Cruisin' Together

The first couple days of the Greek isle cruise went as follows:

Day one is "at sea" day and we spent it exploring the ship, and then they had the first formal night that night.

Clockwise from left: dressed up for formal night and I had to get a picture in the cool entrance hall to the main theater; the beautiful curtain in the main theater; me taking a picture of myself with the sunset from our balcony the first night right after we shipped off because Ryan was snoozin'.

First stop: Corfu town! I read a book in my excitedness for our cruise called "A House in Corfu". I was so excited I found a book at the library about one of the islands we were actually going to. The book was painful to say the very least. All 200 pages a description of Corfu olive grove, isle, and sea. Bleh. But I do have to say it made me fall in love with the place before even meeting it. And while many said this was the least worthwhile stop on our cruise, I had a fondness for it as I knew the history and mystique of the place and felt that connection. One of the things I learned from the book is that Greece is actually very dry and rocky, so I think I was prepared to not expect lushness while others did and for them it was a disappointment.

Pics: this is just a cool little street we shopped on the way to downtown Corfu. Then we visited the church of St. Spiridon, patron saint of Corfu. We got to go inside and walk by a group who were having a service and chanting and go view St. Spiridon's sarcophagus. People were kissing the glass in front of his face and the priest would wipe it off for the next person in line. We just looked, didn't kiss. Spiridon was talked about much in the novel as the people are very superstitious that he is always watching and good or bad luck to the Corfiots is always a matter of if St. Spiridon is pleased with you.

Our final destination on Corfu was the fortress. It was crazy cool to step foot in a place with so much history. Corfu is the only island in Greece never taken over by Turkish rule due partly to their craftily planned fortresses. It therefore resembles more of a Venetian atmosphere than Turkish, as the rest of Greece does.

Clockwise from top left: Standing in that spot was an overwhelming glimpse of the massive size of the fortress and made you feel so small. I don't know how people built stuff like this back then without machines; Mote around the fortress; halfway to the top; bridge heading into the fortress.

Left- a little prison cell that creeped me out just thinking of being captured and locked away in. Right top- view from the top. Right bottom- walking the paths of the fortress you felt a connection to the guards and prisoners who used to walk there hundreds of years ago.

We met these guys on the ship and hung out in Corfu with them all day. They were also on the cruise with our insurance group and live about 5 minutes away from our house. After the fortress I had to stop and try some moussaka because I read about it so much in my book. We stopped at a roadside cafe and some guys came up and played music for us.

Bottom right- "don't drive your car in the ocean". Fair warning.

Mi Amore

As typical as it is (but then again I am a pretty typical girl), the place I would say when someone used to ask if I could visit anywhere in the world was always VENICE. Well at the beginning of the year we found out that Ryan had earned an incentive trip on a Greek isle cruise from one of the insurance carriers! If that wasn't enough, we later discovered that the itinerary was set to ship out of Venice! Having never been to Europe and always thinking it was a lofty dream that would never be obtained until retirement years and maybe not even then, I was more than elated.

The problem was that we had been on cruises before that shipped out of cool places (like Puerto Rico and Florida), and we knew from those experiences that the only real tour we get of the city a boat ships out of is of the city airport and the back seat of the transfer van. But we were able to check with the travel agent as well as our friends who have been there before and they helped us figure out exactly how to drop our stuff at the boat and navigate the pier to get us to Venice and back in plenty of time for the sail away party! My biggest fear was missing our ship, but I was not about to fly half way across the world and step foot in Venice, city of my dreams, and not actually see any of it. So we decided even if I had to slip off my heels and we had to run that we would do it! I am happy to say that there was only minimal running involved and we happily had a few hours in Venice, got to see St Marks, and finally got a taste of real Italian pizza, zucchini slices and all!

Heading into St Mark's Square- Even as I look at this pic I cannot believe I was standing there...in that very spot... with all the pigeons... just like in the movies!

St Mark's Basilica, the tower, and a pretty little cafe in the square with happy yellow chairs and a live band playing Italian music. You have permission to start humming now: "When the moon hits your eyes like a big pizza pie..."

Counterclockwise from top left: Our first few glimpses (pause to catch breath) heading into the remarkable city; typical shot of the Grand Canal from the view of the water bus; gondola parking; one of many incredible buildings; and the most famous bridge on the grand canal called Rialto with many little window shops. You can see one of the water buses going under it.

We were told that the magic of Venice lies in traversing the narrow passageways and getting lost just in time to turn a corner and run into a sliver of a waterway. We found this to be the case, and it was just as magical as it sounds (even if we were halfway running at times). The big picture on the left was a street that was exactly what I pictured of Italy from pictures that my friends who went on missions there would send. I loved that street!

Left- Rialto bridge with all it's shops and close to where we had our real Italian pizza; Right- tiny waterways straight out of "The Tourist"

Doin' laundry. Another shot of my favorite street.

Goodbye Venice, my love! I hope to see you again one day for more than a few hours!

Mini Tiger

Recently Ryan bought Will his own set of cute little kid sized clubs and has taken him to the driving range a few times. These pics though are from one of the days Ryan actually took him golfing with the guys. It is fun to think that Will will grow up being taught the same sports his daddy loves! I am so curious to see over the years which sports Will really takes a liking to.

Superman Will

Doesn't this ginormous club look good on me?

Ok... so golfing for Will isn't so much about actually GOLFING as it is about sitting in the cart and eating the snacks :)

Driving or putting? You decide.

These are the clubs Will got after he golfed with dad that day and don't they look awfully cute? He can even carry them himself. I know I am an annoying gushing mother :)