Last one

On Saturday, we're heading to Venice for an eastern Mediterranean cruise. We'll hit Dubrovnik, Croatia; Ephesus, Turkey (think Ephesians from the New Testament); and two spots in Greece (but not Athens). Turkey and Greece each deserve a trip of their own, but this is likely the only chance we'll have to hit them before we go back to Minnesota. (Horrifying side note: It is really, really cold in the winter in Minnesota. Do you realize that it can hit 20 below zero? Who actually lives in a place like that?)

I've made two things clear to the kids: 1) Tanner does not get to go on a European cruise every year for his birthday for the rest of his life. Yes, I realize that he's been on a European cruise for his birthday for two years in a row now, but it ends here. As a parent, you gotta draw the line somewhere, right? 2) This is likely the last cruise we're taking until Stace and I, as grandparents, take Tanner and Lindsey and their kids on one big family cruise shortly before we die (but while we're still in excellent health).

I have mixed feelings about another cruise. It's not the best way to get to know a country. I can say that I've visited Rome, but I haven't really experienced Rome after running around the city in a van for eight hours before racing back to the ship. By contrast, I feel like I've experienced places like Oslo, Helsinki, and Paris after spending several days there just roaming around on foot and on public transportation.

However, it's nice to have every meal taken care of for a week, and it's a nice break not having to figure out how get to each of those cities, where to stay, where to eat, and all of that. We're going to spend some extra time in Venice after we get back from the cruise, and it's taken me more time to figure out one day in Venice than the other seven days on our cruise. (I do have to add that Venice is particularly tricky. There are lots of twisty, windy little streets. It seems like bascially one big tourist trap, so hotels are very expensive. Also, as much as I love figuring out public transportation in European cities, Venice adds one more complication: the public transportation there is by boat.)

There's also the fact that the kids loved our cruise last year. Of all the fun things we've done in Europe, including Disneyland Paris and the huge water park in Prague, the thing they still talk about the most is the cruise. I'm a little worried that this cruise won't live up to their memories of the last one, but I think it'll be okay.

One nice thing is that Venice is much closer than Barcelona. It should only take us about five hours to get there, as opposed to the nine or ten hours we spent getting to Barcelona last year.