* posts from here on down are slightly skewiffed due to no net connection on board *

Saturday

Florence/Pisa

Tour day! Docked in Loverno, very big commercial port. Had to get to the tour meeting room at 7am! Imagine how Shell felt! We hopped on the coach which took us to Firenze (as the Italians call it), took about an hour. As we pulled up the tour guide advised that if we wanted to go into the church (can't remember which one!) then shoulders need to be covered. Yes, Michelle had a vest top on. So she then had a few minutes of panic until we found a market stall which had shalws for sale. She even managed to get one that matched the colour of her vest top! So we were off on a walking tour of Florence, which was good to begin with but as the hour approached lunch it was getting hotter and hotter. Florence is very nice, lots of nice buildings, squares, statues etc. We stopped for some italian lunch and then went off to Pisa. Those italians sure know how to put foundations in! Other than the leaning tower, Pisa is pretty much nothing and we only stayed for an hour. Then it was back on the coach and back to the boat. We set off at 7am and got back at 5pm, a long day! We proceeded to chill out with a few drinks and then yet another fantastic evening meal!

Sunday

Rome

Wow. Another long day 7am till 5pm for the tour, but it was worth it. Rome is impressive, very impressive. We actually went on a really good day, weekends most Romans are at home so are not working in Rome itself and as it was approaching August this is traditionally their time for going on holiday too, so it was just tourists, traffic was really good too. This is one place we are going back to, the guide advised 4 days to see everything, one is not enough. Another walking tour, we saw the Spanish Steps, Trevi Fountain, the Pantheon, the Pizza Navona and then lunch. And then to the Vatican City were we walked around St Peters Square (which is round) and then queued up to go inside. Wow (again), we took loads of pictures but you have to see this thing in the flesh to fully understand the size and sheer beauty of it. Cleary Dan is not talking from a religious point of view, but he was impressed, even from the outside. But once inside well, it's just magnificent really. We spent 30 minutes in there but then had to go as our day was coming to an end. Rome is definatley a place we are going back to and we urge you all to go!

Monday

Sardinia - Algehro

Nothing much to report here, we had to use tenders again so our plan of a little lie in went out the window, bloody tenders are right below our room and they make a bit of a racket as they winch them out. Algero is nice, if a tad small. No pre booked tour so we did the 'tour train' and had a walk around, very nice place to go on holiday to chill out. We were soon back on the boat to catch some rays on the deck.

Tuesday

Majorca - Palma

Docked in Palma and got the shuttle bus to the cathedral, walked around the shops (Michelle very nearly bought some Crocs for some reason) got some presents for the folks back home (no not everyone!) and then walked around the cathedral. It would have been very impressive but having been to Rome it just didn't cut the mustard! We left at 13:00 as we had to be back on board quickly. We nearly lost a couple of passengers but they just made it. We then had a few beers inside (the heat was stifiling outside, no breeze!) before retiring to the room for a few hours kip. The last few days had caught up! As it was the second formal night we went to the Sterling Steakhouse and had Fillet Mignon. Seriously, this was sex on a plate, absolutely fantastic! We had to pay a $15 cover charge but we are so going back!

One thing that has disappointed us is the number of people who don't dress up. But the rules don't really seem to be enforced. We were worried before the cruise, are we going to look good enough in the evenings etc. We had no reason to worry, we look upper class compared to some! God knows what it's like on cruises like Ocean Village!! We stayed in Crooners bar until 1am drinking Dans new favourite wine. Rosemount Chardonnay. $10.25 a glass but worth it.

Wednesday

Gibraltar

Home! Sort of. Woke up this morning to find we are surrounded by fog! We didn't dock until 12 so by the time we got there it had gone. Kind of eerie being in the sea in fog! The fog did eventually clear to reveal the rock. Well, it's slightly strange seeing the police look like ours, the phone boxes look like ours and the post boxes too, but apart from that Gib isn't all that. We didn't have a tour so just wandered around the shops. If we did a tour of each place we would be flat broke! We got back on board for some dinner and then an hour in the sun. We hopefully got some good video footage of the rock plus the docking and, really hopefully, a shoal of dolphins as we came in, and I'm sure we saw a shark, or at least something that looked like one, but we didn't get the footage!