The picture you've all been waiting for...

Another day at sea. I somehow mustered up the courage to bust out with my bikini today and try to tan my white ass…well more like my arms and legs. I’m kind of shy about it. I wasn’t courageous enough to be full blown in my bikini so I would only remove my shirt or my jeans, but not both at once. Not only that, but I couldn’t stand up to put things on and off because I thought it would attract too much attention, so I would lay on the lounge chair and slide it off and on. I know, I’m a nerd.

Not much going on today other than laying out and doing some reading. Right before dinner we headed up to the upper decks to observe the scenery. We were traveling through the Strait of Gibraltar where Africa is right on one side and Europe is on the other. Cool. As we were traveling up in the elevator, guess who would happen to pop in with us for the ride up…RODNEY!!! Oh my goodness I was so excited! The doors were about to close and I was looking down at my feet and all of a sudden this hand catches it to keep it open and in he and his wife waltz. Jeff and I just both smiled at each other. I was so stoked about it that I almost couldn’t muster out any words…its like running into a celebrity. Finally I choked out, “Are you guys enjoying your day?” And he just looked at me and giggled. Oh, Rodney. We had a moment…and then he was gone again. We did run into him again later at sunset, and yes, I was able to get a picture of him for you guys. You’ve waited so long, here it is…

Here he is, ladies and gentlemen, Rodney Asianfield. Do you see why he always brings a smile to our face!

Jeff laughs everytime he sees this sign. He leaned over to me the other day and said, "I think that lifesaver has a really good idea."
Today's weather. Beautiful skies.
This was the sunrise this morning. I would love to say how beautiful it was, but Jeff actually took this. I was still asleep. 

Gettin back to my roots...portugese style

So, I apologize if I have gotten really behind on my blogging. My stomach wasn’t feeling well for a few days and both of us have just been relaxing and enjoying the scenery on the cruise so much. I have dedicated the next few hours to updating. So here we go.

Today we are in my grandfather’s native land of Portugal, Lisbon to be exact. Nothing planned today, just to go to shore and play it by ear. Our shuttle dropped us off in the middle of town. From there, we hopped on a hop on & off open bus tour that took us all over Lisbon. We drove around the historical sites, the Oceanside, and the riches of Lisbon.

After the tour ended, we decided to walk around town where all the shops and streeet vendors were. Nice little alleyways that have a very Mexico-esque feel to it. After being offered hashish about a dozen times, Jeff and I finally settled into a nice little Italian café in the middle of the market. (I know, right. We got to Portugal and get Italian food. None of the other looked appealing and we were getting hungry. Don’t judge.) We ordered beer and our waiter spoke very little English so he asked if we wanted a half or a full. I ordered a “half” of beer and Jeff, assuming a half was small, ordered the full. Our first clue should have been when the waitered made a sort of frat boy giggle and walked away. Five minutes later he returns with my half liter and Jeff’s full liter. He sets the beer down, giggles again, and walks away. This beer was huge. It looked like a whole keg. He managed to finish it quicker than I finished my half, though. The lunch turned out to be okay. We split a pizza that turned out to be really salty because of the pound of Canadian bacon they put on it. Lucky we had a liter and a half of beer to wash it down. Halfway through lunch this group from Alabama pulled some tables together right next to us. We got to chatting with them for a while. Really nice people. Very funny. Very southern. They found out we were newlyweds on our honeymoon and forced us to let them buy our lunch, which was extremely nice of them. We parted ways and made our way back down the market.

There were a couple of guys painting in the alleyway and selling their painting. We thought one might be a nice addition to our new apartment so we bought a small one that outlines the coast of Portugal in blue. Very pretty. May or may not be authentic because we walked a block further and found 5 other vendors with very similar paintings, but that’s beside the point. After walking back through the market, we made our way back to the ship for some R & R. Upon sailing out we made our way to the upper decks. There is this bridge that we sail under when we dock and leave port that, when you look at it, you think, “There is absolutely no way we are going to fit under.” So we stood on the upper decks and up until the last minute when we pass under, you honestly think you’re going to run into the bridge. The cruise director said we clear it by only like a couple of feet. Crazy.

Not much for the rest of the night. Some dinner, some moonlight strolls, and then off to bed.

Still no Rodney…

This beer is bigger than his head. Going...

Gone...
This is the market avenue that we walked down. I love this shot. In between the arch is this beautiful old statue.
See. It doesn't look like we'll fit. But we did.
This is the arch above from the outside of the marketplace. This is where we got dropped off. 
Nice shot of the city of Lisbon, Portugal. 
A cathedral that we passed by while on the bus.
Ha! This was a kid in the marketplace playing his accordion. He managed to train his chihuahua to hold the basket for money in his mouth. So cute.
This is how the policia roll. Pretty awesome.

Holy Ship!

Not much to share about today. Just another relaxing day at sea. I am actually not feeling well, so I plan on relaxing a whole lot. I am going through withdrawals, however, as I haven’t seen Rodney in almost 3 days. Maybe today will be my lucky day. Until then, I know you all have been dying to see pictures of what the ship is like, so here you go...

View from the back, where the waterslide and mini golf course are.

Oh, this is Frenchy, the guy I'm always telling you about that has bad body odor and makes out with his transvestite girlfriend all the time. The first day of the cruise I totally called it and said, "Jeff, I bet you $20 he has a speedo." Sure enough...
Jeff, honoring his dad's tradition at the dinner table.
The view of the back of the ship at night. To both sides of the pool are 2 hot tubs that are open till midnight, which is really relaxing to do at night while we're cruising. So peaceful, until you end up in the hot tub with swingers or hillbillies. Then its just awkward.
The ship from the side view.
The casino. We entered a blackjack tournament...and lost.
The lounge-in theater with the sun roof open and the waterslide. On the upper deck, off to both sides there are also 2 hot tubs up there which are fun to sit in while watching a movie. This is the best deck for people watching, we've found.

Hola from Espana.

Sad to say that we get NO sports whatsoever on the ship, which is probably a good thing. However, we did miss the Ducks beating Purdue in 2nd overtime, as well as USC stomping all over Ohio State.

Well, we were up and off to Vigo, Spain today. Since town is right near port, we decided to bypass a guided excursion and just went out on our own. It is a Sunday here, so much of Vigo is closed, which is actually kind of nice. It’s a very peaceful town, unlike all the others that we have been to so far that are extremely busy.

Walking around Vigo, it’s a very quaint city with beautiful old brick buildings. Very quiet, though. There’s not much to see or do in town but to walk around and enjoy the scenery. We started walking along one of the side streets towards this old run-down building that we saw from a distance. It appeared to be a worn down factory, but I’m not entirely sure. It was neat. Across the street was this big cinder cross mounted in the middle of a green hillside. There were steps going all up with people trekking back and forth. Out of sheer curiousity, I forced Jeff to hike up the hill with me—I literally had to pay him 20 euro to quit complaining about the hike and keep going. Finally, after 20 minutes of him reassuring me “There’s nothing up here”, we hit the top and came across some sort of historical ruins. We had no guide and there were no posts up to tell of the history so we don’t know what it was, but it was beautiful—not to mention the hike up was gorgeous. It looks like some sort of fortress or small castle that sits atop the highest hill in the city and overlooks it. Took some amazing pictures to share. Overall, the few hours spent in Vigo were nice. It was a beautiful and peaceful city, despite the abundance of graffiti along the buildings and historical sites.

With not much else to see or do in Vigo on a Sunday, we headed back to the boat for some much needed rest and relaxation.

Yeah, so here is our ship. It's kind of small and modest. 

This was the view from the top of the hill. The building there is part of the castle/fortress that was at the top. Amazing.
So I could not stop laughing at this. We walked around a corner and I just laughed my head off. Then I took a picture. Then I took a picture with it. Jeff suggested that I might have been desecrating some royal person's tomb. I like to think we bonded.
Jeff enjoying a beer at the top of the hill. 
The scenery on our way back to the boat.
The cathedral in Vigo, Spain. This was the first building we came across on our way into town.
Jeff's favorite part of spain. He particularly liked the way the light hit it a certain way...coincidence? Jeff likes to think that God smiles upon Mac.
I love this picture. For some reason I found it so beautiful.
Another beautiful part of spain. The buildings are so beautiful because they are old and rustic looking, and then are surrounded by flowers and greenery that just blow you away.
This was the walk up to the top. Now you see why I was curious and why it would have been worth it, even if there was nothing at the top.


P.S.--HAPPY BIRTHDAY MELISSA!!! WE LOVE YOU!!

And we miss everybody. We have been longing to call and hear voices, but its $6.99 a minute to use a phone. YIKES!!

The Motion of the Ocean

Ahhhh…finally I get to sleep in. Had a nice, relaxing, and enjoyable night and got to sleep in till almost ten this morning. It was all fine and dandy until I went to take a shower and apparently the captain was up drinking all night because I was falling over left and right. I thought it was just me until Jeff and I went up to breakfast and there were piles of puke everywhere. Luckily the waves finally calmed down a bit and I found myself some Dramamine.

Our first day where we have absolutely nothing planned. After enjoying some breakfast we headed to the inside pool deck/lounge in movie theater to chill. We must have sat there for almost 2 hours just people watching. Holy cow, the characters that you see on a cruise ship. I think we counted at least half a dozen child mullets, 4 he/she indeterminates, almost 100 old lady camel toes, and a lady that we like to refer to as “tum tum”. Tum tum simply refers to a part of the female anatomy that should typically “hang” in the upper chest, not “sag” down to the tum tum. We also saw “Frenchy” for the first time since security check in—the man that had really bad b.o. and a transvestite girlfriend that he constantly makes out with. We waited and waited for hours to hopefully see Rodney Asianfield, but he never showed up. So, finally, we took off to lunch.

On our way back from lunch we kept running into all the college football fans wearing their team décor. We met a couple that were Ohio State fans and said “Go USC”, then we chatted it up with a Purdue fan for a while, who didn’t know that the Ducks were playing them today. As soon as we turned to walk away, guess who we ran into…Rodney Asianfield!! Oh, that just made my day. I love the guy. Once I am finally able to get a picture of him you guys will understand why we look forward to seeing him everyday.

From there, Jeff and I split up and I headed off to get my Swedish massage that Jeff booked to me as a wedding present. Isn’t he sweet! It was a-mazing. A 50 minute massage on a European cruise—does it get any better than that? After the massage, we met back up and headed for the lounge in theater. On our way up in the elevators a group of about 4 elder people got on, went up one floor, and then got one off. As soon as the doors closed, Jeff and I realized what had just happened—we had just gotten gassed via hit-and-run style by a group of old people!! We were on floor 4 and still had 6 more floors to go! And we stopped at every single one!! It was AWFUL! People kept coming on and off and thought it was us, all the meanwhile our eyes are starting to water and my lungs are burning. We finally reached our floor and ran off, while the smell still lingered. We turned to look at the lady that just got in—it was a glass elevator—and I could see her mouth “Oh, my God.”

Not much else to blog about for the rest of the day. Just more food, people watching, and a movie on the pool deck. Off to bed to hit up Vigo, Spain tomorrow.

In the meanwhile…GO DUCKS!!!

Fire Les Cigarettes!

So we were up early and out on the road to Paree (that’s French for Paris). We almost missed the trip when I forgot my “cruise” card in my cabin and had to take a 5 minute jog all the way back. Which is great because I worked off all 4 of the breakfasts’ I had. (Don’t judge. You would too if the food was free). Short of breath and sweating like a hog, we finally boarded our bus, and you wouldn’t have guessed who we got to sit next to four 3 hours—the pack of 15 year old 50 year olds. Oh how fun. They were polite enough to wait 15 minutes into the trip until they busted out the Leann Rimes on the old CD player and started doing a song and dance routine…in sync. You would have thought that they had practiced this…hmm. Like I said, 3 hours later we arrived into Paris. The first historical site we passed by was the Arch de Triumphe, which, sadly, I was unable to get a picture of.

Off the bus with only 3 hours before we had to report back, we headed to our first stop…the Eiffel Tower. We made our way around the metro station and popped up about a half mile away. Walking down the street you have to follow the signs because you can’t see it around the buildings and the trees. Then we rounded the corner and there it was. Holy cow. Pictures do not do it justice. It’s so huge compared to pictures I have seen and to everything I thought it would be. By the time we got there, we only had 2 hours left to go and so we had to decide whether we wanted to go up the Eiffel Tower or try to squeeze in other sites. We decided that you don’t come to Paris and not go up. So we went all the way to the top, and let me tell you I was sweating from the second we left the ground until the time my foot stepped back off. Its so freaking high!!! The view was unbelievable, and definitely worth the trip. We really didn’t have time to do much anything else, so unfortunately we didn’t get to see the Louvre or Notre Dame—which the pope was visiting the day we went. We did, however, find a nice little pastry shop that had the most delicious looking treats. We bought a nice little strawberry tasty back to the cruise ship and enjoyed it later…mmmmm.

Back on the boat and at dinner, we got to enjoy it to ourselves because our table mates apparently didn’t like us and requested to be at a different table. Ha! It made Jeff so angry. I was happy they did cause we had much more fun. After dinner we headed over to watch a magic show, which was actually pretty good, and the guy was funny.

Anyway, off to bed to finally sleep in and enjoy our first relaxing day tomorrow all at sea. Enjoy…

I don't remember what this building was, but it was beautiful...
The French Statue of Liberty...
View from the very top of the Eiffel Tower...
Another beautiful building on the walk towards Eiffel Tower...
One of the first shots after coming around corner...
The peace wall in Paris. It has the word "peace" written on the glass walls and around the poles in numerous different languages. Really cool.
View from the second floor of the Eiffel Tower...
French duck...

I'm All at Sea

Oh what a long day.

Sadly, we had to say goodbye to London today as we hopped on a Bus to take us over to Dover. I have never wanted to punch so many people in my life. Apparently some cultures don’t put priority on manners and so I almost ended up under a bus instead of on one. The drive to Dover took about 2 hours and was absolutely beautiful because we got to see the English countryside—flourishing green grass, old brick houses, and British sheep butts. We finally arrived at port and got a glimpse of our ship, which is HUGE. When I say a glimpse, I do mean a glimpse because we were immediately rushed inside and proceeded through security, where we got to stand in line for about an hour and a half. I didn’t mind the standing in line part, it was the old French couple making out that had BAD b.o., the pack of 50 year-olds trying to be like their 15 year-old daughters, the never ending group of Chinese tourists surrounding us on either side (which included a guy that we like to refer to as “Rodney Asianfield” cause he looked like Rodney Dangerfield), and all the while the rich, plastic, overly tan snobs passed by because they were “VIP”.

Finally through security and onto the boat!! It is crazy on this cruise ship. I’m not exaggerating when I say it is literally like Vegas on water—bright lights, big city, people catering to your every need—it’s awesome. Not so much awesome is the mile trek to our room, which is located on the bottom floor, in the very last room in the corner of ship. Which is actually not as bad as it sounds. We have a very nice room with a gorgeous view. After settling in and meeting our Thomas, our room attendant, we had to trek to the main floor for a fire drill, and then we were off to sea. Our last view as we sailed out off port and said goodbye to England? The beautiful White Cliffs of Dover.

Our first night on the ship and we decided to venture out and eat as much as food as possible since its all free anyway. First we hit up the buffet bar and wet our appetite. Two hours later we headed to dinner and had a nice steak meal. We also got to meet our “table mates” that have our exact same taste but complete opposite personality—i.e. not fun.

Anyway, on to trip to hot tub for a few minutes of relaxation and then off to bed to get ready for Paris tomorrow!!

Until then, more pics...

British Ducks!!!

This is the lobby of the cruise ship looking down from one of the upper floors...

Peff getting ready for the fire drill...
We weren't allowed to put the life vests on until he said so, and the crew would get angry when you tried to put it on early. I like to live on the edge...
Jeff just might have passed gas by the look on that face...
We actually tried to kiss in this picture, but couldn't reach each other's lips because the vests are much like the Holy Spirit...save room...
The beautiful White Cliffs of Dover as we sailed out...

All Around Town

Our first official full day in London is upon us!! Awake early and ready to see the sites. The big news of the day? Apparently Mika kissed Katy Perry, and also the world is going to end when they try to reinvent the Big Bang.
After breakfast—still no Splenda or Sweet N’ Low—we headed out onto the bus tour like true tourists. Our first stop was Trafalgar Square, where we stopped by Her Majesty’s Theater and made our way around to Big Ben. Amazing. Pictures cannot do any justice to it’s majestic beauty. The size, the grandeur, the architecture, and the surrounding scenery blows me away. I could have filled my camera with pictures of just Big Ben. As we made our way over to the Thames River to hop on the river cruise, we got to catch a glimpse of the London Eye and Aquarium. Our cruise around the river began. We spent an hour coasting down the river, admiring the beauty, and learning and experiencing the history of it all. Then we look up and the Tower Bridge lay ahead. Again, amazing. Our first stop after hopping off the cruise was the Tower of London, home to the crown jewels…the other crown jewels. We made our way around over towards the Tower Bridge and towards a nice little lunch spot near the Ivory House Hotel. Finally, we picked back up with the bus tour around the Hard Rock Café, where we randomly saw Dustin Hoffman walk right in front of us. I was busy reading my map when Jeff says, “Hey, isn’t that Dustin Hoffman.” Yes, yes it was. Walking along the street, drinking coffee. I would have gotten a picture but by the time I fumbled upon my camera it was too late. Sorry guys. You’ll just have to enjoy the other pictures. After riding around on the bus some more and stopping by Buckingham Palace and Notting Hill, we finally made our way back to the hotel. Looking for a place for internet, we happened upon a nice little Persian restaurant that not only served amazing tea and delicious wings, but also happened to be a Hooka bar. What are the chances! Being that we ARE in London, we had to share in the experience. Afterwards, dinner at a local steakhouse and coffee at Starbucks—finally coffee that is sweetened!!! Off to bed early tonight to head out to Victoria station, Dover, and finally to sea tomorrow. Miss and love all. Hopefully more soon to share. Until then, enjoy the pics...

They're so polite...

Jeff's favorite part of London...

The stereotypical London picture...
So amazing...
Sadly, we didn't get to ride on the London Eye, but it was still beautiful...

I'd love to publish all our pictures, but we only paid for so much internet time and it eats up the minutes to publish them. We will post them all when we get back, though.