Cruising ... MSC Splendida

We cruised out of Civitavecchia (Rome) and it made sense for us to fly in the night before. We flew from Munich to Fiumicino on a late evening flight and booked a hotel right by the airport. Our flight and drive out of Munich was effortless. E was great on the plane, and we arrived in Fiumicino around 8:30. We grabbed our luggage and headed for the doors to catch a taxi to the hotel. A man intercepted us and asked if we were looking for a taxi, we told him where we were going, and he said to follow him. When we got into the 'cab' it didn't have a meter inside - mistake number one. We ended up paying about 30 euro for a ten minute cab ride, and we were too tired/annoyed to argue with the guy. Lesson learned, and we actually had great cab experiences for the rest of the trip. 

Our hotel in Fiumicino was nice, but we were only there until the morning, so it didn't matter much.

The next morning we had planned to head out early and see Vatican City before we boarded the cruise ship, but it was raining and we had over 100 pounds of luggage, so it just wasn't do-able. Instead, we headed for the train station and made our way to the port in Civitavecchia. 

The train dropped us off a few blocks from the port and we had an hour to kill. We stopped at a little cafe and had some amazing pizza. We caught a shuttle bus which took us directly to our ship, and the check-in process was a breeze. We ended up getting upgraded to a balcony suite with a great location.

Looking off our balcony in Civitavecchia.

Coloring in our room.

Every night we were able to enjoy an awesome seven-course meal. Our server, Wijaksana, was fantastic and very accommodating with Elliott. We had no table partners, which was awesome - we didn't have to feel bad about Elliott's crazy antics.

Arriving in Genoa. This was our first stop, and it was a pretty crappy day. Elliott was still recovering from an ear infection, so we took it easy and lounged around the boat. Genoa was the perfect stop to ignore because there wasn't anything there that we were too interested in seeing. We were perfectly happy just relaxing on the boat.

Curls for days ...

Marsaille, France. The weather had greatly improved by the time we got to Marseille, and we jumped onto the shuttle bus, which dropped us off in the city center.

There was a great little shopping area set-up by the water, and even a mini-Christmas market going on. We stopped and ate, did a little shopping, and rode the giant ferris wheel.

This is the Notre Dame de la Garda ...

Views from the ferris wheel - which Elliott loved ...

Christmas Market ...

This is the main area of the ship. The ship itself was AMAZING ... there was so much open space, and plenty to keep us occupied. We spent our day at sea just exploring the boat, and I still don't think we got to everything ...

The staircase was made of Swarovski crystals ...

Elliott dancing on the balcony ... this is one of his infamous moves that he showcased on this trip ...

Cruising into Barcelona ...

La Reggia was our restaurant for dinner each evening ...

We always managed to get to dinner way early, so we would enjoy a pre-dinner cocktail while Elliott ran around like a madman.

Sunset going into Barcelona ...

Christopher Columbus statue ...

La Sagrada Familia in Barcelona - which was amazing, but under construction. We saw most of the Gaudi sights, and this was my favorite. Gaudi died in 1926 before this was even a quarter of the way finished, and they don't have an expected completion date until 2026. Crazy.

We did A LOT of walking in Barcelona ... probably more than any other city.

Stopping at a park to let E run free for a bit. He was such a good sport for being cooped up in a stroller all day.

Another Gaudi sight ... La Pedrera.

We stopped at a tapas bar for lunch ...

Fried shrimp, calamari, some kind of bread (which was really gross), and, of course, beer ...

Another Gaudi ... Casa Batllo ... bad picture, but very pretty.

Barcelona Cathedral ...

A few minutes after this picture was taken - Elliott threw the most massive toddler tantrum hat we had seen to date. It was one of those tantrums where people stop and stare. This was his one and only of the trip, and we decided that it was time to head back to the boat!

Hanging out in the arcade on the boat.

These pictures are from our day at sea, before we arrived in Africa.

Pool area ... probably a lot cooler in the summer months.

We were the most excited about Tunisia and decided to book an excursion, so we could see all of the sights.

We started out in Sidi Bou Said, a little town on top of a cliff, and everything was done in blue and white. There were tons of little shops set-up ...

The locals were very forward with trying to sell you products and services. A man came up and put this bird on Elliott's stroller. He asked if could take a couple pictures with our camera, and afterwards he asked Vic for 30 euro!!! No way! We actually laughed ... like maybe he was joking, but he was dead serious. He really wanted 30 euro for placing a bird on a stroller without our permission and then taking two pictures.Vic held out the change he had in one of his pockets - which was probably 4 or 5 euro, but the guy was adamant about his 30 euro. Getting burned on the taxi ride from the airport was still fresh in my mind, so I grabbed the changed from Vic's hand, put in in the man's hand, and we quickly sped away!!

The many faces of Elliott ...

Ruins ...

This is our awesome tour guide, Ahmed, who loved to hear himself talk ...

Exploring the ruins ...

Carthage Ruins ...

Ruins of a colosseum ..

Camel rides ... we avoided this after our bird incident ...

After Tunisia we headed to Palermo where we decided to do another excursion. It was great, and it was at a slow pace, so we were able to enjoy ourselves and take in the sights.

On the top of Mount Pellegrino ...

Mt. Pellegrino in the back ground ...

Eating gelato on the beach ...

He LOVED the water ...

Sightseeing in Sicily ...

Thanksgiving fell on our day in Sicily ... when we got back on the boat they had this cake waiting in the buffet area!

Back to the boat ... this was after our day in Sicily ...

A few shots from dinner ...

We were sad to get off the boat, but so excited to see Rome. The disembarkation took a bit longer - compared to our checking-in procedure, and we were anxious to get our day started since we didn't have much time to spend in Rome. We tossed our luggage and stroller into the shuttle bus and made our way to the train station. When we went to pull the stroller out of the cargo area of the bus - it was smooshed. Completely broken. We ended up just ditching it by a trashcan on the side of the street, and came up with a plan right there on the spot. I had happened to pack a cloth baby carrier in case we saw some sights where strollers weren't allowed. We pulled that baby out, and it saved the day. We took turns carrying E around for the whole day, and it actually worked out really well ...

Our first stop in Rome was the Roman Forum. The sights here a breathtaking ... you could really spend the whole day walking around.

We went back and forth with deciding whether or not to go into the Colosseum, and I am so glad we did ... it was awesome ...

Arch of Titus ...

Relaxing in the Forum ...

Love this picture ...

After the Forum and Colosseum, we hopped in a cab to the Pantheon. This was amazing, and so massive.

After the Pantheon, we made our way to the Trevi Fountain ... another unbelievable sight, but, oh my God, so crowded. Elliott loved this, and probably could have stayed all night.

After the Trevi Fountain we headed to the Piazza Navona for dinner. This was the best choice of our entire trip. We found an awesome restaurant with tables setup outside by a fire, and a guy playing live music right across from our table. He was playing American music on an acoustic guitar, and it was so good that, after a bottle of wine, we bought his CD. The food was great and we sat next to a hilarious couple from Ireland. It was the perfect ending to our day in Rome. 

We certainly didn't get to see nearly enough of Rome, and, of course, missed some big sights, but we managed to cram a lot into our half day ... and did it all toting around a 28 pound toddler. 

The whole trip was amazing ... we saw amazing sights, ate amazing food, and were able to make so many memories!! We would love to do another cruise before we leave next year. 

Funny story. We spent the whole plane ride from Rome to Munich talking about how amazing and effortless our trip was ... how nothing major went wrong ... how truly lucky we are ... then, we get to our car ... and it wouldn't start!! Haha, I think we just had to laugh in the moment. After a few minutes and multiple tries ... it finally turned over and we were on our way back to Grafenwoehr. The battery ended up dying the next day, so we were lucky to get one more run out of it!