Genoa

The Entertainment Director on the Cruise is multi-lingual and rattles off the opening and closing of each show in four or five langages consecutively without skipping a beat. At the closing of the Michael Jackson show he does his thing with one exception his '...Merci, thankyou, Gracie, Gracious...Bingo Bingo Bingo...Ciao, Bye Bye, Sionara, Arevaderci, Bon Nuit...' is broken up with 'cough, cough'. Marco is not the only one suffering. We are surrounded by random coughing and dispite taking precautions all of us have sore throats. When we arrived at Genoa Port the plan was to travel to Portofino which according to those who have been there is 'so beautiful', 'better than Mauritius' and 'spectacular'. Given the travelling time to get there and the fact we are all feeling a bit the worse for wear we head to a Chemist to stock up on cold and flu supplies and decide to spend the day in Genova. We catch the City tour bus and then head to the Aquarium, which is very special. The boys take hundreds of photos:

The highlight of the Aquarium is the Stingray petting pool. Visitors are encouraged to pat the stringrays (if you can get to one). They are very cleaver and like to tease tourists by swimming towards them and then changing direction at the last moment.

We all manage to pat one, except poor Sam who is running madly around the pool trying to intercept one. For a while this approach just doesn't work (I am tempted to tell him to take his shoes and socks off and just jump in the pool). We each call to Sam when we see a stingray swimming toward us only to have it dart off once he has run to us. Eventually he does get to pat one.

Lunch is the highlight of the day. We walk into a very authentic restaurant, down a little side street, filled with locals (who all turn and stare at us when we walk in). The waiter speaks hardly any English but we manage to order - spaghetti, lamb chops and seafood. The food is sensational (especially the spaghetti).

After lunch we slowly make our way back to ship passing a motorbike that thinks it's a truck.

What is surprising is that I've seen two adults riding together, side by side, in the cab of one of these 'trucks'. Not sure how that works - you steer left, I'll steer right?? Tonight is our last night on board the ship and though we have really enjoyed it we are looking forward to spending some time on shore and in one place.

Back on board, we finally get our safety briefing - I'm sure part of it was in English but I'm not sure which bit. I should add that a safety demonstration is played constantly on tv. For the last night we switched cabins (as someone was booked in ours and got on in Genoa). This new cabin was, supposedly, an upgrade. Although it didn't have a balcony it was right at the front of the ship.

As we discover, during the night, the thing about being at the front is that you have no protection from the wind and ocean (except what feels like, but obviously isn't, a thin piece of rattling glass). I begin to think the Areosmith rollercoaster wasn't actually that bad; at least it only lasted thirty seconds. Frank and I lay awake most of the night. I think about those poor people on the Costa Concordia...and sigh with relief when we dock in Barcelona.