Life's Journey

Sadly this is our last stop on our adventure. Tonight we will be sailing to Barcelona where we disembark. I'm not ready for this to come to an end. It's been an amazing trip so far. But, before dwelling on the end we had one more stop to enjoy - Toulon, France.

We weren't sure what to expect here… do we travel into Provence or Marseilles? Is there anything to see and do in Toulon? I was happy to find that the town of Toulon provided some activities for us. When we arrived we were in a large boat dock (many of our stops were very industrial) where there were large yachts and sailboats. We had been seeing a huge sailboat at many of our ports. It looks just like a pirate ship. Every time we saw it I would say "We need to throw bottles of rum at them and start singing "yo ho yo ho a pirates life for me" lol" Anyway, we got off the ship and found these little trains lined up and locals handing out info about them. They looked like the trains that kids ride through the mall but on a little larger scale. So it looked pretty hokey. But after reading the brochure, it was only 6 euros per person, it’s a hop on/ hop off with two stops - one at the beach and one at town center. Sold! This was the perfect idea. I was feeling crazy sore by this point. I've been taking the slow release morphine but yesterday I started supplementing with Vicodin because the pain is just too much. I'm also oddly aware of the stent in my ureter. I think 'Ive just been pushing too hard and my body is begging me to stop. So, this seemed like the perfect solutions. Hop on the hokey little tourist train to go to the beach first.

The beaches were beautiful. I'm always surprised to find that the beaches aren't really sand, they are more like small river rocks. They hurt to walk on, I can't imagine trying to lay on them. And they absorb and radiate heat like a little oven. But, there was more of a sand feel closer to the water. This was the French Riviera. There were many locals at the beach with their families. There were bars and cafes lining the sidewalks along the beach. It was a beautiful morning to take a nice and easy walk along the beach. We spent about 30 minutes there before jumping back on the hokey little train to go to city center.

The city was more like a town. It had quaint narrow little streets lined with cafes and shops. There are apartment homes above with wooden shutters on the windows and small balconys with flowers of every color hanging down. It was the picture perfect little french town. The roads were cobblestone and brick and everything had an old world feel to it. We enjoyed holding hands and walking through the streets window shopping and people watching. We turned a corner and found a huge farmers market. They had everything you can imagine in the market. The fruits and vegetables were big and bright, beautiful colors. There was seafood and meats. There were artists selling their crafts. It seemed to go on forever and there were quite a few people here. I thought how wonderful it would be to live in one of these apartments in Toulon. To have a small place about the cafes and shops with a small balcony full of flowers and herbs. To be able to walk down to this amazing farmers market each weekend to gather fresh fruits and vegetables for cooking. The marina is just down the street with beautiful yachts and sailboats. The beach is a short bike ride away and there are many parks for kids and dogs. This is definitely a dog friendly town - we saw many yorkies which made me long for a cuddle from Ben. I sure do miss that little guy. If my life were different this would be an amazing way to live. We spent a few hours walking and taking pictures throughout the town. We stumbled upon a little brightly colored bakery. He had a display outside of macaroons of every flavor and color. Neither of us had ever had a real fresh macaroon before so we had to try them. We purchased a chocolate and a raspberry macaroon - I talked to the baker, he was very friendly and said this little shop was his dream and he is happy he had the opportunity to do this. We took our macaroons around the corner where we found a beautiful fountain where we could sit and eat. They were delicious! We wish we could've purchased more to bring home for everyone but they never would've made it. Let me just tell you the flavor was perfect not too sweet and the cookie just melted in your mouth. It was a delicious snack in the perfect location.

We had a beautiful day in Toulon before heading back to the ship. I haven't reported much on our activities while on the ship so let me digress a little to fill you in. We had this amazing room which was perfect for a 12 day cruise. Yes, it cost a pretty penny but for a trip like this is was worth every one of them. We both said we could've done this in a standard balcony cabin but it would've been much more cramped and a good chance we would've been in each others way often which inevitably leads to bickering. Don’t get me wrong 24/7 with one other person for 13 days is a lot and we had our moments but they were very short lived. Overall we enjoyed every moment in our suite. We enjoyed dinners in our room on nights when we were super tired and didn’t feel like dressing for the dining room. We also enjoyed room service breakfast on the early mornings. We had an espresso/cappuccino maker in our room - that was a nice bonus. The meals on the ship were pretty good. They often give you two full meals so you can taste everything. I didn’t eat much - not intentionally, either I had no appetite, I wasn’t feeling good, or the food just didn’t taste good to me. I think this is a continuing side effect of the chemo. I'm probably one of the very few people that managed to lose some weight while on a cruise. They definitely made food available at any time of the day or night. I actually felt bad for often wasting the food. But I guess that’s how it goes on a cruise. We did enjoy some of the specialty restaurants. You pay a cover charge for these restaurants but definitely worth it because the food quality is better. Roy loved the itallian place, La Tratorria. I think my favorite was the french place, Le Bistro (the crème brulee was amazeballs). Because we had to super suite we always had great tables at the window so we could watch the water go by and the sunset over the horizon. We were lucky enough to see many breath taking sunrises and sunsets from our large balcony. There were times that one of us would wake crazy early and go outside with a blanket and a cappucino and watch the sun come up over the horizon. It was beautiful. We have enjoyed various shows at the Stardust Theatre. Another perk that comes with the suite is reserved seating for all of the shows. This meant we didn’t have to show up early and sit there we could come in any time and have the best seats in the house. Many of the shows were as you would expect them to be on a cruise ship, but some were a pleasant surprise. They've thought of everything and we have enjoyed cruising with Norwegian.

Hugs and Smiles,

Sarah