Lunch with AJ's "special drink", he really liked the strawberry granitas, so that was what he wanted every day.
Michael was my vanilla milkshake kid - we got to know the ice cream man pretty well by the end of the 11 days.
After lunch we headed off the boat into Messina. The boys being crazy - they really do crack me up. Messina is located at the tip of the boot of Italy. We decided not to do an excursion at this port and just look around ourselves. It looked like most things were close. When we walked a little bit we found a hop on hop off bus tour. It was perfect, it takes you around the city and has an audio guide with some of the history of the area. It took us to all the things I wanted to see and the boys didn't have to walk too much - which was a bonus for them and me so I didn't have to listen to them whining. :-)
Daddy and AJ getting ready for our tour - the red isn't sunburn, just the sun through the red canopy.
This is the Cathedral that was built in the 12th century. It has one of the largest astronomical clocks in the world, built in 1933.
This is the Fountain of Orion was built in 1547, it is dedicated to the mythical founder of the giant Orion Messina. It was built to celebrate the construction of the first aqueduct.
This is the Fountain of Neptune built in 1557 and was commissioned on the occasion of a wedding. When it was finished they didn't like it and called it "the white giant." So work continued on it for the next 10 years to their liking.
This is the Church Messina Tempio Votivo di Cristo Re. It was built in 1900, up on the hill and very prominent - we could see it clearly from our cruise ship. In its crypt is a shrine with a memorial to Italian Soldiers.
The view from the church - our cruise ship is the white one on the bottom right side of the photo.
My boys, Michael didn't want his picture taken, but he didn't have a choice. ;-)
I thought this was neat with the three different crosses all in the same picture.
The boys messing around until we were ready to leave on the bus. I swear if there was something they could climb, or they think they could climb on, they were on it like monkeys.
This is the San Francesco all'lmmacolata - it was said to be the acropolis of the city during the times of the Greeks (who founded Messina) and the Romans.
We told the boys that the one job they had at all the ports was to find gelato - and we found a good place in Messina. We were all enjoying it!
I was also told the one food you HAD to try in Messina was the canole. I was told they have the best in the world, so of course we had to try them and they were really good!!
I just thought this tree was really cool
This is one of the older churches in Messina - Chiesa Marisa SS Annunziate dei Catalani.
I was trying to get a perspective here, you can see how far down the original road was and how much the city has been built up since this church was originally built.
The is the monument that you see when you come into port and is called Madonna of Port. It is built where the old fort San Salvatore was. It is they symbol of the City.
The statue is seven meters high and was built in 1934. It illuminates the harbor at night. It is an impressive sight.
After that we headed back to the boat. The boys wanted to join the kids club to make pizza that night, so I took them over there and then David and I went down to one of the bars and relaxed and listened to some music for a little while.
It was nice just have a little time for just the two of us. :-) Then we went to pick up the boys, but they were having waaaay too much fun! The kids club was up in the disco dancing area.
They played games with the kids and we couldn't tear the boys away from it, even though almost everything they said was in Italian, the boys just watched and then followed along. They had a BLAST and wanted to do it every night, but they only did it this one night. After that it was 11 pm and we were all ready for bed.
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