Monte Carlo, Monaco & my final thoughts

Our last stop was Monte Carlo. We had planned a walking tour of the city, and luckily I hobbled my way through the tour. Very happy that I did. Such a beautiful city. Monaco is the 2nd smallest country in the world.

Our first stop was the Grace Kelly gardens. Such amazing views.
Overlooking Monte Carlo.

Monaco City Hall
St. Nicholas Cathedral, Monaco
Inside is where many of the Grimaldis were buried, including Grace Kelly and more recently, Rainier III.

The city was so clean, with beautiful gardens everywhere.

We were in Monte Carlo about 5 days after the Prince was married. The city was still decorated which was fun to see.

The Palace were the wedding took place.

And this is the town hall, where the civil ceremony took place.

The famous Grand Casino. We only saw it outside. It was not worth paying 10 euros to see the inside.

Monte Carlo has to be one of my favorite stops on this cruise, and I am really happy I did the tour. Really learned a lot.

The cruise was amazing. Had amazing food (see above). Met amazing people. Enjoyed sitting by the pool each day after seeing the cities. What a tough job I have.

This is my leg a week after the accident. Once I was home I was saw a doctor who provided me with a tetanus shot, and week worth of antibiotics. It seemed to get worse before it got better.

Day 4 Portofino, Italy & Day 5 St. Tropez, France

Portofino, has to be one of the days I was most excited for. I really wanted to see Cinque Terre. However after the day prior in Florence I knew my injury would hold me back.

We got off and decided to just walk the city.
Portofino is a small Italian fishing village, comune and tourist resort located in the province of Genoa on the Italian Riviera. The town crowded round its small harbour is considered to be among the most beautiful Mediterranean ports.
It really was just an amazing little town.


Lots of yachts.
This one below, was told to be Bill Gates yacht. If you look closely it has a helicopter on it.

We pulled into St. Tropez, and found nothing but yachts.

For many, St. Tropez conjres up images of endless beaches, suntanned bodies, an celebrities enjoying martinis on the deck of a luxury yacht. St. Tropez is all of this and plenty more. Although its best known today as a glitzy playground for the rich and famous.

The water was such a beautiful shade of blue.

I really just wanted to rest and try and heal my foot. So the day in St. Tropez was my day to do just that. I sat by the pool most of the day. But did adventure out and see a little of the city.

The streets are narrow with lots and lots of high end stores.

I may have only got off and seen a little bit of the city, but at least I can say I have been there.

Florence on Day 3

Day 3, we decided to be real adventurous and take the train to Florence. It was a crammed 10 minute bus ride to the train station. A 30 minute train (just as crammed) to Pisa, finally we had seats and another hour to Florence.

But we finally arrived Florence.
Holy Scooters!

The Duomo

We stopped for lunch and a sidewalk cafe.

Pizza!

We found: The "fake" David, The Neptune fountain, Cellini Perseus statue, and The Hercules and Cacus Statue.

Ponte Vecchio - Medieval bridge over the Arno River

So really we walked around the city with no tour guide. So I honestly have no idea what the meaning behind anything is we saw. But at least I can say I saw it!

After all that walking, I had to stop for a delicious galeto!

After spending some time in Florence, I really wanted to stop in Pisa and see the leaning tower. However my foot was in enough pain and I couldn't stand doing any more walking than I had too. We had one small detour, the Florence train station. We sat and people watched for 2 hours. Becuase we some how managed to read the arrivals board and by the time we reliezed it, we had to wait 2 hours for the next train.

Day 1 & 2 of my Mediterranean vacatian

After our long flight (thankfully in the exit row), we made it to Rome. Unfortunately we didn't get to see any of Rome and headed right to the ship.

This would be my home for the next 7 days.
Sunrise as we are arriving Elba, Italy.
Elba is inextricably linked with Napoleon Bonaparte, who was exiled here for 300 days following his forced abdication in 1814-the palindrome "Able was I ere I saw Elba" tells it all. Today visitors are lured to Italy's third-largest island by its sandy beaches, cuisine and wine in addition to its historic sites.

For day one of our trip (after our session of work was completed) a few of us thought it would be fund to rent scooters, and drive around and see the island.

This was the result of me driving a scooter. This picture doesn't look bad, but I had a tough time walking and the majority of my leg was covered in a bruise by the time I got home.

This is my only picture of Elba, from the balcony of the cruise ship.

Day 2: Bastia, Corsica

The main city in Northern Corsca is also the island's largest commercial port and is an arts and culture hub for the entire island. Moreover, Bastia, where the locals are friendly and life always seems unrushed, remains one of the more photogenic towns across the Mediterranean Sea.

A shot of Corsica from my balcony.

We didn't know what we were going to when we got off the ship. However it didn't take us long to find this open air bus that took us around the island.

A few things we saw along the way.

So happy we found the bus, it was a great way to see the island.

Once we got back on the ship, we celebrated the 4th of July on deck. Dancing, eating, and playing games. It was a lot of fun.

Jazzlyn Gayle

My beautiful niece was born Friday July 8 at 8am.

Name: Jazzlyn Gayle

Weight: 6lb 14oz
Already looks up to uncle Shane.

I am excited for a little girl in the family.

Anthony loves her already.

Jackson finally warmed up to her.

Awww. Precious.