Our last day in Venice as we fly to London for the last week of our holiday. Early morning start - Jeannie had set her alarm to "Drunk Smurf" and we were awakened by some pretty evil-sounding insane chuckling and laughter. Our porter MacBull (actually a wiry Indian dude as strong as an ox) turns up in the cobbled courtyard to take on our combined 150kg of luggage on his multi-wheeled trolley. MacBull's trolley has two small wheels at the front to get the trol...

Disembarkation day. Time to say goodbye to first class service, dining, accommodation and entertainment and being moved around the Mediterranean from fantastic port to port without having to pack or wait for trains or planes. Would definitely go with Princess Cruises again, just have to pick the next cruise route. As our 3500 disembark another 4000 are getting on this afternoon for the cruise back to Barcelona, after which the ship heads to America for their cru...

Venice Italy. Sailed in this morning through the Venetian archipelago island after island crowded with houses until we arrived at the main part of Venice sailing down the Grand Canal and reversed in to dock with the other cruise ships. A magical entry to Venice and we could see the whole of Venice from the decks, dwarfing the churches and houses lining the canals. Spending one more night on board before we check out tomorrow morning into our land-bound accommodat...

Heading for Venice with a day at sea traveling from Athens up the strait between the east coast of Italy and the Eastern European countries including Slovakia, Bosnia, Albania, Slovenia etc. Continued up the strait through the night with the dark coastline sprinkled with the lights of isolated villages and towns on the coast and in the hills. Big deck party was on last night with many people up dancing. Jeannie and I visited the casino for the first time for a...

On the road again, catching the fast two hour train from Venice to Florence. Woke up late, had another five course breakfast, and wandered back to the watery bus stop for vaporetto number 42 to ferrovia stop to buy tickets to Florence. Just missed the 1227 by a gnats whisker so bought for the 1327 and wandered back out for a beer and a gelato on a Venice canalside cafe. The hardship! On the train now - even second class is very nice - as it speeds through the r...