Palma Mallorca, Soller and Valencia Spain

Almudaina Palace in Palma de Mallorca.

6/23 The Almudaina Palace was originally built as a fortress in 14th century but now is the resident to the royal family one month out of the year. We didn't have time to go inside but apparently almost all the rooms are empty.

In Palma Mallorca we rode a vintage train to Soller Spain. In Soller they are known for their citrus fruit and olives. 

This is an Olive farm... The farmers built different levels up the mountain. Olive trees do not grow very fast and the trunk has an interesting pattern in it.  In the town of Soller there was a shop with beautiful olive wood carvings.  My granddad would have loved it!

Chris took pictures of the flowers for his mom and Mimi.

In the middle of the town square

We found a donut shop!  The bakery we found was tasty & ALMOST as good as La Especial. 

6/24 Valencia Spain, White Water rafting

I didn't get very many pictures of this day because of the water element. It was really fun but cold.  We had to wear wet suits.  I was glad I had one on.  About 5 minutes into the trip on a calm part of the river the guide (with the help of Chris) pushed me in to to demonstrate the safety position and how to get back into the boat if you fall out.

Lucky for everyone I had paid attention during the instructions and was able to get back in. Between rapids we got to swim in the river.  It was really clean and we could see the bottom easily. We also got to jump off rocks.

 There was a lady in the Kayak group that broke her leg. We think she fell over during the rapid part and instead of the safety position she put her leg out and broke it.

At the end of rafting they took us into town and fed us family style.  The plate of meat they brought out was interesting..... lots of intestine and unifiable cuts of meat. I did try everything but  ate my real meal at the taco bar when we got back to the ship.

It was such a fun vacation! I missed Caroline like crazy but knew she was having a blast with her grandparents.  I can't wait to go back.

Sardinia

6/21 Sardinia, Italy- {where sardines come from}    T

 This excursion we decided on was Neptune’s Grado. It was  caves were stalactites and stalagmites had formed. When we got close to the caves we saw about 6 divers quickly getting into their boat- apparently they saw hundreds of jelly fish hanging out around the caves opening.

One of my very favorite trips as a kid was Carlsbad Caverns. This reminded me of that on a smaller scale.  Right in the middle there was a freshwater lake from all the collected rain water. 

The tour was only an 2 hours so when we got back to shore we ate in the town. Blair & I again got the cheese pizza or margarita pizza.

Bear took recommendations from the chief and was brought out a cheese pizza with full shell claims thrown on top.  The look on his face was unforgettable.

The claim juice was soaked into the crust and was unsalvageable so we shared.

 Moments later after we finished laughing at Bear’s meal Chris decided to season his lasagna with sea salt and the lid came off spilling it E-V-E-R-Y-W-H-E-R-E. -stupido Americanas

6/22 was the only day at sea.  We mostly laid by the pool and ate way too much. I did play bingo with some other girls.  One of the girls I was with almost won the Caribbean cruise! She was N21 away from another vacation.

Santa Margherita Italy

6/20  This excursion took us by bus, boat & train to 3 small towns down Italy's Mediterranean coast. 

Chris was in charge of the camera this day and did a really good job capturing how beautiful this country was!

 We did this excursion with Bear and Blair Littleton. They have kids around Caroline's age- The neat thing is as we do more of these trips our kids will get to hang out as well.

Here is a shirt Chris wanted to get Gian & Sam but the largest size it came in was 2T

& he really liked this one for Gian.... So feel better Gian knowing they didn't have your size in this shirt either. 

We ate at an authentic italian restaurant. The only thing I recognized was Pizza. Blair and I got a cheese pizza because all the other pictures on the menu had sea animals as toppings.  Chris wanted pepperoni but apparently that is not an "authentic" italian topping so he stuck with Lasagna. Bear was the only one that ventured out and picked a weird  pasta dish.

The water in the mediterranean was "refreshing" AKA freezing cold.  The only people playing in the water were boys trying to act tough. We had a train ride back to Port. I didn't get to enjoy the country side as much because of the 2 men sitting next to me.  Even if they would have chosen to wear deodorant we were so close I could tell they had not brushed their teeth either.... I was glad it was a short ride. It was a fun day in Italy!

Monte Carlo

Monte Carlo, France:  Our excursion was cancelled for the day so we went on a self guided tour of the city.  There were some very wealthy people running around.  The yachts in the harbor where we docked in were unbelievable and some easily running about $500.000.000.

One of the bigger yachts in the harbor had a Saudi Arabia flag flying and underneath it was a burnt orange Texas Longhorn flag flying.  

We randomly came across a coin store and took a picture for Ricky.  

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We also ran across a Ferrari dealership.  All their car dealerships were in buildings and in parking garages.

Chris took lots of pictures of the flowers to show his mimi.

This was waiting for us when we got back. We ate with some friends during the late dinner time and watched Karaoke.  Every night we got to facetime with Caroline. She was having a blast when we called.  Nana also bought her a couple of new outfits.  She looked adorable in them!