London to Barcelona

(text only update as the Internet link toth boat is really slow and really expensive, images will follow later)

We set off from London to Barcelona flying EasyJet, the flight cost less than $50 for both of us, unfortunately the baggage limit is 30 pounds so our excess baggage fee was $90 !. We arrived on time and had the idea of spending 50 Euro and doing a quick tour of the city in a taxi. We forgot to realise that we didn’t speak Spanish so we made our way directly to the porta.

The Oceania Insignia is beautiful, there are approx 630 guests so everywhere you go on the ship it seems that not many people are about. The food is wonderful and the portions are small which is great. The staff are mainly Eastern European and are lots of fun, there’s also some Indians and they love us because we can talk cricket. Steve met his twin that afternoon, also Steve, they look nothing alike, California Steve is 6ft 4, but they have the same wicked sense of humour and love giving each other a hard time. He also has a wonderful wife, Jan. We have also met a lovely Canadian couple. There are a few younger people on board but most are retired Americans. We opted for sharing a table with others for our dinners and we have met some lovely Americans and surprisingly most have quite progressive views and have knowledge of other cultures. I guess though that people who are interested in travel are also interested in other people.

We sailed off in the afternoon and arrived in Marseille France. Unfortunately due to the civil unrest our city highlights tour was cancelled so we negotiated with a taxi driver to take us to Notre Dame, wait for us then take us to the Old Port. Notre Dame is the most beautiful church I have seen (included St Peters). They have small wooden carvings of fishing boats hanging from the ceiling, obviously praying for their safe return is the main focus of the townspeople. We then had lunch, we couldn’t read the French menu, we were so pathetic – here’s a tip, speaking English with a French accent does not mean the French can understand you. Steve managed to get some succulent mussels, well done. We had our lunch across the road from the marina and there were Police everywhere. The streets are very narrow and everyone drives a small car but they all have at least 26 dents in them. It’s very thrilling in the back of a taxi. We had a very big night in the martini bar, I now love Cosmos.

The next day was Monaco, my God, it was spectacular, the history is very interesting as well as their tax laws. All the peasants catch the train in from Nice each day as they can’t live there. We went to the Monte Carlo Casino and took Prince Albert for 90 euros.

The next day was Livoro Italy and we did a tour into Florence. Again the history, architecture, streets and scenery are just breathtaking. It is amazing when tour guides say “this building underwent extensive renovations in the 1850s” when our “old” buildings in Australia were just starting. We ate a Panini and café latte for lunch in an outdoor café overlooking a statue of Dante. I really love the statues and mosaics.

Then it was Civitavecchia, Italy and we did a self guided tour of Rome. We started at Piazza Del Popolo and made our way down the narrow streets past designer stores to the Spanish Steps, Trevi fountain, Pantheon, Piazza Venezia down to the Coliseum where we did a guided tour. We then took a bus to the Vatican and did a guided tour of Basilica Di San Pietro (St Peters) – WOW again. It was a very big day and we crashed early.

Today we are woken up expecting to be in Naples but we are still in Civitavecchia, apparently we have had some electrical problems in one of the propellers so we are going on a Etruscans food expedition this afternoon for a couple of hours. The captain said that we will miss out on going to Malta.

Anyway we are having a wonderful time, the weather has been perfect, 18 to 20 degrees each day, lots of sunshine.