And like that [fffftt!] it was gone.

Wow, it's over. I'm back at work, the girls at school and reality has rudely intruded. We totally dropped the blog ball after Naples, it was just too hard to fit blogging in with everything else we had on the go, but here's a quick summary of the rest of our trip, photos to come once I get the home PC back up (USB keyboard was killed by offspring).
Sea Day to Naples - A chance to chill, entered the Mykonos blog, second formal night where we were joined by two of Jasmines shipmates. The kids love to dress up and we've really enjoyed this part of the cruise. Dinner of lobster tails, awesome!

Naples - Awoke to a view of Mt Vesuvius from our balcony, quick breakfast and then off the boat to meet Alberto, our driver for the day. Just us on this tour. We had originally planned to go all the way down the Amalfi coast and visit the Emerald Groto on the way back but as we drove by the volcano I asked the kids if they'd like to climb it. 'YES!' they replied and so we changed plans, we'd climb to the cater, not visit Amalfi but instead see Positano, have lunch and skip the groto. Naples is mostly a slum and not much to look at, there's rubbish everywhere sadly. We hit the car park just before 9am and after a short wait for the trail to open we climbed to the top and were the first hikers of the day to gaze into that famous crater, it's walls sheer vertical on the far side, steam and sulfur gas rises from the rocks.
The views were really great but a slight haze obscured any positive sighting of Pompeii far below. Abs has been complaining of some knee pain recently and this flared up on her during the decent, poor chica so I took it slow down with her. On to Sorrento and then the amazing views of the Amalfi coast, surely the best coastal road in the world.
The vistas defy description, I have lots of video that I'm sure wont do it justice. The town of Positano is beautifully pearched on the cliffs, the road winds down to the beach, the last 500m for walkers only. Very pretty, but the beach is rocky, no sand for the sunbathers. Lunch was fantastic, and full Italian feast, all included for 20 euros each (Cam was free) and they could have charged that much for the view. 500 feet above the water, hanging on the side of the mountain. The best lunch I've ever eaten (food, drink, view and company taken into account). The widing trip back to Sorrento just as nice as the outbound leg. A quick hour in Sorrento window and wine shopping, then onto the ferry across the Bay of Naples and back to the ship. Margaritas on the balcony with our New Yorker friends, Mitch and Trish Cruz (the Cruz's are Cruisers), dinner, piano music in the bar (Rocket Man again!), more drinks.... bed.

Rome - A day off to recuperate. Late to breakfast, Jo at the spa having a hot rock treatment and massage, pool for me and the kids, lots of reading (Girl Who Kicked the Hornets Nest), a movie under the sun, a few Ultimate Cooler bevvies. Very tired fellow cruisers who spent the day in Rome, returning late and leaving the ship feeling empty as I guess they headed off the bed early. This is the tough stretch for most people, Naples, Rome, Florence and Monte Carlo/Nice, four days in a row.

Florence/Pisa - Tour arranged through our friends from the Cruise Critic web forums, thanks Jeannie. The tour starts badly, only one driver instead of 2 and he's late. Trish's family and us have timed tickets for the leaning tower so we take the first bus. This throws everyone out once the other guys arrives, the drivers can't seem to work out the simplest problem. We arrive at Pisa despite our driver clearly not knowing where he's going, he misses 3 very clear signs, takes the wrong exit, has to drive back the opposite direction on the freeway and finally dumps us in an alley somewhere near the tower. He has a GPS but either doesn't know how to use it or wont. Tower is nice, we climb up it, although Abs is again suffering the poor lass. It's like walking through the Fun House going up the stairs, the tower still has a decent lean. Of course it's got the obligatory scafolding on it (as does every other tourist icon in southern Europe) Nice views, Pisa seems a nice town, very pretty cathedral.No time for the town though as Florence is 90 minutes away so we swicth our drivers around a little, we end up with the dud for some reason, but at least he starts talking a little and giving us come local colour. Drive through Tuscanny although the views are all from the freeway so we only get glimpses of Italy's famous wine region. The roads are terrible, the suspension in the van worse, I lose some fillings in the back seat. Arrive in Florence through tree lined streets, the place looks great. View over the city is very nice, although the famous Pont Eveceva bridge isn't all that much to look at and the river has seen better days. The city has a great old town at it's core, the essence of what old Europe is supposed to be. We spend 15 minutes in the town square before driving again to the art museum that houses Michelangelo's David. 14 euros each to get in, no discount for kids, and basically only one thing to look at but the David is very impressive in the flesh, no doubt about that. After this another driver back to the same square we were in before, more time wasting by our drivers, then an hour or so to wander around. The kids get tiramisu gelato, all is well with the world. We drive back to the port about 80 minutes away. I argue with the driver about the cost of the tour since I expected a proper guide, not a directionally challenged taxi driver, I call his boss, I make a small scene. All the other tourers pay up, I guess too tired to care, but my cost is the highest as we have 5 in our party. We agree to lower the cost, my mood improves and I join Jo at Mitch and Trish's balcony for a frosty drink. We watch the dock as late arrivals flirt with being left behind as the boat readies to sail, the last arrival has the gang plank hit their ass on the way in.

Monte Carlo - It's too hard to get going, we stay on the ship and enjoy the sun. I've had a cold for a few days, Jo kicked it off to me, she's better, I suffer, drink loads of water, enjoy the sun by the pool. The view of Monaco is very nice, the boats in the harbour are just showing off. Seriously how rich are some people? A three masted spaceship glides into port, it's chrome spars automatically pack the sails back into hidden compartments... our Captain comes on the PA to point out the floating UFO, it's for sale apparently, make an offer [gufaw!]. Another fantastic meal, Karaoke finals at Club Fusion, meet up with our Texan friends, Amanda and Gerard, again. Then drinks with Trish and Mitch, we appear to have talked them into coming with us on our Barcelona bike tour tomorrow.

Barcelona - Sob! And we leave the ship. So sad to pack up and disembark our floating hotel dream. This will not be our last cruise, although it might be tough to top. Thanks to Fernando our steward who looked after us and our rooms so well. In the long line for taxi's we see almost everyone we've met, random dinner pals, fellow tourers, parents of kids our kids have befriended... Facebook friend invites are promised. We have to take two cabs, too many people and too much luggage. Our hotel appears surprised to see us... 'didn't you get the email?', but they respond well and we have our rooms about 10 minutes later despite arriving at 10am. I sleep for about an hour, still got that cold, the kids and Jo chill. We have to meet our bike tour at 4pm in Placa Jeume I. I can find it on the map, but not sure how long it will take to walk there. We haven't eaten lunch either and as we walk the options on our route are sparse. We hit Burger King and refuel. We make it to the meet on time and have some fun reminiscing about our Paris bike tour with our guides, they work for the same company and know the Parisian guides well. Trish, Mitch and Sam arrive, it's really nice to see some cruise faces even though the cruise is now history. The tour is great, our guide Megan really looks after us, the sites are interesting and Megan's commentary light and fun while also delivering some good history. The old town of Barcelona is very pretty, the new town has a great vibe. We see the Sagrada Familia, still under construction after 110 years, it's expected to be completed in 2026.
The Nativity Facade is amazing, the coolest view of a church I've ever seen, the carvings are stylized, highly detailed, moody, just perfect. We don't have time to go in and Megan says it's no worth it as it's mostly a constructions site (how wrong she is I find out the next day). We end up at the man made beach, Barcelonetta, near the 1992 Olympic Village and introduce Trish and Mitch to the wonders of sangria while we eye the black guys arguing with each other and threatening to pull knives to resolve their issue. I ask Megan if she can take a photo of us, and make sure you get the 'stabby-guys' in the background, what a slice of life. We end the tour and walk down to a Mexican place Megan recommends. It's not bad, not great, then we take a walk up La Rambla with the Cruz's, find gelato and finally a last beer before we have to say good-bye. They are great friends, Jo and I hope we get the chance to see them again, they really made our cruise.Day two in Barcelona we're all in bed until 11am, it's just too tough to get moving. We miss breakfast and end up trying to find an Asian restaurant that Jo spotted in our Lonely Planet guide, the chef is an aussie so we're hopeful of some authentic food (hard to find in Spain). We can't find the place and end up having greek instead, but no ones upset, mmmm tzaziki. From here we go through the park, past the cool fountain and after the kids burn off a little energy decide to split the party. The girls will walk back to the hotel, I'll take Cam and detour back to Sagrada Familia to see if we can see inside. Cam is a real trooper, in fact all the kids are, given how far I make him walk. This holiday has been far from static, there's been plenty of walking required. We walk around to the far side of the church were single entry is allowed, the second facade is even more imposing than the one we saw last night, very cool. Cam is free! Take that Italy. The doors to the church are relief copper names from the bible, they look amazing. Inside and I have no words... ok not quite true, I manage not to say 'Holy Sh!t' and just say 'wow'. I've never seen anything like it, no building has made this type of impression on me. The people who have taken over Gaudi's work are completely stark raving mad, they're lunatics... but I love them. The stained glass is the best I've ever seen, the light coming through it sets the interior at once on fire and cools it to the ocean depths. It looks like complex special effects, not simple glass in the sunlight. The columns holding up the sculptured ceiling look organic, it's truely like being inside a huge living organism, it's skeleton, organs, tubes bare. We pay to go up the lift to see from above, again Cam is free (in your face Italy!). The lift places up high, we walk down tight spiraling stairs, over bridges outside, switch from one tower to another, the views both of the church and the city are beautiful. The final spiral stair is an inspired tight wind straight down making everyone nervous, it's a thrill. Best. Building. Ever. When they finish I'm going back.

Final day - We're up earlish, have breakfast, pack and get cabs to Barcelona Sants station. Our train, the 300kph Ave, leaves on time and we enjoy the Club Car, the snacks were very tasty. The 3 hour trip ends too soon and we take the Metro back to Pinar de Charmartin, our home stop. After settling the kids Jo and I have to do some shopping, the fridge and cupboards are pretty bare. Back to the real world, a little shock after the best holiday we've ever had. Photos to come, video once I've downloaded the 6 hours of footage I took :-).

Andy, out.

Day Eight - Mykonos

The boat didn't get to Mykonos until midday so we all stayed out late the night before, the kids are enjoying their new friends on the kids clubs. We've met some great people on board and had a nice evening with some New Yorkers, Trish and Mitch. In port we couldn't dock so we had to wait for tenders to take 50-60 people at a time from the ship to shore. Thinking that this would take a long time we elected to wait an hour or so before going down to deck 5 and hitting the line. Our plan didn't work as it looks like every one else had the same idea and we ended up being late on shore after waiting 30 minutes in line anyway. Once ashore we had no idea how to get to the bus station, the pretty village is a maze of streets and nothing is signposted. We did some window shopping and then asked for directions to the bus station. We made it right on time as the next bus was leaving and 15 minutes later we were at Paradise Beach. 16 euros later and we had 3 sun lounges right at the waters edge under an umbrella. The water was full of different types of fish and we had some fun chasing them around wearing goggles. The waterproof video camera that Eric got for me was excellent and we have some nice footage. After heading back to town we turned e window shopping into real shopping and Abs picked up a nice Pandora-style bracelet and Cam a nice fishing boost model.Then we got back onto a tender and after some chill time had both our girls join us for dinner while Cam went ti kids club. Today we have our second sea-day on our way to Naples and tonight is the last formal night, lobster for dinner! In Naples we have a tour booked down to the Amalfi Coast, we're half way through this adventure and loving everything.

Andy, out.

Day Seven - Istanbul

Sailed into Istanbul during the early hours this morning and were treated to a great sunrise view of the European side with the Palace, Blue Mosque and St Sofia Church (so far being on the port side of the ship has been great). We had originally planned an organized tour of the city but decided a few weeks ago to cancel it as the major sites are very close to each other. We met up with a girl Jo had met in the hot tub and her family (husband and parents) and decided on the spot to try to get a taxi tour with them from the docks. We organized two cabs @ 100 euros each for the day and off we went. While Jo and I enjoyed the mosque and church the kids showed signs of over-culture and we decided to skip the cistern and go straight to the bazaar. Unfortunately in cliched Turkish style one of our cab drivers flaked on us and switched himself for another guy who couldn't speak any English. Our US friends ditched him and paid only half the originally agreed fare (for half the tour) but we stayed with our guy who was half decent. The bazaar was great fun and Jo picked up a beautiful table throw for a good price although I think my bargaining skills need some work (being tight for time didn't help).We got back to the boat and enjoyed some chill time by one of the pools while the rest of the passengers returned slowly from the city. I've tried out the time lapse feature on our new video camera for departure, looking forward to seeing what that looks like later. Tomorrow we have a late arrival into Mykonos at midday so we've let the kids off the leash tonight and not set a bedtime, let 'em (and us) sleep in before hitting the beach and maybe some snorkeling. Jo and I are dressing to the nines for dinner with Jazz joining us. Then a bar and finally a movie under the stars, U2 concert, to finish us off is the plan.

Andy, out.