Monaco

Loving getting all the emails and comments - thanks! This will be fast cos I'm on the ship.

We had an eventful pickup by bus in Rome - lots of confusion, but we made it after the driver had at one stage parked on the side of the road and deserted us for 10 minutes without a word, blocking in a parked car with an irate woman driver, then later he hit a small car, then he thought we were all going to the airport instead of the port!

The ship is gorgeous! We boarded quickly and easily and then found our cabin and headed to the buffet for lunch. Then we spent the rest of the afternoon exploring the ship. Then we met the other Cruise Critic people from our roll call (over 100 people) and we all felt that we knew each other already - great to put names to faces. This was over drinks as the ship sailed away. (Before that was the muster drill to practise what to do in an emergency). Then we headed to dinner at 8.15 pm and sat with two other lovely couples and had a lovely dinner. After that it was straight to bed and a very good night's sleep - calm seas - and we woke up in Monaco.

We had to be tendered in to the port, that was no problem, then we walked around taking in the sights - a lovely place - very clean, tidy, smart. The yachts we walked past in the marina were amazing!

We walked up the steep hill to the old part of the city and wandered around the little streets, saw the Palais du Prince and the Place du Palais (square) - the views from up there were spectacular; and then took the little tourist train that took us on a 30 minute tour with commentary, around the rest of the country (! - second smallest in the world). We only saw the Casino, without a chance to get off, and decided not to take the time to trek back over to it after the train tour. Everything was busy and the streets are all getting set up for the grand prix in about 3 days - so not the best views there. Back up the 'rock' in the Old Town (Monaco-Ville), we wandered through some beautiful parks with lovely sculptures and fabulous views - it being a gorgeous day of 29 degrees and clear blue skies. We noticed how clean it is compared to Rome - no cigarette butts all over the footpaths in Monaco! No graffiti, no rubbish lying around!

We went into St Nicholas Cathedral, where Princess Grace and Prince Ranier were married, and are now buried. We wandered back through the Old Town streets (not being a very big area) and we decided not to go into the Oceanographic Museum. We bought some cheap water at a little grocery store down the hill (cheap compared to the ship prices - thanks for the tip on where to get this, Bev!) and small bottles of sparkling wine - no souvenirs except my photos, and headed back for lunch around 1 pm. At the buffet again, and it was nice sitting with Bev from Cruise Critic (Sydney) and hearing her stories of other cruises she has done.

Now we're doing the laundry and then will venture out to the pool to relax and read. Then, oh so strenuous, back for dinner tonight - ps - gluten free worked out well - very nice - I had shrimp cocktail, prime rib roast with veges, and then flourless chocolate cake with berries for dinner last night - David had pasta alfredo, then fish, then flambeed bananas!

Not sure if I'll get photos up - may try for just one or two.