Even though our anniversary isn't until December, the weather is pretty crappy in Europe then, so we decided to take advantage of a deal, and we went to Europe for our 20th anniversary in August! Hope neither one of us changes our minds about things in the next 4 months, haha.
SATURDAY
We left in the afternoon for a layover in Atlanta and then over the pond to Venice. Flights went smoothly, and I started my introduction to Airport Lounges, the way the other half lives.
SUNDAY - Venice, Italy
We landed at 11:25am, their time. We got our bags and took a bus to our hotel, checking in and leaving our luggage behind. We waited for a canal ferry but the line didn't move at all for 20 minutes, so we decided to walk to St Mark's Square via the Rialto Bridge, which obviously resulted in our first gelato purchase. Yum!
St Mark's Square was jaw-dropping for me. We took a self-guided tour on our phones, and then we did another self-guided tour of Doge's Palace next door.
After some meh pizza and pasta, we walked the alleys visiting We wandered St Mark's Square, walked the Rivaglioni, found Palazzo Contarini del Bovolo (a really cool spiral stairway) and Ponte dell’Accademia bridge (way too modern for the rest of the city).
We slept in and had a not-very-good breakfast in front of a very cute little diner. Then we wandered some more. I loved Venice! I particularly loved that there is no traffic - no cabs, no cars, no buses, no Vespas. I loved the fun bridges and all the water. I loved that their were amazing Renaissance buildings on everywhere we turned, many abandoned that no one even cared about because there were so many other even more awesome things to see. It really is a neat place!
Then we returned to the hotel to get our bags and check out. We took the public bus back to the airport where we met up with a Royal Caribbean transfer bus to Ravenna. We got checked into the cruise, had dinner with a table of Brits, and enjoyed a magician show.
TUESDAY - Koper, Slovenia
What a beautiful country! After breakfast in the Windjammer, we met up with our Get Your Guide tour and drove in a 9-passenger van to Predjama Castle. We took an audio tour of the amazing castle, which was built in the middle ages. It utilized the saves natural crevices and holes for kitchen chimneys, freshwater, and heat/air conditioning. It was incredibly genius!
Our driver was a college sophomore, and we spent all the driving time discussing Slovenian history (used to be part of Yugoslavia), Slovenian government (democratic republic), Slovenian religion (90% Christian), and Slovenian education (excellent, free college for all citizens but high taxes for all). He had impeccable English without a trace of an accent, learned almost exclusively from watching American cartoons. What a fine young man!
Next up was Postojna Cave. We got our tickets, bundled up, and boarded a tiny train. We headed about 2 km underground, then walked with a guide who pointed out the holding-on-tight stalactites and trying-with-their-might stalagmites. The 1.5 km walking portion was steep and wet, and the best cave I've ever seen. We mailed the kids a postcard from the only underground post office in the world and bought a stuffed blind salamander known as a olm.
When we were dropped off in port, we wander the city. We also stopped by a grocery store for hair gel (Ryan had forgotten his) and face wash (mine had exploded on the plane).
After dinner, we saw a production show with singing and dancing from a bunch of movies by the Royal Caribbean singers and dancers.
WEDNESDAY
This was our on only at-sea day. We went to the ship gym in the morning, where I ran my regular 2.5 miles on the treadmill while Ryan lifted weights. After breakfast, we played a Disney Trivia game, swam and hot tubbed. After some lunch, we took naps and watched "Only Murders in the Building" on Hulu in our room. Haha. This really was a fabulous, relaxing day together as a couple. After showers and dinner, we went to a circus performer show.
We arrived in the port of Messina, Sicily today. We took a public bus to the town of Taormina where we walked to Isola Bella Beach.
We took the public bus back to the cruise port (by the skin of our teeth!), enjoyed dinner, and another production show.
FRIDAY - Rome, Italy
Our tour began at 6:45 am, and we didn't return to the ship until 7:30 pm. It was a long, hard, hot day. We had booked the small group tour, but there were still about 25 of us, and they still had us on a shuttle bus a lot. The first place we went was lunch (weird, I know) in a restaurant that used to be a dungeon. The lasagna was burnt on top, the veal was salty, and the dessert was made with coffee. I was very unimpressed.
Next we traveled to The Vatican. They had told us over and over how strict the dress code was, but the reality was far different. Basically, the women were handed a sheer scarf which they only wrapped around their shoulders while passing the initial guards. Weird. We had a live guide via earbuds through the Vatican Museums, the Sistine Chapel, and St Peter's Basilica & Square.
Next we walked around the outside of the Coliseum and over to the Basilica of St Peter in Chains. We also stopped at Palatine Hill & the Roman Forum.
After a quick cafeteria dinner, we saw our favorite show - FourEver, a group of four men singing harmony. We liked them so much that we actually went and saw them again on our last day.
SATURDAY - Florence, Italy
This was day almost exactly like Rome but with different destinations. We had a large group - 50 of us on a tour bus. We started the day at Pisa, one of my favorite stops of our trip. Our guide gave us the information while we were on the bus, we were had an hour just to wander the Field of Miracles and take pictures of the cathedral with dome, baptistry, and leaning tower. We also were able to buy some souvenirs - soccer jerseys for Ethan and Kate and a t-shirt for Collin.
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Finally, we got some free time, so Ryan and I hopped in a cab to Piazzale Michelangelo, across the river, which offers panoramic views of Florence, and we were able to see from above all the places we had walked that day. We bought a few more souvenirs (no crowds up there! a scarf for Nana, a t-shirt for me, and a jacket for Ryan), and then we traversed the switchbacks back from the hillside, where we stopped for some pictures with some manicured waterfalls and grabbed some more gelato.
We did return in time for a sit-down dinner and then blissful sleep!
SUNDAY - Toulon, France
We learned on Saturday that it was going to rain all day Sunday, so we reached out the Bishop of the Toulon Ward. We took a ferry from the cruise ship to the town, and then we took an Uber from the port to the shopping district, in the sideways rain. We were drenched and very wind-blown as we entered the business building that housed the church. The missionaries - both from Utah - eagerly spoke English with us. That day they were confirming a new member that had been baptized the afternoon before, and one elder spoke (in French) while the other sat between Ryan & I translating. We know no French, so it was pretty entertaining.
MONDAY - Barcelona, Spain
We had to exit the ship at 6:45, so we had an early breakfast in the cafeteria and got a taxi to our hotel by 7:30 am. I was really tired, so we were thrilled when they let us check-in for the night first thing in the morning. I took a 30-minute power nap before venturing into Barcelona. It was about this point that I realized that I had no near-sighted vision. I couldn't read my phone or menus. I couldn't read my watch either. It lasted the whole day.
We walked to the closest stop for the hop-on/hop-off bus, which ended up being uphill and 2 km. We rode around for a while and saw the FC Barcelona futbol stadium, this Roy Lichtenstein statue, ------.
We exited the bus and walked to Gaudi's Casa Vincens. Then - more uphill walking! - we headed to our tour start.
We had a guided tour via earbuds of Parc Guell. It was supposed to become a 60-home neighborhood above the city, but it only ever had 3 houses. Gaudi believed that architecture to match nature, so he used no straight lines. He also thought architecture to work with nature, so he planned out freshwater collection and storage within this massive plaza.
Afterwards, we took a bus to La Sagrada Familia. We were given 45-minutes for lunch, and then our tour began. We spent some time inspecting the exterior, where many scenes from Jesus' life are depicted. This cathedral is still unfinished, 140 years after it was began and almost 100 years after its original architect (Gaudi) died. We also enjoyed seeing all the stained glass inside. One wall is all warm hues; the other is all cool tones. The structural pillars are curved and shaped like tree trunks, and the ceiling structure fans out like the branches of trees. The pillars are constructed of different stones depending on the structural weight that each needed to carry. It's an amazing architectural building, and I'm glad that even though we were worn out we still did the tour. We also round the elevator to the top of a steeple, and we were able to walk around inside two steeples before walking down the spiral staircase to the bottom.
Back on the hop-on/hop-off bus, and we saw Gaudi's Casa Mila & Casa Batllo. Then we snagged a cab to our hotel, where we changed clothes before getting another cab to our tapas dinner reservation. After dinner, we wandered before grabbing a cab back to the hotel repack for the airport.
TUESDAY
We headed to the airport mid-morning after our flight had been delayed an hour. Comfortably waiting in the airport lounge, I realized that my pupils were in fact dilated, which is why I couldn't read anything. While the flight was was delayed a few more times, I enlarged the text on my Kindle and worried.
At some point, we boarded, took a bus to the plane, and buckled in. Two hours later, we were still sitting on the runaway with the door open when the pilot told us there was a problem with the plane, and that "it wasn't going anywhere today." We then head to get a bus from the runway back to the airport terminal, go through Passport Control again, pickup our checked bags, wait for a ticket for hotel shuttle, check into an airline-comped Barcelona hotel, and eat a hotel buffet for dinner... still in Barcelona.
WEDNESDAY
Ryan spent a few hours and got us rebooked on an early-morning flight on a different airline, so we got a 4 am cab back to the airport. This time we were forced to check all our bags but our backpacks. I still couldn't read my watch, phone, or airline tickets.
We enjoyed an hour in the airport lounge and flew to Amsterdam. From Amsterdam, we suffered through all the lines for Passport Control and flew to Minneapolis. I was sick a couple times the second half of the flight. Our bags never arrived, so we went through Customs without them after fruitlessly waiting more than an hour. In Minneapolis, I never started feeling better, despite trying to relax in yet another cushy lounge. Blessedly, I realized that my near-vision was starting to return, and I saw in the mirror that my pupils were finally looking more like they were the "right size." We finally flew to San Antonio, where I was sick the whole flight. Landing in San Antonio, Ryan filed the paperwork for our missing luggage and went and got our bird-pooped car from long-term parking while I silently died on a bench. I was sick the whole way home, and despite having not seen my kids for 12 days, limped deliriously to bed and vomited one more time for good measure before sleeping for 12 straight hours.
Did we have a good trip? Yes, I saw things I've wanted to see my entire life. Would I do it again? No way. Why were my eyes dilated for 3 days and was I violently sick for 24 hours? Might have been a reaction to removing my cruise motion sickness patch. Who knows. I'm just not a good traveler. Right now, I have zero interest in ever leaving my house again, but I'm hoping that it'll be like child labor and that I'll forget and be right back at it, especially since Ryan and I each just got $800 Delta vouchers.
