You'll See

Day 13 (6/30/11)

Sea day, here we come. The day begins with breakfast in the cafeteria, a satisfying buffet of pancakes, waffles, omelets, bagels, oatmeal and sausages. Uncle Chris is absent from this meal because he was already off on his tour of the ship adventure, we will check back with him later. The gang has a jam packed schedule of activities found on the ship. Amy, Jamie and Emily decide to start the day at a cooking demonstration where they say how to make a full course meal. They even got to sample some of the food. Amy enjoyed the grilled chicken while Jamie and Emily feel in love with the tiramisu.

Emily, Amy and Jamie waiting in the front row for the cooking demonstration to begin.

After the delicious cooking and eating party, the girls joined Aunt Sue in Spotlight Lounge for a champagne art auction. They viewed beautiful art and photography pieces from all over the world. Aunt Sue was even lucky enough to bid on a single art piece and receive two others at no additional cost.

After the art auction, the girls headed to a scrapbook meeting where we got great ideas for our Mediterranean cruise scrapbook. We also purchased a little gift package which included cool Mediterranean background paper and stickers. After the meet, we went to the pool to relax and enjoy the sun. After such a long day of eating, looking at art and learning about scrapbooks, Amy was exhausted. She feel asleep at the pool and had to be woken up by Aunt Sue so they could get ready for a formal dining experience of a lifetime upon the Carnival Magic.

Due to the fact that today was an elegant night upon the cruise ship, for dinner we had the chose of lobster, salmon, and filet mignon and to top it off a delicious dessert of chocolate melting cake or tiramisu.

The girls in the formal dining attire.

After dinner, Amy, Aunt Sue and Uncle Chris went off to bed while Emily and Jamie decided that a Carnival trophy was a necessary item to obtain. The Carnival trophy is given to the winner of any one of the activities found on the ship. Emily and Jamie first tried to win a trophy during the Murder Mystery game but guessed the wrong murder weapon. After that they tried to win at the game, “Guess that Song: Musicals”. Jamie thought this would be a piece of cake due to her extensive knowledge on all things Broadway but was sadly mistaken when they took this quiz.  It was crazy difficult and spanned decades of musicals and songs. The girls went back to their room empty handed but had hopes that they would win the trophy tomorrow.

Ready to take a dip in the Mediterranean Ocean on the beaches of Mallorca,

Jamie, Amy, Emily, Aunt Sue and Uncle Chris

The girls, happy and full after a delicious dinner!

I'll Cover You

Day 12 (6/29/11)

The last leg of our Italian tour is Sicily, the little island next to the toe of the boot. The ship docked at the third largest city in Sicily called Messina. We had no pre-organized tour or trip so we decided to just walk around the city on our own. Our first stop was the main landmark in Messina, the Cristo Re Church. It was a beautiful chapel with a cute town square in front of it. After having a look around and being hassled by the local merchants wanting us to buy commercial cheap souvenirs, we headed to a cute little bakery for authentic cannolis and delicious cappuccinos. Since it was still early in the day for dessert, we took the cannolis to-go and had them later on the ship.  The cappuccinos were delicious and cheap. Uncle Chris and Jamie were in seventh heaven by these caffeinated infused miracles. After those two stops the Lytle crew just walked around a little more before calling it a day. The water slides were calling Amy, so she hopped into her suit for some water park fun. Aunt Sue also took a trip down the water slides and felt like a kid again.  Jamie and Emily decided to stay on the mainland for a little longer, just walking around looking at the shops. They headed back to the ship for lunch which entailed delicious salmon sandwiches and sushi, a very weird yet still amazing combination. The girls met up with Amy and Aunt Sue at the pool and hung out there until dinner. Uncle Chris decided that his vacation needed to take a serious twist so he worked on his computer in the room until dinner.

The day ended with a delicious meal at Northern Lights our cruise ship restaurant and the best movie ever, TRON on the jumbo screen. There is no better feeling in the world then watching a fun movie and hanging out with your favorite family members while sailing on the Mediterranean Ocean towards Mallorca, Spain. There is still a whole day at sea a head of us before we make it to Spain, but hopefully filled with cruise ship fun.

Looking forward to fun in the sun on the beaches of Mallorca.

Arrivederci Italia, Hola Espana

Jamie, Amy, Emily, Aunt Sue, and Uncle Chris