Back to the island

I'm back in Mallorca. This time it's September, hot and very sunny (34 degrees currently). Not anticipating an ash cloud incident although I've discovered last week's crew were monitoring Iceland's earthquake activity just in case!

Flight was very good - I'm impressed by Easyjet's efficiency and the valium did not require an accompanying gin. Top marks to the airline.

Hotel good again - no wifi in my room but I have a "penthouse suite" with a big balcony. Did some work out there this morning and it was very pleasant.

Today I had a lie in (10am, 9am UK time) and then we headed for lunch in Santa Ponca bay. There's a big festival going on relating to the invasion of a king from Catalonia and the defeat of the Moors. Last night there was a parade through the resort (with costumes) and a beach showing of Mama Mia, followed by an Abba tribute band. This went on into the early hours, but I slept through it.

So, we have an hour until the students arrive and time for a bit of work. Might need an hour or so at the resort tomorrow to go looking for shorts, since I have definitely brought the wrong mix of clothes (why did I bring a ski jacket?).
Hoorah for summer dresses for Matalan packed "just in case".

Homeward bound (boo!)

Well, it's almost over again for another year. In less than 7 hours we will be back in Southampton and back to reality. Neither of us can believe how quickly the last 2 weeks have gone, so with the help of a last ginger beer (and Tom Jones), here are our lasting memories of our voyage to the Med.

Favourite port: Ajaccio (Andrew, because it was such a surprise port) and Monaco (Victoria, because it was Monaco).
Least favourite port: Gibralter. This is unanimous.
Single favourite bit: waking up every morning to a sea view and walking round deck even in the wind and spray and seeing whales and dolphins.
Least favourite bit: being permanently told we're too young for cruising by rude old people that should know better.
Funniest moment: Andrew being called a geek in front of the whole ship!!!
Roughest sea: Force 8/9 in Atlantic off Portuguese coast on the way home, but not as bad as the sea on the Baltic cruise last year so we've been lucky.
Best meal: the Italian lunch in Rome since it was the same restaurant and meal we ate on our honeymoon. Aaah.
Books read: Wicked by (Victoria) The Story of the Von Trapp Family Singers by Maria von Trapp (Victoria) and Arabian Nights (Andrew).
Best thing on ship: plenty of places to sleep and read, lunchtime rollmops, ginger beer, sky deck sun loungers (!) and afternoon hot chocolate in the Piano bar.

A special mention should go to our table mates: David and Jeanette the butchers-come-property magnates from Poulton-le-Fylde, Jim and Wendy from Farnborough and Pam and Kath the wild Welsh women from Caerphilly. They were all fabulous company and it was a pleasure to dine with them, go to the show or watch the football.









Lloyd and Ariston our waiters, of course, looked after us very well!

It's just unfortunate that N Italy, S France and Corsica (and E Austria!) have since been hit by freak rain, flashfloods and landslides. Jeez-we're not even home yet. Disaster was quick this time.

17 months and 3 days until we set sail for our next cruise to the Canary Islands! We've bought a P&O piggybank to start saving our spending money. Since we still want to do Norway/Iceland cruise and now also want to do the Eastern Med cruises we might need more than 1 pig!

So, very shortly it'll be off to bed and when we wake up we'll be back in Southampton. Just like last year, this cruise has been so much fun and gone far too quickly.

Au revoir, adios, & arrivederci!


-- Post From My iPhone

Location:The English Channel

Rampant patriotism breaks out in Barcelona!

The Great British sail away, P&O style!



Not sure about the "Dad's Army" theme or Chas 'n' Dave!



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Bodies in the Sun

Today is our final port day, and we are in Barcelona. To be honest, after Ajaccio, Santa Margarita, Florence, Rome and (of course) Monaco, today has been a bit of a letdown. Barcelona is just too big and crowded to really get a feel for it in 8 hours, especially when the traffic is so awful! Our plans to do the hop on/hop off bus were rapidly altered.




We went along to the Joan Miro Foundation (somewhere Victoria has wanted to go to for some time) and despite an early scare (a sign saying "closed") we managed to get in just after 10am. This was a fantastic gallery full of Miro's work, together with some installations by Calder (he of mobiles fame). We wandered around for just over an hour before deciding to try and see the rest of Barcelona.

By this time, everyone else semed to have decided to use the city tour buses so there were no spaces on the upper deck. After passing Camp Nou, we evetually arrived at La Pedrera, Gaudi's famous apartment block. The queue to get in was huge (way past the sign denoting a 60min wait), so after a quick bite to eat, we tried to head towards Gaudi's other famous building, La Sagrada Famila.




Big mistake. Over 30min later we were sat on the bus no more than 500m from where we started, so
after several anxious glances at the time, we decided to cut our losses and head back to Arcadia for a spot of sun bathing. One waffle (with chocolate sauce) later, we were back on board and heading for the sun deck to top up the tans.

Right now, I am sat on the promenade deck cooling down while Victoria has dozed off next to me. The lack of breeze on the sun deck together with the roasting sunshine made it just a bit too hot for comfort. We may have had glorious weather on this holiday, but it can still get a bit too hot!
Hopefully we will be going to the final sail away party at 5:15, before we set sail for home (boo!), and of course the football later on (we are forsaking dinner for this match, so it had better be worth it!)
This has been a great trip which seems to have flown by. Although we are ready for a couple of sea days, it seems a bit sad that our next port of call will be home. I just hope we can bring some of the Mediteranean sun with us!


-- Post From My iPhone

Location:Promenade deck, Arcadia in Barcelona

More Monaco

Today was fabulous but it nearly wasn't. Villefranche is a tender port and the swell was very high so disembarkation took a long time. Our "Monaco on your own" bus was therefore running late and our time in Monaco reduced. To make matters worse, we were dropped off on Mont Monaco (by the royal palace) at 11am and told to be back on the bus at 1pm. Needless to say we were not pleased, especially when told it was to transfer us to Monte Carlo (casino); all of 1km away but 20min in traffic!

So, rather than set off into the heart of Monaco, we stayed in the area surrounding the cathedral (stunning in itself) and the (surprisingly ordinary) palace. The view across the harbour to Monte Carlo was fantastic, we liked it so much we stopped at an estate agents on the way back! Might be a while before we can move here though!



After a spot of souvenir shopping, it was time for our "transfer" across town. We drove along the start/finish straight for the GP, and after passing through "the tunnel" we reached our second drop off point. This was almost next door to the famous hairpin bend



From this point we carried on around the course, albeit going backwards. Victoria did express some concern at how narrow the streets were and wondered what happens if an F1 car crashed into the Gucci or Prada shops! We next reached Casino Square (where the rich &
famous go to lose money) and after a brief stop, descended the steep bank down towards the harbour & town.



After walking along the straight towards La Ratcasse, we continued round towards the Swimming Pool, stopping to admire the blue waters and expensive yachts moored in the harbour. We soon reached the tunnel again; having grabbed an ice cream (pit stop of sorts) we carried on back to our meeting point.


We are now back at picturesque Villefranche for the tender back to Arcadia. It's been a lovely day, but it could have been so much better if not for the over-protective (and fairly useless) 'tourguide'. Oh well, just have to console ourselves with a cocktail on deck followed by the World Cup!

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Location:Boulevard de l'Impératrice Alexandra Feodorovna,Villefranche-sur-Mer,France

Nice? No! C'est Monaco!

WOW! We've walked the F1 circuit! Monaco/Monte Carlo is fabulous! Not picturesque but an experience! We've got lots of photos to show Jon (lucky him) but you can't imagine what the circuit is like unless you visit. It's steep, narrow and expensive! You should see the cars here! Tutlewax must sell out fast!
On our way back to the ship now so we'll post this with a Monaco location for you to be jealous.





-- Post From My iPhone

Location:Boulevard du Larvotto,Monaco,Monaco

Hot

Just to confirm it was 31 degrees in Florence at 4pm. Just seen UK weather on Sky News.....wish you were here?


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Location:Back on board, cooling down