Cruisin'

What's cruisin? We were. Life is too. Time is flying, Reed is growing, will everything just SLOW DOWN?? Well, since we all know the answer to that, we better take advantage of every chance we get to have some fun! And that's what we did at the end of May.

As you know, Pam & Gary have come out for a 7 week visit. Bonn isn't that big, and there's no way 7 weeks of pushing Reed around the same city center would cut it, so we decided to take a 7 day cruise through the Adriatic & Aegean seas. We left from Venice, stopped (in order) at Dubrovnik, Athens, Izmir, and Split, plus had a couple of days at sea. It was incredible! Made more so because the adult-to-kid ratio was 4:1, meaning Makayla & I had a few dinners out alone, and a couple hours of relaxation on the pool deck! Ahh....

Before you shut your browser in disgust, I'll stop waxing on about how amazing our holiday was, and jump into a few pictures with the highlights.

Venice was gorgeous. I took this picture as the ship was leaving the city, it gave a great perspective on just how big Venice is. We had just one evening there, but were able to get a taste of the good, and bad, that it has to offer. Great food, unique character, and on Saturday morning, huge crowds.

This is a view of Dubrovnik, Croatia, as we were pulling in. We anchored off shore here, and rode small boats into the harbor. You can see the walls around the old city (middle left of photo), which is where we spent the afternoon exploring. We roamed the side streets and discovered the wonderful character of the city away from the tourists. We even stopped for a drink at a literal hole-in-the-wall, where we stepped outside the wall and sat for a beer on the edge of the cliff. Dubrovnik was the pleasant surprise of our trip!

Greece. Athens. Acropolis. Parthenon. Need I say more? I think we were all in awe of the beauty and ancient architecture at the Acropolis. It's one thing to read or study about the skills of the ancient Greeks, but it's another to see it up close. The weather was hot, so we all stopped for a cold drink in the city as well. We also bought Reed a new sun hat at Mothercare (Andrew I had no idea Mothercare has expanded to Greece?!) since he managed to outgrow his old one half way through our trip...

Ephasus, Turkey. We docked at Izmir, the second largest port in Turkey after Instanbul, and a guide drove us to the ancient Roman ruins of the city of Ephasus. We were blown away by the scale of the city. We wandered down Roman roads, with homes and shops along each side, photographed a massive library, and posed for this picture in front of a huge amphitheater. With so much of the city preserved you could get a real sense for life at that time, it was quite humbling. Before arriving at Ephasus we stopped at a small chapel built on the foundation of a modest house that is believed to be where Jesus' mother, the Virgin Mary, lived out her last years. Regardless of what your beliefs, it was a somber and emotional place, and I'm thankful to have seen it.

No vacation is complete without a little holiday romance, right? Well, ours was no different. On our tour at Athens we sat next to some girls from Texas & New York, and one of them took a fancy to our son. Needless to say, the feelings were mutual, and the pair were seen together quite often during the rest of the cruise! Here is a picture of Reed & Erika in Split...

One more thing every vacation has is an ending. And after a final night spent in Luzerne, Switzerland on our drive home, ours ended as well. I returned to work last Monday, and Makayla returns to work tomorrow, after about 8 months off. Reed will be in good company, staying at home with a nanny on the 3 days each week that Makayla is in the office. Wish us all luck with the transition!

~Rich