honeymooning - mediterranean cruise

It was a bit of a whirlwind, seeing 4 countries in only a week, and we got to see SO many places and cool things at each port. We decided to book excursions for each place because we didn't want to miss a thing. Our family motto actually is "Live Life to the Fullest" and that we did. The excursions were pretty expensive and made us feel like complete tourists but the amazing experiences were completely worth it. While its hard to chose a fav spot B and I both agree on the French Riviera - if we were insanely rich we would live there for sure. The weather there was a perfect 26 degrees C, which felt especially perfect after melting in 30 to 38 degrees plus for the previous 12 days! And now its apparent that we're Canadian with all this weather talk and even more apparent that we live in one-month-of-summer Northern Ontario.

Day 1 - At Sea

Day 2 - Port: Valetta, Malta -- Excursion:"Scenic Views of Malta"

Day 3 - Port: Naples, Italy -- Excursion: "Taste of Sorrento & Pompeii"

Day 4 - Port: Civitevacchia, Italy -- Excursion: "Rome on Your Own"

Day 5 - Port: Liverno -- Excursion: "Pisa & the Beach"

Day 6 - Port: Cannes, France -- Excursion: "Monacco and a View from Eze"

Day 7 - Port: Barcelona, Spain -- fly home via France/Montreal/Toronto

honeymooning - norwegian gem

The Norwegian Gem is so huge we could see it for miles before we got to it. As we walked over a long bridge to get to it we got more and more excited that this fabulous playground is where we'd be living for the next week. We got a sweet room with our own balcony and spent hours exploring all there is to do on-board. Lots of time was spent at the pool, eating delicious food, watching entertainment, lounging in the sun, reading (check out "The Art of Racing in the Rain" by Garth Stein - a great one for dog owners) and eating more delicious food.

honeymooning - barcelona

The Monday following our wedding B and I took a very early morning flight to Toronto to catch our flight to Barcelona via Paris. All of our traveling went well and we slept lots, arriving in Barcelona at 11:00am the next day. Getting to our first hotel was insanely easy - just jumped on an AirBus and it dropped us right at the Plaza Espanya where the B Hotel is located. This was our home base for 3 days and we greatly enjoyed our suite upgrade and the rooftop pool.

The location was great and we spent a day exploring Monjuic, a cool park complex on a mountain overlooking the city. The next day we got on a Hop-on/Hop-off tour bus which took us to Gaudi's Parc Guell. I've always adored the genius of Antonio Gaudi, which is a large reason why our honeymoon brought us to his hometown. We were walking up a street and to my surprise happened upon 2 more of Gaudi's buildings, it was amazing! The next day we spent a huge chunk of time at Familia Sagrada then wandered down to Parc de la Cuitadella.

Our last 2 days were spent at Hotel Jazz and we again enjoyed our suite upgrade and roof-top pool! Our second location put us in the heart of the action, just steps from La Ramblas. This is the short version of all we experienced in Barcelona, it was so great. On Sunday morning made our way down to the Port and said goodbye to Barcelona for a week, more on that in my next post.

honeymooning pt. 2

B sent me this link today - it's totally our theme song for the cruise.
Give it a listen.

honeymooning

2 months from now we'll be Mr. & Mrs. and we'll be mid-honeymoon, livin' it up on the Norwegian Gem. We are unbelievable excited about our honeymoon! On Monday, July 13th we depart for 5 days in Barcelona followed by a 7-day Mediterranean cruise up the coast of Italy. While in Barcelona we're staying at 2 fabulous design hotels - BHotel (meant to B, so it seems) and Hotel Jazz. Then we hit the seas in our awesome Stateroom with Balcony and check out Valletta, Naples, Rome, Florence/Pisa, Cannes. Totally perfect!