Trip s far

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25th October 2010
Embarked Queen Elizabeth at 5pm Southampton
Our stateroom is very nice with all the facilities required, as the ship has only been on one voyage, everything feels and smells new.
Nice bottle of bubbly on ice ready to drink pre dinner
Sailaway quite cold - out through the Solent into channel.
Dinner 8.30pm, met our fellow guests John & Emma frm New Jersey and Don & Noreen from Swanage.

26th October 2010
We have three days at sea before our first port of call which is Barcelona. We are finding our own way round Barcelona and Monte Carlo so we are going to the sessions for these port of calls in the theatre during the day.
Tonight is a formal night, we had pics taken

27th October 2010
Interesting at breakfasts so far , you get seated where available. Some people insist on sitting alone, so far we have been seated with people from Yorkshire and Norfolk, all have a tale to tell.
We had afternoon tea in the Queens room, tea served by white gloved staff, a lovely Cunard tradition
Another formal dress code tonight, as its the Captains cocktail party, we bypassed the Captain and went straight for the champagne

28th October 2010
Today was the first day we breakfasted by ourselves, we had to talk to each other (god forbid)
Went to the Insights talk on Naples , it was a beautiful sunny day which we spent most of the day on the Lido deck sunning ourselves and listening to the live band.
Dress code was elegant casual tonight as it is a port day tomorrow.



29th October 2010
Docked early morning in Barcelona, after breakfast we taxied to the Sagrada Familia, a building by Gaudi which will not be finished for another 30 years. It receives over 4000 paying visitors a year and I think that they all turned up when we arrived. There was no way that we could have queued for 2/3 hours at each attraction. We walked round “The Sacred Family” and found a street cafe opposite to plan where to go next.
We walked down to Casa Mila and the down to Los Ramblas. We passed a number of buildings including the Casa Batilo. Into the Gothic quarter passed the cathedral where we found a small bar/cafe to coffee and a snack.
After lunch we headed down o the marina area, there were some huge yachts moored up here as well as the run of the mill flotilla. The waterfront is clean and a huge part of Barcelona lifestyle. We ambled along the front until we came to a Cunard shuttle station to take us back to the ship.
It was a good introduction to Barcelona. The weather was warm with a nice breeze, I think what stunned us was the sheer volume of people at he attractions. When you got off the beaten track into the back streets it was a lot more tolerable, until you came out to a main road which was madness.
Definitely a place to come to for a few days break, and PRE book tours.

30th October 2010
Monte Carlo. We arrived with a full blowing. The Captain came on to say he would attempt to dock within the harbour. He did, if he had not we would not have been able to tender into Monte Carlo because of high seas. As it was during the day the winds got stronger, at one stage breaking a bow line. The crew had to keep the thrusters on all day to keep the ship against the quay.
We walked up the hill to the Princes Palace, coming into the square at 11.55 to see the changing of the palace guard. Coffee and apple tart in a local cafe (not touristee) and the into Monaco, walking part of the Formula 1 circuit. The wind was getting stronger, and it had started to rain so we made our way back to the ship. The small port ferry was not running (wind) so we walked back round th harbour pas all the multi million pound yachts. Some were provisioning for the weekend, but they were not going anywhere this evening (nor were we).
Back on board we booked to dine in Jasmine a Pan Asian cuisine. Captain came on to say there would be a delay in Sailaway ( wind). We ate at 7pm, which meant we dined with a fantastic view of Monaco and the casino.
Because we ate so early, we had a drink in the Yacht Club Bar and during this time we slipped out of Monaco harbour to sail to Livorno and Florence.

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Comments

[Sparky]

Lottery Winners?
Hi guys, sounds absolutely fantastic! Looking forward to the photos. See you on your return. Sparky