Author: Peter

31 August – 7 September  As we had a firm commitment in Northern Italy at the end of August, we had arranged for Sue and Lawrie, our dear former neighbours in La Coste to stay with us for four nights

29-31st August With a train departure from Udine station at just after midday, we had a leisurely morning to pack our rucksacks and saunter down to the next door cafe for an Americano and croissant, before leaving our hotel. We

25 August This was a big travel day, with some time-critical connections. Our destination: Udine in Northern Italy, in time for Lynne’s nephew’s wedding in Friuli the following day. As scheduled, the Queen Mary 2 gently berthed in Southampton Harbour

August 18-25 The sight of the Manhattan skyline as you leave New York by ship is truly iconic. Our huge ship, Queen Mary 2, sailed past the Statue of Liberty and under Verrazano bridge in glorious weather, to the magnificent

August 18-25 Queen Mary 2 is unique. It is the only Passenger Liner that has been built in nearly 40 years. This distinguishes her from the numerous Cruise Ships, that regularly launch from the great yards in France, Italy, Finland

15-18 August New York is a city we have both visited many times but never together, at leisure. So we felt quite exhilarated in deciding how we would spend our time.  But beforehand, we retraced our route down the Atlantic

August 13-15 It was time to leave luscious New London, on a journey that would finally take us to Old London. Mary, John and Scarlet (their Westie) drove us to the New London bus stop, where we boarded the busy

9-13 August This stage involved us staying with friends, a first on this trip. We met John and Mary on a ship in Antarctica five years ago, had joined them for a vacation on the Hurtigruten ferry up and down

6-9 August We breakfasted in Ellie’s, near our hotel in Providence, before picking up our rucksacks, avoiding the down-and-outs waiting for the soup kitchen across the road, and walked to the Amtrak station. We had plenty of time to sup