Florence

And, though it's a bit late in the coming, here's the rest of our week-long cruise along the Mediterranean.

After the Monte Carlo stop, we make our first of many stops in Italy. First up, Florence! But before we get to Florence proper, we must stop at the ultimate tourist mecca: Pisa.

That's right - it's leaning tower time. I'd visited the tower previously on my college Italy trip, but I hadn't had time to do much more than gawk and buy a fake Burberry purse. So this time, Ian and I decide to make the 300-step climb to the top.

The views from the top were pretty nice -- and we beat the rush of tourists on day trips so it was pretty quiet too. We tried to appreciate the beauty of the buildings and the grounds...but in the end, we gave in and took the same touristy shots as everyone else.

After we got that out of our systems, we hopped on the train again for the 30-minute ride to Florence. It was getting kind of late, so we decided to make lunch our first stop. We stopped at this little restaurant recommended by LonelyPlanet -- had some amazing bruschetta, a nice pear & gorgonzola salad, and a really rich gnocchi. Wish I remembered the name of the restaurant -- note to self -- take pictures of restaurant signs in the future! (Sidenote, Ian is amazed that I still remember what we ordered -- what can I say, I'm a food person!)

And since it was already afternoon and we had a 4:00 date with the train to get back onto the Norweigan Jade before it departed for Rome, we could only squeeze one attraction into our schedule. The Duomo.

Santa Maria del Fiore, known more commonly as the Duomo, is famous for its dome, which was built by Filippo Brunelleschi.

We decided to work off some of the calories from our lunch and climb this tower as well. Got some nice views of the city.

And it's back to the boat!

A Nice random walk from Monte Carlo

Our first port of call. When we woke up, Monte Carlo was outside our balcony, and these little "tender" boats were waiting to take us to shore.




The number of yachts and other forms of water entertainment in the harbor hinted at the staggering opulence the locals enjoy.





Here we have just disembarked from the cruise ship.



As we started up the hill towards the train to Nice, we saw the Grand Prix race track which wound it's way through the city. We walked up and up and it was only on the way back in the afternoon that we figured out there were escalators that could have taken us most of the way.



We hitched a train to Nice at the top of the hill, but that gave us a chance to blog about the previous day.



When we got there it was foggy (and we didn't even ride a cable car this time). But it eventually cleared up.



At the end of the of the beach was the Monument aux Morts which commemorates the 4,000 citizens of Nice that died during World War I.



At this point, we tried to turn back to catch a tram to the train station, but ended up walking up the wrong hill. At the top, there was a park and a cemetery which offered some stunning views of the city below.









Eventually we found the correct hill and caught the tram. Well actually a few went by while we were trying to figure out how to operate the ticket machine. Once we finally made it back we grabbed a quick drink from "Flunch". Turns out the French don't put a lot of thought into their fast food joint names. We'd passed up another on the way back named, "Quick".




Once back in Monaco we trudged up the final hill of the day, on top of which sat the palace, where the prince of Monaco still resides today. It's also where Grace Kelly married Prince Ranier back in the 50s.

We snapped a few more shots of the bay before meandering back down the hill towards the port.

On the way, we found a Grand Prix statue which Ming promptly jumped in, starting a trend of tourist photo ops:

After that, we jumped back on the tender which jetted us back to the ship.


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Location:Monte Carlo / Nice

Barcelona

We began our half day in Barcelona with a few sandwiches in a little cafe a short walk from our next stop, the Pablo Picasso museum.




No photos allowed, but I have to say it was interesting watching his transition as we walked through his numerous years of art. Turns out he used to be quite good, and then sometime in 1909 I think someone stepped on his glasses.

After the Picasso museum, we took a stroll around the Parc de la Ciutadella. It used to be the site of a fort built when Madrid wanted to keep a close eye on the local population. That fort wasn't very well liked so when it was torn down it got replaced by this impressive fountain.


One of Ming's requirements is that we have at least one shot of us in each major city. Makes sense I guess, but it's hard to find people that can compose a picture without cutting off the head of something in the shot. At least it wasn't us this time.


From there is was back to our hotel to do a slap-dash packing job before catching a taxi to the port. We checked our luggage, and (since I'm the one writing) I carried the rest:


It took a while before our rooms were ready, but it was worth the wait. We have a port-side balcony room, where the views have been great so far.



It wasn't long before we were at sea, drifting towards our first destination: Monte Carlo.





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Location:Barcelona, Spain

Views from the inside

Another day in Valletta, but this time we actually went into the buildings. The most impressive was probably St. John's cathedral which is pretty plain on the outside but decorated with lavish Baroque art on it's interior.






We got an audio tour which told us all about it. Apparently the interior art was added a bit later in celebration of St. John, and the outside was left alone in accordance with the old adage: "if it ain't Baroque... don't fix it."

A lot of the knights of St. John are buried under these giant floor tiles which marks the passing from their human life to their eternal life. Hence the skulls, skeletons and angels holding trumpets.



The ceiling was painted by one Mattia Preti, born in 1613, and heavily influenced by Caravaggio. There was a lot of art by Caravaggio himself, the most important of which depicts the beheading of John the Baptiste, but alas, no photography was aloud in those rooms.

After the cathedral we hit up the armory for supplies. Actually we hit up a cafe for a drink and went to the armory for fun.


Another audio tour guided us through the halls, but it wasn't as interesting as the cathedral.


For lunch we went to TripAdvisor-recommended Ambrosia, which did not disappoint. Ming had the rabbit which is supposedly another Maltese specialty.


After that it was a leisurely walk home before catching a cab to the airport to start our cruise from Barcelona.

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Merchants street

Ming got in safely and we decided to head into town lest she be too tempted by sleep were we to stay near the hotel. We walked down Valletta's main drag called Merchants street.


I suppose there were a lot of merchants, but they all appeared to be hawking the same junk souvenirs as far as I could tell. There were some more interesting views once we got to the end of the island.





One way to get around is by horse, but Velletta's so small we never felt the need to spring a hooved animal.


We decided to save the building interiors for the next day, so we took a lot of pictures of doorways.






I have a feeling that I'll be posting a number of pictures of old grandiose buildings with interesting history I've forgotten to jot down on this trip.


After our walk we took a bus ride over to St. Julians for dinner at Peppinos. The food was better than the bread or wine. Malta's supposed to be famous for their bread in particular, but I was never a fan of the kind of bread that poses a risk of chipping a tooth, which seems to be their specialty.

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Location:Luqa,Malta

The conference ends and the vacation begins

I've been in Malta for a few days now, but haven't seen much of Valletta yet for a few reasons. First, I was busy with LREC, a conference about language resources for computation. I presented a poster there, but actually what took most of my time was preparing an iPad app for a demo my group will be giving in Taiwan in a couple of weeks. With that out of the way, I'm free to get the vacation started and use the iPad for more recreational purposes, both of which are exciting!

Ming's supposedly on her way from the airport now, and I'm just typing away in the lobby, starting up this blog while I wait. The hotel has a nice view of a harbor. Here's a shot from the balcony off my room:







The weather's been a bit spotty so far, but it's pretty nice at the moment. Not sure what the plan is for the day, but I'll be sure to bring my camera along!

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Location:Tirq L-Assedju L-Kbir,Valletta,Malta

Day 27: Traveling home

The thing about Peruvian airports is: there's always someone trying to take your money. First, they want an airport tax. I guess when you buy your tickets through Orbitz to fly around the U.S. these taxes are included in the prices. Not so when you're flying around Peru. In Peru, you have to stand in long lines to pay your tax before entering the airport.


That's mildly inconvenient. What's worse, though, is that they make you pay $4.28, but refuse to accept US quarters. They give you the change in sols. So if you're headed out of the country, you're stuck with a few worthless sols in your pocket unless you can find something to spend it on at the airport (which I'm sure is their plan).


Then, of course, there's the plastic bag scam. Ming was incredibly careful to ensure that all her liquids and gels were the proper size. Apparently, though, you need to have them in a zip-lock bag. A fancy cloth bag won't do. If you don't comply, you have to ditch your toothpaste. Fortunately for the unsuspecting passenger (who, by the way, can make it all the way to Cusco without complaints), milling around the Cusco security checkpoint are ladies selling individual zip-lock bags... for 2$ each!

Sorry the picture's so blurry, I had to shoot from the hip. Every time I started raising my camera someone came by and said "no pictures, no pictures". Guess they know it's a scam.


But no worries, we made it out of Peru without too much of a hassle. Then back to the states. First New York and on to Tennessee, where we wrap up our Honeymoon with a visit to the Littles.