The Cruise plus a little more

So as you may all know Josh and I just went on our honeymoon/year anniversary cruise. I am not sure how to keep this post minimal to tell you all the places we stopped at, so I am going to state the dates we were in each port and the highlights of the day.

Marseille, France (27 June 09): We took off from this port. We got in the night before and walked/took a taxi to the port site...it was very interesting bc with the French language barrier (Josh knew a little from HS) it was quite interesting getting to the port. One taxi dropped us off at the wrong port so we had to take another taxi to the right one...at the time we weren't sure what was going on, we just got in the cab and prayed. It worked out but when we were dropped off it was still a little over a mile walk to the ship. We could not believe how HUGE the ship was. It was built in 2008 and held nearly 4,000 people.

That day we got on the boat early and just explored. Once we got our bags we put our swimsuits on. Josh noted that before we left the port that evening he was sunburnt to the max :).....I coudn't talk him into tanning with me before. The boat took off around 6 and we just lounged because we didn't have dinner reservations till 9:30. Josh decided to pick the 2nd seating for dinner so everynight we ate dinner with the same two other couples.

We were a little nervous as to if the people we would sit with would speak english but found out that dinner was always a top highlight of each day. One couple at the table (Faye and Steve) were older and stated they had children our age and the other couple was a few years older than us (early thirties). The great part was that we found out that both guys were engineers and Steve was on a short stent in Paris as a project manager for an oil company. It was fun though because while the guys told their engineer stories, us girls found ourselves looking at each other rolling our eyes at their grand little world....Mary, you would have fit right in at dinner. :)


Genoa, Italy (28 June 09): It was the first port and we were there on a Sunday so we just walked around. The coolest part about this city was there were tiny tiny allyways (where you almost felt clastrophobic) and there would be the door opening to a GINORMOUS church inside and you wondered how such a great big church even fit in the small allyway. It was very interesting. We bought a couple really cheap bottles of wine (the wine in Italy is ridiculously cheap) and some Fococcia bread (with olives) and camped up at a park bench. I of course couldn't stop talking about how amazing the bread was....I really like to talk about food and sometimes it can get a little bit too much for some people but I never get how other people don't talk about how good it tastes too. After a bit more walking around we went back to the pool to go swimming. Dinner that night was another great time and of course with the 6 courses I kept telling Josh how amazing it was. Typically we would get done with dinner around midnight and go right to bed.

Naples, Italy (29 June 09): Here we got some advice from Faye and Steve to take the train up to Sorrento, Italy and on the way back stop at Pompie, Italy. So we headed out to the train station (by foot) and I can't say that I felt that overwhelmed in awhile. The city was absolutely crazy, there were people everywhere, vespa (scooters) racing ever which way...half the time I thought they were going to kill me and a protest (the italians called it a manifesto) going on in the middle of the street where they had traffic at a hult. So there was lots of honking of the horns. I told Josh I was going to go into a couple stores to get away from it and gave him my camera to take pictures. Once we got to the train station we took the train for an hour all the way to Sorrento. We met a pretty neat man on the train (I have found that while traveling you hear some pretty neat stories from people...he was on his way to meet his wife...she had came over to teach pilates for a week). Sorrento was one of the most beautiful places I had ever seen. We did what Faye and Steve had recommended and walked right into a hotel and went to look at the drop off. Sorrento lies on a cliff right on the beach and they have tons of hotels built into the cliff. To get down to the water they use lifts (elevators) and the water is the bluest of blue. There were no sandy beaches but you could see the huge rocks right through the crystal clear water. It reminded me a lot of Lake superior rocks but with crystal blue water.....Tons of tourists were laying out on rafts....and there were laters leading from the big rocks down to the swimming area (which looked to be about 20 ft deep). It was unbelievable. We said we would go back and spend a whole weekend in Sorrento. We admired it for awhile before heading to Pompei. I had no idea that it was soo big (we could have used more time there) but soon got tired walking and knew we had to get back before the ship left. Pompei is an old Roman city that was preserved by ash from a volcano. That was amazing to see. On our way back to the boat Josh and I stopped and shared a bottle of wine.....Josh gets really fun after a little wine :).

Palermo, Italy (30 June 09...10 month anniversary): We ordered breakfast to our room and sat on our balcony and ate. We recommend to anyone who does a cruise to definately do the balcony...we spent a good portion on it reading and watching the ocean. A lot of times when going at night we would see a small island all lite up and it was pretty neat to see. I would always talk all about the dolphins and how they must have been having so much fun playing underneath the water. Josh laughed and just rolled his eyes saying "I would do anything to just be inside and see what goes on in that head for just a day." I told him that dolphins were smarter than humans and he didn't buy that....I did hear that once but admit I am pretty gulible. We loved Italy!

Tunis, Africa (1 July 09): This was the stop that Josh was most excited for. After the trip Josh started a travel journal were he marks the stops we have been to and what to see. For Tunis he wrote two lines, "We have a map -Do not go back. It's worthless." It was different to see but it was not fun. We took a taxi into town with Faye and Steve and while we were there we were told to see the market. It turned out that it was a small SMALL allyway that went on forever with the locals trying to sell anything and everything. People would bombard you asking you to buy stuff. Many times locals would tell us to follow them and would just lead us to their market...they would want us to pay them for showing them the way. One guy started taking us some where and I told Josh to just stop walking....not to follow him. Josh stopped and told him we just wanted to do our own thing. He got very mad, said some not very nice words and called josh crazy...Josh said, "Yes, I am crazy." It was humerous. We found this one famous site where you pay to go to the top of this store to see a lookout but it turned out that the building top was just the same height as the other building so all you were looking at was the other old buildings....dissapointing...but we all got a good laugh out of it because we tried so hard to find this stop. This day was fun because we got to travel with Faye and Steve. Josh really grew to like Faye because she took notes and planned her days very thoroughly....many times before we took off we would see Faye at breakfast with a couple maps infront of her taking notes of what she wanted for that day.

Palma de Mallora, Spain (2 July 09): That day was the one day we did one of the boats excursions. It took us out on a catamaran to the ocean to swim and sunbathe. The boat stayed close to shore so we were able to see a lot of famous sites and a couple really beautiful beaches. Josh did a lot of swimming, I did a lot of sunbathing. When we got back we went into town for a little bit to walk around. Palma de Mallora is arguable one of the biggest party place in europe(so we were told) so we had to see what it was all about. We didnt stay for long but we did stop by a few local places to have some beer and sangria. We ended up at an American country bar for a little bit because Josh wanted to hear some country music....we love spain!

Barcelona (3 July 09): Okay this was our favorite stop. We had our whole day planned out by Jim (Josh's best friend from hs who spent 4 months studying abroad there) and after visiting I CAN'T believe he came home. Everything about barcelona was amazing to me and I told Josh we had to move there some day. We walked up along Rambla street and every first friday of the month they have this HUGE market. It was the greatest market I had ever seen....I could have walked around it forever. La rambla had a lot of street preformers so it was really cool to just people watch. WE took the Metro up to Sagrada Familia (one of the largest churches I've ever seen). They have been working to build this church for over 150 years now so it was a pretty fantastic site. We then headed to Parc Guell where we walked around and went up to the top to see the city from afar. Again it was breathtaking. It was about 85 degrees out so it gave us a little time to catch some of the breeze. We headed over to a small restaurant in the park where we had a couple beers....Josh took out his maps in order to get us to our next location which was this local sandwhich restuarant Jim had recommended. We found that withough Josh's handheld GPS we would have never found it because it was in this middle of a deserted allyway. When we turned the corner we saw the place was soo packed (at 3 in the afternoon) that you had to gently push yourself to the front to order. We ordered something off the menu (we had no idea what it was...menu was in spanish) and got a bottle of their Cava (kinda like a sparkling wine) for 2 euros. If we hadn't ordered it we would have been the only peopl not drinking this crazy pink juice in the place. The experience was pretty neat and Josh was very happy we found it. When leaving he said, "I could just picture tall Jim standing in the middle of that bar with a great big grin on his face." Jim, you rock for giving us such great places to see!

The last night at dinner when we were all saying goodbye Faye gave me a huge and said, "We really enjoyed your company. Steve and I were talking last night and decided you were quite the character and that your Dad must have had his hands full with you." I smiled and said "Thank you" but wasn't sure if that was what I should have said. I asked Josh after leaving the restuarant and of coarse he laughed and said, "that means you are high maintenance." I didn't understand why a stranger who pretended to like me would call me high maintenance so I tried to prove Josh wrong but after laying in bed for 30 mins continually asking Josh over and over again what he thought it meant I could not figure out what that comment was in reference to. I am still very perplexed. :)

On Saturday we woke up and headed back. The day was interesting because we started out walking (after finding we had no cash on us). After about 45 mins of walking...I was drenched with sweat...I got mad and flagged down a taxi. We somehow verbalized to him that we needed money so we took us to a cash machine before he brought us to the airport 10 hours before our flight took off. We really had no choice because we had so much baggage to carry around. It was very interesting and perhaps we realized we needed to plan our travels arrangements a little better next time.

So I am sorry this is getting so long but I still have to tell you my favorite parts about the trip.

First off, I found that if I let Josh do his whole map and GPS thing (and stay quiet) that we get along quite well. I took a lot of pictures of him at times and numerous different street corners...after awhile I found it pretty cute how much he loves to navigate. I told him in the end he is great to travel with because I just get to go along for the ride.

One night on the balcony, I started talking about dolphins and monkeys and how they were soo super cool. I stated, "there would be nothing better to see just one dolphin playing...it would make my day....okay week....no month." Josh looked up from his book and said, "Look, what is splashing over there." I looked over, thinking he was playing with me and sure enough there was a school of dolphins splashing away. I was soo soo happy and couldn't stop talking about how much fun they were having. There were about 15 of them and they were doing flips everywhere....I was speechless (at least for a good 30 seconds).

I started reading some Nicholas Sparks books...and found myself addicted. Josh even finished his book and I told him my story so a couple nights I read my book out loud to him. The first one I finished "Dear John" I cried like a little baby and even read the ending twice because I couldn't believe how good it was...so I cried twice.

So now Josh and I are back to the world of working. Today I was a little stressed at work and at lunch Josh admitted that he hadn't seen me like that....I am not sure what set me off but after the day was over and Josh and I made dinner, we took a nap and found that was just what I needed. Josh had his first full day back at work as well...and he was given a project so that made him really happy.

I am sorry to let you know that Josh and I have been trying VERY hard to post pictures but for some reason our computers won't let them download the pics to the computer so we will have to keep trying....but you all have to see the places we went.

Okay, my book is done...sorry soo long!

Miss and love you all!

Gretchen