Monte Carlo, Monaco

I was disappointed today that we missed the last bus to Eze. You’d think we’d be able to get our butts out in time for an 11:25 am bus departure in Monte Carlo? We did however have a pleasant day in the Palace gardens and saw the beautiful cathedral.

Favorite kid moment—Racing the “obstacle course” in the Palace Garden’s playground

Livorno, Italy

We began the day with Pisa. Our first planning mistake was to include a 45 minute climb of the tower. In retrospect, if climbing the tower is a priority, we should have skipped Lucca or Firenze. By the time we got to Lucca, we only had less than an hour to walk around, and even then, we’d be having a very late lunch in Firenze.
Then the kids had a blood sugar crisis. We spent an inordinate amount of time in Lucca searching for snacks and eating. This triggered a huge argument between Andrea and me. She thought I didn't care about the kids or understand their need for food and snacks. I didn't think she was involved enough in the planning and didn't respect all the planning that went into it. Later, I think we had struck a happy medium. I think Andrea realized that it was not fair or reasonable to just continue reacting to my plans without first understanding what we were trying to do or prepare for contingencies. And I would make sure not to over schedule anymore, and to have options in case the kids or Andrea got tired or hungry.

We didn’t arrive around Santa Croce in Firenze until after 1 pm. We enjoyed a nice lunch and then a visit to Basilica di Santa Croce. After that, it was the 2-hour express city tour of the usual sights in Firenze. We did squeeze in a few minutes to walk around and even inside the Duomo.
In hindsight, I would have omitted the climbing of the tower or Lucca (probably the latter) so that we could spend more time in Firenze.

Favorite kid moment—Climbing the leaning tower of Pisa. Here we are at the top of the tower!

Boarding HAL Noordam for our Cruise

Duman from Romeinlimo took us to Civitavecchia. He stopped to buy us gelati before we boarded. Upon embarkation, they mysteriously confiscated our passports. Only later did I find that, because I was the travel coordinator for two CruiseCritic Meet and Greets onboard, they must hold my passport. Although I got it back that evening, I never did get a satisfactory explanation to this.

As to Noordam, the rooms were ready when we boarded shortly after 2 pm. I prefer the stateroom layout where HAL puts the sitting area next to the balcony, whereas RCI puts the sitting area closer to the main door and bathroom. I liked that the balcony partitions opened so we could traverse the two balconies of our connecting staterooms but, because our balconies were shallower than a standard balcony due to the lifeboats below, the open partition door made it nearly impossible for me to open and move through our balcony door. In addition, these Cat VE balconies only have a small coffee table instead of a full balcony table. This didn’t allow us to eat any of our room service breakfasts outside. It would have been nice to have a Cat VD or VC stateroom.

As far as the rest of the ship was concerned, the décor was muted and classy. It had a very warm feel to it. The ship lacked the bright, airiness of RCI’s Radiance and Voyager-class ships--specifically I missed the big soaring atriums. However the ship was notably quieter as the lack of big public spaces kept the noise down and you could easily find private spaces. The Explorations Café is an especially large and inviting area with many comfortable chairs and recliners, and filled books to borrow or read there, DVDs to rent, and computers to use. I liked that HAL gives free internet access to the NY Times web site so you can keep up with what’s going on in the world without paying exorbitant internet access fees.

I found some of the walking flow around the ship to be strange. For example, walking on Deck 3 starboard nearly dead-ends at the Pinnacle Grill and forces you to merge over to the port corridor. On Deck 4, there are similar ways for you to get lost depending on what side of the ship you are on.


The kids, of course, only cared about the pool and the table tennis...

Roma, Italy

I now realize that I overestimated my family's stamina. Perhaps it was the jet lag. I made several contingencies for the short two-day pre-cruise stay in Roma, but I honestly never thought we'd get as little as we actually did in the those 36 hours. In my planning, I had expected to see or visit all of the following: Pantheon, Piazza Navona, Trevi Fountain, St. Peter’s Basilica, Vatican Museums/Sistine Chapel, Colisseum, Forum, Piazza del Campidoglio and Spanish Steps. In reality, we ended up doing about half of it. My priority for these two days was always on my parents getting to see as much as they could as my immediate family still had three days post-cruise in Roma to do more sightseeing. I worried that my parents would have some regrets over missing some popular sights but then probably not.

Roma, Italy

Got a late start this morning so didn’t see anything early. On the way to the Vatican, we passed through Piazza Navona (the first of many visits). Our two-hour tour of the Vatican museums, Sistine Chapel and St. Peter’s Basilica at 1 pm pretty much wiped everyone out. So much for seeing the Forum and Colisseum in the late afternoon and evening!
Loved the convenient location of our hotel, Albergo del Senato, right in the Piazza della Rotonda (if you can afford it)!

Favorite kid moment—Adam and Dad climbing the cupola of St. Peter’s basilica. What a view!

We're off to Europe!

Our flights were smooth and uneventful—long but everyone did well! The long layover in Frankfurt allowed us time to stretch our legs, get something to eat, and for Andrea and me to buy things we forgot to pack (pads/tampons and tennis shoes respectively). After claiming our luggage at Fiumcino, Romeinlimo was there to take us into Roma. After checking in and settling into the hotel, we headed out for dinner at Rotonda Ristorante and gelati (the first of many gelati stops over the next four weeks).

We made a quick visit to Fontana di Trevi in the evening before turning in.