Up early again today for our tour to Aix-en-Provence, only a short way out of Marseilles. We walked from the main fountain down Mirabeau Ave and into the newer section. We saw the high school that Cezanne & Zola attended, and many beautiful hotels. The meaning of "hotel" in French is a big, beautiful home. They usually have "vanity" staircases - a grand staircase only going up 1 floor, and they leave their front door open (there is only a hall downstairs, a l...

This morning we got up early and had breakfast in the Pavilion so we could watch our arrival in Marseilles port. It was incredibly windy, and the two tug boats did an amazing job. The mistral blows for about 1/3 of the year!! We then went off, all rugged up for 12 degrees C, and did our tour. It took about 1 1/2 hours to get to Arles. We walked right through Arles - first stop was their Roman Arena built in the first century AD. it was even taller (by one floor)...

We woke up at 4am to find that we had left Naples Harbour, then slept again until 8.30am!!!! Unheard of for me!! The waitress at breakfast told us that the winds were the Mistral winds that are so strong. After breakfast we went along to the Marseilles/Lisbon/Southampton tour talks, then bought a necklace of gold (23" at $US2/inch) and got a free matching bracelet. Whilst we were shopping we saw that Lord Wedgewood was autographing his goods, so we bought a small...

Well - another extraordinary day!!! We were well organised and down on the pier first for our boat ride (how novel!!) over to Capri (pronounced Carpri) - it took 45 mins and was very windy and cold, so I ensured that I purchased a scarf for the return trip. Our guide, Aldo, was very good - spoke excellent English and answered questions before they were asked!! We had a little minibus on arrival that took us to Anacapri - the top of the hill/mountain. Up there we ...

At about 4am we passed between Sicily and Italy. The engines had slowed greatly and we took a pilot on board to get us through the very narrow Messina Straits. All morning we motored up the coastline and came past the Isle of Capri quite early, around 10am, so Tom and I went up on deck and watched our approach to Naples and the amazing tugs that manouvred the QE2 into our dock. We had an early lunch and went ashore early so we could ring the girls, but the 6 ph...