Moving on....Hello Spain!!

16:27 08/05/2010

Today we arrived in Livorno, a very busy port in Italy. Again we arrived at breakfast time we were greeted by a rather dull day in which to explore the beautiful Tuscany region of Italy.

Last night was a 'fiesta' night so the restaurant was festooned with balloons and are were all given flowers to wear around our necks. After dinner there was a dance production. We also learned that we (mum and I) had managed to drink one of the bars dry of Port!! (not bad news in my book!!!)

We decided today to change our routine and dine in a restaurant called 'Cafe Jardin' by Marco Pierre White. We arrived for breakfast and were shown to our seats. They had a very flashy menu but when you boiled it done it was a continental breakfast with some hot items, such as 'smoked bacon,warmed rustic baguette' (bacon buttie!!) 'Pan cooked eggs and smoked salmon' (smoked salmon omellette!) Anyway it was very nice.

We went down to take a trip into town only to find that mum had left her pass back in the room, so dad went on the scooter to get that, but it wasn't where mum said it was, so we had to get a neww one issued, by which time it had started to rain!! We decided to put the visit back and have a game of cards.

We eventually got away around 11am. There were several shuttle buses into town, one was converted for disabled people so mum was able to get her scooter on it. It is on attempting to board the coach that we realise just how selfish and ignorant some people are. It was obvious that there were several people who needed a hand but still people just barged on ahead getting in the way and trying to snatch the few seats that there were. In the end I had to say something, it had a great result 8 people got off the bus and got onto one that they could easily access and we couldn't. I can't fault P and O they provide someone to help at every port, they get people on and off of the ship, they are very efficient.

In town we stopped for a coffee, I set dad up with a day old English paper and mum and I hit the shops! We found a couple of interesting jewelery shops, both mum and I bought a few bits for ourselves and for the folks back home!!

This afternoon the sun came out and we went up to the sun deck to catch a few rays. Dad even managed to grab a few ZZZ's on a sun bed!!

Tomorrow we will be at sea all day, heading for the South of France, Bon Voyage!!!

16:25 09/05/2010

Sunday morning means that we have arrived in Cannes, the itinery said it should be Monte Carlo, but the harbour was too busy so we were redireted to Cannes. So after breakfast I went and collected my ticket to board the tender bound for shore. The tenders are also the life boats so around half of them stayed on the ship and the other half acted as ferries to get us all ashore.

It is my first visit to Cannes, its a very swish resort on the south coast, once I landed I went to the main street and took an hour long trip on the 'little white train'. It was a great way to learn about the history of the place and see the places where the stars hang out. The Cannes film festival is not too far off and there were loads of crews setting up lighting and generally sprucing the place up. After the train trip I took a stroll around the Sunday market which was a mixture of very expensive antiques and a few cheaper arty stalls. There were some beautiful paintings for sale, originals being sold by the artists. Some people have no idea and I cringed when one English woman asked the artist if she had a particular 'original' painting in a different colour? the lady explained that it was an 'original' and the only one. Undaunted the woman pressed on and said she understood it was an 'original' but wasn't there others the same in a different colour!!!! I managed to find some beautiful handmade lavender bags and a zip up bag for spare memory cards in a beautiful fabric.

When I got back I had a bite to eat and went and sat on the sun deck to read my book. We were the only liner anchored in the harbour so we seemed to attract a large number of helicopters who flew over the ship so low that you could see the pilot and passenger. I did wonder if they were Paps who were looking for me, but Mum and dad did't think so!!!