Edinburgh and the British Open

In late July, we took a quick weekend trip to Edinburgh.  Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland and is a four and a half hour train ride from London.  We found this to be quite the LONG train ride as we hadn't purchased Colin a separate seat.  Since he refused to sit on our laps, we had to cram him in between our seats.  Not exactly the most comfortable!  We were all happy when we arrived in Edinburgh.  We didn't have much time to see the city since it was such a quick weekend trip so we pretty much left the apartment we had rented for the weekend as soon as we checked in to start seeing the sights.  We were able to do a hop-on, hop-off bus tour of the city and visit the Royal Yacht Britannia, which is Queen Elizabeth's retired yacht, before Colin had enough for the day.  We had tickets to the British Open the following day so we all needed a good night's sleep.

I had given David tickets to the British Open for Valentine's Day this year.  It was one of the things he really wanted to do during our time here in London.  We weren't exactly sure how it would work out with Colin.  Fortunately, I realized that the sitter service we use here in London is UK-wide so was able to reserve a sitter for the day for Colin in Edinburgh.  The sitter came right on time and was awesome with Colin.  They had a great day visiting a museum and playing at the playground while David and I went to the British Open.

The British Open (Open Championship as it is called here) was held at Muirfield Golf Course this year.  It was an easy train and bus ride to get there from Edinburgh.  We spent the day walking the course in reverse and were able to see almost all of the golfers.  David of course loved it, and I actually had a lot of fun as well.  I think we will be going to more golf tournaments in the future!  We had to see Phil Mickelson win from the comfort of our couch on the TV of the rental apartment though as we had to leave before the end to rescue Colin from the sitter.

The next day, we had a bit of time before we needed to catch our train back to London.  We visited the Edinburgh Castle and did some whisky tasting at the Scotch Whisky Experience.  Then, it was time to hop back on the train for another four and a half hour ride.  It was in the high 80s and the air conditioning was broken in our car.  Not the most pleasant end to our trip, but we all agreed that we loved Edinburgh.  Here are some pictures from the trip.

Ready for our day at the British Open!

David wearing his Drake shirt to support fellow golf team member Zach Johnson 

Watching golf was way more fun than I thought it would be.    PGA Championship at Whistling Straits in 2015 here we come!

We toured the Royal Yacht Britannia, which is the Queen's retired royal yacht.  It is also where Prince Charles and Princess Diana honeymooned.

Edinburgh Castle

Edinburgh Castle

Whisky tasting at the Scotch Whisky Experience

Mediterranean Cruise: Port of Palma de Mallorca

We had a much needed relaxing day at sea on Friday spent exploring the areas of the ship we hadn't previously had time for.  Of course, the vast majority of the time was spent at the waterpark where Colin must have went on the kiddie waterslides at least 100 times!  Saturday, our final port was the Spanish island of Palma de Mallorca.

There wasn't anything that we felt we had to see on the island.  The island is known for its resorts and beaches so we decided we would take a taxi to Palma Nova Beach in the morning.  The beach was wonderful; another great sandy beach with crystal clear blue water.  David and I could have spent all day there, but Colin was still refusing to touch his feet to the sand.  David and I took turns swimming in the Mediterranean while Colin lounged on the beach chairs we had rented.

After a few hours at the beach, we decided to head back to the ship for the rest of the day to get our last fix of everything the ship had to offer.  Once again, this meant more time on the waterslides for Colin!  The next morning, we had to get up and disembark the ship.  It was sad to end such an amazing vacation, but we have such great memories.  A cruise was a perfect way to see a lot of Europe with a toddler.  In fact, we decided to do another one in September to Athens and the Greek Islands out of Venice.  We can't wait!

Day at Sea:  Like father like son.  Who is having more fun?

Day at Sea:  My daredevil son going headfirst down the waterside.

Day at Sea:  Dinner with my favorite little man.

Lounging in Palma de Mallorca

Palma Nova Beach in Palma de Mallorca

Nap time!

One last ice cream cone on the ship

Final dinner to end a fabulous cruise

Mediterranean Cruise: Port of Messina

Happy 4th of July from Messina, Italy!  Our port on the 4th of July was Messina, a city on the island of Sicily.  It certainly did not seem like the 4th of July cruising the Mediterranean and spending the day in Sicily.  There didn't seem to be much to do in Messina, and I had a feeling we would be exhausted at this point so I booked a Carnival excursion for this day that involved spending half of the day at the beach.  The other half of the day would be spent in the town of Taormina.

We drove for about an hour before reaching Taormina, which was high up in the mountains of Sicily.  Taormina is a popular tourist destination with pedestrian streets and beach resorts.  Its most well known site is the Teatro Greco ('Greek Theatre').  We headed straight to the Greek Theatre when we arrived.  Another not so stroller friendly tourist destination but a really cool place to see as the ancient theatre is built into a cliff.  After the theatre, we did some window shopping and stopped at a cafe for a panini (for me), beer and cannoli (for David), and gelato (for Colin).  Taormina was such a cute village.  It was more of the Italy I love similar to the villages making up the Amalfi Coast rather than the big cities like Rome.

After our time in Taormina, we drove down the mountains to one of the private beaches on the Ionian Sea.  The beach was beautiful.  The sandy beaches of Sicily were so much better than the rocky beaches we saw in the French Riviera.  We all went for a swim although I must admit I kept my time in the water short after hearing that there were a lot of jelly fish.  The beach lounge chair called my name after that!  Colin liked swimming when David was holding onto him but wanted no part in touching his feet to the sand!

When we got back to the ship, we had a casual dinner at Guy's Burger Joint.  Guy Fieri partnered with Carnival to create a burger restaurant in all of their new ships.  So yummy!  Then, we brought Colin to Camp Carnival and went to the Punchliner Comedy Club to see a comedy show.  We were ready for the following day which would FINALLY be a relaxing day at sea!

Taormina

Greek Theatre 

View from the Greek Theatre

Taking a rest after climbing all the stairs in the Greek Theatre 

Gelato break!

Beach time!  Colin was not a fan of the sand!

Swimming in the Ionian Sea

Mediterranean Cruise: Port of Naples

Our port on Wednesday was probably the one I was most looking forward to.  The port itself was Naples, but we booked another semi-private excursion to take us to Pompeii and the Amalfi Coast for the day.  We shared our van with the same couple from Chicago and mother and daughter from Utah that we had been with during our day in Pisa and Florence.  We had a much better driver than in Rome although once again the van was without the car seat for Colin that we had been promised.  Needless to say, the tour company received a nasty email from me when we got back to London.

Our first stop for the day was Pompeii.  We had a couple of hours on our own to explore the site.  It was pretty amazing to see the whole city preserved in time.  It definitely was not stroller friendly though so David and I were pretty hot and tired at the end of the two hours and were ready for the more relaxing stops of the day.

From Pompeii, we drove to the Amalfi Coast.  The view during the drive was just spectacular.  Our driver stopped a number of times for us to get out and admire the scenery and take photos.  We were given some time to shop in Sorrento where the stores are filled with various lemon related products.  We sampled and purchased some limoncello (a lemon flavored liqueur) and also bought some lemon flavored soaps.  We had lunch at an amazing cliff side cafe in Positano.  It was a family style meal with lots of wine, multiple appetizers, about five different pastas, and at least that many desserts.  Plus, we had some limoncello to cap off the meal.  Yum!  I LOVED the village of Positano.  It was breathtaking.  We finished the excursion with some free time to explore the village of Amalfi (where we sampled some yummy lemon granita) before making the drive back to Naples.  This is definitely a region I want to go back to someday.

We got back to our ship about 5:30 and got some dinner for Colin before dropping him off at Camp Carnival.  David and I had dinner in another one of the specialty restaurants, Ji Ji's, which serves Asian food, before picking Colin up and heading to bed.  This was definitely one of my favorite days of the cruise.  The pictures say it all!

Walking through the streets of Pompeii

Pompeii Amphitheatre

Pompeii Basilica

Mt. Vesuvius 

Admiring the scenery 

Sorrento

Positano = LOVE

Colin liked these stairs more than the scenery

I definitely want to go back to Positano someday

Amalfi

Mediterranean Cruise: Port of Civitavecchia

Our port on Tuesday was Civitavecchia, which is the cruise port for access to Rome.  I wasn't all that excited about this port as I had already seen most of the Rome highlights on a previous visit and remembered the city as being rather dirty, hot, and crowded (I know I am a minority here as most people love Rome).  Still, I felt it would be silly to miss out on seeing the city again, especially since David had never been to Rome.  I didn't want to deal with the overcrowded public transportation with Colin and his stroller so we opted to book another semi-private excursion in Rome.

We got off our ship and met our tour guide.  However, things didn't go as smoothly as they did with our tour in Livorno.  The tour guide did not have any one else to share the excursion with us.  He then made us wait in the hot sun for about 45 minutes until he could convince a British couple and their teenage son to join us.  Needless to say, we were not happy at this point.  We then got to his van and found out there was no car seat for Colin.  The tour company had specifically agreed to provide car seats for Colin on all of our excursions.  We chose to pay full price for Colin with this company (many others give a discount or are free for 2 year olds) because they had guaranteed he would have a car seat.  Needless to say, we weren't off to a good start.

We did end up seeing a lot the rest of the day with stops at Vatican City and St. Peter's Square, Piazza Venezia, Colosseum, Spanish Steps, Trevi Fountain, Piazza Navona, and a viewpoint outside the city. We also had lunch at a restaurant that I am certain was owned by friends or family of the driver for which he received some sort of kick-back, but it was at least a decent meal of pasta and beer.

I was glad we made the trip into Rome, but this was definitely my least favorite day of the cruise.  I was happy when we made it back to the ship and had some pool and waterslide time before dinner.  We had dinner and then dropped Colin off at Camp Carnival.  David and I had a drink on the adults only Serenity deck and played a round of mini golf before picking up Colin.  He was tired after not having napped well due to the lack of a car seat.  We all went to bed early as we had a big day ahead of us, the port of Naples and Pompeii and the Amalfi Coast which I was really looking forward to.

St. Peter's Square, Vatican City

David and Colin at the Colosseum

Spanish Steps

Trevi Fountain 

Throwing a coin into the Trevi Fountain

Resting by a fountain in Piazza Navona

Exhausted after a long and hot day in Rome

Mediterranean Cruise: Port of Livorno

Our port for Monday was Livorno.  This is another industrial port city, but it provides access to the wonderful region of Tuscany.  Knowing that most of the sights were quite aways from the port and wanting to make the most of our short time in this region, we booked a semi-private excursion for this day.  We shared a van with a couple from Chicago and a mother and daughter from Utah.  Our driver was at the ship waiting for us as we disembarked Monday morning.  He had a car seat in his van for Colin which was invaluable as Colin was able to get a couple of good naps in throughout the day.

Our first top was Pisa and its famous "Field of Miracles" containing the Leaning Tower, Duomo, and Baptistery.  We walked around and took a number of photos before hopping back in the van.  We drove through the Chianti region in Tuscany en-route to Florence.  We stopped at Pizzale Michelangelo outside the city, which is a hilltop square with a stunning view of Florence before driving downtown.  Upon arriving in the center of the city, we were given time to explore the city on our own.  

It was a HOT day in Florence, but we tried to make the most of our time there.  We started out with a lunch of caprese salad, pizza, and wine at one of the sidewalk cafes lining Piazza della Signoria.  We then took a walk along the Arno river crossing over the famous Ponte Vecchio ('Old Bridge').  We toured both the insides of the Santa Croce Church and Duomo.  Of course, we made a gelato stop as well.  

Because we were in Florence on a Monday, the city's two most famous sights, the Ufizzi Gallary and the Accademia housing Michelangelo's David were both closed.  I had been to both museums during my last trip to Florence, and David had no interest in either so it wasn't a big deal to us that they were closed.  I love the Tuscany region so much and hope to return again some day and be able to visit a lot of the little towns we didn't have time for on this trip.

After returning to our ship, we showered and dropped Colin off at Camp Carnival for dinner.  David and I had reservations for the speciality steakhouse, Fahrenheit 555.  We both thought the steaks were really good, especially after having not had a decent steak in the entire time we have lived in London.  Afterwards, we got drinks at the Alchemy Bar which mixes up speciality cocktails and then listened to some live music before picking up Colin and heading to bed.  Another busy but fun day!

Leaning Tower of Pisa

Family picture in the Chianti region of Tuscany

Piazzale Michelangelo

Duomo

Ponte Vecchio

Mediterranean Cruise: Port of Monaco

On Sunday, our ship arrived in Monaco.  This was a pretty spectacular port with gorgeous views of the harbor and multimillion dollar yachts.  We weren't as rushed this day so decided to have breakfast in the Havana Bar where they serve made-to-order omelets.  I had read that this was an easy port to do on your own so did not book any excursions for this day.  We got off the ship and made our way to the train station and caught a train to Nice.

Nice lived up to its glamorous French Riviera reputation.  We took a walk through the city and saw all the people sunbathing on the rocky beaches.  They city was preparing for the Tour de France which was scheduled to come through the following day.  After exploring the city, we had crepes for lunch at a yummy creperie before taking the train back to Monaco.  Colin got some much needed sleep in his stroller during our time in Nice.  He seemed to be feeling better as the day progressed.

After arriving back in Monaco, we walked to the Monte Carlo Casino.  Even for a non-car lover like myself, it was pretty amazing to see some of the vehicles parked in front of the casino.  We walked around a bit more after this and then decided to head back to our ship early for some much needed pool and relaxation time.

Colin got his first introduction to the kiddie waterslides on the ship this afternoon, and he was obsessed with them for the rest of our trip.  David and I had a lot of fun on the three regular waterslides as well.  After our pool time, I enjoyed a fruity pre-dinner drink at the rum bar (beer for David) on the Lido deck and then had another dinner in the main dining room.  It was another early night for us to help Colin get over the last of his sickness.

Beaches of Nice

I can't imagine it is pleasant to lay on these rocks

Monte Carlo Casino

Waterslide fun!

Twins

Miami Vice = Vacation