After a 1 1/2 hour flight delay getting out of Baltimore last night; we've arrived home. A good night's sleep in our own bed and I'm ready to go. I'm downloading pictures now - all 700 of them (and that's just what I took)! So I should be updating the blog with photos shortly! Maybe after breakfast - I am ready for some good "Arizona" cooking! :-)
It's good to be home!
Wednesday, July 9, 2008
Monday, July 7, 2008
On to DC
We took the train from NYC to DC - which was actually very enjoyable (except for the 7-yr old that didn't know what 1) earphones or 2) volume control was on his DS).
Since we've been in DC we've explored the Lincoln, Vietnam and Korean memorials on our own and then last night we took a limousine tour which I highly recommend! It was so relaxing to have a guided personal tour around town. We saw the WWII memorial which was beautiful, then we stopped at the Jefferson & FDR memorials. We drove past the pentagon - which you can't tell which side was hit by the plane; they've done that well with the reconstruction. We also got to see the Air Force Memorial - which is a depiction of the missing man formation.... stunning. We drove by countless other monuments/buildings and ended our tour by driving past the white house. It was one of the highlights of the trip.
This morning we started out meeting in Senator McCain's office for our personal tour of the Capital building. We saw the rotunda, chambers, lots of statues and a great deal of our nation's history.
Travis is beginning to say that he's "homesick" and I have to admit too... it will be nice to get home.
Since we've been in DC we've explored the Lincoln, Vietnam and Korean memorials on our own and then last night we took a limousine tour which I highly recommend! It was so relaxing to have a guided personal tour around town. We saw the WWII memorial which was beautiful, then we stopped at the Jefferson & FDR memorials. We drove past the pentagon - which you can't tell which side was hit by the plane; they've done that well with the reconstruction. We also got to see the Air Force Memorial - which is a depiction of the missing man formation.... stunning. We drove by countless other monuments/buildings and ended our tour by driving past the white house. It was one of the highlights of the trip.
This morning we started out meeting in Senator McCain's office for our personal tour of the Capital building. We saw the rotunda, chambers, lots of statues and a great deal of our nation's history.
Travis is beginning to say that he's "homesick" and I have to admit too... it will be nice to get home.
Saturday, July 5, 2008
NYC has come and gone
We spent three day in NYC - our hotel was located smack dab in the middle of Times Square. We had an awesome view - the Empire State Building. We were directly across the street from a 3-story M&M World store and about 3 blocks away from the only indoor (or was it the largest?) ferris wheel which is inside of the Toys R Us. Cool!
We went to the top of the Empire State Building, took a very relaxing horse-drawn carriage ride around central park and got to see the Statue of Liberty.
Mom came down with a 24-hour stomach flu and Travis had a bout with allergies so we didn't make it to see Wicked :-( For those same reasons I decided that neither of them needed to be out in the rain so we watched the firworks from the safety & security of room 2001.
I'm having internet problems so I will try to update this post when they figure it out.
We went to the top of the Empire State Building, took a very relaxing horse-drawn carriage ride around central park and got to see the Statue of Liberty.
Mom came down with a 24-hour stomach flu and Travis had a bout with allergies so we didn't make it to see Wicked :-( For those same reasons I decided that neither of them needed to be out in the rain so we watched the firworks from the safety & security of room 2001.
I'm having internet problems so I will try to update this post when they figure it out.
Tuesday, July 1, 2008
Paris
It's been a few days since I've been able to post - there is only one computer at this hotel for guests to use and it has always been busy.
I wish I could say that our flight from Barcelona was uneventful... well it *almost* was - because it almost didn't happen. When we checked in almost 3 hours before our flight they told us to sit downstairs and about 45 minutes before the flight departed; a wheelchair would be brought down for mom. Well, about 45 minutes before our flight I walked over to the check in counter to see them give our wheelchair to another person. I was *ticked* - yeah, that's a nice word. The lady that I was talking to called another wheelchair and told me that it was on it's way. About 30 minutes later, I'm getting security involved as well as employees in "high places" - I was raising a fit! About 5 minutes before the flight was to depart; mom's wheelchair goes upstairs without her... can you say "aargh"? The supervisor runs upstairs and has it brought back down stairs and then escorts us through security and has had the plane held for us. We got on board and left 10 minutes late - all because of the airline's screw up. If they had told us it was going to take an "Act of God" to get a wheelchair we could have taken the 2+ hours we sat downstairs doing absolutely nothing to walk the 300 yards through security and to the gate.
Ok, so we got here... The hotel is "unusual" - old, some things don't work... or don't work properly - namely the elevator! It has been down more often than it has been up. Which makes for a three flight climb to our room. Try to talk Mom into doing that! It doesn't work (well anyway). So Mom spent the day in the room yesterday - while Travis and I went on the bus tour and then went to the top of the Eiffel Tower - way cool! Today we were able to talk mom into coming with us (I wasn't leaving her alone in the room again - especially on her birthday!) and we started out by taking the Metro to the Louvre. After the walk from the metro station to the Louvre we find this wonderful little sign saying "Closed on Tuesday". Do we have a giant target on our back or are we just really unlucky? We weren't going to waste the whole day so we went to Notre Dame and toured the inside of the beautiful church. I think between Mom & I we took 150 pictures - I had only seen the outside and the inside is so pretty.
Last night before bed we decided to learn a little french by watching a game show called Intervilles... google it - it was hilarious! We didn't need to understand anything they were saying - we just laughed and laughed at these stupid people. In one "game" the contestants had to dress up as a piece of cheese and run out into the middle of a bull fighting arena (oh, did I fail to mention - it was complete WITH the bull) and then another team member brought out a ham "jacket" and slipped it on. Once the ham & cheese sandwich was built - the sandwich had to run and jump into a plate. The "sandwiches" were trampled on by the bull - gouged by the bull - chased by the bull... ok, putting it that way - it just sounds sadistic; but it was really, really funny to watch.
We're off to NYC tomorrow and I will be able to turn my cell phone back on!
We miss everyone!
I wish I could say that our flight from Barcelona was uneventful... well it *almost* was - because it almost didn't happen. When we checked in almost 3 hours before our flight they told us to sit downstairs and about 45 minutes before the flight departed; a wheelchair would be brought down for mom. Well, about 45 minutes before our flight I walked over to the check in counter to see them give our wheelchair to another person. I was *ticked* - yeah, that's a nice word. The lady that I was talking to called another wheelchair and told me that it was on it's way. About 30 minutes later, I'm getting security involved as well as employees in "high places" - I was raising a fit! About 5 minutes before the flight was to depart; mom's wheelchair goes upstairs without her... can you say "aargh"? The supervisor runs upstairs and has it brought back down stairs and then escorts us through security and has had the plane held for us. We got on board and left 10 minutes late - all because of the airline's screw up. If they had told us it was going to take an "Act of God" to get a wheelchair we could have taken the 2+ hours we sat downstairs doing absolutely nothing to walk the 300 yards through security and to the gate.
Ok, so we got here... The hotel is "unusual" - old, some things don't work... or don't work properly - namely the elevator! It has been down more often than it has been up. Which makes for a three flight climb to our room. Try to talk Mom into doing that! It doesn't work (well anyway). So Mom spent the day in the room yesterday - while Travis and I went on the bus tour and then went to the top of the Eiffel Tower - way cool! Today we were able to talk mom into coming with us (I wasn't leaving her alone in the room again - especially on her birthday!) and we started out by taking the Metro to the Louvre. After the walk from the metro station to the Louvre we find this wonderful little sign saying "Closed on Tuesday". Do we have a giant target on our back or are we just really unlucky? We weren't going to waste the whole day so we went to Notre Dame and toured the inside of the beautiful church. I think between Mom & I we took 150 pictures - I had only seen the outside and the inside is so pretty.
Last night before bed we decided to learn a little french by watching a game show called Intervilles... google it - it was hilarious! We didn't need to understand anything they were saying - we just laughed and laughed at these stupid people. In one "game" the contestants had to dress up as a piece of cheese and run out into the middle of a bull fighting arena (oh, did I fail to mention - it was complete WITH the bull) and then another team member brought out a ham "jacket" and slipped it on. Once the ham & cheese sandwich was built - the sandwich had to run and jump into a plate. The "sandwiches" were trampled on by the bull - gouged by the bull - chased by the bull... ok, putting it that way - it just sounds sadistic; but it was really, really funny to watch.
We're off to NYC tomorrow and I will be able to turn my cell phone back on!
We miss everyone!
Saturday, June 28, 2008
Our last port!
We spent the day today on "The Scenic French Riviera" tour. We drove from our port to Monoco and ended up in Nice. The views were beautiful, the architecture was amazing and the climate was perfect (finally- why is it when we go on a trip; the place we're visiting has a unprecedented heat wave)?
This will be my last post from the cruise ship - we get into Paris about 3 o'clock tomorrow afternoon and the hotel is supposed to have internet capabilities so I should be able to post again once we check in.
We have reservations in the Italian restaurant on board for dinner and I think it will be our big "dress up" night.
Miss you all!
This will be my last post from the cruise ship - we get into Paris about 3 o'clock tomorrow afternoon and the hotel is supposed to have internet capabilities so I should be able to post again once we check in.
We have reservations in the Italian restaurant on board for dinner and I think it will be our big "dress up" night.
Miss you all!
Friday, June 27, 2008
Florence
Ok, first of all I have to admit - we blew off going to Rome yesterday. Something about the looks in my achy Mom and my sleep-deprived son made me tell them at breakfast (after I got them up at 6:15 - I'm mean aren't I?) that we could skip it if they felt like it. So we spent a day on board relaxing; we went bowling and played cards. I think it was just what the doctor ordered. We're all a little disappointed that we missed seeing the sites in Rome, but decided that it would make for a perfect reason to come back again. Anyone know where I can get a severance package from? :-)
So we spent the day in Florence today, we didn't really get to see too many of the sights because it was all walking and Mom isn't up to it; but what we did see was gorgeous! The tour director recommended a restaurant for us for lunch and I think we had the world's greatest pizza. YUMMY!!!
The drive to Florence from where we were ported (Livornio) took us through Tuscany - absolutely breathtaking.
We caught the show after dinner tonight and have to say that I was pleasantly surprised. I know when we sailed on Norwegian before that the entertainment was a little lame and this was a well thought out production.
We're in France tomorrow - Viva La France?
So we spent the day in Florence today, we didn't really get to see too many of the sights because it was all walking and Mom isn't up to it; but what we did see was gorgeous! The tour director recommended a restaurant for us for lunch and I think we had the world's greatest pizza. YUMMY!!!
The drive to Florence from where we were ported (Livornio) took us through Tuscany - absolutely breathtaking.
We caught the show after dinner tonight and have to say that I was pleasantly surprised. I know when we sailed on Norwegian before that the entertainment was a little lame and this was a well thought out production.
We're in France tomorrow - Viva La France?
Wednesday, June 25, 2008
Naples
WOW!
I honestly didn't expect to be so impressed by our tour today; we did the Sorrento & Amalfi drive. It was absolutely gorgeous - the kinds of scenes that postcards are made for! The bay on the drive to Sorrento was blue and the landscape was lush and we thought the views of the cliffs were perfect... until we left Sorrento and headed to Amalfi! Dramatic cliffs and buildings built directly into the cliffs made for some pretty impressive pictures. The drive between Sorrento and Amalfi has more than 1200 turns - now imagine with me... a single land road winding through the cliffs but put two lanes of traffic (and us in a tour bus) PLUS cars parked to the side and you can imagine that I felt we were lucky to be sitting in the back of the bus where we couldn't see the oncoming traffic - only the extreme drop offs! :-)
We stopped for lunch just outside of Amalfi at a quaint little hotel and were treated to some local fare as we were perched high up on a cliff overlooking Sophia Loren's Villa!
Tomorrow is Rome; we've changed our tour for tomorrow to a unguided one that way we can take things as slow as we need to for Mom.
Miss you all!
I honestly didn't expect to be so impressed by our tour today; we did the Sorrento & Amalfi drive. It was absolutely gorgeous - the kinds of scenes that postcards are made for! The bay on the drive to Sorrento was blue and the landscape was lush and we thought the views of the cliffs were perfect... until we left Sorrento and headed to Amalfi! Dramatic cliffs and buildings built directly into the cliffs made for some pretty impressive pictures. The drive between Sorrento and Amalfi has more than 1200 turns - now imagine with me... a single land road winding through the cliffs but put two lanes of traffic (and us in a tour bus) PLUS cars parked to the side and you can imagine that I felt we were lucky to be sitting in the back of the bus where we couldn't see the oncoming traffic - only the extreme drop offs! :-)
We stopped for lunch just outside of Amalfi at a quaint little hotel and were treated to some local fare as we were perched high up on a cliff overlooking Sophia Loren's Villa!
Tomorrow is Rome; we've changed our tour for tomorrow to a unguided one that way we can take things as slow as we need to for Mom.
Miss you all!
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