Ok… sorry for the long delay in posts.  It has been a busy week with work, the debate, keeping up with the bail-out progress, volunteering 8 hours this weekend with canvassing and a voter registration campaign in our county, and trying to get a little bit of rest in between.  Wow… there is a lot to talk about with the economy and the presidential campaigns right now, but let me finish the vacation recap.  I apologize in advance for any typos…. it is very late.

After a long day in Rome, we had another early morning start once we arrived at the port in Livorno, Italy, the “gateway to Tuscany” and the closest port for visiting the cities of Florence and Pisa.  We realized that Royal Carribean’s Voyager of the Seas was also docked in Livorno.  We chose an excursion that took us to the cities of Lucca and Pisa.  Lucca was first.  I really enjoyed Lucca because it was such a nice, clean, quaint town surrounded by its original Renaissance fortification walls.  Every corner you turn has a different piazza with historic buildings or beautiful cathedrals.  In the Cathedral of St. Martin, the tour guide told us how the pictures sculpted on the walls were to tell people stories through pictures, for instance, how to live each month of the year (i.e. preparing the land, harvesting, etc).  Inside the church was even more incredible, but unfortunately we could not take pictures.  Inside of the Cathedral of St. Martin is a cross with an image of Christ on it.  Supposedly the cross the Jesus died on was put on a boat once he was taken to be buried and sent out in the Mediterranean Sea.  Well… several historic reports say that the boat with the cross landed in Lucca and the one in the church is a replica of the original cross found in Lucca after Jesus’ death.  Every September 13th, the city has a festival to commemorate the historic occasion and the cross and replica of Christ are carried on a wagon through the city that is festively decorated with millions of candles outlining each building in the town.  We saw them setting the candles up since we were there just a couple days beforehand.   One of the most interesting things about the streets of Lucca was they had very high end stores that the shop owners kept immaculate.  Everywhere we turned, someone was cleaning the windows or mopping their marble floors.  Most of the stores were high end with items we could not afford, but we did find some familiar stores, although there was no Starbucks, which we found everywhere else in Europe.  There were also people on bikes everywhere, which was probably the best way to get around given the narrow streets.  I should probably mentioned that the famous composer, Puccini, was born in Lucca (La Boheme, Madame Butterfly, etc).

After our visit in Lucca, we drove 15 minutes to Pisa.  Pisa was extremely crowded with tourists and there were people every 5 steps trying to sell you something (mainly mini Pinocchios).  This became very annoying and made the experience in Pisa less enjoyable.  The Leaning Tower was supposed to be the bell tower of the cathedral, but starting leaning during construction in 1173.  Once they realized it would not fall, they commenced construction again and finished the tower.  It is opened for visitors to climb the 296 steps to the top, enjoy the view of Pisa and come back down within 25 minutes (after paying about 20 euros).  The Tower is part of what is referred to as the Field of Miracles, which includes the baptistry where someone could be baptized, and the cathedral (with 24 carat gold ceilings) where you could go once baptized.  The square also includes a hospital and a cemetery, and therefore tells the story of a Catholic man from birth to death.  Quite interesting.

After watching the Independence of the Seas leave the port before us, we were headed to France, our last stop.

One of the great things about the port in Villefranche is that the water is too shallow to dock, so we had to drop anchor in the middle of the harbor.  Beautiful!  We were only docked for 6 hours, but I was so sad that we couldn’t stay longer.  I LOVED France and Monaco (which is its own country).  Maybe it was because we visited Monaco and Monte Carlo, two of the most beautiful cities in French Riviera and on the beautiful south coast.  In the glamorous principality of Monaco, we were able to visit the church where Princess Grace was married and is now buried (St. Nicholas Cathedral) and the Prince’s palace.  After taking in the beauty of Monaco, we headed to Monte Carlo.  Monte Carlo is most known for its famous casino.  There is also a hotel there that is one of the most expensive in Europe, the Hotel de Paris.  The hotel is so exclusive, we could not even go into the lobby to take pictures.  You could tell the clientele by the vehicles parked outside the hotel.  It was just breathtaking everywhere we turned. We picked up some cute souvenirs and were back to the port.  As we headed back to the port, we passed a cliff overlooking the beach in Nice.  WOW.  I cannot explain how beautiful it was.  We did not get a photo, but I tried to get it on video.  The whole tour bus gasped in awe as we passed.  I begged the Cody parents to let me stay, but I was not successful.  Perhaps one day.  Leaving the port was a great site to behold and is now the picture on my desktop at work that I can stare at and wish I were there during a busy day.  We will definitely be back to France!

After leaving the port, William and I headed to a cake and champagne reception for all the couples celebrating honeymoons or anniversaries.

And now comes the only downside of the trip.  On the last night, we ran into a storm and the waves were pretty furious.  William and I managed to be just fine during the first couple hours of the ship traveling over the waves, but a few hours later, we both ended up with a bad case of motion sickness as did his mom and I am sure many many other people on the ship.  This was the only negative incidence we had.  Fortunately, having William’s dad with us, a physician, was a good thing.  He suggested sitting on the balcony and watching the waves, which sounded crazy, but actually worked.  We tried that for a while, but it was windy also and got pretty chilly out (very different from the 90 degree weather we had during the majority of our trip) and we had to come inside.  That’s when things got ugly, but we finally made it to sleep and woke up the next morning to find all was calm….literally.

It was a great trip and we again thank William’s parents for including us in such a wonderful journey and anniversary celebration!

Thursday finally arrived and the entire Cody family was excited about seeing Rome.  After another early start, we were made the 1 1/2 hour drive (maybe a bit longer once we hit the Rome traffic) from the port in Civitavecchia to Rome with our tour guide, Andrea, who made very clear that although his name in the US was a feminine name, this was NOT the case in Italy and certainly did not describe him.  Apparently Andrea is a very popular male name in Italy.

Once we arrived in Rome and maneuvered through the VERY crowded streets, we met our local tour guide, Adele, and began our tour.  Our first stop was at the Roman Forum, which was the city square and central hub of the Roma civilization.  I should mention that in many of the pictures, you will see us with lanyards around our necks and earphones in our ears.  The earphones allowed us to hear our tour guide talking and explaining the different sites as we walked so everyone could hear and we didn’t have to try to huddle together to hear what she was saying in the large crowds of people.  After spending some time learning about the Roman forum and some of the structures, we headed to the Colosseum.  We started a few blocks away and ended up right next to the structure where we could see the aracades.  The Colosseum is in its present state due to earthquakes and stone robbers, but we also learned that large metal plates that were part of the construction were removed and used for other construction, which left holes in certain areas of the Colosseum.   Did you know the Colosseum was made from travertine stone?  I did not know that until our tour guide told us about the construction.  Just adjacent to the Colosseum was the Arch of Contstantine.

After visiting the Roman Forum and Colosseum, we returned to our van and drove to lunch.  Along the way, we passed by the Ikea trucks who were apparently delivering catalogs or something.  How interesting!  We also passed by the most photographed person in Italy, and some union protesters.  After enjoying a quiet lunch at a first class Italian restaurant, we made our way to Vatican City.  Vactican City is it’s own city-state within Rome and is the smallest independent state in the world in both population and area.  Citizenship must be granted to people and usually consists of those who work at the Vatican (and may include their spouse and children)…so mainly the Pope and certain clergy.  Citizenship is revoked upon termination.  The good part about being a part of a small excursion tour was that we had a reservation to visit the Vatican in the afternoon and were able to bypass the LONG LONG lines of people waiting outside in the hot sun.

Once inside the Vatican, we were again in awe.  The detail and architecture is incredible.  Everywhere we turned, we saw famous art, or beautiful ceilings or floors.  There was also a corridor full of amazing tapestry.  Of course the highlight of the Vatican visit was being able to see the Sistine Chapel, which we were not allowed to use photography or videography while inside, but click here for a picture of us leaving the chapel 🙂  After leaving the Sistine Chapel, we headed to St. Peter’s Basilica.  Even the doors were amazing.  One of the first things you notice upon entering is the Pietà, the famous sculpture of Michelangelo.  Then you are just drawn in by the detail in every millimeter of the building.  It was a wow moment everyone your eyes hit.  There was also a beautiful pulpit.  We were truly amazed.  After taking in the beauty of the inside, we took more pictures outside in the square.  We also saw the Swiss Guard.  It was a great day in Rome, but we eventually made our way back to the ship in Civitavecchia (my new favorite word) and headed for Livorno (Florence) wondering what great things we would see next.

Oh… I almost forgot to say that while eating dinner that night just as we were about to leave the port, we saw several people arrive back at the ship late, but since there were several ships leaving at the same time, they made it back onto the ship despite the fact it was past our departure time.  We do think we probably left at least 2 or 3 people in Rome who did not make it back on the ship.  All aboard was always 30 minutes before the ship left, but in most cases, the city was not that far from the port as was the case in Rome.  Hopefully they rejoined us at the next port.  That is the one good reason to book your excursions through the cruise line b/c if one of their excursions gets back late, the ship will wait, but if you are not part of an excursion booked through the cruise line, they will not wait.

Click here for more pictures from Rome and Vatican City.

After a peaceful and relaxing Day at Sea and and a wonderful anniversary, we arrived in Valletta, Malta (a small island country) the next morning. This began the first day of excursions William’s mom booked for us. Since we had an excursion scheduled that day, we had to wake up early and watched our arrival at port while eating breakfast. The port in Malta was probably the most scenic of all the places we visited (except Villefranche) because it was not a huge industrial area like most of the ports. Malta is known for having some of the best and most powerful fortifications (walls and buildings designed to protect the city during wars) in the world. Much of the city was destroyed during WWII, but several new buildings have been built, so there is a large mixture of both Baroque and modern architecture. We also stopped at a local fishing village during our excursion where we saw the colorful boats that characterize Malta. Our next stop on the excursion was a view from a cliff overlooking the Blue Grotto. We then continued our scenic drive and eventually returned to the port where we explored the shops and ran into a familiar friend of William’s. We also got a closer look at our ship and took a few pictures. After enjoying the view as we departed the port and grabbing a bite to eat, we were full steam ahead to Italy.

On Wednesday, we arrived in Naples, Italy. Naples is the 3rd most populated city in Italy and the biggest city in Southern Italy. Naples is probably most known for being the originator of pizza. After docking in Naples, we boarded our tour bus and headed to Pompeii. Pompeii once had a flourishing civilization, but was destroyed by the eruption of Mt. Vesuvius in 79AD and buried for almost 1,700 years under 20 feet of volcanic ash. Because it was so well preserved under the ash, you can still see many of the details that give you a glimpse into the lifestyle of the people that lived there. It was incredible to wander through the city and see what has been uncovered. I was particularly impressed with the detail in the bath houses that was so well preserved. Our tour guide, Giovanni, was very knowledgeable about the history of Pompeii and pointed out several things that we would have not otherwise noticed. After a long and hot day (90 degree weather) in Pompeii, we returned to the port, waved goodbye to Naples, and awaited our piloti, who would guide us out as we headed to our next port….. Civitavecchia (Rome).

There are many more great pictures from Malta and from Pompeii. Click here for more pictures from Malta and here for more pictures from Pompeii.

Well… as William mentioned, it has been a busy week back at work for both of us, but we are finally ready to recap the next couple days of our trip.

So… after our visit to the Aquarium on Sunday morning, we finally boarded our ship, the Norwegian Gem. After thoroughly sanitizing our hands (something we had to do anytime we boarded the ship from a port or entered a dining room), we arrived inside the ship and quickly found our wonderful mini suite. The cabin was nice, clean, located on the aft of the ship with a great balcony view and actually had the perfect amount of closet and drawer space for all of our belongings so that we could make ourselves at home for the next 7 days. I was actually pretty impressed by the storage space. William had arranged for strawberries and champagne to be waiting in the room since our anniversary was the next day. Awww!! He is so sweet 🙂

William and I thought it would be a good idea to explore our new “neighborhood”, so we gave ourselves a tour of the ship and tried to familiarize ourselves with all of the amenities. We stopped by the spa, for a free tour and I even had a chance to demo the acupuncture therapy. We found the spa amenities to be great, including the option to sign up for one of the 100 unlimited access passes to the spa where you could enjoy the therapy pool, jacuzzi, sauna, steam room, heated stone lounge beds, and lounge beds overlooking the front of the ship. We convinced William’s parents to sign up for this also and all four of us enjoyed the spa on a daily basis, particularly to get away from the crowds and enjoy peace and relaxation, and most importantly, the hydrotherapy pool!! We also visited the fitness center, although this would be our last visit (we got our exercise on the excursions at the various ports). We checked out all the restaurants (there were a few specialty restaurants where reservations were recommended so we scoped out one for our anniversary dinner), and we also checked out the clubs/lounges. Club Bliss was interesting because they had beds, and Spinnaker Lounge had cozy furniture and beds as well. After lunch, and our emergency drill (where William put on his life jacket, reported to our disaster area and fell asleep), we went back to our cabin listen to the welcome from our captain, who William says sounded like Puss In Boots from Shrek 2 b/c of his low suave voice that sounded Italian (although he was from Finland) and enjoy the view as we pushed away from the marina and set sail.

Day at Sea…It’s our Anniversary!

On Monday, September 8, 2008, we were at sea for a quiet and relaxing 1 year anniversary!!!!! William and I still can’t believe it has already been a year and reflected once again on the wedding day and honeymoon. It brought huge smiles to our faces. We began the morning with a couples massage at the Spa, which was a nice way to get us relaxed before our daily ports of call. After more relaxing, we went to a Lattitudes reception (their rewards club program that we were automatically enrolled in by booking a mini suite), where we were able to meet the Captain and other senior officers. We then enjoyed a romantic dinner at a French Restaurant on the ship, Le Bistro. After dinner, we coincidently went to a “newleywed show” where we learned way more about some couples than we wanted to know, but were able to test each others knowledge (as audience members… we did not participate as contestants). The answers to some of the questions were hilarious and the couple that won had only been married for 3 days! After the newlywed show, we went to a show the ship put on, “World Beat”, that basically consisted of dance from all parts of the world. It was very well done and very colorful. When we returned to our room, there was another surprise William had arranged (with some assistance from his mom). Our cabin was decorated for our anniversary with balloons, streamers, and two swans forming a heart shaped out of towels. It was a great day of celebration that would continue throughout the week.

For more pictures from Cruise Day 1 and Cruise Day 2, visit William’s Flickr Site.

Next stop… our first port of call… Valleta, Malta.

This is the first of several posts to recap our vacation to Europe and our western Mediterranean Cruise. Because we saw so much, it is easier to break it up into several posts instead of making one extremely long one. I am going to try to use various links to pictures and websites to help tell the story (the links can be followed by clicking on any of the words in green).

First of all, we need to thank William’s parents for inviting us on the trip. William’s mom planned the entire trip and did a great job, so we really can’t thank them enough for allowing us to be a part of it.

We began our trip by meeting each other in the Newark airport on Thursday, September 4th and made the 8 hour trip to Barcelona, Spain. We arrived in Barcelona on Friday morning and stayed there until our cruise ship departed on Sunday evening, so we had plenty of time to explore the city. We stayed at the Eurostars Grand Marina Hotel, which was conveniently located on the Barcelona Port. The accommodations were very nice and larger than most you would find in Europe. After a brief nap to recover from the jet lag, we started our exploration of the city, which took us through the Mall de la Fusta and the Mall d’Espanya. Along the way, we passed the Columbus Monument. We took a recommendation from the hotel concierge to go to La Gavina, and it turned out to be a good one. William’s mom and I enjoyed the traditional Spanish dish, paella, while William and his dad enjoyed one of many lamb dishes they would try during our trip. On the way back from dinner, we were able to get a closer look at some of the ships docked around the hotel.

The next day, Saturday, was exploration day. After enjoying a wonderful breakfast buffet, we hopped on the Barcelona Bus Turístic, a double decker tour bus (similar to those you would think of seeing in London), that took us on a guided tour of the city with stops at all of the tourist destinations. We used headphones to plug into the seat jack that corresponded with our preferred language.

We passed several notable stops during our tour. One of the stops along the passeig de Gràcia (a major boulevard in Barcelona that is apparently the most expensive street in Barcelona and in Spain in terms of renting or buying property) was La Pedrera, a famous stone building built by Gaudí in the early 1900s. Another stop was a trip to the top of Tibidabo, a mountain in Barcelona offering great views of the city below. There was also an amusement park at the top of Tibidabo where we found people on stilts who entertained the crowd. There was also a beautiful cathedral at the top of Tibidabo.

Our next stop was to perhaps the most famous building in Barcelona, La Sagrada Família (Temple of the Holy Family), a building that was a dream of Gaudí’s that he began constructing in the late 19th century and worked on for 40 years but never completed. At the time of Gaudí’s death in 1926, only 2 towers had been completed. The work continued through the donations of churchgoers and ticket revenue from tourists who visit. The Christian symbolism of this building is simply AMAZING!!! I was in awe at this building because it really is a beautiful thing to behold. The church has three main facades, the Nativity, the Glory facade (not yet completed) and the Passion facade (death, burial and resurrection of Christ). The detail of each of these events are carved in the stone and the detail is incredible. There is so much symbolism that it would be too lengthy for me to get into it all, but let me know if you have questions.

After stopping for a snack at McDonald’s (a happy meal for William and I), we headed back to the hotel to relax, eat dinner, check e-mail (including an update on Hurricane Ike’s path and the Wake Forest football game) and prepare to set sail the next day. On Sunday, we made a brief visit to the Barcelona Aquarium before boarding the ship.

We were now ready to set sail!

Feel free to see more pictures from Barcelona on William’s flickr page. We have not added captions to all of them yet, so bear with us.

Part 2 to come soon…………

It’s hard to believe, but our 1 year anniversary is quickly approaching. What are we doing to celebrate? This Thursday Kyllan and I will be joining my parents on a trip to Barcelona and a Mediterranean cruise. Kyllan has had a busy month at the hospital and it is always stressful at the lab, so this trip could not have come at a better time. We will be sailing on the Norwegian Gem with ports of call in Valletta, Malta; Naples, Italy; Civitavecchia (Rome), Italy; Livorno, Italy and Villeranche, France. Our anniversary falls on the day at sea. As you see, we will be pretty busy. I don’t know how feasible it will be to upload photos and make post while at sea, so sharing may have to wait until we get back. I may make a few post that will auto post while we are away.