I took a week off from cruise planning to reflect the day at sea we will have on the fifth day. During this time we will be traveling from Naples on the west coast all the way around Italy to Venice on the northeastern coast. Once we arrive in Venice at 1pm on the sixth day we will have lots of time to explore, in fact we won’t leave there until 5pm on the seventh day. Yes, we will be doing an overnight stay in Venice on the docked ship.

With all of this extra time, we really need some suggestions on things to do. It sounds like you can get lost for hours navigating through the streets and bridges that span the many canals. And I don’t think a trip to Venice is complete without a gondola ride. But what else is there to do? I’ve read a little about some of the neighboring islands like Murano but was hoping that someone had some advice. I’ve received a number of emails on previous stops, but I encourage you to post in the comments section. Let’s get some conversation started, don’t be scared!

The itinerary thus far:

• Day One: Cannes / Monte Carlo / Nice
• Day Two: Livorno / Florence / Pisa
• Day Three: Rome
• Day Four: Naples / Capri / Sorrento / Pompeii
• Day Five: At Sea
• Day Six: Venice
• Day Seven: Venice

All of the previous cruise stops have been relatively easy to plan, but that all ends with the fourth stop, Naples. I felt like all of the previous stops had one (maybe two) places that you were supposed to travel to, but Naples has multiple destinations outside of Naples itself, and I’m not sure that we can do them all in the twelve hours we have there. Here are some of the top destinations:

• Ruins of Pompeii
• Hiking Mount Vesuvius
• Coastal town of Sorrento
• Island of Capri

I’m hoping that someone has been to some/all of these places and can offer some advice. I think we can stop in multiple destinations during the day, but I think it would be impossible to see them all. I’m continuing to read more and more about each, and every time I do I find more reasons for going to each place. This could be the hardest decision of the trip. Please help!

Last night we went down to Castle Rock to meet up with Amy Collins and her husband Corey. Amy is a longtime family friend who recently moved to Colorado Springs. She is also a graphic designer and is going to make our wedding invitations for us. So it was very convenient that we could get together to check out some samples and to have dinner along with a couple beers at Rockyard, one of the few restaurants in the town. Things are looking good for the invitations, so expect to see them in next few weeks, well if you are one of the chosen ones. :)

Our honeymoon cruise itinerary so far:

• Day One: Cannes / Monte Carlo / Nice
• Day Two: Livorno / Florence / Pisa

And now onto day three, we’ll be making a stop in Civitavecchia, Italy, which I’ve since learned is really just the port town for Rome. Obviously, we won’t be wasting any time and will be making the trip to Rome as quickly as possible. I’ve found online that it is pretty simple to take the train between the two, all you have to do is grab a shuttle to the port entrance and then it’s a quick ten minute walk to the train station.

We’ve also been emailing with a tour guide in Rome that was recommended to Kim. This isn’t something through the cruise company, rather a single guy that gives tours on his own to people when he has the time. I think whether we use him or not will really boil down to the price. There is so much to see in Rome that it would be cool to have a guide. Otherwise I’ll be spending lots of time mapping out a path. Feel free to leave recommendations for your favorite spots though, as I will definitely want to see all that I can. Kim has already been to Rome in the past, so hopefully that will help with the planning. I’m sure this will be one of the busier stops on our wonderful trip.

As I mentioned earlier, the first stop of our honeymoon is in Cannes where we are also planning to see Monte Carlo and Nice. The second stop of our trip takes us to port town on the western coast of Italy called Livorno. Just like with Cannes, I don’t think there is much to see or do in Livorno so I am planning some self exploration of a couple other cities.

First we will take the train out to Florence, the capital of Italian Renaissance. I think it would be easy to fill multiple days with the number of things there are to do in this city, so we’ll have to pick and choose what we do. I definitely want to see the Santa Maria del Fiore, known as the Duomo, which is the domed cathedral. There are also a few other sites nearby that are likely worth seeing.

Florence also has many museums, of which the most popular are the Uffizi Gallery and the Accademia dell’Arte del Disegno. The Uffizi is said to be one of the most famous galleries in the world, likely just behind the Louvre in Paris. I’ve heard that lines can be terrible here, but I’ve found a site to reserve tickets online. However, I’m not sure Kim and I are artsy enough to enjoy it. Has anyone been before? The Accademia houses Michelangelo’s David sculpture and can also been swarmed with crowds. Tickets can also be bought in advance, so these are still up in the air.

Once we’ve seen as much of Florence as we can squeeze into an afternoon, we’ll take the train back towards Livorno with a stop in Pisa along the way. Just from the name of the city it should be obvious that the goal here is to see the Leaning Tower, and hopefully climb to the top of it. There are also a few other surrounding structures that I’ve read are worth visiting. However this stop will not be nearly as long as the time spent in Florence, and once were done here it is back to the ship and onto the next destination…

Today is a big day for Kim. She is scheduled to have LASIK surgery in just over an hour from now. I know how excited she is for this, and I couldn’t be happier that she is finally having it done. She’s been saying to me the past day, “This is the last time you’ll see me with glasses on at 8AM,” or whatever time it happened to be. Keep your fingers crossed for an easy surgery and recovery.

It just occurred to me that I’ve yet to talk about our planned honeymoon after the wedding. Well, this will likely be the first of many posts about it as I work on planning each stop of the twelve night Mediterranean cruise on Royal Caribbean. We start and end in Barcelona including one night there before the cruise, but I’ve yet to plan anything for that stop.

So our first stop once we actually get on the ship is Cannes, which is famous for the international film festival. However, there doesn’t appear to be much else to offer us, besides the beaches we’ll find in surrounding cities, so my initial plans have us taking a train ride out to Monte Carlo. Obviously there’s a famous casino in this tiny country, but there is much more to see including the Prince’s Palace and Cathedral. I doubt we’ll make it inside the Grand Casino since a jacket and tie are required, but I’ve heard that the outside is worth seeing anyway.

From there, I’m planning to stop in Nice on our way back toward Cannes. This city is the center of the French Riviera, and I’m sure we’ll take a stroll down the Promenade des Anglais which runs right along the beaches. There also appears to be many other historical sites to see along the way. And once we spend some time in Nice, we’ll take the train back to Cannes to finish the day by exploring the city before getting back on the boat.

Are there any other must sees in or around the cities mentioned? Also, I’m up for considering other nearby cities/towns if there is something high on the list. I’m sure we’ll take a couple of the excursions offered by the cruise line later in the trip, but I’m thinking that we should explore any cities that we can easily sightsee on our own.

My parents are in town visiting. Woohoo! But I’m currently sick with a cold. Boohoo! Hopefully tomorrow will prove to be more exciting times on the net.

Originally I thought that snow in April was crazy, but now that it’s May I might have to change my opinion. Yep, that’s right, it’s snowing again! This time it’s more than just a few flurries, we actually have a solid amount of accumulation on the ground. I heard on the radio this morning that up in the mountains they got fourteen inches overnight, so let’s just hope we don’t get all of that. Typically we don’t get it all but you never know. All of this comes after a nice day yesterday with temperatures in the 70’s and the sun shining. I guess we really don’t have a real spring season, for us spring is just a mix of summer and winter, which can change back and forth fairly often.