Sue and I have been married for forty years. Yes I know it’s unbelievable! I find it incredible that she’s put up with me that long. So anyway we decided to mark the occasion with a ‘once in a lifetime’ experience we will always associate with this anniversary. Only problem of course was, as always, it was going to be expensive.
But still we committed. We booked a cruise around the Mediterranean on the new Cunarder ‘Queen Victoria’, as novices to cruising and certainly unused to receiving 5-star treatment. Sue deserved it of course – I had never been good at red roses and champagne so this made up for forty years of neglectfulness.
The trip was always going to be breathtaking – and so it turned out. On Wednesday August 13th we flew to Venice and with the absolute minimum of effort found ourselves stepping into the air-conditioned embrace of Cunard and the most beautiful ship I could have imagined. Our cases arrived unobtrusively in our ‘Stateroom’, and from our private balcony we had a view over the city of Venice.
That night we ate in the luxury of the ship’s sumptuous Britannia Restaurant and planned what we would do tomorrow.
