chose your entrees and they cooked them right in front of you. After eating, we headed back to the hotel about 10:30 pm. The locals were just getting started but we were exhausted.

After a few hours of sleep at the Fira Palace Hotel, (we had some partiers in the room near us), we were up for a tour of the city. We saw some of the homes built by Gaudi and also the Sagrada Familia (hope I’m spelling that correctly). We didn’t have time to go inside this amazing, still in progress, cathedral but it was beautiful.



My favorite stop was the next one at some gardens designed by Gaudi above the city. It was beautiful and calm. There are no straight lines in Gaudi’s designs because he believed everything should be fluid as though it were alive. This garden had some great examples of that as well.



Here is another example—the porcelain was taken from various factories and it was all discarded and broken materials that they pieced together into mosaics.



And from the garden we were off to our ship. Enjoyed Barcelona. Wish I could have seen more. This cruise was very much like that--too little time and too much to see.