(Day 13) Under the Tuscan Sun

Our last day of the cruise, and our last port of call. What a whirlwind adventure, but there’s still more to be had. Can I take it? Well, I guess I’ll have to as today we are docked in Livorno, Italy. This area is better known as Tuscany and it houses a crazy amount of historic goodies for us. Today we are boarding a luxurious (or average) motor coach for a culture-filled day in Florence followed by some time in Miracle Square in Pisa, Italy.

But, as always, first comes breakfast. Today I decided to order in some room service since I could, and it was free. This whole feast, just for me.


Er…it doesn’t actually look like all that much, I suppose.

After the routine herding of us plus geris, we found ourselves whisking down the highway toward Florence, taking in the beauteous fields that lay around us.









The outskirts of Florence were just like any other city because…well, really, it is. But hey! This is Italy so there is a certain…je ne sais quoi.




Token city graffiti shots.


We have arrived in the historical centre.

The group we traveled with today was the largest contingent thus far. This, of course, meant that the contingent of geris was also at its highest. Oh well…I’ll just do my best to avoid landing them in my photos as I struggle to see the sights while avoiding the American twang.




First stop: Santa Croche








Al fresco!

We had a nice tour guide who was this fairly young woman who moved at a crazy-slow geri-style pace. Worst. But she was smart and brought us lots of places.








Lil’ Chub.



We made a stop in the courtyard of the mega-illustrious Uffizi Museum.




I think the begging lady is the highlight of this picture.







The Ponte Vecchio (means “Old Bridge”) was the only bridge not destroyed by the Germans during World War II, allegedly because of an express order by Hitler. Hmmm.

A panoramic of the Ponte Vecchio (click to enlarge):









Snaking through some cool back alleys (as most Italian cities seem prone to have), we made our way to the ever-so-famous Palazzo della Signoria.






Florence’s Town Hall

Click to enlarge this weird panoramic..



Piazza della Signoria houses some of the most-famous sculptures…that I’ve ever seen! Wowza.


Perseus and Medusa


Yikes.


O hai there David.






Fountain of Neptune.


Others, including the one on the far right – “Rape of the Sabine Women”. Um…awkward.










Here’s a public market that was selling lots of Italian leather goods.



Our last stop before lunch was the famous sight of Florence, the Cattedrale di Santa Maria del Fiore with its red-tiled Duomo.






Can I get a WOOT for that amount of detail? Amazing. The square was filled with people marching with banners, protesting something. The police were even there…mayhem I tell you!



The Baptistery on the other side of the square had some pretty righteous carvings on its door:








Don’t do it! Don’t jump! What.

We wandered around the side of the Santa Maria and wow! Is that thing massive.






Campanile = Bell Tower

The restaurant that we dined at was called “La Repubblica” and it was a republic of rude wait staff and overall crankiness. Boy do they get pissed if you put olive oil in a glass! (I didn’t, but some one else in the geri-crew did.)




Psst…check out that guy in the blue. Doesn’t he look dead? *rotfl*

After being less than impressed with Italian pizza, I didn’t have high hopes for the lasagne that we were served. BUT! I was very wrong – best lasagne ever!!



Sadly, the same could not be said about the chicken. What a tough, sinewy little clucker.



The tiramisu was crazy-delicious too! You win some, you lose some.



The geri-bellies all full of greasy-tastiness, we headed back out onto the streets to make our way back to the bus for the trip to Pisa.





My legs couldn’t move as slow as the rest of theirs, so Marty and I ended up beating the pants off of the geris by a long shot. And off we rolled.















We’re here! Yeah! Leaning Tower of Pisa! The car park was just teeming with African people trying to sell the nastiest-looking fake handbags one has ever laid their eyes on. It’s been the same spread everywhere – Naples, Venice, Sicily…and I’m sure every other place where there might possibly be tourists. It’s a bit of a stroll to Miracle Square, so let’s be off.




Uwaaaaa~~ Piazza dei Miracoli is 100 percent a tourist trap.



In my life, I’ve kind of made it a bit of a quest to see those things in the world that are tourist-trappy and famous. Like all the monuments that have come before this (Loch Ness, Big Ben, The Eiffel Tower, Stonehenge, and the A-Bomb Dome), there’s always this sense of “uaaaaaaaaa!” when I walk towards it. I can’t deny…I’m a tourist.





For an super-tippy full view, click on this picture to enlarge:



Aaaand…a straighter one (click!):




The Camposanto was built around a shipload of sacred soil from Golgotha.




That bird is very rude to poop on that lady’s head.





The building in the above picture is the Baptistery. We actually have tickets to go inside here, so shall we? Let’s.





There wasn’t too much inside, but we had this really flamboyant tour guide who was talking about this and that (I wasn’t really listening because he was waxing poetic like the guy in Sicily) and then we got a bit of a demonstration on why the Baptistery was built the way it was – for singing!










Yarg!





Okay, so that was cool, right? Well, the next stop was right across the lawn, inside the Duomo. I LOVE THESE THINGS! Usually some really awesome building is housed within, and this place was no exception.




It was by the pendulum that hung here, Galileo is believed to have formulated his theory on perpetual motion. What was that? No big deal? I know, right?










Geri’s be trotting.



After the tour we had some free time to take all the dorky pictures one might imagine. The square was just jammed with people littered everywhere, so we did our best with what we had to work with.






I’m just mean.

So I’m done. What a busy day. I just want to get back to the ship and stuff my face. That night we ate in the formal dining room for our last cruise ship huzzah.





Did I mention that I wanted to stuff my face? I had two desserts.





The last night on board is always a quiet one. People are busy packing and setting their bags out for the stewards to collect. Grant and Rachel decided to turn in fairly early and Marty and I took our last walks around the boat in preparation for goodbye.



Tomorrow we disembark the vessel and try our hand at a Roman assault (of the city, not its people – let me be clear…though the latter will likely sound good in a few days…) Hurrah! What a fun cruise. Thanks to Grant and Rachel for coming with us and making it twice as fun. I will always cherish the fun memories! Sigh…I’m getting all sappy. ‘Til tomorrow then.