Back to the Med Greece/Turkey in 2013! Complete!

[mindelmouse]

So, with several hours until dinner, we decided that we'd brave the train system and head over to Parc Guell. Using the Rick Steves book and trying to figure out the translation on the ticket machines, we managed to purchase a multi-ride ticket. I don't see it in the scrapbook, so I must have thrown it away. I did get full use out of it, so more on that in a bit...

I have no idea on where it was that we ended up, but we did finally manage to make it to the Parc. After a hike from the train station...no kidding....it was up a hill so steep that they had installed escalators!! Here's a pic after we were on the way back. See the escalator to my right?

The Parc itself was very unique. It was initially supposed to be a gated housing community...with Gaudi's own unique design:

And look at that view!!!:

We didn't get to see the Parc....would like to get there on this trip if possible..was on my list of to do's....also want to see the fountains.

 

[MinnieDiva]

Hiya!

I got to rehab my computer again yesterday, but I now know what it was that caused it to lock up: The Spanish language program! I just finished downloading a patch from the manufacturer's website, but before I launch it and try to use it again, I'm going to back up again just in case! In the meantime, yesterday I got to go out and play with my camera! This is what it looks like here on a sunny day:

 

[bigbootee]

Getting up and looking outside, I realized this did not look like Barcelona.

Nope. Unfortunately, Marsaille looks like Newark, NJ.

 

[MinnieDiva]

Geography is not my strong suit. Let's leave it at that.....but, I got to wondering what the official boundaries were that separate European Turkey from Asian Turkey. Here's a map I found on world atlas.com:

The Dardanelles Strait, the Sea of Marmara, and the Bosporus Strait are the dividing line. So.....we'll be docking in Asia! The Bosporus Bridge:

Connects the European portion to the Asian portion.

A tidbit for today :good vibes.

 

[MinnieDiva]

So yesterday I got the weekly Rick Steves email and he was announcing a travel festival of sorts for April 14th. Sigh. We have conflicting plans that day, but on a bonus note, the rest of April's class schedule was posted and I signed us up for 2 classes at the end of April! The first one is an art/art history type class and the other is the art of making French crepes. Yum. It does not, however, tell us if we'll get to participate or taste.

This Saturday is our class on Rome...so I'm way looking forward to that. This week they're having a special on Spain maps and books, so I'm interested to see if there is a good map of Barcelona there.

Facebook really ticked me off (again) by limiting my feed...yesterday I missed the February blowout on one of the day packs their store carries. $5. I am in the market....

Ok, y'all. I see that you all are out there reading/viewing my thoughts.....but no one is speaking up to help me feed my planning obsession. Hello? Please let me know I'm not the only one out there that's thinking about next year....

 

[mindelmouse]

I'm Here

 

[MinnieDiva]

I'm Here

I talk to you about every day!

 

[mindelmouse]

I talk to you about every day!

and you're a better person for it

 

[tinkerbelltwins]

I'm here too and wishing that you and Mindy were going on my cruise in July instead of June of next year!

Do keep posting away as so many of us will be benefitting from your words of wisdom when we all fly to Barcelona and wander around before we step on board that Magical ship to see the wonderful sights in France, Italy, Turkey and Greece. Oh, and Malta too.

Beth

 

[mindelmouse]

I'm here too and wishing that you and Mindy were going on my cruise in July instead of June of next year!

Do keep posting away as so many of us will be benefitting from your words of wisdom when we all fly to Barcelona and wander around before we step on board that Magical ship to see the wonderful sights in France, Italy, Turkey and Greece. Oh, and Malta too.

Beth

Thanks Beth I do so hope you keep your 2 day NYC Cruise so that we can meet...as we've proven you can meet really good friends on these boards and cruises and distance doesn't make one damn bit of difference...

 

[USUKMama]

Ok, y'all. I see that you all are out there reading/viewing my thoughts.....but no one is speaking up to help me feed my planning obsession. Hello? Please let me know I'm not the only one out there that's thinking about next year....

I'm still reading along but I booked an impromptu MR cruise (cheap price for a school vacation week - how could I say no) so I am diverting my type A planning personality into that.

Looking forward to meeting you onboard in 2013!!

Sophia

 

[OurDogCisco]

Great ending... sad to hear your trip report is ending.... I've been researching our immediate vacations that are coming up in July and at the end of December. I'm still trying to decide on our pre-cruise stay. We did Barcelona last time but didn't see much of it as we only did one day on each end. This time I'm hoping to spending 5 days prior and fly home immediately after the cruise ends. Hopefully, I can get the flights to work. Decisions, decisions... I need to come up with one soon as I need to transfer airline miles too. Too stressful if you ask me.

 

[o&smom]

Ok, y'all. I see that you all are out there reading/viewing my thoughts.....but no one is speaking up to help me feed my planning obsession. Hello? Please let me know I'm not the only one out there that's thinking about next year....

I am trying really hard to curtail my craziness until after our first-ever visit to WDW and our cruise on the Fantasy at the end of April! I still have final planning, FE giftS to finish and packing to begin. When that's all done I can turn my crazy onto the Med planning in full force!

I have been looking into apartment rentals for a few days prior to our trip as well. It seems the best way to go as roomy hotel rooms for families in Europe are not so commonplace! Surprisingly, I have found better pricing in Paris than in Barcelona. Who knew?!?

I've also been a little caught up this week with the Coast Guard crash in AL as my brother is a rescue swimmer there. Thankfully he was home with his family and not on duty. Still so sad to lose so many good men...

Marni

 

[MinnieDiva]

I'm still reading along but I booked an impromptu MR cruise (cheap price for a school vacation week - how could I say no) so I am diverting my type A planning personality into that.

Looking forward to meeting you onboard in 2013!!

Sophia

Oooooooo! Enjoy! I hope you have great weather! I'm heading down to visit my dad for Spring break. The weather can be anywhere from 50's to 80's at that time of the year. Last year, Ashleigh and I headed to Santa Cruz for a few hours and it was 80 and CLEAR!! NEVER happens that time of year!

Great ending... sad to hear your trip report is ending.... I've been researching our immediate vacations that are coming up in July and at the end of December. I'm still trying to decide on our pre-cruise stay. We did Barcelona last time but didn't see much of it as we only did one day on each end. This time I'm hoping to spending 5 days prior and fly home immediately after the cruise ends. Hopefully, I can get the flights to work. Decisions, decisions... I need to come up with one soon as I need to transfer airline miles too. Too stressful if you ask me.

I know! I was sad to finish writing it, but I'm having so much fun looking forward to the next one! How nice that you have miles to transfer...We primarily fly Alaska out of here, so their miles don't do so well for overseas trips. I know I could probably transfer them to Delta or American, but I blew a ton of miles last Thanksgiving...

I am trying really hard to curtail my craziness until after our first-ever visit to WDW and our cruise on the Fantasy at the end of April! I still have final planning, FE giftS to finish and packing to begin. When that's all done I can turn my crazy onto the Med planning in full force!

I have been looking into apartment rentals for a few days prior to our trip as well. It seems the best way to go as roomy hotel rooms for families in Europe are not so commonplace! Surprisingly, I have found better pricing in Paris than in Barcelona. Who knew?!?

I've also been a little caught up this week with the Coast Guard crash in AL as my brother is a rescue swimmer there. Thankfully he was home with his family and not on duty. Still so sad to lose so many good men...

Marni

How exciting!!! You're going to love WDW!!! My first visit there was in 2006 and I've been addicted since! And a cruise to boot....you're one lucky lady! Sean and I will be heading to WDW this September for our 15th anniversary and are going to run the Tower of Terror 10 miler. Looking forward to doing all the things you can't do with kids. You have no idea how indignant Ashleigh was when she found out we were going without her...

I hadn't even heard about the Coast Guard crash, but I'm so glad to hear that your brother is ok! How sad that some of his "family" down there suffered losses....

I agree about the apartments and the pricing. It's crazy expensive there! I'll happily pay for a 3 day apartment rental that I'll likely only use 2 days of!

I was surfing last night on the local library's website and requested 2 more DVD's to watch. I couldn't tell who the producer was, but I'll let y'all know who and what if they happen to be worthwhile. I finished browsing thru the Mediterranean Cruise Ports book and will be returning to the library today. I'm going to buy a Kindle version for the iPad here soon. 5 days and counting before the iPad announcement!!

 

[MinnieDiva]

SO yesterday was our class on Rome at the Rick Steves travel center! We got luck finding a parking space in the cute little downtown area then headed in to find a PACKED store! There were people everywhere! The class was overfull, and I think my firefighter husband was chafing at the bit as the room was clearly over capacity! They were adding chairs and blocking means of egress.
Our lecturer was Francesca. She was an Italian-American who grew up in Rome. She was lovely to listen to ! Her English was lilting...a huge contrast to the art historian we had in Rome....She had an organized presentation that had wonderful pictures to accompany her lecture. She started talking about the "Ancient City" and its more than 2700 years of existence!! WOW! She then covered "Nature and the City", "A City in Ruins", "The Middle Ages", "If the Renaissance was Born in Florence, What about Rome", "Baroque Masterpieces", and "Fountains and Piazzas". It was interesting to hear her take on what it was like living in a place where you see these wonderful ruins everyday. I could probably go on for quite a bit about the lecture, but I won't bore y'all with the details. Ashleigh, poor thing, woke up with a cold that day and spent a great deal of time trying not to be too obnoxious blowing her nose. She lasted about 45-60 minutes before needing to step out. Note to parental units: Bring a DS and headphones next time.
Francesca was running out of time, as she clearly could talk on the subject at length. I was informed that Sean and Ashleigh were starving and that we needed to leave . So, I went in search of a Barcelona map and found just what I needed! They had flyers available at the beginning of class that listed a "class special". I could have gotten a free set of packing cubes with a purchase of one of his big bags. Which I don't need, as we replaced all our luggage prior to the last Med cruise. I did, however, look to see whether there was a camera bag, but it doesn't look like he carries one of those. Seeing as how he travels with a ton of camera gear, you'd think he'd have an opinion on the matter, right? Perhaps I should send an email to suggest that....
Anyway, there were also a 8 books listed at 20% off in addition to the previously advertised (email and Facebook) weekly deal (Spain and Portugal). I only ended up with the map, but it's laminated and I'm going to get a dry erase pen to start marking possible apartment rentals on it so as to narrow down where I'd like to stay.
So the lesson learned today was to get there earlier to get seats together (we weren't), and bring entertainment for Ashleigh for when she's overloaded on info. I asked her what she learned and the thing that stuck out in her mind was a picture from 1901 of the Pantheon. The Tiber river had flooded and there was about 2 feet of water covering the bottom half of the Pantheon. Yup, if there's destruction, that's what the kid is going to remember. She did get a kick of seeing pictures of places that we have pictures of! She kept pointing and smiling at me: "we've been there!".

 

[o&smom]

How exciting!!! You're going to love WDW!!! My first visit there was in 2006 and I've been addicted since! And a cruise to boot....you're one lucky lady! Sean and I will be heading to WDW this September for our 15th anniversary and are going to run the Tower of Terror 10 miler. Looking forward to doing all the things you can't do with kids. You have no idea how indignant Ashleigh was when she found out we were going without her...



We are all VERY excited! We have visited DL about four times, but it is hard to imagine the scale of WDW. As we are only there for a couple of days we are only going to visit two parks this time - Epcot and Magic Kingdom. We thought we would leave something new for next time! Bill and I will be enjoying our 16th anniv. while we are there. We will be celebrating with Cinderella in her castle for lunch on the actual day with both of our kids and then having our romantic dinner for two a couple of days later at Remy!!!

Marni

 

[o&smom]

PS. You mentioned a while back that your husband had lived in Napa at one time. Did he live in the city of Napa or upvalley? We lived in American Canyon, the town just south of the city of Napa, from 2001-2007.

Marni

 

[NanNan]

SO yesterday was our class on Rome at the Rick Steves travel center! We got luck finding a parking space in the cute little downtown area then headed in to find a PACKED store! There were people everywhere! The class was overfull, and I think my firefighter husband was chafing at the bit as the room was clearly over capacity! They were adding chairs and blocking means of egress.
Our lecturer was Francesca. She was an Italian-American who grew up in Rome. She was lovely to listen to ! Her English was lilting...a huge contrast to the art historian we had in Rome....She had an organized presentation that had wonderful pictures to accompany her lecture. She started talking about the "Ancient City" and its more than 2700 years of existence!! WOW! She then covered "Nature and the City", "A City in Ruins", "The Middle Ages", "If the Renaissance was Born in Florence, What about Rome", "Baroque Masterpieces", and "Fountains and Piazzas". It was interesting to hear her take on what it was like living in a place where you see these wonderful ruins everyday. I could probably go on for quite a bit about the lecture, but I won't bore y'all with the details. Ashleigh, poor thing, woke up with a cold that day and spent a great deal of time trying not to be too obnoxious blowing her nose. She lasted about 45-60 minutes before needing to step out. Note to parental units: Bring a DS and headphones next time.
Francesca was running out of time, as she clearly could talk on the subject at length. I was informed that Sean and Ashleigh were starving and that we needed to leave . So, I went in search of a Barcelona map and found just what I needed! They had flyers available at the beginning of class that listed a "class special". I could have gotten a free set of packing cubes with a purchase of one of his big bags. Which I don't need, as we replaced all our luggage prior to the last Med cruise. I did, however, look to see whether there was a camera bag, but it doesn't look like he carries one of those. Seeing as how he travels with a ton of camera gear, you'd think he'd have an opinion on the matter, right? Perhaps I should send an email to suggest that....
Anyway, there were also a 8 books listed at 20% off in addition to the previously advertised (email and Facebook) weekly deal (Spain and Portugal). I only ended up with the map, but it's laminated and I'm going to get a dry erase pen to start marking possible apartment rentals on it so as to narrow down where I'd like to stay.
So the lesson learned today was to get there earlier to get seats together (we weren't), and bring entertainment for Ashleigh for when she's overloaded on info. I asked her what she learned and the thing that stuck out in her mind was a picture from 1901 of the Pantheon. The Tiber river had flooded and there was about 2 feet of water covering the bottom half of the Pantheon. Yup, if there's destruction, that's what the kid is going to remember. She did get a kick of seeing pictures of places that we have pictures of! She kept pointing and smiling at me: "we've been there!".

OK, you got me searching the great white north for Rick Steeves books. I have been reading all your posts and really, your excitement is very infectious! Keep it up, Kim! You are an amazing person, I hope to meet you on our cruise!
Marilyn

 

[mindelmouse]

OK, you got me searching the great white north for Rick Steeves books. I have been reading all your posts and really, your excitement is very infectious! Keep it up, Kim! You are an amazing person, I hope to meet you on our cruise!
Marilyn

I second the amazing part!!!!

 

[MinnieDiva]

PS. You mentioned a while back that your husband had lived in Napa at one time. Did he live in the city of Napa or upvalley? We lived in American Canyon, the town just south of the city of Napa, from 2001-2007.

Marni

He lived in Napa...not 100% sure of the years, but 1988-mid 90's?

OK, you got me searching the great white north for Rick Steeves books. I have been reading all your posts and really, your excitement is very infectious! Keep it up, Kim! You are an amazing person, I hope to meet you on our cruise!
Marilyn

We'll meet! Long live the Dis Meet! Don't forget the library and Amazon. He also has some electronic resources, if you're a tablet person.

I second the amazing part!!!!

Awwwwww...