Saturday, July 23, 2011
So of course I woke up at my body clock time of 6:11 in the AM. Super excited to begin my 12 day journey to places I have never seen before. By 7:30 I had already re-packed for the last time and I was ready to hit the road to the airport…finally 10:45 came around and my Momma and I were on our way!
We arrived at the airport and saw Monica’s smiling face just hanging out with a pile of luggage. Soon Debbie appeared and our party was almost complete. A few mins later, Stephanie found us and the trip we were about to take finally seemed real. :) Our cruised was booked a year ago, but only in that moment that I believed that I was going on it!
Ladies and gentlemen, we are now living in a time where all flights are completely PACKED! I am not a fan of this, but that’s just the way it is. Our first flight was to Atlanta and it was packed with kids on their way to Disneyworld. This is great for the…who doesn’t love Disneyworld??? I can’t tell you what I don’t love…and hour and a half of a little girl kicking the back of my seat. But whatever…I was very grateful that his was on the short flight…not the 9 hour (or something like that) flight to Barcelona.
The flight wasn’t bad at all. It consisted mostly of sleeping, watching a couple of movies and dinner and then breakfast. (Note: Flying on Delta with our own personal T.V.s and such was way better than the American flight on the way back without such things.)
Our first panic of the trip came when we never saw Debbie and Monica get off of the plane. Security officers even assured us that there was no one left on the plane and that there was only one way off the plane. So…Momma, Steph and I went ahead and went through immigration. Still no Monica and Debbie. So…we went ahead and got our luggage. Still no Monica and Debbie. After about 20 minutes or so, of thinking “they just disappeared,” they showed up. Ya see, there were 2 ways off the plane…they took the other one.
Next we got all of our bags and headed to the shuttle that would take us to the pier where we would find, in its inaugural season in its inaugural season, The Carnival Magic…a truly fitting name since it was now noon on the following day because of the time change. :)
Sunday, July 24, 2011
After getting off the shuttle, Momma and I were able to walk straight to the V.I.P. lounge, where we were giving our Sail & Sign cards (our currency on the ship for the next 12 days) and our V.I.P. boarding passes, and walked straight on to the ship. Our cards are Platinum. This means that any crew member acts way nicer (which is slightly impossible, since they are already incredibly amazing) to you. This also means that we’ve been on a least 10 Carnival cruises…honestly I think I’m closer to 20 at this point. ;)
Anyways, we get on the ship and head to the Lido deck, where lunch is waiting for us. We hung out for the next hour and a half on the deck watching a Kenny Chesney concert on the huge poolside movie theatre screen. That’s right… I was sitting on a cruise ship…soaking up the Sun…in Barcelona, Spain…with a fruity umbrella-ed drink in my hand…while Kenny Chesney sang to me!!! …Yes, this was pretty close to perfection for me…and I’m good if Heaven is anything just like it. ;)
Around 1:30 we headed to our stateroom, where I got a much needed shower and an even more needed nap to get rid of that nasty jet lag. Mission accomplished!
After the massage, I headed back to my stateroom and got dressed for dinner in the Southern Lights Dining Room. The five of us got the most amazing table by the window where we can watch the sunset every night. The view alone was worth the price of admission…almost. ;)
Tonight’s dinner consisted of tropical fruits marinated in a hint of tequila and lime, chicken tenders with candied peanuts over mixed greens, a flat-iron steak, cooked perfectly, with mashed potatoes and steamed vegetables. For dessert, I went with the assorted cheese plate (Danish bleu, Swiss, brie, Gouda and Port Sault)…and a hot chocolate. :)
Debbie, Monica and Stephanie headed back to their room after dinner, while Momma and I wondered to the Casino…Momma was ready to hit the slot machine! I wasn’t quite ready to gamble, so I made my way to the main gift shop to check out the Goods. I found some good stuff in the “Duty Free” shop, but decided to wait ‘til the end of the cruise to buy…that is if I have any money left. ;)
I walked back through the casino to see how Momma was doing…she was enjoying herself at the slots…so I made my way to “Vibes” (the night club on the ship) where the Reggaeton was bumpin’. :)
The music was great…but I do believe most people on the ship were pretty worn-out and decided to skip-out on the first night of late-night fun. So after my Bailey’s on the rocks, served by a most handsome bartender, in a most fitted black V-neck T, was gone, I went back to the Casino to retrieve Momma and call Day 1 ---a night at 12:10 in the AM. Such a great way to start our trip!
Monday, July 25, 2011
We started out our day by going to breakfast in the Southern Lights Dining Room, next to a family of 5 from Los Angeles…unfortunately; their luggage did NOT make the trip with them to Barcelona yet. (Turns out, their luggage doesn’t arrive til Wednesday.)
Breakfast was great! (French toast, bacon and hashbrowns...yum!) Watching the ship pull into Monaco was truly an awesome sight…we’re definitely not in Texas anymore. ;)
After breakfast, we headed to the Showtime Theatre where we hung out until we were able to get off the ship and on to our excursion for the day. We got on Tour Bus #3 with a group of 49 guests.
David from Cannes was our tour guide for the day through the French Riviera, along the Promenade de Anglais.
Today’s tour was called: The Colours of the Riviera. Tours are great on a bus because you can see a ton of things you may never get around to seeing in a very short period of time. The bad thing about a bus tour (for me anyways) is that I get car sick if I’m not towards the front…thankfully, we were towards the front. :) I quickly found out that the French Riviera is made up of a ton of winding (narrow) roads on hills. I have MUCH respect for the drivers of these huge your buses. I think all the people on scooters are mad crazy, weaving in and out of traffic…and yet I envy them as well. ;)
Our first stop was in NICE, France. Here Stephanie and I headed straight down to the stone-filled beach and dipped our feet into the beautiful water...slightly chilling and refreshing, and totally with it.
We had a few mins to check out the “downtown” area. Usually there’s a flower market there. Because it was Monday though, there was a flea market there instead. Our “old” stuff back in the States has nothing on the “old” stuff here. :) I saw a lot of cool things but nothing I had to have. Momma did buy a cool necklace from a French woman. This necklace will be known as her “Necklace from France.” :)
After a head count at the fountain in the square, we hopped back on the bus and headed to the Village of EZE.
This is a beautiful old Medieval village made up of many cobblestone steps and cavernous corridors. Nowadays, these corridors are shops filled with jewelry and art. Here I purchased my first souvenir, a leather pouch with colorful flowers…perfect to hold my jewelry while traveling. (spoiler alert: I end up buying several pieces of jewelry throughout this trip.) These were some serious steps so Momma and Debbie opted out and enjoyed gelato at the bottom of the Village of Eze. I think they enjoyed this very much in the sun-shiny weather. :)
Back on the bus…Next time we get off the bus we will be in MONACO!
We got to what they call Monaco Rock and headed down a side street to an Italian ristorante to have lunch. Here I had my first wine of the trip. We had yummy roasted chicken and “family style” sides.
I also had my first ever Tiramisu and first ever Espresso.
After lunch we started on our walking tour of the country of Monaco.
Fun Fact: Monaco is the second smallest Principality in the world.
We saw the Oceanographic Museum and where Princess Caroline lives (she happened to be home since there were policemen surrounding the place). On July 2nd of this year, Prince Albert got married. There were souvenirs everywhere celebrating this event. The last Royal Wedding in Monaco happened by in the 1950s, between Prince Rainier III and Grace Kelly.
There were historical pictures throughout “The Rock.” We saw the Courthouse that was still decorated in honor of the recent wedding with the national flag as well as the Zimbabwe flag…since the new Princess is from there.
We went into the Cathedral where all the Royalty of Monaco is buried…including Prince Rainier and Princess Grace.
Down another street we ended up at the Main Square and the Palace. This is where Prince Albert and his New Princess Bride live. On both sides of the Palace were amazing views.
We had a few mins of free time before we had to meet back with the group, so Steph and I decided to do some “speed souvenir shopping.” I purchased a “blingy” Monaco purse and a Monaco Formula One Gran Prix track jacket. Stephanie bought a couple of bracelets and Monica bought some truffles. :)
We met back at the “Yellow Submarine”…Jacques Cousteau’s…not the Beatles’ ;)
…got back on the bus and we were on our way to our final stop of our excursion…MONTE CARLO!
No pictures were allowed inside the Casino and they made sure of this by checking our cameras. It cost 10 euro to get in but it was something we definitely had to do while we were here. :) I didn’t do so well at the slot machines but I wasn’t the only one. Monica was the only one to come out on top at the slots…speaking of slots, when you first enter the Monte Carlo Grand Casino, they have an amazing collection of super old “one-armed-bandits.” They were truly works of art. Jus washing into Monte Carlo felt like we were entering a James Bond movie. ;)
I could not leave Monte Carlo without playing at least 1 hand of Blackjack. So I put down my minimum bet of 25 euro and about 6 hands later I walked out of there up 65 euro (I even got 2 Blackjacks!!) thus my purse and jacket were FREE…and let me tell you, that’s pretty amazing, considering NOTHING is FREE on the French Riviera! :) Back to the Bus and then back to the Ship…we crossed the starting line of the Gran Prix en route…going super slow though. ;)
This was an amazing day and a great 1st Port. I definitely would love to return to the French Riviera in the future.
Back to the room to get cleaned up and dressed for dinner. I then went down to the bar on the Promenade Deck for a martini tasting. During this, I got to taste 4 different kinds of martinis. Believe me, this is not an easy task to do before dinner. I even had to call in Stephanie to help me finish up. :)
Off to the Southern Lights Dining Room for our second night of fabulous dining with our team of waiters: Luis, from El Salvador, Juan, from Peru, and Blago, from Macedonia.
After I finished my hot chocolate, I headed back to my room and crashed pretty quickly…I think the four martinis assisted in this. ;)
Au revoir Monaco and the rest of the French Riviera!Tuesday, July 26, 2011
We had another early start aw we arrived to the port of CIVITAVECCHIA, Italy. After breakfast we (and about 3,000 of the 4, 085 other guests) boarded a bus for the 1 ½ hour trip to Rome.
Once into Roma, our first stop was at the Trevi Fountain.
Fun Fact: Tossing a coin into Trevi Fountain is supposed to ensure you return to the Eternal City…Born in 753 BC. I tossed two in…perhaps this means we were staying for good. :)
There were hundreds, possibly thousands of people surrounding it trying to take pictures and tossing coins in. Of course I had to do this as well.
Momma and I did this pretty quickly, then headed into one of the shops on the Square and got in “cue” aka line for the restroom. Unfortunately, this took forever, and by the time we got back to our “meeting place,” our group and guide were nowhere to be found. A slight panic came over my Mom. Of course she was worried about being separated from the group in a sea of people…and possibly pickpockets. Lol
Thankfully, about 5 mins later, I saw our group leader, Pina and we hustled down ancient, cobblestone streets and eventually caught up with rest of Group #39…thanks to Stephanie for letting her know that we were left behind. The rest of the group and the Guide had NO CLUE that we were even missing.
We walked to Venice Square where we saw the monument in honor of Italy’s first King.
Next we walked along Imperial Forums Avenue. The ruins of these places and monuments are truly incredible! Further down the road The Colosseum came into view. I work at Cowboys Stadium with one of the largest (maybe the largest) HD screens in the world. You can keep all that. The Colosseum was truly breath taking. To think we were standing where Gladiators and Emperors once stood. Our current system of stadium entrance and numbering of seats etc. all came from this place right here. In the States we tear down buildings after 20 or 30 years. This place has been around since 70-80 A.D.!!!! So amazing!
Right outside The Colosseum was also the Arch of Constantine (another amazing structure). I’ve never really been into architecture, but seeing this stuff is truly inspiring…except for the fact that all these things were created on the blood, sweat, tears, backs and bones of slaves. Unfortunately history is not always pretty…even if the final results are.
Next up was lunch in a great little Roman restaurant where we had the most INCREDIBLE 10-layer lasagna I have EVER tasted. I’m calling it right now that THIS was the greatest meal of this entire 12 Day Trip! (I was right.) ;)
Normally, I do not drink wine or eat Tiramisu, BUT “When in Rome…” We totally ate like Romans…with no regrets at all. ;)
This restaurant was sort of away from the main tourist-type areas, which is cool, except for the fact that all the stores around it were closed. Apparently July and August is when Romans tend to take their Holiday…and therefore close up their shops. Roma was quite busy today, but according to Pina (our guide) this was NOTHING. In fact, this is the best and less crowded time to come since a lot of locals are gone on vacation.
Back on the bus we got. Next stop along the Tiber River, passing Tiberine Island, was St. Peter’s Square and The Vatican. Oh my goodness what a sight to see! What I was looking at didn’t even seem real. The statues, the detail, the gold, the marble…so incredible!
Fun Fact: Vatican City is the smallest and most expensive Principality in the World.
While standing in the cue to go through security we passed under/by Bernini’s Papal canopy called Baldacchino, where the Pope does his Easter Mass, etc. The Square was pretty packed today. I can’t imagine what it’s like on Easter or Christmas.
At security, I had to put on my sweater over my dress and Stephanie had to make sure her dress came down past her knees. Shoulders and knees MUST be covered when entering St. Peter’s Basilica. The gold-ness and the ornate-ness immediately blow you away when you pass through the doors. Stephanie, Monica and I turned to the right and there it was, behind the glass, Michelangelo’s (yes that Michelangelo…not the pizza-loving, orange Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle) marble masterpiece, The Pieta (1498-1499).
Fun Fact: It wasn't always behind glass. Not too long ago a nut-job somehow brought in a hammer and tried and succeeded in chipping off a piece of the statue.
We spent the next 10 mins trying to take all of the Basilica in. i'm fairly certain that you could be here for weeks and not see every detail.
We had about 7 mins to head back down the street to our bus...but first, I had to jump into the Vatican Gift Shop where I got myself the most perfect and dainty cross. (Crosses are something that I've recently started collecting while traveling.)
Back to the bus...where we would begin our 90 min trip back to the port. We passed by The Colosseum once more. We also passed the Roman Forum, the Pyramid of Caius Cestius and Circus Maximus. What an amazing tour!
Meanwhile, back in the motorcoach...with TEN minutes left in our journey back to the port...the bus breaks down!!!...like "it ain't goin' nowhere down. " So we got off the bus and laughed with Pina on the side of the road as we waited for another bus to "rescue" us.
Pina blames herself...just that morning, she had told the driver that in 27 years of tour guiding, she never had any problems. She totally jinxed us! ;)
We did make it back to the ship. :)
Back to the room for a quick change.
Fun Fact: I am sitting on the Lido Deck with Stephanie...
...writing this, while Gladiator is playing on the huge Seaside Theater above the pool...how apropos. :)
Dinner was once again great and after my required hot chocolate, we headed to do some Karaoke. I did a little "Old Time Rock n' Rock"...and the crowd went wild!...well at least MY crowd of Debbie, Stephanie, Monica and Momma went wild. ;)
We kept the party going and went to Vibes nightclub...here we taught "The Cupid Shuffle" to a group from St. Thomas...and we all learned to "Wobble" from two of the crew members. Monica led us in "We Are Family" and we finally called it a night after "Murder She Wrote." :)
Another great day, followed by another good night! :)
Wednesday, July 27, 2011
Another early morning of waking up to get ready for our excursion from the port of LIVORNO. The plan of the day was to head to the beach and then see the Leaning Tower of Pisa. So I took a shower and went ahead and put on sunscreen before breakfast. The funny thing about having plans is that God and Mother Nature sometimes have different ones. ;) Our beach day was cancelled because it was too cold and there was a pretty huge chance that it was going to rain. The day wasn’t completely shot though. The good people at Carnival got us on another excursion super quickly (as in we had about 10 mins to ditch the beach gear and put on some walking shoes).
Forty mins later we arrived at Miracle Square.
Here we saw the Pisano Romanesque-style Cathedral and the most amazing circular Baptistery.
Here, we were treated to a very special demonstration of the building’s acoustics. I can’t really explain what we heard, but I do know I could listen to it all day long. :)
Oh yeah, we also saw the world famous Leaning Tower of Pisa…a very cool sight to see. We found out from our guide that it’s not done leaning and that every few years they pull it back the other way. There’s also a ton of steps reaching the top of the tower. We did not do this. The Guide wondered why people would pay…just to get tired. ;)
We had a few mins of free time…I got my ITALIA hoodie (and 4 euro worth of grapes)…just in time for the rain to start coming down. Momma got a pretty cool Pisa umbrella and we were on our way back to the Magic as the rain poured harder. So glad that we got to see Pisa today…and that the rain came after. :)
We got back on board and went to the Lido Deck where we had lunch and decided to check out the Pasta Bar at the Cucina di Capitan. So glad we did! I had super tasty bowtie pasta with alfredo and Italian sausage.
The rain continued to come down so the obvious choice for the rest of the afternoon was to take one of the best naps ever! Naps are pretty amazing…too bad I only get to experience them on vacation. :)
After a nap, we decided to try some trivia. Although we’ve been blessed to travel to a lot of places, Steph and I were pretty stumped when it came to international geography…but, Monica found her new favorite drink…behold, the Virgin Strawberry Piña Colada. :)
After dinner we headed to the Showtime Theatre where we watched our first “Big Show” of the cruise called “Groove Line.” It was really good and had a ton of great songs from the 70’s. A lot of fun was had by all tonight!
Thursday, July 28, 2011
“There ain’t no rest for the wicked…”as they say. :)
Today we stopped in NAPLES aka Napoli. Stephanie and I decided that we would tackle hiking to the top of Mt. Vesuvius and visit what was left of the Roman city of Pompeii. Momma took the day off from excursions and Debbie and Monica checked out Sorrento and the beautiful Amalfi Coast.
Our first stop though was to a cameo factory…I bought a beautiful necklace with my initial on it. Fun Fact: Cameos are carved from shells that are made up of 3 layers. Watching the Master Carver was pretty cool. No two cameos are alike here since they are all hand-carved. :)
The bus took us up the winding road to Mt. Vesuvius at about 3,000 ft up…they dropped us off and we hiked another 1,000 ft to the top of the crater. Um yeah, I live in Dallas…it’s flat here and I drive EVERYWHERE…but this is something I’m so glad I did.
Granted, I was slower than most of the folks we were with …I blame my short legs…and the fact I don’t hike…EVER. ;) The other tricky past was the altitude. At one point I wasn’t sure if it was my lungs or heart that needed air. :) But the view at the top made it all worth it!
At the top we stopped for a moment and brought a couple of things, including a necklace for Monica’s birthday next week made of lava rock. Then our group got together and our Guide, Stefano, told us about this STILL ACTIVE VOLCANO.
However, Fun Fact: the last time it erupted was during WWII…so any pictures you see with it erupting are pretty old. The crater was amazing to see and the steam coming from several places was very cool to see as well. The weather was amazing up there, since it was about 15 degrees cooler up there.
After our short stay at the top, we had to turn around and make our way back down. This was of course much easier to me than the trip up. The one scary thing was that the path was made up of loose soil and gravel. SO it was easy to lose your footing at times. Stephanie was worried about her knee but thankfully we both made it to the bottom without wiping out. :)
Before getting back in the bus, we took advantage of the Pay Toilets. They were the cleanest things I have ever seen. I am all for the Pay Porta Potty in the State…that way they wouldn’t be nearly as nasty to use. There was even fresh clean running water to wash your hands with. Who would have thunk that a toilet at the bottom of a volcano in Italy would be cleaner than one outside the American Airlines Center on New Year’s Eve? But enough about toilets. ;)
On our way back to the bus we stopped at a fruit stand where we bought peaches from this smooth-talking 12 year old Italian boy…with a huge diamond stud in his ear. Instead of getting our change back from him, tried to sell us the rest of the stand. But we did finally get out money. ;)
Back in the bus and back down the winding narrow road. We were not the only bus on the road today. I’m pretty sure we passed at least 20 more going up as we were coming down. We even saw one way get to close to the wall (keeping cars from falling off a cliff) and scrape the entire side of his rented car. OUCH! Lol
One very cool thing about this road was that on almost every other curve, there was some sort of statue carved from lava rock.
When we reached the entrance of Pompeii, we had a few mins to eat something.
Fun Fact: Pizza was “invented” in Naples around the 1860s. Margarita Pizza was created in honor of Princess Margarita. The ingredients were to represent each color of the Italian flag. Red = Tomatoes, White = Cheese and Green = Basil. So, it was only fitting that Stephanie and I shared Margarita pizza and Gelato in Napoli for lunch. :)
On to Pompeii we went…
This is probably the most famous excavation in the world. At one time 20,000 people lived in the town of Pompeii. In 79 A.D., there was a horrifying eruption of Mt Vesuvius that killed 2,000 people 20 ft of ashes and pumice stone covered the town. A lot of this has been removed over the last 200 years. It was very interesting to see remains of “everyday” life. The houses and shops (i.e. bakery, laundry, etc) had mosaic floors and painted frescos on the walls that are still very much intact.
We were able to walk through these places and even touch the artistry. We also saw two of their theatres. The stages were gone because they were made of wood and therefore burned in the eruption…but the rows and rows of seating made of limestone were still in great shape.
We even saw a couple of plaster casts of locals at the moment of asphyxiation. So crazy to think that something that was created so so so long ago, is still around for us to experience.
Just as we were wrapping up our tour of the town, we saw several huge lightening strikes and were thankful that we has done the Vesuvius thing earlier in the say and so we only got a few drops of rain on us as we were walking back to the bus. This was another great day of excursions. I never knew I wanted to see these places, or that I would ever get the opportunity to, but I’m so glad we did. :)
After we got back to the ship, Steph and I went our separate ways for a bit and I went back to my stateroom. I was super glad to get a shower after this long dusty day. :) I ordered room service and a movie from Carnival’s “On-Demand” system. I watched Hall Pass. WARNING: this is not a movie you want to watch with your mom. Thankfully, she fell asleep about halfway through. ;)
After our lazy afternoon, we went to dinner and had a low-key night since we’ve been doing some major walking for the last 4 days. :)
Friday, July 29, 2011
Whoo hoo! We finally made it to a relaxing “Day at Sea.” Don’t get me wrong, I have loved everything we’ve done and have seen, but man these first 4 days have been a serious “working” vacation. Thankfully, I’ve walked off a ton of what I’ve eaten this week. ;)
Momma and I met the others for breakfast on the Lido deck at the Pool at the very back of the Ship. At 9 in the morning the pool and chairs were already completely packed on this beautiful sunny “day off.”
A little later we went to the Showtime Theatre to do some “Movie Song Trivia.” Stephanie and I got 16 out of 20 and there was a 3-way tie (of mostly 80s movies) and still got a 24karat Gold Plastic Trophy! Whoo Hoo!
To celebrate our victory, I went back to the room and took another (and much needed) nap. Yes this was a terribly awesome, relaxing lazy day…but that’s the beauty of a Day at Sea. :)
Momma and I ventured over to the Red Frog Pub (think Senior Frog’s-esque…w/o the drunken 18-20somethings). It’s basically a laidback cool Caribbean-styled place that came to life at night with live music. It was a great place to be in the afternoon…sitting on/in their swing/table…eating coconut shrimp with piña colada sauce. :)
Fun Fact: I do not like coconut or piña coladas…but these two are sooo good together with fried shrimp. ;)
It was a bit breezy but it felt great! I think Dallas is back to 100+ for a 30th day. Not missing that at all!
As much as I love being in new ports and places, there’s something truly relaxing and amazing about stilling and just looking out at the ocean. Mother Nature is definitely a beautiful and magical thing. :)
We pretty much took it easy today until it was time to get fancy for “formal/elegant” night. I’m not gonna lie, I enjoy getting all dressed up…every once in awhile. ;) Before dinner I stopped at numerous photo stations. I knew that I would not buy most (or possibly any) of the photos…but it’s still fun to play. I did end up buying this one:
We had some time so we stopped back into the Red Frog for some live acoustic music and a pre-dinner “Jamaican Sunrise.”
Our waiters were even dressed up tonight...
…and the Prime Rib was most excellent!
To Be Continued...
