Thursday, March 1, 2018
Saturday, August 14, 2010
Day 13--- 8/6
Today is the big day- my parents 50th anniversary! I'm so proud of them and the amazing family they've created. Thanks, Mom and Dad!!!
We woke to the beautiful views of Villefranche, France. We arent docked, we're just anchored, so we have to take a tender to get to shore.
This coast, this town is by far the most picturesque port we've been in. The colorful homes are built on the slope leading down to the awesome beaches. I LOVE IT.
We started our adventure by taking the train from Villefranche to Cap D'ail. Cap D'ail is the town that Troy and his buddy Jeff visited when they were here 20 years ago. They stayed in the youth hostel there. We visited the hostel and Troy was so pleased to find it nearly the same as last time he saw it. From Cap D'ail, we walked East to Monaco....that's right, ANOTHER COUNTRY to add to the list!!! WOOHOO!
Oh my, Monaco is absolutely FILLED with giant yachts. It was so cool. The only trash I saw on the sidewalk there was a discarded Dolce & Gabbana bag. Monaco WOULD have classy trash! :)
We ate a quick sandwich there before taking the train back to Villefranche for an afternoon on the beach. The kids went absolutely WILD playing in the waves and finding sea critters, including the sea urchin that got one of it's pokers stuck in Brady's finger. Aren't they supposed to be poisonous??? There were oodles of more boobs....the fact that my kidsare no longer enthralled by them tells me exactly how many we've seen. The new eye catching beach attire is the thong. Why oh why do European women have so little cellulite?!?!? Are perfect butts a foreign thing?
After wasting away the afternoon, Troy and the boys went back to the ship and I went SHOPPING. It was another favorite scenario for me...a French saleslady was helping me. I was shopping for a friend who has more in the boob department that me (I know, it doesn't take much) and so I asked about dresses for someone that was "bigger"....she thought I meant FATTER...in response, she gave me the up and down with her eyes and said with total disbelief "Beeger zhan YEWWW?". Getting insulted by a Frenchwoman was fun. :) Then she showed me a top...she even tried it on herself to show me how cute it was. I told her it looked amazing on her but it just wasn't my friend's style. Her response? "Everysing looks amazing on me." She was dead serious. I loved it!
Back on the ship, we geared up for another formal night. The anniversary dinner was very fun. It was so special to all be together for my parents special day! Happy 50th Anniversary, Mom and Dad!!!! We love you!
Back on the ship, we geared up for another formal night. The anniversary dinner was very fun. It was so special to all be together for my parents special day! Happy 50th Anniversary, Mom and Dad!!!! We love you!
Friday, August 13, 2010
Day 12--- 8/5
Today we visit Tuscany. More specifically, a town in the Tuscany region, near Pisa, called Lucca. Sue, Kaitlyn, Kelsie and I are taking a pizza and pasta making class from an Italian chef named Paolo Monti.
Troy and Steve both rented cars for the day and Hertz had our 2 matching Fiats ready for us when we walked off the ship!
The sky was gray (pretty much the first clouds we've seen) and it was raining by the time we reached Lucca. It was a PERFECT day to be inside cooking!!! The guys dropped us off and went to explore on their own. They visited a couple of olive oil factories and went hiking. They said the scenery was AMAZING! I'm very jealous about the olive oil factories AND that they picked loads of blackberries when they were hiking (my boys brought me some though...LOVE THAT!). But....I. GOT. TO. COOK!!!!
It was an all day affair, starting at 10 and finishing somewhere around 3. We made pizzas, foccacias, gnocchi (mmmm, my favorite), linguine, papardelle, spinach spaghetti, squid ink linguine and about 4 different sauces. While we cooked and at (and ate and ate and ate and ate) we were served a delicious Italian white wine. All the food was amazing! We got all the recipes so I'll be cooking up a storm when I get home (I'm missing cooking BIGTIME right about now). The class was one of my favorite trip activities so far.
Right as our class was ending, the clouds and rain disappeared and the hot sun came out. Nice timing, eh? On our drive back to the ship, we made a pit stop in Pisa to see the tower. Wow...I've seen photos, but man, it was way more crooked than I was expecting! Anyway, we were just there briefly for a photo op before heading back to the ship. The night was quiet. We were all tired and SO FULL from our huge lunch. Troy and I stayed up late to watch karaoke.
Tomorrow we arrive in Villefranche, France. Our trip is starting to wind down~~~
:)
Troy and Steve both rented cars for the day and Hertz had our 2 matching Fiats ready for us when we walked off the ship!
The sky was gray (pretty much the first clouds we've seen) and it was raining by the time we reached Lucca. It was a PERFECT day to be inside cooking!!! The guys dropped us off and went to explore on their own. They visited a couple of olive oil factories and went hiking. They said the scenery was AMAZING! I'm very jealous about the olive oil factories AND that they picked loads of blackberries when they were hiking (my boys brought me some though...LOVE THAT!). But....I. GOT. TO. COOK!!!!
It was an all day affair, starting at 10 and finishing somewhere around 3. We made pizzas, foccacias, gnocchi (mmmm, my favorite), linguine, papardelle, spinach spaghetti, squid ink linguine and about 4 different sauces. While we cooked and at (and ate and ate and ate and ate) we were served a delicious Italian white wine. All the food was amazing! We got all the recipes so I'll be cooking up a storm when I get home (I'm missing cooking BIGTIME right about now). The class was one of my favorite trip activities so far.
Right as our class was ending, the clouds and rain disappeared and the hot sun came out. Nice timing, eh? On our drive back to the ship, we made a pit stop in Pisa to see the tower. Wow...I've seen photos, but man, it was way more crooked than I was expecting! Anyway, we were just there briefly for a photo op before heading back to the ship. The night was quiet. We were all tired and SO FULL from our huge lunch. Troy and I stayed up late to watch karaoke.
Tomorrow we arrive in Villefranche, France. Our trip is starting to wind down~~~
:)
Day 11---8/4
ROME.
Our grand plans to leave super early didn't pan out...we were about an hour later than we planned but we were FINE with that. We're all starting to get toured out so we decided to do Rome OUR way. We caught the 9 am train (75 minute ride) from the port to the city of Rome. It was a good "naportunity" for the Andersons! :) Zzzzzzz....all the way there. :) We were refreshed and ready to go when the train arrived in Rome.
Things don't always go exactly as planned but all in all, we DID have a successful day in Rome. We started out by taking the subway to the Coliseum....and wow, what a sight! We waited in line to get in for a LONG time before finding and Anderson loophole which allowed us to go to the front of the line. WOOHOO! The Coliseum was amazing and WAY huger than I imagined. And weirdly enough, we happened to run in to my mom's tour group there! Small world, eh? Haha... :)
We headed over to the Roman Forum, walked through and on to a couple other monuments and parks before seeing Trevi Fountain and the Spanish Steps.
We stopped for a quick pizza (good, but not as good as Naples pizza) and hopped on the train to the Vatican.
Once inside the Vatican, we made a VERY quick decision to skip the Basilica and the Sistine Chapel. The lines were RIDICULOUS! Imagine a line, 6 people thick, that would wrap all the way around the Metrodome. THAT'S WHAT THEY WERE LIKE! But, we were there....and as we all know, that counts as another country for us! WOOHOO!
Our train ride back was hellish....LITERALLY, as hot as HELL. The second I was back on the ship, I ate an ice cream cone as fast as I could and jumped in the pool. Ahhhh....much better. :)
It was another early night. All this travel makes me sleepy. Plus, tomorrow is TUSCANY!!! And for me, TUSCANY = COOKING CLASS! WOOOOOOHOOOOOO! Can't wait!
:)
Our grand plans to leave super early didn't pan out...we were about an hour later than we planned but we were FINE with that. We're all starting to get toured out so we decided to do Rome OUR way. We caught the 9 am train (75 minute ride) from the port to the city of Rome. It was a good "naportunity" for the Andersons! :) Zzzzzzz....all the way there. :) We were refreshed and ready to go when the train arrived in Rome.
Things don't always go exactly as planned but all in all, we DID have a successful day in Rome. We started out by taking the subway to the Coliseum....and wow, what a sight! We waited in line to get in for a LONG time before finding and Anderson loophole which allowed us to go to the front of the line. WOOHOO! The Coliseum was amazing and WAY huger than I imagined. And weirdly enough, we happened to run in to my mom's tour group there! Small world, eh? Haha... :)
We headed over to the Roman Forum, walked through and on to a couple other monuments and parks before seeing Trevi Fountain and the Spanish Steps.
We stopped for a quick pizza (good, but not as good as Naples pizza) and hopped on the train to the Vatican.
Once inside the Vatican, we made a VERY quick decision to skip the Basilica and the Sistine Chapel. The lines were RIDICULOUS! Imagine a line, 6 people thick, that would wrap all the way around the Metrodome. THAT'S WHAT THEY WERE LIKE! But, we were there....and as we all know, that counts as another country for us! WOOHOO!
Our train ride back was hellish....LITERALLY, as hot as HELL. The second I was back on the ship, I ate an ice cream cone as fast as I could and jumped in the pool. Ahhhh....much better. :)
It was another early night. All this travel makes me sleepy. Plus, tomorrow is TUSCANY!!! And for me, TUSCANY = COOKING CLASS! WOOOOOOHOOOOOO! Can't wait!
:)
Day 10---8/3
We all got up early and we were greeted by the sights of Naples, Italy. From afar, it's a beautiful city...but once on land, we discovered that it's very dirty, crowded and can be unsafe (lots of pickpocketing stories were circulating by the end of the day). I also learned that the city of Naples has NO public areas....no parks! YUCK!
Our family found our way to the train station and SURPRISE! Who was on the train? Steve and Sue's family! :) So we took the very lively, sweaty and entertaining train ride to Pompeii TOGETHER.
Once there, we negotiated a tour guide for our group (Salvatore-he rocked!) and we were led through the massive ancient village of Pompeii for about 2 hours. After Salvetore was done guiding us, we wandered around on our own for another 2 hours. I can't believe how huge the city is! It's really astounding that the people were going about their every day lives one moment and the next moment, they were all dead. It was very intriguing.
After Pompeii, we went back to (sketchy) Naples to find a pizza place. Naples is, after all, the birthplace of pizza. :) We found a place way off the main streets...there were only locals there...and OH MY...it was the best pizza I've ever had. The crust was both crunchy and chewy, with just a hint of sweetness and a load of saltiness...in a good way. DELICIOUS.
After our pizza break, we found our way back to the ship through some pretty questionable neighborhoods and did our usual afternoon and evening activities: swimming, shuffleboard, mini golf, dinner, hot tubbing, reading and FINALLY, going to bed. We need our sleep to prep for our big day tomorrow: ROME. We're hitting it early and hitting it hard; we're hoping to cram pack as many sites into our short time there as possible.
:)
Our family found our way to the train station and SURPRISE! Who was on the train? Steve and Sue's family! :) So we took the very lively, sweaty and entertaining train ride to Pompeii TOGETHER.
Once there, we negotiated a tour guide for our group (Salvatore-he rocked!) and we were led through the massive ancient village of Pompeii for about 2 hours. After Salvetore was done guiding us, we wandered around on our own for another 2 hours. I can't believe how huge the city is! It's really astounding that the people were going about their every day lives one moment and the next moment, they were all dead. It was very intriguing.
After Pompeii, we went back to (sketchy) Naples to find a pizza place. Naples is, after all, the birthplace of pizza. :) We found a place way off the main streets...there were only locals there...and OH MY...it was the best pizza I've ever had. The crust was both crunchy and chewy, with just a hint of sweetness and a load of saltiness...in a good way. DELICIOUS.
After our pizza break, we found our way back to the ship through some pretty questionable neighborhoods and did our usual afternoon and evening activities: swimming, shuffleboard, mini golf, dinner, hot tubbing, reading and FINALLY, going to bed. We need our sleep to prep for our big day tomorrow: ROME. We're hitting it early and hitting it hard; we're hoping to cram pack as many sites into our short time there as possible.
:)
Day 9--- 8/2
We're at SEA today! Troy and I slept until 7:40 and then we decided to hit the gym. YES, you read that right! We both ran on the treadmill and lifted for a while. There's just something about being on a treadmill in the middle of the Mediterranean that makes it a little more fun.
We decided to let the kids sleep so we went and ate, came back and woke them up and immediately went and found chairs by the pool to relax in.
I. STAYED. IN. MY. CHAIR. UNTIL. 3PM. No joke. I had a killer spot...front row seat for the both the belly flop contest AND the sexy legs contest! :) Also, when we passed between Sardinia and Corsica, I had a bird's eye view of both.
We had a great dinner! Afterwards, we were all happy to crash after an exhausting day of relaxing. :) Tomorrow is a big day....we see Pompeii!
:)
We decided to let the kids sleep so we went and ate, came back and woke them up and immediately went and found chairs by the pool to relax in.
I. STAYED. IN. MY. CHAIR. UNTIL. 3PM. No joke. I had a killer spot...front row seat for the both the belly flop contest AND the sexy legs contest! :) Also, when we passed between Sardinia and Corsica, I had a bird's eye view of both.
We had a great dinner! Afterwards, we were all happy to crash after an exhausting day of relaxing. :) Tomorrow is a big day....we see Pompeii!
:)
Day 8--- 8/1
We woke up to a beautiful blue sky in Barcelona. After eating breakfast at our hotel, we packed up our stuff, called 4 cabs and headed to the pier! It was so exciting to see our cruise ship waiting for us. We are on Royal Caribbean, Voyager of the Seas.
Our check in process was pretty slow but we were in our room by 3:30. After a quick run through the buffet line, we started to explore the ship.
This is the biggest cruise ship we've been on. It holds 3600 people. There's a rock wall, an ice rink, mini golf, pools, hot tubs and even an Irish pub! It seems like a really great ship so far.
Our dinner time each night is at 6:30 so all 13 of us met there then. The food here is all good but it's not as unique or exciting as the things we've BEEN eating in the individual cities we've been to so I'll leave the menu to your imagination. :)
After dinner we all went and played a game show game--Majority Rules. It was super fun but sadly, the Kloos contingent came up short...we didn't win.
Some of us went to go watch the most beautiful moon rise EVER before going to bed. Tomorrow is a day of relaxation before we start hitting the cities in our stops HARD.
:)
Our check in process was pretty slow but we were in our room by 3:30. After a quick run through the buffet line, we started to explore the ship.
This is the biggest cruise ship we've been on. It holds 3600 people. There's a rock wall, an ice rink, mini golf, pools, hot tubs and even an Irish pub! It seems like a really great ship so far.
Our dinner time each night is at 6:30 so all 13 of us met there then. The food here is all good but it's not as unique or exciting as the things we've BEEN eating in the individual cities we've been to so I'll leave the menu to your imagination. :)
After dinner we all went and played a game show game--Majority Rules. It was super fun but sadly, the Kloos contingent came up short...we didn't win.
Some of us went to go watch the most beautiful moon rise EVER before going to bed. Tomorrow is a day of relaxation before we start hitting the cities in our stops HARD.
:)
Monday, August 2, 2010
Day 7---7/31
Goodbye to Venice!!!
Our day started bright and early! We took a bus (didn't miss it! WOW, we're finally getting the hang of this travel thing!!!) to the airport where we boarded a flight to Barcelona, Spain.
I texted my brother Steve when we arrived and was lucky enough to catch he and his family at the airport. It was slick, our 2 families shared 3 cabs instead of 4 to get to our hotel.
Once we got to our hotel, we realized we were all starving (shocking, I know) and so we walked a block down to our neighborhood's "rambla" the street with all the restaurants on it. The kids all ordered pork or chicken sandwiches and the 4 adults shared a massive platter of paella. It was really good....but even better was the gazpacho that we started our meal with. MMmmmmm. YUM!
After lunch we went back to the hotel and were able to find my other brother, Tom and my mom and dad. We all hooked up for a walk down to the beach. The kids were so excited to swim in the ocean!!! I had kind of forgotten about the toplessness here....but it didn't take me long to remember. :) There were boobs of every size, shape and age flopping all around. Boobs playing paddle board, boobs swimming, boobs sleeping, boobs changing diapers, geriatric boobs and FINALLY a pair of halfway decent boobs. :) We had fun laughing about the boobs...and then when I took off MY top everyone laughed at me.
OK KIDDING! I didn't take off my top!!! :) Hahaha....gotcha! :)
On our walk back from the beach, we stopped for ice cream (yes, I know....I'm eating a LOT of ice cream....and yes, I know....I should probably stop that) before going back to our hotel to decide what to do about dinner.
Troy had a friend that told him about La Rambla deep in the heart of Barcelona; it's a street filled with musicians, street performers and FOOOOOD! Our family of 5 decided to head there. We took the subway and we were amazed at how easy it was to find. Once there, we enjoyed wandering and people watching. We found a restaurant that had an amazing selection of tapas so we stopped. I had a sangria and Troy had a beer. And then....the food started coming!!! We must have had close to 20 different items...and most of them were AMAZING! One of the funniest parts were what looked like whole fried minnows...of course, we all ate them...AND, they were GOOD. And then we heard diners at the table next to us ask about them and the server said they basically WERE minnows and that you shouldn't eat the head....ooops. :)
After the tapas, we took the subway back to the hotel and CRASHED. Tomorrow afternoon we board the ship for our cruise!
Word on the street is that internet on board the ship is something like $35/hour so unless I find an internet cafe ON LAND, you may not hear from me again for a few days.
Our itinerary is this:
8/1--depart
8/2--at sea
8/3--Naples
8/4--Rome
8/5--Livorno (Pisa)
8/6--Nice, France
8/7--Provence
8/8--Back to Barcelona
Another adventure awaits!!!
:)
Our day started bright and early! We took a bus (didn't miss it! WOW, we're finally getting the hang of this travel thing!!!) to the airport where we boarded a flight to Barcelona, Spain.
I texted my brother Steve when we arrived and was lucky enough to catch he and his family at the airport. It was slick, our 2 families shared 3 cabs instead of 4 to get to our hotel.
Once we got to our hotel, we realized we were all starving (shocking, I know) and so we walked a block down to our neighborhood's "rambla" the street with all the restaurants on it. The kids all ordered pork or chicken sandwiches and the 4 adults shared a massive platter of paella. It was really good....but even better was the gazpacho that we started our meal with. MMmmmmm. YUM!
After lunch we went back to the hotel and were able to find my other brother, Tom and my mom and dad. We all hooked up for a walk down to the beach. The kids were so excited to swim in the ocean!!! I had kind of forgotten about the toplessness here....but it didn't take me long to remember. :) There were boobs of every size, shape and age flopping all around. Boobs playing paddle board, boobs swimming, boobs sleeping, boobs changing diapers, geriatric boobs and FINALLY a pair of halfway decent boobs. :) We had fun laughing about the boobs...and then when I took off MY top everyone laughed at me.
OK KIDDING! I didn't take off my top!!! :) Hahaha....gotcha! :)
On our walk back from the beach, we stopped for ice cream (yes, I know....I'm eating a LOT of ice cream....and yes, I know....I should probably stop that) before going back to our hotel to decide what to do about dinner.
Troy had a friend that told him about La Rambla deep in the heart of Barcelona; it's a street filled with musicians, street performers and FOOOOOD! Our family of 5 decided to head there. We took the subway and we were amazed at how easy it was to find. Once there, we enjoyed wandering and people watching. We found a restaurant that had an amazing selection of tapas so we stopped. I had a sangria and Troy had a beer. And then....the food started coming!!! We must have had close to 20 different items...and most of them were AMAZING! One of the funniest parts were what looked like whole fried minnows...of course, we all ate them...AND, they were GOOD. And then we heard diners at the table next to us ask about them and the server said they basically WERE minnows and that you shouldn't eat the head....ooops. :)
After the tapas, we took the subway back to the hotel and CRASHED. Tomorrow afternoon we board the ship for our cruise!
Word on the street is that internet on board the ship is something like $35/hour so unless I find an internet cafe ON LAND, you may not hear from me again for a few days.
Our itinerary is this:
8/1--depart
8/2--at sea
8/3--Naples
8/4--Rome
8/5--Livorno (Pisa)
8/6--Nice, France
8/7--Provence
8/8--Back to Barcelona
Another adventure awaits!!!
:)
Sunday, August 1, 2010
Day 6---7/30
We knew we only had 1 day in Venice so we had to really burn the candle at both ends. Our main focus was to get lost in the walkways of the city and to eat really good food. We did both. :)
I had brought oatmeal from home so the kids had that for breakfast. We walked to the grocery store and bought some water and some really delicious drinkable yogurt. We slowly make our way to St. Mark's Square. The crowds were massive there. We only stayed long enough for my kids to feed the pigeons. Tommy even got one of them to hop up on his shoulder! I'm amazed at how obsessed all 3 of my kids are with these dumb pigeons. They all want to catch them! I totally don't get it but it keeps them happy and busy. :)
After St. Mark's Square, we continued wandering, stopping along the way for some gelato. It was a beautiful, hot day....perfect weather.
We decided to stop back at the grocery store to make sandwiches (just like we did in Prague). We got all the same ingredients PLUS some amazing olives and a bottle of Santa Margarita Merlot (the wine was $5....and, who knew that Santa Margarita even MADE a melot??? OH! And, Santa Margarita Pinot Grigo was less that $9 there...much better deal than we would pay at home!).
We went back to our apartment to eat and took a 20 minute power nap to revive ourselves and then we were back at it again! We wandered through the Jewish Ghetto and stopped for some Peronis and pops before working our way to the center of the city to stop for a snack. Tommy has always (ALWAYS? The kid is 9, for heaven's sake) wanted to try fried calamari so we stopped at a place for a plate of that and of course, some pops and Castellos. The calamari was amazing and Tommy loved it. :)
We walked for hours longer before stopping for a mediocre dinner (I HATE that I didn't love one of my Italy meals) and then made our way home and to bed.
I LOVED Venice.....LOVED it. And wow, if the Czech women are beautiful, then the Italian MEN are beyond gorgeous. The people watching was so fun. Being in Venice with my kids was the experience of a lifetime. Next? Barcelona.
:)
I had brought oatmeal from home so the kids had that for breakfast. We walked to the grocery store and bought some water and some really delicious drinkable yogurt. We slowly make our way to St. Mark's Square. The crowds were massive there. We only stayed long enough for my kids to feed the pigeons. Tommy even got one of them to hop up on his shoulder! I'm amazed at how obsessed all 3 of my kids are with these dumb pigeons. They all want to catch them! I totally don't get it but it keeps them happy and busy. :)
After St. Mark's Square, we continued wandering, stopping along the way for some gelato. It was a beautiful, hot day....perfect weather.
We decided to stop back at the grocery store to make sandwiches (just like we did in Prague). We got all the same ingredients PLUS some amazing olives and a bottle of Santa Margarita Merlot (the wine was $5....and, who knew that Santa Margarita even MADE a melot??? OH! And, Santa Margarita Pinot Grigo was less that $9 there...much better deal than we would pay at home!).
We went back to our apartment to eat and took a 20 minute power nap to revive ourselves and then we were back at it again! We wandered through the Jewish Ghetto and stopped for some Peronis and pops before working our way to the center of the city to stop for a snack. Tommy has always (ALWAYS? The kid is 9, for heaven's sake) wanted to try fried calamari so we stopped at a place for a plate of that and of course, some pops and Castellos. The calamari was amazing and Tommy loved it. :)
We walked for hours longer before stopping for a mediocre dinner (I HATE that I didn't love one of my Italy meals) and then made our way home and to bed.
I LOVED Venice.....LOVED it. And wow, if the Czech women are beautiful, then the Italian MEN are beyond gorgeous. The people watching was so fun. Being in Venice with my kids was the experience of a lifetime. Next? Barcelona.
:)
Saturday, July 31, 2010
Day 5---7/29
Today we had to say goodbye to Prague. We enjoyed a walk through the city and pastries for breakfast before being picked up at 10:30 for our 1pm flight.
Our Germanwings flight gave us a 2 hour layover in Colonge/Bonn, Germany. Perfect for Brady and me; we both want to add as many countries to our "been there' list as possible. And yes, airports DO count. :)
We arrived in Venice right after sunset....and after a day of rain, their skies were clear. We took a vaparetto to our stop and immediately got lost....in a good way. It didn't take long for us to figure out our way to our apartment and WOW, it was even better than we could have ever hoped. It's on the corner of 2 canals; we could hear the water and small boats passing.. Seriously, we have 6 windows bordering 2 canals! It's an amazing place, in a great area... I would highly recommend renting it if you ever visit Venice.
We decided to stumble over to the restaurant in our "backyard" (the other side of the canal from our bedroom), Restaurant Diana. We were seated for dinner at about 10:40pm. We were way too stupid and discombobulated to figure out what we wanted (beside the pasta courses) so our server helped us out. *****SIDE NOTE: YES, I have taken amazing pictures of every bit of food that has entered my mouth. And yes, I will post them just as soon as I can. Computer access is a lot iffy-er here than I expected.
Our server started us out with the house red wine (crappy but still delish...heck, we're in ITALY, for pete's sake!) and helped us choose a fish plater for our starter. It was HUGE and amazing. We had tuna and swordfish carpaccio, shrimp octopus, sardines and bakala. I had a "uhoh, gonna puke" moment with the bakala but besides that, everything was absolutely delicious.
After that, we were seved our pastas....AMAZING. We had gnocchi with gorgonzola and walnuts and spaghetti pomodoro...simple and delicious.
Our final course was the fish. OH MY. They brought out a platter the size of my suitcase and on it was a whole seabass and a whole flounder both of which he boned tableside. They were so good. I even ate the flounder skin....mmmm....crispy, like a fish potato chip. YUM! We were also served a monkfish in an olive and tomato sauce. It was our favorite...so good....words really can't describe it.
We were given a glass of limencello at the end of the meal. We didn't finish eating until 12:4o. It was expensive and delicious and one of my favorite meals of my life. My kids were so well behaved AND they tried EVERYTHING. I was so proud of them. Thinking about that meal, just the THOUGHT of it, will make me smile for the rest of my life. :)
What a way to start our short stay in Venice!!! Tomorrow we'll explore the city.....
Our Germanwings flight gave us a 2 hour layover in Colonge/Bonn, Germany. Perfect for Brady and me; we both want to add as many countries to our "been there' list as possible. And yes, airports DO count. :)
We arrived in Venice right after sunset....and after a day of rain, their skies were clear. We took a vaparetto to our stop and immediately got lost....in a good way. It didn't take long for us to figure out our way to our apartment and WOW, it was even better than we could have ever hoped. It's on the corner of 2 canals; we could hear the water and small boats passing.. Seriously, we have 6 windows bordering 2 canals! It's an amazing place, in a great area... I would highly recommend renting it if you ever visit Venice.
We decided to stumble over to the restaurant in our "backyard" (the other side of the canal from our bedroom), Restaurant Diana. We were seated for dinner at about 10:40pm. We were way too stupid and discombobulated to figure out what we wanted (beside the pasta courses) so our server helped us out. *****SIDE NOTE: YES, I have taken amazing pictures of every bit of food that has entered my mouth. And yes, I will post them just as soon as I can. Computer access is a lot iffy-er here than I expected.
Our server started us out with the house red wine (crappy but still delish...heck, we're in ITALY, for pete's sake!) and helped us choose a fish plater for our starter. It was HUGE and amazing. We had tuna and swordfish carpaccio, shrimp octopus, sardines and bakala. I had a "uhoh, gonna puke" moment with the bakala but besides that, everything was absolutely delicious.
After that, we were seved our pastas....AMAZING. We had gnocchi with gorgonzola and walnuts and spaghetti pomodoro...simple and delicious.
Our final course was the fish. OH MY. They brought out a platter the size of my suitcase and on it was a whole seabass and a whole flounder both of which he boned tableside. They were so good. I even ate the flounder skin....mmmm....crispy, like a fish potato chip. YUM! We were also served a monkfish in an olive and tomato sauce. It was our favorite...so good....words really can't describe it.
We were given a glass of limencello at the end of the meal. We didn't finish eating until 12:4o. It was expensive and delicious and one of my favorite meals of my life. My kids were so well behaved AND they tried EVERYTHING. I was so proud of them. Thinking about that meal, just the THOUGHT of it, will make me smile for the rest of my life. :)
What a way to start our short stay in Venice!!! Tomorrow we'll explore the city.....
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