Folks, I can't believe I nearly forgot to mention this joyous occasion. I remember thinking, when we found out we were moving to England, that there would probably be a royal wedding while we were there. I couldn't have been more pleased to be right. It was so fun to get swept up in all of the excitement that the entire country was feeling. No, I did not brave the crowds to witness the event firsthand. Instead, I watched it on TV with a dear friend while eating scones and drinking Diet Coke from a tea cup. Why, you might ask, did I not make the trip? Well, I'm not a huge fan of crowds, and I'm pretty sure I got to see a lot more of the actual event on TV, not just a passing carriage or royal wave. But, I did go to London that day. We all did. You see, we had to catch a flight to Venice the next morning, where we would be boarding our ship for our Mediterranean cruise.
Yes, a Mediterranean cruise aboard Holland America's newest ship the Nieuw Amsterdam. Yes, I spelled it right. I guess overuse of vowels is a defining Dutch characteristic. But if you don't believe me, (or if you want to find out more about the ship) you can go here. This was our last big trip that we were determined to knock out before heading back stateside. We covered a lot of ground with this one and crossed three new countries of our list: Croatia, Greece and Turkey. So here's a few shots on board the ship. I tried really hard to narrow down the 1000 photos I took and finally settled on a max of 24 for each port. However, I knew you would all be desperate to know each and every animal in our terry cloth menagerie, so I had to add a few extra on board shots. Being the Nieuw Amsterdam, our ship had a new York theme, of course, because, as you all know, "even old New York was once New Amsterdam." There was even a full size taxi cab in the kids' club.
I thought the chandelier of the reflected New York City skyline was very cool. The big apple was sort of hidden away, but I found it.
As I mentioned, the cruise started in Venice. We boarded the ship on April 30th, but didn't set sail until the evening of May 1st. That meant we had a whole day on the 1st to wander around Venice. We were so excited for this because although we had been to Venice before, we were hoping for better weather this time, and boy, was the weather better! It was so nice to wander along the canals. This time we actually made it to the Rialto Bridge, which we missed last time. I love Venice. It's just so unique.
Our first port was Split, Croatia. We didn't schedule a tour or anything. We just went ashore (sans children, thank you, kids' club) and wandered the old area of town and the market. I can't tell you much about Split. You'd do better to read this, but I can tell you this: the necktie originated in Croatia. Strangled men the world over, you are welcome. Who is that lady with Brandon, you ask? I forgot to mention, Brandon's parents joined us for the cruise. Blog readers, may I introduce, Brandon's mom.
Our next port was Athens, Greece. I have to give props to the TAG teacher at Lakenheath Elementary, because as we pulled into port, Jake was reading the signs. They were written in Greek! We figured we better take the boys in for this one. We had a tour guide so we could catch all the highlights. We spent a few minutes at the stadium of the first modern Olympic games, a couple hours making our way up to the Parthenon, and an hour or so wandering through the Plaka. We barely scratched the surface, but time constraints being what they were, we chose the closest and most significant landmarks.
We pulled in to Istanbul in the evening, which provided enough time to go into town and see the Grand Bazaar. We decided to take the boys with us again, because they really had been so good in Athens. It was chilly and overcast. Not quite the weather I had expected on this trip. We had barely walked into the Bazaar when the boys started asking when they could go back to the ship and back to Kids' Club. So, on day two, when we had a tour guide scheduled, we decided to let them stay on the ship. It was a good thing, too, because it rained on us almost the entire day. Our only respite was when we went inside the Blue Mosque, the Hagia Sophia, and the Topkapi Palace. I really enjoyed Istanbul. Especially all of the beautiful market stalls in the Grand Bazaar, but not the pushy market vendors. Hey, guys! Leave me alone for a minute and maybe I'll feel like buying something from you!
Here was a more relaxed stop. Mykonos. We had no schedule here, other than being back in time to leave, but because the day was so relaxed, we managed to make it back to the boat to have lunch with the boys and then head back to town for the sunset. It was very windy while the sun shone, but the evening was very still and quiet.
Our other Turkish port was Kusadasi. We didn't spend too much time in the actual port, though, because we had scheduled a tour guide to take us to see the ruins of Ephesus. We figured we should probably take the boys along for this one, too, footsteps of Paul and all that sort of thing. It was hot. I got a sunburn through my shirt. We also saw the only remaining column of the Temple of Artemis and we went to a carpet store, where at one point I did not think they were going to let us leave until we purchased a carpet. I wish we could have. They were beautiful, but expensive. If the swoosh of that relief looks familiar, it's because that is a relief of the goddess, Nike, goddess of victory, whom the shoe company was named after, and that relief is rumored to be the inspiration for that famous swoosh. I can see it. Can you?
Another stop with no schedule. Santorini was quite possibly my favorite stop on the cruise. After our donkey ride up that winding path you can just barely make out in the third space of the top row of photos (it looks like a pale gray zigzag), we rented four wheelers, which I have never ridden, and was a little nervous about, since we'd be driving them on actual roads with giant tour buses. But, it was a lot of fun. We docked at Fira and rode the four wheelers to Oia, on the far end of the island. Then we wandered around looking for those quintessential blue domes. I can only imagine that the tiny rock formation just off the beach is the entrance to someone's secret lair.
So there you have it. Now you see why it was taking so long. That's not really all of May. It's only the first week and a half, but I don't think any of us want this post to be any longer. I'll get around to it. (Translation : Don't hold your breath. It'll be a while.) Although, I don't have as many pictures to deal with.
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