Welcome to Viva Viescas! This is just a little blog site for Mike & Kim Viescas where we share our travels and fun experiences together. We got married on September 22nd, 2012. I originally built this site to promote and organize our wedding and now it has been transformed into a blog for our travels and hopefully soon… our growing family. Enjoy!
Today we visited Florence and checked out the duomo and other nearby grand buildings. We also ascended the duomo tower and got great views of the city from above!
Welcome to the first day of our tour in Tuscany, Italy! After a long day of flying and a fitful night of sleep, we wake up in beautiful Montecatini. Our tour group had already departed for a day in Lucca but we opted to sleep in a bit and make our way to Pisa by train instead. Click any of the pictures below to view a slide show.
Ah the last full day of our Honeymoon. After today, we’ll wake up back at the port in Cape Canaveral and then it’s another day of driving and flying to get back home. It’s been a great honeymoon! Today we get to go out to the “private” Royal Caribbean island of Coco Cay. This is part of a trend of cruise lines buying up small islands so that they can control every aspect of the tourist experience (as well as all of the cash flow that results from it). This tiny little island in the Bahamas is set up for all sorts of fun beach and ocean experiences and we’ve signed up for a bunch of them. Today we’ll take a nature walk around the island, go kayaking out into the ocean, and finish up with a thrilling para-sailing experience out over the ocean.
Today we woke up in the beautiful port of Nassau, Bahamas. Our day was already fully booked with Dolphin and water park activities at the Atlantis resort so it was simply a matter of getting our tickets in order and catching the shuttle over the bridge to Paradise Island, the home of the giant mega-resort. This is the day that Kim was most looking forward to in our trip as she has wanted to swim with the dolphins for quite some time. To say she was eager to get underway is an understatement…
Day 4 of our honeymoon was pretty relaxed. Our only agenda was to get from the Disney World resort out to Cape Canaveral and onto our cruise ship. We researched various ways to get from Orlando to Cape Canaveral and the costs for transferring to Cape Canaveral were just ridiculous. It turned out that renting a car for 1 day to complete the 50 minute drive was the cheapest option. It’s totally silly, but that’s what we did. We rode the Magical Express back to the airport and picked up our car there. After the drive (and 20,000 toll booths), we hung around Cape Canaveral for a bit, had lunch, and then turned our car back in to head to the port to get on our ship. The boarding process was about as pleasant as getting on an airplane, complete with multiple security checks, long lines, and customer service representatives who didn’t seem to enjoy their job that much. After that hassle, we settled into our tiny little cabin and went topdeck to watch the ship set sail. Bon Voyage!
Welcome to day 3 of our honeymoon! Today we start off in Disney’s Animal Kingdom and then progress on to the Magic Kingdom. The Animal Kingdom is the park Kim was most looking forward to as she loves animals and conservation. Here we got a great opportunity to experience that in the signature Disney style. We had a lot of fun spending most of the day at Animal Kingdom. Early in the afternoon, we headed to the monorail stop and then onward to the Magic Kingdom in proper style. Our stay was cut short by a sudden torrential downpour, but that didn’t stop us from hitting all the main attractions.
We had originally planned to only visit two parks during our two day stay at Disney. I was really torn over picking Hollywood Studios or Epcot. Hollywood has the best rides, but Epcot provides a richer cultural experience with better shows and food. Because it was the off season, we figured the lines might not be so bad and opted to get a Park Hopper attachment for our tickets so we could go park to park during the day. The money was well spent as we eventually got to hit all of my favorite rides at every park. Of course, we were there from open to close.
Welcome to Day 1 of our honeymoon! Today is a pretty easy day. We fly from Boise to Denver and then on to Orlando. When we arrived, we grabbed our bags and headed for the Disney Magical Express. Kim was impressed by how orderly and friendly the staff were. I told her that’s the Disney secret – customer service and she could look forward to exemplary service during our entire stay. You get what you pay for. Onward!
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The big day is finally upon us! We got a good nights sleep and enjoyed a lazy morning. Early in the afternoon, Kim went for her hair and makeup and I went to the venue to coordinate the staff, flowers, table decorations, equipment, band, and DJ. Before I knew it, it was time to don my handsome vest and walk down the aisle! It was a magical day for Kim and me and I think everyone else had a wonderful time as well!
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