A Year Ago...

A year ago today we began this blog as a place to plan, narrate, and document our back to back Disney cruises in the Mediterranean. What a wonderful adventure it was. And it's fun for us to look back at our posts. Join us in the time machine as we go back to our first post.

http://medcruise2013.blogspot.com/2013/02/this-journey-began-with-promise-several.html

Article: Long Weekend in Barcelona

Should you find yourself in Barcelona with a few days pre- or post-cruise, this recent article from Fodor's Travel has some ideas for things to do. We loved our days there and hope others will as well.  

Long Weekend in Barcelona
http://www.fodors.com/news/long-weekend-in-barcelona-7404.html

Article: 10 Must-Pack Items for Every Cruise

We thought this is share-worthy for our readers who are planning a cruise.

10 Must-Pack Items for Every Cruise
http://www.fodors.com/news/10-must-pack-items-for-every-cruise-10250.html

Shared from Fodor's Travel.

Saluting our veterans

To all of our family, friends and loved ones who have served in the Armed Forces, we salute you and your families. Thank you for your service.

Choosing a flight time

An early step in trip planning is to scope out possible flight times and prices. We prefer nonstop when possible, and typically fly from Atlanta. While our trip to Barcelona had only one flight per day, it appears there are two to Paris from Atlanta on Delta. The Barcelona flight leaves at 5:30, so the 5:50 to CDG is similar, but I wonder if the 11 pm flight that arrives at 2:00 might be better because the hotel room or apartment would be ready to check in when we got there rather than having a half day to wander around before we could get a shower and some rest. Which would you pick and why?

Paris - What to see and do?

I posed a question to my Facebook friends asking them if a friend was planning a trip to Paris and she had five full days in autumn to spend there, what would they tell her to be sure to see and do.  I find that when exploring a new destination that one of the best resources is to ask people who have been there to share their highlights and experiences which often lead to sites and events that one might otherwise miss if relying solely on guide books.

 

In the first morning, over a dozen people responded with some great ideas – some I have heard of but don’t know much about, and some that I’m going to have to Google.  Here’s what they have offered so far*:

 

Notre Dame – and don’t miss the gargoyles

Versailles – and don’t skip the gardens

Arc de Triomph

Champs Elysees

Monmartre

Musee d’Orsay

Boat trip down the Seine

A day in the countryside

Sacre Coeur

Catacombs

Cite des Sciences et l’Industrie

Savor the food – paninis and crepes from the street carts

Ice Cream shop near Notre Dame that sculpts the ice cream into the shape of a rose

 

 

* I exempted the Eiffel Tower, Louvre, and Disneyland Paris from the question because these are things we know we would want to do.  DH visited Paris as a teenager but his opportunity to go to the top of the Eiffel was cancelled due to lightning.  And just like you can’t go to London without a visit to the British Museum, the Louvre is a must-do for us.  And if you’ve been a reader of this blog for any length of time, you’ll understand that Disneyland Paris is non-negotiable!

 

Have other places someone should be sure to visit while in Paris? Or things to do that one might not think about at first glance?  Share them in the comments and you may see them featured in a future blog post!

 

Where to next???

I was thinking today about what direction I’d like to take this blog now that we’ve pretty much exhausted the “what we did, what we saw” portion of our summer 2013 adventure.  I’ve been putting together our photo book at Shutterfly, and while there, I paused to look through our photos from 2010 when we spent several days pre-cruise in London before sailing from Dover.  I’ve posted before about how important it is to have some pre-cruise days when traveling a far distance to allow for adjusting to the new time zone as well as giving your luggage time to catch up with you if there were delays.  But I haven’t written about spending some days either pre- or post-cruise somewhere besides the departure port.  Because we were already spending a month on vacation, staying in Barcelona pre- and post-sailing made the most sense for us, but for some of our fellow passengers, they extended their 12-night cruise and spent several days in places such as London, Paris, and Venice.

 

Because we have been to London and Venice, and even though we would like to go back, if you all are in agreement, I’d like to turn our attention to planning some days in Paris.  We don’t have a date in mind, but we do know we want to make it over there at some point in the not-too-distant future.  We have some local area friends that we’ve talked about taking a river cruise with in Europe and think that when we do that, would be a great time to spend several days in Paris either before or after.  And because I like to have time to research places, now seems as good a time as any to start!

 

 

Jusqu'à la prochaine fois…

Raising the Costa Concordia

We booked our Mediterranean cruises just days after the Costa Concordia was wrecked in January 2012.  The night of the tragic event, I stayed up entirely too late watching the online coverage of the breaking story and following along on various cruise boards to read reports as they came in from passengers who had been on board.  We thought about what we might do differently than usual when taking our next cruise so that we would be better prepared in the unlikely event that we would have to abandon ship in a hurry.  And when we sailed, we did change things up from how we've sailed before - things like making sure our passports were gathered and ready to grab in a hurry along with cash and other important documents we had with us.  We kept our belongings organized in such a way that if we lost light, we could still get what we would need. And for the first time, I took a flashlight with us.  Thankfully we didn't need quick access to anything, but I slept better each night knowing we were better prepared.

This week, the Costa Concordia was raised from where she laid on her side for these long months.  Reuters captured the raising in a time-lapse video, shared here.

Clocks

We noticed that many of the clocks in the parts of Europe we visited had Roman numerals for the hour and regular numbers for the minutes, displayed every five minutes. And the face of the clocks were more for the phases of the moon and the seasons.

DCL Summer 2014 itineraries

When we decided to sail with Disney Cruise Line for their Mediterranean itineraries in summer 2013, we did so thinking that there might be a chance they didn’t return to the Med for the 2014 season.  We needn’t have worried because there are a variety of cruises available next summer, ranging from 4 nights to 12 nights with departures from Barcelona and from Venice.  And her ship will be stopping at some new ports including Catania, Italy (Sicily), Katakolon, Greece (the gateway to Olympia) and Corfu, Rhodes, Crete, and Santorini in the Greek Isles. 

 

So if you’ve been thinking about a Disney Mediterranean cruise, particularly with stops in Greece, you might want to see what they have available.  And if you don’t already have a travel agent, we’re happy to recommend the ones we have used for years now.

The Pantheon

Today's site from Rome is the ancient building, the Pantheon. 

The open dome allows sunlight to stream in, creating a beautiful view.  Unfortunately, it also allows the rain, so beware of slippery floors in inclement weather.

Trevi Fountain

Today’s photo is of the Trevi Fountain where legend has it if you toss a coin into the fountain, you will one day return to Roma.

In 2007, we did just that.

 

Romulus and Remus

The boy’s AP Art History class begins a unit on Rome next week.  One of the pieces they will be learning about is this one featuring Remus and Romulus which is found at the Pallazio Del Conservatori.  There are several versions of the legend of these twin brothers.  If you want to learn about them, here are a few sites we found that might satisfy your interest.

 

 

http://www.princeton.edu/~achaney/tmve/wiki100k/docs/Romulus_and_Remus.html

 

http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/romulus_and_remus.htm

 

For the younger set:  http://rome.mrdonn.org/romulusandremus.html

 

And if you want to see this statue for yourself but won’t be in Rome, Italy, no worries – you can see a bronze replica that was presented to Rome, Georgia, in 1929.

 

 

 

 

The Arch of Constantine

Next to the Colosseum is the Arch of Constantine.  You can read more about the Arch of Constantine online.

 

Inside the Coliseum

In summer 2007, we sailed with Disney Cruise Line to the Mediterranean as part of their inaugural season.  Since I’m posting Rome photos this week, I thought I’d delve into the photo archives for a peek at some of the things we saw then.  The thing about the Eternal City of Rome is that their really really old stuff doesn’t change much.

 

This photo is from our inside tour of the Coliseum, July 2007. If you ever get a chance to tour inside, it’s well worth it!

 

 

From within the Roman Forum

This is a super busy week so my theme for the week will be pictures from Rome.

 

 

 

From within the Roman Forum

The Main Buildings of the Acropolis

AP Art History Review Sheet for unit test on Ancient Greece:

 

Q.  Name the four buildings on the Acropolis.

 

 

A.  The Parthenon, the Propylaea, the Temple of Athena Nike, and the Erechtheum.

Fare Watching

This time a year ago, we were booking airfare for our trip.  We knew which flight we wanted - nonstop from Atlanta to Barcelona, so as soon as our travel dates were available for booking, we monitored the price nearly every day.  Airfare is usually available for purchase 330 days in advance of your return flight, so that's a good time to start fare-watching. 

There are several sites online that will assist in fare watching and provide alerts based on whatever criteria you select.  For us, because we knew which flight we wanted and which dates we needed to travel, we did our own fare watching by checking the airline site directly.  But if you have choices for where to fly from or you don't mind having a connecting flight either before you leave the US or somewhere in Europe, the travel sites do a good job of helping you accumulate the data you need to make a decision about when to purchase.

I looked today to see what airfare for a comparable flight would be if we were traveling next summer.  The price quoted today is about $75 more than this time last year, and over $130 more than we ended up booking for.  We did book our June 2013 flight in September 2012 but only after watching the fares for several weeks, so when we saw a dip in price, we grabbed it.  Much like playing slot machines, once you've purchased your airfare, you shouldn't keep checking in case a much better deal comes along, but I couldn't help myself and did follow our flight's cost for several more weeks. It turned out we bought at the lowest point and had the satisfaction of being able to get our choice of seats on the plane as well as crossing flight arrangements off our list of things to do.

Summer produce

 

 

Summer is winding down and that means fresh fruit and vegetables will not be so readily available at reasonable prices.  We have enjoyed a bounty of seasonal produce throughout the summer, and while the stores will fill up with fall items, our favorites are of the summer variety.

 

We were in Europe during peak vegetable season and in several ports we saw street markets where one could pick up what they wanted and have it be as fresh as if they had picked it off the vines themselves.  We commented on several occasions about how tasty the produce was and discovered that the volcanic soil and the purity of water sources contributed to the flavorfulness of the contents of our salads and side dishes.

 

Today’s picture was taken in Mykonos in the Old Town area by the water.  It was around 10 AM and produce and flower baskets lined the edge of the waterfront.

 

Walt Disney Theater

The Walt Disney Theater is the venue for the Broadway-style production shows that are performed several nights onboard the Disney Cruise Line ships. I love the iconic picture of Walt on the wall in the lobby area to the theater. This is a great meeting place and photo spot on the Disney ships.