Look who's talking

Don't know what she's saying, but she's quite the conversationalist on her "phone".

Summer fun

Summer is here! And Mom and Dad finally put grass in the backyard! That means fun in the sun! Thanks to an abundance of sunny (and hot) weather Maria has been spending almost all day, every day (that Mom or Dad aren't working) out in the sun...and she has the "farmers" tan to prove it. She spends all her time playing ball, swimming (or standing) in her pool, and going up and down her slide. If we aren't in the backyard, we're going for walks that usually end at the park where we spend all of our time on the swings or slide.



Helping get ready for sod


Here I go!!

June 15 & 16 - Barcelona, Spain

Back on dry land and two days on our own to explore the city of Barcelona. We took in a variety of sights. We went to the Picasso museum (I still don't know if I'll ever understand what was so genius about his later works; his early stuff was beautiful though), took the cable car to the Castel Montjuic, visited the aquarium, and managed to make our way to the beach at the end of the second day. I still love Spain, and the people in Barcelona were very friendly...just have to get used to the dinners at 8pm if we go back again.

We also, by sheer luck, stumbled upon the most amazing street performance ever here. It was amazing to witness first hand, and we feel blessed to have done so. Who knows if we'd ever get to witness it again.

June 14 - Villefrance, France

This was, by far, the most beautiful port we docked in. Or rather dropped anchor, as we were too large to actually dock and had to go ashore using water taxis. Aaron and I took a break from cruise appointed shore excursions this day. We used the morning to leisurely stroll through Villefrance, and Aaron remembered enough of his French to effectively order lunch for the two of us before heading back to the boat to spend the afternoon tanning on the sundeck.

June 13 - Pisa/Tuscany, Italy

Port: Liverno (highly industrial; "modern art" as our tour guide Simona stated)

AM - Headed to Pisa, just a short 30 minute drive away. Here we marveled at the beauty of Miracle square, the leaning tower (bell tower to the cathedral), cathedral, baptisery and the graveyard. Unfortunately, like most other stops time was minimal, and we were unable to get inside the buildings. I would have loved to climb the tower, but with only 20 people allowed in every 30 minutes, we just didn't have time to wait. It was interesting to hear a local's perspective on the tower. How amazing it was that people still come to marvel at Italy's greatest failure.

PM - This was the best part of our favorite shore excursion. We headed to a villa in Tuscany that produces olive oil and wine. We were expecting a "wine tasting" not unlike those in Northa American wineries. What a surprise! What we got was an authentic, Tuscan Sunday family dinner. We started lunch around 12:30 and were not finished until 3pm. We were told that as of lunch we were converting to "Italian" time - meaning minutes don't matter so much.

We went through 3 courses, with 3 different wines. If your table finished a bottle, you simply held up the empty and another full bottle was brought in its place. After the 3 main courses, we were brought a dessert wine and fresh biscotti. Finally we finished off with an espresso and a shot of grappa. I didn't feel brave enough to drink the 90 proof wine spirit, but Aaron did, and it was almost to much for him to handle. The food was amazing too: olive oil, balsamic vinegar and bread, proscuitto, Italian sausage, olives, pasta, zucchini, beans, salt fish, onions, and cheese. It may not seem like much, but we went away satisfied.

After this experience I could safely say that I could live in Tuscany - that is what I always pictured Italy to be.

June 12 - Rome, Italy

Port - Civitavecchia (1 1/2 hours from Rome - depending on the traffic)

This was a long, and busy day...and by the end of it, not really long enough. As the saying goes, "Rome wasn't built in a day and you can't see it in a day either". We started off the tour with a driving panoramic tour of the Arch of Constantine, the Coliseum, Spanish Steps, and the Circus Maximus (chariot racing circuit, where they filmed "Ben-Hur").

From there we arrived at our first stop: Trevi Fountain. This fountain was a beautiful depiction of the sea. The statue in the center represents Neptune (or Poseiden) and the horses on either side represent the nature of water. The wild horse represents the destructive nature of the sea and the calm horse, the peace, serenity and life-giving power of calm waters. Superstition says that if you make a wish in the Trevi fountain while throwing a coin with your right hand over your left shoulder you will return to Rome one day. Aaron and I both made our wishes and fully intend to return to that city again.

We then walked from the Trevi fountain to the Pantheon. Formerly the temple for all Roman gods, it was transformed into a catholic church and allowed to remain in the city. The dome was absolutely amazing and an architechural wonder - since according to modern architects there is no reason this dome should not cave in on itself.

We then walked from the Pantheon to the Piazza Navona where we were able to see the Fountain of the Four Rivers, representing the four major rivers on the four major continents as recognized by renaissance geographers: The Nile (Africa), the Ganges (Asia), the Danube (Europe) and the Rio de la Plata (America). Unfortunately it was being cleaned at the time and we couldn't take in it's full splendor with water flowing from it. We were also able to get some pictures of the other fountains in the Piazza. Our tour guide also showed us a marker on the wall of one of the buildings in the square depicting to water level from the last great flood. It was a good 3 feet off the ground (if not more). Since that time great efforts were taken to build embankments and fortifications along the Tiber River so that the river did not continually flood Rome.

At this point we took a break for a leisurely Italian lunch. The food was good, but we were all eager to get to St. Peter's, and did not feel like spending two hours at lunch. After lunch we made our way to vatican city (after waiting for President Bush's entourage to clear the streets for our passage). I would have loved an entire day here, but unfortunately we were only given 45 minutes to see the inside of St. Peter's. It was beautiful, but we were only able to see about half of it in the time alloted and did not even have time to climb up to the cupola to look out on the city of Rome. Again....next time we're there.

June 11 - Mt. Vesuvius & Pompeii, Italy

Port - Napoli (Naples)

The day started off with Aaron, out on the balconey of our room, playing with the zoom function on our new camera. The island of Capri was just off our side of the boat, 2 miles off, and Aaron was fascinated by what his camera could capture. The island looked beautiful from a distance and from what we heard from other passengers, it was beautiful in person too. Another reason to get back to Italy...but we already had plans for that day.

AM - Mt. Vesuvius

Bright and early we left the boat and were taken by bus up a very narrow, switchback road to 1000m short of the top of Mt. Vesuvius. We were then set free to tackle the 25min hike to the crater. This doesn't seem like much, but when it's straight up hill - with no flat sections to catch your breath or rest your legs - it seems like a lot more. I was definitely more out of shape than I thought, and probably shouldn't have celebrated so much the night of our anniversary. But, despite the complaining, I did make it to the top - and the climb was so worth it!

The highly active volcano was still steaming from fissures, and is being watched 24/7. There is an evacuation plan in place for 600 000 people - of course if the eruption is as big as the one that buried Pompeii, even that won't be enough. The volcano itself was once one solid peak, but from a distance it now looks like two peaks. The last eruption occurred in 1944, in which the funicular used to carry people to the crater was buried. According to Nello this was a very famous funicular - you've all heard to song written about it I'm sure. Ask Aaron or I one day - we may even hum or sing a bit of it for you. Across the way from Mt. Vesuvius we were able to take in the view of "Big Nose" Mountain - as pictured below. Doesn't take a genius to figure out why it's named that.

PM - Pompeii

After the morning hike, in very warm weather I might add, we loaded back on the bus and headed to Pompeii. We made a brief stop at a cameo factory - very neat to see first hand, and if cameos are your thing, they have some really nice pieces (without the made in China sticker on the back). Soon after that stop we arrived in Pompeii. That is a sight worth seeing. I know people think it's just "more ruins", but there is something about it I found awe-inspiring.

It was great to have a tour guide for this excursion; we learned so much having someone with us who knew the history. Buried under 10 ft of mud and ash; stonework and skeletons perfectly preserved - only organic material destroyed. We entered through the sea gate, so named as that was once the entrance to Pompeii's harbour; the ocean now being more than a mile away from Pompeii.

We were shown the basilica (justice house), which showed incredible damage. However, this damage was not the fault of the eruption. but rather an earthquake that had occurred earlier. The fact that the pillars in front of the basilica were all the same height and smooth on top was considered to be evidence that this area was under reconstruction when it was buried. This was also evidence that Pompeii was a very important city in the Roman Empire at the time.

When then moved through the forum (main square) and into the market place. Here we saw some amazing use of artwork and perspective to add depth to the market place. What was so amazing about this was that this technique was accredited to later artists like Michaelangelo, some 1000 years later. Of course, in his time, no one even new about the city of Pompeii - it having been removed from maps after being buried by the eruption.

We then headed down main street to head to the spa, hotels/restaurants and the biggest surviving home in Pompeii. The spa was something to marvel at: 4 rooms, covered by the only surviving roof (being a stone vault instead of a wood structure). There was a waiting room, a cold bath, a steam room and a warm bath. Needless to say time at the spa was considerable - not unlike today. Coincidentally, the woman's bath next door had only three rooms - the waiting area, the steam room and the warm bath - guess women don't need cold baths (SMART!!)

The brick oven in the bakery was another interesting site - considering they use the same bricks and style of construction for pizza ovens in Italy today. They also have timed the eruption to have been sometime around lunch as there were 5 loaves of bread and a couple of chickens perfectly preserved in the oven when it was unearthed.

We then continued down mainstreet towards the temple and finally the storehouse. The storehouse was one of the more heartwrenching sites. Although victims were located elsewhere in the city, the storehouse contained the body of a child - clearly struggling to breathe, with his/her hand up to there mouth. It kind of put everything into perspective.

At that point we left Pompeii and headed back to our floating resort. Needless to say Aaron and I were incredibly tired this evening - headed to dinner and basically hit our beds. It may also have had something to do with the fact that we had to get up even earlier the next day to head into Rome.