Wednesday, September 9, 2009

VACAY!!!!

For vacation this year, I went on a Mediterranean cruise. On August 28th, Jen, Kirsteen and I flew to Venice, Italy. I was a little nervous about flying the day of the cruise so we went one day early and spent one night there and did a little sightseeing. The sights we saw...plus a little shopping and a little gelato. :)

Here I am in front of St. Mark's Church at St. Mark's Square in Venice

This is the first day on the big "boat"! We had to try on our life jackets and then go for a non-voluntary muster drill
We at so much good food on our cruise. This was the very first night. I ordered Shrimp Ravioli. They were super yummy!
I decided to try a lot of different foods that I wouldn't normally buy for myself. Here I was trying escargots....I actually liked them. Of course they were drenched in garlic!
Trying caviar....I didn't like!!
This was our first formal dinner night. We decided to have a photo shoot out on deck. I really love this picture because I have this one hair that is just flying up in the wind.
After the outside photo shoot we decided to come inside, where it wasn't so windy! :)
One of our stops was Kusadasi (Ephesus), Turkey. We had booked a shore excursion through an internet based company, because it was a little cheaper. Obviously, we were the only ones because we got our own special bus, with my name on it (because I booked the excursion) and our own personal tour guide!
Here are Kirsteen and I with Ergin, our tour guide explaining things to us in the old city in Ephesus. It was really hot this day, but so nice to have our own personal tour guide.
Here I am in the Amphitheater where Paul supposedly preached. The seating capacity is 34,000 people and Ray Charles, Elton John, and Shirley MacLaine all entertained here.
This was in Santorini, Greece. The big boat in the background was our accommodations for the week.
I loved the beautiful pink bougainvillea in Santorini!
Every night, our stateroom attendant would come and turn down our beds and leave us a towel creation. The second to the last night it was a monkey. The last day we went to a demonstration and learned how to make these little creatures.
Every night we went out to watch the sunset. This was our last night on the boat. A perfect ending!