4th of July fun in Germany

The 4th of July fell on a Monday this year. Since the Germans don't celebrate the 4th of July and kindergarten is year round here, Caden went to school. I sent him to school with a special American flag cake and a few pictures of the Statue of Liberty and fireworks with an explanation of what Independence Day means to Americans and how it is typically celebrated. After I picked Caden up from school at 1:30, we all took a nap knowing that we would be up late to watch fireworks. The festivities began at Patrick Henry Village around 4 pm. We brought chairs, blankets, drinks and snacks to enjoy while we listened to the music and waited for the main event.


They had a fantastic area set up for kids that included games, rides, face painting, etc.  Caden and Addison had lots of fun. Caden especially enjoyed the bumper cars, which is done slightly different in Germany. Once you buy a ticket, there is no line to wait for your turn in a car. It is a free for all once the session is up- getting an available car was almost as much fun as Caden driving it! Addison's favorite was the blow-up bouncy slide. An older boy helped her up the ladder once, but then she figured it out, and was climbing to the top of a very large slide all by herself- over and over again- without regard to the line.

At sunset (around 10 pm), we all got to see a 50 cannon salute to the 50 States and then a fantastic fireworks show. We had so much fun and the kids stayed up way to late!

Addison sporting her patriotic look

Kids playing with balloons and bubbles, prizes from kids games

Caden with friend, Gavin, climbing slide

The big girl climbing the slide by herself

Success!

Caden mid-slide

Venice

Nate and I were in Venice about 10.5 years ago (during the winter). We remember it being an amazing, magical place, that was beautiful and so quite (with no car traffic). On our most recent visit, we were not quite as impressed, but probably because we had to deal with the summer tourist season crowds. It was so crowded that it was difficult to enjoy ourselves. We decided not to visit basilicas or museums since we had seen them before and we had Addison with us. (Caden choose to stay at the kids club on the boat again; we wanted him to come along to experience Venice, but knew that bringing along an unwilling participant would have made for not the most pleasant experience). We still believe that it is an incredible place to visit, but if you can, try not to go during peak tourist season.

view from the boat

St Mark's Campanile

St Mark's Basilica

Addison chasing pigeons in the Piazza San Marco

Rialto Bridgeon the Grand Canal

Canals with the ever famous gondolas

Shops on the Rialto Bridge

Dubrovnik, Croatia- the highlight of the cruise

If you ever get a chance to head over to Eastern Europe (during the summer), you would be crazy not visit Croatia. It is an absolutely beautiful country, with beautiful water (although many beaches are rocky), and something we have not yet seen, but I can't wait to go back and explore- are the amazing waterfalls. After you've seen the usual tourist attractions in Europe or better yet, you want to go off the beaten path and see what the Western Europeans want to explore, go to CROATIA. We decided to walk the Old City Walls, go on a glass bottom boat tour of Dubrovnik, and then take lunch in a restaurant off the main famous street the Stradun. I think the pictures speak for themselves.

view from the boat

entrance into the Old City

entrance to the Stradun

A working fountain, with fresh water that many people were drinking out of, including us

view of the Old city from the Old Walls

view of the walls and fort- it was quite a walk, but well worth it

the kids weren't keen on walking, but they would stop for a photo op along the way

I took so many pictures of the water; it was so beautiful

more pictures of the crystal clear water from our small boat ride

lunch

end of the Stradun leads into the Old Port

Bari, Italy

A not so great view of Bari from the boat

There were some moderately interesting excursions from the port of Bari- Alberobello, Volare's white cliffs, and Matera, but we were still wanting to relax instead of spending all day on expensive excursions that we weren't super enthusiastic about. Caden decided that he wanted to spend the day in the kids club and we decided to spend the morning in town on our own. We walked off the boat and found a mini-bus-train tour of Bari. We thought it would be perfect since we didn't have a stroller for Addison and we could quickly see the highlights of Bari. We saw the Swabian Castle, the Cathedral of Saint Sabino, and the Basilica of Sant Nicholas. Addison was thrilled to be riding on a train that had pictures of Mickey Mouse and Disney princesses on it- we thought it was a strange theme, but whatever.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Entrance to Basilica of St. Nicholas

St. Nicholas

Inside of Basilica

One more statue of St. Nicholas

the castle and that was our Italian tour guide who spoke perfect English and French

in the background you will see our train-bus

pasta that made by the towns people drying in the sun

Ravenna, Italy

We can't tell you much about Ravenna because we really weren't up to exploring the town and most excursions were to places that we had already been to and were quite a drive away. We were on vacation and were ready to relax. From the ship, we walked with friends over to the beach and let the kids play in the sand. The beach right next to the port wasn't exactly the best, but the kids still had a blast. We spent the rest of the day enjoying activities on the boat.

splashing in the water

taking it all in

busy collecting shells

Kids building a shell canal

Slovenia

Our first port on the cruise was Koper, Slovenia. There were many interesting excusrion possibilities through the cruise line: Lake Bled (a gorgeous, glacial lake in the Julian Alps), Ljubljana (capital of Slovenia, some have said looks like a mini-Amsterdam), a visit to a famous Lipizzan Horses stud farm, among others.

We really wanted to see the Lake and the capital, but they were still quite a drive from the port, so we decided to take the kids to the Postojna Caves, which are the largest publicly accessible cave systems in the world.  The advantage to taking a tour sponsored by the ship, rather than doing it on our own, transportation to the caves was included,  the tour guide gave us useful tips about caves and our port town, she pointed out interesting places along the way, and was able to tell us about the history of Slovenia and answer any questions that we might have had. The caves were amazing (and of course huge)! It was also very cold inside and we were happy that we had been told by the tour concierge to bring jackets. We had hoped to explore the town of Koper after the cave trip, but we were all to exhausted by the time we returned to the ship. Fortunately our tour bus driver was kind enough to drive us around and through town while the tour guide pointed out interesting sites.  The city seemed very clean, the people very nice, and prices were moderate. Final review- Slovenia is definitely a place that we'd like to return to so we can explore more.

The river responsible for the caves

Kids playing while waiting for our tour of the caves to start

Caden and I on the little train to take us into the caves

Part of the caves themselves- photography was not allowed- so we stopped taking pictures

Adriatic Cruise, The ship, June 2011

After a long drive to Venice from Heidelberg, we finally made it on the boat. Parking and dropping off our bags to be put onto the ship was a little confusing, but we made it. We had a nice (but small) room with a balcony on Royal Caribbeans, Voyager of the Seas. We were so excited to explore the amenities, food, and attractions on the ship. Caden loved the kids club. The pools were ok. The baby pool was small, but and a bit too deep. The big pools were very cold. The water was chlorinated salt water, which really stung if it got in your eyes.  The food was excellent; we were very excited that there was a daily selection of Indian food (since that is one of our favorite kinds). Eating meals in the dining room versus the buffet had some perks (better food that was brought to you), but also proved to be a challenge in entertaining the kids with all the waiting time. We found the iphones and ipads invaluable. Alcohol was expensive and you weren't allowed to bring it on board with you, like you were on the Disney Cruise. Having an ice skating rink on board was totally cool. Caden went ice skating for the first time ever. I also went rock climbing for the first time. The mini-golf and rollerblading courses both left a little to be desired.