American Mom in London: Mediterranean Cruise: Port of Marseilles

On Saturday morning, we woke up and looked out our balcony window to see we had docked in our first port: Marseilles. It was a very industrial port so not exactly the most beautiful view. I had read that Marseilles was a gritty port city so had decided to make things easy for the first day and book an excursion through Carnival. Our excursion involved wine tasting in Provence and a visit to the city of Avignon. We had room service delivered to our room for breakfast since we had to get an early start and while eating decided we were crazy to take Colin on an excursion that involved wine tasting. So, we brought him up to Camp Carnival and checked him in for the day so we could do the excursion on our own.

Our excursion started with a drive through the Provence region in France to a vineyard located in Chateauneuf-du-Pape, an area known for wine production. The winery we visited was gorgeous with a castle and beautiful grounds. We tasted four different types of wine and got a lesson on wine tasting and the history of the Chateauneuf-du-Pape wine region. At this point, we were very happy we had not brought Colin with as there was no way he would have sat through this wine tasting.

After our wine tasting was complete, we hopped on the bus and drove to Avignon, a small village in Provence located on the Rhone River. The city's main sights are the Palais de Papes (Popes' Palace) and Pont Saint-Benezet Bridge. We were given free time on our own to explore they city and have lunch. David and I enjoyed a kid-free lunch at a French cafe and had time for gelato after touring the Popes' Palace and exploring the city's other sights.

After Avignon, it was time to head back to the ship. I had been worried about Colin all day so was very happy to pick him up from Camp Carnival. He had a good day but had come down with a cold and wasn't feeling well by the time we picked him up. It was the first formal night on our ship, but Colin was in a pretty awful mood during dinner since he was not feeling well so we didn't do much this night other than take a small walk around the ship after dinner and then put him to bed early.