Ciao Bella

On Thursday, October 11 Kevin and I flew to Europe. We arrived in Malaga, Spain on Friday around 2:00 and flew to Rome on Saturday evening. All we did in Malaga was sleep, so I won't bore you with a post about our short stay. We got to Rome around Midnight on Saturday, went straight to sleep, and woke up around 8am on Sunday for work. We stayed at a new hotel so instead of figuring out the public transportation we took a taxi to Termini Station where we caught the express train to Civitavecchia. We finished work and were back at the hotel around 5:00. We decided not to go into the city again so we ate dinner at a restaurant near our hotel. We took some sleep aides and fell asleep around midnight.

We skipped breakfast on Monday and woke up around noon. It was raining when we first woke up around 9am but had cleared up by the time we left the hotel around 1:00. We took the city bus to the Vatican and spent the afternoon in the Vatican Museum. Kevin and I went to the Vatican Museum on my first visit to Rome, but we decided to go back. The main attraction at the Vatican Museum is the Sistine Chapel, but in order to get to the chapel you have to go through the rest of the museum. The first part of the museum is beautiful and exciting, but eventually you get to the point where all you want to see is the Sistine Chapel, and once you've seen the Sistine Chapel the rest of the art work is "boring." Our visit was fun and the Sistine Chapel was exquisite, but I don't think I will have the desire to go again. We grabbed a quick dinner and then went to St. Peter's Square. It started raining again while we were admiring the Basilica so we sought cover for about 15 minutes until the rain stopped. We took the bus back to the hotel around 8:00.

This was already about 1/2 way through the line to get into the Vatican Museum. Fortunately it moved pretty quickly!

The sculpture at the end of the museum. 

The cupola of St. Peter's is behind me. 

A very cool sculpture inside the museum.

This was a long and narrow hall full of statues. I thought this picture was cool.

You are not supposed to take photos inside the Chapel, but everyone else was doing it, so I joined in. It is absolutely exquisite!

The ceiling of the Sistine Chapel! You can see the very well known painting of The Creation of Adam (the two fingers touching) located almost in the very middle of the photo. That is my favorite! 

At the end of the museum you walk down an incredible spiral walkway. This is on one side of the walkway. 

St. Peter's Basilica all lit up. I love this photo! 

We woke up around 10am on Tuesday and packed our bags so we could switch hotels. We had two ship inspections the following day so we decided to stay in Civitavecchia on Tuesday and Wednesday night so we didn't have to waist time on the train. We checked-out of the hotel and stored our bags so we could go back into the city to do some shopping and send some postcards from Vatican City. We went back to the hotel around 2:30pm, grabbed our bags, hopped in a taxi to Termini Station, and boarded our train to Civitavecchia. We got to the  hotel around 5:00 and immediately went out to get some food! The restaurant we wanted to eat at was closed so we grabbed a snack, went back to the hotel, and then ate dinner around 9:00. The food in Civi is amazing and much cheaper than in Rome! We had happy tummies!

Filling our our postcards. 

Mandatory photo before the postcards were mailed.

The drop-off. These postcards were sent from the smallest country in the world: Vatican City!

We woke up on Wednesday around 8:30 and were on the first of 2 ships by 9:30am. We finished work on the first ship around 12:15 and were on our second ship by 1:00. We did some staff training and routine maintenance and finished work around 5:30. It was a long day! We went back to the hotel for a little while and then ate dinner around 9:00 again. After dinner, we went to an Irish pub for a quick drink and called it a night.

We got to watch the sunset both nights from our room. 

This pizza is a single serving and almost 3x the size of Kevin's head!

Delicious gnocchi pomodoro. It is a good thing we don't live in Italy...we would weigh 300lbs!

We left the hotel around 10:30am on Thursday. We took the train to Termini and then took the Leonardo Express to the airport. Our flight to Quebec City left at 3:30. It was another great visit!

Creatures of Habbit in NYC

I was not offered a full time teaching position this year, so I began traveling with Kevin again in October. On Tuesday, October 9 Kevin and I flew to New York City! We left Colorado Springs around 8:00am and flew through Dallas to LGA, first class the whole way! Our flight landed half an hour early and we were checked-in to our hotel by 4:30pm. We stayed near Madison Square Garden and walked up to Times Square to get theatre tickets. Like the last trip we took, I had carefully planned which shows we would see and the discount tickets that went with each show. Our first stop was the box office for Bring It On the Musical. They have general rush tickets for $35.00, but I was afraid they would not have tickets available because anyone can purchase these tickets beginning at 10am. We got to the box office around 5:15pm and to my surprise, they still had tickets available. We got two tickets in the right box and then went out to get drinks before the show. We met my cousin, Jackie, at a bar in Times Square and had a great visit while we were waiting for the show. We went to the theatre around 6:40 and the usher informed us that we should speak with the theatre manager to get better seats. The theatre was only about half full so we got a seat in the right orchestra. The seats were great and there was no one next to us or in front of us. I really enjoyed the show! For me it was the best of both worlds combining cheerleading, gymnastics, and Broadway music all in one show! It brought back many fond memories of my cheerleading days! We went to the stage door after the show and then started walking back to the hotel. On our way back to the hotel, we passed the stage door for Evita and tried to spot Ricky Martin, but did not succeed. We got back to the hotel around 11:30 and called it a night.

My first encounter with the Naked Cowboy. 

One of my favorite places in the world with my favorite person!

My beautiful cousin, Jackie.

Guy Fieri's car in front of his new restaurant in Times Square.

The Bring It On Marquee. Looks like it was snowing, but it was just rain.

Taylor Louderman, one of the female leads in Bring It On.

Elena Roger. She is currently playing Evita on Broadway. We saw her when we tried to spot Ricky Martin. 

We woke up around 9:00 on Wednesday morning and went to the ship. We were doing an inspection on an NCL ship so we planned to be on the ship longer than normal, but we finished in good time! My hope was to finish the inspection with enough time to see a 2:00 matinee and we succeeded! I went to get a ticket for Once (Kevin didn't want to see a matinee) but they were unfortunately sold out. I could have gone to see Nice Work if You Can Get It, but decided to go back to the hotel and spend the afternoon with Kevin. We showered and changed and then went to see my friend Ryan at work. Ryan works at a new restaurant in Times Square called Guy's All-American with menu inspiration from Guy Fieri. It was delicious, and so fun to see Ryan! The original plan for the evening was to go to the Annie lotto at 6pm, but we decided to try our luck at the Book of Mormon lotto at 5:00 first. Sadly, we didn't win tickets for Book of Mormon so we decided to go to the Newsies lotto at 5:30. Kevin's name was pulled at the Newsies lotto and then my name was pulled too! We ended up getting 3 tickets for $30 each and Ryan was able to join us! The show started at 7:30 so we grabbed a Starbucks and chatted in Bryant Park before we went back to the theatre. I sat with Ryan for the first act and then Kevin and I switched seats for the second act (his seat was closer to the stage door). I was expecting the stage door to be like the first time I saw the show in March, but was pleasantly surprised when we practically had our own private stage door experience. There were maybe 20 people there this time compared to hundreds in March! We had a blast! We walked around Times Square for a little while and then grabbed a midnight snack at Shake Shack! They still have the best burgers I've ever tasted. We got back to the hotel around 1am!

Love this show!

Ryan, one of my BEST friends from high school, and an Usher from our wedding!

Garett Hawe - this is the cast member that took us backstage in June. It was great to see him again!

Andrew Keenan-Bolger, aka Crutchie. 

Ben Fankhouser, aka Davey.

The AMAZING Ryan Steele, aka Specs. Such and incredible dancer! 

Such a cutie! 

The new Jack Kelly, Corey Cott. 

The very talented, Kara Lindsay.

Love this place!!

The burgers are AMAZING!

On Thursday we flew to Europe, but our flight wasn't until 6:00pm so we arranged for a late check-out and went to Katz's deli for lunch! We met Ryan and his roommate Joseph and enjoyed the pickles, matzah ball soup, and pastrami sandwiches! We very often eat our way through cities! We got back to the hotel around 1:00, showered and hopped on the subway to JFK. It was an incredible trip! I feel so alive in the city and just can't get enough of it! I am already looking forward to our next trip!

Ryan, Me, Kevin and Joseph at Katz's Deli. 

Palma de Mallorca

We left Athens at 6:30am on Thursday morning and flew to Palma de Mallorca. We had an 8 hour layover in Zurich and arrived in Mallorca around 7pm. We checked-in to our hotel that was located on the beach and went out to explore! Mallorca is like the Vegas of Europe. It is divided into the German beaches and the UK beaches. Our hotel was located in the German area. We walked up and down the beach where there were tons of restaurants and shops and called it a night around midnight.

Flying over the Alps was one of the most beautiful things I have ever seen!

When in Switzerland, eat chocolate!

The view from our balcony! Beautiful!

The sun setting over the beach. 

You could carry open bottles along the beach so we bought these big, cheap beers to share as we explored. 

On Friday we went to the beach! We had lunch at an incredible Indian restaurant and went back to the hotel to take a nap. We went back out that evening and walked the beach again and then fell asleep around 11pm.

On Saturday we went to work. All of the sports staff on the ship were having a team building activity at a place called Wave House, so after we finished work, we joined them. Wave House is a bar on the beach with a Flowrider. We were certainly not dressed for the beach/water so Kevin got a new swimsuit and we both got some flip flops and made the best of our time at the Wave House. We went back to the ship around 4:00 and got back to the hotel around 5:00. We ate dinner along the beach and called in an early night.

At the Wave House with our friend from the ship, Lisa.

Love this sign!

Some nice tourists took our photo. 

On Sunday we went to work again. This ship was much smaller and we didn't go out after work, so we were back at the hotel around 1:00pm. We put our swimsuits on and proceeded to get a "bucket" of Sangria. We purchased 3 litters of Sangria, a pack of ice, some straws and a bucket to carry it all in. It was a big undertaking and took us about 5 hours to finish, but we successfully completed the challenge and finished the bucket of Sangria. While we were tackling our bucket, we went to a place called Fun Fish. This is a place with fish tanks full of toothless fish that exfoliate your feet. It tickled at first but became very relaxing. It was so much fun! After we finished with the fish, I decided to get my hair braided! It was slightly painful but worth it. We went back to the hotel to pack our bags and finally finish our bucket and then went out to get some dinner. We decided to go back to the awesome Indian restaurant but ordered our food for take away. We had a nice romantic dinner on our balcony and called it an early night.

This is our bucket.

Yikes! I was a little intimidated.

So much Sangria!

Just the two of us.

Fun Fish! It was so cool!

Such a neat experience. My feet were definitely exfoliated. 

We each had our own tank, that way we had more fishies!

Getting my hair did!

Almost done. 

The finished product. 

Another view from our balcony. 

Our delicious dinner! 

We flew back to the States on Monday and were glad to be home. When we got home I started the application process for becoming a full time teacher! 

The Poet Sandal Maker in Athens

This is a continuation of our trip to Europe in July and I am picking up right where I left off.

July 17, 2012 - We woke up, ate breakfast and were on our way to the airport around 9am. We flew non-stop from Barcelona to Athens and arrived in Athens around 3:30 pm. We then took a train from the airport to Piraeus, which is where we were staying and where the ships dock. We got to the hotel around 6:00pm and checked-in. They put us in a room that smelled like mildew, rot and smoke and the air conditioner didn't work. All a bad combination in Athens in July! We asked the receptionist if they had a non-smoking room available and were pleasantly surprised when we were able to move to a different room that didn't smell and had a working air conditioner! We ate dinner at the hotel that evening and went to bed pretty early.

On the train to the hotel.

We ate fried feta cheese at the hotel for dinner. 

We woke up on Wednesday morning and went to the ship. We got back to the hotel around 1:00pm and then ventured into the city around 3:00. We walked to the subway station and took the train to Monastiraki and did some shopping. We found a famous shop, called The Poet Sandal Maker, that sells custom made leather sandals and we had to go in. This is a family business passed down for 3 generations that has made custom shoes for Sophia Loren, The Beatles, Jeremy Irons, Jackie Onassis and many more! It was such a neat experience! You pick the style shoe you want and then if you decide to buy it they custom fit the shoe to fit your foot! And they are pretty cheap too! Only 15-30€! It was so cool. We stopped in a pub for dinner and drinks and went back to the hotel around 8pm. Our flight to Palma de Mallorca left bright and early on Thursday morning so we packed our bags and crashed.

This how you select which shoe to try on. Each one has a name and a number. The shoes are named after the famous people that have bought them or Greek characters who inspired a specific style. 

So much leather! 

This is the guy who custom fit my sandals. I bought the Minoan's. 

This is the current owner of the shop, Pantelis Melissinos. He is the 3rd generation owner. It was amazing that he was there working at the shop while we visited. 

In front of the shop.

I love my new custom shoes!