6th June - The Etna Volcano

Hermann arrived in Messina early in the morning and after watching the ship turn in the harbour to berth, Hermann was soon ready for the off...

On the way to Etna,  he saw a starving fox on steep incline to the craters.

The towns in the foothills had been covered in a carpet of black ash from the recent eruptions, still evident on verandas, and the roofs of bus shelters. Hermann said he was used to sitting on black ash at home on the bear shelf, but Misery soon pointed out that as Angus had gone awol, then Herman will be spending all his time on the black ash shelve in the future, pointing out that there can be no Angus the Bear travel blog without Angus. 

On arrival at the lava flows, Misery said there were no flies on Pooh, just lots of Ladybirds. Millions of them. Hermann  was jealous and wanted to join in.

.

Upon return to Azura, Hermann studied the black ash as he was certain it was different to the black ash on the bear shelf.

5th June - Angus AWOL 2 Days

Hermann was still missing Angus, and was looking out to sea thinking of the good times he had enjoyed with Angus.		Pooh had a go at quoits and did pretty well, winning the first round.
	Pooh went off to for more pilates lessons, leaving Misery to dream of his dinner whilst he slept off lunch and high tea.

Cartagena Spain

An early morning search for Angus was again made of the promenade deck 7, and the atrium in deck 5, but Angus was still not found.

Hermann was taken ashore to visit the roman theatre and ruins, but Misery was in a bad mood due to Angus disappearing, and because he could not find the door to the roman theatre, having walked all around it without any luck.    The entrance to the theatre was eventually found, two streets away,  with access made via an underground passage and escalators.

Hermann had a little promenade at the castle ramparts, but was sad as Angus would have enjoyed the visit too

 Misery said that everyone will have to grin and bear the loss of Angus, and downed their sorrows

Misery believes he must have fallen out the back pack on the promenade deck, and was then blown into the Atlantic Ocean.  Will he be washed up one day?

Angus visits the Site of the Battle of Trafalgar

Angus jumped into the backpack leaving Hermann to keep an eye on the coffee shelf, but sadly Misery and Pooh soon forget that Angus was in the backpack as they enjoyed their busy schedule of watching the port presentation,  eating food, more food and even more food.   Misery and Pooh went to the sunbeds to sleep of lunch but it was too windy, so Misery was dragged around the deck to watch the waves roll by.

Pooh thought that going to pilates might lose some of the weight gained from all the food, so she took some water in the backpack, forgetting Angus had jumped in earlier, and left Misery enjoying doing nothing apart from watching the coastline of Africa

When Pooh returned,  it was soon discovered that Angus was missing, but when and how?    Misery checked Mrs Garmin for a location, and she was lost for words.

An immediate search party was despatched to the reception desk , and to the deck 15 sunbeds, but Angus was not found.

• Did he fall out of an improperly zipped back-pack during the deck walk?  Pooh said Misery had a habit of leaving things improperly zipped up.
• Was Angus blown overboard somewhere between Lisbon and the straights of Gibraltar?
• Did Angus get sucked out of a partially open backpack when opening the portside promenade deck door?
• Has he found company elsewhere?
• Was Angus found and kidnapped?
• Did he fall under the sunbed to be blown away by the wind below Misery.

A lost racing pigeon was found, perhaps it had boarded at Southampton. It had a blue ring.

A late night search of the lunchtime dining table and the theatre was made, but there was still no sign of Angus under the table or seats.  There was no good news at the reception.

Pooh blamed Misery, and Misery blamed Pooh.   Hermann took over from Angus on chocolate duty,  but Misery was grumpy and ate the chocolate yet again.

Everyone were woken up in the middle of the night as Thumper was once again at it all night in the cabin above.  Herman suggested Angus was knocking on the ceiling and suggested going up to join them.

Bay of Biscay and Atlantic Ocean - 2nd June 2013

The daily Sodoko was again proving a challenge for Pooh, but chewing her tongue helped her concentrate.  Misery checked the Sat Nav, but the Wifey did not have much to say for herself this time, so he went on deck for a snooze in the sun

Hermann was getting a bit bored and was naughty all day, climbing all over Angus, whilst  Misery fell asleep on deck in the afternoon sun, burning his legs badly.

In the evening, Hermann asked if Thumper had stowed away too,  as someone appeared to be breeding like rabbits in the cabin above all night long

Bay of Biscay 1st June 2013

Hermann was getting board at with a full day at sea, stuck on the shelf with the apples and the coffee, whilst Pooh tried another Sudoko

Misery and Pooh dressed up for the Captain's cocktail party....

 ....and then went for a drink in the Planet Bar.

Misery and Pooh were both  woken about 3am by a rhythmic knocking noise from above,  which seemed to last an hour. Rhythmic knocking sounds were repeated at about 8am for another hour.   Hermann suggested it was a knocking shop above,  but  Angus said the shops were at the atrium.

Embarkation 31/5/2013

The journey to Southampton was quite stressful, whilst Angus waited patiently anxiously wondering whether Hermann had been spotted by Pooh stowed away in the spectacle case.

Departure from Kinver was delayed compared to previous cruises as Pooh wanted to tidy the house and Misery watered the tomatoes in the hope they would survive 17 days in the high tech tomato feeder designed to water for  only 14 days. Pooh then wanted  a coffee before leaving home.

The journey was quite stressful, as Misery left it too late to leave home, and the Garmin Wifey led Misery down some quite narrow lanes to join a long queue of traffic

 After another long queue at check in, and an x-ray, Hermann successfully made it on board without being spotted by security or by Pooh.   Angus showed him the ropes whilst Misery and Pooh drank a bottle of wine for the sail away.

Hermann was really pleased that he had made it aboard,  and said thank you to Angus

Strictly Angus

Lilly, the blue rinsed bear wants to go with Angus for the Strictly Come Dancing themed cruise on Azura this year.

Angus is a little concerned that he is not quite ready to cruise with a blue rinse bear, so he has decided to stow away his mate Hermann for the cruise instead, which is sure to be a spectacle.

Angus thought that as Hermann is a German bear, then he could claim the sunbed on deck in the morning

Bed Time

Angus had a busy day at St Petersburg, but when it was time for bed, he found that he had a secret admirer who fed him chocolate, and kept him up late.

Angus Visits the Russian Bear

Angus popped in to see his elderly cousin in St Petersburg.

He was lucky to survive the Russian revolution, unlike his master.     Nowadays, he enjoys a busy schedule, but still found time to pose for a picture with Angus.

Where's Merlin?

Angus was expecting to find Merlin in the medieval village of Tallin Estonia

The Mermaid

Angus was worn out searching for the Mermaid in Copenhagen.  He was expecting to find she was as big as a Grizzly, but was smaller than Pooh