Whirlwind holiday

THE SHIP


DINING


Sitting here in an apartment in Barcelona just 50 metres from the beach drinking cava and soaking my tired feet (beats sitting here outside a pub....or does it?). We are having a fantastic holiday and I must say I have never had a holiday where I've seen so many beautiful new places. Our favourite so far? Villefranche is up there with Barcelona. Villafranche was definitely the nicest stop on the cruise, a small village on the French Riviera just 3 miles from Nice. And as for Barcelona - we're already planning our next trip here we are so impressed.

The cruise itself was great, a little cheesy in some ways but we had a ball and I'd say we all put on a few pounds from all the food they served us....and ice cream....and cocktails.....and desserts.....and the ice cream (there was a help yourself cone machine by the pool - dangerous or what?). Today Mark got his day and we visited the home of Barca FC in Nou Camp. The weather has been fantasic but we nearly melted in Rome where it hit a high of 37 deg. We just weren't able to handle it and cut or visit to the city short after only visiting the Colosseum.

VILLEFRANCHE


POMPEII


ARRIVING IN NAPLES


BARCELONA (COLOURS OF T-SHIRTS WAS A FLUKE)


ROME


PISA

Happy Birthday Mark

Mark turned 14 yesterday and he got this fab pressie of a netbook which I am now testing for him. I hope he has tiny fingers for these tiny keys. Anyway, happy birthday Mark and now I want one of these all for myself. Oh, did I mention we fly to Barcelona this Friday on hols?? hee hee

Mr Stewart

For an old man he sure knows how to entertain his audience.

Happy Birthday Lee

Lee turned 15 on Saturday and he celebrated with a trip to Blairgowrie (2 hours drive from Glasgow, 15 miles north of Perth) with his mates and we went along for the spin. While driving in the rain on the way there we wondered what we could do with our day but the sun came out as soon as we got there and after a long lunch we took in the scenery on a lovely trek, the photos speak for themselves:





We took a spin further along the road and spotted the Loch of the Lowes - a quick stop for the obvious photo opportunity but the reserve was closed so we kept going to the town of Dunkeld.



We found the perfect pub here on the banks of the river Tay (in TayBank Hotel) which was a musicians paradise - just grap an instrument and play away. The photo just shows one corner of this pub, upstairs it had a music room with another wall full of instruments to use. I would have loved to have just booked in for the night but a group of teenagers were relying on us to get them back to Glasgow (they were camera shy hence no photos of them). This place is definately on our list to return and stay overnight.



Back in Glasgow and we just had time for a birthday tea party before bedtime.





Happy Birthday Lee and thanks for introducing us to another beautiful part of Scotland.