November 2

Having trouble posting on the ship and at Internet cafes in the ports.  The problem may be the pictures.  I'll keep trying.

We are in Livorno, Italy today, Monte Carlo yesterday.

Week 1 - Ocean Cruise

In our first week of the Mediterranean cruise, we have visited ports in Spain (Cadiz, Malaga, Alicante and Palma de Mallorca) and Gibraltar.  I was not well enough to go off the ship, except briefly in Malaga, due to my pneumonia.  Roger bravely toured the other ports on his own.  Of course I worried the whole time he was off by himself but he made sure not to stay out more than a few hours each time as he knew I would worry.  One day he walked just under 9 km!  

SO FAR, (touch wood), neither of us have felt seasick.  The sea has been quite calm except for two nights near Gibraltar where the ship experienced 'some roll' as the Captain described it.  Roger's upper respiratory infection is clearing up nicely and now that I am on stronger antibiotics for the pneumonia, I am starting to feel more like myself.

 This is our ship, the Oosterdam. Our cabin is on deck 7, right at the back of the ship.  Our room is a good size with a nice sitting area and very large balcony.

 The rock in Gibraltar.  

 

 Alicante, Spain

 Sunrise in Palma de Mallorca, Spain - an island.

 A street in Palma

Today, we are in Toulon (Cote d'Azur), France.

 By, the way, the weather on this Mediterranean cruise so far has been sunny and warm - in the 20's- yeah.

Ocean cruise

We are on boozed and docked at Cadiz today.this is the view from our balcony.  We are at the rear of the ship.

 

October 20 and 21- touring Barcelona

These two days we have been touring Barcelona on the hop-on, hop-off bus.  Of course, the highlight is the Sagrada Familia by Gaudi.  He worked on it for 40 years and only constructed part of it.  Construction has continued apparently following his plans and models.  In my opinion, they should have stopped at the parts that Gaudi built as the other parts seem quite different to me. This is one of the many new parts I think are out of place. This is Gaudi's work.

The detail is amazing.  You could spend days looking at it and not see all the details.

 Believe it or not, these are on top of some of the spires.   An apartment block designed by Gaudi in downtown Barcelona.

Dennis and Patsy's second bag has not yet arrived.  They have been assured it will come today.  We embark on the ocean cruise tomorrow.

October 17,18 and 19- Amsterdam and Barcelona (Roger's excellent laundry adventure)

We did a canal tour of Amsterdam, then toured a shop that makes cheese, which we sampled.  We declined to try the pickled herring. We also did not sample any of the canabis products on offer.  

The night before, we had the Captain's Farewell.  Apparently the Rhine is very low and we were very lucky to get through.  One of our sister ships going the other way did not.  There aren't enough superlatives about Scenic Tours.  Everything is first class and not a detail is missed.  The staff were all wonderful.  I just wish they could cure a bad cold and cough!

 

Here we are with our cruise director, the Captain and Second in command

 No, we didn't go in this shop!

Our flight got into Brcelona about 1:00pm.  Unfortunately, one of Dennis and Patsy's bags did not, so we are hoping it will come today or tomorrow before we get on the ocean cruise.

We found a local laundromat.  It must have been quite a spectacle for the locals to see these 4 tourists try and figure out how to work the washing machines.  A tiny older woman took pity on us and showed us what to do (speaking Spanish the whole time).  Roger volunteered to stay while Dennis, Patsy and I went in search of some wine,  when we got back, there was Roger and a very interesting collection of people.  The most notable was an elderly gentleman dressed in hippy style, complete with blue sunglasses.  When our machines were done, we could hardly get the clothes out fast enough for the woman who had claimed them for their next use!  Roger has gone back thIs morning to put some things in the dryer.  I wonder what interesting folk he will encounter today.

October 16-Castles, Castles, Castles on the Rhine Gorge

This morning, we toured a fascinating mechanical music museum.  

This afternoon, the sun came out and we sailed the Rhine Gorge.  The water is quite low and it was touch and go in a couple of spots whether we would be able to get through but we made it!  There was  Castle after Castle after Castle...

  These give you a bit of a taste of the Castles along the Rhine Gorge

October 15- 'Octoberfest'

This morning we sailed along the Main River to Freudenberg.  There we were treated to an Octoberfest extravaganza just for our ship.  The beer and wine flowed, we had sausage, chicken, pickled cabbage salad, potato salad apple strudel and drinks.  There was lots of singing. Roger's beer stein .5 L.  He had TWO?