Well, here we are on Aurora again - our second cruise of the year! Sailed out of Southampton in torrential rain - we do feel sorry for those we left behind! Not! The rain did stop long enough for us to sip champagne on Mum & Dad's cabin balcony as we sailed down Southampton Water. It started to get a bit rough as soon as we got round the Isle of Wight but we were both fine - maybe we have found our "sea legs" ... Or maybe not...

Last night was not good to say the least. It was gale force 8 as we headed down the Channel and into the Bay of Biscay. As our cabin is towards the bow of the ship we were kept awake by the spray hitting our window and the load "bang" every time the ship slammed back into the water after riding a wave. As soon as we got up, we knew that we were going to spend the day throwing up so we took a trip to the ship's medical centre to get a "motion discomfort" injection. This totally knocks you out so we spent four hours asleep in our cabin but did at least manage to eat dinner and watch the show that evening.

An altogether calmer day! Weather is getting warmer and we have cleared the Bay of Biscay so the sea is very much more friendly. Went to a talk about Rome in the morning, followed by an afternoon of sunbathing. We had to keep moving our sunbeds as every time the ship changed course we ended up in the shade! Oh, the stress of cruising!

It was the Captain's Cocktail Party and Welcome Aboard dinner tonight. Paul and I managed all 7 courses - a first! - have a look at the menu by clicking here.

Another day at sea - got some news that's a bit scarey but exciting too. Apparently Mount Etna is erupting - we caught a few shots of it on CNN. We are visiting Messina on Sicilly in a few days time and have booked a trip to Taormina which will give us great views of the volcano. Hope the earthquakes hold off!

This morning we arrived in Barcelona. I have been here before but Paul hasn't so we decided to do a tour. Started with a walking tour round the old part of the town and then rejoined the coach to take in, amongst other things,  Gaudi's La Sagrada Familia - a huge unfinished church in the centre of the town. Since I was there 4 years ago, they have built a lot more but are still expecting it be years before it is finished. The tour also took us up onto Montjuic to see the spectacular views across the city.

I love Barcelona - it is such a vibrant city with so much to see... but its back to the ship as we sail at 6pm for St Tropez.

Too small a place to get into the harbour so we anchored off-shore and went in on the tenders. A very pretty fishing port - not quite what you expect of the place really - I guess all the celebrity homes are away from the town centre. We had a good wander round and then made our way back to the ship for lunch - the sun is out and I want to start work on my tan!! We later found out that, to use the Captain's words, "the students were revolting" - a large demonstration was taking place in the centre of the town which was stopping our coaches getting back to the ship. More demonstrations were to come...

Another day, another port... this time its Civitavecchia ("never heard of it" I hear you cry!) the "local port" for Rome. For me this was one of the highlights of the cruise. The drive into Rome took about an hour and a half but it was well worth it. Where do you start in a city with so much to see and only one day to see the highlights? To solve this problem we took a tour again. This enabled us to see all the "must-see" parts. The Roman Forum, the centre of ancient Rome was amazing with ruins dating back to 500BC. It is amazing that parts of these buildings still stand and hold such an atmosphere. Nearby the Colosseum was an amazing sight especially when you are told that it could seat 50,000 people.

Another demonstration held us up for about an hour - this time it was the deaf and mute community (and, yes, there were lots of comments about the fact that it must have been a very quiet demonstration). After a (dreadful!) meal at lunchtime, we made our way to the Vatican and went into St Peter's Basilica... the largest church in the world. Inside it is simply stunning... the scale and the mosaics, paintings and monuments it contains. I think this was the highlight of the day for me.

Back to the ship in time to set sail at 7pm for Naples - we have just heard that there has been an earthquake in southern Italy. We were knackered when we got back to the ship so after our meal got an "early" night. Another long day tomorrow...