Pompeii & Amalfi Coast

On Day 4 of the cruise, we were at the Port of Naples. It was a beautiful day. We were off the ship at 8:00 am and met our driver/guide. I have to mention that it was a little bit cheaper for us to do these private tours than go thru NCL. Mainly because we paid for the car/driver and not by individual prices. Since we are a family of 5 it was more cost efficient. However, NCL does stress that you are not covered if anything should happen and they will not wait for you if you are late getting back to the ship. We never had any problems.

Since we had a head start, we had Pompeii all to ourselves before the big groups came which was about an hour later.
Pompeii was one of our favorite places. The ash really preserved so much history.

We had an honorary family member for a while. Pompeii is also a shelter for rescued dogs. They just roam around looking for attention. They were all very well behaved but this dog wasn't going to let any of the other dogs get close to us.

They had castings of some people and how they died. It was very saddening but amazing how they were able to capture the expressions and positions of these people.

The pointed bottoms on the pots is so they would remain upright in the sand on the bottom of the ships.

Our tour guide for Pompeii was wonderful. He was 74 years old and a Professor of History and has lived in Pompeii all of his life. He made the sight so enjoyable because he was always talking for the entire 2 hours.

Devin captured a pretty picture of a garden.

At the front entrance they had a mosaic of a dog that says "Beware of Dog". This was 90 B.C. It was normal for a dog to be chained at the front entrance.

One of many streets of Pompeii.

The big stones are stepping stones for when the streets filled up with water. You can even notice where the wagons went thru. The dimensions are the same as many things today.

A beautiful mosaic fountain.

After Pompeii, we drove for about 3 hours along the Amalfi Coast. It was a scenic drive but very narrow and back n forth.

This is the town of Positano. It is usually very crowded and busy but we were there in the off season.

One more family picture to end the day.

Eastern Mediterranean Here We Come!

The day finally arrived for us to begin our vacation! We were on the road by 6:30 am and heading for Barcelona. It was a very cold morning and snowing! We made it to Barcelona 9 hours later and 3 quick stops along the way. We were starving so after we checked in we asked for the closest place that was serving dinner. Dinner doesn't usually start until 7:30 pm. The waitress saw "easy prey" and recommended the house specialty that serves 2 for Jason and I. After gobbling up all the bread we were shocked when the meal arrived. I have never seen so much seafood on a plate before. I'm not much of a seafood person other than shrimp and sometimes crab. However, when I am hungry I am willing to try anything. It was delicious and they had some good garlic butter to dip it all in.

We went back to the hotel - full and tired. It comes to our attention that the heating was not working properly and we had a very cold night! We got up and ate breakfast and it was even colder in the restaurant. So we hopped in the car and turned up the heating to full blast. We almost didn't make it out of the hotel parking garage in the basement of the hotel. It was so narrow that we almost got wedged when making the turn. We didn't do any sightseeing while in Barcelona. We are going to try and do that another time.

At last we made it to the ship - Norwegian Jade. We got checked in early right before their computer system went down! The sun was shining but it was cold!

I couldn't forget the mandatory life jacket drill!

We had one rough day at sea before we arrived in Rome. We couldn't wait to get off the boat. It was pouring and never really stopped but we made the best of it. We did something a bit different this time. Instead of booking the excursion thru NCL, we went with an independent agency. It was great and I highly recommend it. We got off the ship right at 8:00 am and our driver (guide) was waiting for us. It was just us in a van and we flew to Rome! The driving is crazy. It was different but perfect for a rainy day. He would talk and then we would stop and get some pictures and we were off to the next place.

One of our first stops was the Pantheon.

We made it to one the 7 (I think) Hills of Rome but I have no idea which one this was.

Between the rain and fog, we couldn't see very far but some things did stand out.

Trevi Fountain sure is a beautiful fountain. I can remember throwing a coin into the fountain and I returned 22 years later.

It wasn't too crowded.

Jason telling Lucas some story - Lucas has that grin.

We grabbed a quick pizza and ate in the van. The kids said it was the best but I didn't care for it. It just didn't have much taste. We then went to the Vatican Museum and Sistine Chapel. We met up with a guide provided by the agency and got a wonderful 2 hour guide thru the museum and chapel. The Sistine Chapel and St. Peter's Cathedral is just one of those places everyone needs to see in person.

Next stop was the Colosseum. The following picture was an expensive picture. Nothing is for free!

Then on to the Roman Forum.

It was amazing how much we got to see in a day. I'll be back tomorrow with our next stop in Naples and our visit to Pompeii.

Something Funny to Share

I finally got a picture this morning that Kate & I have been discussing for the past couple of days. This silly girl with the balloons just gets so upset when............
we are behind this city bus. This bus uses the same route we take to and from school. As soon as she sees it, she gets so red in the face and mad that they would put a picture like that on a bus!

Something funny from Switzerland!

December - Before Christmas!

Happy Holidays everyone! I can't believe how long it has been since I posted something. December has flown by and it was a bit busy!

At the end of November, the kids all took turns being sick. I was sort of happy to have that over with before the holidays. They were pretty miserable for a couple of days. The boy's school actually closed for one day because so many kids were out with "flu like" symptoms.

Devin and Lucas were better by the time their school went to Basel, Switzerland for 2 days - December 10th and 11th. They had a great time. They visited 2 museums and toured the town. They visited the Christmas market and brought back some very nice gifts for us. Devin took the following pictures.

Their school has been doing some fantastic activities. They went last week to do "Curling". They said it was "super fun" but quite hard to get the stone in the circle!

I helped out with Christmas Around the World at Kate's school again this year. It was lots of fun once again. I added some countries that we didn't have last year.

France had some delicious dried fruits and nuts.

I really like the cheese and chocolate graters. I might have to get one of those before we leave.

This year I remembered to add the U.S.A table. I had a friend that just moved here not too long ago from Connecticut. She speaks fluent French and it was wonderful!

Last year I saw one of these at the table for Germany but I forget what it is called. It is basically a nativity scene in the middle and the heat from the candles makes it spin. I found it last year right after Christmas at a great price. We just love it and we actually have it out all year long.

We just started getting really cold last week. We had one day where the view of the Alps was so clear. We had our first snowflake in Neuchatel this past Sunday. Skiing has begun in the mountains. We have had snow flurries on and off all week and it makes for a wonderful holiday feeling.

I need to go and finish the packing. We are off on a big Adventure. I hope to post some great pictures for the end of 2009! We want to wish everyone a wonderful Holiday Season!

November Sunrise

Jason photographed a beautiful sunrise. The rest of the family was down in the fog almost all day!

The Walking Cello

Today I remembered to snap a picture of Lucas going to lessons down the street. He says his cello teacher laughs every time he opens the door and sees that huge cello on Lucas. It still brings a smile to my face every time I think of him carrying that huge thing.

Goodbye to Fall and Hello Winter

Hello everyone! It's been a while but we haven't had too much happening. Everyone seems to be busy. The boys are enjoying school and tennis lessons. Katelyn is doing well and just got the ok to start putting weight on her leg again. We were able to get a nice family picture this weekend. The leaves are almost gone.
Lucas had a friend over on Saturday. His name is Dario. We had a nice time with him. His English is coming along. He speaks French and German at home. He had that smile on his face the whole time he was at our house. We had gone down to the lake to play some American Football but Dario prefers European football.

Maggie is just too cute!

It was quite chilly on Saturday but we had a pretty good view of the Alps even with all the cloud cover. They have been getting lots of snow but here in Neuchatel we have just had rain.

I'll leave you with some pictures of the end of Autumn in Neuchatel.