Rome

We have not managed to find fre wi fi and our costly Internet time is running low, so there may be a few days I have to catch up on when we get off the boat. Rome was hot bit amazing. We took a Disney organized tour today to take advantage of their great logistical skills. Sure enough we walked into the catacombs, the colluseum and st peters with no waiting in lines. There were three of the of the most horrible children ever on the bus with us and by contrast my lot looked like angels. The tour guide kept patting them on the cheek or the head and saying "Bella" asking their ages etc. I think they have earned triple gelato. More later.

La Spezia

OK I admit it - we are all a little weary. The pace is challenging even team Starrett. We tendered today into La Spezia and since we were a little late, missed our group that was going to show us the way to the train station for our visit to Cinque Terre. Bull at a gate, I bought tickets for the boat only to discover that the trip took 1.5 hours and the cost was $100. We asked for a refund and then thanks to Jason's sensible suggestion, spoke to the tourist information booth lady and commenced our walk to the train station. It was an easy 15 minute walk through a lovely itaian street with shops and restaurants. The train cost us $30 for the whole family and took 10 minutes to get to the last fo the five towns. We wandered through two towns a but aimlessly and then did the walk through the national park from town 2 to town 1. It was right along the edge of a cliff over the ocean and Campbell and I were a bit freaked out looking at the huge drop to our right. The walk is called the via amore and couples put locks on the fence to show their enduring relationship. There were a few combination locks ad we wondered if anyone ever came back to undo the lock if their relationship fell apart. We headed back on the train and stopped for lunch at a little italian cafe where the proprietors spoke no English. I got to trot out my "Un tavolo cinque por favore" and we ordered by pointing from the old italian lady. She did all the work cooking while the Husband came out and showed us a laminated photo of his house in Lerchi, and made a toy monkey cry for the boys. Back to the boat then for a rest. Tomorrow Rome.

Villefranche

We started off the day by delivering the caramello koalas and hats to our online cruising group. This involved Flynn, Campbell and I running all over the ship putting the gifts in the door hanger pockets - much like filling stockings on Christmas Eve. The boys had a great time, giggling and trying to be quiet while they filled the pockets. After a huge buffet breakfast we tendered ashore in Villafrance. Unfortunately our pre booked private driver was not there. After some anxious phone calls we discovered he had lost our booking but eventually he found a replacement who arrived at the port. It was Antonio from Chile who was a retired 60 year old grnadfather. Listening to him talk reminded me of Grampa Cee - especially when one of the first things he said was that we would drive up to the Cesar Augustus monument....We had a big day - going to Eze, an ancient town up on the hills, St Paul, a gorgeous old town full of artists (some $$$ spent here on tablecloths....)and Nice along with a number of stops for views and information about the area. It was absolutely beautiful but clealy a rich person's playground. The houses, the yachts and the private jets were an eye opener. I am amazed by how blue the water is and would like somenoe to tell me why the colous is so different to home. Mom you will be interesetd to know that there were a number of houses with solar panels on the roof and Antonio said that it is becomming more common but is still very expensive.One of the highlights of the day was gelato from Finichhios in flavours oke cactus, coke and lavender. Back on the boat, we had dinner (very good) and then split up for various activities. Josh disappeared almost immediately to his tweens club, Flynn had a snooze with Jason and Cambell and I played Bingo, managing to carry off the big prize - cruise credit which is now burning a hole in his pocket. It is 5.30 am on Monday and we are cruising towards Italy.

Barcelona / Embarkation

We spent the morning wandering down Las Ramblas and having a look at the Barri Gotic - the gothic quarter. Although nothing was open that early, the tiny winding streets in between towering old buildings were fabulous - probably my favourate part of Barcelona that we saw. I really loved the whole look of the city. The architecture is beautiful and we took numerous photos of all the buildings. I was also surprised by the Sagrada Familia. Yet another famous thing that looks nothing in pictures and is breathtaking in reality. We wandered back to the hotel to get on the bus transfer to the port, with a brief stop by Jason and the boys at a supermarket to check out the different offerings.

The check in and bording was organised with typical Disney efficiency, complete with waving micky hand to guide us on. The boat is very well appointed and I think we are going to enjoy cruising. Josh sayed out till 10.30 last night at "the Edge" - the tweens club for 11-14s. He came back on an absolute high with plans to spend a lot of time there - I think "awesome" was mentioned a number of times. The food at dinner was surprisingly good. Our server is from India and he stays with us for all meals in the different restaurants. He knows the kids names and was super friendly and helpful. Campbell was so tired by this time though that he fell asleep mid sentence with his head back and his moth open. The staterooms are also lovely and we have a huge 1m diameter porthole in our room to watch the world go by. Tomorrow Villafranche.

Exploring barcelona

We had a big day today, venturing out at 6.30 to find breakfast on Los ramblas. We went into a hole in the wall cafe and discovered that the owner did not speak English. We did pretty well with basic Spanish ( I knew "eggs" and "coffee" ) and pointing. We have run across a whole heap of people today that think we are Italian. Flynn was wearing his Italy soccer shirt and Jason had on a shirt with something Italian on it so everyone spoke to us in Italian. After breakfast we bought tickets for the hop on hop off bus and spent the day doing a whistle stop tour of all the tourist sights - park guell, sagrada familia, all the gaudi buildings, poble espanyol and many others. It was very hot but the bus was open at the top and when we were in the shade the breeze was nice. We still have not managed to have a great meal here - I think more research was required. This afternoon the boys are having a rest while I am down here in the lobby looking up dinner venues on trip advisor.

The devil on the other shoulder

Anna just read what she has posted so far and whilst most things have been pretty good so far, there are other details that she has skipped. (Polly)Anna mentioned how wonderful the flight with Singapore Airlines was - and it was, other than:
* Anna got the business class meal because a) she doesn't eat fish, but more importantly, b) she had already spoken to the air crew telling them how beautiful their plane was, etc. I don't eat fish either, but since I hadn't done the smooth talking earlier, I just didn't get a meal.
* Anna enjoyed the SIngapore Sling, others I the plane missed two snack runs and two drink runs as those passengers watched then trolleys sail past them down the aisle. We all agreed we should have mentioned how beautiful the plane was.
* Anna missed Campbell's nose bleed. He woke me to tell me about it... But he had obviously waited a while to tell me because I woke to what seemed like a scene from a zombie movie.
* I found out during the flight that Flynn has night terrors, but on a positive note, his terrors aren't defined but screaming, but maniacal laughing and pointing. That was fun!
* When we got to Barcelona and did our initial look around and lunch, Anna had a sleep whilst I took the boys to the hotel pool, which sounds nice, but there were two fat, hairy guys smoking in the pool and we were surrounded by a dozen near-naked senior citizens trying to get skin cancer as quickly as possible.

OK, mostly it has been painless and the boys have been genuinely funny, but whilst I wasn't planning on contributing to this blog, I might have to add some balance. Anna can play that angel on Goofy's shoulder and I can be the devil on his other shoulder... but I've seen heaps of interviews with actors where they've said that it's always more fun to play the bad guy.... So let's have some fun.
Barcelona? Bar- humbug!

Ok this is getting tricky. The blog template is now in Spanish and it took me 10 minutes to figure out how to add a new entry. I am in the lobby of our hotel in Barcelona. It is HOT here. We can't quite decide whether it is hotter than our summer or just the impact of the one day turnaround from winter to summer for us. We had a dreadful flight from Singapore to Munich. Apparently to become a flight attendant on Lufthansa you have to be 6 foot tall, German and rude. The food was inedible (think stale bread rolls and salmon that smelled through the cling wrap) and they woke me up to tell me to move my seat back up because the man behind me was to cramped. We were pretty weary by the time we arrived in Munich but not too tired to sample the local food. Mmmmm pretzels. The boys bought German pokemon cards and were very funny trying to read all the names. They are now keen to collect other language cards. The final flight to Barcelona was fine and our bags were some of the first off the conveyor. We caught the Barcelona version of the sky bus to Placa de Cataluna and walked to the hotel. The boys have been fabulous - no complaints, few fights and lots of fun. It is 3 am right now and I can't sleep but I am refreshed enough to be anticipating a great day today exploring Barcelona.

We are in transit in Singapore and so far so good. The day started off smoothly and we managed to pick up the hire car and be on our way by 9am. By the time we got to the Caltex Flynn had a temperature. A caramal milkshake seemed to fix that. I am Singapore Airline's new greatest fan. The A380 has loads more space and the service is fabulous. They ran out of chicken for dinner and because I don't eat fish they brought me a spicy roast chicken dish from the business class menu. It was very good, as were the cornettos for dessert. They served cocktails (Singapore Slings of course) as well as non alcoholic cocktails for the kids. We have seatback screens with over 30 movies on demand.Nothing was too much trouble for the flight attendants and I will be flying Singapore air again. Who needs Italy when we had so much fun on the plane....(not really but I am trying to rev myself up for the next 12 hours)

Pre trip preparation

With only eight sleeps to go, the list of pre travel tasks is a little daunting. Bills to request and pre pay, documents to print out, suitcases to buy and so on. Jason and I are both a little anxious about getting things at work tidy and squared away for the unlucky people who will be covering while we are away. The boys are more worried about what exciting things they will miss. We seemed to have timed the holiday fairly well with only a few soccer games, birthday parties and excursions falling by the wayside.