Europe 2023

Yesterday was Brenda's birthday. To celebrate we had the most gruelling journey through 24 locks that day. Am I a cruel Captain? Well in my defence it wasn't planned that way. Our original schedule had us spending that whole day in Carcassonne - but the boat hire company stuffed up our booking - they managed to arrange our one-way trip the wrong way around and we only found out about that just days before leaving on the trip. That issue has resulted in lots of changes to our plans - some good and some not so good (like we lost a day and ended up doing 24 locks in one day to recover that lost day)! However, Brenda did a sterling job with all those locks and accordingly she was promoted from "Crew" to "Lock Keeper". Here is a pic of her carrying out her lofty duties...... Look - two hands, one to hold the rope and one to push the green button! What poise! What "je ne sais quoi!" Actually, joking aside, and before I risk mutiny on the Nourriguier (tha...

Before we leave Le Somail to start our long cruise west to Negra, we have to visit that bookstore with over 50,000 books on offer.... The "Le Trouve Tout du Livre" - a World famous bookstore that was a delight for Brenda to visit. So the crew (that's Brenda) and the captain (that be me) need to master the canal locks. Over the next ten days we have 66 locks to get through. These days, fortunately, there are full-time lock keepers who have remote controls to operate the locks. So it's important to remind the crew how much easier their job has become. No more running over the the top of the lock gates and grinding away to open and close the sluice gates - it's so easy for them now. Of course the captain still has to skillfully manage the vessel through the lock and keep an eye on the crew while they fiddle around with some ropes! The locks are big enough to fit three cruise boats at a time. Then after a day of cruising it's time to tie up at a quay. You can para...

We have finally arrived in France - but not without some drama! What are the chances of travelling to the other side of the world and bumping into your neighbour? Less than winning the lottery I reckon. Maybe I should buy a ticket. So we took a flight out of Rome to Amsterdam. And we are standing in the line at the departure gate for our flight and I happen to turn around - and standing right behind me is Jen Feltham (one of our neighbours). "Hello" I said and we both had a good laugh  - what are the odds of meeting like that? Well that was the upside of the day. Unfortunately in my haste to make our connecting flight to Toulouse - I left my phone behind in the terminal at Schiphol airport! Bugger! Fortunately the  lady who discovered my phone (who must be way more tech-savvy than me) managed to find a way to email me and I now have her to thank for arranging its return to me - she is sending it to our Airbnb in France where I will be able to collect it when we get back from ...

Everywhere you go in Rome you see "SPQR" - on noticeboards, engraved into stone plaques, and even on the man-hole covers in the streets. It's an acronym for "Senatus Populusque Romanus" - which translates to "The Roman Senate and People". It is a reference to the original struggles between the senators, the people of Rome and the early Roman Empire. For me it is a reminder of the antiquity of this great city and the historical impact that its leaders (both political and religious) had on much of the western world. It begs the question, where would the world be today without the Rome of yesteryears? I cannot answer this question, but I suspect it would be somewhere very different. Enough hypothesizing. Today we visited the Vatican. I know from previous visits that the museums and the basilica can get very crowded. But never have I seen so many tourists in one place. The lines for those who had not purchased skip-the-line tickets stretched completely out...

Sadly we must leave Sorrento behind, but with a sense of anticipation, we head north on the autostrada to Rome. We had planned to stay at an Airbnb apartment right next to the Trevi fountain - so very central to all the must-do highlights of this ancient capital city. However - you know what they say about the best laid plans! A few days ago we got a message from our hosts at this Airbnb to say that their very ancient building had some issues - the cellar below was collapsing! Not much one can do about that - we had to find somewhere else very quickly. I have to say that Airbnb were very helpful - and we managed to secure a beautiful alternative apartment just north of the Tiber river. It was a much more expensive option - but Airbnb agreed to pick up the difference. So, drama over, and now it's time to go for a look around. We planned to do a tour of the Colosseum first. We had wisely chosen to pre-book our "skip-the-line" tickets. The queue for those that didn't was...

After an incredibly hectic journey for the last 20 kms coming into Sorrento with traffic at a crawl (or stand still) we have finally made it to our r ooftop terrace apartment.  I have passed though Sorrento on a number of previous occasions - and I can confirm the town is perched on the cliffs of  a beautiful coastline; it has a  very quaint and busy little center; and has long been a tourist favourite. The last time I stayed here was about 25 years ago - and not much has changed (except for a big increase in traffic)! Here are some views..... Looking across across the bay from our rooftop terrace - Mount Vesuvius in the distance on the left Night-time view from the terrace Looking down on the town over the port and harbour Our first planned activity while here in Sorrento was to visit the ruins of Pompeii. Just 15 miles away across the bay - and with the crazy road traffic - it felt like we could have swam it in less time than it took to drive there!! But the trip was wo...