Okay, I haven't been able to post in a few days.

Since Valencia, we've hit Barcelona, Marseilles, Monte Carlo, Portofino (once before and again today), Livorno (twice), Civitavecchia (port of Rome), and Sorrento. I think that's it.

Barcelona is an amazing, amazing city. As many of you know one of my goals for this entire excursion was to find a really beautiful piece for my sword collection, and really you can't do better than handcrafted Spanish steel fresh from Toledo. This is a post all by itself, but suffice to say I negotiated a hell of a deal down from 278 Euros (check your conversion rates) down to $225US simply on the basis that the dealer thought the guy who was with me was going to buy a lot. He didn't. But I have an amazing, beautiful Spanish rapier that will have a place of honor in my house for the rest of my life.

Barcelona, though... Los Rambles, the Gaudi architecture, the Sagrada Familia... the latter being perhaps the single most amazing and unbelievably beautiful man-made structure I've ever seen.

We've opened all the shows, now, so life is beginning to settle into whatever semblance of routine there can be on a ship with this kind of itinerary. I've met all kinds of great passengers, and that's a real saving grace.

Short blurbs for the rest of these places, as we'll return to most of them later.

Marseilles - Beautiful. French. Let that inform you in whatever way you choose.

Monte Carlo - Tiny, steep. Gorgeous. Preparing for the Grand Prix. Let me pause here and say I could put "GREAT FOOD" by any of these places in this entry and not be
saying half of what I could.

Portofino - Really cute little port with a lot of hiking to see a ... Brown Castle. The Splendido. The Cathedral of St. George (who fought the dragon). Smaller than you'd believe.

Livorno - by itself not amazing, but close to Pisa and Florence by train. We went to Florence yesterday - The Ponte Vecchio, the Duomo, off the street Rolex knock-off, David, Goliath... okay, not Goliath. Oh Davey.

Civ. (port of Rome) - Didn't get off the ship, couldn't, will next several times. Wanted t make sure I had a full day in Rome, and wouldn't have been able to this time.

Sorrento - hmm...Sorrento is set high of these cliffs right by the ocean. It's amazing to see from the ship. I wouldn't have chosen it as my target if I were a 15th century pirate or raider. Too much climbing. However, as tourists, we somehow are suckered right into having to climb these immense stairways and paths up form the docks to the city itself. Made better by Cafe Ciao, where the owner made us feel like family. Huge, fat family who apparently have no control over their appetites and require contstant shoveling of various kinds of experimental foods he's trying our. Go to Cafe Ciao if you're ever in Sorrento.

So that's it for now. Today it's more Portofino, and it'll be a little while until there are new places, so for now it's getting to know those places I've already seen. More to come!