I'm Back!

Well I bet you are reading this post hoping to see the names of the prize winners, that will have to wait until tomorrow, I have been so busy unpacking and doing all the laundry and tedious stuff like that......

In the meantime, some photos for you, I spent hours just looking at the sea, I love the way you get all these different shades of blue and green with the white foam.....

and in true cruise tradition, there was a little towel animal in the cabin each night.....

the ship was very glitzy......

 but there were some rather nice pieces of art to look at......

Barcelona is always a favourite with us, this was taken at the start of La Rambla, one of the most famous streets in the world.....

where they sell every flower you can imagine......

and I love looking at the markets where the locals shop, the displays of fish, and fruit were quite beautiful.......

then just look what caught my eye, I was hopping around with excitement.....

oh boy, did I enjoy this! 

Here is Monte Carlo taken from the sea........

the tender moored next to this gorgeous boat, I was intrigued to know who
would possible afford something like this (there was a full staff of dozens keeping busy on there, so I googled it.....

It turned out to be owned by the third richest man in the world, a billionaire who owns Christian Dior, Guerlain perfumes, Moet & Chandon, Louis Vuitton....and dozens more similar companies. A guy who likes luxury obviously. I was quite tempted to stowaway on there, but then Google informed me that Tony and Cherie Blair often holidayed on the boat, so I went off that idea.....


Gibraltar is such a funny little place, a tiny bit of rock that Spain gave to the UK centuries ago (they want it back now, tough). The currency is the British pound, there are pubs selling English beer everywhere, the post boxes are red, and the policemen wear the lovely traditional police helmets that the police at home don't wear any more.....

and the prize for the most tacky souvenir of the holiday goes to this plastic statue of the Queen, spotted in Gibraltar, She is battery powered, so that hand is constantly going back and forth in the Royal wave. So tacky (I was tempted to buy one and had to be dragged away by Mike).......

There are no funny stories to tell you, despite two weeks of people watching, but a couple of observations:

If you suffer from seasickness, it's probably best to look for a nice hotel on dry land rather than a cruise. That way, you wouldn't go green every time the ship rocked a tiny bit (astonishing how many regular cruisers spent half their holiday in their cabin being sick! Why? Beats me....)

Women over fifty really should think twice about tiny mini skirts and six inch heels, something about the gait makes you think they have gout

Three huge meals a day (four if you count afternoon tea) is probably two huge meals too many....

Are we  the only people on the planet who don't know all the arm movements to Agadoo (doo doo) and YMCA? Worse still, are we the only (grouchy old) people who don't want to learn them. I can twirl a napkin with the rest of the world when it comes to the chorus of 'Delilah', but that's my limit!

Sigh - it's nice to be home. That makes it sound as if we didn't enjoy ourselves, we did, it was just what the doctor ordered, relaxing and sunshine. Perfect! (but it's still nice to be home...)

See you tomorrow when I will have sorted out some winners x