The Legend

Boarding the Legend of the Seas was a bit like coming home, having spent 10 days of our honeymoon 4 years ago on her cruising the Malacca Straight.  I was really surprised to find the Mediterranean just as calm as those beautiful waters, calm waters make for smooth sailing.

After our three nights in Genoa, it was so good to know we would have a comfy bed, little noise and somewhere to eat without the 2 km walk for the next seven nights.

Our itinerary included stops at Marseilles, Barcelona, Palma De Mallorca, Valencia, a day at sea and Civitavecchia (Rome).  As we were heading to Barcelona in a weeks time, when in the port there we decided to stay on the ship and enjoy a day practically to ourselves around the pool, we had just that, it was so relaxing.  We did the same at Civitavecchia, as we had had six nights in Rome already, however as the ship was 80% Italians, many did the same thing and from 11:00 new passengers began arriving, it still was nice and nowhere near as many people as we had at the day at sea, the only day we did not use the pool.

We loved everywhere we did get off the ship, they were all beautiful places, but Marseilles was our favourite, but then it is in France and anything France we seemed to enjoy just that little bit more.  In Marseilles we visited the Notre Dame Cathedral, high above the city with exceptional 360 degree views.

The Gothic,'Bellver Castle' was our main point of interest in Palma de Mallorca, again high up on a hill it afforded magnificent 360 degree views of the city and coastline, you could just see guys dressed like Zoro running around stabbing people in the guts!

We never found a high point in Valencia, but we did enjoy a walk around the city and a fantastic lunch at a little Tapas bar, with beers at $1.50 Euro a lot cheaper than drinking on the ship.

That was a sore point on the ship, the company philosophy seemed to change from 2008 where it was, 'bend over backwards for the passengers to make them feel like royalty' to 2013, 'bend them over backwards so you can get to their wallets and extract as any dollars as you can', I liked the 2008 version better.

Our first day/night on board was huge, we partied so hard it would take a couple of days to recover and we saw at the end of the trip just how hard we went, with 33 percent of the cruise grog bill being consumed on that first day, was bloody big.

Jo got a bit bored with the entertainment on board about three days in and she decided we should do something about it, so she dragged me along to a "Love and Marriage" game, where 3 couples are bought up on stage, then the men and girls are separated and questioned separately, then you have to guess what your partner had to say.

Well to pick the 3 couples, they asked for newly weds to put their hands up, then asked how long they had been married, a couple of honeymooners married just 5 days were brought onto stage.  Then they called for the longest married couple in the room, the room by this stage had about 300 people in the audience. After querying 4 or 5 couples they found a couple married 32 years and got them on stage.

For the final couple they asked for those married between 1 and 32 years to put their hands up, Jo along with 2 other women shot their hands up.  After querying as to how long each had been married they asked all three to front of stage, with their husbands, once there they told us we would have to kiss as passionately as we could for thirty seconds and then the audience would decide who would play.

They started the clock and Jo got stuck into one of the wildest French kisses we've ever experienced, a full 30 seconds later they called stop, we did not hear it and kept going, the compare came over and broke the party up about five seconds later.  He then asked the audience to clap for the couple they thought should go on stage, he stood before the first couple and about 3 people clapped, he stood before the next couple and 2 people clapped, he stood before Jo and I and they brought the house down, cheering and clapping, I was soooo embarrassed.

Once on stage the girls were taken out the back and I had to answer 3 questions, once we all answered the girls are brought back in and asked the same questions, Jo got none right, but we got the most laughs.  I was then taken out back with the other guys whilst the girls had 3 questions posed to them.

Whilst I had been very diplomatic with my answers, Jo on the other hand went all out to embarrass me, the audience learnt that apparently the first thing I do in the morning is slap Jo on the arse, she also divulged that I pass a fair bit of wind, the compare had a ball with that one and they also heard that we have had some interesting times on this trip, and I am not willing to divulge anymore than that, if you wish to know more, ask Jo, she told 300 absolute strangers so I am sure she'd be only too willing to fill you in with all the details!

We really enjoyed the cruise and having so much time just relaxing not having to worry about a thing, but at the same time we were glad to get on the train out of Genoa at the end of it and back to our adventure, back to having an absolute ball together working out where to next, what we are going to eat and how the hell we are going to get there, loving life loving the freedom of just being and nothing else.

Belver Castle

Palma De Mallorca

Market place in Valencia

Street art Valencia

Genoa beach

Nice is very nice!

Promenade des Anglais, Côte d'Azur, Nice, France, the only place to stay when in this part of he world, it is absolutely beautiful, there is only a road between us and the French Riviera coastline, where the water is mesmerizing it's so calm and relaxing.  I have been so amazed at the fact that Jo not only has come in for a swim, but has stayed in the water for as long as me, near on two hours.  And she has claimed she never wants to leave this beautiful part of the world.

We did have some horrifying moments though whist taking our dip, and it is not something that we are going to forget in a hurry.  We had been in the water a little over an hour, floating, swimming, chatting about where we have been and the amazing things we have seen and done, when Jo starts asking me "What is that"?  I came in closer to her and began looking for what was concerning her, I noticed a couple of white rocks, about the size of a football, I said "it is OK they are just white rocks". Jo said "no not them, that over there", I started to swim out toward the area she had indicated and just as I neared what she was motioning to, the ocean started pulling back the water and to my horror revealed a huge stingray with wings about 8 feet wide, the as the water surged up to pound back in toward the beach, the stingray lifted up off the bottom and swam toward me, only a few feet away.

I freaked out and started thrashing my arms in an attempt to get away from it, Jo saw me and her face went white as I went by her.  When I was close enough to shore to touch the bottom I started pumping my legs trying to run up to the beach, but being a pebble beach, I was going no where, I looked like "Wile E Coyote" as my legs span around, but my head and torso remained still.  Right around this point Jo swam past, faster than anything I had seen in the water, she was shouting "WHAT IS IT, WHAT IS IT?"  Just as I started to yell back to her "IT'S A STINGRAY", an excruciating pain shot up my right leg, as my calf muscle cramped up, mortally wounded, I rolled onto my back and thrashed my arms like anything trying to get to shore, whilst screaming for Jo to come back and help me.

Meanwhile a lady that had been sunbathing topless on the beach, jumped up grabbing her goggles and snorkel, sprinting dives into the ocean and then pulling her goggles on, she was keen to see the sea critter that was chasing us, as she was swimming around the snorkel was twitching this way and that as she looked for the beast.  Jo dragged me by my leg up onto the rocky shore and started pushing my toes back to ebb the pain in my leg.  Back up the beach, where the topless lady had been, a little girl about three years old, was crying very upset, "Mummy, Mummy".

With adrenalin still racing through my veins, I looked back out to the woman snorkeling and noticed the stingray had actually not moved at all, in fact it was not even a stingray, but a huge rock in the shape of such a beast.  I broke the news to Jo, calmly, she was still trying to get me out of the water she looked out and burst out laughing, uncontrollably, so much so warm fluids ran down the inside of her thigh, at this point I was rolling on my back, trying to reach my toes alternating between grimacing in pain and laughing so hard it hurt.  We must have been a sight, as the little girl abandoned by her mother, was now watching us and giggling out of control, Mum was still out frantically looking for the sting ray, we laughed so hard and continued to do so for a good hour or so later.

Not long after, still with an aching calf muscle, I really conquered my fears when I swam out to the rock and stood clear off the water on its back, thrusting clenched fists into the air, hero or what?
We went out for dinner later that evening and there were three very solemn old French lady's at a table near us, at some point in the night, their conversation sparked a laughing session between them, Jo says "I wonder what they are laughing at?", I looked at them and said jokingly "they were on the beach this morning and just realised it was us they saw, when we where attacked", that set Jo off again and she was soon out laughing the three old ducks.  Our waiter stood between the two tables looking a little complex-ed, wondering what we may all have been laughing at, very funny moment.

Our last day in Nice today and after a brief swim, I managed to drag Jo away from the beach to take her out for a day in Monaco, Monte Carlo.  We took a bus into Nice Train Station and brought tickets from a machine, there were people everywhere inside and out on the platforms, we were to find that all trains had stopped running and we were in for an hour wait on a hot steamy train station platform, followed by a hot steamy train ride in a packed train.

Was so worth it though, Monaco has been on my wish list since I was a little kid, and I was not disappointed, the place is unbelievable.  We had lunch at the Monaco Casino's, "Cafe De Paris", cost a small fortune $60 Euro for a Caesar Salad, a Chef's Salad and two Hienikens, very de-lish salads though.  We then walked part of the Grand Prix circuit and around the harbour, including a ferry ride across the harbour, it was a fantastic day, we both loved the place, Jo is now wishing we were rich, I told her not good enough, we'd need to be filthy rich!

The Prom at dusk

Bastille Day celebrations

Holy smokes Batman!

Monaco Casino

Caf De Paris

Fitting in pretty well with the locals, liked these guys made me look skinny.

Joey you're a diamond xx

swimming at night

We are sailing ....

While we were in our Genoa apartment, Jo decided to catch up with a bit of washing, whilst I went out food shopping.  I cracked up laughing when I got back to see her hanging out a window pegging the clothes out, along a line that ran the width of the building.  I laughed even harder when on closer inspection, I found Jo had used 6 big pegs on every item of clothing, the usual 2 that do the job at ground level, not enough insurance when hanging things out a window six stories up!

After checking out of our apartment we headed straight for the Port, the suggested check-in time being 13:30, we got there at 12:00 and had no problem walking straight in to the processing area and were on the ship in the dining room by 12:30, a smooth transaction Jo called it.

It is funny being back on the Legend of the Seas, the ship is the same, though it hs been refurbished throughout with new carpets, a couple of new restaurants, so looks a little different, but still the same ship.  The company philosophy seems to have altered quite a bit though, they seem more intent on getting your money, having guys walk around spruiking the restaurants at $95 Euro a head, we think not.  We were not impressed also this morning when they tried selling us transfer tickets for a bus from the port to Marseilles a journey of about 8 kilometers @ 30 Euro's each, we opted to walk out of the terminal for the local bus, only to find a free shuttle supplied by the harbour authority no more than 500 hundred meters from the dock.

Our first night back we found ourselves back in the Schooner Lounge, with a European guy at the piano singing the hits like you never heard them before, Jo got right into it and dragged me along with her.  I ended up doing a few rounds with Captain Morgan, the old sea dog got the better of me today, very very seedy!  Who ever said Mojito's are good for you?

Made it a very slow start to the day this morning, only thing that made it better was knowing Jo was  suffering as much if not a little more, we both pushed on, not saying a lot, just waiting for the other to crack, been surprised at both our comebacks, expect a lot quieter night tonight, it is good to be sailing, Barcelona tomorrow.

BTW cost $25US to spend 50 minutes online yesterday, not a cheap exercise this blogging, have to make this quick!