More Of Our Posing Nonsense Followed By Food

After our a fun filled day spent in Barcelona, Spain, Melissa and I were once again very excited to get all dressed up for dinner.

On this particular night, Melissa fixed my hair into this fabulous updo!



I looooooved it sooooooo much! And I still cannot get over the fact that she managed to get all of my hair up and into this position using only three, count them three bobby pins!

She is a hair styling genius!

I'm just saying.

Since my hair was looking so lovely, I decided to put on Shannon's favorite black dress. He loves when I wear this dress. He calls it my "Hug Getting Dress," mainly because he hugs me A LOT when I wear it.

Sigh.



So, I made sure Melissa took twenty a few pictures of me, you know, in an effort to get more hugs when I returned home.



As we were taking twenty the pictures for Shannon, we would have to stop to let people walk by. (This, of course, happened every night.) But on this particular night, one of the people that walked by was a young foreign cutie patootie. I don't know where he was from, but his accent was lovely.

Sigh.

Anyway, as we saw him trying to walk by, he suddenly stopped, like he was going to wait for us to finish taking the picture. But he, of course, had not met Melissa or me, so he had no idea how long he would be waiting. So we both motioned for him to go ahead and walk passed us. So he started walking, but instead of passing by, he came up right beside me, put his arm around me, and smiled for the camera.

Like this......



Then after the picture was taken, he looked at Melissa and me and said (with the most adorable accent), "I just couldn't resist myself!"

Sigh.

This moment, my bloggy buddies, was the highlight of my Mediterranean travels.

Sigh.

He absolutely made my year with those sweet words. I should probably explain to you why this moment was so important to me.

Several places that we visited in the Mediterranean, people thought that I was Melissa's mother.

Sigh. (*sniff-sniff*)

Now, don't misunderstand me, I'm flattered that anyone would think I resemble Melissa, obviously, but her mother! Seeing as I am only eight years older than her, it was a little upsetting to me, not to mention my self-esteem.

Anyway, that is why I loved what he said. It made the rest of the trip being thought of as Melissa's mother a little easier to bear.

For all I knew, he could have had a Mrs. Robinson fetish, but I didn't care. He made my year.

Shannon, of course, thought it was funny, especially since I was wearing the "Hug Getting Dress." I just looked at him and said, "What can I say?....The dress just has that effect on men....even in the Mediterranean." ;)

So, enough about me, now it was Melissa's turn to get photographed, and just let me say, " Doesn't my daughter look lovely?" ;)



Sigh.

Well after all of the posing and adorable accent nonsense, it was time to eat!

This night for my Starter, I chose some kind of chicken dish. It was yummy!
(I just want to apologize for the blurry picture; I guess I was still distracted by thoughts of an adorable foreign cutie saying, "I just couldn't resist myself!")

Sigh.



My Main Course selection was also some form of chicken with noodles and an Alfredo mushroom type sauce.



It was delicious! And I ate every single bite of it.

Don't judge.

The dessert that Melissa and I both chose was an Espresso pie.
It was sooooooo gooooood!



And yes, I ate every single bite of it too!

Don't judge.

After dinner, our servers did a little song and dance routine; it was so much fun!

Here is a picture I snapped of Ioan doing what looks like his best Ricky Ricardo imitation.



Our servers Ioan and Gusti were so wonderful; they just always made us smile.



Unfortunately, for Melissa and me, this was not how the night ended.

Neither one of us could sleep the entire night.

Literally.

We did not sleep at all!

It wasn't until the next day that it dawned on us what the problem was.......



Just a word of caution, if you ever go on a cruise, please listen to me people!

Do Not Eat Espresso Pie Before Going To Bed!

I'm just saying is all.

Fourth Stop: Sicily, Italy~ Part Three

Once we were back on the bus, I noticed that we were parked right next to Sicily's version of a gas station. Imagine in America pumping your gas practically right on the road. It made me nervous just thinking about it.



The majority of people that we saw in Europe were driving these little smart cars.
They have to because the driving and parking conditions are terrible!
And although for gas mileage and space saving, these cars are very smart, they never stopped seeming funny to me. I would break out in laughter every time I saw one. (Like I've said before, I don't get out much.)




This next picture was taken from my seat on the bus, and I did not zoom in with my camera. These cars were this close to each other and to us. I never did get used to the traffic during our trip. It scared me every single time. (Shudder.)



The drive back to the ship was beautiful! I apologize for the quality of the pictures, but it is very difficult to get a good shot moving 85 miles per hour down the highway through dirty bus windows.

We were told that most people in Italy do not have their own clothes washers and dryers, so every where we were, we saw clothes hanging out to dry.



As we were getting ready to enter a tunnel, I snapped this picture. You can see the tunnel on the other side of the highway, as well as homes nestled on the hill.



We saw these homes as we exited the tunnel. Look at all the flowers. I was so amazed by all of the different types of flowers that we saw all over the places in Europe. It did not matter if the homes belonged to the rich or poor, they had all types of beautiful flowers.



All along the highway that we traveled on in Sicily, we saw these colorful flowers just growing out of the concrete wall. They were gorgeous!



Once we arrived safely back at the ship (Thank You, God!), it was time to get ready for dinner. Each night before and after dinner, Melissa and I liked to take pictures of each other. We found a cute little private place with a backdrop that seemed made just for us to pose in front of. And pose we did.

Every. Single. Night.

Don't judge.

Here is a picture of Melissa looking so lovely as always. Sigh.



And here I am with my flat-ironed hair, which I looooooved! (Thanks, Melissa!)




After all of our picture taking nonsense was over, it was time to get down to business. The business of eating that is.
The meal that I had that night was my favorite of all of the meals that I had the privilege to eat on this Mediterranean trip.

My starter was a wonderful penne pasta served with a marinara sauce, and it was topped with freshly shredded cheese. I love when they shred the cheese on top.



For the main course I chose Veal Parmesan with some form of scalloped potatoes, and smashed carrots. Now, I will admit that the smashed carrots look like baby food, but they were delicious! It was all sooooo delicious!



Mmmmmmmmm!

And I ate every single bite!

Don't judge.

I did not get a picture of my choice of dessert that night. I guess my mind was still too focused on the cannoli that I had eaten earlier in the day.



Sigh.

(Melissa, I am so sorry about not even saving you a bite of that delicious cannoli, but you know how much I love you, Friend! And I promise you, when we go back to Italy for our movie premiere, I will buy you your very own cannoli, and you can eat the whole thing.) ;)



That's all of Sicily folks!:)