WHOA lansi

francophile, oenophile, logophile, turophile

Category: Travel Page 3 of 5

Honeymoon 015 \ Venice

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Despite a very late night after Dubrovnik, we managed to get ourselves out of bed early enough on our final cruise day to watch the approach into Venice. It is definitely worth finding a spot on a forward deck for, if you find yourself onboard someday. The port requires all ships use tug boats & at some points it looked like we were going to run them over.

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We met up with some family friends who had boarded early, studied the map for our walk into the city, & got directions to meet up for dinner later one before heading out to explore Venice. We wandered from the terminal to the Ponte Academia, where we shared a pizza & a drink. From there, we continued to San Marco, getting lost in the maze of bridges & dead ends a few times. The city is beautiful though & getting lost seems to be a right of passage there.

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Making our way into Venice

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Gondola Builder

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Ponte Academia

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drinks by the bridge

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venice life

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a man & his flying lion

Piazza San Marco is impressive. The people feeding pigeons grossed me out a bit, but to each his own, I suppose. I’m happy to take photos of it, but I’ll refrain from actually letting them land on me. We eventually made our way to the Rialto Bridge & grabbed another drink (after getting lost a few more times). I loved watching the gondolas & wandering the narrow streets. The boats speed along as if they could brake if need be. It’s incredible to watch.

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Feeding the birds in the square

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So narrow!

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Busy Venice

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View from the Rialto Bridge

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At 8, we found our way to the very hidden restaurant to meet everyone. It only took us two stops to ask for directions & a couple wrong turns.

Dinner was exactly what you’d expect from an Italian meal – incredible hospitality, lots of laughter, simple, delicious food, & all the wine you could ask for. To start things off, the owner put together an amazing set of seafood platter for our table. We all shared clams, calamari, shrimp, & a few unknowns. It was all delicious! For our main course, N & I both chose risotto. By this point, I was quite full though & barely made a dent, which was a shame because it was perfectly creamy & full of seafood. I’m so glad we were able to join everyone in Venice – it was such a wonderful evening & a great way to cap off our cruise.

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One of the many seafood platters

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risotto

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interior of one of the gorgeous hotels

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Last shot of our home for the week, Ventura.

We took a boat back to the ship for our last night on the ship. It was a pretty quiet one since we had to be packed & out of our room pretty early the next day.

Honeymoon 014 \ Dubrovnik

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We woke up to a bit of a gloomy morning in Dubrovnik. I had visited this lovely city a few years before with a girlfriend so I was excited to show N some of my favourite parts. We packed for every type of weather & hopped on the transfer to the old town. By the time we arrived, the sun was out & the day looked promising.

A little disappointed with the weather.

A little disappointed with the weather.

The old city was packed with people. During the week I was there in 2010, I don’t remember it ever being that busy. We must have avoided the area around Pile gate as soon as the ships came in though, since it’s notorious for being that way when the ships come in.

Happy with the weather in town

Happy with the weather in town

Busy Old Town

Busy Old Town

We immediately bought tickets for the fortified city wall and headed up. We only had about four hours in the city so we decided to hit it right away. We weren’t the only ones so things moved pretty slowly. At halfway, we decided to head into the city as the day had gotten quite hot.

We decided to leave my good camera on the ship in Dubrovnik. I already have photos of the city from 2010 so we opted to travel a little lighter & use our phones & my point & shoot.

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Blue waters and colourful rooftops

Blue waters and colourful rooftops

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I love the little glimpses of everyday life you catch from the wall.

I love the little glimpses of everyday life you catch from the wall.

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<3

<3

In much need of a drink, we headed over to Café Buza. This little ramshackle bar is much talked about on the internet, mostly by people who love it. The sunsets are supposed to be amazing (although, I actually never experienced one since we had a fantastic view from our villa in 2010) & it certainly has its fair share of charm. A quick google search should point you in the right direction. If you get lost, follow the other tourists until you get to a hole in the wall (buza means hole, apparently) & you’re there.

I go to Cafe Buza for the cliff jumping, & that’s what I’d personally recommend. Don’t expect to find locals here. Or cheap beer. This place is definitely for tourists. I still think it’s fun, but if that’s not your jam, there are plenty of great places in the area that should fit the bill.

We spent our afternoon soaking up vitamin D, drinking beers, & jumping into the crystal clear waters of the Adriatic. It doesn’t get much better than that!

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Refreshing

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Buza Bar!

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Working on my tan lines

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Cliff Jumpers

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Once we’d had our fill of cliff jumping, we headed back inside the walls for some lunch. We grabbed a spot on a patio in a square for some seafood & quid ink risotto. Delicious! We rounded out our day wandering the narrow streets & harbour, grabbing some ice cream along the way.

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Square & Market

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If you can manage to stand on this, you’re apparently trustworthy.

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It’s surprisingly difficult.

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The afternoon seemed to fly by & before long, it was time to head back to the ship. We grabbed a couple beers and found on spot on deck 17 for the great British Sailaway. It looked like a storm was brewing on the horizon, but we managed to skirt the storm. We sang, danced, & pretended we were British, as we sailed along the beautiful Croatian coastline. The Adriatic is just stunning. Croatia’s islands are definitely on my list of places I would like to visit some day.

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Preparing to say goodbye to beautiful Croatia.

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I could stay a while longer…

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Flags for sailaway!

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Getting ready to bust out some dance moves.

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I think you can guess the song based on this dance….

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Yay Britain!

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Storm in the distance

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Gorgeous Islands

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We continued the party that night at Havana nightclub, dancing until they turned the lights on & kicked us out.

Photography

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New Camera & Loaner Lenses

I’ve always loved taking photos. I’ve used almost every popular photo sharing website at some point – Photobucket, Facebook, Flickr, tumblr, Instagram…I love sharing memories with family & friends, creating scrapbooks & photo albums, & remembering special moments.

Six years ago, I got my first DSLR camera: a Nikon D60. My parents treated me to a photography course for my birthday that year, where I learned the (very) basics. It was great!

That little Nikon has served me well. It’s been with me on most road trips as well as down to Mexico & on our European Honeymoon. & I’ve taken some great photos with it. It also taught me about the kind of lenses & photography that I truly enjoy. The only lens I’ve ever bought is a NIKKOR 35mm f/1.8G Lens. I love this lens. It’s great in low light & provides an undistorted angle of view, similar to what your eye sees. My D60 has a cropped sensor so it translates to about a normal 50 mm focal length. 50 mm is a fantastic everyday focal length, if you ask me. (I highly recommend this lens if you have a Nikon that uses DX lenses – good quality for a reasonable price). I used this camera & lens combination pretty happily for 4 years before I started to notice some things.

First of all, I found myself switching back to my kit lens (an underwhelming 18-55 mm f3.5-5.6G lens) when we travelled or if I was trying to get a photo of N & I together. & I really didn’t like having to switch back. I’m a huge advocate of prime lenses because the quality is so much better (especially if your budget is smaller). The style of photography I most enjoy doesn’t require a huge zoom lens anyway. Personal preference.

The second issue I started running into with my D60 was the in-camera focusing. If I was ever using autofocus, it had a really hard time, & switching to manual wasn’t giving me the best results either.

So I was feeling like it was time for a new camera. I started researching & was finding that a lot of the lenses I would be interested in were only available for a full frame camera. Full frame cameras are still, sadly, out of my price range (& beyond my skill level). I wanted something a little more compact, but with more lens options than my current set up. That’s when mirrorless cameras caught my attention. I contacted my uncle to ask for some advice (who is extremely knowledgeable about cameras & lenses). He responded quickly & was a wealth of information so I felt confident in my decision. He even offered to send me a few lenses to play with once I got my camera.

The following week, I headed down to The Camera Store & purchased a Sony a6000. Two lenses were already on their way, care of my Uncle. I’ve been playing around with this new camera for about a month now & couldn’t be happier with my purchase. I’ve mostly been using the two lenses he sent me, both of which are fully manual, so it’s been a pretty big learning curve. Having to slow down my picture-taking & think more is a bit of a blessing though.

I’m especially loving the 28mm f2.8 lens he sent. He included a Speedbooster adapter (both lenses are Canon fd mounts) so it converts to a 30 mm f2.0. I absolutely love it! I think 35 mm is my favourite focal length, so it’s getting quite close to that.

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Canon 50 mm fd 1.4 with regular adapter

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Canon 28 mm fd 2.8 with Metabones Speedbooster Adapter

Two of the coolest features on the A6000 are the magnifier & focus assist colours. While I used to struggle to get a sharp image with my D60 when focusing manually, I’m finding these two features alleviate this issue.

I’m really looking forward to playing around more. I’ll definitely be sad to send these lenses back to Toronto, but I’ve got my eye on a Sigma 19mm f.28 (which would convert to about a 29 mm focal length).

Enough nerding out about my new toy though. Here are a few actual photos that I’ve taken since my purchase. (I’m still very much in learning mode here!)

Staub Asparagus

I have a strange love for photos of asparagus

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Dad’s ravioli

marantz

our marantz receiver

campfire

campfire

campfire

pt 2

YYC

YYC

YYCFT

Food Truck Frenzy

brisket

Brisket

Proof

PR%F

Parc

Parc Brasserie Appies

lover

<3

Lukes

Lukes & the Langevin

simmons

Simmons Building

simmons

take 2

Village Ice Cream

Village Salted Caramel

tomato sauce

San Marzano

assembly

Assembly Required

pizza

‘za

L

L

Sled Island

Sled Island Block Party

Owen Pallett

Owen Pallett

Cannibale

Cannibale

Honeymoon 13 \ Sea Day Two

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On our second Sea Day, we woke up to another gorgeous day. We had a tour of the bridge scheduled in the morning, but we grabbed a couple reasonably located chairs beforehand. I swear people must get up at the crack of dawn to reserve chairs!

The bridge tour was incredible, & pretty intimate. There were only 6 of us so we got to ask as many questions as we could think of, & take some photos. You get such a different perspective from up there. I still can’t get over how large Ventura is.

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Bridge Tour: steering wheel isn’t quite what you’d imagine…

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VIew of Ventura from the bridge – she’s huge!

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Ready to drive?

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Blurry bell ringing

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All the different flags

We spent the rest of the day relaxing by the main pool. This was definitely my favourite place to be since it’s where everything happens (& I thought the pool was the best). We even spent some time on the deck overlooking the pool drinking pimms. How British!

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Always makes this face for the first photo. Attractive.

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Clearly the best way to enjoy your Pimms

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That evening was another formal evening so we got dressed up again. We were having dinner at East, one of the restaurants with a surcharge, with our family friend, Kathy. We met at her office & got a quick tour of the galley. As with everything else onboard, the space is so clean & organized. The kitchen pumps out 1300 meals in 40 minutes. Crazy!

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Formal Dress

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Looking classy in his wedding suit

Michelin-starred chef Atul Kochhar has created a beautiful menu at East. N & I shared their taster appies – the Chiang Mai ribs were by far my favourite & overshadowed my memory of the others (a good reason to take food photos? haha).

For our main course, we both opted for Atul’s Signature plate, which included Khmer king prawns, Thai green chicken curry, & lamb korma. Kathy suggested an Indian wine to go with our meal. I had no idea what to expect from an Indian wine. Truthfully, I had no idea India produced wine so I was pleasantly surprised with a great-tasting find. I finished things off with a impressive desert. They brought what looked like a simple chocolate ball, but as they poured warm chocolate over, it melted to reveal…well, more chocolate. Quite the impressive presentation! All in all, a beautiful meal with great company. & while the food in the dining room is also fantastic (especially on formal nights), I have no regrets about branching out. We were impressed with both restaurants with surcharges that we tried so I’d recommend checking at least one of them out (or at least the wine list at the Glass House – it’s the best on the ship!).

We wrapped up dinner just in time for that evenings’ show – Reel2Reel – followed by drinks at the Metropolis bar at the back of the ship. The classiest bar on the ship, they show different skylines every night, & you’ll mostly find people sipping cocktails & enjoying the live music.

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Obligatory Atrium Photo

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Atrium dance

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<3

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Metropolis Bar Selfie

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End of the night elevator selfie

After another great day onboard, we packed it in pretty early in preparation for our next day in port. On to Dubrovnik!

Holidays at the Lake

As I was packing to spend May Long weekend at the lake, I realized that I still hadn’t posted anything from my last two trips out there. We spent both Christmas & Easter with my family out at the lake & I took a few photos. I love spending time out there! Most of the weekend consisted of cooking & eating, but I captured a few moments from Christmas morning too. So here we go, a big old fashioned holiday photo dump!

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N & his giant stocking

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It’s not Christmas without a little sparkle

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the freshest of figs

Dad decided to roast a couple ducks, which turned out incredible. You also get the added benefit of duck fat when you cook duck, which we proceeded to cook our potatoes in for the rest of the weekend. If you’ve never had potatoes fried in duck fat, I strongly suggest you get out there & try it.

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Two sitting ducks

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It turns out that carving a duck is completely different from carving a chicken, so unfortunately (ha!), we’re going to have to practice. More duck, please!

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The next morning, I took a turn in the kitchen. I’d made a paleo banana bread the week before, so I decided to make banana bread french toast. Seems impressive, but it’s actually a very simple breakfast. My favourite kind of cooking.

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I was also in charge of dinner on Saturday night. We didn’t have much planned that day so I decided to go with a slow braise. The leisurely pace of the prep for this type of meal is perfect for a quiet day at the lake.

I picked up a pork shoulder from my favourite butcher in Calgary, Bon Ton Meat Market. They’re a bit out of the way for us in their new location, but I know I can always trust them for specialty cuts (or any large roast, bone in). We also brought our extra large Staub out of storage at N’s parents. (We’re storing a lot of wedding gifts at both of our parents’ houses until we find a house.) I used that for this roast, since it was larger. I chose this Martha Stewart recipe,  & the only thing I’d have done differently is trust my gut on the amount of liquid. It got a little low since my Staub is so large. It still turned out delicious. Caramelized onions & bacon…need I say more? (I also thought it’d be funny to live tweet the process, so if you’re interested the hashtag was #deBoersmakedinner.)

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Look at that awesome sear!

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The next time we were up at the lake was for Easter. I literally only took food photos with my DSLR, although we did more than just eat. We also discovered a new ATV route, got a couple good runs in, & played some games.

I seem to have great timing for when my parents chose to open some of the wines from their trip to France in 2006. They brought back some beauties & this Volnay Clos des Chênes was no exception! They also catered to me & served lamb again this year. I always joke that I don’t like ham, which isn’t entirely true. I love bacon & prosciutto, & I’d never turn down a slice of Iberico Ham. When you put a glazed ham up against lamb though, lamb wins every time for me. (& don’t talk to me about turkey at Easter. No.)

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Lamb > Ham, any day.

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So there you have it – all caught up on my holidays at the lake, always a very food-centric time for us. I assume if you’re reading this blog, you’re into that type of thing.

With N away for work right now, I’m bringing a couple girlfriends to the lake this weekend. There’s been talk of dad’s famous pizza, which should make it a little more difficult to focus through the final workday!

Honeymoon 12 \ Naples

If you don’t travel mostly for the sake of experiencing another culture’s take on food, then this is probably going to sound pretty bizarre to you. When we decided to go on a cruise as part of our honeymoon, there were two options: one that included Naples, & one that did not. While this grungy port town with a bit of a reputation certainly isn’t on everyone’s list of places to visit, it placed high on ours. You may be scratching your head on that one, like many of our fellow passengers, so let me explain: Naples is the birthplace of pizza.

The breathtaking Amalfi coast, a short train ride away, tempted us for less than five seconds as we watched the rest of Ventura’s passengers offload. We had an important mission to complete: eat at L’Antica Pizzeria da Michele. We’d gotten general directions for this famous pizzeria, but stopped at the tourist office for a map & some more specific instruction. They weren’t sure on the exact address, but we set off in the general direction with our trusty map. At this point, we’d spent most of our time either in tourist centres or cities I knew very well, so despite knowing Naples was a little rough around the edges, it was still a bit of a shock to find ourselves in a much grimier neighbourhood than we were used to.

Without an exact address or the ability to google the location, we quickly realized we had no idea where to go. The only thing we knew was that we shouldn’t go past the train station. I quickly initiated to my usual backup plan when lost in a foreign country: find a hotel & ask for directions. The friendly maitre d’ showed us the exact location (just around the corner) on our map & we were back on our way. We’d heard that it was important to get there before noon, so we’d headed straight there from the ship, arriving just after 11.

If we hadn’t known about Pizzeria da Michele, we likely would have walked passed this unassuming little spot. It looks like any other local pizzeria in Italy. You won’t find a huge staff here either. In addition to a few servers & the cashier, there were two men running the actual pizza-making operation – one in charge of dough & assembly, another manning the brick oven. They respect Grandfather Michele’s memory to this day, serving the two classic types of Neapolitan pizza: Margherita or Bianca.

Since we were quite early, we snagged a table in the main room with a view of the whole process. I couldn’t have hand-picked a better vantage point. Their small menu makes ordering a snap. We each chose our own regular-sized Margherita pizzas, as well as a couple beers & a large bottled water. As we waited for our meal, we took in our surroundings. The walls are dotted with photos of celebrities & signs explaining the origins of this style of pie. The staff walked around, joking with regulars or shouting jokingly at each other in Italian (the Italian gesturing was on point!). We could only guess what they were saying,  but we thoroughly enjoyed letting our imaginations run wild. The older gentleman rolling out dough was particularly animated. He was by far our favourite! (Rumour has it, he’s one of Michele’s four sons.)

Our pizzas arrived quickly, hot from the oven. The smell was out of this world & neither of us could wait to dive in. I’m sure you can guess how this experience was (I mean, I just wrote a four paragraph introduction). It was, without a shadow of a doubt, the best pizza I have ever eaten.

In true Italian fashion, the simplicity of the fresh ingredients blend to create the perfect balance of flavours. Buffalo mozzarella, san marzano tomatoes, the freshest basil, & a perfect dough: it’s an unreal combination. You couldn’t wipe the happy grin off my face. While I love prosciutto or creative toppings on my pizza just as much as anyone else, this pizza is on another level. It doesn’t need those extra toppings to shine. Trust me on this one. Go to Naples. Eat the pizza at da Michele. Thank me (& all of those who have come before me) later.

-Break for drool-worthy pizza photos (& a snap with my new buddy!)-
Our great server
Starting to get busy as we head out

L’Antica Pizzeria da Michele could easily attach a hefty price tag to their fare, but I think our bill came in under twenty euros. A true steal, especially given the incredible quality. I wish I could have taken some back to the ship for later, but I’m not sure it would have held up that well in my purse all afternoon.

Honestly, we had no idea what else to see in Naples afterwards. We had a map & a lot of free time though, so we set out. (This blog is called Au fil de mes balades for good reason. I love exploring a new city without any real destination!) We started in the old quarter, with its crumbling infrastructure & graffiti everywhere. We were still getting used to seeing these incredible historic sights in such disrepair in comparison to other cities we’d visited. It was an entirely different experience from the rest of our trip & I was glad to see it. We took a break in a café at the base of the funicular, grabbing a cappuccino & catching up on Instagram, before heading up to the castle at the top. We decided to tour the castle (I know, I’m shocked too. There wasn’t any food inside either), & got caught in a rain storm during our visit. We waited it out with the other tourists in every alcove we could find until we got bored & decided to just brave the elements.

Makeshift Umbrella

Instead of taking the funicular back down, we opted to walk. This resulted in many wrong turns & us getting completely lost. In the process, we stumbled upon many beautiful hidden corners & got a peak into everyday life on the hill. It reminded me of Croix Rousse in Lyon in that respect. We ran into more than our fair share of dead ends, & there were definitely times when we felt like we’d never find out way back to the port, but we also saw a side of Naples we would have completely missed if we had simply taken the funicular back down. Vacations allow for many luxuries, namely time, so we were in no rush to find our way. Instead, we took advantage & reveled in the unusual opportunity of not having to worry that you’re a little bit lost.

Storm rolling in
It began to thunder & lightning as we were almost back at the ship. We’d been watching the storm roll in, but we still managed to get completely soaked as we tried to make it back. Neither of us were prepared for rain so we threw on our bathing suits & jumped in the onboard hot tub to warm up. Once the chill wore off, we got cozy in our slippers & robes to watch the sailways from our balcony. We were first rewarded with a beautiful rainbow over the city followed by a gorgeous sunset. Naples was certainly a memorable day!

Honeymoon 11 \ Sea Day One

Our first sea day, we really took advantage of the resort-feel of the ship. We spent a slow morning on our balcony enjoying coffee & breakfast, as had already become a routine for us. There was nothing but water for miles in every direction so even though we were technically surrounded by a few thousand people, it felt pretty secluded.

Eventually we decided to get moving for the day. Changing into bathing suits, we went in search of some lounge chairs near one of the numerous pools. Little did we know, these chairs are highly coveted. Any chair within view of a pool had been claimed early that morning. Rookie mistake. Luckily we arrived to the main pool just in time to watch the crew do the ice bucket challenge. We’d figure out our sun tanning situation later.

Our cabin
Main Pool
Ice Bucket Challenge
Husband vs Wife

The different ships in the P&O line were all raising money for their respective charities & decided to use the Ice Bucket Challenge to help raise funds. Department after department went up for their turn to be doused in icy water. Having just done the challenge ourselves the day after our wedding, we enjoyed it a little more as spectators. Judging from their reactions, I think their water may have been a bit colder than ours though.

Since we couldn’t find prime lounge chairs around the pool, we decided to grab a table near one of the bars. It seemed like a good time for some Pims anyway & it was quickly turning into the perfect pool day. Neither of us had much Pims before – turns out it goes down pretty easy, so we decided to switch to beer after our pitcher quickly disappeared.

The main pool had a pretty good set up, with a very shallow outer section before dropping off significantly. It was perfect for cooling off with a drink in the summer heat so we took full advantage of the opportunity to relax, sun tan, & keep cool. It was the first day of true relaxation since our wedding so we were understandably excited.

Drinks by the pool
Poolside beers
When we’d had our fill of the pool, we headed back to our balcony for a glass of wine before our massage. We don’t generally splurge unless it’s on food, drinks, & travel so I’d included a massage as a gift option on our honeyfund account. Thanks to a few generous friends, we were able to take advantage of the onboard spa & book a couples’ hot stone massage. I’ve had a few sports massages, but this was my first experience with a relaxing massage. I really enjoyed it (& in true Alanna fashion, I fell asleep at the end. I think I may have even started snoring. Signs of a truly relaxing day?).
Balcony Wine Time
Classy
Post Massage Sunset

That evening was the formal dinner & Captain’s Reception so we quickly got dressed in our best & headed over to the atrium. There were a few drinks followed by a speech & introductions of the senior staff by the captain. N had worn his suit from our wedding & I wore a sparkly little black dress. Leaving our cabin, we thought we were quite dressed up, but N was one of the few men not wearing a tux. Some of the ladies were even in ball gowns! At dinner, we sat with a group of six Scottish ladies. They were hilarious & completely enamoured with N (especially as he was the only male at the table!). They were probably my favourite seating assignment of the whole cruise!

Captain’s Reception
End of the night Formal wear

Honeymoon 10 \ Florence

The first morning on the ship, we woke up to a knock on our door. We’d pre-ordered room service the night before to make our early morning transfer a little more relaxed. While the meal was nothing to write home about, the luxury of enjoying breakfast in a comfy robe & slippers on your personal balcony certainly was. It became our favourite way to start the day!

Our transfer left Livorno for Florence at 8:45am. We opted for a self-guided day in the city so on the bus we received a map & some additional details on navigating the city including where to eat & what to do. It was the perfect choice for us – we got a few tips for our day, ample time to nap, & the freedom to wander at our own pace.

Florence is really compact. It doesn’t take much more than 10 minutes to walk between sights so it makes for a pretty easy day. We saw most of the sights – Ponte Vecchio, Piazza della Signoria (filled with many important statues including a replica of the David), the Galleria dell’Accademia, & the Duomo – within an hour. There were throngs of people everywhere we turned. I still can’t get over how busy it was.

People everywhere!
Ponte Vecchio
Lock everywhere
On the Ponte Vecchio

Since we were a bit limited on time, we hadn’t planned on visiting any museums. I overdid the museums on my first trip to Europe (as did N) so now I prefer to wander – eating, drinking, people watching, & maybe exploring a church, here & there. We’d expected our wandering to take a bit longer so when it didn’t we decided it was worth waiting in line to climb the Duomo’s cupola. The line was quite long so it took us over an hour to even get to the start. We were rewarded with incredible architecture from the minute we stepped inside & breathtaking panoramas from the top.

Florence’s Duomo is quite impressive
The climb is slow & crowded
Maxi dresses & narrow staircases don’t really mix

By the time we left Cathedral Square, we were ravenous from both the intense climb & the later hour. We picked a little restaurant with a terrace for a late lunch. Once again, the pasta was incredible – carbonera for me this time, followed by a shared calabrese pizza. Likely more food than two people needed, but we figured we deserved the reward. & it was our honeymoon – a phrase we repeated many times throughout our trip. You only get married once, right?!

After lunch, we wandered around looking for some wine to take back to the ship. We’d heard we might not be able to bring any back onboard, so we chose a cheap bottle just in case. This isn’t exactly a feat in Europe, but we found it especially easy in Italy. It turned out to be a non-issue for us so we enjoyed a couple of drinks on our balcony as the ship left port. This became another staple in our cruise. I’m so glad we we gifted the upgrade to a cabin with a balcony. It really made our first cruise experience  incredible.

The best way to enjoy a class of wine

That evening, we met our family friend for a glass of wine at the Glass House, one of the onboard restaurant. She gave us some tips for making the most of our week onboard & we made a plan to do dinner at another of the ships restaurants later that week called East. It was really great to catch up with her & get tips from such an expert.

That night we decided to forgo the formal dining room & try the Glass House instead. There is a small charge for menu items there, but it’s nominal & the food is great. I’d definitely recommend checking out some of the options outside the main dining room if you’re ever cruising.

Quality photography c/o my iPhone 4s

We had a sea day the next day so we decided to end our night at the ship’s club, Havana. There, we proceeded to repeatedly clear the dance floor with our country music requests. Sounds like us.

Honeymoon 009 \ Portofino & Cruising

We woke up the next morning to a wonderful breakfast prepared by our Genoese host before heading off to meet our family friend at the cruise ship terminal. She got us all checked in & even took our bags so we could head out for the day unencumbered.

We’d gotten a recommendation to take the train to Santa Margherita & then hop on the boat or bus to Portofino – a small, but well-known Italian fishing village. We bought our tickets from one of the machines in the Genoa Piazza Principe Station for under 10 euros. The only confusing part was finding the right destination. Look for S. Margherita Ligure & a travel time of about 45 minutes. The trains seem to run often that time of year, so we didn’t need to book in advance.

Santa Margherita

The weather was perfect when we arrived in Santa Margherita so we opted to take the ferry over the bus. It would also give us the opportunity to enjoy the coastline we’d heard so much about. As a boat lover, I can’t imagine a more perfect introduction to the beauty of Liguria.

If you’re looking for the cheaper option, the bus is a better choice. Seeing as only we only paid 10 euros round-trip each for the boat, it wasn’t a huge splurge either. We had perfect weather too – all blue skies & calm waters. If you’re planning on using the ferry service, this is their handy website. Or you can do like we did & just show up in Santa Margherita & buy a ticket for the next boat. We weren’t travelling at peak time, but we had no trouble.

As our boat pulled into the narrow harbour in Portofino, the reasons for its popularity became obvious. Crystal clear water, colourful homes, & a slower pace make this little village a breathtaking & relaxing stop. We spent the day wandered the surrounding hilly paths, checking out the castle, church, & lighthouse before sitting down to lunch in the busy harbour.

We hadn’t done any research about where to eat so we picked a spot a bit further from the water & hoped for the best. Luckily, Trattoria Tripoli was a pleasant surprise. We went for a local beer (recommended by our waiter) followed by a clam spaghetti for N & the regional pesto & potato pasta for me. I’d read about the pesto in the region & jumped at the first opportunity to try it. I have no regrets.

Italians have this incredible ability to take the simplest ingredients & turn them into something unforgettable. Its origins are in this region, so while I expected it to be great, I didn’t expect it to blow me away. I’ve made pesto many times, but I have never tasted a pesto with such depth of flavour. I truly didn’t think pesto could taste like that. The simple fact that I don’t love pasta when I’m at home, but ate it daily in Italy certainly speaks to the quality of the food in this country & the level of care that goes into its preparation.

I could write a novel on how much I enjoyed everything we put in our mouths in every city we visited in Italy, but just take my word for it & go. Eat! I promise it’s worth it.

I’m drooling over this pesto

After lunch we wandered a little more, hiking a steep road to take it some more of the incredible views, before catching a boat back to Santa Margherita. Trains come through the area pretty often that time of year so, once again, we easily caught one back to Genoa.

Our ship: Ventura!
It was our first time on a cruise so we were pretty in awe of everything from the moment we boarded. We found out which cabin we were in & arrived to our find out luggage had been delivered & we’d been gifted a bottle of prosecco from our family friend. It was such a lovely surprise!

My parents had also upgraded us to a cabin with a balcony as a wedding gift. They insisted that we would want it & after our week onboard, I couldn’t agree more. I’d highly recommend the splurge to anyone. We used ours every day.

As our ship prepared to leave, we popped the prosecco & got comfortable in our chairs. We sat outside watching the shore fade into the distance, sipping on prosecco, & enjoying the perfect evening.

Our first meal was in the main dining room. Each meal included three courses & we took advantage of cheese for dessert every night, ordering Branston Pickle to go with it, of course. Every since my mom introduced us to Branston Pickle with Stilton Blue Cheese, we’ve been kind of obsessed. (& when you’re on a British Cruise, why not take advantage!)

Branston Pickle & Cheese

The rest of the evening was spent exploring the ship. It was huge! You can do pretty much anything from relaxing with a drink to golfing or playing a game of basketball. It’s amazing! I think we only really figured out where everything was halfway through our week onboard.

It was nice to get a feel for the ship, but we made sure to get to bed pretty early. We had scheduled an early transfer to Florence so we wanted to get a good night’s rest.

Honeymoon 008 \ Genoa

When I first started planning our honeymoon, I figured we’d fly from Lyon to Genoa for the start of our cruise. As I did more research, however, I was pleased to discover that the train would actually be quicker. I am a big proponent of train travel. I originally assumed we could hop on a flight to Genoa pretty easily, but all routes required a stopover in Zurich or Frankfurt, forcing a major detour. So instead we opted to spend the day on the train. Not only would it be cheaper, we’d arrive earlier & the train station would be a few metro stops away from our airbnb rental in the historic district. Our train would leave Lyon a little bit earlier, but since we wouldn’t have to travel out to the airport, we’d actually leave our rental later. Perfect!

View from the train

Our train made a couple of stops along the way, first in Chambéry & then in Turin. We had a couple hours in Turin & when we arrived at Turin Porta Susa, I thought we were in for a pretty boring stopover. There weren’t a whole lot of amenities going on. I pulled out our tickets to double check the time we were leaving at & quickly realized we were supposed to leave from Turin Porta Nuova. They’d sold us tickets that had a different departure station than the one we’d arrived in. I swear Italian train travel is always an adventure! We quickly purchased tickets from a surly ticket agent & ran to catch our new train, only to get kicked off due to technically difficulties. A friendly university student pointed us towards the metro – it turns out we could have done this all along. Thanks, Mr Ticket Agent.

Our host in Genoa had given us very simple instructions to his apartment in the centre. We had arranged to meet him when he got off work, but arrived a bit early so we grabbed a drink in the shadow of the cathedral around the corner from his place.

Drinks in the square by the Cathedrale

Maurizio welcomed us into his beautiful attic apartment & gave us suggestions for how to spend our evening. He pointed out the important sights, his favourite restaurants, & the best gelato on a map. We didn’t have long so he made sure to give us a manageable list, which we definitely appreciated. This kind of hospitality is what truly makes airbnb my new favourite service.

We set out for the old quarter, map in hand. Luckily, this historic area is quite compact & it only took us about 10 minutes to get there. The buildings here are so different from those in France. With mostly flat facades, they’ve painted columns & art to mimic different types of architecture. We both found it quite beautiful. Maurizio had suggested a gelato shop up the hill. He told us it was his favourite place to get get granita. We opted for gelato & happened to accidentally time it perfectly for the sunset. The little shop is located on the spianata Castelletto, overlooking the port city. You can take the funicular up from the old district or find your way up the maze of stairs, like we did.

We decided to have dinner in another spot recommended by our host. Conveniently located around the corner from our apartment, Cantine Squarafico is a romantic little spot with a great menu, helpful & friendly staff, & a wonderful atmosphere in an underground setting. Our server spoke perfect english & recommended a beautiful local wine. It was exactly what we were looking for & started things off on the right foot. It doubles as a wine store, so if you’re not looking for dinner, I’d recommend stopping in to take a look at their wine selection. If you do decide to eat here, go for the lobster taglioni. It was by far our favourite part of the meal – we’d decided to share our appetizers & found ourselves fighting for more lobster. We could have ordered one each.

We capped off the evening with a wander through the summer market in the Porto Antico and a beer on our spectacular rooftop terrace. They had built a little terrace right into the tile rooftop. Our host brought us some lanterns & we sat at the little table, enjoying our beer & the impressive view. Most of the buildings are quite short so we had an unobstructed view of our surroundings, including the nearby port & Cathedral next door. It was gorgeous.

Evening Light
Interesting restaurant in the Old Port
Our terrace in daylight
& the view at night

I didn’t have any expectations for Genoa so it was a pleasant surprise to find we enjoyed our short time there so much. The friendly people, beautiful sights, & incredible food make it a very worthwhile destination. I wouldn’t hesitate to book another few days to explore a little further.

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