Mexico

We arrived in Mexico on Sunday September 29. The first day we were there we walked around and relaxed.

The following day, Monday was the chill day. All we did was hang out at the pool. I enjoyed the 8:30 am yoga class. It was very similar to hot yoga because it was outside and the weather in Mexico was steamy. As soon as you walk outside the hotel room my sunglasses were immediately foggy. I did yoga 4/7 days. 

On Tuesday September 30th ( the second day in Mexico) we booked an all day tour to Chichen Itza. Chichen Itza is one of the largest Maya cities known for their ancient Mayan ruin including pyramids, massive temples, carved columns, and sports fields (were the players typically die, typical ruin sports). This place was around 3 hours from the resort but the tour included breakfast,lunch and drinks. So Mexico is hot and this ruin was in the jungle with almost no shade ... so imagine a pale person ..   I'm glad I experienced it- sweat and all. Shortly after visiting Chichen Itza we headed for a traditional' Mexican lunch. I love Mexican food (there was even lime ice cream). The outdoor restaurant had Mexican dancers and to top it off hammocks to take a lovely afternoon siesta! I purchased a Mayan calendar that had my anniversary date. I plan to get that framed! The last stop on the tour was swimming in a sinkhole. The one we went to was called Ik Kil. It was 85 feet from the surface and 131 feet deep. There was an option to rent a life jacket and I regret not doing that. The diameter did not seem too large but after looking it up it was 196 feet so imagine swimming to the center if you're not a strong swimmer (aka me). It was very refreshing and a lot of fun if I don't think about being out of breath from swimming. Once we got the resort we got a Mexican coffee (tequila, Kahlua, expresso), showered, dinner hibachi style.

Wednesday was yet another chill day. I believe Chris had  17 drinks in the morning and afternoon. When we got back into the room I made him chug 5 or so bottles of water and while I was showering he passed out. Pretty successful day for Christopher Sprague. I guess he felt he had to makeup for being away from the resort the day before. This night we ate at the French restaurant. This was the best one at the resort. We ended up ordering 9 entrees at out table. I had ratatouille for the first time. I didn't love it but I could eat it.

Thursday Christopher, my mother, Debbie and I went on a Dolphin Discovery excursion. We went about 30 minutes down the road to the Dreams resort where the Dolphin Discovery tour was at. This resort was a family style resort with a lot of things to do, almost like a mini town. Our resort is very private and is targeted towards couples. It was interesting to see a different resort. The first part of the tour we kayaked with the dolphins. The second part we swam with them and did superman where 2 dolphins swim up behind you and lift your body out of the water. My mom refused to do that. Lastly we swam with the manatees. Those creatures are huge! After all that fun the tour ended with an included lunch that was pretty yummy. The outdoor restaurant was next to seals and now I have that on my bucket list because those seals looked so cute! 

Friday was the big Wedding day. We stayed at the pool until about noon. I had Jen come to my room and I did her hair and took many photos of her getting ready. We ordered food and champagne. At 3 PM was the ceremony. It was very pretty. We had professional photos taken for the next hour. Jen had tequila at the end of the photo session and that did her in! Immediately after photos everyone got back In their bathing suits and swam for an hour. We all had dinner at the Italian restaurant. In the evening we went to the cirque de sole show and that was very entertaining. The bride had too much tequila and passed out and didn't make it to the show. This is my family. 

Saturday was the last full day of the trip and it would have been great but I had an incident. I went on a kayaking tour in the ocean. I sometimes think I can do more than I really can ... I cannot kayak for a full hour in direct sunlight. Lessons I learn as I'm getting older. Chris didn't come with me because he said he wanted to relax the entire day and do nothing. I should listen more and do what he does. Hello my name is Stubborn wife! I was so close to the finish line of reaching the shore and a wave knocked me right out of my kayak! I was shaken up that I power walked to my lounge chair and grabbed my stuff and told everyone I was leaving to headed to my room. Chris had no idea what happened so he followed me and told him in tears what happened. Too much sun for me! After 2 hours I felt better and went back to the pool to finish the afternoon with only relaxing in my agenda. In the evening I packed and ordered room service for dinner (New York strip).

I highly enjoyed the all inclusive vacation style.... However I cannot handle the sun so I highly doubt I will ever visit Mexico again. Adios Mexico it has been my pleasure! A thank you to Jen and Brett for making me go out of my vacation comfort box. 

Meg's POST Europe Trip Summary

I cannot believe it has been 10 days since we have been in Ohio. Yesterday I finally felt normal. I told Chris that for 9 days my body was here but my soul was still in Europe and it finally arrived!

I am so grateful to experience such amazing trip- I never thought during the planning process that I would also meet some very cool people! What a great added bonus.  QUACK QUACK to my contiki friends!

Now what everyone has been waiting for .....MY Review!

What sticks out in my head that I did not like:

• Greece Toilets
• No Soap in Greece Airport! 
• Pee everywhere on the floor in the Santorini Airport!
• Paying for water in the restaurants
• Hiking a Volcano in my ballet flats (I seriously didn’t think our tour include a hike). 
• Going upstairs or downstairs to find a restroom. Because the buildings are so old their “WC” are always hidden away and they really make you work to find them (especially in Santorini I had to climb 50 stairs to go).

Copy/Paste link to your PC to watch video

http://youtu.be/WEBEmQDuBv8?list=FLv5CstKA1V0xIf_FcgzgIxQ

It appears that bathrooms are important to me.

If I go back to Europe where would I go?

Paris (Again)- I need to go to the Musee d’Orsay (collection of pre-impressionist, impressionist and post-impressionist masterpieces) and Musée de l'Orangeries des Tuileries / Orangerie Museum (Monet's Water Lilies Museum). I also would like to go to a fancy dinner!

Monaco- actually a country but located in the French Riviera (mainly because Grace Kelly inspired my Wedding dress I bought). The photos look amazing there and a train can take me to Pairs and Monaco!

Germany (Again) but this time Berlin! Berlin is the largest city in Germany and from what my friend Becci tells me is a very happening city. Munich was nice but I’m good to go if I don’t see it again. I would recommend others to go there if they are really into their beer.

Foggy London town (again)- We did not have time to see a show here and I really would have liked to. Go to Notting Hill. I don’t believe I would need to go back for more than 3 days. It would be a good starting point for the next one …

Ireland/Scotland Tour- I found some great tours to see a bunch of Castles!

When I’m older….like 50 or so a Greek Islands Cruise would be nice. Chris and I thought about doing it an extension of this trip but didn’t have enough time and thought it would be too much. But on its own I it would be perfect! Maybe Athens for 1-2 days taking a Greek cooking class and a biking tour. I don’t need to any more ruins! I’m ruined out.

I did enjoy my time in Italy but I’m not in need to go back at the moment (Maybe it was because it was hot). I did think if I went back it would have to be during their winter season. I saw everything I needed to in Italy! Check Check! If I go back (and I’m sure Chris would want to because he is obsessed with pasta) it would be to the Italian Riviera (Tuscany area off the beach) and Sicily. It would also be nice to go back to the Vatican because I needed more time in Saint Peters Cathedral- beautiful!

Austria- Salzburg – enough said! Those hills in particular are filled with sounds of music.

Possibly Poland – Looking up my ancestors, this would be when I’m much much older…it is really on the bottom on my Europe bucket.

I’m sure Chris will go into detail on why he is proud to be American. I’m proud to have free water and clean bathrooms. AMEN! 

Athens

We arrived in Athens Tuesday afternoon. We immediately laid down to take a nap. #priorities

After we regained our strength, we ventured out on the town. And by out on the town, I mean we walked around the immediate area. Fortunately, our hotel seems to be in a good location. It is right next door to a lot of shopping and restaurants. Our room also has a view overlooking the Temple of Zeus.

We ate dinner and finally order a gyro. We didn't have much luck finding a gyro in Santorini... Athens seems to have plenty of places that have it. We were surprised to see what a apparently is- it's not wrapped neatly in a pita, instead it is a pile of meat on top of a few pieces of pita, with some tomatoes, onions, tzaziki, and French fries all on the plate. We learned that a gyro is normally served wrapped in a pita when it is ordered to-go (or take-away, as they say in Europe). They also do not have lamb gyros in Athens... Only chicken and pork. We learned so much about gyros! 

The next day we had an all day tour. We visited 4 main sites that were way outside Athens (hence the need for an all day tour). We visited the Corinth Canal, the ancient theater of Epidavros, the acropolis of Mycenae, and a little town of Nafplio. 

When we got back from that, we went for dinner in a section of town called Plaka. This section of town has two things: souvenirs and restaurants. For dinner, we ended up getting a big platter of stuff. A lot of different meats (pork, chicken, beef burgers, lamb, lamb/beef) along with some rice and pita. It was delicious! 

Our last full day in Athens included a half day tour around the city of Athens that ended with a trip up the to Acropolis... The Parthenon being the big attraction. As some of you may know, the great city of Nashville has a full scale Parthenon randomly in one of their parks. So this was really the second time we had seen it... The one in Nashville is in much better condition, the one in Athens is run down and barely standing... Kind of depressing. After that, we went over to the Temple of Zeus... Even though we see it all the time right outside our hotel window. Not much left of that except for a few pillars. We also got "take-away" gyros... They put the fries right in the gyro! Unbelievable!

Something we have noticed is that when you walk by a strip of restaurants in a tourist heavy area, they always have somebody standing outside trying to convince people to eat there. They will run up to you with a menu and tell you how great their food is and then finish it off with "I have a table ready... Please come". It's fun when you are actually looking for a place to eat since you are interested in the sales pitch... It's not so fun when you aren't eating and they follow you for a little bit. Italy was somewhat similar in that they had people standing outside restaurants... But they normally didn't chase you down. They would mainly be there to answer questions... And then they would seat you if you wanted. It is fun hearing the sales pitches to other people once we are already seated. 

We have also noticed that the Greeks have been relatively friendly... But they have also been the most pushy when you are looking in one of their stores. They do not take no for an answer. My advice- don't go into a store unless you really intend to buy something! 

Canal

 Ancient theatre

More theatre

Nafplio 

Ancient tomb, Agamemnon 

Where the first Olympics was held

Parthenon 

Acropolis museum 

The temple is Zeus

Real Greek fro-yo

Our last supper in Europe 

Santorini

We arrived in Santorini around 1:00pm on Sunday and ended up doing laundry and eating pool side. We are staying at a resort called El Greco and it's really nice! It has 4 pools. In the evening we went into the town called Fira and did some shopping and ate at a place called Nikolas. 

On Monday we woke up quite early for a tour we signed up for, it started at 8:30 am).We went up to an a traditional village with a bunch of churches called Pyrogos. The coach bus took us to a place called Profitis Elias- the tallest mountain in Santorini, where we had a great view of the red and white beach. After some site seeing on the main island we hopped onto a boat to the Volcano. I didn't expect that we would be hiking up the entire volcano! We were there for a couple hours. I don't want to hike another volcano ... No shade and your shoes get so dirty. #citygirl 

The next boat stop was near hot springs. The boat just stopped near a small island and people just jumped off the boat and swam to the springs. The lady said you had to be a strong swimmer because it wasn't close by. I was hoping I could just float on a tube but they didn't have anything like that. Since Chris and I are no michael phelps we just swam around the boat. People who came back from the springs had a lot of orange colors on their skin and swim suits (iron from the springs?). Well all I can say is I swam in the Mediterranean Ocean! Check. 

After the hot springs we went to a smaller island where we had lunch. If you have ever seen a movie about Greece and remembered all the steps up to the village and donkeys transporting you.... Well it is very true! So many darn steps! I really don't feel guilty for not working out because I was sweating so much I couldn't see, the sweat just poured into my eyes. I should have just got on the donkey! We enjoyed that afternoon right on the rocky beach having rice and pork soulvaki and delicious baklava! There were a lot of cute kitties around that I held. I miss daisy! 

From what Chris and I could remember when we signed up for this excursion is we were suppose to be done at 5, somehow we got confused and ended up with an extended version of the tour! From the small island the boat took us to the top of Santorini called Oia and we had to climb yet again MORE STEPS....holy hell I was a hot mess. It took us 25 minutes to go up the steps. After I asked someone if I could have some baby wipes so I could see again. We enjoyed the famous Santorini sunset. Work hard rest harder!  The sunset was the perfect ending to our Santorini pit stop.

If I ever see Santorini again I would like to see the northeast beaches and go sailing. I think our "See Santorini in One Day" excursion pretty much covered everything else. Oh And I would like to rest more.

Woke up today feeling sick! 4 more days left and I get to enjoy weak AMERICAN coffee, my dog, and flushing toilet paper down the toilet. (You can't throw toilet paper in the toilet here because they have weak pipes, you throw it in the trash... So gross) I think being around all the unsanitary things has started to mess with my immune system.

Tomorrow we will be in ancient Athens!

El Greco resort we stayed at

Pyrogos

Loading dock from the volcano

Rocky beach!

Kitties

Volcano hiking

Lunch on island

I love Greek food!

Santorini sunset

When in Rome

We left Florence and stopped at Vatican City before officially going to Rome. Our time at the Vatican was petty limited, so we didn't have much time to wander. We went in the Sistine Chapel and Saint Peter's Basilica. The Sistine Chapel is very small... 

What's the deal with Vatican City? It's called Vatican City but is its own country? #catholics

After the Vatican, we headed into Rome. There are all sorts of structures that remind us of the ancient Roman times. We did a whole lot of walking around the city... Every few steps there is another big plaza with a big fountain and statue in the middle. 

The evening concluded with a dinner at a restaurant. The dinner was only like 5 courses... Which is simply unacceptable by my Italian standards. I require a minimum of 8 courses. #eightisenough

Our second day in Rome is when the main event happened... The Colosseum! We first got a tour through the roman ruins right next to the colosseum. I was overwhelmed by the amount of Gladiator scenes that were running through my head. 

The Colosseum certainly is a sight to see. And to answer the question I'm sure everybody has... Yes, I acted out the scene from Gladiator "my name is Maximus Decimus Meridius...". It is recorded and will hopefully be posted to Facebook after we get home. ARE YOU NOT ENTERTAINED!?!? The Colosseum was my favorite part of Rome.

We then ventured over to the Spanish steps. As far as I could tell... It's just a bunch of steps. But apparently it's supposed to be pretty wild... So we did some Spanish steppin. Then we went over to some sort of crypt for monks. It was a little creepy... A lot of skeletons and bones arranged in various patterns. #wheninrome

This was the last day of the group tour. So we had to say goodbye to all our fellow travelers. I said goodbye the only way I knew how... By singing "so long, farewell" from the Sound of Music. We had one final dinner with the people who were still around... We had pizza and pasta (what else would we have?). 

We had to call it an early night since we needed to leave at 3:30am to go to the airport to continue our trip to Santorini. 

Thank you, Italy... For all the gelato, pizza, and pasta. We will never forget.

Saint Peters

 Vatican City outside area

Treve fountain was under construction 

Pantheon 

Coliseum photos

Spanish steps 

Pisa & Florence

After Venice we went out to see the wonderful signet of Pisa! I guess back in the day it use to be a popular sea port but over thousands of years there no longer have a sea just a leaning tower. On a walk to the Pisa I ordered by second gelato! This was was caramel of some sort. Again delicious!

Took some fun photos near Pisa and left. Check.

The first evening in Florence we went into the old town and had dinner with our group. Only 3 courses. I liked the meat pasta. Chris said it was delicious. 

After dinner we went to Italy's oldest American karaoke bar. This was interesting. I made chris get on stage with me and we sang "A whole new world" - Aladdin style! Everyone here thinks Chris is very talented with his movie knowledge, Arnold impersonations, and now his soothing voice. Geesh I feel like I'm the dud In the relationship! We received many compliments even from people that was not from out group. #powercouple 

This morning we had a walking tour of Florence where we got to see all the fun sculptures. Made it to the academia museum and had a lovely picture with none other than the David sculpture.

We ended up sitting down at a restaurant and ordered pizza, canoli, and coffee. The heat in Italy was getting to me. Oh Tuscany. Woo this entire trip had been surprisingly cold but today not so much!

 Our last night in Florence we had a Tuscan feast dinner. This included antipasta with what we call back in the US assorted lunch meats, plenty- plenty of wine, 2 types of pasta - I loved the white sauce one, beef, greens' potatoes and finally dessert which was like an icecream cake. The entertainment came with a man playing an accordion, a singer (who sang ave Maria) and a piano/singer who played music to get some people to dance. I had too much fun, probably because I drank a lot of wine. Our table also started to play drinking games with our wine... I now know what "bottles" is! 

Now I'm back in the room resting up for Rome tomorrow.

My recommendation to those who plan a Europe trip:

Learn Celsius or the conversion : temp x 1.8 +32

Learn Kilos and meters because im totally lost when the Australians and kiwis are talking

Learn that kiwi is the New Zealand bird which is why they call themselves kiwis ... They don't grow kiwis . Blonde moment

Good night Florence! 

   

Ah, Venice

We have finally arrived in Italy. 

We arrived at the hotel around 7:30pm and had dinner at the hotel shortly after we arrived. The dinner was delicious... We had spaghetti as the "first" course and some kind of pork dish as the "second" course. They kept scooping spaghetti onto my plate until it was full of pasta... That's the portion size I prefer for spaghetti. After dinner, we went to bed.

The next day was a full day in Venice. We arrived around 10:30am and had a walking tour at 11. After the walking tour, we wandered around the city for a few hours. It doesn't take long to get lost in Venice- all the streets look the same. You just keep walking over bridges and then you stumble across a big plaza of some sorts. During our wandering, we got some gelato, pizza, and espresso. We also bought plenty of souvenirs... But can't go into details on specifics because some of the items purchased may or may not be future gifts. They are pretty big on their masks there... Spoiler alert, we didn't buy any masks (thank goodness). 

After wandering around and having a few snacks, we hopped aboard a gondola for a trip through the canals. During the gondola ride, I was able to act out a scene from Indiana Jones: The Last Crusade when he first arrives in Venice. The scene has been posted to Facebook for your viewing pleasure. I also briefly sang Mambo Italiano during the gondola ride.

The day in Venice concluded with a Venetian feast... This was the moment I had been waiting for all day. The foods that were placed in front of me were the following: bruschetta, various meats, calamari, risotto,  gnocchi with tomato sauce, penne with carbonara, spaghetti with pesto, and more gelato. It was served family style for the table... When other tables in our group noticed that our food was going pretty fast, they started giving our table (me) their extra food. Those who know me know that I cannot let food be thrown out. I had to finish up another table's gnocchi, penne, and spaghetti. Oh, and there was extra gelato which was given to me. All the years of having unlimited pasta ate Olive Garden had trained my stomach to be able to consume massive amounts of pasta... My whole life has been preparing for this moment of pigging out in Italy. I came... I saw... I conquered. Even the waiter gave me a look of kudos #italiankudos

I just couldn't get over the fact they gave us 3 pastas in one meal. Oh, and they also provided bottomless wine... Megan took more advantage of that than I. During the meal, we had somebody entertaining us by playing songs on a saxophone. Some familiar tunes that the group sang along to. During one of the songs, Megan danced with this Ivan fella from our group. I warned Ivan afterwards to stay away from my wife! 

First coffee shop in Italy 

Like a post card!

No diet on holiday! Gelato! Of course I got the coffee flavored.

Pizza for lunch

Gondola

Tour mates

Lovely sax player

arrivederci Venice!