Barcelona 28 degrees & sunny when we left. London feels cold! I had goose bumps all over and rather than shorts, sandals & sleeveless, people are wearing full pants, long sleeves & sweaters. The shuttle bus from the airport even had heat on... And have I read it correctly, 15 at home?! Good-bye med weather. The 10 best: 1. our amazing weather throughout this trip, 2 weeks of sun & heat. 2. our meals together outdoors 3. cappachinos in Italy 4. the restaurant Babylonia in Barcelona for our amazing food, service & view 5. our wait staff on the ship... especially [View Full Entry]

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Return to Barcelona! More info later... I need some sleep now. Let me just tell you I didn't mind leaving the ship, and I loved London which is where we head tomorrow. BUT, I am so not ready to leave Barcelona! Lots of reasons but the biggest one is this is the end of our exploring. We are about to spend our time (in airports, cabs, hotels) flying back to London and then home. Our days in the sun have come to an end. We spent almost all our time out there. Meals spent relaxing outside in the warm breezes. I [View Full Entry]

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An asylum, hobbits & catapults in the south of France. Last full day on the ship, tonight we head back to Barcelona Spain. I write to you today on the 11th deck on the outside deck just as we pull out of the port of Marseille and the view is of course stunning… Rocky, arid hillside below blue hazy skies with the city sprawled over it along three sides of the ship. This morning I went on an excursion to Les Baux which is about and hour and 15 minutes from Marseille by bus. As we are getting ready to [View Full Entry]

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Our first day in France. 11 days and 6 countries (not including home) were you keeping count? This morning was spent with a short drive to Monaco from our ship docked in VilleFranche on the French Riviera. It has a micro climate here so palm trees and banana plants are common. The drive is along the coast along winding roads on hills, kind of like Cape Breton …but rich, populated, tropical, yachts in the water. Ok, maybe not so much like Cape Breton other than the winding drive. We see the road where Grace Kelly went off the road and died [View Full Entry]

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Cruisin’ in the Mediterranean Day 4. Ahhhh, Tuscany! Stunning countryside made up of large hazy hills, fields of bright sunflowers, green olive trees, grape vines & cypress trees and terra cotta roofs. Those large hills are where Michelangelo got his marble for his statues. Tuscany is somewhere I would come back to for a relaxing vacation in the sun. I know we’ve been travelling north, but OMG it’s been hot! By midmorning I thought I saw a sign that said it was already 33 degrees Celsius. Today is no cooler than yesterday in Rome though. There are fountains in the [View Full Entry]

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Cruisin’ in the Mediterranean Day 3. We dock in Civitavecchia and bus into Rome about an hour away, but this gives us time for a little power nap. Our days are so busy that I think everyone falls asleep on the bus. My group eats supper in the dining room at 9pm every night and after being ready for the excursions by 7am, you can see how it gets to be long days. It’s hot again, our guide tries to stay in the shade as much as possible and they give us bottled water to keep us from getting dehydrated. It [View Full Entry]

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Cruisin’ in the Mediterranean Day 2. Tonight, I blog from deck 11, near the top of the ship as we sail out of Napoli (Naples). I wish I had my camera with me now as I can see the whole city spread out before me. Actually, only a video camera would do this view justice … a wonderful view. But then, I have so many great pics from this trip. It’s hard to believe I’ve been away from home and on vacation for a week already, but there is still another spectacular week to go. Today was a day that will [View Full Entry]

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Sunday we boarded the ship, Voyageur of the Seas, which is part of the Royal Caribbean fleet of ships. There are over 3000 passengers just on this ship. I found the adult pool almost right away, a bar right by the pool and whirlpool. Wi-Fi is not available everywhere or in my room. But it is in the Pig & Whistle pub, I think that’s where I will be posting from. Yesterday, I worked out at the gym while the ship left the port of Barcelona. Rather than standing around on the deck, I had a view of Barcelona as we [View Full Entry]

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Barcelona on a saturday. I headed out on my own for a little exploration of Barcelona, a city of over one and a half million people that has existed since Roman times and one of the largest cities in europe. The Sagrada Familia is a huge cathedral, just down the street from our hotel, started in 1882 and is expected to be complete in 2026. Maybe it's the afternoon siestas holding them up? Shops close down in the afternoons and re-open for the evening. So I head past there and down towards Las Ramblas. Las Ramblas is a dried out old [View Full Entry]

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Acadian french & broken spanish from Canada hits Barcelona! I have a new FB friend from Denmark living in London that I met on the train on the way to the airport in Gatwick England. He flashed me his tattoo on his chest, a nice little red maple leaf and we got to chatting :P London was nice at 27 degrees. Barcelona is hot, yeah bring it on :) Sangria in Spain and an evening with friends on the patio. A pretty good night for a friday :D Thanks for everyone we've already heard from, keeping us company along the way [View Full Entry]

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