Adventure With Toni Tours on Grand Princess Four Continent Transatlantic Cruise

---

The time has finally arrived for my group trip to Rome. I am escorting another Adventures with Toni Tours group for a 3 1/2 week trip. We will spend 2 days in Rome, before embarking on the Grand Princess cruise ship for a 21-day voyage to visit cities in four continents: Livorno, Cannes, Barcelona, Gibraltar, Casablanca, Dakar, Fortaleza, Devil's Island and Dominica, before we arrive in Fort Lauderdale on December 13th. I hope to post trip details and photos as I go, so check back for daily updates. Ciao for now.

Wednesday, November 19, 2008: JFK to FCO

Enjoyable 8 hour flight from JFK to Fiumicino Roma Airport. Choice of Southwestern style chicken or Beef Tortellini with comp bottle of wine. We found out Artie and Margaret booked the Alitalia flight when we couldn’t find them at the gate. So, we raced them to Rome. They beat us by 10 minutes.

Thursday, November 20, 2008: Rome - Roman Forum, Palatine Hill, Colosseum, Trevi Fountain, L’Antica Berreria

Very easy transit through Italian immigration. Luggage arrived within 20 minutes after arrival. We found Artie and Margaret at baggage claim and all passed through immigration without a hitch. We fought our way into one of the two elevators up to the main terminal, and then followed the signs to the Rome Airport Hilton. The signage was well posted and we arrived after a 10 minute walk.

Rooms weren’t ready yet, so we grabbed a delicious cappuccino at the bar and took the complimentary bus shuttle to downtown Roma at 10 A.M. It was a 25 minute drive to Piazza Boca de la Verita. We walked up the hill past the walled off Palatine area and up over Capitol Hill. We had an excellent view over the Roman Forum ruins and strolled across the steps of the Capitol Building, a.k.a. the birthday cake, because of its similar appearance to a tiered cake with candles.

We continued along Via dei Fiori, past numerous gladiators dressed in full garb with the ultimate fashion faux pax of sandals with black socks, and human statues of copper and granite, who move if you put a coin in their cup. We walked in through the main entrance of the Roman Forum and bought our Roma Pass for 20 Euros, giving us the combo entry to the Forum, Palatine and Colisseum plus a 3-day unlimited bus/metro pass. We would also have one entry left into another museum included on a large list and 20% off entrances to others on the list.

We hoped to catch the English speaking tour of the Forum and Palatine, but due to slow season, the only tour would be at the Colosseum. We used Rick Steves’ book with map and explanation of the many temple ruins and buildings scattered throughout. The Palatine had a number of residences from the Roman Senate during Caesar’s time, some of which were in pretty good shape.

We headed out under the Arch of Titus, and enjoyed a typical Roman alfresco lunch on one of the walls, as we chowed down on paninis and orangina purchased from one of the sidewalk carts. Delicioso !!

After lunch, we signed on for the English speaking tour of the Colosseum for 4 Euros per person. We were each issued a portable radio, that would allow us to hear our guide as he described the history of the building. He described how the ancient Romans would crowd the colosseum to see the exotic animals captured in distant lands and the gladiator battles featured in the afternoon. He described how the gladiators were treated like rock stars, and said the movie “Gladiator” was an excellent recreation of what the colosseum scene was really like. I was somewhat disappointed in his tour as compared to the one I took 20 years ago. The guide back then used the picture bok with plastic layovers that showed the stages of the colosseum and what it looked like over the years.

After the tour, we tried our hand at the very crowded buses, and somehow managed to stay together until we reached the stop for the Trevi Fountain. When we arrived there, we discovered that Artie was the first pickpocket casualty of the group. He had his international cell phone in a holster on his belt, and someone’s sticky fingers managed to lift it from him.

We walked a few blocks from there to L’Antica Bierreria Peroni and savoured the taste of ice cold Peroni Red Beer for 7 Euros per liter. This is Rome’s version of a German Beer hall. We also had a delicious sampling of antipasto breads, parma ham and cheeses put together by our “singing waiter” who kept breaking out in the chorus of “I love you baby”. We eventually cleared the place out, except for our group sing-a-long.

We decided to try and make it back to Bocca de la Verita for the 7:00 PM shuttle back to the Hilton. Joe took us on a long scenic tour using bus + Metro + bus in a big circle to get there. We were alert to keep our eye on the young women + baby pickpockets getting on at one stop, shoving their way into the bus and then getting off at the next stop. There was also an older man who kept pushing on different people, myself included, when he had plenty of room. We made it to Piaza Bocal de la Verita with seconds to spare, but didn’t need to rush, since the shuttle was 30 minutes late due to heavy traffic. In typical Italian fashion, the driver got out, made a call on his cell phone and smoked a cigarette non-chalantly while we all sat on the bus ready to go. He finally got behind the driver’s seat, and we arrived at the hotel about 8:30 PM.

We got our room key, and were happy to get a comfortable, spacious room with a king size bed and feather soft duvet. The marble bathroom was well designed and had a fantastic shower with excellent water pressure. It was lights out for us by 9:30 PM for a great night’s sleep.

Friday, November 21, 2008: Rome - Scavi Tour, Spanish Steps, American Embassy, Capuchin Crypt, L’Ambasciada d’Abruzzo

We rendezvoused in the Hilton lobby and followed the walkway for a 10-minute stroll to the suburban rail station. We tried our hand at using the automatic train ticket machines and paid our 3.40 euros per person for the ride to Ostiense station. It worked well for everyone except Liz, who got a “credit ticket” for 14.50 Euros because the machine ran out of cash change. It said on the ticket to turn it into any train station ticket window to receive the refund in cash. But in typical Italian fashion, the ticket windows were all closed, even though it was “rush hour” for people heading to work in downtown Rome and Trastevere.

We boarded the local train which was at the start of the route. It became more and more crowded at each station, until we felt like we were on the New York City subway at rush hour. We arrived at Ostiense station about 20 minutes later and followed the well marked walkway to the Metro at Piramide station. We took the B-line to Termini and switched to the A-line for the short ride to the station for St. Peter’s Basilica. It was about a 5-block walk to the main square of Vatican City. We stopped at the Vatican Post Office to mail postcards with the Vatican City stamps and then headed off to the Swiss Guards, who allowed us entry to the Scavi Tour office. I had made reservations for our group months before with much effort of faxes and phone calls back and forth to get confirmed for the correct date and time and to pre-pay the 10 Euro per person tour fee.

Our tour guide was a young college student from Fresno California. He was studying Latin on a special program at the Vatican. He is a master’s student of Latin, Greek and Classical Literature. It was interesting, that his name was “Peter”, since we would get to see St. Peter’s bones along the way. We had a private tour just for our group, which made the experience that much more special.

We entered the crypts below the Vatican which were found during excavation work conducted in the 1940’s under the reign of Pope Pius. He decreed that the excavation work should be continued and protected. The crypts unearthed, were those of priviledged families from the time of Constantine. It was part of a pagan and Christian cemetery. When Constantine decreed that St. Peter’s Basilica be built, the land was filled in on top of the crypts, in order to place the basilica on top of a hill. We saw a number of well preserved crypts with inscriptions and frescoes. Many of them, also had a roof top area, where the families could visit the deceased and have a picnic above.

We also viewed models of what the original St. Peter’s looked like, when it was built upon the trophy (columns of a crypt), believed to contain the bones of St. Peter. Our guide explained how different sections were added to the original building. We followed along the crypt sections that were cordoned off by climate controlled glass doors. But they didn’t seem to be working so well, since moisture was built up on all the windows.

We eventually reached the area where we could see St. Peter’s bones. We observed a moment of silence in his honor and then continued to the chapel that sat directly under the altar of the St. Peter’s Basilica above us. Our official tour ended here, and we exited into the Pope crypt, where we were able to view the crypt of Pope John Paul. We headed upstairs to the main Basilica, where we were able to see the Pieta, Michelangelo’s Dome, and the main altar. We also stopped to rub the foot of St. Peter’s statue, which shines from being rubbed by tourists and Catholic pilgrims for so many years.

Our group split up at this point. Half went to the Vatican Museum to see the Sistine Chapel and the other half headed to a local sandwich shop for some paninis and beer. We tried to purchase francobolli (postcard stamps) at the post office, but gave up after waiting a few minutes without seeing much movement.

We hopped back on to the Metro and exited at Piazza del Popolo. The piazza is a large square that had the original entrance gates into Rome from the North. Pope Sixtus IV established this area when he had city planners appropriate the property establishing the first rights of “eminent domain”. The center of the square has an Egyptian obelisk erected that came from the temple of Ramses II. It graced the Circu Maximus track prior to that. We strolled around the square for some photos and wished we had more time to take the segways offered for 30 - 60 minute rental periods. We continued out stroll down Via del Corso, passing all of the Italian designer shops where purple seemed to be the “in color” for this fall season. We walked down to the Spanish Steps and the fountain in front of it, where we saw the sanitation workers filling up their water bottles. Rome is known for their bountiful drinking water dispensed from all kinds of fountains and spickets located throughout the city. This was our first period of rain showers we experienced on our stroll.

We hopped back on to the metro to Barberini, so we could visit the Capuchin crypt at Santa Maria della Immacolata Concezione Church located on Via Veneto at Barberini Piazza. We found a sign that said the crypt was closed for siesta until 1500 hrs, so we did the touristy thing and headed up the street to the Hard Rock Café Roma. We rested our feet for a while and enjoyed an expensive Peroni Beer at about $7.00 USD for a pint. We drank up, and started heading back to the crypt when Richie told us he lost his passport and wallet. My cry of “Are you serious”?, stopped everyone dead in their tracks. He checked inside the Hard Rock, but he remembered getting pushed into the train at the metro by a group of kids and figured his outside jacket pocket got picked. At this point Artie said: “I don’t feel so bad for losing my phone”!!

I saw a uniformed police type person up the street and asked for direction to the closest carabinieri station where Richie could file a police report. I sent Artie, Margaret, Sophia and Liz on ahead, while Billy and I accompanied Richie on a whirlwind tour to try and get his passport replaced. The officer gave us directions, but in usual fashion, we took the long way around and walked 8 blocks, instead of the 2 it would have taken to get there. We had to wait while 2 British gentlemen filed their report for 300 Euros stolen. Luckily, they told us the U.S. Embassy was close by. We sent Billy on a recon mission to find it and tell them we were on our way, since it was already 4:00 PM on a Friday.

The very young carabinieri officer finally called Richie in to fill out the paperwork. We laughed, when we saw an old fashioned manual typewriter and broken fax/copy machine. The officer had to walk upstairs in order to photocopy the document. It seems all police stations are the same universally, when it comes to lack of modern technological equipment. Billy returned just as Richie recieved his copy. He said the embassy was about 4 blocks away and that Richie would have to speak with “Frenchie” on the embassy guard’s cell phone. They were already closed for the day and he would decide if he would come in to process Richie a new passport.

We arrived at the embassy and walked through the police barricades where we had to pass inspection by machine gun toting polizei, including a petitie female officer. “Frenchie” was called on the cell phone, and he gave the Polizei clearance to allow us entry into the building. The officers made us check our cameras and cell phones and then sent us upstairs to the passport office. It was a basic room with wooden chairs, a flatscreen TV, a telephone and computer with limited internet access to the U.S. Embassy website. It also had a cashier office with the blinds pulled down, and six clerk windows with the shades pulled down on all, but window #1.

A gentleman pushed a form through window #1 and told Richie to fill it out and bring it back to him when it was completed. Richie handed in the completed form and was told to go downstairs to the photo booth, where he could get passport photos for 3 Euros. Richie’s first attempt at the photos, resulted in a very large face with the top of his head cut off. He attempted to bend forward to fit his face inside the viewfinder parameters, not realizing he could lower the seat by twisting it counter clockwise. He tried to turn in the photos he took, but was quickly sent back downstairs to re-do them properly.

He finally handed in acceptable photos, and that is when the real-life Monty Python skit began. The same guy who took his papers at window #1, now called his name over the loud speaker and told him to proceed to window #3. We found the loud speaker to be particularly funny, since we were the only people there. The guy asked him a few questions and then gave him a piece of paper with an invoice for $110.00 USD and told him to proceed to the cashier window. Miraculously, the blinds went up, a man appeared, took Richie’s money, issued him a receipt and then told him to take a seat until he was called. The cashier lowered his blind and disappeared from sight.

In the interim, the guy from window #1 and window #3 turned on the phone, and allowed Richie to use a list of toll free numbers to cancel his credit cards that were also stolen. After a few minutes, Richie was called again over the loud speaker to report to window #5, where he was interrogated by an American, whom we assumed to be Frenchie. After the questioning, those blinds were lowered and Richie sat again to wait further. Finally, the first guy appeared again at window #1 and gave Richie his passport. I immediately took it from him and secured it in my neck wallet, so as to avoid another incident.

The polizei came upstairs to hustle us out, so they could go home. It was Friday night, after all.

We didn’t have enough time to meet up with the group at Piazza Navona by 5:30 PM, so we stopped at the Capuchin Crypt church enroute to Bernini Metro stop. It is an interesting, macabre place where the bones of 4,000 monks who died between 1528 and 1870 are arranged in a bizarre display. Of particular interest, were the chandeliers made of pelvic bones and spines: quite creative, actually.

Unfortunately, we did not have enough time to visit the Parthenon. This is my third trip to Rome and for some reason each time, it has either been closed or something has happened to prevent me from getting there. I really had my heart set on it this time, but was disappointed yet again in not being able to see one of the best preserved monuments of ancient Rome. Looks like Richie owes me a trip back to Rome !!

We hopped on the metro and Billy figured out how we could take the tram #19 near St. Peter’s up to the Parioli neighborhood just north of Borghese Gardens Park. We got off the tram a stop early, so had a bit of a walk, but finally arrived at the restaurant where we were meeting up with the rest of the group. The others had already arrived ahead of us, but the waiter said they had no record of my reservation which was made by phone the previous week. Luckily, I had a copy of the confirmation from Mario, along with the prix-fixe dinner menu we were supposed to have served family style for the group.

The restaurant Ambasciada d’Abruzzo located on Via Tacchini is one I had eaten at with my ski group buddies about 15 years ago. We enjoyed the restaurant so much, we ate there 2 nights in a row. I am happy to say, it still did not disappoint. We started with a mountain of antipasto appetizers including meatballs, olives, rice balls, parma prosciutto, sliced sausage, fresh ricotta, lightly breaded roasted peppers and a basket of peasant bread. That was followed by 3 kinds of pasta including spicy arrabiata penne, creamy mushroom bowtie and meat sauce pasta. The main course consisted of veal stew and roast lamb chops with roast potatoes and salad. The piece de resistance was a choice of desserts including tiramisu, zuppa de inglese and gelato. All were delicioso!! The waiters who served us were also a lot of fun and they presented us with the restaurant’s trademark postcard with caricature drawings of each of the waiters. Our primary waiter autographed a card for each of us.

We quickly set off for a 5 block walk to catch bus #52 that would take us directly to Termini Station. We needed to get into the metro prior to 10 P.M., when the system shuts down. We made it with a minute to spare. We took it a few stops to Pyramide station and caught the suburban rail back to Rome Airport station. Joe was really dragging and whining about the 10-minute walk from there back to the hotel. Billy managed to find a luggage cart, so Joe precariously balanced himself on it, while Billy pushed him all the way into the hotel, through the lobby and into the elevator up to his room. We garnered some very strange looks from other hotel guests in the process.

It was a very well deserved sound sleep that night.

Saturday, November 22, 2008: Rome to Civitavecchia to embark the Grand Princess

It was a pleasure to sleep until 10 A.M. I went down to the lobby for some delicious hotel cappuccino, when a Princess cruise rep was found in the lobby telling passengers booked on the Princess bus transfers, that they would not be departing the hotel until 2:00 PM, because the ship was arriving late due to a night of bad weather while sailing in from Sicily. We already had pre-arranged private transfers scheduled for 11:30 AM and hotel check-out was at 12:00 PM.

Then I saw Kevin and Agnes and found out they also had a mishap. While they were trying to buy metro tickets at the auto machine, Agnes tripped over someone’s suitcase, threw her back out and received a huge gash in her lower leg. The metro personnel called an ambulance, gave them a ride from hell to the hospital in the back of the ambulance, and ended up getting stitches in her leg. Lucklily, Italy has socialized medicine, so they did not charge her for the service.

We had an uneventful drive to the cruise terminal, but we could see that things were chaotic with people and traffic when we arrived at the port. We unloaded the luggage and had to try and squeeze our bags into a spot for the porters to transfer it on to the ship. We kissed it goodbye and hoped that we would see it again later in the day in our cabin.

We went through security with direction from the port officers to walk through the metal detectors with our arms over our heads like convicted felons. We collected our carry-on belongings and proceeded to check-in. Billy and I had preferred check-in along with Richie. The first thing the check-in agents did was check for the presence of a Brazilian visa inside the US Passports. Of course, Richie didn’t have one since it was inside his stolen passport. We thought the Brazilian government would be able to pull up his records via computer and see he was issued one, but apparently, due to the political dislike between the governments, they give US citizens a hard time if everything isn’t presented in its actual form. The check-in supervisor was called and she said that the ship’s immigration officer would need to make the determination as to whether or not Richie could sail without it.

In the interim, Sophia was making the hair gel melt on her check-in agent, as she stroked his suit lapel when he told her he had no record of her upgrade to a mini-suite, confirmed by Princess cruises the day before we departed New York. Due to the ship’s late arrival, they were only working off the original printed ship’s manifest. They had not yet received the updated manifest from the ship and still did not have the computer check-in hooked up.

We were ushered off to take one of the port’s shuttle buses to a local oceanfront hotel in Civitavecchia 10 minutes away. The bus pulled up in front of . We had a short walk to the main hotel lobby where we were greeted by Dani. She directed us downstairs to a room with tables and chairs surrounding a small buffet table with orange juice, coffee, rolls and pastries. The problem was, there were no more seats left. We managed to grab a love seat couch and some wall space in an adjoining room where we sat and ate. About 30 minutes later, we found out there was a bar upstairs with comfortable couch and sofa chair seating. We grabbed some baked beans with sausages that were just put out on the buffet and headed upstairs. We were much mre comfortable there and enjoyed some ice cold Heineken for 3 Euros per can. We also had a beautiful view over the ocean from an outdoor terrace.

Margaret got a key from the front desk, so we could have a look at one of the rooms. Most of them have a small terrace with oceanview and basic furnishings. They were more than adequate for an overnight stay either pre- or post- cruise. There is also a suburban bus that stops close to the hotel with regularly scheduled service into downtown Rome. The hotel is also within walking distance of a beachside flea market and a number of cafes and restaurants.

At about 4:00 PM, Dani gathered us up for the shuttle ride back to the cruise terminal. We cleared security quickly and received our room keys right away. As for Richie, the 1st Purser came down to meet with us and he gave us the bad news that Richie would not be allowed to board without a Brazilian visa. He told us the Princess port agent would get Richie and the other 8 passengers missing visas, back to a hotel in Rome and take them to the Brazilian Embassy in Rome on Monday morning to get the visas. Arrangements would then be made to fly them to meet the ship in Barcelona, or wherever the ship may be, since the itinerary was subject to change. He wasn’t clear as to why the itinerary might change, but he eluded to something being wrong with the ship due to the bad weather encountered the previous night.

We reluctantly bed farewell to Richie along with some US cash, some euros, one of Billy’s credit cards and an ATM card. Billy also gave him a handwritten note authorizing Richie to use the cards. We hoped that between the note and copy of the police theft report, that they would allow him to use the cards without complications.

We boarded the ship, slipping past the ship’s photographer, and took the elevator up to Baja Deck 11 to our cabin B422 which was portside just off the midship elevators. We met our cabin steward Bonifaccio (aka Boni) from the Phillipines. Our bags had already arrived and we stocked our fridge with the Princess Elite complimentary bar set up. I ran down the hall to the laundry to wash our clothes from the previous 3 days of touring. While there, I met another passenger who had sailed on the previous cruise and suffered the bad weather sailing the previous night. She said the ship got hit with a rogue wave about 11:30 PM. It caused the ship to ride completely up out of the water and slam down abruptly. It caused the ship to temporarily lose all its power, resulted in a broken window on the bridge, knocked TVs off of the stands in guestrooms and tossed liquor bottles off shelves in the bars. This was the reason it took so long for us to board the ship. The crew needed to clean up the damage.

Our group rendezvoused in the Wheelhouse Bar for a well deserved drink after having such a long day. It was here I found out, that our group had table assignments scattered around the dining room. This first night was open seating, so it gave me a chance to speak with the Maitre’d in getting our table assignments changed for the rest of the cruise.

This night, we sat in Violetta’s station. She is a tiny Bulgarian fireball, who we had a lot of fun with. She was a tough cookie, who was able to give and take teasing from our group. We enjoyed her so much, I asked Giuseppe, the maitre’d, to try and assign our tables in her area. She told us “we wished for too much !”

After dinner, we all turned in for a well deserved rest, since we had an early start the next morning.

Sunday, November 23, 2008: Livorno

Most of our group rendezvoused in the Explorer’s Lounge at 7:15 AM. We headed down the gangway to catch the port shuttle bus from the port to the centre of Livorno. We arrived outside to a very cold breeze and cloudy sky. We were greeted by the port consultant Rusty, who reminded me of a young Burt Reynolds. He told us they were just informed that the shuttles wouldn’t start running until 8 AM, because it was a Sunday morning. Silly me…I forgot we were in Italy on a Sunday nonetheless. I guess we should be thankful that the shuttle would at least begin by 8:00 AM. We went back to our rooms to throw on an extra layer, since the temperature was around 45 degrees Fahrenheit.

When we returned to board the shuttles at 7:50 AM, there was some confusion as to which bus we should board. Rusty finally got it straightened out. We paid our 10 USD per person for the roundtrip shuttle (quite the rip-off for a 10 minute bus ride that left us near a square where everything was closed). The shuttle departed at 8:20 AM (8:00 AM Italian time). From here, we walked 2 blocks, bought 1 Euro bus tickets at the news stand and packed into the Livorno City Bus #1, for the 10 minute ride to the train station.

The train schedules were well posted and easy to read. We bought our roundtrip train tickets to Lucca for 3.50 Euros a piece, which allowed a stopover in Pisa. The train departed at 9:20 AM. We changed trains in Pisa and arrived in Lucca about 45 minutes later. It was easy to find the main entry gate into the old walled city, since it was located right across the street from the rail station.

We walked through the wall and followed around the narrow streets to the entrance of San Martino Cathedral. The piazza outside, had a candy and toy cart, which we came to find located in front of all the churches in Lucca. A place to treat the children for behaving during Sunday mass. Paul, Mary and Helen did their Christian duty and prayed for us at mass. Myself, Billy, Artie, Margaret, Sophia and Lizette headed to Piazza San Michele to sample a Lucchesan specialty at Pasticceria Taddeucci called buccellatto. It was a delicious loaf of sweet, anise-flavored bread with raisins. For 3.50 euros, we got a loaf sliced that allowed all of us to sample it.

We continued up the main pedestrian shopping street of Via Fillungo to San Andrea to take us to Torre Guingi. This was a house tower with different living compartments stacked on top of each other. The ground floor had a shop, upstairs a living room, and the top floor was a fire safe kitchen. It was owned by the Guingi family during medieval times. We climbed 227 uneven stone and metal steps to the top. The stone steps were the easy part. About half way up, we entered a landing, that when we looked up, we saw an unending maze of stairs that narrowed as they got higher. Poor Liz left her shoulder behind, when she whacked it on the wall that came low on the handrail. The final stretch of staircase required us to turn sideways to squeeze through and reach the top.

The top was a pleasant surprise, with a beautiful roof garden with a grove of ilex trees. It also provided us with a stunning view over the red tile roofs of Lucca. We could see the rounded pattern of the town’s design and the gorgeous Lucchesian countryside that surrounded it. After catching our breath and taking a few photos, we had a much easier walk down the tower steps.

We headed back to Piazza San Michele to meet up with the others, and found a cart in the town center offering free samples of Lucca’s famous olive oil on toasted bread. Sophia found out from the man handing out the samples, that we needed to walk ahead 200 meters, to the larger olive oil and wine festival. We followed his directions and the signs posted along the way and came to an open-air palazzo style building filled with tables offering up samples of Lucca’s gourmet wines, olive oils, cheeses, parma ham and salamis. We asked a girl near the entrance how it worked, and we were surprised when she explained the festival to us in English with a Scottish brogue.

The festival was free. We walked around and sampled a number of local wines and olive oil. We stopped at the Lucca Sommelier table and for 2 Euros, we got to taste 3 outstanding red wines. I ended up buying a bottle of 2007 Montecarlo Rosso and 2005 Stringaio. Both red wines contained san giovese grapes blended with a cabernet and merlot. Both bottles cost 12 Euros total. After sampling several olive oils, I decided on Pascosino extra virgin olive oil from the Freddo Estate near Lucca. It was a bit pricey at 8 Euros for a liter, but the clean taste and clarity was outstanding.

We spent about an hour enjoying our free appetizer lunch of cheeses and meats, and then headed towards the city wall to walk back to the train station. We stumbled upon a steeple chase bicycle race and got to see part of an award’s ceremony along the way. We got into the crowd’s excitement and began cheering the riders on along with the locals.

It ended up being a longer walk than I originally thought. We ended up walking half the length of the wall for a little over a mile. The wall gave us a beautiful overview of the city. It is a 100 foot wide mound of dirt faced with bricks that was state of the art in providing the city protection, when it was built in 1550 - 1650.

We arrived at the train station with enough time to grab a delicious cup of cappuccino at the station bar and purchase postcards of Lucca. We grabbed a seat on the tran and headed off for Pisa Centrale station. It sounded as though we were dragging a small Volkswagen as we pulled out of Lucca station and got nervous when the train came to a dead stop when we were 5 minutes into the trip. Announcements were made in Italian that we couldn’t understand, but since we didn’t see anyone else in a panic or getting off the train, we figured it was the norm. It seemed that there was only room for one train at a time in each direction. Once the inbound train had passed, we were on our way again to Pisa.

We arrived in Pisa 20 minutes later and decided to take a taxi to the field of miracles plaza. However, the taxi stand was empty. We thought about taking the local bus #1, but couldn’t find the bus stop. Three taxis suddenly appeared at the taxi stand, so we ran back to catch them. We sped off one cab following the other as we weaved through the tiny streets and along the Arno. We arrived at our destination 5 minutes and 8 Euros later.

We had about 30 minutes to take photos of Campo dei Miracoli (Field of Miracles). The green grass patch in the center is surrounded by the Duomo (cathedral), the leaning bell tower, the baptistery and Camposanto Cemetery. The style of the buildings are Pisan Romanesque with Byzantine mosaics, horseshoe arches and striped colored marbles. This beautiful square is surrounded by a lot of souvenir stalls, all selling the same tacky souvenirs.

We took the requisite photos of us holding the leaning tower up and pushing it over. The tower was constructed over two centuries, started in 1173. The tower started leaning almost immediately after it was started and several engineers over the years have tried to stabilize it. The last attempt was in 1990, when they actually straightened the tower’s lean by six inches.

Unfortunately, we didn’t have time to go inside any of the buildings. We rendezvoused back at the taxi stand. Our taxi driver back to the train station. He spoke perfect English ad told us he just cme from the Sunday family dinner where he ate way too much pasta. He said his family lived in Long Beach New Jersey and Rockland County New York.

We caught the train a short while later back to Livorno. We squeezed into the local bus with a lot of other cruise passengers and caught one of the last shuttle buses back to the ship.

We took a quick shower and headed down to dinner for our assigned tables, where we were fortunate enough to get Violetta and Nestor as our main wait staff. After dinner, it was off to bed since we needed to be ready to disembark the ship at 7:00 AM the next morning in Cannes.

---