13 May – Livorno (Florence/Pisa), Italy

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Happy Friday the 13^th! And that kind of summaries some of what happened today. It wasn’t all bad, but it wasn’t as all good either. So let’s get started telling you about our day.



We got up at 5:45 because we needed to report to the Princess Theater at 6:55 for our excursion. We went down for a quick breakfast sandwich and cup of tea in the International Café and then we headed to our meeting point. We expected things weren’t quite right since the ship was still at sea and hadn’t docked yet, but we got a revised estimate for our tour of 8:00. We could have slept later and had a bigger breakfast, but now it was too late to do either. Apparently the high winds had caused the port of Livorno to be closed during the night and we were 3^rd in line of cruise ships to be admitted when the port was opened again – resulting in the late arrival. We went back to our room and rested for an hour, and then went down stairs again. We had been given our excursion stickers for our shirts but we had to stand in line waiting until they cleared the ship for people to go ashore. That did not happen until 8:40, so we were off to a late start on our trip.



Our guide (Giuomo) got us out of the port fairly quickly and we were headed for Pisa. He said that despite the Captain wanting everyone back on board by 5:30, we would have all the elements of our tour and we would be back by 6:30. That’s the advantage of a Princess tour is that the ship will not leave us behind, so we got to do the full set of our planned activities. And because we were late starting, he flip-flopped our itinerary and we went to Pisa first to see the famous tower. Along the 40 minute drive he told us a lot about Tuscany and Pisa. It was really very informative but we’re not going to try to recount all the details we heard. We drove past a huge US Army base which he said was top secret, but it was obvious from the 1000 trucks and jeeps and such, that this is a supply depot.



The bus parked in the lot just before 10:00 and our guide led us about 8 blocks to the edge of the cafes/shops and identified a meeting point for us to reassemble. He had passed out a map of the main area while we were on the bus, and then he pointed out how to get to them. After that it was up to us to explore on our own. All the way there, the sidewalks and streets were rough cobblestones and Janet has lots of trouble with these. We were the last couple to make it but we did get to the tower area. In addition to the Leaning Tower of Pisa, there was also the Cathedral of Pisa, the Baptistery, the Monumental Cemetery, and the Botanical Gardens. We did not go into any of them but looked at them all from the outside – no time or energy to climb the tower so we did not get a ticket. David went off and took a few pictures while Janet rested, and then we wandered around the area together before heading back to the meeting point. Giuomo approved our request for us to start back toward the bus ahead of the others and they caught us just as we were approaching the parking lot. So it worked out well. We had been lucky enough to have sunshine and fairly comfortable temperatures for our Pisa tour. This wrapped up a little after 11:00.



We drove about an hour to Florence and Janet had a cookie and come almonds we had brought along, as well as some water. This little rest and refreshment helped. The bus parked within walking distance (about 6 blocks) of the Accademia, which is a museum focused on Michelangelo'ssculptures. Here we were issued “whisperers” again. David was happy to have his own headset and it worked much better than their cheap earbuds. On the reverse of our Pisa map was one showing Florence, highlighting the destinations we would see during the afternoon.



As we waited in line outside for our guide to buy the tickets (we had “skip the line” passes) it started to rain. We pulled out our Barcelona umbrellas and it really started pouring – these 5 euro investments were better than nothing but were not really the best umbrellas. We got fairly wet anyway, but there were 8 other buses of people from our cruise ship behind us (all going to the museum) so the people with regular tickets had to stand in a line in the rain for quite a while before all the cruise folks got inside – only one group at a time. First we had to go through a metal detector process and then we had a chance to use the bathrooms, so that became a priority.



We then presented our tickets for entrance to the museum itself and our guide explained a lot about how Michelangelo did his sculpting. We saw some incomplete works which demonstrated how he started slowly “extracting the figure” from the rock by hand chisels. Then we moved into the room with his masterpiece and we saw the original sculpture of David (of slaying Goliath). We were told a lot about the larger-than-life statue which came out of a block of marble that other artists had already declared to be inferior material. Anyway, it was a fascinating description. We moved more quickly through another room which was full of plaster models that Michelangelo had used for all his anatomy measurements, and then out through a gift shop and back into the wind and rain.



The next event was lunch, as it was almost 1:00. We walked quite a long ways (about half an hour) through light rain over the narrow cobblestone streets until we got to the restaurant. By now Janet’s feet were really hurting and we doubted that we could finish the tour with the group. But we went in and ate lunch (pasta, turkey & vegetables, a pastry for dessert, wine and water throughout the meal, and coffee at the end). We were really hungry by now because of the small early breakfast and lots of exercise from walking. The food was not up to cruise line fare, but we ate it all. The wine was red so David drank both our shares and Janet drank both our shares of the strong Italian coffee. Then there was another restroom opportunity after lunch and suddenly the time was about 2:30 and time to leave. We asked the guide how to catch a taxi back to the meeting point for the return bus trip, but he talked us into going to the next stop on the tour because that’s where the taxis could be found. OK, we would do that.



It was raining again all the way as we walked about 10 blocks to the Duomo – also the wind was blowing fairly strong and umbrellas were popping inside out pretty regularly. There had been groups 1 & 2 at the restaurant eating together and we all headed off together to the Duomo. It took 10 minutes to get the 2 groups straightened out, but we finally got ourselves organized. The dome itself took them 14 years to build using a revolutionary method that was later copied for St. Peter's in Rome and St. Paul's in London. It is the 4th largest church in the world and the dome is actually has the largest brick dome rotunda anywhere in the world. Our guide continued giving us information (he must have memorized every possible google-search about Italian art and architecture). He led us over to the best viewing location after showing us Giotto's Bell Tower and the Baptistery with its magnificent doors that Michelangelo called the "Gates of Paradise.". We did not get to go inside because the tour did not have that much time in the schedule, but it was very impressive from outside.



After we saw the Duomo, he talked us into trying to go a little further and we eventually made it to all the locations on the tour. The next stop was a combination of three places - Signoria Square, Palazzo Vecchio (the "Old Palace"), and Uffizi Gallery. This like an outdoor museum, but was about 8 blocks away. The whole large plaza is surrounded by statues – some of which are originals and others are replicas – but they are all major works of art. By now the rain was stopping but the wind was still blowing and our clothes were kind of damp, so it felt chilly. We did not have time to go into the Gallery (there was a long time waiting) but we did see those statues which were outside and our guide talked about every one of them.



Next we had a short walk to the Arno River and a view of the Ponte Vecchio (a famous covered bridge). This is a famous bridge which somehow was not destroyed during WW-II. Again we were given time to photograph it from a distance but nobody felt up to going down river to see it up close. We headed in the opposite direction and began making our way toward the “meeting place” for the bus. Our last official location on our walking tour was the Church of Santa Croce. We were given a quick history lesson here and then were set free for 45 minutes of shopping/bathroom/etc. We decided to sit at a sidewalk café and have some strawberry gelato, which was delicious. Then we started walking from this meeting point to where the bus pickup point really was located, another 6 to 8 blocks away. We got to the bus area just about the time the group caught up with us again.



We climbed up on the bus and collapsed into our seats. It is hard to measure exactly but David would guess that we walked about a mile in Pisa and probably more than 2 miles in Florence, with most of that on cobblestones and a lot of them wet cobblestones. There were many in the group who handled it well, but others were dragging behind like us later in the day. Including going to-from the ship, we probably did a good 4 miles today. This was hard walking for Janet, but she struggled through and got to see all the sites. Well Done!



There was one more place on our tour, but we were not allowed to get off the bus – just look out over the city from a high vantage point. Actually this probably would have been a great thing to do, but Giuomo probably didn’t want to have to wrangle all the people back on the bus afterwards. But it appeared to be a terrific view of the city. Then we headed back across country to the port and we returned to the ship just about 6:30 as advertised. The ship was waiting and there were even 7 more buses still to arrive after us, so we weren’t the last ones aboard. Giuomo actually had given us a good tour despite the weather and hard walking, and we saw a lot of interesting sites. There would never be a time when the streets wouldn’t be crowded with people, but all-in-all it was a good but exhausting tour. We probably we just overly ambitious when sitting at home in the easy chairs, but actually performing these activities shows we should exercise a bit more realism with the rest of the tours.



We dropped our stuff in the cabin and went to the dining room. We knew we were much too late to start eating here but we wanted to say goodbye to Joyce and Jerry before they left. Our waiter (Jesus) offered us wine and liqueurs, or at least dessert and coffee. We each had a slice of deep dish apple pie while the assistant waiters performed the “baked Alaska parade” – a farewell ritual. Anyway, we were able to share some stories with the Demings and to wish them a safe trip home. Then we went to the Photo Gallery to see the collection of pictures they had been taking of us each day.



Janet felt like she had eaten enough and wanted to go back to the cabin to rest. David was still hungry (pie for supper was yummy but not filling) and he went up to the Horizon Court for dinner. This was another First Occurrence for us – eating dinner elsewhere than our dining room. Anyway, David was able to get a plate of food as well as another slice of pie before coming back to the cabin.



At 10:00 was a farewell performance by the Alegria String Quartet which we have enjoyed repeatedly during the cruise. David went to the Vista Lounge to hear their performance and they seemed genuinely pleased that so many folks had come to their late show before ending their cruise. It was actually a set of classical music which we have heard them play before, but it was still enjoyable. Then he went back to the cabin and called it an end of the day – end of Friday the 13^th. Good night.

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Photos

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Leaning Tower of Pisa with back of Cathedral

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David in Pisa

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David in Florence - not a "selfie" - Accademia Museum

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Baptistery front left, Duomo Cathedral in center, Giotto's Bell Tower on right

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Duomo in Florence Italy

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some out outdoor sculptures in Signoria Square

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Ponte Vecchio Bridge - Florence

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Church of Santa Croce