Day 11 – Saturday – 11/28 – Toulon, France

Again a beautiful day arriving in Toulon around 7am.  We were supposed to port in Marseilles today however because of a port strike we were sent to Toulon.

Toulon is the center of the French Navy.  It is halfway between Marseilles and Nice on the coast of France. 

We took a bus to the center of town and toured the outdoor market, a church, bought some olives at the market, and walked back to the ship.  Again the seaside town of Toulon, is just like a picture postcard.  The South of France is certainly beautiful.

 

 

A shot from our balcony

Fruits and vegetable at the market

A luncheon party in our cabin after Toulon

 

Tomorrow: – Changing Cabins and Barcelona

Day 10 – Friday 11/27 – Villefrance, France

We have had such beautiful weather the whole time we have been in Spain, Italy and France. 

Today was no exception.  We (Del and I, Alvin and Janice, Bill and Liz, and Byron and Carol) all met in the concierge lounge early this morning, ate a quick breakfast, and left the ship the catch a bus to Nice.

We walked a few blocks and waited for the bus while watching the beautiful scenery around the seaside town of Villefrance.

We caught the bus, paid our 1 euro, and had a pleasant ride into Nice.  We enjoyed the outdoor market, eating a sandwich from a vendor, and just enjoyed being in France. We also tried to use an internet where we found the some of the keys on the computer to be in the “wrong” place.  The w was beside the x and the a was on the top row and the m was next to the l – quite puzzling and very hard to write an email! :)

 

Tomorrow – Toulon, France – a substitute for Marseilles

Day 9 –Thursday 11/26 – Livorno (Florence)

HAPPY THANKSGIVING TO ALL OUR FAMILY AND FRIENDS!

Today we stayed on the ship as we have been to Florence previously.  It is truly a beautiful city, and I would have returned if only to see the statue of David again at the Academia Museum.

But, we were tired and had to take a day to rest!

It is quite a distance from Livorno where the ship docks into Florence.  We dock at an industrial port where we are not allowed to walk from and the cost to get into Florence was a little more than we wanted to pay especially since we had been there.

I played a game of trivia and since it was Thanksgiving, the questions were about our holiday.  Our team won and I went back to the room with none other than luggage tags.

Our towel monkey!

Tonight, our concierge surprised the six of us with November birthdays with a nice cake and we celebrated!

Our nightly table in the concierge!

 

Tomorrow:  Villefranche (Nice), France

Day 8 – Wednesday 11/25 – Rome, Italy

SISTINE CHAPEL, SPANISH STEPS, COLISEUM

We decided to take the train into Rome with Alvin, Janice, Bill and Liz.  The six us of ate an early breakfast and headed for the train.  Europe has such good transportation and you can get around the city easily and very inexpensively.

We purchased our tickets and exited at the San Pietro (St Peter) stop.  We walked to the Vatican and decided to tour the Sistine Chapel.  We had all visited the Vatican several times but Del and I had never been to the Sistine Chapel and Vatican Museums.

The museums were so much more than I had pictured them to be.  Halls, ceilings, and rooms full of beautiful paintings, tapestries, statues done by so many famous masters including Michelangelo and Raphael.

Ceiling Paintings in the Museum

Stained Glass outside the Chapel and Rodin’s “The Thinker” sculpture

Outside the Coliseum after a fantatic day of walking, walking, walking!

Tomorrow – Florence, Italy

Day 7 – Tuesday 11/23 – Naples, Italy

Naples is the third largest city in Italy with a population of over 1.5 million.

Places of interest around Naples include Pompeii, Herculaneum, Mount Vesuvius, Isle of Capri, Sorrento and the Amalfi Coast.

A few years ago we had visited Naples and toured Pompeii.  We decided to walk around the city with friends and try to visit the archeological museum.  We walked a couple of miles to the museum only to find it closed. 

There was some sort of demonstration going on here but we managed to avoid the crowds.

We both bought leather coats on the street for 25 euros. :)

View from our balcony

Bill, Liz, Alvin, Janice and Del eating “real” pizza from Napoli

 

Castle in Naples

Beautiful facades on our walk

Another demonstration!!

Tomorrow:  Rome, Italy

Day 6 – Monday 11/23 – At Sea

A beautiful day at sea.  We have time to get completely unpacked and try to remember how to get around the ship.  This is our 4th transatlantic on the Voyager so we know her quite well.

We had the Meet and Mingle today with over 100 in attendance.

The slot pull was held after lunch and we almost won our money back.  We had put in over $2,000 in a machine and got most of it back.

We had a meeting with the Guest Services Director with all of the back to back cruisers (2 cruises in a row).  This is the largest B2B group RCL has ever had on any ship – 600 of us.  This is also Voyagers 10th birthday.  She was christened in 1999.  Her godmother is Katerina Witt, the ice skater.

We will have to move about 3 doors down on Sunday  - the start of the Transatlantic – we couldn’t get the same cabin for both cruises – they are making it very easy – just pack up the stuff in the drawers and they will move the suitcases and hanging clothes.  :)    :)

Two newcomers at our dinner table tonight.  They are from Seattle and are with a group of 300 from the Seattle area. 

Tomorrow – Naples, Italy

Day 5 – Sunday 11/22 – Voyager of the Seas

TRAINS AND SHIPS

Today we caught the AVE train from Madrid to Barcelona.  We packed up early and wheeled the luggage from the hotel to the train station (only a couple of large blocks).  These trains are great as they can take you anywhere at very little cost.  We had purchased our tickets on the internet for 45 euros – if we had bought them at the station they would have been 110 euros. 

The train was quiet with large windows and a perfect way to travel.

We arrived in Barcelona about 3pm and at the ship at about 3:30 pm.  Check in was fast and easy and we were in our room by 3:45.  We have room 1388 which is an aft cabin with a large balcony – very nice with plenty of storage room.

We unpacked and met up with our friends in the concierge lounge.   Nice to be on the ship!

Tomorrow – Day at Sea

Day 4 – Saturday, 11/21 – Madrid

PROTESTS AND PALACES

Started the day off with an innocent walk to the HOHO bus.  The bus isn’t too far from our hotel – we walked passed the train station, our favorite McDonald’s, and the Prado.  There seemed to be a lot more people than usual, but we said it was Saturday and more people would be out.  The more we walked, the more buses, cars and people we saw.  Then the crowds were there!  Wow!  Thousands of people were here, protesters in mass and we were right in the middle of them!  Apparently, the farmers in Spain come here annually to protest the government.  Each  year it gets larger and I know there were about a million people here.

The crowd was so thick you could hardly move.  Most were going the opposite way we were walking as we were trying to leave the protest area and everyone else was trying to get there.

We found a line of people trying to walk the same way we were and followed them but it was so tough trying to get through the crowds.  Eventually after about an hour of trudging through the crowds of protesters, we finally found a street that led to safety.  My what a start of the day.  At certain times it was quite scary.

Onward to find the bus.  After another long walk, we found the bus which took us to the Royal Palace.   Wow, what a beautiful place.  This  is the Palace of King Carlos and Queen Sophia of  Spain.  It is still used by royalty and you get to see certain rooms.

Unfortunately, we could not take pictures, but the Palace was beautiful.

After this day, we were glad to get back to the hotel and have our wine and cheese and go to bed.

Protests

Palaces

Tomorrow:  The train to Barcelona 

Day 3 – Friday , 11/20 - Madrid

Today we decided to go to the Museo Del Prado (or the Prado Museum) and ride the HOHO bus.

It was a beautiful day – just a light jacket – and we walked from our hotel to the Prado.  What a museum!  It is huge and contains paintings from every master – Goya, Raphael, Rubens, Rembrandt, and many more.  We walked through as much as we could, had a coffee, and walked some more.  Surely a day we won’t soon forget.

Stepped outside and caught the bus that took us all over the big city of Madrid.  Over 5 million people live here in this hustle bustle city.  Lots of traffic but lots of sights to see such as these beautiful old buildings.

 

Entrance to the Prado (the new section)

We ended a perfect  day with a wine and cheese party in Bill and Liz’s room. 

Tomorrow – More Madrid….

Day 2 – 11/19 – Madrid

Arrived safely Madrid with all bags 8 1/2 hours after leaving Houston.  (Madrid is 6 hours ahead of Houston).  Had a brief scare – 2 of our bags didn’t arrive with the others but were quickly found.

Bill had arranged a car to take us to the Hotel Carlton.   Bill and Liz had stayed at this hotel last year and were happy with it so we had made reservations a few months back.

The hotel is very nice and modern and close to museums and Hop On Hop Off bus.  We have found in the past that the HOHO buses are very much worth the money.  

The Aeropuerto de Madrid – very new, very modern and very big!

At the airport with all of our luggage!  Americans!!!!

The Hotel Carlton in Madrid

 

Tomorrow – Touring the City

Day 1 - 11/18 - Miami Airport

We made it on time to Miami.  Caught up with Bill and Liz in Houston and had a nice flight over.  It's about 3:30p and our plane to Madrid leaves at 6:30.  Had a Nathan's Famous Hotdog with chili and cheese to hold us over until we get dinner on the plane.  Food, food, food, already thinking about food. ;)

Google has set up free internet in many airports for the holiday season.  Very nice!  Miami has nice charging stations for computers and phones.  Charging now so I'll have some juice for the long journey.

Next post - Madrid, Spain

Posting a Picture

I haven’t written a blog in awhile so I’ll have to practice posting a picture.  How about this one? Our new twin granddaughers - Abby and Ashley.
 

Packing is almost finished

The big suitcases are finished and the small ones will be early in the morning.  We have taken everything but the kitchen sink for 26 days.  Del is out picking the tangerines - we'll take some to eat at the airport tomorrow.

Echols will pick us up in the morning around 7 and take us to IAH.  From there we arrive in Miami where we we will have about a 4-hour layover before we fly to Madrid.  We arrive at about 9 on Thursday morning.

Looking forward to seeing our cruise friends again.

Cruise Blogging Again

Well, we are off to the Med this time visiting France, Italy and Spain. We will begin our journey in a place we have never been - Madrid, Spain. Our friends Bill and Liz have done this itinerary and liked it so well, we decided to travel with them.

We will fly to Madrid and spend a few days there. Then, we will take the high-speed train (which Spain is famous for) to Barcelona on the day we depart to Italy.

In Italy, we will visit Naples, Rome, and Florence; in France a visit to Nice and Marseilles; in Spain we will be in Barcelona, and Cartagena. Then we cruise on to Madeira Portugal and Tenerife in the Canary Islands. After cruising for another six days we will arrive in Nassau, Bahamas, then another two days at sea and we will be home in Galveston.

We have cruised this transatlantic for 4 years now. It is so easy for us as Galveston is only about 70 miles away from our home in Nederland. This is the first time that we have done the 7-day Mediterannean before the TA.

Looking forward to another wonderful cruising adventure!