Day 4 - July 1

Today I played with the new camera all day. Fortunately, I had a cool place to play with it: Pisa and Florence, Italy. Everyone was able to leave the ship immediately after it docked at 7:00 a.m. Since neither of us had ever been to Italy before we disembarked and headed into town right after we woke up -- at 9:45. Argh! It's amazing how well you sleep at sea, even if the ship is tied up in the port.

After a short bus trip from the commercial port next to the Dole warehouses (kind of like a tender for the land) we ended up in Livorno, Italy. Immediately, we decided that we both needed more coffee so we sat in an Italian outdoor cafe and had a double espresso each. Sure beats going to work on a Tuesday morning.

Then we grabbed a bus to the train station to take the train to Pisa. Supposedly the Leaning Tower is there. Indeed:

This really is more impressive in real life than you imagine it. You don't really get the full effect from the photo. Here is jen trying to get the point across in another photo:

Even with Leaning Jen, it's hard to tell.

At any rate, I was trying to read about it while Jen was adamantly mentioning that we had to leave NOW if we wanted to make it to FLorence. Since I didn't have time to understand the "why" behind this this famous structure, I took advantage of my new camera to record the sign for later.

(You can actually read this if you blow it up.)

But there was no time for that. I forgot to tell you that everyone else on our morning train (who left at the same late time we did) said that there were only going to Pisa because there "just wasn't enough time to go to both Pisa and Florence.

Nonsense! (And we have the pictures to prove it.) Including the most harrowing taxi ride ever, we did make it back to the ship at 6:58, even before the schedule 7:00 p.m. departure. On the other hand, the taxi driver said if we missed our boat he had a big house and we could come over and have spaghetti. Tempted though we were, we made it back on board and made it to another fabulous dinnner at sea.

Although we haven't discussed our table yet, we're seated at a table for 6 with 2 other couples that are friends/relatives from Pennylvania. Barry owns an ad agency and, it turns out, is a whiz at card tricks. Shelton owns a business headquartered in Atlanta ten minutes from our house and commutes there from PA.

After dinner on Day 4 where Barry discovered that the ship people who wouldn't give you any cash on your room charge, claiming "we're not a bank," was only too happy to do do so if you were in the casino. Although Shelton hit a slot machine, we decided to call it a night early so we could all get a bright and early start tomorrow -- in Rome.

Back to today . . . after seeing the Tower of Pisa and grabbing a couple pictures, we left immediately for Florence. (We did stop off for a gelato though.)

We were in a rush. We tried to get a ride in a horse drawn carriage, but they wouldn't take us all the way to the train station. Jen briefly considered stealing one, but we decided the exercise was a good thing.

Notice the new DKNY tank top that Jen is sporting. She would later spill red wine on it, back on board, as the winds were so strong on deck they blew the wine right out. As it turned out, we could have have been a whole hour late and still made it because the departure was delayed for high winds and traffic in the port. (Indeed, as I write this, Jen is passed out from Dramamine, having decided to start the regimen back up because the ship is rolling. At dinner they made an annoucement to stay off the open decks. It's kind of like our own version of a Windjammer cruise -- though they're still not making us swab the deck.)

In fact, the service/etc has been great. Here is a picture of the bonus meal last night -- fruit and a band out by the pool. Check out the carved watermelon.

In Florence, (about an hour train ride from Pisa), -- by the way, they had a fast food stand next the McDonalds in the train station -- we were starving so I grabbed pizza for the ride. It was kind of funny because the Asian couple in front of me didn't speak Italian so they just pointed at what they wanted. (The Fallon's remember that pointing in food is big in Japan, though sometimes you end up with warm milk.) Anyway, the girl in front of me finally got the half a slice she was looking for. When it was my turn, I gestured that I wanted all three slices (for Jen, too), and the old guy behind the counter wasn't seeming to get it. Finally he said, "Do you speak English?"

I said, "Yes."

"Well, speak English then. Whaddayawant?"

Ahh. It hadn't occured to me that the gesturers in front of me didn't speak English or Italian. Now, I always begin, "Do you speak English?" I already figured out, very early, that just talking slower doesn't help at all. Nor does ending every word with a vowel.

"Where is the train-o?"

Apparently, none of the tricks from Mexico are applicable here. Except for the one about giving the taxi driver some extra money and hanging on for dear life. I really was impressed by our journey rushing back to the boat. And Jen really was scared.

Here is a picture of the boat police scowling at the last people to make it on board after the scheduled departure time:

In Florence, we did make it there and we did have time to see the great cathedral that took 140 years to build.

Never having had a job for more than two years, it's hard to imagine one job that took 140 years to complete.

The bell tower next to it is also amazing. It has 414 steps (according to the heart warnings at the base) and we climbed up to the very top.

Here is Jen climbing (I think she wanted a picture just to rest) -- and proof that I made it all the way up as well:

It really was a long walk up.

And here's a view from the top: