AMAZING

ME!! I have totally amazed myself with all I have done the last few days! Who is this new MITZI?? Yesterday was a wonderful day in Genoa, Italy. I got to visit the very famous town of Portofino! It was beautiful, but then all of Italy I have seen the last few days is beautiful! Some call it the Italian Riviera and say Rick Steves was really instrumental in bringing such attention to it. Yesterday we drove to a town called Rapello and then took a boat on a very rough ride to Portofino. We only had an hour on our own and by then it was lunch time so a lady I met and I tried to eat a pizza but it was served just minutes before we had to take the boat so they told us we couldn't take the pizza to go. Funny them! We'd waited almost 45 minutes and I wasn't going to leave it so I folded it the way they do in Italy and put it in one of their thick paper napkins and my pesto pizza became 'take away' after all! The boat rides have been very rough and getting on the boats on a tiny little gangplank that is bouncing up and down is an experience. I'm scared of everything so I just told myself that it was just like a ride at Disneyland!! You know, kind of a space mountain without the ride part! But you slide all over just like on the ride!

Portofino was nice, but I think I liked the villages of Cinque Terre better, more charming. I found out that I could take a train to all the villages so maybe I will visit Cinque Terre again someday, but not the walk along between the villages. By the way, the pesto pizza was delicious!

After a very rough ride from Portofino to Santa Margherita we had just 45 minutes to visit the town and all the stores were closed so I sat at a street cafe and had a nice pesca (peach) tea and people watched! When we got back to the ship my feet were so sore, but I just couldn't sit on the ship so I decided to walk a couple of blocks to the water taxi which would take me to the very famous, largest aquarium in Europe, the Genoa Aquarium. It really was beautiful and I liked the manatees eating lettuce the best! So many wonderful displays there. Finished that visit with a chocolate chip gelato, my first of the trip and then took the water taxi back to the ship and rested. Went to dinner late and slept well.

The weather is unbearably hot here, I'm miserable. I would be enjoying this much more in the fall or spring, next time I won't make the mistake of heading to the Mediterrean in summer!! However I will say I am getting some color and can say my tan is from the Italian and French Riviera! My cabin is warm, I think that is a way that Princess is saving money. Thank goodness my friend Martin is on the ship and I told him and he got them to come in and make it cooler and now it is much more comfortable, although I would like it even cooler!! It is nice to have a friend in a high place! Finally we had dinner tonight and I really enjoyed it. He is an interesting young man from Dubai and a good friend of Cesar's too.

Today I had to switch from Buon giorno to Bonjour and from grazie to merci beaucoup! Hard to change countries over night! I've been to the French Riviera and Monaco and Monte Carlo before so I decided to take the only tour I hadn't been on and headed innocently to St. Paul de vince. It is a walled city on a mountain. What I didn't know was that I would be walking up that mountain!!! Buses aren't allowed to drive up there! I didn't think I would make it, but alas, I did! And the village was a straight up walk, just like Mont St. Michel was. I made it up the charming village and was happy at the little parfume store, the scent was wonderful! Bought a few things and stopped for a crepe, when in ... My favorite is the simple one with sucre, sugar and the way the man made it amazed me, and it was so delicious! Walked back to the bus and was a couple minutes late, but it was okay, I was feeling so proud of myself for making it at all!

That was not the only thrill of the day. I went to the Cannes film festival center and yes, I did pose and have my picture taken walking on THE red carpet! What fun that was! The picture is horrible of me, so Iwould guess I will never be one of the famous ones walking up the carpet! Spent some time wandering the city of Cannes and loved it! Chatted with a nice couple who had a gorgous golden retriever, all white! They are so common over here in Europe but not at home. The couple was ready to fix me up with the breeder but I explained I couldn't have another dog now. What a cutie that boy was though, he had a name I couldn't pronounce and they told me it was the name of one of the 3 musketeers, not the Micky Mouse ones!

Tomorrow is Barcelona and I will be seeing it without a tour, finally a day I don't have to wake up with the sun!!!

Au Revoir mes amis!