Disney Cruise - Day Nine: Corsica

Our next port of call was Corsica. To be honest, I was really looking forward to our three stops in Italy the most. Everything else was just kind of icing on the cake.

We had previously arranged for a half-day beach break excursion without Caleb. (We were going to leave him on board with the Disney nursery staff.) But we were called in our stateroom a couple of days before to let us know our excursion had been cancelled because of a problem with the tour company they contracted with.

So instead we were left with a free day in Corsica. This was actually a bit of a relief after five pre-arranged shore excursions. A chance to explore a city on our own was just what we wanted at this point. So off we went into Ajaccio to see what the day held!

Corsica ended up being an unexpected treat on our trip. Without a guide or agenda, we were free to go at our own pace, stop when we wanted to, and plot our own journey.

Additionally, Corsica was beautiful. As in I-want-to-live-here beautiful.

Again, we had awesome weather. We really hit the luckiest streak of sunshine imaginable.

We did a bit of shopping and stopped at a cafe for a quick drink and a bite. (Mostly we needed an excuse to use a toilet, but the espresso and white chocolate cranberry cookie I had were a welcome bonus!) Caleb had apricot juice here!

Ajaccio is the birthplace of Napoleon, so with the help of a map we could barely read, we managed to find the house he was born in. We didn't bother going inside this time. It was just too crowded, and today was less about sightseeing and more about relaxing.

After that, we found a little beach near the town center, so we went down to hit the sand for a while.

Of course, I had to get the obligatory feet-in-the-water shot. Look! I'm standing in the Mediterranean Sea! And it's cold!

Caleb must have felt that every rock on the beach was misplaced, because he spent the majority of the time throwing them back into the ocean. He loved the beach. Even though the water was cold, he didn't care at all. I can't tell you how many times he's asked to go to the beach since we've been back home.

It was such a relaxing afternoon. Tommy and I laid out on the towels we brought from the ship, I read a book, Caleb played in the water. I could have stayed there all day.

After a while at the beach, we decided to head off to the other end of town to see the Napoleon monument.

Caleb was pretty wiped at this point, so Tommy found a bench to sit at with Caleb while I climbed to the top of the monument and looked out over Ajaccio.

Corsica ended up being one of my favorite stops. I had virtually no expectations for it, but it ended up being such a relaxing nice time to spend together as a family. Looking back, I would have trimmed back on the pre-planned guided tours and done a few more days on our own like we did in Ajaccio.

Unfortunately, we knew our time was almost up. We only had one more port of call left and a day at sea before we had to disembark for good in Barcelona. It had been so much fun, and we had seen so many cool things, it was hard to imagine how we could end on a higher note than Corsica. But we still had Villefranche left!

Oh, but one more note from Corsica:

Disney Cruise - Days Seven & Eight: The Med & Florence

Want to know the difference between a 10-day and an 11-day Disney Mediterranean cruise? It's a single day at sea dropped right in the middle of all the ports of call.

Instead of heading straight to La Spezia from Citiavecchia, the captain took us out into the middle of the Med for a relaxing day at sea. I didn't think much of a day at a sea, but following four hectic ports of call, that quiet day at sea was perfect.

We also lucked out with the most beautiful weather we had all cruise! I've already mentioned this, but we had great weather all cruise, and this day, our lazy day at sea to relax and recoup, was the best! The crew went on and on about how they have never seen a more peaceful day at sea. One of servers said in his many years of working there, he had only seen a day like that maybe two or three times. It was awesome!

I woke up a little early the next morning and watched the sun rise from our verandah as we pulled into the next harbor. I could get used to a veiw like this!

The next day found us in La Spezia, where we tendered the boat. I guess the harbor of La Spezia isn't deep enough for the cruise ship, so we anchored a way out in the harbor and took smaller tendering boats (that held about 200 passengers) into the shore. Caleb liked going from the big boat to the little boat.

We took a bus from La Spezia to Florence. It was about an hour and a half through beautiful Italian country side.

We made our way through the city passed the Santa Croce to the Palazzo della Signoria. One one side of the square is the impressive Palazzo Vecchio, that I remembered visiting when we were stationed at Aviano AFB when I was in high school.

We had a chance to look inside the courtyard of the Palazzo.

The piazzo is kind of like an outdoor museum. There were beautiful sculptures in various areas of the square.

We left the piazzo and walked passed the Uffizi, which is a huge art gallery. We didn't have a chance to go in due to our time crunch.

Walking through the other side of the Uffizi, we caught sight of Ponte Vecchio (the Old Bridge.) It felt a bit like a homecoming for me. I hadn't been to Florence in about 15 years, and it's not like I lived there. But my Italian class took a few trips there, and I absolutely loved the city. It felt great being back there again.

This ice cream-eating, underwear exposed girl had the courtesy to make it into our one and only family picture on the Ponte Vecchio in Florence. Thanks, girl.

We then made our way to The Basilica di Santa Maria del Fiore, which is really amazing to see as you approach it. Covered in white, green and red marbles, it's very beautiful.

In my mind, The Basilica di Santa Maria is kind of the opposite of St Peter's Basilica in Rome. The outside of St Peter's, while impressive and imposing, isn't necessarily beautiful. But then you step inside, and it is gorgeous! The sculptures, the marbled floor, the mosaics...it's just breathtaking. Florence's basilica, on the other hand, is magnificent from the outside. But the inside, surprisingly, is rather plain.

After we toured the basilica, we had some free time. Our tour guide had scolded us earlier in the day for eating ice cream that she did not deem worth of the name gelato. (It was just ice cream on a stick.) So she gave us a business card for "good gelato." Jackpot!

We wandered down a few streets, and with the help of the map the guide gave us, we found Gelataria di Neri. SCORE! I had finally found my great gelato! The soft, sweet, tart gelato I remembered from our years in Italy as a high schooler. I had a scoop of lemon and a scoop of strawberry. It was SO good! Just looking at the picture is making my mouth water.

We had a little time to kill, so we did some shopping around the Piazza Di Santa Croce, which is where we were meeting our group.

Caleb had a blast chasing the pigeons around the square. This was probably the highlight of Florence for Caleb. Don't worry, we made sure he was nice to the birds. Besides, they looked like they could use a little exercise!

Leaving La Spezia that night afforded us some beautiful views from the ship, including this island with a little light house on top.

We also got to watch the sunset as we sailed further into the Mediterranean.

It was an amazing day! Got to see the sun rise and set over the Med, and in the middle, we saw some amazing views in Florence. Can't ask for more than that!

Disney Cruise - Day Six: Rome!

Our next port was La Citavecchia, and our next port adventure was Rome! I had been looking forward to this stop the most, probably. Although I lived in Italy for a few years in high school, I never made it down to Rome, so I was eager to finally see the eternal city.

We went to The Coliseum, of course. As we approached the more ancient parts of Rome, I began to wonder if the Coliseum would live up to my expectations. I've heard so many people come away from Stonehenge disappointed. It doesn't seem as big as people seem to expect, and in the end it's just a pile of rocks. (By the way, I thought Stonehenge was pretty cool. But I think I'm in the minority there.)

Fortunately, the Coliseum lived up to my expectations. It was pretty huge! It was also pretty crowded.

This rather unimpressive picture is just to show some of the original, remaining marble floor. Our tour guide told us that the whole Coliseum used to have white marble face. I can't imagine how majestic it must have been in its glory (err, gory?) days.

We left the Coliseum in time for lunch, and along the way passed this majestic monument. Isn't it gorgeous?

After the Coliseum, we had a pre-arranged lunch somewhere in Rome. We had pasta and veal, plenty of bread and, of course, wine. But most important? The tiramisu we had afterwords!

Holy gravy train, this was good tiramisu. You know how you have to kiss a lot of frogs to find a prince sometimes? Italian food is that way. I had to try a lot of tiramisus (and gelato for that matter) to find the ones that made me think of my days as a teen at Aviano AFB. I've spent many years trying tiramisus all over the world. While a few have held up, most end up being disappointing. Fortunately, I was able to get an amazing piece of tiramisu at this restaurant (with a complimentary espresso!) My hunt for great gelato was still on at this point.

Our next stop was Vatican City! I was very excited for this. (I realize I keep saying that, but it's true!) I've always wanted to visit the Vatican, but having recently seen Angels and Demons (the Dan Brown movie), I was even more eager to see this beautiful principality. The cinematography of Vatican City in that movie was just breathtaking, and I couldn't wait to experience it for myself!

We wandered through the Vatican Museum first. Okay, wandered isn't the right word. We practically jogged to keep up with our tour guide flying past sculptures and tapestries. Like everywhere else in Rome, it was so crowded.

But it was also beautiful. There was an entire ceiling in one of the galleries with frescoes like this one. It looked like a bas relief, but it was actually painted! A whole long gallery like that. It was amazing.

As beautiful as everything inside the Vatican Museum is, the goal is to get to the end where the Sistine Chapel waits. As much as I keep saying "I was looking forward to this, " I really was looking forward to seeing the Sistine Chapel!

Our tour guide had warned us that we were not allowed to talk in the Sistine Chapel. The radio headsets we wore to hear her would have to be turned off for our time in the chapel. She said the guards were very strict about this and about the no photography rule. As busy and crazy as the rest of Rome was, the idea of standing still inside a silent chapel under the masterpiece of Michelangelo was awe-inspiring. I was really looking forward to a sacred experience.

Unfortunately, it was anything but. The small chapel was swarming with people, and everyone was talking! Granted, they were talking more quietly than in the rest of the museum, but I thought the whole point was to shut up and experience the moment, not talk about it! Additionally people were taking pictures...with flashes!

***We interrupt this regularly scheduled blog with a public service announcement. If you are one of the dingalings who insists on taking pictures when pictures aren't allowed, then at least don't be the kind of idiot who uses flash when it's strictly prohibited. It's not allowed for a reason, doofus. TURN IT OFF. If you don't, I'll be tempted to turn you off! No kidding. How hard is it in 2010 to turn off your flash? Not hard at all. Unless you want to experience your camera being thumped on your head repeatedly, follow the rules! Thank you. We will now resume regular blogging***

Anyway, the whole experience was a bit of a let down. Don't get me wrong, the chapel was beautiful. But I was looking for a sacred moment, or at least a quiet moment of serious appreciation, and instead all I got was a teeth full of tourists. Blargh!

After the Sistine Chapel, we got to explore St Peter's Basilica. While crowded, it was also huge, so the people thinned out a bit. And photography was allowed, because the artwork was all sculptures and mosaics. St Peter's was gorgeous. (I know, I'm being super redundant here, but it's ROME!)

St Peter's is one of those churches that has an impressive (but not really beautiful) exterior. And then you step inside, and all you can say is, "Woah."

As I'm blogging, I'm searching through my pictures for the perfect woah-inducing shot and realizing I just don't have one. So let me say this. My pictures and words do it no justice. I'm not a photographer. I'm not even a very good blogger! But trust me, it was beautiful. As one example, here was one of my favorite sculptures in the basilica, sculpted by Bernini.

Our tour did not include the catacombs beneath the basilica, which would have been cool. But here are the stairs leading down to the catacombs in the middle of the basilica.

Another one of my favorite pieces of art in the basilica was this one. At first glance you'd swear it was a painting. The colors and details were so vivid!

But on closer look, it's a mosaic! Amazing what they can do with tiny stones.

Rome was really amazing. My only complaint is that we didn't have enough time to see more. And as was standard with all port adventures, there wasn't enough free time. These tours can be exhausting!

At the end of the day, though, I'm really glad I finally got to see Rome and that I got to share it with my favorite boys.