The Killalea-Walford Travel Blog

After flooding you with my Paris tome I have decided to split Switzerland up a little. This is part one. Enjoy.

Leaving Paris

Leaving Paris was miraculously easy. Despite the French fuel distributers being on strike, I know, a strike in France WHEN DOES THAT HAPPEN! Gas stations were closed and others limited the amount of fuel you could buy to 20 euros. Not good with a long weekend coming up in the land of bread and wine.

We had booked a transfer and our driver had it all under control.

So a farewell breakfast, to the airport, easy check in (all self-service now) and we wait.

The wait was fabulous as they have a business centre with charging stations and comfy seats. So we sat and skyped Sarah and waited for our flight.

The flight was early, everyone was checked in easily, and there were no issues. Just to underline that this is not the France I remember 😛

Arriving in Geneva – Day One

Time in the air 31.5 hours!

Anyway! The last time I was in Switzerland was 12 years ago. Most of you know the story and I am not going to lay it out here. So returning here I was a bit apprehensive.

Flying into Geneva is always beautiful on a clear day. You can see the lake, mountains, cute little villages laid out below. Stunning.

We landed without issue, bags came quickly, through the non-existent security and customs check. And we are in Switzerland!

As we had some plans to travel around I booked a rental car. Eek driving on dark side again. But at least I knew the roads, kind of.

Our wonderful friend Carlos, massive shout out to Carlos and family, had us to stay in his lovely apartment. So job number one was to find where he lived and try and remember some French again.

Whoever invented GPS navigation and the NAGMAN (the spelling is correct, believe me) I love you. You are my favourite person EVER!

Thanks to the nagman, even though he was speaking to me in French, we made it to Carlos’ house. We only took one wrong turn and ended up back in France. Yes really, we just left damn it.

Dragged the four suitcases up the three flights of stairs. And we arrive in our temporary abode Chateux Streijfert!

We were a bit hungry by this stage and walked the short distance to Thonex from Chateux Streijfert (CS). Where we found a cute little restaurant. The menu was limited, very limited, we kind of had two choices, so we opted for fillet de perche! A very Swiss thing to eat. I explained to Jason it is similar to marlin. Which it is not, at all, not even slightly, except they are both fish.

It was a lovely meal and a great start with the Swiss cuisine.

By the time we were all sorted it was getting late in the day, time to head to WHO via the bus system and go visit an old haunt.

The buses have not changed that much, getting tickets is much easier than before, but they look the same. Google maps assisted and we made it all the way to the other side of the lake and up to WHO. I spent a lot of time reminiscing and showing Jason my old haunts.

Carlos met us at WHO and we had the grand tour. It had changed a lot and not at all. Strange but true. The view is still fabulous, there are a few new buildings and some that have gone. But, some of the people stayed the same. It was lovely to see some familiar faces and even better to be remembered!

Lovely to see you Thor, Luba, Navneet, Laurant, Nick, and many more.

Now, time for some wine.

What I was completely unaware is the state of traffic in little Ol’ Geneve! Its bloody miserable. Taking us over an hour to get from WHO to the other side of the lake. A journey of around 6kms. Luckily Carlos was very entertaining so we managed to stay awake!

We went to a very cool bar called Bateau Geneve. It is run by an association focused on social character, helping those with difficult situations integrate into normal society. So very cool. And very funky as well. The music was loud, the wine very tasty and abundant, and the tapas extremely edible.

While both Jason and I were very tired, it was always going to be a tough day, a few drinks in and we were slightly revived.

We also got to meet and get to know Carlos’ family. Jacob, Arno, and Mariko. What a fabulous crew.

At around 1000pm we opted to bail, so these kiwis got back on the bus and went home for a sleep. As we were waiting for the bus a poor innocent man was walking his dog, I accosted him and asked if I could pat his dog. This is becoming a habit.

Geneva, so far so good.

End of day one!

2^nd June – Day 2 Switzerland!

When we woke, which was far earlier than our hosts who had stayed out a lot later than us, the weather was fabulous! The weather forecast for the rest of the week was not. So we needed to maximise on the clear day.

A quick visit to the supermarket to stock up on food for the day, we need to get better organised and have some breakfast stuff sorted. We got some filled rolls and pastries, of course you have to have pastries in Switzerland. Fresh fruit, sorted.

Into the car and off to Chamonix. Chamonix is only about an hour from Geneva and well worth the visit. It was always one of my favourite places to take visitors. The view of Mont Blanc and the cute little town is lovely.

The drive is relatively easy, onto the motorway and off you go, by this stage we had replaced Monsieur GPS with Miss GPS and were now receiving instructions in English. . The scenery is wonderful on this drive, the cliffs towering over little villages, waterfalls hundreds of meters up, and green, the country is so green.

We stopped at the usual Mont Blanc viewing platform, and it put on a great show, the view looking down the valley to the mountain is very exciting. After our road side picnic for breakfast, time to finish the journey to Chamonix. Miss GPS was a little confused and was trying to take us off the path, but luckily we made it, found parking, and went exploring.

The town is just how I remembered it. But not as busy which was awesome. We made our way to the gondola so we could go up to the viewing platform.

The platform is called Aiguille du Midi and is a 3842m peak.

You take two lots of gondolas to get there, then a lift to get up to the very top and is the closest you can get to the summit of Mont-Blanc without hiking or climbing and is the highest mountain peak served by an aerial lift system.

Bloody hell it was hard to breath, between the adrenalin of looking down and seeing the ground 3800 meters away, and the thin air it was really overwhelming. Each time you climbed a step, BTW the steps are grated so you can see all the way down all the time WTF!, you would need a rest to get your breath back, don’t look down, don’t look down.

There were some people, mad bastards, running up and down the stairs and round and round as part of their training I believe. I could not walk up the stairs and talk!

We went up to all the viewing platforms and then saw a glass box hanging off the side of the platform, what is this new madness!

The madness has a name “Step into the Void”. It is a glass room with a glass floor, hanging off the uppermost terrace of the Aiguille du Midi. That’s right people a glass box that you stand in 3842 metres from the ground.

It consists of three glass walls, the glass floor and glass ceiling panels, means that you experience 1000 meters of free air directly under their feet, in total safety APPARENTLY! Though that was not reassuring when I was queued up to stand in it for a photo opportunity.

They encourage you to look around and admire the highest peaks in Western Europe, I felt more like getting the hell back onto solid ground. Deep breath, deep breath. Panic, not panicking!

Anyway, we did it and it was amazing, breath taking (literally), and we got some awesome photos. Unlike most other attractions there was no additional cost for this.

The mountain put on a great show for us and we saw the summit, some awesome birds, and some crazy people climbing the mountain – for fun!

After scaring the sh*te out of ourselves we decided to go back down. The altitude had given Jason a nasty migraine and my breathing was not flash.

So down we went.

We stopped at Plan de l’Aiguille (2,317m) for lunch where we quickly regrouped.

After some discussion we opted not to walk the rest of the way down, time was not on our side and Jason’s knee was giving him a bit of gip, though if you ask him its fine. I had my hiking sandals on but this is probably a terrain that you want your precious toes safely covered – and with my track record. Anyway, we opted to take the gondola down. For several reasons J

Our ticket also gave us cheaper access to the Mer de Glace – essentially a glacier cave. So once we hit, much appreciated, terra firma we walked over to the little railway station.

Making it just in time, literally 30 seconds to spare. We jumped on the little red train.

The train chugged and struggled its way up the mountain side, away from Mont Blanc and the gondola we had just been on.

The train is a famous rack and pinion railway that take you to the Montenvers site at 1913 meters, this holiday is filled with height and scariness.

Worth the effort though as you arrive to a fabulous panorama of the Mer de Glace glacier, the Drus and the Grands Jorasses.

Continuing our trend of following the older crowd the train was packed with retirees obviously on an outing. These were all French speaking so that was a little change J

The train ride takes around 20 minutes and you stop at the original train station which has been around since the late 18 hundreds. It has been refurbished and they are currently doing up the hotel and other facilities.

BUT, you have to wonder how long they will be doing this for. The amount that the glacier has shrunk is phenomenal. Seriously, when I was last there circa 2004 the glacier was at least 40 meters higher, not longer but higher up the side of the mountain. That is 40 meters depth that has melted away.

They have signs that show you over the last 100 years where you would have encountered the front of the glacier, and they have had to keep adding more and more steps to reach it.

To be honest, it was really depressing and an “in your face” abrupt realisation that global warming is very real (Mr Trump) and its being witnessed live.

I suppose if you see it every day it may not be so evident, but like a growing child, if you don’t see them for several years the change is immense. We were staggered by the decrease.

It is more evident as they have put insulating mats on top of the glacier cave to help keep it cold so it does not melt.

Despite the disappearing glacier and global warming shock to the system the cave itself was very, very cool. They keep digging one out and they actually carve little rooms, furniture and fittings into the ice. Not a place I personally would like to stay but it was so great being surrounded by these think ice walls.

Jason was like a nerdy kid at a science fair. Very excited.

We wandered around for a wee bit, whilst avoiding frostbite, before walking up the hundreds of steps back to the train station.

By this stage it was getting close to leaving time, we had talked about going through the Mont Blanc tunnel, just for fun, but the cost really made it a bit of folly. 56 euros to drive to Italy and back without actually seeing anything except the inside of a tunnel. Maybe next time…

And that was our outing in Chamonix, a great day, Jason loved the lack of people, the fabulous nature, and exciting heights.

The ticket price isn’t cheap. 132 euros return for both of us, but when you think that you can spend the whole day exploring or walking down, the views, and the exciting ride up there, it’s actually really worth it.

The time was getting by and we needed to head back to Geneva. Because that night I HAD A HOT DATE WITH TWO HOT LADIES!

I left Jason and Carlos to fend for themselves and ubered my way to Café du Soliel! An old favourite that we frequented constantly when we lived there. That place is still as amazing as it ever was.

The highlight was seeing two dear friends Jill and Niamh! We spent the next few hours talking, drinking, eating and laughing. It was so fabulous to see these wonderful faces. I wish we could have spent more time together.

And that was the end of day two. Wonderful.

Feeling good!

First, an update. Jason’s cold is nearly gone and he is hardly sniffing at all (“I am not sniffing, sniff, sniff”). My finger is improving with the swelling and bruising going down. Limited movement but definitely getting better 🙂

We finally arrived, after flight delayed in Barcelona, to an exceptionally warm day in Paris. We had organised a transfer and the driver was there ready and waiting. Liking this so far!

We made it into town and to our hotel in record time, there was very little traffic despite it being the end of a long weekend.

I had booked our hotel, West End Hotel, with the help of our lovely travel broker Tina. And we have done very well. The hotel is beautiful, the check in amazingly efficient and friendly, they bought our bags up to our room, and we have a cute little balcony and a view of the Eiffel tower. Wonderful.

The décor is very traditional and plush. We are so spoilt.

After the initial getting ourselves sorted, unpacked, and settled it was time to do a wander around Champs-Élysées. It is as stunning and beautiful as I remember. We were interested to see that the amount of armed security was a lot less than anywhere else we have been. There is definitely a police presence but it is not as confronting or as well armed as Rome, Barcelona, etc.

Upon arriving in France I had thought, now we are not on the cruise we wont eat so much. But then I smelt the crepes and the bread and the pastries, oh how wrong I was.

There were photos, a little shopping, and the obligatory drink and people watching on Champs-Élysées.

Back to the hotel for some cheese and crackers. Oh the cheese, the cheese, how I have missed this cheese.

We thought we should have a proper dinner, albeit a smaller dinner, and so we head out to find a restaurant. With weary feet we found a local hamburger place (“ambuuuurgur”).

The food was average, we attracked the attention of the elderly American couple seated near us, so we didn’t stay long. Ha, ha. Seriously the food was not that great, and the couple were interesting. But we were tired so back to the hotel for a nightcap and sleep.

We had plans for the next day.

29^th May – First Full Day in Paris (but really day 1)

We woke to a beautiful and very, very warm day in Paris. The high today, 29 degrees. Over three weeks since we have seen rain or any kind of bad weather. Oh the joy!

Breakfast was included in our hotel booking and it was fabulous. Your traditional European breakfast with meat, cheese, bread, more meat, more cheese, other types of bread, some cheese, a bit of meat, some pastries. I think you get the idea.

Funnily enough I had cheese and meat on bread x 2! Jason stuck with croissants and jam, x 4. Great start to the day if you ask me.

We had not booked anything so we were free to do as we pleased. I bought us hop on hop off tickets that included buses and boats for two days. So we wanted to give that a try, plus the lovely Miss Josie and her husband Kelvin were in Paris too, so we wanted to catch up with them as well. Other than that, Paris was there to be discovered, and the best way to do that is on foot.

There were a few things we needed to do first, one got to H&M and exchange a couple of things, I did not bother to try on because the queues were insane, and two go to the Swatch place and see if they could fix the watch I had broken and resize the replacement watch.

H&M was remarkably empty, they had only just opened. So that was done and dusted very quickly. A lovely young man served us and he was so helpful.

Then on to Swatch. It turns out I need to pay more attention to the watches I wear. I had bought it in Switzerland, many years ago, and it had a wee red symbol on it, so I thought it was Swatch. Not so, said the Swatch man. It is Swiss Military brand, only they can fix it. And he is also not allowed to resize the other watch. Damn it.

BUT, he went online, found a place he thought could do it, wrote down the details, gave us directions and wished us well.

Putting the watch story on hold for a moment, I am starting to get this strange feeling. Where have all the rude people gone! In crazy and rude Italy I warned Jason, if you think the service bad here just wait till we are in France. In bustling and abrupt Barcelona, oh boy I say to Jason, they have nothing on the French! What has happened to all the rude, rough, thoughtless people that we used to encounter in Paris constantly (other parts of France too, but Paris was always considered the worst). Ponder this, where have the all the rude people gone?

Back to the watch!

We found the shop that was recommend by Mathieu and the doors would not open. We are standing there and a security guard is on the inside telling us to wait. I start to get a bad feeling about this.

But the door opens and we step inside, the vault. We have to wait for the outside door to close before the inside door would open. Oh no, we are surrounded by Rolex, Tissot, Bvlgari, Cartier all with no prices, but all obviously very expensive.

A lady comes over to see us and was very nice. I said that I had a broken watch that I needed to fix and strap to adjust. She looks at my embarrassingly cheap Swiss Military watch and politely tells me it is not a brand they have (no sh!t), but said they can adjust the strap of my other embarrassingly cheap watch.

Off she goes to get the “Strap Man”. Meanwhile security have politely alleviated Jason of his backpack whilst we are in the store. We look at each other, on the inside I am thinking adjusting the strap is going to cost more than the watch. GULP, but we were committed so we sat nicely.

The “Strap Man” came out and very gently raised my wrist so he could assess the number of links to remove. And, with his white gloved hands, takes my 100 euro watch to adjust it (jason thinks he may have had to sterilize his equipment after dealing with such a watch as mine compared to his usual clientele).

The lady, I am going to call her Penelope because I think it suits her, is looking through the catalogue of watches, 32k, 55k, a cheap one at 16k, and we chat to her. We are definitely out of place in this store. But she is the professional and then suggests that we show my broken watch to the “strap man” (who now I must assume is the “watch fixer man”) when he returns.

“Watch fixer man” comes back after about 15, very looooooooooong, minutes. He puts the watch on my wrist and it fits. Hooray. Penelope tells him about my broken watch. I hand it over and he apologies profusely that there is nothing he can do.

No problem, I was actually greatly relieved as Euro signs were bouncing in front of my eyes.

I turn to Penelope and ask her how much for the adjustment. She smiles sweetly and says “no, that is all”!!! SERIOUSLY, did they take pity on me (I am ok with that by the way)?

The rest of the conversation:

“Oh my goodness, you have made my day” says JKW

“It does not take much” says Penelope

“You are not wrong” replies JKW

Jason’s bag is returned to him, we say thank you in as many different ways as we could think of and were promptly let out of the building, one door at a time.

Again, gob smacked at how polite and helpful people are being in Paris. It is like a parallel universe.

Thank you Arije and thank you Swatch Watch Paris – massive shout out to fabulous, helpful people.

YAY.

After that we picked up our hop on hop off tickets and decided to do some site seeing!

It was fabulous to see Paris again, it is such a beautiful place and the weather was amazing. Wahoo.

We got off at the Eiffel Tower and opted to avoid the queues and walk up the second floor. If you are going to Paris and if you go to the Eiffel Tower, and if you are feeling up to it, walk up the stairs. No queue at all.

Bloody long way but good for us with all the food we had been enjoying. Then we caught the lift right up the top. The views were spectacular!

We decided against the 15 euro thimble of champagne and went back down to level 2, beer, wine, rest! Then down the stairs and back to exploring.

Next was the boat ride. We got off at Pont Neuf so we could see Notre Dame! Very impressive indeed. Jason continues to wonder at the age of things, and I continue to shrug J

Time for lunch, it was 230 and we were starving. But luckily the city is covered with pubs that sell food, oh the hardship. We stopped for a sandwich, beer, and wine.

By the time all this was done it was time to walk back to the hotel, have a shower, drink, and head out to meet the lovely Josie and Kelvin at the Freedom and Firken! A few mojitos later, some pub food, and bit of chit chat, another walk along the “chompy chomp chomp” (named by Jason) before heading back to the hotel for rest.

A big day was planned so rest was needed.

Day 3 in Paris 30^th May

Another fabulous breakfast.

Everywhere we have been we compare the bread. Oh the bread we have seen!

Malta = very yummy, very solid, and always served with butter!

Italy = a much lighter bread than Malta, but still yummy, served with olive oil and balsamic vinegar.

Spain = bread is very chewy, but edible.

France = best bread by far, served with nothing, ‘cause they are French if it needed anything else they would have added it (understood).

Switzerland = nice, they try to be French but can’t quite pull it off. It really is a shame, maybe they could do something different…

We are not looking forward to the UK bread experience

I am so easily distracted, back to Paris.

We decided to use day two of our hop on hop off tickets. Well, NEVER, EVER do that in Paris. Never do the hop on hop off, not ever. Ever, nope don’t even think about it, just don’t do it. Noooooooooooooo. It was more like the hop on, wait, wait some more, drive 5 meters, keep waiting, go nowhere, hop off. Find another stop with a different route. Wait, continue waiting, no bus turns up so you can’t hop on. And you finally give up and decide to walk everywhere instead. Which we did.

We were walking across the courtyard that leads to the Louve and Jason spots a policeman on rollerblades. Yep, seriously, rollerblades. We had to find them, so I lead the charge and track them down. Start a conversation, and introduce Jason as a New Zealand policeman. They were thrilled, and so pleased to meet him.

They gave him a badge of the local police and we got photos. What great guys, the people here continue to win us over.

After that we did a truck load more walking and site seeing. It was awesome. But damn warm. We walked to the Pantheon and down to the Bastille monument – most of the monuments etc have been in really good condition – and easy to access, needless to say we have way too many photos ha, ha. As we were walking back into town it was time for lunch, we decided to pop into one of the local places.

It was interesting, not great, not even good, but jason enjoyed it as we both ordered the “plat du jour” and it turned out to be sausages and mashed potatoes. He helped eat mine and I had wine. We make a good team.

Tonight we have a tour booked so after lunch, some shopping, more photos, we head to the Arc de Triomphe to walk up and see the chaos from above. There were quite a few steps but we have both become mountain goats with the stairs lately, so we did it in record time.

The view was fabulous and you got a different perspective compared to the Eiffel Tower. Especially of the traffic. The roundabout is insane. Completely mental, even if you watch it for 30 minutes you cannot see any logic in the movement. It is more like orchestrated madness. Just lean on your horn, show no fear, and cut in.

Back to the hotel to get ready for our night out.

Our tour includes a dinner cruise, night time viewing up the Eiffel Tower, and then a show at Moulin Rouge.

The dinner cruise was lovely and the food was great, despite the rush as they only had 75 minutes to get out three courses. I had a wee run in with the waiter as he was “only main course, you can only pick the main, no other choices, just the main, no, no, no” until I got him to understand scallops as an entrée was really not going to work for me (allergies – blurgh don’t do it) and then he allowed me to have the vegetarian entrée option.

Jason had the chicken and I opted for the beef! Lovely, followed by a plate of little desserts.

The bus met us at the dock and it was off to the Eiffel Tower. As we had been up the tower only yesterday (that sounds so dumb right!) we decided not to go to the top. Took a few photos of the shadows and Paris in a different light before heading down to the boat/pub to fill in time until it was SHOWTIME!

I am so glad we did, sitting on the boat/pub we were able to see the Eiffel Tower light up at dark time, and then sparkle like a sparkly thing at 1000pm for 5 minutes. So great. The people who manage it should pop over to Singapore and speak to the Super Tree people. Think about lighting it up to Star Wars movie themes. Now there’s a thought!

Back on the bus! We were surrounded by the stereotypical Australians today! We first heard them on the bus, but they were on our tour too. Quite a laugh but very, very, very loud. We refrained from calling them Kath and Kim.

The last part of the evening was Moulin Rouge!

I kind of knew what to expect from the show, and based on that I figured Jason would enjoy it. Titties, music, dancing. Done.

We were all herded into our seats with exceptional efficiency. The show started and off we went. It was really cool, I think the parts with both enjoyed the most (though I am not sure Jason would say otherwise) was the acrobatic acts. These people were amazing athletes and fabulously talented.

The dancing and singing was really cool, and as expected there were lots of breasts, lots, I mean really lots! Needless to say Jason enjoyed the show ha, ha.

It was all over very quickly, hard to believe that we were being ushered out into the night!

Would we go and see the show again, Jason says sh*t yeah, at the drop of hat. Hmmm.

As for me, probably not, I prefer Cirque du Soleil with all the acrobatic, entertainment, and dancing features. But I am so pleased we went, it was a great night!

200am, time for bed.

Last Full Day in Paris

After very little sleep, it was always going to be hard day, but there were things to do and stuff to see so we dragged ourselves out of bed at 800am.

We needed to get packed, do some washing, and I wanted to send some stuff to New Zealand. I had already been into the post office and knew what we needed to do.

Off to the post office. Long queues, overweight box, take stuff out. Needed to tap the box shut again, no tape, off to buy tape, tape box shut. Eventually boxes sent.

Then off to do the laundry – there was a laundromat nearby and we put our stuff on and then sat across the road having a very, very, very enjoyable lunch. Probably the best lunch we have had in Paris. Sandwiches, wine, beer.

Laundry done, folded, time to head back to the hotel. Someone needed a nap (cough, Jason).

A phone call. The post office. They had dropped the box and the bottle of wine had broken. They had the package for less than 2 hours and smashed.

Back to the post office we go. The lady who I first spoke to was very apologetic, but then this asshole (I am pretty sure that is what his name tag said) walked up and growled at me “you cannot send wine” like that.

Excuse me, you pumped up little shite, you should have told me that before, and let me tell you why:

1. I bought the boxes from you
2. I clearly wrote on the forms what was in the boxes
3. The forms were checked and signed off by you
4. At no time did anyone say “you have written wine, you cannot send like this”

It was the only word in the description field of the form.

Deep breath!

I was asked if I wanted the box back, with all my stuff in it. So they handed me a sack that was leaking wine. Seriously, I was really upset. What dicks! I dragged the sack outside – hoping to leave a snail trail of wine through the office, and removed all the unbroken stuff. Leaving the sack with the broken, leaking bottle, outside the post office, we head back to the hotel.

Bit of a buzz kill. I think I have found where the rude people have gone. They work in the post office!

I build a bridge and I get over it. From reading the above you will see I am not actually over it. I am still very bitter 😛

Back at the hotel Jason has a week nap. And I decide I need to walk off my anger!

Shopping will help right 🙂

I locate Lafayette department store walk there, it is 3km from the hotel and on such a lovely day it would be a shame to sit inside. Off I go to have a look, and possibly buy some stuff. You never know.

The last time I saw one of the Lafayette department stores it was in Nice, and it was big, exotic and very cool. This one was insanely big, blocks and blocks, floors and floors, shoes and shoes.

Security checks entering the store and everyone warning me about pick pockets within the store. Paranoid.

It was quite overwhelming though. Too many floors and too many options so I saved myself the hassle and went straight to the shoe department.

45 minutes, a bit of shopping, got a new suitcase, and walked back.

By that time Jason was awake and feeling much more refreshed than he did that morning.

Time to visit the Louvre. By this stage it is already 500pm at night. Which was awesome, no queues! Wahoo, no waiting and no hassle, except that when we went to scan our tickets we found out we actually had to collect them from a ticket agent – READ THE FINE PRINT WOMAN.

Back out in the heat, walk to ticket agent, got tickets, back to the Louvre, luckily still no queues and we made it in.

We spent a couple of hours in the Louvre finding the items we want to see and getting lost, often! We were both too tired for this! However, it was definitely a great time to see the Louvre, go in the evening, less people and more time to explore as it does not close until 945pm a few nights a week.

When in the Louvre you seek out the Mona Lisa, it is the thing you do right! So we found her, looked at her, got a photo of her, end of story. I know we are heathens but you have to wonder, what is the fuss about…

It was getting late, I was really tired, after a lot of walking, and no nap for me, and stomach is telling me to eat. Eat now. But we had to get back to the area we were staying. I knew if I sat down I would not be getting back up again, my legs were too tired.

SO, we walked back to rue Marbeuf. The restaurant street right next to our hotel and sought out a lovely restaurant 🙂 There was one restaurant called L’Entrecote that always had queues outside, it is phenomenal! All hours of lunch and dinner. So, needless to say we did not go there. Instead we opted for Chez Andre! And we are so glad we did. The service was fabulous and fun, the food amazing and timely (not too fast, not too slow), and atmosphere enjoyable.

It had to be our best meal in Paris and we would recommend them to anyone who is looking for a great bite to eat!

To top off the evening we sat on our balcony, having an aperitif, and watching the Eiffel Tower light up and sparkle.

Thank you Paris.

The next day we left. We were sad, I miss it already! But not the post office, they suck.

Well it is finally here, the final full day of our cruise. We really have not been looking forward to this. But first things first, we had a full day and night booked in Barcelona.

And what a damn hot day it was, 28 degrees, clear blue skies, stunning views from the ship.

A quick breakfast to prepare ourselves for the day.

I am not sure if I mentioned this previously, but it worth mentioning again. The lovely staff in the restaurants offer to help the old and infirm carry food and drinks back to their tables. I thought this was very lovely and thoughtful, Jason rightly pointed out it is probably to avoid accident too.

Then they started asking me, often, and this was before my wee Etna experience. WTF!

Feeling a little taken aback. Eventually I said ok, about the 4^th time I was asked. They are just doing their jobs right.

Feeling old.

We had an excursion booked and it sounded great, iconic landmarks of Barcelona, you could be there for weeks and not see them all.

I had a box of stuff I wanted to send from the post office, as we were leaving the ship we were stopped. The chap did not know if we were allowed to take stuff off the ship. So we were delayed by about 20 minutes. Eventually I took the box back to our room and said we would sort it out later.

Apparently 30 seconds after I left to do that we were told it was no problem. Typical – box still not sent!

BUT, this mean we missed our bus, BUT the lovely young man, Bruno Mars (seriously, really, that is his name) had booked us on the next bus, we chatted to him for a wee bit, he had been to NZ and wanted to go back, and finally we made it onto a bus.

The first couple of hours on the bus, off the bus, following the tour sign, listening to the old folk arguing, we opted to bail.

And we went exploring. Instead we walked around 14km seeing all the things we wanted to see, eating what we wanted, it was awesome.

There were a couple of things on my must do list and they mainly revolved around Gaudi. Last time I was here seeing his work was a highlight for me.

Jason thought they were hideous. Absolutely awful. “Was he on heroin” he asked. Never the less the good man humoured me and we went and walked about.

We hiked to the top of the hill where the Gaudi park has been built. It was manic and busy and loads of people. They have put escalators in the middle of the street to cater for the tourists so they don’t have to walk up so many steps, really, yes really. Perhaps some of them could do with walking up the steps, just a thought.

We found a map and started wandering around the park only to find out you now have to pay to see the Gaudi monuments. And, they were booked out until 830 that night. Not happy. Oh well, there were other things from Gaudi we could look at and we did.

As we were wandering the park we discovered some classical musicians playing modern music in one of the monuments. Like a cave, but not, they were awesome. Very clever guys with quite an audience. So we stayed and listed for a bit, put some money in the case, and then continued our walking.

This time we headed down to the Parc Cataluyna. On the way the streets were quiet and on the outer roads they were adhering to siesta time. So shops were closed between 1230 and 400pm. Whilst the shop keepers had a wee nap. This meant walking around was very pleasant.

Then we got back to the main area, ha, ha.

The Parc, in the middle of several busy roads is very pretty, and busy, and hot. The fountains were an interesting shade of snot green. Hmmmm. But the statues were cool.

Into Barcelona’s biggest mall. El Corte Inglis! It was freaking massive. Luckily I knew what I wanted so we did not wander aimlessly.

However, all malls need to learn something. If they had a drop off point for men that contained entertainment and served coffee or beer, they would make a lot more sales. Just saying.

Up to level 3, shoes! I found a stunning pair, and them back outside to the heat.

You cannot go to Barcelona without walking down La Rambla! So we did. The river of people was very all consuming, there was no escaping them.

A very polite young man offered to sell Jason some cannabis, maybe to help him with the shoe shopping, we didn’t stop to enquire though.

By this time we had been walking around for nearly 8 hours and it was time to head back to the ship to start packing and have a swim. We have to start packing and that sucks.

Not happy L

Anyway, Barcelona was lovely, very busy and we didn’t get to see everything. Like most places we have visited we would like to go back to Barcelona, the cruise has been a good taster if you think of it as the tapas of travel.

All bags were packed, the cruise company pick them up from your room at 1000pm, and we went to Red Ginger for our last amazing taste experience.

We were not let down.

Farewell Oceania Cruises Riviera

Like nearly everything on the ship the last day went like clockwork.

We had a very nice breakfast out on the deck overlooking Barcelona. Everyone on the boat was a lot more subdued and quiet compared to when we all got on the boat nearly two weeks prior.

Our bags were down in the terminal waiting for us and all buses were organised to take us to the airport.

As a last jab, some of the people on our bus were late, had trouble getting on, seemed to have lost their bags etc. But eventually we were on our way only 10 minutes later than scheduled ha, ha.

The trip to the airport was very quick, Sunday morning so not a lot of traffic.

We were flying with Vueling, who I had never heard of, so was a bit nervous. But the check in went amazingly well. Very fast, friendly, and efficient! YES!

We had a wander through duty free and I bought a watch to replace the one I broke when I fell. 100 euros so not extravagant but I like it. They could not resize it at the airport, this is an important factor for later, so don’t forget it.

They gave us another 20% off so I felt the need to get an 11 euro bottle of vodka, Smirnoff – platic bottle, very practical really. And a nice bottle of perfume which I had been umming and ahhing about, but with 20% off I could hardly say no!

Then we were delayed, delayed by nearly 2 hours, didn’t they know they were eating into our time in Paris. On the upside it gave me lots of time to catch up on writing this blog 🙂

Then onto Paris.

The flight was great, very quick, they were trying to make up time.

PARIS. PARIS. PARIS.

Coming into Marseille was not the prettiest of harbours, as Marseille was the central port for many years. But the sunrise was stunning and well worth getting out of bed and crossing the three meters to our balcony 🙂

The excursion today includes a ride out to the Jardins du Château Val Joanis gardens which belong to the Château Val Joanis winery, located west of the town of Pertuis in the Vaucluse area of France. This was only 45 minutes outside of Marseille through very pretty scenery and, as we have come to expect, excellent commentary provided by the very knowledgeable guide.

Today’s guide, Ester, also came with an excellent sense of humour and shoe buying information. We became very close, obviously.

Once we arrived at the chateau Ester gave us a tour of the gardens which were very cool. They had been around for a long time and were used quite frequently for weddings. There was a wedding the day before and one due that afternoon. You will see photos of Lulu in the wedding archway.

The day was another stunner with the high due to hit around 28 degrees, and it did. But in the shade of the trees and in the cool of the wine cellar it was very easy to cope.

Now, what about Jason I hear you ask. Well, he was very good and seemed OK with the fact that this excursion was all about me.

After the tour of the gardens and the cellar it was time to start the wine tasting, OH the hardship! Jason decided not to ask for a beer and instead embraced the whole wine tasting experience. In fact when we were back on the boat he picked up the bottle of hand sanitiser, tipped it on its side, and states “this is clearly a young bottle, as you can see the green around the edges” oh dear god! Ha, ha.

Anyway, we started off with a white blend in the garden with some olive oil, bread, and olive tapenade. Delicious. We both finished a couple of glasses and the wine dude noted we are obviously drinkers oops.

We then moved into the chateau for lunch which consisted of three courses and matching wine. Jason was on a roll. The food was lovely, the company enjoyable, and the wine delicious. A quick visit to the wine shop and then onto Aix-en-Provence for the next phase.

Ester talked us through the history of the town, and pointed out areas of interest. We had 2 hours on our own to do as we wanted, so we walked and I shopped. I certainly made up for Rome and managed to purchase three pairs of beautiful shoes. If the service had been better the shoe collateral would have been greater. Probably a good thing it wasn’t.

It was great to be back in Aix and I thought of you Nancy and the fun we had there.

Back on the bus with the oldies and then back to the ship. We didn’t have time to get into Marseille itself so we went for a swim and hung out before dinner.

Its hard to imagine we actually had room for food after that lunch and wine, and cheese, and stuff, but we managed it.

We had met a lovely Kiwi couple in passing and had arranged to go to dinner together at the Grand Dining Room. The name is actually deceiving as it is not as flash as the specialty restaurants but still very nice.

What was going to be an early to bed, turned out to be filled with wine, great conversation, and lovely food. Late night.

Happy days.

But sad days as we are nearing the end of our cruise. We have really enjoyed our time and are a little worried how we will cope when we have to fend for ourselves! I guess we will soon find out.

Tomorrow we are in Barcelona. Its been a long time since I visited that place. Bring it on.

We were meant to sail into Monte Carlo but due to the Monaco Grand Prix, a huge number of cruise ships, our cruise decided that Villefranche-sur-Mer. Or the poor man’s Monte Carlo. It is very beautiful and there is definitely a lot of Italian influence.

It was very beautiful sailing into Villefranche, a little hint of Cinque-Terre and Amalfi with the buildings squished into the mountains surrounding the city, but not quite as stunning.

The water was crystal clear and an amazing blue which is where the region gets Cote d’Azur name from.

Today I made our first excursion mistake, injuries aside, and I had us booked on the panoramic tour. What this translates to is driving around the towns, with a very knowledgeable guide telling you everything, you can stop and take photos (sometimes), and that is it.

You don’t really get off the bus, you do not explore, you don’t really do anything. Luckily it did not last long and we were able to go exploring in the afternoon.

There was a slight upside, you knew where stuff was.

There was an option to head to Monaco and see the Grand Prix, you have to pay of course, but Jason was not that keen. Aren’t I a good woman to offer.

So, back to the boat for a burger for lunch! A quick regroup, repack the backpack and off we go. We had decided to go for a hike around the peninsula. So we did!

We started off in the Citadelle, it was beautiful. But, it really is an impressive fortress as it took us 20 minutes to find the entrance! Damn!

12kms of little streets, wonderful tracks, hot temperatures and stunning views. We walked from the Citadel in Villefranche-sur-Mer to the lighthouse, and then around to Saint-Jean-Cap-Ferrat port. It was a stunning little place and clearly there was a lot of money docked in the marine. Had a beer and wine to recuperate and then walked back to the citadel.

I have to explain that the route we took when we were walking was constantly around the Mediterranean, beautiful blue water, cooling, refreshing, inviting. I managed to go the whole walk without jumping in. Until the last 1 km. Then I had to go in, fully clothed, and it was awesome.

I am sure you can all imagine the impressed look on Jason’s face, yeah, but I did it anyway and I am sure that it helped heal all my scratches and cuts as they looked way better the next day.

After my quick dip it was time to head back to the ship a little bit damp. Absolutely shattered, what a busy day.

We were using tenders to get between the port and the ship all day, and it went really well. Far better than our experience in Malta.

We chilled in our room for a while, ordered a cheese platter, had some drinks. I didn’t realise you could even do that until someone mentioned the room service. Wish I had figured out the cheese platter a week ago 😀

That night we had no specialty bookings and we missed an invite from some fellow Kiwis to join them for dinner. So we decided to eat at the Terrace Restaurant as they were having a French themed menu. There was not too much French theme, mainly in the entrees and desserts, but the desserts were well worth it!!!!

Jason has a nasty cold at the moment so no extra energy to go dancing or watch a show, like that was going to happen anyway, ha, ha.

So off to bed to prepare for Marseille and Aix-en-Provence. I am so freaking excited for this excursion which is centred around food and wine.

Having never been to Rome, seriously never had the desire, it was one of the must do excursions for us.

The port, like the airport, is 1.5 hours from the city itself. So on the bus and off we go. There are a bunch of pushy old folk on the cruise so that means Jason and I usually squish to the back and have more room but less view. I hate to say it, and I have put off writing this down, the majority of these pushy, loud, rude, and demanding people are Americans.

Nothing like the Americans I know. And I wonder, do cruises attract these type of people, or is it the sense of entitlement that comes from being waited on that causes it. Anyway, we have met some lovely people and I digress.

The bus ride was smooth and painless and we made it into central Rome. It was hot, damn hot. 29 degrees. Not great in the city as we no longer had the lovely sea breeze.

The city was lovelier, cleaner, and less busy than I had been expecting. BUT, the amount of armed police and army was very confronting. Automatic weapons and armored  vehicles everywhere.

Jason asked one of the guards if this was due to the G7 but apparently it is just the norm now. How sad is that.

Our tour guide, lovely girl, took us to the centre, showed us where to eat, where to shop, and where to see. We very promptly got lost, no time for shopping (no shoes, I died a little inside that day ha, ha), but we saw some lovely sites and ate a tasty pizza (not as good as Ravello though).

I think when seeing Rome you need time, time to get lost, time to find yourself again, time to shop, and time to eat. Unfortunately we did not have all that time. We met back up with the tour and then onto the Vatican.

Many of you will be picking yourselves up off the floor, knowing that neither of us are overly religious, or religious at all, in any way, shape, form. BUT, if you are going to see a church St Peter’s Basilica is the one to see!

Before we could get in to see it, we had to queue in 29 degrees, with no shade, for an hour. Who knew I had that sort of patience! I took a lot of photos, ignored a lot of gypsies, and counted a lot of people to pass the time.

Finally, through the metal detector, we made it inside. Wow, freaking wow, amazingly wow. All the paintings are not in fact paintings but are mosaics. When you got close to them you could see the individual pieces, how astounding. The size, the colours, the skill, and the extravagance is something to be seen first hand.

We spent about an hour inside the church, so an hour to get in and an hour inside. Sigh, I hate queues. But, we are both really pleased we did it, the church to see. I sent the obligatory postcard from the Vatican of course ha, ha.

Back on the bus and “TO THE COLOSSEUM”! This is what Jason had really been looking forward to, and this time he was not disappointed.

First, I have to say, everywhere you looked in Rome there were ruins and relics mixed with the beautiful greenery. We were constantly taking photos, pointing, eyes wide, mouths open. So pretty and amazing to think how old the city is.

Onto the colosseum! Wow, double wow, triple wow. How the hell did they build this, and wouldn’t have been amazing to attend a gladiator match, as I noted to the guide I would have been cheering for the lions! Everything was so huge and beautiful. And crowded, but still, worth every bit of effort to see it. Some reconstruction has occurred so you can get an idea of what the stage and the structure would have looked like and to prevent further deterioration of the remains. A good thing, because if you look up you don’t want one of those suckers falling on you!

We spent time walking through the colosseum before heading back to the bus for the trip back to the ship.

Another super awesome bit of customer service, we arrive back at the boat after this hugely long day, to the staff from the boat handing out fresh, citrus smelling, cooling towels to refresh ourselves upon our return. Seriously, how awesome is that.

A day well worth the effort, in total we were gone for 10 hours, so we were a wee bit tired that night.

However, Jason is addicted to the Asian fusion restaurant Red Ginger, so we went back. Again the food was delicious. We were at a shared table again but nothing like the entertainment we had previously – oh Harvey where are you.

I really enjoyed Rome, which surprised me. I would go back again. Still thinking about the lost shoe opportunities, but these things happen for a reason right, I am sure I will find some shoes somewhere!

We now leave Italy and head to France. And to cheese. And to wine. Goes to sleep with smile on my face 🙂

Jason is embracing the Italian language, essentially if you put and E or O sound at the end he thinks its Italian, ha, ha. The funniest is all words must be food. The local police here are called Carabinieri but Jason now refers to them as the Cabonara! The same is true when looking for Ravello, it has now been renamed to Ravioli. What must the locals think? Actually they have been quite patient if not friendly.

I made Jason get up super early so we could watch the sunrise and the sail into Amalfi. Plus I was really sore so needed to share the misery.

The sunrise was stunning, truly magical. Amalfi is as beautiful as everyone has said. The cliffs are really daunting and the way the buildings perch on the edge of the cliffs, you have to wonder why they built there.

The size of the city and the population is very small, apparently this is because the rest of the city simply slid into the sea. Looking around it is easy to believe.

Every port a local comes on board to hand out maps and advice. This port was no different. Our guide advised us that if we wanted a walk we should go to Ravello, it is beautiful, not so busy and the walk will get our hearts racing.

Before departing it was back to the medical centre where they bandaged up my cuts and put my poor finger in a splint.

Our morning tour was to the emerald grotto. A cave that was discovered by a local fisherman in 1932. The way the water reflects into the cave, from an underwater entry, reflects an emerald green. The cave I also filled with stalagmites and stalactites.

As we could not dock at the port, the boat is too big we had “tenders” taking us to and from shore. Very cool, they also double as life boats, I don’t think I would like to spend too much time in one, they are a wee bit rocky and rolly. There would be vomit ha, ha.

From the tender were transferred onto a boat that would tour around the coast and take us to the cave. On this boat was one of the most unpleasant people I have met on this trip. Older man, loudly complaining that he should have gotten a seat up top and they were all taken, and it was so rude, then he started on the tour guide.

I went down and gave up my seat. Anything to shut the old bastard up. Secretly hoping he would fall in the water. Alas, that did not happen.

The grotto took about 45 minutes, the majority of which was spent lining up, getting into the boat and getting out of the boat. All the same it was beautiful and we enjoyed the experience. The colours were truly magical and the water so clear.

Back to Amalfi. MADNESS. The crowds of people on the streets, the scooters, and the cars all on this narrow lane made it exciting to say the least. We opted out and decided to walk to Ravello.

Well, somehow we got lost and managed to turn a 2 km walk into a 7 km walk that we did not want to, and were advised not to do. The lovely local man told us to take the bus. So we did, and that was quite the experience. It teetered over the cliffs, whipped around corners, and beeped the horn with true zealous enthusiasm. Enough to make you nervous, but what the hell.

No wonder the chap said not to walk the road, there is no bloody room! Scooters, trucks, buses, cars, bikes, all battling for this one narrow, windy, and scary road. You have to love Italy!

We finally made it to Ravello and it was worth it. The views were stunning and it was so quite compared to Amalfi.

Jason found us a great pizzeria, Mimi’s, and we enjoyed pizza, wine, beer, and a rest. Best pizza we have had by far. OMG the flavours.

We found the track back and walked to Amalfi. About halfway down the 10000 steps I realised how thrilled I was that we didn’t find the path and walk up. Ha, ha.

Back in Amalfi you are hit with the chaos immediately. We walked around for another hour before deciding that the quiet of our boat and room was calling us.

No gym today, just wine!

We did, however, have one of the most interesting dinner experiences.

We had a shared table with three other couples, two from USA, and one from Canada. As we drank wine and got to know each other, it became quite apparent that one of the guests at the table would fit in very well in Sicily!

He is in his late 80s, not that you could tell, and had quite the varied life. When we asked what he used to do in Philly, he said “I worked in the railway business… I owned it”. So think 30-40 years ago, domination of the railway, you had your finger in all pies. He sounded just like Christopher Walken (whom he knows personally WTAF), and when he left the table (with his new wife – another story there) we all just looked at each other in awe.

I looked at the other couples and said “am I jumping to conclusions here or…” and they all nodded. Mafia.

How freaking awesome is that. Harvey. I liked him, he made me laugh! But he had a manner about him – would love to hear some of his stories.

To top it off they were both avid Trump supporters and very vocal about it. Everyone at the dinner table were very polite. We said nothing.

Tomorrow, Rome.

Jason was super excited about the tour in Sicily. We were going to Mount Etna to climb on the volcano and see lava! The bus departed early as it was 1.5 hours from Messina to Mount Etna.

On the bus and off we go. The tour guide was fabulous and talked about the history of Sicily, the town of Messina and Mount Etna. She pointed out all the views and ensured we did not miss a thing.

We stopped on the way for photo shoots and the mountain looked clear and sunny. Wahoo.

The expected temperature on the mountain was to be between 4 and 12 degrees. WTF, we had not thought about that. We had packed our little puffer jackets though and figured they would just have to do (we were both wearing shorts of course).

The bus driver was fabulous and had us zipping around the steep streets like formula one cars.

The scenery on the way was very cool. Beautiful beaches on one side and rocky, mountainous terrain on the other. So many craters litter the island, meaning the wine is great!

We arrive at the bottom of the mountain the clouds are moving in. Damn it.

We all get corralled into the gondola which takes us up to the next stop. It is getting a little cold now, and the wind is bitter. Out come the puffer jackets and the wind breakers.

Next step is the 4×4 vans. They can seat about 20 people, are grunty as hell, and tear us up the mountain without an issue. We could do with one at home!

Finally we arrive. We are not allowed to go above 2,800 meters as it is dangerous. This means, no lava flow. Poor Jason.

It was pretty cool though, to be standing on the lava flow that had only occurred three weeks prior. It was still warm. And, when walking past certain areas, it was like a heat pump on your legs. Very fortuitous for those of us wearing shorts. The terrain was like something you would expect on Mars, assumption here, black and red, and desolate. The cloud had well and truly set in so our view was not great.

We walked along the very craggy, and crowded path to the end of the crater. And I mean crowded. There was one thin path and groups of people heading in both directions. Some people from our group decided to turn back.

The edge of the crater was interesting but less than Jason had hoped for. We stayed for a while and headed back along the scoria. Well, it was inevitable, I slipped. I had put my food on a rock that was not stable and down I went. The rocks are not forgiving and I ripped up my hand, messed up my finger, broke my watch and essentially made a mess of myself. I quickly jumped up and walked to the end of track where I nearly passed out.

Finger was not doing well, when I looked down I was surprised to see it was still straight, lots of blood, but still straight. Bonus.

The tour guide, who is so fabulous, was horrified when she found out and out came the hydro peroxide. I forgot how much that sh*t stings! Owwww.

My finger had started to swell by then and I could not get my rings off.

Never mind, it was lunch time, I declined the offer of a doctor and hospital and opted for the pasta and the wine instead. Strictly for medicinal purposes of course. The wine was incredibly tasty, served in one litre bottles.

We did a little souvineer shopping, though I had a free souvineer in the form of injuries, and back on the bus to head home.

The ride home was much more subdued with many of our fellow travellers snoring away happily.

All the time I felt sorry for myself and watched my finger grow.

We had planned to walk around Messina for an hour or so when we got back, but it was straight to the ship doctor for us. As the incident occurred on an excursion everything was covered.

The nurse was lovely and they bandaged me up and it was time to have another medicinal drink.

We watched the sailing, leaving Messina was such fun. We have met some really lovely people at these send offs. This time we met a lovely couple from NZ. It was quite the coincidence.

Dinner at Red Ginger. We had not eaten there before and it was fabulous Asian fusion with great staff. We really enjoyed ourselves and met some nice people sitting around us.

Off to bed, tomorrow we wake up in Amalfi, super excited about that.

We were so sorry not to catch up with Annabel and Alphonse, next time for sure.

Gozo had given us certain expectations about Malta and how it would be. This time round it was not exactly what we had anticipated.

But, first things first. Breakfast, again, was lovely. What will we do when we are on land and have to organise food for ourselves. We may lose weight – hmm, there’s a good idea, because we sure found some weight on this ship ha, ha.

We had a tour booked in the afternoon so we decided to go and explore the city of Valletta ourselves.

Valletta is only 1 square kilometre, so we opted to walk the circumference and then discover the inner city. There was a religious celebration of sorts going on so a lot of the city was closed and there were all sorts of fireworks, chanting, wailing, and crowds. Very interesting. The city is not as pretty as Gozo but still has a lot of history and the fortifications are stunning.

The centre of Valletta, such as it is, is lively and beautiful. You never get tired of the old buildings and little historic surprises. But you do get sick of all the rubbish that seems to be the norm, so disappointing when the beautiful surroundings are covered in plastic and food wrapping.

There were three cruises all converging on Valletta at the same time, so that made it busy and a little unpleasant in places.

After an a couple of hours of walking, in the beautiful sunshine, we stopped for a quick beer and wine before heading back to the ship, lunch, and then departure on our tour. At least that was the plan. Ho hum.

The shuttle that was running between the boat and the port was meant to depart every 20 minutes. We had allowed over an hour just in case. We missed one by about 90 seconds so picked up some duty free. Jason was thrilled with his 10 euro bottle of run and I restocked on Maltese wine, you know, just in case. And then we waited, and waited, and waited.

For an hour. No lunch, and the hope of even getting on our tour was fading fast.

So, those of you that know Jason well also realise that no lunch is not a good thing… I was beginning to really worry.

Finally the boat turned up, we got on and it waited another 15 minutes before departing. Island time and there is no arguing with island time. We dashed on board, dumped our stuff, got our tickets and made it to the tour.

The tour that was surely put on by candid camera (anyone remember that show, where unsuspecting people were put in ludicrous situations to see how they would react)?

Our guide, clearly in his 90s (Jason and I, when we were talking again) recited “30 and 2 no matter who” and kept an eye out for a defibrillator. Most people could not understand him and those that could wanted him to stop talking.

It is amazing everyone made it back to the boat. Our three city tour included two cities and I seriously wondered if the dude was Woody Allan in disguise.

The first city we visited was called Marsaxlokk, really it was, it’s a fishing village and the fish looked amazing and fresh and yummy. Unfortunately it was also the Sunday market where they sell all sorts of crap, and the crowds were awful. We were left to our own devices and miraculously made it to the bus before it left without us. Unfortunately the tour guide made it too. Ha, ha.

Then onto Birgu where we walked the city and were told about a whole bunch of stuff no one cared about. Ha, ha.

We were informed that each of the individual cities still has the original access through the fortified gates. Very cool.

Anyway, parts of the tour were lovely including the boat ride and commentary around the harbour. Some really stunning views. We had eaten by this stage, as Woody was giving an explanation about a particular building, I had enough time to go into restaurant, order food, have the food cooked, and delivered for takeaway before he was done. Oi!

When we made it back to the boat we were on time to go to the gym, have a swim and dinner before watching the sailing as we departed Malta. We did not depart until 1000pm as we are so close to our next port.

It was so cool seeing all the lights as we left the city.

Ideally visit Malta when there are not so many people, and truly ideally, go to Gozo.

xxx

In order to get from Montenegro to Malta we travelled non-stop day and night.

This was the first time we really felt the ship move. I would not call it rough but it was definitely moving. You could hear the boat creaking and there was no sleeping on your side ha, ha.

So two nights and one full day without any docking. We did wonder what we would do with all the spare time. What spare time?

It was a bit of a sleep in though, lovely, as we did not have any tours to do or time frames to meet.

We even ordered room service for breakfast which was just divine and quiet, even though it does not feel like there are 2200 other people on the boat (1200 passengers and 1000 crew) it can be quite busy when you are used to the life of Bluemountains, Upper Hutt.

We had another master cooking class booked for 1000 am, the theme for this one was Roman Holiday! It was fabulous. Again it was run by master chef Kellie Evans, she is great to listen to and very patient. Again Costa, Josephine, and Remy were on hand to ensure everything was ready to go and cleaned up.

The dishes were Rosemary and Garlic grilled Lamb Chops, Bucatini, Carbonara, and Mousse di Ricotta. By the time the class was over there was no need for lunch. And, again, we learnt some very useful hints and tips about cooking. If we had time we would have signed up for another class.

After a wee lie down to aid the digestion it was off to the gym and then pool side. I discovered that they have mojitos even though they are not on the drink list, they don’t do a bad job either. More reading, and lazing about the next think you know its dinner time.

This time we decided on something new. The Grand Dining Room, and sharing a table. This gives you the opportunity to meet new people.

We were seated with a lovely American couple and instantly hit it off. Sharing jokes and stories. It was a great night with lovely food. Whilst the restaurant is not one of our favourites we had a fabulous Serbian waiter who knew lots about NZ and entertained us endlessly.

Another fabulous day with great weather. We have not had rain for over 2 weeks. WAHOO.

Rocked to sleep by the boat, tomorrow, back to Malta. This time we are exploring the main island Malta! Sorry Gozo, we won’t get to see you this time.