Happy New Year from Valencia

NYE family selfie. Everyone looking at the camera with an expression that can pass as a smile. Pass!

It was a quiet New Year's Eve and an even quieter New Year's Day. I should be ashamed to admit that I did not even stay awake past 9pm. At home even that would have been a fail for the family fireworks. 

New Year's Day saw us arrive at our last port of Valencia. We had not booked a tour and were forewarned that everything would be closed on account of New Year's Day. We got off the ship regardless regardless to wander around the very dead port area. We refused to pay the extortion of 10 euros per person for a shuttle bus to get to the old town centre! Sadly there were no taxis in sight. 

It probably was not a bad thing. Everyone took the opportunity to enjoy the last of our down time before disembarking tomorrow for our next leg. It is rare that I NOT recommend something. Celebrity Infinity, however, ticked that box. The ship is old and dated, and it really showed. We also didn't fit the demographic, at least not for cruises for this region. Although the staff were friendly and tried hard to please, we felt that they haven't really received the appropriate training to deliver service that is top notch. The service felt forced and lacked finesse. The food was meant to be a drawcard, and the buffet certainly delivered. However, in general, everything was too salty or too sweet, and if you order meat, there was a good chance that it would come out looking like a nursing home meal. The activities were sorely lacking, and the quality of entertainment was generally poor (with the exception of the juggler!). We believed Celebrity to be a more "refined" brand in RCCL's portfolio and we were somewhat disappointed.

What did save the cruise was the itinerary (being port intensive, as well as having interesting stops), and cruising as an extended family unit. We had a lot of fun on our port days, and it would have been logistically difficult to visit those ports with elderly parents in tow. We would be willing to give Celebrity another chance but I'd be looking more closely at the age of the ship...

The dessert bar looked fabulous!

Time for our celebratory New Year's Eve dinner

A competition to see who would be the prettiest princess....

Jan 1 was to be the start of eating well. Oh well I guess it would have to wait until tomorrow!

Family photo in Valencia. Tick!

We found an open coffee shop!

We could not hold back any longer....we paid for Japanese food

We had very low expectations but it wasn't too bad

Sushi

Water views while relaxing. Never mind the oil refinery in the background (at least I think that's what they are)

Happy New Year from us to you! May 2024 see you fulfill your travel bucket list dreams!

Venetian New Year

Happy New Year from Venice! 

It was a smooth transfer from Verona to Venice. We based ourselves in Mestre as we had all been to Venice before and we wanted to explore other cities, but didn't want to pay the Venice price. Our base would be the Hilton and only because we had status there and get free breakfast. Otherwise I would recommend either staying closer to the station or in Venice proper if you have never been. 

We bussed into old town Venice to take photos at the main tourist sites. We were last here 10 years ago on New Years Eve! It was much busier today than we expected despite most attractions being closed. We mainly wandered through Cannaregio to get some peace and quiet. We encountered many dead ends.

Our main activity today was an sunset row on the Grand Canal with RowVenice. We were taken aback to hear an Australian accent when we met Jane, the co-owner. A brit, who grew up in Australia, and has lived in Italy for the past 33 years! Her partner, Regina, a born and bred Venetian, was her partner today to teach us how to row as well as to steer and navigate. The 90 minutes on the batellina went by quickly. We all took turns to row standing up, facing forward with one oar, in the traditional Venetian style. It was initially daunting entering the Grand Canal, but Regina had it all under control. I'm sure she did most of the work! It was a great way to spend the New Year as well as to see Venice. Definitely something we'd recommend everyone to try!

Happy New Year from Venice!

Spent most of the day exploring and taking photos

Piazza San Marco

Practicing our force choke photos for Disney World

Unexpected gem of a lunch. Cichetti

Essentially bread with toppings. Delicious!

Our favourite, roast pork

17,000 steps later...

Ready for rowing

Let's go on the Grand Canal

Under the Rialto Bridge

Our evening aperitif

Snack time. Fritelli

A type of deep friend doughnut with cream filling and dusted with sugar

Happy New Year from the Czech Republic!

Happy New Year! As we continued our journey across the Czech Republuc on the first day of the new year, we had the time to reflect upon how blessed we had been over the past decade to share all these adventures with the family. The physical limitations of our parents reminded us never to take anything for granted, including time. YOLO!

Our destination today was the very pretty spa town of Karlovy Vary, a mere 20km from the German border. We had a mission, to try the thermal waters of all 14 sources in the town. We were all a little perplexed as to why there was a preference to drink rather than be IN the water...but oh well, when in Rome! The classy tourists would purchase a special cup designed to cool the waters prior to consumption. The cheap tourists, like us, used disposable espresso cups obtained from a petrol station prior to entering the township. The visitors to Karlovy Vary would consult a spa doctor and be prescribed a regimen of specific spa water to drink as well as massage therapy. Only very few had "walk up" type spas where one could just soak without a "prescription". The medics in us were a bit indignant that we couldn't self-prescibe. Bah! Apparently you can get a hot chocolate massage and a beer spa. We opted for a bit of exercise instead and climbed to the top of the observation tower (go NY resolutions!) then stuffed ourselves with Chinese food as a reward.

Spot the communist building...

In that said building which houses the hottest geyser

This spring comes in three temperatures. The coolder the water, the worse the taste!

Cheers! With our cheap espresso cups...

The geyser had to be diverted to the river to help stop ice formation on the surrounding pavements from water melting then freezing

Nicknamed cupcake town because of the highly ornamented buildings

Time for Italian! Lunch time

I never throught it could be so satisfying to have pasta

Going up to Diana Tower

Majestic views at the top with Germancy behind us

The town is just visible under the fog

Pupp Hotel, where Casino Royale was filmed

Karlovy Museum, a small but good museum outlining the history and nature of the area

Karlovy Vary was visited by Tsar Peter the great. This was used for shooting target practice

The hand of power! Well I actually don't remember what it was but the Mayor held it

Channeling our inner japanese

While we're at it...

A very content Elliot at the toddler section

So much nicer with less people

One of the colonnades housing the thermal spring water

By this stage, half the group had lost their disposable cups

Spring no 2

Looks nice, the taste is dubious

When one has no cup, one has to be resourceful

Mill Colonnade, one of the symbols of Karlovy vary

Yay for Opa asking for the "Chinese" menu and ordering us a feast!