On October 17 we flew from Milwaukee to Barcelona, Spain to meet our friends Paul and Sharon (hereafter referred to as P&S) and my sister Nancy and brother-in-law Nick (N&N) for an 11 day cruise of the mediterranean. After several hours of delay in both Milwaukee and Newark, we arrived in Barcelona at 9:30AM on Saturday. By 2PM, P&S had arrived at the nice little Bed and Breakfast (Marina View B&B) we had chosen for our 2 night pre-cruise stay. Later that afternoon, we were lucky enough to meet up with P&S's daughter Kelly and her new husband Frank, who had been traveling around Europe for 2 months. We had a very enjoyable dinner and then O and I turned in early. On Sunday, the 4 of us took a bus tour of Barcelona before meeting N&N when they arrived that afternoon. After another delicious dinner, we turned in to prepare for starting our cruise. On Monday morning we were able to walk over to the ship. After settling in, we enjoyed a welcome aboard cocktail and then an excellent dinner. We shared our table with 3 ladies from the new York area. Carol, Marge and Rita added a lot to our enjoyment of dinner every night.

P&S, and O enjoying cocktails on the beach in Barcelona

Barcelona from our ship. What a great city it is.

A little welcome aboard cocktail-the first of MANY!

On Monday morning, we docked in Marseilles, France. N&N slept in but P&S and O&I took a shuttle into town and then a sightseeing train ride. We enjoyed Marseilles very much, especially our visit to Notre Dame de la Garde, a breathtaking Basilica high on a mountain overlooking the town. After returning down the mountain, we snacked on bruschetta at a little outdoor restaurant. I have NEVER seen so many restaurants in my life-every building all around the harbor and on all of the side streets was a restaurant. The French do like to eat!! After returning to the ship, we enjoyed cocktails in the Hemisphere Lounge while we set sail, then dinner and a show before bedtime.

For our boating friends, here is the beautiful Marseilles Yacht Club

The view of Marseilles from Notre Dame de la Garde

The beautiful inside of the church

The islands and fort guarding Marseilles

On Wednesday, we anchored off of Villefranche, France and met at 6:45 AM-in the dark-for our excursion to Nice, Monaco and Monte Carlo. I was surprised at how HIGH we drove to see Monaco. I'm not a fan of heights but I found myself WAY UP THERE almost every day on this cruise! We enjoyed seeing the start line of the Monte Carlo Grand Prix-our bus driver even "floored" it so we almost felt like we were in the race! We also visited the church where Princess Grace and Prince Rainier are buried and saw the palace and the homes of Princesses Caroline and Stephanie. Back at the ship, we took a quick nap and then enjoyed dinner and a show by a marvelous singer, Mario Andrea (an Italian from Australia) and Metro, a barbershop quartet.

Here is our ship from the hills of Villefranche

The beautiful harbor at Monaco

The Royal Palace of Monaco

The church where the royals are buried

Part of the Grand Prix roadway

The beautiful gardens in Monte Carlo, looking toward the Grand Casino where the rich and famous play

Some of the rich and famous preparing to enjoy a beer

If it's Thursday, this must be Livorno, Italy! We docked in Livorno and P&S left early for their excursion to Cinque Terre while the rest of us left for Pisa. We managed to climb all 294 steps to the top of the Tower-not easy because, well, it leans - and so do you, when you're climbing the steps! Also, the steps are marble and they have big indentations where millions of feet have walked. The sight from the top was magnificent and well worht the effort. After making our way carefully back down, we stopped for coffee where we were bombarded with street vendors. Just a suggestion, don't EVER make a joke with a guy about buying his watch or you will have about 20 watch sellers at your table within seconds!! We returned to the ship for dinner, another show by Metro and a little dancing. We were over-served by Michael, who was a bartender we had met in 2004 on our Alaskan cruise and who for some reason remembered Oliver very well!

Here's the Leaning Tower of Pisa-enuf said!

Climbing up the Tower-these people in front of us soon pulled over for a rest!

Now you can really see the lean

On Friday we docked in Civitevechhia, which is the port for Rome. We all took different excursions but they were all long days! We visited all the main sites and had lunch in a lovely square, where we were able to witness thousands of school children who were protesting some type of legislation that was cutting funding. They were well organized and LOUD!! We were back at the ship by 6PM and O and I enjoyed a cocktail on our veranda before dinner. After dinner, my neck was hurting so I went to lay on my heating pad while O and P&S visited Michael's Club for a nightcap and a not-so-good guitarist.

Here are the famous Spanish Steps

And Trevi Fountain, of 3 Coins in the Fountain fame-unfortunately I did not have 3 coins to throw in and Three Paper Euros in the Fountain doesn't have quite the same ring to it!

The Pantheon-extraordinarily beautiful inside and out

On to Vatican City and the exquisite St. Peters (the pizza cart is OUTSIDE the gates of the Vatican!!)

At this point, we are inside Vatican City

Pope Benedict speaks on Wednesday mornings and the crowds are enormous!

The inside of St. Peter's is just too incredible to even describe

The next day we arrived in Ajaccio, Corsica very early in the morning. This is where Napolean was born and lived until he was about 9 years old. We were pleasantly surprised at how nice Ajaccio is. We walked around town in the most beautiful weather. Walked down to the beach where we put our hands (and for some of us, our shoes) into the Mediterranean. O and Nick walked back to the ship while the rest of us stopped for a drink before making our way back. We enjoyed lunch outside on the aft deck of the ship. After dinner that night, we saw Mark Donaghue who is a wonderful singer and plays 5 different instruments-a really great show.

The beach at Corsica

The inside of the church where Napolean was baptized

Corsica from our ship

The next day we enjoyed a much needed day of rest at sea. We had breakfast, checked email, sat on our veranda and went to a presentation on Casablanca and Tangier. We met for lunch, cocktails, dinner and the show, a variety show by the Celebrity singers and dancers.

On Monday we arrived in Gibraltar at about 1PM. This was the highlight of the entire trip, O&I thought. What a beautiful place - the weather was perfect and the harbor is enormous with LOTS of ships. The shore excursion was so much fun. We took a cable car ride to the top of the Rock (did I mention I don't LIKE heights?) watched the famous Barbery Apes, visited St. Michael's Cave and the Great Seige Tunnel, built in the late 1700s. Back to the ship for cocktails and dinner and an early night (for once0!

The Rock of Gibraltar was fantastic as we approached

Can you believe I rode on this cable car?

The view from the top was worth it

Spain is on the other side of this airport

OK-get ready for the Apes-I took a million pictures of them and coulsn't pick my favorite!

They're not one bit afraid-this guy walked right between Nancy and Oliver

Lots of family groups. There are about 250 apes living on the Rock but they would like to get the population down to around 200

This is Jack-at 25, he's the oldest resident

In St. Michaels' Cave, the accoustics are so perfect that they sometimes hold concerts here

The taxis drive all the way to the top and do they ever make it hard to walk!!

The next morning we came into the huge port of Casablanca, Morocco. We had attended the port talk and we were a little apprehensive - they warned us repeatedly about the aggressiveness of the vendors and the dangers of getting lost in the Souks in the medina. It was cloudy and chilly when we left the ship. We visited the Moaque Hassan II which is the second largest mosque in the world. It's quite beautiful and a very interesting place to see. As we were leaving, the wind and the rain came with a vengeance. We visited the Cathedral of Notre Dame de Lourdes to see the spectacular stained glass windows, drove by the King's Palace and City Hall and then stopped at a local restaurant for refreshments. The national drink of Morocco is a hot minty tea that is very good. We then visited a very crowded store where I think we were supposed to buy something but we didn't! Our last stop was the food market. Only Oliver and Nick got off the bus. Oliver bought some saffron for me and a few limes for our evening cocktails! We were very glad to get back to the ship. Casablanca is big and crowded and not at all romantic. We all had lunch and then napped before our evening cocktails, dinner and show.

Coming into Casablanca. The harbor is huge and very commercial

There was a long story about these guys-I think they provide water to the locals when they visit the park. All I know for sure, is that if you got off the bus and took their picture, they expected some money!!

The Hassan II Mosque is huge and beautiful

Muslims are called to prayer 5 times a day. Before they pray, they must wash their hands, mouth, eyes and face. They can do this either at home or at one of the many washing sinks that are located in the Mosque.

These doors are titanium and run on tracks

Every building in Casablanca was covered with satellite dishes!!

Here's Olivers' Coke!!

One of the beautiful stained glass windows in the Cathedral

Tangier was a very pleasant surprise, after Casablanca. We had a very pleasant morning, as our tour didn't leave until 1:30PM. The harbor in Tangier is much less commercial, although it is the busiest passenger port in North Africa so ferries came and went every few minutes. The population of casablanca is approaching 6 million, while there are only a million or so in Tangier, so the traffic was not as bad. The Atlantic and the Mediterranean meet in Tangier. We drove along the coast to the spot where the waters meet and then visited hercule's Cave. According to Greek mythology, this is where Hercules died, after separating Gibraltar from Africa. We then went to the Fantasia, where we were tretaed to music, dancing, a magician who was also a fire eater and walked on glass, and a horse display. We also had more Moroccan tea and cookies. We visited the Kasbah Museum and then - the Medina!! Things went a little crazy there. many of the people on the tour were concerned about getting back to the ship for the 6PM sailing-although we were pretty sure they wouldn't sail off and leave 3 busloads of us behind!! There were also several people who ate at the early seating and, since this was formal night, they wanted time to primp. Our tour guide, on the other hand, knew that he was expected to guide us to a shop in the Medina and get us to buy things, so there were some rather ugly moments!! Finally, he started moving us so quickly that we were afraid we wouldn't be able to keep up!! The Medina is a maze of little alleyways and we wouldn't have been able to find our way out if we lost him so we all trotted along at top speed, so I didn't get any pictures. It was fascinating, though, and I'd love to go back and spend more time-with a guide, of course! We returned to the ship before 6 and watched from our veranda as we sailed. Then we all dressed up and had a lovely dinner and then the show.

Tangier from our ship

Our guide said this is called the Lazy Wall-where people who don't have jobs hang out!!

This is where the Mediterranean and the Atlantic meet. You can see the difference in color. Someone lives in this house!

Here is Hercules Cave

We finally saw some camels!!

Our entertainment

Oliver loved this belly dancer

We didn't quite get the point of these guys-they just rode over the hill and fired their guns but it was a beautiful day, so whatever!

The only picture I have in the Medina

The next day we spent at sea again. The weather had turned cooler but it was sunny and beautiful. We were able to sit outside at the pool bar and O and I spent time talking to a Looper whom we had met in Palm Beach! I had recognized him when he sat in front of me on the bus in Marseilles. Small world, isn't it!! We spent the afternoon packing and attended the presentation of the crew. That night we had our last dinner with the girls from New York and our last show. Oliver and I had to meet in the lounge at 6:45AM the next morning to leave the ship. We had a LOOOOONG trip home and my luggage didn't arrive until Sunday night but the trip was fabulous. We had so  much fun with P&S and N&N, loved seeing all the ports of call, enjoyed the shows, the food, the COCKTAILS-everything was wonderful. Once we recuperate, I'm sure we'll start planning our next adventure. Stay tuned and thanks for visiting with us!

Our Captain and crew bid us farewell

The last show

A final beautiful sunset puts the cap on a perfect trip