Barcelona.

We enjoyed a leisurely day in Barcelona. We decided against taking of the ship's excursion offerings, and opted to see Barcelona on our own, armed with cash and a tourist map! The city provided a free shuttle from the dock to the center of the city. We considered taking the open top red tourist bus that you see in every large city in Europe, but the weather was so nice and walked up La Rambla to the Gothic Quarter on our own. The boys enjoyed seeing the human statues. Dan and I enjoyed all the beautiful buildings.

We found Barcelona's famous Mercat Boqueria...but before we went in to explore, we had to stop at the Dunkin Doughnuts that is right outside the market. The boys were very excited, as it is the only one we have seen since we have been in Europe. The kids enjoyed their doughnuts as we strolled through the market.

The sights and colors in the market were amazing...here are a few of them:

After the market, we headed over to Barcelona's Cathedral, La Seu. It was completed in 1448, and is considered one of the most impressive cathedrals in Spain.

Then is was on to the La Sagrada Familia (the Church of the Holy Family). Construction began in 1882 on this cathedral, and it is still not completed! It was designed by Antoni Gaudi, and is very unique. I may be the ONLY person to say this, but I really didn't like it. It just wasn't my taste. Luckily, there was a playground just across the street, so we took the kids there to play and just snapped some pictures of the exterior of the church.

Principality of Monaco, home of the late Princess Grace and the late Prince Rainier.

Unknown to me it is pronounced mo-NA-co, not MON-a-co. It was one cleanest places we visited. The cruise ship docked in the port of Monaco, and it was easy to navigate on our own. We walked up to the Royal Palace and toured it for a while.

Then we headed down to the Azur Express Tourist Train. It was a fun way to see some of the sights, the kids really enjoyed it! Aboard the "trains" you get to see the Monaco Port, Monte-Carlo and its Palaces, the famous Casino and its gardens, the Old Town, and finally the Royal Palace.

This is as close as we got to the famous Monte Carlo casino... But don't worry, Dan made up for it on the cruise ship!

A view of the port of Monaco and our ship, the Carnival Splendor

Cruisin'!

When we look at options for a vacation, we ALWAYS consider a cruise. Both Dan and I love them, and Ethan has developed a love of cruising as well. We looked at several options, and decided on the Carnival Splendor. It is a new ship, and our sailing was the first for the vessel. We chose Carnival because they have a reputation for having a GREAT kid's program (they accept kids age 2 and up for their Camp Carnival program, and they will change diapers!). We chose this sailing of the Splendor because of the ports, length of the cruise, and dates it was sailing. We departed on 2 July from Genoa, Italy, and sailed to Monaco, Barcelona, Lisbon, Le Harve, and ended in Dover.

We flew in Milan on 1 July. Our flight from Brussels to Milan was delayed more than 2 hours. We arrived in Milan, took the shuttle bus from the airport to the train station (a 30 minute trip that ended up taking close to an hour). Our plan was to spend some time in Milan, but as we arrived to late, we decided to just get on the train to Genoa. So, from the train station, we took the rail from Milan to Genoa (2 hour trip). Thank goodness we packed light (we got everything into 2 suitcases and one soft sided garment bag, plus a few small carry-ons...and that was for all four of us!) Once we arrived in Genoa, we took a cab to our hotel and got checked in. We then headed out for dinner and then called it a night. We were exhausted from traveling all day.

Waiting at the cruise terminal at the Genoa Port:

Boarding:

Our first meal on board:

The muster drill. Dylan did much better this time than he did last year. Neither of the boys complained, and it finished up quickly.

We had cabin number 2250, an outside, ocean view cabin on the Main Deck. It was quite a large room. Dan and I had a large king size bed, Ethan slept on the pullman bunk, and Dylan slept on the sofa which converted to a single bed. There was lots of storage space in the room and plenty of room for us to move around. I don't know if that is the standard on all Carnival ships, but we were very pleased!

Here is a picture of the boys enjoying their room service breakfast one morning:

The first night onboard, we went to the "Welcome Aboard" show. We took Ethan and Dylan with us, but sat in the back of the large theater, just incase we had to make a quick exit with the kids. During the part show, the cruise director, John Heald, was one stage and he invited two young children up on stage. I turned to Dylan and said, "would you like to go up on stage?" He replied "Yes!", and took off running to the stage! Dan ran after him, but Dylan already made it up the stairs before Dan got to him. To make a long story short, Dylan stole the show! Here are some pictures Dan took, and a link to the cruise director's blog page video of what happened with Dylan http://johnhealdsblog.com/2008/07/03/john-on-stage-with-guests/