I could NOT sleep the first night on the ship. I don’t know if it was the rocking, the time change or just because, but it was horrible. Cheryl and I decided to just get up and go to the gym early (she couldn’t sleep either).
When we got to the gym all the treadmills had signs on them that you couldn’t use them. I wasn’t sure why so I just jumped on an elliptical. After we did some abs and strength then went downstairs to get breakfast.
After breakfast we got ready for our first day of excursions!
We docked in Marseille at 8:00am, but we had to be back on the boat by 6:30pm. Since there was so much to do we decided to book an excursion through the ship. We booked A Day in Provence because it seemed fun.
We had to meet in the showroom and then get on the busses by excursion. We all got numbered stickers, but mine fell off within a few minutes. Once on the bus I passed out. I can fall asleep in any moving vehicle.
The parts of the country I did see (when I could open my eyes) was really pretty!
We stopped off in a random village for a bathroom break.
The village was really pretty. They had an old fort with a water garden. I loved all the old brick buildings.
Then we got gelato!
We got back onto the bus and headed off to our main destination. Along the way we saw an old Roman bridge. It’s crazy to think how long some of this stuff has been around.
Our main destination was the city of Roussillon in Provence, France.
We walked around a little bit and then we went to check out the quarries of ochre.
The ochre was really cool. The rocks are a red color and the whole village is made of them. It was really cool to go into the quarry, but messy. There was red dust everywhere!
The village of Roussillon reminded me of the village in Beauty and the Beast.
After the quarry we walked around the town.
We even bought Herbes de Provence in Provence!
Then the whole tour group met up at a restaurant for lunch.
We got 3 courses and a free glass of wine.
The gazpacho was good, but needed more seasoning. The chicken and dessert was delicious!
After lunch we got back on the bus and headed to the village of Gordes.
There was an antique car show going on.
The village was high up on a hill so the views were spectacular!
Then we of course had to get a French pastry!
It was a fun excursion for the day.
We got back to the ship about an hour and a half before we left port. The port itself was pretty far from the main town of Marseille so we just stayed on the boat.
You can see the island from the Count of Monte Cristo from the boat!
We started to leave port as the sun was setting.
We ate dinner in the main dining room a little earlier. The entertainment that night was a mime. They are weird so we didn’t go. Instead we discovered the best night time entertainment on the boat…the piano bar!
Jeremy was the best entertainment the entire trip.
When we got back to the room we had our first towel animal!
The Simple Things 