This is inside Santa Croce. I guess the tape all over the painting is some kind of restoration thing...? 

And a close up. The line was ridiculously long, like all of the lines in Florence. 

Here's another shot of it. We didn't even try to go inside. 

This is the first of the Florence photos. This is the side of the Florence Cathedral. 

Here's one last photo of Villefranche. This one was taken from our ship. 

So, after we finally went ashore, we explored the wonderful city of Marseille! I loved Marseille so much I wanted to stay!

The first order of business was to get a map of the city from the Tourist Center. We saw Notre Dame de la Garde and just generally walked ourselves half to death. Oh, but first we took our map of the city and sat down at a cafe. We ordered to coffees (because it was the first thing we thought of) and that was the most wonderful coffee ever! It was, of course, a little shot of espresso and we put in one lump of sugar - it was so smooth it didn't need any cream. Oh, coffee will never be the same...

Note: I consumed *so* much caffiene on this trip!

This is just another shot of the shore taken from the tender boat. This one actually makes things look a bit hazy, but I don't remember it being that way... 

This is just a picture of the water (obviously). I rather like the photo personally, but if you think it's boring, the move on! 

This is a shot of a fort or something taken from the tender boat. I have no idea who those people are except that they were also on our cruise. :) 

Since the port at Villefranche was so small (you can see pretty much the whole thing here) the ship had to anchor outside the port. We took these little 'tender boats' back and forth between the ship and the port. 

This is a museum that we didn't have time to go into in Cannes. This is also, most likely, where I lost the sunglasses that I'd just bought that morning - ack! 

Okay, so our ship (the splendor of the seas) may not have been *quite* as colossal and pristine as the Titanic, it was still incredible. It's so big! There were 11 decks (not counting the ones we don't know about - kitchen, laundry, etc.) packed with shops and theaters and staterooms, of course.

We had dinner on board Saturday evening and I had a wonderful Vidalia Onion Tart. We also caught a couple of glimpses of a transvestite on board. (there later turned out to be several of them) He was a bit unsettling.

After dinner, I crashed hard (again) and didn't wake up until Doug woke me at 9 a.m.!I thought he was setting the alarm for 7, but he set it for 8 and then we both slept through it! So, we showered up and ate a quick breakfast and went to shore...

This is a photo of a cool house. Unfortunately it was taken through the wires at the train station - still kind of a cool picture... 

Look closely at this window. The shutters are real, but the trim/frame around the window is painted on! 

This is a building. What more can I say? 

This is an alley in Villefranche. We just thought it looked very cool and European and old. :) 

This is me at the port of Villefranche, France. Isn't it beautiful? 

So, at this cafe that I mentioned before, I ate a bikini. Also known as a grilled ham and cheese sandwich. Quite tasty! I had a few more over the time that we were in Europe.

The other crazy thing that happened was this: There was some kind of trouble in the street as we were about to leave. I think a pick-pocket struck. All I know for sure is that there was yelling and the shop owners ran out to the street. When they came back in they were telling us to hang on to our backpack. It was really kind of scary.

After lunch on Saturday, we loaded up on a bus and went to the Barcelona port where we boarded our ship. It was pretty amazing! I was expecting something of Titanic type proportions and elegance after all of Doug's gushing about his previous cruise...

These are a couple of people from our tour group who also sat at our dinner table. Elanor and Ariel - they were an entertaining pair! 

This is a photo of me from our first formal night on the ship. My face, chest, and arms were totally sunburned! 

French kitties! There were several of them hanging around this fence and a lady came up and started feeding them (and saying a lot of things to me that i didn't understand) about the same time we wandered by. 

This is just a random street in Marseilles. Doug said the buildings reminded him a lot of New Orleans. 

Here's another shot of Notre Dame de la Garde. This shot was taken on our way back down the hill. 

So, after dinner with the very colorful crew we were touring with, we went back to the hotel and crashed. Hard. No jet lag here. We just passed out and slept soundly! We woke up in the morning feeling quite a bit better.

The next morning we went on a half-day tour in Barcelona (pronounced Barthelona there) called Gaudi and Modernist Barcelona. It was a good tour - we saw a couple of 'houses', Parc Guell, and Church of the Holy Family (all of which i have already posted photos of). It was all amazing. I nearly cried when I saw the first house. We returned to our hotel with very sore feet and about 150 photos!

We had lunch that day at a little cafe across the street from our hotel. Doug understood and spoke just enough Spanish and the cafe owner understood and spoke just enough English for us to order a couple of sandwiches. And they were yummy! Unfortunately, I forgot to check what the name of the cafe was and we were never back at that hotel, so...

Another photo from inside. This was also the sight of me accidentally kicking a kneeler and making a loud obnoxious noise in a very quiet church full of respectful people - ack! 

This photo was taken inside. Lots of prayers... 

And here is a photo of Notre Dame de la Garde. I love the two colors of stone. 

Another shot of the city once we made it up to Notre Dame. Looks a bit hazy, but it was really beautiful. 

Here is a shot of Marseilles we took while walking up the many steps to Notre Dame de la Garde. Ain't it perty?