Schmidts in the UK!: October Half Term Cruise 2014

This October we embarked on a cruise with friends to explore some new places on our last October half term in Europe! We started off with a short flight to Milan, where we spent two days exploring the city and enjoying delicious pizza and wine! The exploring was very nice and the food was amazing, making Milan a monumental success! We even got nice weather! The highlight was seeing Leonardo da Vinci's The Last Supper painting but, unfortunately, no pictures were allowed!

Riley took this pic with my phone as we were flying over the Swiss Alps!

We discovered that Milan had playgrounds...

pizza....

And pretty scenery!

After our two days in Milan, we hopped on a train to Venice, which was pretty easy and, a few short hours later, we arrived in Venice. Since we've been to Venice before (and loved it!), we made our way straight to the Royal Caribbean Splendour of the Seas, where we were lucky to take some beautiful pictures on the sail away from Venice.

Riley and her class' bear, Barnaby, enjoyed the train ride

Lyla snoozed

Gorgeous sail away views

Sunset

Venice is gorgeous!

Then it was off to Dubrovnik, Croatia, where we spent a beautiful sunny day walking the walls, counting the stray cats and posing for beautiful pictures!

Posing outside the walls of the city

Gorgeous sunshine and gorgeous smiles!

Walking the walls and checking out the sea views!

Wow!

A break along the walk to refuel with some Croatian beer for Wayne and ice cream for the girls!

We loved it here!

After Dubrovnik, it was off to Ephesus, where we visited the Shrine of the Virgin Mary and the ancient ruins of Ephesus.

Outside the Shrine of the Virgin Mary

Lyla filled her bottle with Holy Water....and then drank it. Oops!

The girls added their prayers to the wall

Group shot among the ruins at Ephesus

King of the World

Big smiles!

Next up was Santorini, Greece, famous for its beautiful white buildings and gorgeous blue water. The day was slightly overcast, with a few showers and some scattered sunshine but that didn't stop us! We took a personal tour where we stopped for a quick dip at a black sand beach, sampled some local wines, and visited the beautiful city of Oia.

The sun poked its head out a few times

Wine tasting with amazing views

Smiles!

That's alot of wine!

Postcard perfect in Oia

Family shot!

The girls and Barnaby

Lyla took a dip in the water at the Black Sand beach

Our final stop was Olympus, Greece, where we visited the site of the ancient Olympics and imagined life during ancient times. We even got to run around the first Olympic track!