(Source: chelseapikex

(via sarasmiles)

Venice Daydream

an excerpt from one of my favorite blogs on her travel to Italy

i find her description of Venice wonderfully true to life

...sigh....

happy friday

Time is told by church bells and espressos and activity in the square here.

There are no watches, at least not for one passing through.

There is only surrender to the rhythm, the old ancient calendar rites that are still celebrated in full fashion as the masques.

Guidebooks were left in the suitcase, zipped up in the small apartment that is home for two weeks.

But there are signs that say

 “This is your path. You’re heading the right way.”

Days are spend wandering around corner, along alley ways, over bridges.

There is museum and art and food.

There are unexpected friends too, the ones that always pour the extra glass of wine.

And of course, the gondola rides.

The price always elicits a gasp, but Venice is not truly Venice without them.

And such an experience is worth it: to be on the water, sailing past buildings, watching the stars blink in and out from behind.

And somehow every morning at dawn and every night at twilight, you find yourself standing next to a lonely lamp-post contemplating the beauty of this place and of your life.

{all photographs by the talented Quentin Bacon

{via}

the cathedral in pajamas

(via maleficents)

i miss it

hijos-del-sol

(via

don't let her get away

so, funny story...

we had a very nice flight attendant on our plane home

(the long 8 hour plane ride)

she thought Charlie and I were the cutest thing since...i don't know what

towards the end of the trip she asks us if we are on our honeymoon.

I politely reply,

"No, we've actually been married for 4 years."

With that, she looks at Charlie and says,

"Don't you let this little girl get away from you.

You hold on to her.

Hold her hand all through life.

Just like Pooh and Christopher Robin."

exit, flight attendant

I look at Charlie and ask,

"So does this make me Pooh bear?

I don't think I'm a fan of that."

Charlie says,

"How do you think I feel?

I'm Christopher Robin with the short shorts."

why i love reading on trips...

"If you take a book with you on a journey,…an odd thing happens: The book begins collecting your memories. And forever after you have only to open that book to be back where you first read it. It will all come into your mind with the very first words: the sights you saw in that place, what it smelled like, the ice cream you ate while you were reading it…yes, books are like flypaper—memories cling to the printed page better than anything else."

▼

Cornelia Funke (Inkheart)
(Source: justbesplendid)

Arrivederchi

Yesterday was our last full morning in Venice.

This was the best cappachino of my life!

We took a quick day trip to Padua to visit the University of Padua where Gallielo was on falculty for 18 years and where Capernicus theorized that the Earth wasn't the center of the universe.

WOW!

It's just like College Station but more ancient

We also visited and attended mass at the Basillica.
Here I am standing astride Padua, or Padova as the Italians would say, and Vatican territory.
Technically the basillica is part of the Vatican...who knew?

Check out all of the answered prayers and petitions by St. Anthony!

horsie, ez nice horsie

I didn't get a chance to upload this video to our Verona post

but I do think it's worth the watch.

We knew Verona was know for certain, unique culinary delicacies...

Some of us were fans and some of us weren't

Bella Notte...

We said fairwell to Florence and rode into Venice this afternoon.

The 2 hour train ride went by quickly as we made new friends from Australia.

We checked into our hotel for the night and headed straight for the Rialto Bridge.

We went to a concert featuring Vivaldi's Four Seasons composed in 1723, J. Pachelbel, and I'Inverno...

The costumes were my favorite part!

I felt like an extra on a Pride and Prejudice movie or Julia Roberts at the Opera in Pretty Woman,

(without the whole hooker thing)

Rich Old Lady: "Did you enjoy the show dear?"

Julia: "It was so good I almost peed my pants"

Rich Old Lady: "W-w-what...."

Richard Gear: "She said, 'It was better than 'Pirates of Penzance'"

 And I couldn't help get a little misty eyed when they played La Primavera

Ater the concert we took our first gondola ride.

It was wonderful!
Our gondolier's name was Maximo...
He let me try on his hat...

(please note the beautiful shirt Mama and Uncle Linda painted for me before the trip)
and you better believe I sang into the Venetian night,

"Oh this is the night, it's a beautiful night

And we call it bella notte 

Look at the skies, they have stars in their eyes

On this lovely bella notte"

Firenze

Our last day in Florence...

Here is the hotel from the movie "A Room With A View".

When we asked if they had any availability we were told they are booked until September!

YOWSA!

Luckily a fancy hotel isn't necessary to find a great view in Florence...

The Arno River and the Ponte Vecchio (Old Bridge)

The Fountain of Neptune in Piazza della Signoria which was commissioned on the occasion of the wedding of Francesco I de' Medici to grand duchess Johanna of Austria in 1565.

The Arno River flowing beneath the bridges of Florence:

Outside of the Duomo

Also known as the Cathedral in Pajamas because of its colorful gothic revival facade added in the 1800s.

Giotto’s Campanile (bell tower)

One of Charlie's favorite sculptures, Benvenuto Cellini's, "Perseus With the Head of Medusa"

And finally a $30 t-shirt that Charlie decided to pose with in lieu of purchasing.

Pisa...not so bene

Not to be a "debbie downer" but our day in Pisa was less than a success.

After leaving our B&B, buying our bus tickets and arriving at the train station

we realized we didn't have our pre-paid train tickets with us.

Okay, so no biggie.

We'll ride the circuit around back to our hotel.

An hour and a half later we are still on that same blasted bus.

But that's not gonna get us down...no siree-bob!

We finally make our way back to the train station, this time with our tickets.

Little did we know that there are several different trains, some with more direct routes, to Pisa.

We somehow pick the slowest one with the most stops.

Oh well, C'est la vie.

We excited just to be on our way to see the tower!

Finally, we have arrived!!

5 minutes after the picture above was taken the rain started.

Our spirits are getting a little dampened at this point, literally.

But you can't keep a good man (or gal) down!

We headed over to climb the famous tower. 

Well, wouldn't you guess it?

You have to buy your tickets to climb the tower in advance

and the next available time isn't for another 4 hours.

Well, rats!

But still, I mean, we're in Pisa, Italy.

Marveling at this famous building.

How bad could things really get?

Up next, how about some good 'ol home cookin' from McDonald's?

Now that our tummies are smiling, we decide to make our way back to Florence.

Only, there are zero, zip, nada taxis in sight.

Anywhere.

After asking a few different people we find out

the taxis stop running at a certain time here in lovely Pisa.

Ok, no biggie.

We'll just take a bus...only there are no tickets to be found anywhere.

So we decide to chance getting a fine and ride without tickets.

(sometimes they check for tickets here and sometimes they don't)

Almost an hour later we are still waiting for a bus.

And the crowd of tired tourists and vendors is swelling by the minute.

Will we even make it on this train at all?

We probably could have walked to the train terminal by now.

Finally we see the bus coming and we push our way through the crowds to secure our standing

room only spot.

Hey, at least we got on, right?

Exhaused and wet we get back to Florence when the rain that was in Pisa

catches up with us.

Thankfully, we got a proverbial bone thrown to us in the form of a local restaurant

with the best dinner we've had all trip.

Thank you LORD!

...what...a...day...

Florence

We made it to our hotel in Florence despite a bus strike

that occured earlier today and caused crazy delays at the train station.

But one of the things italians are known for, i think, are their strikes.

It just wouldn't have been authentic Italy without some form of strike occuring.

The Gelato is fabulous, the blackberry variety is pictured above.

We found a few marble statues in a square.

Charlie made friends with Americo who is credited for mapping the Americas.

Hopefully we can find the original David somewhere in the city.

Tomorrow we're going to take a quick day trip to Pisa

to see the tower.

Now it's time for a quick rest before another busy day starts.

WHEW!

Fair Verona

We wrapped up our last day in Verona

with a final trip to Juliet's house.

It wasn't something that I was particularly interested in but

I am so glad we went.

I love this picture of Cat and her Mama!

Check out all of the love graffiti on the wall behind them.

We added our own names to the thousands of other lovebirds.

This was my favorite city so far and I was a little said to say good-bye.

Aida in the Arena

 Aida was incredible!!

mid way through the first act, it started to drizzle.

the opera was paused for about 2 hours as everyone waited for

the weather to clear up.

Lucky, we bailed out and grabbed some dinner near by

while we waited...

The area was spectacular and i can't even begin to describe the sets.

the pictures do not do them justice.

 even though the rain slowed everything down with the opera

it sure made Verona sparkle.

As we strolled back to the b&b, i fell in love with Verona.

It is officially my favorite Italian city...more than Roma, more than over crowed Venice...

Verona is perfection!

Taking Olympia by Scooter

We made our final port of call in Olympia, Greece today. Travis, Jenny, Charlie and I decided to rent some mo-peds to make the 27 kilometer trip to the site of the first Olympic games.

The helments were super cool, as you can see!

Charlie and Travis did a great job navigating and the girls enjoyed had a leisurly drive into the little town.

Being at the actual site was amazing but honestly it was hard to imagine all of the buildings and stadiums as they once were thousands of years ago.

Jenny and I ran a little foot race where the first sprinters competed for the prized laurel leaf crown.

Charlie's quote of the day,

"Man, these ruins are more ruined than I expected"

On our way back to the ship we ate gyros with taziki sause and did a little souvenier shopping. It was a funfilled day but I will say that Greece sure knows how to do the heat as fas as the weather goes. I am a sun-lover! The heat really does not bother me but holy moley...I think Greece just might be hotter than Tejas!

Old City, New Memories

We started the morning out with a great breakfast where I somehow managed to squirt a mini half\half creamer all over myself at the table. imagine me covered (hair, dress, belt) in white droplets. Things got even better when Catrina and Charlie both started drying me off with their napkins. Sometime you just have to laugh to keep from crying in embarrassment.

Our first port of call today was Dubrovnik, Croatia. Never in my life had I imagined I would visit the country that I had the hardest time remembering during my 5th grade geography class.

It was beautiful. The churches, belltowers, monasteries, old battle walls...everything was picture perfect. Charlie found a top-notch walking-tour company to show us around the "old town".

We walked and walked and climbed and walked

Our guide, Sandra, was divine. She showed us all of the off the map sites and then added the personal touch of showing us where her grandparents lived when she was little.

We were all sweating bullets and scrambeling over the Dubrovnik ruins didn't exactly help us catch our breaths. To cool off at the end of the tour, Sandra showed us her favorite beach where several guys were playing basketball and in another area there was an 8 ft. diving "stone". Cue Charles Lloyd. He was hooked. I was very impressed with the energy he mustered up after our day of exploring.

The hubs and I agree that we would love to come back and visit Croatia at some point to try more local restaurants, swim in the other lagoons and explore the cobblestone alleys.

After dinner, Charlie and I went to a Lionel Ritchie tribute show where I sang my heart out to "Easy Like Sunday Morning" & "Once, Twice, Three Times a Lady". After the show we took a quick trip to view all of the boarding photos.

Think "Awkward Family Photos"...some of those poor people looked like they had been put through the ringer! Embarkation day was rough for several of our fellow shipmates. Tune in tomorrow to view a few of our favorites (we're terrible we know)!