Almost finished packing and the car ready to go.  We will be off again on Thursday.  First stop is Toronto for an overnight with Chris; then Air Canada Friday morning to Fort Lauderdale for an overnight stay there.  On Saturday 21 April we Board the Crown Princess for the 8 days at sea before we finally land in Gibraltar.  After that it will be 5 ports before landing in Civitavecchia.

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      Once ashore it will be a train ride to Siena for 2 days - we have never been to that part of Tuscany before - then on to Pordenone.  It is a smaller town just north of Venice.  While there we will be meeting relatives of both my mother and father.  It should be an interesting 3 days.  Finally we will move to Venice for 2 nights before flying back to Toronto.
  It is hard to believe that we are going again after just getting back from Florida but we try to keep moving.   
   One of the hardest things was trying to decide on the weather in the Mediterranean.  With our normal spring and fall sailings we need warmer clothes but we hope that it will be warm there.
     We have already sailed 174 days plus on Princess (stuck in a rut?) but now that we attained Elite status we can hardly pass up the perks.  The mini bar and free laundry are just a few of the things that go along with the staying with one line.
       We will try to post daily (?) if we can.  We always find that sailing is an adventure and this should not be any different.  Pasta and vino here we come!  We made it safe and sound to Fort Lauderdale.  The trip to Toronto was easy , the Thai food tasty (except perhaps that strange thing floating on the bottom of the soup bowl) and the bed was good.
     The trip to the airport was fast but I was one of the lucky ones that had been flagged by the airline for extra screening in securty.  Why Me! I go the speed limit!  U.S. customs were very nice and the extra screening went well.  The flight was smooth and the hotel pick up fast.

    Since we arrived at the hotel in the afternoon, we decided to take a

Sailing At Last

On Board

taxi downtown and then walk around the river walk.  A bit of a disappointment as we expects shops, pubs, etc.  No such luck.  We did pizza for dinner, found a CSV that sold wine and then back to the hotel for a very good night's rest.    Now we are waiting for the shuttle to the Crown Princess.
     So our trip to Itlay finally begins.  More later...