The rest of the 'Expedition' itinerary

Yesterday's blog put before you the itinerary for the "Semester at Sea" portion of the expedition. The ship usually docks in the various ports of call at 8AM and then on the day of departure, it generally leaves port around 4PM. The days in port are filled with on shore activities available to the students and most are related to courses that are offered on board. I'll go over my selections later, as I believe that some may change because as a 'Life Long Learner' I won't be able to sign up for classes (just auditing - I've seen the sylabus for some courses and I'm glad I'm not needing to take them) until the openings for the various courses are determined later. After all, the students get first dibs.

I decided to reserve rooms/apartments thru airbnb for key cities I wanted to see and then travel by train between them and see the country a bit.
These cities are Paris, Venice, Florence and Rome.
Here is the basic outline for the rest of my journey after leaving the MV Explorer in Southampton on the 21st of August.

I make a quick run to Portsmouth to catch the ferry to Cherbourg and stay there that night. My next three and half days will be visiting the French coast, especially Mont Saint Michel, until I reach Paris on the 25th. I'll stay in Paris until September 11th (a total of 18 days). That should give me plenty of time to 'see' Paris with side trips to Versailles, Chartres, Reims.
From the 11th until the 19th, I'll be traveling to Venice - My second stop. I'll be in Venice until the 23rd (5 days) and travel around northern Italy until I resend upon Florence in the 1st of October. Being the art nut I am I will be in and around Florence for 7 days.
From the 8th of October until the 20th, I will travel Italy (12 days) before reaching the Eternal City for my last 7 days. Monday the 27th of October - very early - I leave Rome, Italy and Europe - thru Frankfort and Vancouver (Air Canada - travel partner with United) and arrive back at LAX at 7:43 PM - after more than 19 hours (very long one day when you're following the sun).
I put this up for you all (hackers and trollers as well) in hope's that some of you may also be traveling and we may 'run into each other'.
More later