I was doing a little rearranging of photos which is why some of the pics from the previous posts have disappeared...so in the meantime I will post some slideshows from the trip, then get back to posting blogs! Just click on the slideshow below and it will pop up. Thanks for your patience!
Nick's Wifey
P.S. Wedding pics should be ready by the end of the weekend!! YAY!!!
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| From Movies |
Here is our posts about the first day at sea.... Nick's Post is first, then followed by mine...
Ciao!
Mrs. Knutzen
Day 3 – 1st day at sea
Our first day at sea provided a great opportunity to sleep in and relax. I decided to attend a detox seminar while visiting the gym – probably not the best information to get while on a cruise. We had a nice sit down lunch and then relaxed poolside for a bit. After that, we visited the mini golf course on the very top of the ship. The evening brought us to the Captain’s Dinner. We took full advantage of the open bar reception before heading off to dinner.
For dinner, we had Stuffed Mushrooms, Lobster Tail and Prime Rib. It was delicious!
Die Lobster!
After dinner, we visited the portrait stations and had our pictures taken. We were the only ones there so we were able to go through each station in a minimal amount of time. From there, we went to the New Orleans show. Finally, we capped off the night with a trip to the onboard pizzeria. This time, when we returned to our room our towel was folded up in the shape of a puppy.
They must have coordinated with our server to know we love dogs!
Day 3
DAY AT SEA
Extremely tired from the travels in Naples, we were very excited for a day at sea. Nick was wanting to read some more about our next stop, Croatia, while I wanted to nap in the sun. The day was filled with Bingo tournaments, trivia, live music and of course, shopping. I took this time to sleep. And play mini golf. Nick ran on the treadmill while I slept. And drank. Then while Nick showered up, I slept. Can’t get any better than that!
The evening brought the Capitan’s dinner. Nick wore his wedding Tux and I wore the Bridesmaid dress from our wedding (Thanks Courtney!). We were looking sexy!
At 7:15, we had “happy hour” with the Capitan and crew. All the drinks are free so Nick and I decided to indulge. We went to the 70’s club and met up with a couple who are retired and are staying on the cruise ship for a whole 60 days! They did the previous cruise which went to Greece and Turkey and they are continuing on for the repositioning cruise that ends in New York, where they are from. I don’t know if I could handle that much time on a boat but they seem very excited about it.
So the four of us and their two children (ages 42, respectively) got sloshed off of the free drinks. Nick drank his infamous Godfather’s and I had Bellini’s and champagne and some Whiskey Sours. All of us decided to order as much as we could, and then stash the drinks in our state rooms. As we were leaving the bar, nick had 6 drinks in his hands and I had four. We dropped them off in our room before we headed to dinner (well, Nick took two of them to dinner and I took one). We ate Prime rib and Lobster tail and drank some more.
When we finished dinner, we went to take pictures. I don’t think we will be buying any of them because we looked a little too happy (i.e. Drunk).
After pictures, we took in the show which was a tribute to New Orleans. We sat next to two wild (and drunk) gentlemen who are from New Orleans and they made it more enjoyable. Nick was slowly falling asleep during the show but when all the dancers then danced down the aisle (Nick had the aisle seat), we promptly woke up.
Then we passed out in our stateroom.
Again, same format... Nick's post is first, followed by Katie's.....
Naples Day 2
Naples was a blast. We started off the day with a hearty breakfast in the dining room, knowing that it was going to be a busy day. We then hoofed it through Naples to catch the train to Pompeii. Walking the streets of Naples was pretty intense, as red lights and crosswalks are considered “decorations”. After about 35 minutes, we reached the Circumesuviana train station. Although I’ve read and heard about the trains here being especially dangerous, we had a pleasant ride with minimal hassle.
Departing to Pompeii. Graffiti decorations are prevalent on the trains and along the stops.
After about a 40 min. train ride, we reached the entry of the Pompeii site. Pompeii was an ancient Roman village that was buried in volcanic lava in 79. (that’s 79, not 1979). It was discovered in 1748 and excavations continued until the 19th century. It was amazing to see the layout of how civilization was back then. It’s interesting to note that despite how much progress has been made, people back then still congregated, went to the market, ate, and drank much like we do today.
The starting point is the Forum, the main town square.
The Forum, with Mt. Vesuvius in the background
Another picture of the Forum
Katie shopping at the market
The eruption was so sudden, people were preserved in the exact state they were in when it hit
Wealthy people had statues in their entryways
… and really intricate tile work on their floors
Lots of buildings had intricate artwork on the walls
The brothel had erotic artwork, presumably to display a menu of their offerings
The main amphitheater is where gladiators fought to entertain the masses. It seated about 20,000 people.
Our walk came full circle back to the Forum, and that really tied everything together in my mind after seeing so many aspects of Roman life. Although we spent about 3.5 hours touring the site, we still didn’t even come close to seeing everything. Next time I come I’ll be doing a lot more homework in advance.
From there we began our journey back to Naples and the cruise ship. Although I had the best of intentions to do the Naples Walk as described by Rick Steves, we were a bit tired from being on our feet all day so we took a more direct path back to the Port. We did stop at the end to check out a few of the sights however.
Castel Nouvo – We didn’t have time to justify exploring the castle, but got some good pics around the entryway
S. Fran Diapola Square
Galleria Umberto I – House of Iron and Glass
The Galleria Umberto was a really cool little place to do some window shopping. Luckily the stores were mostly closed. It was an open air shopping area, kind of like University Village in Seattle except with really cool architecture.
Exhausted, we finally made our way back on board the ship. We got a quick snack, then napped before heading off to dinner to eat even more food. Our chosen entrees were duck and enchiladas, and then we had an amazing tiramisu for dessert. Once again, I magically had exactly enough room to finish the last bite.
We decided to go to the Jazz Lounge and enjoy a cigar and some music in a comfy chair before heading to the welcome show. My main objective was to stay off my feet as much as possible after such a long day.
Since we were enjoying ourselves at the Jazz Club, we waited until the last minute to grab a seat for the show. It was standing room only, so we finally grabbed a seat in the nosebleeds off to the side. Unfortunately we couldn’t see much of the stage, but we did have a view of what appeared to be an empty table in the front row. I rushed down and grabbed the table, then waived Katie down to join me. Right after we sat down, we were interviewed by the Noorje, the cruise director who was asking about newlyweds and others on board celebrating special occasions. We then got invited to participate in a game of Family Feud in front of the audience. In a hard-fought contest, the girls team came from behind and scored the victory. I wasn’t disappointed to lose because we both received a little trophy and more importantly, a bottle of champagne. Those will certainly be nice to have with dinner one night during the cruise!
When we entered our room to crash for the night, we found the signature animal towel on our bed. It was a cute little surprise and a fun way to cap off the evening.
Goose or Cobra?
Day Two
Naples
Naples…what chaos! When we got off the ship, we decided to walk to the train station rather than pay to take the shuttle. We had a map, so we figured we would find it easily. It took about 40 minutes to find the train station, which wasn’t the hard part. The hard part was crossing the street. There are crosswalks, but cars don’t like to stop. There are red lights, but again, no stoppage of cars. You have to run to cross the streets….run for your life! I figured out that if you just walk aggressively across the street in front of vespa’s (they can maneuver around you) rather than the cars, you have a better chance of surviving. Walking in front of buses is suicide. So, for all you Seattleites who know better than to jaywalk? Throw that out the window in Naples.
We found the train station and arrived in Pompeii…jaw dropping. Incredible. Unimaginable. We took hundreds of pictures, but honestly they don’t do any justice. One thing that I found interesting was all the dogs that were wondering around Pompeii. I took some pictures of them and it made me miss Bella, but I got a little bit of a dog fix!
Here is an Ancient Doggie Door (or so I think)...
Pompeii was surreal. I really enjoyed checking out the ancient clay pots that were scattered around.
Anyways, it was a ton of walking and exploring. Nick has more details on this portion of the trip. I am finding it really hard to concentrate on this post right now because the man in the table next to me is wearing a Speedo and he is about 150 pounds too big for it. And his wife (or mistress, I can’t tell) is feeding him grapes. I think I may move over to the kid’s end of the deck. I am starting to feel a little sick. Yuck! I won’t take a picture so you will be spared. But just remember the sacrifice I am making by being on this honeymoon. You can thank me later!
For now I leave you with a picture of perfection….trophies, champagne, and a Goose.
Posting about our honeymoon has been slow due to Nick and I being very busy with work, condo stuff and also nursing colds that we acquired on our travels. But I did want to switch gears and talk about what America saw happen yesterday.
Whether or not you voted for Obama or McCain and whether or not you are happy with the outcome, Yesterday was an amazing day. For the first time in a long time, I felt passion, I felt people wanting to be involved with the voting process. I talked to people who have never voted in an election because they thought that their vote wouldn't matter, rushing to get to the polls. No matter the outcome, this is something that should make all of us American's proud.
Now, most of you know my thoughts on the current president and the President-Elect, but I heard Dave Ross say this on Kiro 710 this morning and, well, he gave me goosebumps as I was walking to work. He hit the nail right on the head, in my opinion.
I want to share this with all of you. You don't have to agree. That is what makes our country so great. But I would like everyone to read it. Think about how it makes you feel. Prideful? Scared? Excited? However it makes you feel, realize that this kind of passion has not been seen in years. The world is changing, but it is up to us to make it a great change!
Mrs. Knutzen
Written by Dave Ross
I come from the heart of the baby boom, raised in white suburbia to believe America was the greatest country on earth. In the 70's I traveled behind the iron curtain where people would want to know everything about America, and quietly press notes into your hand saying "USA, yes!"
But there was also the memory of visits to the South, seeing those peculiar signs on the bathrooms -- and knowing that the legacy of those days let the tyrants of the world say, you see, that's what America REALLY is.
There's a reason conservatives were able to make the flag an issue. It's because -- yes! Many people of my generation had trouble displaying the flag and meaning it.
Especially lately.
In 2000 -- the Supreme Court tips the election. 2003 we start a war over weapons that aren't there. 2005, New Orleans. 2008, the financial system collapses.
And you wonder why stuff like that happens.
Now it's clear that if those things hadn't happened, last night wouldn't have happened either.
I know some people are gloomy today.
But I have to think that no one is gloomier than those recruiters in the radical madrassas of the Middle East. Because yes! The 44th President of the United States is Barack Hussein Obama. And he was chosen overwhelmingly -- in a free election.
I have to think the job of signing up martyrs to wage jihad on the Great Satan just got a whole lot harder. I also think the American flag is going to re-appear in places where it has been absent too long. And while this doesn't end racism, it means that for my kids, race is destined to be old news. They'll just have to find something else to fight about.
We're Back! And we loved every minute of Europe! We kept a daily journal of our travels along with pictures, but were unable to post them due to several factors. However, we will post them slowly now so you will have some daily entertainment.
We both cannot believe that we will be married a whole month tomorrow! We have enjoyed every minute of married life, although it helps that we were in the land of romance for 3 weeks!
The following is the post for the first day, first from Nick and then mine. You will notice that Nick and I write a little bit different, so will will get a couple of different views of our honeymoon.
Also, I will post our pictures once we weed through them all!
Ciao,
Mrs. Knutzen
Honeymoon Journal, Day 2
Yesterday we awoke and had a great time wandering around the port city of Civitavecchia. I found the perfect little local market to buy a bottle of Italian wine to take with us on the cruise ship, so the walk was mission accomplished.
Awesome looking church in Civitavecchia
After checking onto the boat, we spent most of the day wandering around and getting to know the facilities.
The evening brought us the opportunity for the Muster Drill. Luckily we ran into Donald and Therese from Belltown who Katie has met from the cruise internet chat boards and we had dinner with not long ago. Conversing with them made the drill go by much faster!
After the muster drill was over, we headed back to the room to hustle and get ready for dinner. It was a wonderful meal, as we had asparagus cream soup, Caesar salad, tiger prawn cocktail, new York steak, and baby back ribs with some pretty awesome mac and cheese.
Primal Carnivore Instincts Kick in!
Mmmmmmmnnnnhhhhhhh….. Cheesy
We enjoyed a crème brulee and chocolate melting cake for dessert, a wonderful way to end a wonderful meal.
Afterwards, we headed out to enjoy the nightlife. I beat Katie in a spirited game of air hockey, although she made a valiant comeback attempt. As it turns out, there was not much nightlife as most people were worn down from long travel and resting for the big day ahead in Naples. We had the dancefloor to ourselves for one song and then we decided to go rest up for our big day in Pompeii.
Katie's Post
DAY ONE
So, as a lot of you know, I hate to fly. I am not scared of much in life, but flying is something that I would rather not do. Unfortunately in this situation, it was either fly to the honeymoon trip of a lifetime or drive somewhere not as cool. Bring on the Ativan!
Nick and I weren’t as prepared as we should have been. We stayed up all Friday night packing and finished Saturday morning, but we managed to finish with about 10 minutes to spare. My Mom picked us up and had pictures of Italy in her GPS system in the car to get us ready. It pumped Nick up but I was still worried about flying.
We got to SeaTac at 11:30 and check in and security was quite simple. When we got on the plane (Lufthansa Airlines) we discovered that we had a center row of 4 seats to ourselves. SCORE! I was able to watch a ton of movies and stretch out. I got about an hour of sleep during the 10 hour flight, Nick got about 15 minutes.
We landed in Frankfurt and might I tell you…it was HUGE! We got lost a few times trying to find our gate, but eventually found it…and there were no seats. So I sat on hard linoleum for about an hour. Welcome to Germany!
The flight to Rome was about an hour and a half. Nick passed out during the entire flight, my nerves and excitement wouldn’t let me sleep. Once we landed and got off the plane, I was feeling like I was home! With stylish Italians all around me, shouting and talking with their hands while Techno music is pumped the speakers, I was ready to take on the country!
Next was the big adventure. How to take two trains to our Hotel in Civitavecchia with 3 large bags, two backpacks and a camera bag. Once we figure out where we were going and how to buy and stamp our train tickets, we felt pretty dang good. Until the train came and the pushing and shoving started. Now, in America, if you see someone who is 5’2” pulling a large piece of luggage that is about 4’ tall and about 50 lbs, you would be patient and help her one, wouldn’t you? Not in Italy. I was lucky to even get on the Train before it left. Once Nick and I got on, there wasn’t a seat. So we stood by the door with all of our luggage and braced ourselves for the 300 minute train ride to Travesere.
We got to Travesere and found where our next train would pick us up. This time we were ready to get on the train quickly and get a seat. For this 40 minute ride, we wanted to rest our feet! The train comes, chaos ensues and lo and behold….nothing. We found a little seat near the door across from the WC. Nick sat in the little seat and I sat on all of our luggage. The funny part was when the old Italian man came on board and sat in the WC for about 20 minutes. He didn’t lock the door and every time someone would try and open the door, he would push it closed and say something in Italian. I am sure it wasn’t anything nice.
We got to port and started walking to our hotel which was about 200 meters from the train station. When we arrived, we found out that they upgraded us to a nicer hotel about 100 meters away. It was a pleasant surprise. The room was quite large for Italy standards and was very close to where the Cruise shuttle would pick us up!
Once we dropped off our luggage and changed, it was about 7pm, so we decided to explore. There were a lot of people just hanging out and enjoying life. People were eating, drinking, selling trinkets, laughing, dancing, and singing. I was in heaven! We found a Pizzeria nearby and sat down outside. The waiter dropped off the menu and left. We looked at it and it was all in Italian. There was a slight panic but we attempted it. I am usually able to read Italian but speaking it was a whole different battle.
The waiter walked up to us, said “Prego”. Nick pointed to the drinks and said, “Beer?” The waiter laughed and said, in perfect English, “I didn’t know you were bloody Americans! I thought you were Italian!” We had a good laugh and he gave us English menus. Made us feel pretty dang good that he thought we were locals! We ordered Beer, Bruchetta with olive tapenade, and Pizza (Prosciutto, Cheese and Tomato’s). Amazing! Our waiter was fantastic! Made us laugh and was very informative!
So that was day one…adventure all around us! I am sure there will be more adventures to come… Stay tuned…
