European Vacation - Embarkation & Pompeii

After our wild run to catch the train (always some excitement!) - It was a short hour ride over to the cruise port, and we were able embark onto the Voyager of the Seas!  We were with the larger group, and we all had on our matching t-shirts, thanks to Kohlden's graphic design! 

We had reserved a junior suite and an interior room right across the hall, so we were crossing our fingers that Addison would be allowed to sleep in our cabin, so that the boys could have later hours and indeed that ended up being possible when they brought in a folding cot - yay!  We were very pleased with the room that we had and enjoyed popping out on the balcony from time to time to enjoy the scenery and some relaxing time!

The next day we were in Salerno (diverted from Naples), and we had the Bergherms and Prietos who came with us along the Amalfi Coast via ferry to Capri, then we took a boat ride (in very wavy water, not the most favorite for those who don't enjoy that), and then we took another hydrofoil ferry over to Naples where we enjoyed lunch and then over to Pompeii.  Our tour guide was great, lots of interesting information and made the time at Pompeii very enjoyable.  

The original departure time was delayed by over an hour unfortunately due to the early morning storm making the water too wavy, so we had a little while to kick our proverbial heels back.

A few pictures from the ferry as we went from Salerno to Capri:

When we arrived at Capri, we then boarded a smaller boat and took a tour around to see the Faraglioni rocks and a few of the grottos.  

Our boat chariot

The purple rock at the bottom was interesting to see

And just a few pictures of us hanging out on the boat while we journeyed around the island.

Umm, I wish I was rich enough to have a yacht like that!

 

You can see how wavy the water was in this picture

Little girlie wasn't bothered in the least by the choppy waves, taking a little snooze in the sun!

Pompeii was of course interesting to see, especially with a guide that made it interesting for the kids - we enjoyed it, although it definitely was hot!

Mt Vesuvius off in the distance

Our full group for this particular day

This area showed how they had a standard way of measuring each time for trades with other countries - fill the bowl and that's how much you have to trade!

The common bathhouse

So sad

Interior courtyard of one of othe homes

And the community bathroom toilets - not so comfy for your tushy!

And in some random pictures - Zachary and Blake were found hanging out overlooking the promenade just hanging out together - good thing for one's best friend!

European Vacay - 2025: Rome

 On Saturday, we boarded a high-speed train to Rome from Venice, quickly popped over to our rental condo and then joined up with our large group at Venice for "Happy hour" appetizers and closing out the museum and Sistine chapel.  This was also the first time that we were joining up with the larger group (there was 45 people on this particular friend-cruise - with Isidros being the organizers, similar to Alaska).

Rome was also hot, so we were thankful that we were going at the end of the day as it allowed us to avoid some of the extreme, unseasonably high temperatures!

The area with the food and water was outside, thankfully under shade

Unfortunately, we should have asked beforehand what the food was, as it was tasty, but a lot of the cold plate was pork-related, which doesn't work for us!  That unfortunately meant that we were going to be heading out afterwards for a true supper as the kids were starving!

Ready for food please!

The Vatican was very interesting to go through, although we did not have a tour guide so we're clear that there was a lot that we didn't catch entirely - but it was neat to see the tapestry and map rooms.  Amy had been wanting to see one painting with Rafael in particular, but unfortunately, we either missed it or the route for that particular day did not include it.  Boo!

Look how bright the gold looks!

We weren't allowed to take pictures inside the Sistine chapel as usual, but it was fun for Amy to stand and talk to the security guards - she got lots of good information and even asked about the recent process to choose a new pope!

Leaving the museum as it shut down as neat, and of course the winding staircase was cool to take pictures of with nobody on them!

Looking down

And then from the bottom up

We were starving afterwards, so we headed over to a nearby restaurant to eat - the first of many pizza and pasta dinners!  Karis does not look remotely happy in this picture, but he was indeed not a grump -- just hungry!🤣

The next morning, we got up nice and early in order to go to St. Peter's Basilica before the crowds got insane - we were there about 8:30 and there were zero lines - yay!  Amy and Addison had watched a few interesting educational YouTube videos, so we were prepared on several fun things to see - including how to make the 4 sets of pillars disappear into what appears to only be 1 pillow per section -- if you stand in the correct place in the open round courtyard.  We also saw the obelisk that had been moved, and just almost so closely placed perfectly in front of the church.

There is the obelisk in the distance, with the huge columns behind us

No crowds for us - so grateful!

This is the year of Jubilee, so it was neat to go through the special door and there was a ceremony going on inside that we were able to hear the beautiful choir singing, while looking around at the key features of the church.

Look how small the priests are in comparison to the height! 

Afterwards, Amy had the brilliant idea to climb to the top of the dome so that we could experience the church from that angle and see across the city of Rome.  Great idea when one believes that the elevator will take you up there, but sadly it doesn't even go halfway.  So we trudged, and we do mean trudged, up about 320 steps. It is a very small area that you're walking, kind of somewhat needing to watch your head as it is curved like a dome of course, and then several sets of spiral steps.  

This was the halfway point where we were still able to see down inside the church, from above the Baldacchino

We've ridden the elevator, now we're about to tackle the steps!  Smiling at this point

One of the spiral staircases, taking a break.  

All of us made it up there!

And then the lovely view of the courtyard with the "mother's arms" curving out to hold the crowds

After we returned to solid mother earth, we stopped to take a picture in from the Obelisk and to do the trick where all of the columns (four for each column that you see) perfectly lines up, which was fun to do.

Each pillar look like a single column but there are actually four for each one, you just can't see any of them behind the first one when you perfectly stand in the circle.

In Rome, we decided that hitching an Uber would a good idea when possible to save ourselves some heat exhaustion, which worked out very well in most cases.

Cool and rested!

In the afternoon, we went on a LivTour golf cart tour of Rome, which ended up being one of our favorite activities - the tour guides were super engaging, and being whisked from one place to another was lovely, keeping us cool and under the shade!  This is a definite recommend if you ever go to Rome!

Golf cart with most of the guys (Karis was with the ladies...always the ladies man! 😁)

We are ready to go!

We were able to hit many of the Rome highlights on the golf tour, which was really fun.  Trevi Fountain and the madness was of course part of our stop - the line moved very quickly but WOW, there are a TON of people there now!  Karis decided he wanted some lemon icy more than throwing a coin in the fountain, so he was off in the crowds somewhere

Kaleb throwing his coin

Followed by the girls

Amy wants to go back too!

What a picturesque place to get a picture of the Coliseum!

Speaking of picturesque, these little alleys are so cute!

Mouth of Truth

Thank GOODNESS for the water fountains everywhere, our refillable water bottles were a lifesaver

At the end of our golf cart tour, we were dropped off at the Pantheon where we went in.  Addison and Amy had also watched a few YouTube videos on the Pantheon, so we knew about some fun facts, like there are holes in the floor to drain the rain that comes in from the round hole in the ceiling....and that you could perfectly fit a round ball in the building based on how it is constructed - if one was that big! :)

Originally we had scheduled a food tour that evening, but during the afternoon they called to say that they couldn't accommodate a gluten-free outing -- um, that was super annoying seeing as we had told them from the very beginning that we had two Celiacs.....but that ended up giving us some flexibility and we walked through Trastevere across the river, and found an unlikely Mexican place to eat which was a nice change of pace.

A table with clearly lifelong friends playing cards as we walked by - how fun is that!?

Monday morning, we took a kid-friendly tour Europe4Kids (or something like that) through the Coliseum.  The weather was breezy and had enough cloud cover that we were able to enjoy ourselves - including going out onto the stadium floor.  Another YouTube recommendation - do it, you get a lot of fun facts that help you understand what you are seeing - so good.

After the Coliseum, the tour guide took us over to Palatine Hill where we could overlook the Coliseum and the Roman Forum.

Even with a nice breeze, it was hot and the gentleman enjoyed their fans - best $20 ever spent - Amazon, 10/10 recommendation for these little fans, they had GREAT strength, lanyards to be hands free and the batteries lasted all day easily (and sometimes multiple days).

As we walked around Rome, we stumbled upon these calendars - apparently instead of good-looking firemen it is good-looking priests!  Who knew!

After the Coliseum and Palatine Hill, we went over to the Rome Termini train station - the same one that we came into when we arrived from Venice.  We caught a quick bite of lunch at the McDonalds, saving ourselves 15 minutes to walk the short distance to our train.  Except it wasn't a short distance 😏.  We headed off about 20 minutes beforehand, only to realize that it was exceptionally far.  So we picked up the pace with the Bergherms.  We went through the ticket counter, and Amy's ticket wouldn't scan - it was as "save yourself" moment, so Amy was telling everyone to just go when Kaleb, calm as a cucumber, reminded her to just go over and ask the guard to go through (which Amy has done many a time, so this should have been her first thought!) - and off we went.  Now we're running - and Amy is carrying London's Sprite which is now spraying all over her - why does she keep carrying it, she still wonders until about the last 100 meter dash and she says "Who cares about the dumb sprite!!" and throws it away.  We get to the train about 2 minutes before the doors close - and jump onto the first car that we can - and we were grateful because the doors closed and wouldn't re-open for the next lady coming by shortly after. Whew!  

Random picture - Amy took a picture of Addison and London and if you scroll in close to their eyes, they have the exact same eye shade!