June 9, 1995: Livorno, Italy

Arrived in Livorno, Italy.   We took a bus to the Leaning Tower of Pisa in Pisa.    Kelsey and Charlene took the Florence 'On your own'.    On one angle, the Leaning Tower didn't lean as much.    Our tour guide's name was Giovanni, from Florence.  

In Florence, we saw the Statue of David made by Michelangelo.   It had been in the town square 300 years before being put under a roof.    Michelangelo began sculpting it at the age of 26.    

Saw the Church of Duormo.  The door had the face of the man who created it.

Florence, Italy was in the middle of Italy.  I thought it was closer to the coast.   Italy was dirty compared to the clean Monte Carlo.  The people in Florence and in many other parts of Europe used scooters for transportation, as gas was so expensive and the roads were quite narrow.

We saw where Galileo , Leonardo de Vinci, and Michelangelo were buried.   Galileo tested his theory of gravity from the Leaning Tower of Pisa.

We drove back 1 1/2 hours back to Livorno to board our cruise ship.

I tried English pudding for dinner.   I didn't care for it. 
We got our pictures back from formal night.  They turned out nice.

Tried a Heinecken beer with Kelsey at the movie, 'River Wild', that we saw on the ship.  We were laughing so hard at the man snoring loudly behind us in the theater.

June 8, 1995: Monaco & Monte Carlo

Went to breakfast on the sun deck with Mom, Charlene, and Kelsey. Our tour of Monaco and Monte Carlo started at 8:30. Sometimes the ship would stay out to sea as the water level was too shallow by the shoreline to dock. In that case, we had to take tenders from the boat over to the shoreline.

Got into Cannes and got on the bus. The streets here were lined with beautiful flowers. The roads were so clean. They cleaned the roads daily. The umbrellas along the beach looked like what one would see in the movies. Went through Nice, France. The coastline is spectacular.

Grandpa was looking for nude beaches, as they are famous for them. They aren't allowed to be topless on beaches here, except in Cannes. If caught topless, a ticket can be issued.
Our tour guide said that the French call window shopping "Licking the windows."

There were cameras at every street corner in Monaco and Monte Carlo. It's supposed to be the safest place to live in, in the world and no one had to pay taxes, but the properties were expensive to own. Monte Carlo and Monaco were the richest places in the world to live. To have residency in Monaco, one must be a native. If caught, jaywalking costs you a $40 fine.

Saw Prince Ranier's palace in Monaco. Also, saw Grace Kelly's burial (Prince Ranier's wife). She was killed here when Princess Stefani drove over a cliff, leaving Grace dead and Stefani hospitalized.

Princess Stefani's house was the yellow house to the right. Princess Caroline's house had green shutters.

French people have a 2 hour lunch period. Most schools and businesses are closed between 12:30 and 2:30 p.m. Businesses then stayed open until around 7 p.m.

Saw the changing of the guards at the palace. Also, we got to see some of the inside portions of the palace.

Had a delicious lunch at the "Le Cafe de Paris" in Monte Carlo with Grandpa and Mom. This was where the movie stars ate. We had Perrier, Evian water, wine, chicken with mushrooms, salad, potato, croquettes, and for dessert, raspberry ice cream in a chocolate bowl (which you could eat). We ate outside in the fresh air which was nice and relaxing.

Since I was with the tour group, I was able to get into the casino. You had to be 21 to get into the casino and I was only 20. Since Kelsey wasn't on a tour, she wasn't able to get into the casino. We all played the slot machines (1 franc). I lost my $5, but mom gained $15 and Grandpa won some too.
The chandeliers inside the casino were gorgeous. We watched Frenchmen play Russian roulette. I don't understand that game. They took their game very seriously, too.
The flower displace in front of the casino was absolutely gorgeous.

Saw the Monte Carlo Sporting Club next to our restaurant. This was where Luke Perry from "Beverly Hills 90210) hosted the World Music Awards. I really loved Monte Carlo.

Got back to the ship at 6:15 p.m and dinner was in 15 minutes.

Grandma felt bad being alone on the boat all day, but everyone said she couldn't have done all of that walking. The waiters sang "Happy Anniversary" to Grandpa and Grandma. He said the crew members can't hang out with the passengers. They ate their dinner after our meals. Their cabins were below us. There were about 400 crew members and 40 of them worked in the dining room kitchen.
There was a staff of 52 waiters, headwaiters, etc, just for dinner.

Went to a comedy show with a juggler and saw another man do comedy from the "Tonight Show".

June 7, 1995: Day at Sea

Generally, there was at least a day at sea where you could enjoy the on-board activities.

You could have breakfast at a buffet, or at the formal dining room. You never went hungry on a cruise.

Kelsey and I went to the gym in the morning. Exercised on the bike while sailing by the islands of Menorca. Then, Kelsey and I went out on the deck and laid out in the sun.

Had lunch on the sun deck and played cards with my mom. Then, we went through the gift shops. That was my mom's favorite past time.

There was a movie theater on the ship which was pretty neat. Saw the movie "Shawshank Redemption", starring Morgan Freeman. It was so neat being able to watch a movie in a theater aboard the ship.

Kelsey went to the doctor's office because the scabs on the back of her foot were killing her. I guess her foot was infected so she got it bandaged up.

Got in my formal dress and diamond jewelry and went down to dinner. We all looked stunning in our gear. Charlene took lots of pictures of us. The dining room was all jazzed up with gold tinsel hanging down.

I had beef wellington and everyone else got seafood dishes for dinner. Mario tricked Charlene and Kelsey with fake capuccino. He filled a cup with paper towel and sprinkled brown stuff on it. It looked like capuccino. He acted like he was going to spill it. It was so funny.

Grandma looked nice in her pink dress and pearl necklace.

Our waiters scraped off our crumbs again off the table. Mario said he used the crumbs for bread pudding.

We watched another show in the Carousel Lounge. Tomorrow, we were off to Cannes, Monte Carlo, and Monaco.

June 6, 1995: Barcelona, Spain

Took a tour of Barcelona. I noticed that the people in Barcelona liked to walk and sit in parks. That's probably why there aren't many fat people here.

Visited Templo Expiatorio de la Sagrada familia, which was a cathedral built by architect, Antonio Gaudi. It had 12 towers representing the Apostles. It began construction in 1891 and was still under construction. We went to Olympic Stadium and Spanish Village.

The bus dropped us off at the Pacific Princess Cruise ship. Went in this big building to check-in and got complimentary wine. It was also custom to take a photograph of each of the passengers as they boarded the ship. Kelsey had already got on the ship. The ship was so big and she looked so small way up there.

Anyway, we walked up all the steps to get onto the boat. Kelsey had a drink called "Love Boat".

Kelsey and I looked around the ship after we had lunch on the sun deck. The ship had a casino, theater, several bars, dance place, gymnasium, pools, and a large dining room. We were quite fascinated at how fancy the boat was, as we had never been on a cruise ship before. I think the first cruise was extra special because it was all so new.

Our cabin was on the Fiesta floor, room #422. Charlene and Kelsey's room was #426 which was right next to our room.

Grandpa and Grandma had a suite on the Promenade deck, room 347. We had to go through the library to get to their room. You can also get to the Pacific Lounge via the circular stairs.

Had our first dinner on the boat. Our waiters, Sergio and Marion were so cute. Grandpa called Marion, Mario. Sergio was 22 years old, married, and had a 7 month old baby. He was from Portugal. Marion was 26 years old and from Romania. I don't think he was married. Sergio had dark hair and a tan complexion. Marion was pale like me and had dark hair. Marion was the assistant waitier and Sergio was our head waiter. They were really funny.

After our main meal, Marion scraped off our bread crumbs with a gold knife. We weren't used to this kind of service. I think we were going to be spoiled.

After the 2 hour dinner, they had a show on the ship. Tonight's show had native Barcelona dancers.

We went and danced in the Pacific Lounge. Kelsey got me a drink called "Amaretto Sour" which had amaretto liquor in it. It was good.

Charlene, Kelsey, and I watched the ship leave at 11:59 p.m. We left sideways. A boat had to go alongside the ship when leaving port. That's a law with the big cruise ships. The disappointing this was that people didn't throw confetti and yell bon voyage, like in the TV show "Love Boat".

I felt bad for my mom because she was crying. She felt uncomfortable while we were dancing. The boat was full of couples. Certain times, my mom got sad because she didn't  have my dad here to be with. I don't blame her, as it was hard to be on a cruise with couples, when you are single. That is why you have to do other activities to get your mind off of that. Charlene said she
loved my dad and he was very special to all of us. I think his death will forever affect all of us. He was a great man.

June 5, 1995: Barcelona, Spain

Today was a free day to explore Barcelona. We walked in the morning down La Ramblas. We saw the statue of Christopher Columbus. Then, we saw the pier and it opened to let a boat through. It didn't go up like in Grand Haven, but went sideways. We continued on our walk and saw the famous cathedral.

Met Grandpa by Catalunya Square. We walked with him down La Ramblas and showed him the pier. Along the street, we saw a guy dressed in gold, as well as a cute dog in a sombrero hat. They were there collecting money for their talents.

Today was a holiday in Spain so more people were out walking.

All six of us took a tour of Montserrat which was a place monks lived and used to make wine. We took a trolley up a steep mountain to see a view of Montserrat.

We had pitas for dinner and a delicious ice cream cone. The cone itself had chocolate on the outside.

We took Grandma in her wheelchair to the pier and by the cathedral. The roads were cobblestone and very bumpy. It was hard on grandma going over those old stones in her wheelchair. The cathedral was lit up beautifully.

Grandma Thomas had rheumatoid arthritis and was in her early stages of alzheimers. It had been very hard on Grandpa taking care of her. It was good that Grandpa had all of us on this trip to help him out.

June 3-4, 1995: Mediterranean Cruise/Barcelona

Today all of us left at 3 p.m. from Grand Rapids to Newark, New Jersey. We flew Midwest and boy did they give us delicious chocolate chip cookies. They were so warm. Newark was very hot and humid. Our next flight left at 7:40 for London (Heathrow Airport). We were going on this trip to celebrate Grandpa and Grandma Thomas's 50th wedding anniversary, which was actually in
1996, but that is another story.

Charlene, Kelsey, my Mom, and I were invited on this trip to help celebrate the big day. My uncle Steve didn't go because he needed to build up time for retirement.

At the Newark Airport, Charlene, Kelsey, and I got a drink in the cafe. We flew British airlines to London. The flight attendants wore matching red, blue, and white dresses with a navy blue hat. They looked darling in these uniforms. I've never seen such cute uniforms. Anyway, we got on our plane and the airline had some mechanical problems so we had to sit on the plane
for 1 hour. Then, a bad rainstorm came and we were delayed 2 more hours. That meant we were sitting there for 3 extra hours, in addition to the 6 hour ride to London's Heathrow Airport.

We finally got there and had to book another flight to Barcelona because the transfer flight originally planned had already left.

Heathrow Airport was a large airport. Took a bus way to the other side. It was weird driving on the left side of the road. It felt like when someone came by, we were going to be hit.

While going through security, Grandpa got stopped. They searched his bag and found a huge knife. He could've been arrested for that. He's taken that knife with him on trips for over 20 years. He used it to slice up apples and peaches in his room. We couldn't believe he carried this with him. It became one of our jokes of the trip. Heathrow security is tight. A man studied a
screen very carefully and only one thing could go through at a time.

Got a 2:30 flight to Barcelona, Spain. We had to wait for 3 hours at the London airport. Took a stroll through the duty free shops and observed the English people.

The Barcelona airport is gorgeous.The whole airport is modern with marble floors. The windows are made of white bars and glass.

Charlene, mom, and I got in the same cab and the driver only spoke Spanish. We used my mom's Spanish skills to try and get to the hotel. She used to be a Spanish teacher before I was born, so she was a bit rusty. She got us to the hotel, though, so that was good.

Our hotel was the "Le Meridien" on La Rambla Avenue. Michael Jackson stayed here once, according to what Charlene had read.

At night, we all took a walk and it was absolutely gorgeous. We walked the main road called "Las Ramblas". Grandpa saw a 'dirty' sign on a corner. You don't see those types of signs around America as we are more conservative when it comes to sex.

We had pizza for dinner. It cost $40 for all of us. They charged us $9 for water. Also, they charged us for 6 sticks of butter and 6 orders of bread. In America, it is complementary to get bread and butter before a meal, but not in Spain. Also, Americans can get free water with their meals, but that isn't the case in Spain.

The pizza had apples on it. It was pretty good. We sure learned our lesson with the water, butter, and rolls.

April 26, 1995: Associate in Arts Degree from MCC

I had commencement rehearsal in the afternoon. Afterwards, Mary Korpi and I went to the main building to check on our grades.   I got a B+ in Economics which made me happy.   

Grandpa and Grandma Thomas, Grandpa and Grandma Gonyo, Mom, and I had dinner at Bil Mar's restaurant in Grand Haven.   I love their cheese and cheese toast.   

Mary gave me a present. It was a beautiful address book.   

I graduated with honors.   The speaker left us with a good message:    "Always strive to be great; not just average.   Don't let someone put you down for being great.  Anyone who does that is just fearful of success.  Choose the path that is right for you and be willing to take risks in life."  

It was a nice ceremony.   I am glad I went to MCC for the first two years.