• We could have bought an “unlimited drinks” package for the cruise at a specially reduced price. It would have cost us €237.50 per person (that’s around $450 each), instead of the usual €279.50, and if one person opted for it, the other would have had to as well. That’s significantly more than we would spend on all drinks in the whole time we are in France – and we do enjoy a drink or two most days! What’s more, while the quantity may have been unlimited, it only applied to certain drinks – in particular, non-alcoholic drinks by the glass, house wine and the house beer. For most others (bottles of wine, cocktails, most beers, spirits), there was still a supplement to pay
• It cost €10 per adult to visit the bridge of the Orient Queen, which was a shame, because we’d have loved to have a look and the opportunity to ask a few questions. Apparently it was free up until last year. Did they want to discourage visitors or was it seen as another money-making opportunity?
• We witnessed some very impressive bus driving on the narrow, winding roads to and from the beach in Corfu. J could barely watch but it was obvious that the bus driver knew the dimensions of his bus to the millimetre!
• In Venice, we watched in wonder at the “organized” chaos of the boat traffic. We couldn’t make out any rules about keeping right or left, or giving way but somehow it seems to work (survival of the swiftest?)
• C was very slow to remember that you have to specifically ask for HOT coffee in Mediterranean places – the default option is to serve it lukewarm.
• J was surprised at how short Sicilian men were (even shorter than the French) – and thought the Sicilian women were welcome to them.
• The use of the euro made life easier for us. Of all the countries we visited, only Croatia was not in the euro zone. (Their unit of currency is the kuna). We are still a bit mystified as to how Montenegro came to be in the euro zone however – will need to do a bit of research about that.
• It’s not hard to see why some people do become addicted to cruising. Everything is taken care of for you and there is no work to do – no cooking or washing up; no cleaning; no little jobs around the house or boat. The food is great and you can be entertained at just about any minute of the day (if you like that sort of organised fun).
• We didn’t manage to get a single stamp in our passports to show for the whole trip – not even in Dubrovnik, where we had to go back to the ship to get them and we especially asked.
• In Rome, we think we found the ultimate in male model calendars, although all of the models were modestly dressed…in soutanes. Whether they were actually priests or not, we never managed to find out. Our Italian wasn’t up to the task!
Meanwhile, back in Besançon…
It’s been raining steadily for nearly two days, which has allowed us the time to write up our thoughts about the cruise in a less hurried way than we might have otherwise. We know some of you have been enjoying the sudden spurt of posts but our apologies to those of you with less time, who might be feeling a bit blogged down in it all by now.
We’ve been a bit under the weather figuratively-speaking too: C has been fighting a head cold and J has been battling a slightly squiffy tummy, so we’ve been happy enough to hunker down and do indoor activities. We have had enough fine weather to get the washing done – twice and to do the supermarket shopping (a bit of a mission here). The glazier has been to suss out the job and will be back as soon as he has the material to do it (ordered on Monday; expected in 3 days) and suitable weather. The forecast for the rest of the week is looking better, so we have our fingers crossed that he’ll have the time (and the skill) to get the windows sorted before we need to head back to St Jean de Losne, where we are due to meet our friends M&M next Wednesday afternoon. We also have a lunch date with Christian.
J has been doing some small sewing repairs (we bought a little Janome for €99 in our first year and have used it often) and C has been doing some repairs to the wall around the fridge in the galley and painting out a little more brown. There is pleasingly little of it left now, especially since we replaced the vinyl on the galley floor earlier this year.
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