Europe Trip 2012 Day 21 (July 12, 2012): 'Split'ing to the Finish Line

The last stop of any cruise is always met with both a lot of excitement and a lot of dread. I know when both Jenn and I woke up this morning I could see that little piece of sadness start to creep into both of us as we know this is the final stop on the cruise before boarding a plane back to LAX.

Lets not start that sob fest yet though because we still did have our last stop of the cruise today Split, Croatia. We woke up this morning at around 9AM something I know we both would love to keep doing when we get home. Instead of getting room service which we are both a bit burned out on we got Starbucks this morning which hit the spot. We met up with my family at 10:30AM and went down to board the tender to take us to Split, Croatia.

Being that this is the last port and that there were only a few  excursions to choose from today we decided not to take an excursion but  instead explore it on our own. It was a great decision because the main  attractions in Split are literally right next to where you dock in from  the cruise. We walked straight to the palace, looked in many of the  small shops and took a ton of pictures. I have been really impressed  with how well maintained a lot of these stops have been and Split  continued that trend. Each street was lined with beautiful cobblestone  and just appeared to be well kept up.

We continued walking  around for a while, bought a few gifts, and even  went to lunch as a  family at a place called Pizzeria Fortuna which was  described as the  oldest pizzeria in Split. We walked in and got a table  for all seven of  us and talked to some nearby couples who were also  from the cruise one  from New Jersey and the other from Orange County as  well. Jenn got  Lasagna and I had Pizza with Ham and a local Beer. The  food was  extremely good both full of flavor and perfect for a warm day.  Speaking  of warm days when our waitress brought the drink she dropped  Jake's beer  on the table and literally shattered the glass putting  almost all of  the beer on Jake's lap. He was a great sport about it and  with it being  so hot outside it dried quickly and he just ended up  smelling like a  drunk for the rest of the day.

After lunch we took the New  Jersey's couple recommendation and bought   tickets to walk up the Clock  Tower in the middle of the castle. The   climb itself seemed awfully  sketchy and I speak for all of us who went   up it, it didn't feel overly  safe. We did manage to get some great   pictures from it but combine a  tough climb with stairs with little to   no railings and you get a little  nervous as you climb up. It was worth   the price of admission and I am  glad we made our way up there.

Once Jenn and I got done with the  clock tower we were officially    pooped. I know we both felt like OK that  is a perfect spot to end the    day on. So we walked back and took the  tender to the cruise ship while    the rest of my family stayed and shopped  for a little while longer.  We   got back to the boat, looked at pictures,  and then began packing  up  for  our trip back home tomorrow. Packing to  go home took a quarter  of  the  time it took to pack at the start of the  trip and without a  lot of  the  stress. We got packed up within an hour  and sat on the  balcony  until  dinner.

The final dinner in the  dining room is always a sad time where you   have  to say goodbye to your  two waiters. On this trip we had Zied the    assistant waiter who spoke  very little english and Terry who was from    Jamaica who was an excellent  head waiter. She was always kind and    always seemed to have a great time  with our family on the trip. For    dinner tonight I got the Shrimp  Cocktail with the New York Steak and    Jenn got the Pumpkin Soup with the  Mahi Mahi. Both dinners were really    good and we were fortunate enough to  have our favorite Cabernet    Sauvignon from France to send us off for the  dinner.

After dinner Jake and I did a last hooray at the casino  while Jenn,     Amy, and Ally had some late night drinks and went off to see  tonights     show which was a Juggling Act. From their stories it sounded like Jake and I didn't miss much other then the fact that the professional juggler couldn't juggle. After the show we all called it  a  night    to get ready for a very early morning tomorrow.

Although today is  coming to a close and so is the trip, I sit here     writing this post as the  happiest man in the world. The last three     weeks have been nothing short  of amazing. My only hope is that our     flights home are much better then  our flight in.