The Vatican

After getting off the ship, we dropped our luggage off at the hotel and made our way to The Vatican. We quickly grabbed some lunch and it was yummy - I had pistachio pasta!

And of course we had to get some gelato...

Then it was time for our tour. 

Exploring the huge museum, and you can see Tricia (our tour guide, haha!) in the background with a deer attached to a selfie stick. It did help to keep our huge group together. :)

One of my favorites - The School of Athens

Inside the Sistine Chapel, I can cross this off my bucket list! Although I did almost get kicked out for taking pictures but it was worth it, haha!

We then visited St. Peter's Basilica...

Michelangelo's famous Pieta

And a view of the outside...

We had a delicious dinner that evening followed by some more gelato of course!

The next day we all traveled home. It was truly an amazing trip and we made such wonderful memories together. Thanks to my parents for making it all possible! And huge thanks to Bill and Georgia for watching our kids, we so appreciate you!

Med Sea Cruise Part 2

SANTORINI, GREECE

Our next stop was the beautiful island of Santorini and was probably my favorite stop. Santorini is the remnant of a volcanic eruption and is surrounded by 980 ft steep cliffs on three sides. You can see the white path that we took to the top...


We all decided to ride donkeys to the top since the climb was long and steep. It was a scary ride but we all made it!

The view from the top with our cruise ship in the background...


A group of us decided to rent 3-wheelers and cruise around the island. It was a lot of fun and a great way to see the island.


We first stopped to see the red sand beach...

Our next stop was to get some lunch. We stopped at a cute little restaurant and all ordered seafood and it was yummy! Here's the beach that was across from the restaurant...

Our last stop was the town of Oia. This was such a beautiful town with lots of cute shops and restaurants and incredible views!

We finally made our way back and walked down the long path to get back on the boat. One more pic of the gorgeous view...

ATHENS, GREECE

Our next stop was the ancient city of Athens where we saw the Acropolis. Once again, we turned to Rick Steve's for his guided tour and listened to it as we made our way around. We hiked to the top of this hill to see the famous ruins...

The Theatre of Dionysus...

and a view of Athens...

The Parthenon...

Adam and I overlooking Athens...

 Jon, my brother in law took this cool pic of The Parthenon...

We then hiked down to the Agora, which was an ancient marketplace of Athens. We listened to another Rick Steve's audio tour as we made our way around. We then did a little shopping, got some yummy gyros (they were seriously amazing!) and made our way back to the boat.

KATAKOLON, GREECE
This was our final stop and is famous for Olympia, where the first Olympics were held. We rode a bus from Katakolon to Olympia to explore the ancient ruins.

In front of the last remaining ruins of Zeus' Temple...

Our group (minus Preston) just before entering the stadium...

 We decided to have a little fun and hold a race! Here we are at the start line ready to go...

 

 The winner of the first group was Adam with Evan close behind...

And I won the girls group followed very closely by Kelly. I had to kick off my flip flops mid race since they weren't easy to run in :)

We had one last day at sea before returning to Rome. Our last night on the ship was another formal night...

We spent one more day in Rome, pics to come!

Med Sea Cruise Part 1

We boarded our ship - Royal Caribbean Rhapsody of the Seas - and enjoyed our first day at sea. We had our first formal night on the boat...

And then we went to karaoke night. Evan, Tricia and Conrad all sang and did great! Here's a pic of Conrad singing...

CHANIA, CRETE

The next day we had our fist stop at Chania, Crete - the largest of the Greek islands. Old town Chania has a pretty old harbor knows as Venetian Port. I loved all the beautiful Venetian buildings!

There is also an old lighthouse that we hiked out to.

some of our group on the lighthouse wall...

the beautiful view from the lighthouse

We found a spa in town where you could get a fish pedicure so we all decided to give it a try. You put your feet into a tank of tiny carp and let them eat the dead skin off your feet. We all started screaming as we put our feet into the tanks at the same time. It was a little weird and creepy and tickled at first, but then you kinda got used to it. And I have to admit that my feet felt so soft afterwards!

MYKONOS, GREECE

The next day we stopped at Mykonos, Greece. I loved this island because it was filled with white-washed buildings and stunning windmills.

Our group first started walking to the windmills, but made a quick stop to get pics next to one of the red doors that we saw all over the island.

our group getting pics...

We navigated our way through the tiny cobblestone streets and finally made it to the windmills.

We then decided to hike to the other side of the island to see more windmills and for this beautiful view...

We did a little shopping and my sister Tricia had us all put flowers behind our ears for a sister pic (minus Kelly)...

KUSADASI, TURKEY

Our next stop was in Turkey to see the ruins of Ephesus, which was built in 10th century B.C. Ephesus was once a harbor city next to the Aegean sea but many rainstorms washed silt down the river to the harbor and now it's 3 miles inland. We once again turned to the free Rick Steve's audio tour and listened to it as we made our way around the ruins. Here's Adam and I at the amphitheatre...

A view of the main street behind us...

The Library of Celus which once held over 12,000 scrolls.

Adam and I taking a break. It was a hot day and we did lots and lots of walking!

The guys in front of a catholic church near Ephesus...

And our group with one of our cab drivers...