Honeymoon Day 3: Toulon France

Our first stop on our cruise was Toulon France. I loved going to bed in Spain and waking up in France :]

Some of the information I got on Toulon was to not stay in Toulon ha. There isn't much to do. We decided to go with a cheap shore excursion since we weren't sure if they were something we wanted to spend our money on. The tour we ended up booking was a boat tour of the Harbor and a trip to a naval museum.

Another view of our home for two weeks

Waiting for our tour to start

 We did decide pretty quickly that we would much rather spend the money on shore excursions rather than try to figure out public transportation. We already do that enough here in Japan that we just wanted to be able to get on a nice comfy bus and have someone drive us to our destination. Being able to sleep on those buses was an even bigger plus for me!
Our first attempt at a shore excursion was not the best. We should have spent the money (it was a lot!) and gone to St. Tropez. Our tour started out with 20 minutes of incorrect military information. This wasn't on the schedule and a few people actually started complaining. Our guide did tell us she didn't know much about it so the captain was giving her information and then I'm assuming quite a bit was lost in translation. I did find it funny that they pronounced Frigate, Fry-gate. She also was trying to say, all the pretty people go to the pretty beaches. However, it came out, all the pretty people go to the pretty bitches hahaha. Best part of the whole tour.

One cool point was the submarine that took the first pictures of the Titanic

Loved the colors

This was very interesting to us. This is the entrance to the naval base (One of the largest in France and it was tiny!). They are so much more lack on appearance than the US. That girl to the right is in uniform with her long hair down and carrying her purse. We saw a few people outside without covers. That one seemed to be an option since some had them and others didn't.

 

Lunch time! I got a seafood platter. Not a fan of snails.

 

I would however go back for these fries! I'm pretty sure we could have gotten a plate of just fries and been happy.



After lunch we started walking around.. a whole lot of nothing to see. We came across this extremely long farmers market that was closing up for the day.

Frank loved taking as many pictures as possible while I was getting ready for an actual picture. I have lots that look like this ha.

Our first of MANY gelato stops. I'm pretty sure we gained 5 pounds just from gelato alone.

We ended up heading back to the boat after a few hours since everything was closing for the afternoon. As Frank says, the best way to man the rails.

My advice for Toulon. If you happen to stop here one day get out of the area and explore other cities.

Honeymoon Day 2: On load

Cruise time! But first an awesome breakfast at our hotel with an even better view.

We had decided to go out to the boat around the time on load was starting since it would come down to either leaving our luggage at the hotel and then spending the money to come back, pick it up and get out to the pier. Or dropping it off at the pier (if they would even let us), going into town and coming back. Since this was our first cruise we decided to play it safe, and cheap, and just stay walking distance from our hotel then heading out to the boat once on load had started.

It ended up being a nice leisurely stroll through a park across the street.

This was one of our first realizations of how clean Japan is compared to other countries. It was vary strange to see so much garbage all over.

Our home :]

We spent most the day walking all over exploring the boat and people watching. Best spot for that was right by the entrance. Good stuff!

We purposely chose to go with an inside stateroom since having a view wasn't that important to us. It worked great for us. There was a chair in the corner on the left, that worked perfect for holding random stuff.

No issues with the bathroom either. The shower was a decent size walk in.

WOOHOO! VACATION!

Once the boat pulled out we hit up the main buffet area and starting packing on the pounds! I also tried winning some free spa services but no such luck. For a second night in a row we ended up in bed and passed our pretty early.
Next stop, Toulon France!

Honeymoon Day 1: Barcalona Spain

It was FINALLY honeymoon time! We got into Barcelona a day early so we could rest and see a little before getting on the boat. I am so glad we decided on that because it made the start of vacation much more relaxed.
When we were trying to figure out the bus to our hotel Frank was paying at a machine and I had set our luggage down to return the cart it was on. As I started walking away from our stuff I had to remember we weren't in Japan anymore. Probably not a good idea to just leave all our possessions alone ha.
The drive to our hotel was full of greenery and space. Two things we have missed. It actually felt like we were in California. Once we got to our hotel and were checking in Frank realized I had a whole in my pants... on the crack! Talk about a good laugh. That's what I get for buying cheap yoga pants.

Once we got to our room the very first thing we did was shower! We smelled horrible and felt insanely dirty. I believe that was the longest time traveling either of us had ever done. If I remember correctly it was around 20 hours.

The view from our room, water on both the left and right hand side.

After we got all cleaned up we found a place to eat across from our hotel. For being the only meal we had in Spain it was amazing. I got a pesto spaghetti and Frank got a meat cannoli.

 

We didn't have anything planned so we just walked the streets. We loved it! It was relaxing and nice getting to experience the none tourist stuff.

 



We ended up walking towards this museum before turning back.

 

 

Once we got to the top (I took the escalator) we stood off to a corner and admired the view.

 

We were pretty tired and it was later than we thought (the sun sets late there!) so we headed back to our room and passed out early. We both slept hard that night. Not the best of picture but we did get a nice sunset from our room.

 

After half a day of just walking the streets we fell in love with Spain. The atmosphere is so relaxed and vibrant. We would love to explore more of the country one day... if not lucky enough to live there ;] 

Stitch fix #2

After waiting what felt like forever I finally got my second stitch fix box! Between my first and second one I uploaded my Pinterest account so my stylist could see what I liked. This one definitely was a winner!

I kept a necklace from my first box. I wore it practically our whole cruise :)

             First item was this scarf.

Immediately I knew it was a keeper, I was ever more excited to find out it was an infinity scarf. I don't have one yet.

Second and third up were the shorts and halter top.

 As soon as I saw the halter top my first thought was, my bad I should have put in my profile that I don't do halters. My mind was changed once I tried this baby on. Not only is it cute and comfy, but I actually feel supported as it doesn't kill my neck! For that I will pay more than normal. 

I loved the shorts but after walking around in them I realized they wouldn't work. I kept getting a camel toe :/ no go for me.

Simple white cardigan. I've needed a new one so this was perfect.

         Last was this stripped shirt.

At first I didn't think I would like it since it was horizontal stripes, but the fit was awesome. It wasn't too short and was nice and loose. The no go was the material. Holy itchy batman! My skin still itches and I haven't had it on in about 20 minutes. Had it been better material I would have definitely kept it.

So the keepers from box #2 were the scarf, halter and cardigan.

Back to reality

Vacation is over, were both back to work and laundry has been caught up on. Oh how I could sail all over the world exploring....

This coming week I will start posting each day of the trip. Just waiting for Frank to transfer the pictures from the laptop to the desktop. If you follow me on Instagram I have started posting a few pictures from each port that I took on my phone. 

For now I'll leave you with a few fun pictures ha.