Livorno, Italy

Thursday October 8, 1992 Livorno, Italy

We're up at 6 a.m. to be ready to leave the ship and board our bus at 8:30 for our trip to Florence and Pisa. We arrive in Florence about 10:30. It's a mad rush to try to see what we wanted to see. We only have time to see the city and shops, churches and bridge Ponte Vicci where all the gold shops are. We buy Frank's mom some earrings there. We scarf a piece of pizza each which cost $5 each.

Back on the bus at 2:30, we head for Pisa. The leaning tower of Pisa is really something.

We get back in time to jump into other clothes and go to dinner. We go to bed early and I have a terrible pain under my ribs right side. I take a pain pill.

This I see as the drawback of trying to see the sights of Europe from a cruise ship. Many cities of interest are port cities, but some are not, like Florence which was a 2 hour drive from the port of Livorno. To only have 1/2 day to see the entire city of Florence plus the city of Pisa seems way too rushed. Two days in port would be better. I remember visiting Florence in 1974 and there were many museums with spectacular art and architecture. Too bad Mom and Frank didn't have time to visit the Galleria dell' Accademia, home to Michaelangelo's statue of David. On the other hand, they got to see the leaning tower of Pisa, which I missed.

I didn't realize that Florence was femous for it's gold shops. How appropriate that they bought Frank's mother some earrings there, considering her name is Florence. When I was there I bought several items made of leather, including the oversized leather album where I keep my photographs of my 8 week trip through Europe in 1974.

Rome, Italy

Tuesday October 6, 1992 Rome, Italy

I'm up at 5 a.m. to leave at 6:15 for our trip to Rome from our port of Naples. Naples is another crowded dirty city. We arrive in Rome about 9:30 a.m. We have one tour guide on the bus and another for Rome. She takes us through the Vatican Museum adjoining the Sistine Chapel. Michaelangelo spent 41 years painting the ceiling of the chapel. He was 81 when he finished his "Creation of the World." From there we went into St. Peters Church, the largest church in the world with 44 alters. It is gigantic and lovely.

It was pouring rain when we emerged. We boarded our bus and toured to lunch at a lovely restaurant. We ate late about 2:30. We had 2 pastas, then salad, then veal with potatoes and dessert plus wine. We toured from the bus (raining) the coliseum, the forum, drove old Appian Way, etc, etc.

Returned to our ship at 7 p.m. too full and too tired to eat dinner. Went to bed. Frank went to dinner.

That was one long day! I don't know why their cruise ship stopped in Naples, a 3-hour drive from Rome, when the Port of Civitavecchia is only an hour away. It looks like the port in Civitavecchia is very small and can only accomodate a few ships. It must have been full. Rome has so much to see, it is a shame that their tour had so much to jam into a few hours, and then the rain meant that had to view the sights through the rainy windows of the bus.