Grace's Eigth Chapter

THE CRUISE

Day 1 – Venice

We met my mum’s friends and their kids and spent the day in Venice. I went on a gondola with friends Bronte, Molly and Zadyn and all the parents went on the other one. The gondola was so beautiful. As soon as you stepped into it you felt like a queen. He paddled us up the main canal and I saw lots of old buildings and fish in the water. Venice is really cool because the houses of the city are built on wooden poles from hundreds of years ago and they are still standing. There were lots of bridges and worn down marble cobblestones but a lot of graffiti too.

When we got on the ship, Vision of the Seas, I thought it was amazing, but I was a bit disappointed that it didn’t have any water slides into

the pool. The room was a little small but we had a huge balcony and a bathtub. Mum and dad said I'm very spoilt. We even had Bronte and Molly in the room next door so we could crawl around the balcony into each others rooms. Our room attendant, Leon, made me a different animal made from towels every night. I had an octopus, a monkey, an elephant, a bat and a peacock wearing dad’s sunglasses.

Day 2 – Dubrovnik, Croatia

The old town was completely made out of white marble and there were lots of cats. There was a clock tower at the end of a long marble street and then it rained and we got really wet waiting for a taxi back to the ship. That night we all had dinner together in Aquarius, the fancy restaurant. I got to pick dinner from a special menu and we had an oreo mocktail made for us by our waiters Anton (from Russia) and Iuliana (from Romania).

Day 3 – Sailing

My first day in kids club. We got to play fun games and watched movies. Dad gave us 20 euros to play the arcade games and we spent it in the first 5 minutes.

Day 4 – Kusadasi, Turkey

When we first arrived into the port, we heard the prayers being sung by the locals. We walked into town and bought a t-shirt and saw more cats and then dad took us back to the ship and the kids club. In all the shops they had really nice dancing outfits with coins and bells and hats with veils. The mummies didn’t enjoy their shopping but the daddies enjoyed their lunch and dad even had a swim in the port.

Day 5 – Santorini, Greece (Donkey Day)

We arrived really early before the sun came up and were parked in the middle of an old volcano. We caught a little boat over to the island and then rode the donkeys to the top. I felt really sorry for my donkey because he stumbled onto his knees because he was carrying dad and I. Santorini is very hot and all the buildings are painted white so they reflect the heat. Every building is on a cliff top so they can see the ocean. We all took a taxi to the other side of the island and had lunch and a swim. We didn’t want to wait for the gondola or take a donkey so we walked back down to the ship and caught the little boat again. It was really stinky from all the donkeys.

Day 6 - Olympia, Greece

When we arrived into port we hired a car and drove to the site of the first olympic games. There were lots of rocks on the ground and one big tower. It was hot but there were lots of olive trees and even horse rides. We had a nice lunch and then got a little lost on the way back to the ship.

Day 7 – Sailing

It rained all day. I went to a sushi making class at Izumi Restaurant with Bronte. The chef taught us how to make a spicy tuna roll and then an avocado and tempura prawn

roll. The chef made me put a prawn in my hand and I told mum I wasn't feeling well. She didn't believe me and then I threw up in the middle of the class. I used my paper chef's hat as a bucket but it didn't work very well. Mum had to take me to the toilets to wash myself and my clothes, then I had to go back to our room wearing a paper towel top. How embarassing! Bronte finished making my sushi roll and brought it back to the room so I could eat it. We shared it with Leon. After dinner we went to a disco at the kids club.

Day 8 - Venice

When we woke up it was early and we were back in Venice. We were first off the ship and then caught the people mover to the train station. We spent the day on a train going to Bern in Switzerland. It was really cold when we got there. Bern is all about bears and melted cheese fondues. In Bern it was 3-7 degrees celcius - it was freezing!

Day 9 - Bern to Paris

We are in Paris right now before we catch the plane tomorrow to go home. I can't wait to see Lucky (my dog) and all my friends at school. And warm weather.

The best thing about the ship was that we could go anywhere on the ship, eat as much as we liked, free soft serve icecream, kids club, disco, games arcade, theatre shows and a comedian.

Travelling safe and see you on Monday.
Grace Frawley