Off the cruise ship and onto a bus for the one hour ride to Rome for four days. Got to the hotel around 1130 am and our rooms weren't ready, so we stowed our suitcases and went exploring. Kathy and I took off to some local shops and bought some leather goods and souvenirs. Then, we found the Campo de Fiore (field of flora) area, which my cousin Barb had told me about. There we found the statue of Giordano Bruno, a Dominican friar who was burned at the stake in...

Off the ship at 0830am to do a land tour with our travel director to Florence (Firenze). Two-hour van ride with Ilanya, our cute little Italian driver. She kept apologizing for her poor English, which was perfectly fine. We saw the marble quarries in the mountains outside of Carrara, and through the Tuscan countryside to Florence. It was a complete mad-house in Florence, tons of people and this is the "off-season". I was in the van with Emma and Jim, and Gail a...

Today Kathy and I went on our first excursion booked on the cruise ship. Lots of folks, big bus. Our tour guide from Paris, Olivier, and our driver, Muniz, took us to Aix-en-Provence. It is a beautiful little town about 40 miles from Marseilles. We went to a hill at the top of town, and Olivier took us on a walking tour through some of the narrow back streets which were full of local culture, flower markets, bakeries, cafes. I bought some little soaps which the...

We have to be back on the ship by 3:30pm today so we have a short day to explore this beautiful island. We got up early to have breakfast, but could not disembark until the ship docked at 0830am. So, Kathy and I signed up for some shore excursions for Marseilles, France, and Florence, Italy for the next two days. We ended up canceling Florence, because we forgot we had a tour already booked through our group! Took the ship's shuttle which dropped us close to th...

Kathy and I are heading into town on the shuttle, then using the local bus all-day pass to look around. LONG walk off the ship to a shuttle bus which took us into Barcelona. We got off too early though. Went to the metro and bought a T10 ticket for E9.95. It is good on the metro, buses, and trams. Got on the metro going the wrong way, but only for two stops. Made it to the Plaza of Catalunya, but no shops were open, so we decided to pay E28 for the city tour on...