Mistral Winds

are notorious amongst sailors in the Western Meditteranean. So as we were departing Barcelona the captain interrupted our dinner to announce that we would be travelling through gale-force winds in the night and should expect a bumpy ride, stabilizers or no. I must be acclimatizing to the sea-travel, because I slept through the whole thing.

It was cool and blustery in Monte Carlo when we docked this morning. We did a bit of walking around, though slower and more purposeful than my preferred style. The wife was investigating perfumes for the girls at home. But nothing satisfied, so we'll keep looking for ideas in Rome. At least the sun came out and shone beautifully on the gardens by the palace.

We have one more cruise day tomorrow, then it's off to Rome for six days. That's the portion of the trip I'm looking forward to. We're hoping to attend the anniversary mass for the death of John Paul II on Thursday evening. We arrived in Rome for our first visit a month and a half after that (2005).

There's plenty of time left on my ship-board account, so I'll blog again tomorrow. We hope to see Pisa and Lucca. The bus driver in Palma correctly pointed out that these single-day visits aren't really adequate. You need to stay at least a week someplace to get a good feel for it. I'm afraid only Rome get's anything like that attention this time around. Quello che sarà.