Livorno, Italy – October 7, 2014

Early start to a day that I will find hard to describe because it was the quintessential Tuscan experience!

Our guide, Stefano, met us at the port shortly after 8 o’clock this morning and the four of us piled into his Mercedes that was made for three!  We all became much better friends today!!  Stefano, was full of apologies and just as nice as he could be so off we went for our drive to Siena and we were so awed by the beautiful countryside that we almost forgot about the close quarters!

We made one quick bathroom stop that was much nicer than the one we made in France yesterday.  In Toulon we stopped at a gas station rest area to use the facilities and there were two guys in foul weather gear using fire hoses to clean the restrooms!  They had to turn everything off so we could go!  The ladies area had one toilet, no seat on it and another space that had a hole and two footprints!!!  The idea there, we figured, was to stand on the footprints and hover!  YUCK!  Plus there was no toilet paper and no soap and no hot water!  Our guide, Eva, used the footprint hover method and then she used her pants to wipe the “splash” off!  I thought poor Michele was going to faint when she saw that!  When the guys went there was no door so they were plainly visible!  That was good for a big laugh!  Needless to say, we restricted all liquids for the rest of the day to avoid any more bathroom atrocities!!

Anyway, back to beautiful Siena!  We were dropped off in the square where the famous “Palio” is conducted a couple of times a year.  It’s a competition between Siena neighborhoods to see who can win a horse race around the center square!  We were then free to walk around and enjoy the atmosphere that we enjoyed very much.  We had a chance to get a little lunch and the Commodore sampled a bit of Chianti!

We left Siena and headed off to a charming hill town called Montereggiore that was straight out of a picture book!  It was a tiny village inside a wall that looked like it was unchanged from hundreds of years ago!  There was a tiny church with only a few pews and it was all such a treat.

Next we took the backroads through a forest and arrived in San Gimingnano.  We had been there about 15 years ago with Lisa and Kevin and we had so many great memories come flooding back.  We found the little restaurant, Trattoria Chiribiri, that we enjoyed so much but didn’t have time to visit again.  This is the town of many towers and looks so impressive as you drive up the hill.  We enjoyed the “world’s best gelato” and sampled some of the local wine…..all delicious!

Betty and I indulged in a bit of retail therapy and came away with some very nice leather handbags!  The guys bought a bottle of local wine to bring back to the ship.

We arrived back at our ship with time to spare and then Michele and Tom rolled in from their day in Pisa and Florence.  They had a wonderful time and fell in love with Florence, who doesn’t? 

We sailed away from Livorno loving Tuscany even more than we did before and, hopefully, it won’t be our last visit!  Dinner in the dining room was lots of fun because the Commodore found us a waiter that looks like “Buddy, the Cake Boss” and acts like Jerry Lewis.  Never a dull moment at dinner tonight and it appears that we will be back at the same table for the rest of the cruise except for the formal nights when we will eat elsewhere since no one brought dress up clothes!

Tomorrow we are at dock in Civitavecchia which is the port for Rome.  Michele and Tom are heading into Rome for the complete tour of the highlights.  The rest of us have the morning free (YAY!) and head out at 2pm for a trip to Lake Bracciano and some wine tasting.

We’ve had lots of busy days and seen so many beautiful things.  Looking forward to a small breather to enjoy this beautiful ship!

XOXOXO

M