Visby, Sweden

Visby is the largest city on the island of Gotland. The entire island is full of ruins, artifacts and memories from its periods of greatness during the Viking period and Middle Ages when Visby was a member of the Hanseatic League. The town is surrounded by the Visby Ringwall, a huge 13th century stone wall that encloses the city.








We drove along Visby's coast to Högklint. From this cliff-top you can see the entire wall that surrounds the city with fantastic views of Visby and the Baltic Sea. Unfortunately, the camera chip that holds the pictures from here is damaged and I haven't been able to rescue my photos as of yet....but trust me, it was an incredible view. We then headed back towards town and stopped to stroll through the Botanical Gardens (pictures on bad chip). We continuted to drive through the town and followed the remnants of the 13th-century city wall.



Dalmansporten is one of the gates through the wall surrounding Visby.

We then strolled down the towns narrow, winding streets trying our hardest to get lost.







Along the way, we stumbled on the ruins of one of the many Medieval churches. It's really quite something to behold to see these amazing architectual masterpieces still standing.






Before having to get back to the ship, we made our final stop at the Cathedral of St. Mary's. I'm not sure how a setting for a church could be more picturesque. It was beautiful.






Visby is an amazing town! We really would've liked more time to explore this cool medieval place. But, the boat doesn't wait. So, we went back to our room and got dressed up for a 5 course meal....concluded by creme brulee. So sad.....

Tomorrow.......The Fairy Tale Land of Estonia!

THE BALTIC SEA as we saw it

It doesn't get better than this! Lucky?? Blessed?? Yes--both I think!

We started our cruise in Copenhagen, Denmark. Unfortunately, we didn't get to see much of the city. We arrived at 7:00 a.m. Denmark time--which was 11:00 p.m. at home...the night before. So, we missed our night of sleep we so desperately needed. Too exhausted to function, we got a hotel room for 3 hours so we could nap a little before we could board our ship. ....Next time, Copenhagen....




Welcome to the Regent Seven Seas Voyager! I've always been apprehensive about getting on a boat and launching out into the open seas. Something about that just didn't seem safe to me. Then when you get on the ship, they require you to do a safety drill. It was very entertaining to see all of these very well dressed people waiting out on the deck with their life-vests on. But, really, that didn't help with the anxiety of floating away from land....miles and miles away from land.
Then, all of a sudden (even though you knew that eventually you would), you're leaving the shore....and all of your fears go away. We really couldn't even tell that we were on a boat--except for a couple of times when you could see people trying to keep their balance--so we just remained seated.
Our state room was very big compared to other ships (I think.....we hear people complain all the time about how cruise ship rooms are tiny). When you walked in, it had a bathroom to the left with a bathtub AND a shower. Then, there was a walk-in closet with lots of room for all our clothes. We slept in a KING size bed every night. Our room also had a little living room with a couch and a table with chairs where we would have room service delivered atleast twice a day. We spent a lot of time on the balcony where we watched the sun set over the Baltic Sea....somewhere around midnight each night.



For the next few days, I'll be posting pictures and stories from each of the cities that we docked in from Visby, Sweden to Stockholm, Sweden and I'll try my best to tell you about each of the incredible places we were lucky enough to see.
See you tomorrow.

We love Disney World!!

Spring Break 2009. We kept our plans to ourselves until the morning we were leaving. Each kid came to the table for breakfast...and at their bowl was an envelope with word strips in it. Each kid had a different sentence and they had to piece together their words to make the sentence with words that weren't really words--like Diz Knee Whirled (Disney World). Needless to say, everyone was very excited, especially Maggie. We had actually told her that we were going, because it's so exciting and she loves princesses and Mickey so much--plus I think Surprise is wasted on a 3 year-old. So for a couple of weeks, she talked about Disney World and Cinderella and Mickey Mouse--but no one really listens to a little kid when they say "I'm going to see Cinderella and give her a hug". The other kids just would say "Yes you are" just to humor her. Little did they know.......
I had already packed everyone's things (Greyson was complaining that he couldn't find any of his jeans--he looked in his closet and the dirty clothes and under the beds but couldn't find anything to wear), so we put the suitcases in the car and off we went to the airport.
We spent 7 days (some of them longer days than others) at the Disney World Theme Parks.

The first day was spent at Magic Kingdom--where all of the princesses live. The girls had breakfast with Cinderella in the castle with her and all of the other princesses...Belle, Sleeping Beauty, Snow White, Jasmine...each of them came to our table to meet the girls. No where else can a little girl feel like a real princess. It's such a magical place.








Day 2 was Epcot--more educational, but they have the best ride there. Mission to Space--it's a flight simulator--and if I didn't know better, I would think we were really taking off. The G Forces...Whoa! Epcot has a section where you can visit different countries. Mexico, Germany, China, Morrocco, USA, France...and others (that I can't remember), but you can eat Mexican or German food while listening to Chinese or Morroccan music being played by Americans or Frenchman. It's really very cool.







Day 3 was spent at Hollywood Studios--It's a cool place. High School Musical parade, Americal Idol show, Star Wars, stunt shows...you name it. Great rides too-- Tower of Terror and Aerosmith's Rockin' Roller Coaster--we each rode those a few times. The Beauty and the Beast musical is also there. The first person on the stage came out and I recognized him. It was my friend from high school. David Houde has worked at Disney for 20 years (18 doing Beauty and the Beast). So after the show we asked one of the workers if they would get him for me. How fun it was to see him. He's is probably one of the happiest people on the planet. So energetic and fun. I guess that's what happens to you when you work at the happiest place on earth.








Day 4, we went to the Animal Kingdom. Cool safari ride--you would have thought that the animals were fake. They were all very active and positioned exactly how you would imagined them..then they moved..they are real. Maybe they know they live on Mickey's land. There's a really fun roller coaster too--Mount Everest--It's a fast, sometimes backwards in the dark, escape from the yettie, coaster--very fun! It closed at 6:00--We welcomed the early closing. By the end of the day, we were exhausted and our feet hurt.






Day 5, we just chilled at the hotel pool. Byron and I got massages at the spa while the kids played and had a great time swimming. Later that night, me and the girls went back to Magic Kingdom and rode the rides the boys wouldn't want to--Peter Pan, Dumbo, Snow White--and the boys went to Universal Studios for a Collective Soul concert. Apparently, they rocked out! Byron's a pretty cool dad, if you ask my boys.








The last couple of days we spent walking slowly and doing all of the things that we didn't get to do the first days or really wanted to do again. We had breakfast with Mickey Mouse and some of his buddies. Maggie LOVES Mickey. She couldn't hold in her excitement when she first saw him and figured out that he was on his way to talk to her. She gave him a huge hug and then got up from her chair to give him another one. I love to see my kids that happy. It was nice to take it easy and just take in the Magic of Disney.














But, I have to admit I'm a little bit selfish. The whole Disney vacation, as fun as it was, was second place to being able to spend time with my family....just us....The Links.