Florence

The Ponte Vecchio




The Duomo-the centerpiece of Florence


It was so crowded in Florence and it was just the beginning of the tourist season.

We loved Florence. We would love to go again when we can really spend time there. A few hours in Florence is not enough! We made reservations at the Academia-the museum famous for Michelangelo's masterpiece-"David". Thank goodness for the reservations-the line was a 1 1/2 hour wait.
We ate the most delicious paninis at a little "hole in the wall" called Da'Vinattieri just a short walk from the Duomo. We walked across the Arno River and walked back and ate delicious gelato (ice cream). I think you are supposed to try out gelato in every Italian city you visit, aren't you?

Trip-Part 2

Brent and I landed in Madrid on Wednesday, May 26th. We stayed with Brett, Amy and the kids until Sunday when we took the "Ave" (fast train) to Barcelona to take a 7-day cruise. We decided a cruise was a great way to celebrate our 40th anniversary. Wow-can you believe it's been that long!

Anyway, everything went great-our train made it to Barcelona in 3 hours-we took the metro to the waterfront and then trying to be independent travelers, we took off for the pier-avoiding the shuttle bus. We were in for a surprise when we ended up walking for what felt like 2 miles, wheeling our suitcases! We weren't the only ones but it was really far and I was really tired when we boarded the ship. But, we made it.
Day 1 on our cruise was the port of Monte Carlo/Monaco. It is always fun to see the places you only hear about. We couldn't believe all the yachts in the harbor-it is the place for the rich and famous! We took a little tour of Monaco, saw the cathedral where Grace Kelly and Prince Rainier were married and enjoyed the beautiful weather.


View of Barcelona from our cabin on the ship. Can you see Segrada Familia in the distance?



The beautiful yachts in the harbor in Monte Carlo


The famous casino in Monte Carlo


A handsome man in port


The cathedral where Grace Kelly her Prince were married (and buried).


Monaco


I loved the flowers painted on this building in Monaco

Our Trip to Spain-Part 1

Brent and I traveled to Spain (Madrid)-AGAIN, at the end of May. We stayed with Brett, Amy and the kids for about 4 days and then we went by train to Barcelona where we boarded the Norwegian Jade for a 7 day cruise. There will be more about the cruise in my next post!

Brett took Brent and me and the kids to a great little town called Avila. They have a huge wall around the old part of the city as you can see from the photos. We enjoyed the quaint streets and beautiful countryside surrounding Avila (pronounced Ah-vee-la). One of the interesting things we saw was the giant pelican nests built in the towers of the cathedrals and also on other buildings.