September 25-29th 2004 - Rome, Mykonos, Santorini & Athens!

ROMA!!! I was so excited to see Rome. It was the 3rd day of heavy touring, so we were exhausted by the time we hit Rome. It was such a great day! We visited the Vatican, including St. Peter's Basilica and the Vatican Museums. It was just incredible. It was a surreal experience to walk into the Sistine Chapel and to look at Michelangelo's ceiling and his Pieta. It was the coolest experience of my life! After lunch we headed to the Colosseum. It was unbelievable. It was like stepping back in time.

We wandered around St. Peter's Square and it was a gorgeous day. The square is huge. Dan and I had a fabulous day here.

After a wonderful sea day... and much needed, we arrived Mykonos, Greece. We spent a leisurely day wandering on our own and lunching down by the water. It was another beautiful day but it was HOT!

The windmills of Mykonos.

The next stop was Santorini Greece. This was the most beautiful place I had ever been. We rode the cable cars up to the village of Thira and wandered the day away.

This was the view leaving Santorini. We have GOT to come back here!

Next stop Athens! For many many years I have wanted to come to Athens. I couldn't wait to see the Acropolis, the Parthenon, and all the history that Athens has to offer. After watching the 2004 Olympics on TV, I was so excited to be there. It was another great day and we learned SO much. We wandered all over the Acropolis and then went to the Plaka where we walked around and shopped and then made our way on the Metro back to the pier.

Here is Dan and I up top on the Acropolis with the city of Athens below.

Here is Jim and I mailing postcards back home from Athens.

September 23rd, 2004 - First trip to Europe - Wedding Day!

Here we are in Barcelona! This is my first flight across the pond, and first trip to Europe for both of us. We flew in this morning and thank GOD everything went perfectly and all our luggage made it. We were out on the bow by 3pm getting married. What a day. It was thee perfect place to get married. I had met some people online at the CruiseCritic.com and they attended our wedding. We also had a small reception (included in the wedding fee) in one of the bars on board. It was such a great time!






Our first stop, the very next morning was Villefranche sur mer. This is my first trip to France. It was going to be a gorgeous day! We were newlyweds, we were in the French Riviera... What's not to love!










This is the view as soon as you got off the tender in Villefranche. It was such beautiful place. After getting off the tender, we made our way to the train station to go to Monaco. In Monaco we ended up going to a yacht show. It was amazing!

Dan and I at dinner... we had such a fun table onboard the Brilliance of the Seas. There was another newlywed couple also. They were from Long Island and the entire table had a blast.











When we arrived in Florence the next day it was FREEZING! Dan had to break away from our group and find us sweatshirts. Florence was such an awesome place.












By afternoon, we had made our way to Pisa and it was warm again! Yay! Pisa is beautiful! I loved it! The leaning tower is amazing... I wish we would have pre-bought tickets to climb the tower, but no...