Italian Cities

2007, July 10
Day At Sea
Shops Open 9am - 9pm
Very boring day. This sailing is only 1/2 full. You can only
clean and straighten so much.

2007, July 11
Civitaveccia, Italy (Rome)
Escorted independent tours to Rome. Basically it's just a
round trip bus transfer between Civitaveccia and Rome. It's
about 1 1/2 - 2 hours each way. There was a guide on the
bus but then we were free in town. We started at the
Piazza del Popolo. This is where the twin churches are
located. Then onto the Spanish Steps, Trevi Fountain,
Pantheon, Piazza Navona, Jewish Sinagoga, Piazza Venezia,
and the Roman Forum. It was a real power sight-seeing
day. We ran out of time to actually go to the Coliseum
although we walked by. Next time we're planning on going
to Vatican City and the Coliseum.
We did manage a great piece of mushroom pizza. Best ever.
Then Serenity sailed at 9pm. Shops open 9p - 11p.

2007, July 12
Livorno, Italy
Escorted tours today - "Florence, All The Sights"
It was 1 1/2 hour transfer from the ship at dock in
Livorno to Florence. We started at the Chiesa di
Santa Croce (Sacred Cross Church). This Basilica houses
the tombs of Michelangelo, Machiavelli, Dante and Galileo.
Then we continued onto the Uffizi Gallery where we saw the
works of Leonardo da Vinci, Michaelangelo, Bernini plus
countless others. Many we're not familiar with but
beautiful just the same. Then to the Piazza della Signoria
where the statue of David originally stood. It's now been
moved indoors to the Galleria dell' Academia. There were
many other amazing sculptures there though. The tour
included a nice Italian lunch at Hotel Helavita.
Afterwards we went to the Galleria dell' Academia where
the originally David stands. It's absolutely amazing to see
in person. The copies of it and pictures cannot portray it's
beauty. There were many other Michaelangelo statues
there which were very interesting - how he could see the
figure in the marble. Our final stop was Il Duomo which is
one of the world's largest churches. The dome has a 3-D
effect which is very interesting.
Overall Florence was a pretty city with interesting
neighborhoods. We'd love to go back there and spend
more time some day.
The only draw-back on the day was escorting the tours.
It specifies in the description that the excursion involves
substantial walking for 3 hours. That however does not
dissuade guests with serious walking difficulties from
signing up. It's very frustrating and almost impossible to
keep the group together. In addition these cities are
packed with tourists and of course the summer days are hot.

2007, July 13
Monte Carlo, Monaco
A true day off. The ship was docked in Monte Carlo so we
took the shuttle bus up to the Grand Casino. Near the casino
we found a movie theatre where we thought we'd try to catch
a movie - unfortunately they were all dubbed in French.
From there we just walked along the beaches and through a beautiful
Japanese Garden. That night at dusk we walked around the
marina and admired all the beautiful yachts. We really
enjoyed not escorting and not working for a day.

2007, July 14
Toulon, France
Today is an disembarkation/embarkation day for guests.
We did "embarks" from 11:45am to 4:30pm. Just
escorting guests to the restaurant and to their stateroom.
Then we were free for a little while. We just walked
around Toulon, did a little shopping and found a good
internet cafe. Then at 7:45pm we had the guest
safety drill and then to work from 9:00pm to 11:00pm.
Shops were a lot busier with a full manifest of guests.

2007, July 15
Monte Carlo, Monaco
Serenity is anchored off Monte Carlo. We had IPM so
had to stay on the ship all day. Slept in late then went into
the shops to do some price changes. At night went with
Kay (fellow shoppie) to see "Amazing Grace" in the
Hollywood Theatre (one of the venues we have access to).

Til we write again.........