Day 9 of the epistle – June 4, 2022, Florence/Pisa

            We started the day early with room service at 6:45 and were out the door at 7:15. We loaded up in two Mercedes Vans, six in one and eight in the other. We headed to Florence. Along the way, we stopped at a vineyard and olive farm. The vineyard had white rose bushes planted at the head of each row. Apparently, the roses and grapes have similar parasites. They will attack the rose bushes first and the vintner will know how to treat the vines before the parasites attack! The roses were so beautiful, I just thought the vintner was a gardener, too.  Next to the vineyard was an olive tree farm. I had never seen olives on the tree before and they were so tiny! The leaves on the olive trees are sage green. Beautiful!

            We stopped at a scenic overlook of Florence, and you could see the entire city and its beautiful architecture. We got back into the vans and ventured into Florence to meet our new tour guide. She was brilliant and if we had been students taking a class for a PHD in Florence architectural history, it would have been perfect; however, we were just old folks who wanted to see a little beauty. She carefully explained where every brick came from and the inner beauty of all the buildings; however, she did not take us in a SINGLE one! Joseph, the Brave, ventured away from the group to peek inside at several of the beautiful structures. Way too much talking, not nearly enough shopping!

            There was an interesting event – a painted taxi in Florence is driven by a lady who donated her taxi services to people in need. Someone needs her – she shows up – free! We saw her and our tour guide explained her notable contribution to the city’s residents.

            At about 1:15, we were about to pass out from hunger and dehydration when she took us to a restaurant, Boccadama. Joseph and I split a Caprese salad and a Lasagna. Joseph had his daily beer and a glass of Chianti. Of course, I had sweet tea (it’s peach tea, but hey-).  While we were waiting for everyone to get back to the van, I managed to get a magnet and a dishtowel from a nearby Vendor. I am building a screened in porch and I am decorating it with Italian Tea towel pillows.

            We then went to Pisa. It was an exceedingly small place and very clean. The tower is amazing, and I took a few photos and bought some postcards and postcard stamps. I sat at a cute little cafe and wrote postcards while everyone wandered around.

            We returned to the ship, showered, and got ready for dinner. After dinner we watched a performance of “Musicality”. It was a 5-piece ship orchestra playing to a background movie of world animals. Pretty, but not much of a show.   After the extravaganza 😊, we changed clothes and went to the smoking deck so that Joseph could enjoy his nightly cigar. We met a lady, Victoria, who was a female version of Joseph’s inner nerd. She was a software engineer who was from the very beginning of code writing – like he was – and they were like old friends chatting about stuff that was geek to me.

            Goodnight!

Day 10 – June 5, 2022, Rome 

            We had quite a disappointment concerning Rome. We were told by the excursion company (through Vacations to Go) that our trip to the Coliseum and the Vatican had been cancelled. They had nothing comparable to replace it with. Holland America had one that was good – the Vatican only, but something is better than nothing – but alas, all the slots were filled. They said they would put us on the wait list, we said OK. In the meantime, they suggested that we reserve a slot on the fast train to Rome and do a Rome on your own tour. On the night before Rome, we got a notification that we were on the trip to the Vatican, YAY!!! We were able to cancel the fast train.

            We were bummed that the trip to Rome was on a Sunday because all the Vatican Museums and the Sistine Chapel are closed on Sunday. There was no chance to see those fabulous things we had yearned to see. 

            We had room service, again (isn’t that wonderful?) We were out the door at 7:15 and got good seats in the bus. Our driver’s name was Gilda (pronounced with a J) and was so tiny it was amazing that she could drive that big bus! Our tour guide was Valentina and was fabulous! Off we go! We had to wind around the back of Civitavecchia (the port city) because they don’t allow tour buses in town. It was a cute little town along the mountains. It took more than an hour to get to Rome. Valentina let us out at Piazza San Pietro. We went through security, but since the Pope was in town, we couldn’t get into the Basilica until 1:30. We did a little shopping. Joseph bought me a cute white hat with a black and white bow – because I had forgotten mine and the sun was killer! We bought my sister-in-law a beautiful Rosary and bought a cute VW bug that will just fit in my Christmas Village!! We left Vatican City and walked around some more. I bought a few gifts for the little ones and a dishtowel for my themed porch!

            After this little sight-seeing adventure, we then met back up with the group for a nice lunch at a restaurant, but I can’t remember the name! The Lasagna was delicious – better than yesterday!

            Then we headed back into Vatican City. We had to go through security again, but it took much less time than I would have thought. They still would not let us into St Peter’s Basilica until 1:30, but Valentina winked at the guy, and he let us in about 5 minutes early. The Basilica was amazing. I have no words to describe the beauty, the history, and the majesty it beheld. We were allowed in for about two hours. Because the Pope had been there that morning, there were fresh flowers on the altar (I guess that’s what you call it- that’s what we call it). They were beautiful. We took a million pictures – many of them too dim to see, but they hold great memories, nevertheless.

            Still being in awe, time came to leave, and we drove by for a wave at the coliseum and the pyramid in Rome! I didn’t know it had one! Valentina told us about it.

            After a nice nap on the bus ride to the ship, we dressed, went to dinner, and then to a marginally OK show with live musicians and a video – sound familiar?

            Joseph went to a whiskey tasting and I went to a “jewelry trying on” party and I got the best deal! I bought myself a right nice 75th birthday present!  Having exhausted our allotted funds for the evening; albeit, on different things, we went to our room, changed AGAIN, into our smoking clothes and went up to the smoking deck. We met the nicest guy, Brian Wilson. He was celebrating his 50th birthday and his 25th wedding anniversary. Joseph’s fellow-nerd friend, Victoria came by, too. I was the only non-smoker in the bunch!

            Good night, sweet dreams!

June 7, 2022, – day eleven of this adventure. Naples/Pompeii

            We went to breakfast at the Lido deck. You know breakfast is hard. We keep looking for good old Southern breakfast food and it just isn’t there – marginal at best. Limp bacon, steel cut oats and half toasted bread.

            After our not-so-Southern breakfast, we headed down to meet our tour guide.   Our excursions for the day were to be Naples, Pompeii and then exhaustion. They took us to downtown Naples. It was not real pretty, dirty and the roughest roads I’ve ever been on. I think they were the cobblestones from the ancient Roman days! They let us off and took us to an old church where the guide proceeded to tell us all about the church – how old it was and EVERYTHING else about it. It was a beautiful old church, a couple of thousand years old. But we had seen a lot of old churches by that time, and it has been 9 hard long days without a break! I thought that this was supposed to be a vacation, but people are starting to get grumpy. Joseph is starting to get on my nerves – just a little bit Really looking forward to the upcoming SEA Day in 36 more days – just kidding!

            After the church, they loaded us back on the bus and took us to Pompeii. We got there around lunch time, but we didn’t get a lunch break. It was extremely hot that day – probably high 80’s. We not only didn’t get lunch, but our tour guide headed us straight up to Pompeii. It was obvious that I wasn’t going to be able to tour Pompeii with my rollator. I decided to stay near the entrance of the ruins where there were restaurants and shops. While Joseph was mountain climbing, I proceeded to have half a Margherita pizza and a Coke Zero, then collected souvenirs. Joseph, with the rest of the tour, headed up into the ruins. The ruins of Pompeii are well documented. The amphitheater, the Bordello, the houses, the shops along the way. Did you know in Pompeii, they even had Chariot ride-up restaurants – where you could pull up in your chariot, order your food and they would hand it to you so that you could be on your way! The roads were interesting, made from granite and worn with deep ruts from the chariots. And speaking of chariots, we learned that in ancient times, Romans used donkeys to pull most of the chariots because they were smaller and stronger than horses. The roadways were about four feet wide, maybe five, with sidewalks on each side, slightly elevated from the roadway. It was done that way so that they could open the pipe from the aqueducts to rinse the streets clean from the day’s accumulation of donkey droppings. Joseph always gleans the most interesting things from his historical adventures. Sort of where the phrase ” crap runs downhill” comes from. It is also where the richer you were, the higher on the hill you lived, because the smelly stuff is at the bottom.

            After the eruption that blanketed Pompeii, naturally everyone was killed – thousands. The entire town was buried in ash. In the centuries following Pompeii, it’s buildings structures and statues were pillaged by the people living in the area and re-used as construction material. It was sorta kinda like Pompeii became the Home Depot for the area!

            After climbing all over the top of that mountain, Joseph found me, grabbed the pizza box out of my hand and scarfed down the cold remaining pizza as if he were a starving man. He ordered his daily lunch beer and collapsed. He only had about 15 minutes before we had to meet up to leave. The only problem was – they couldn’t find the bus we were to leave on! There was supposed to be a van awaiting the people going to the cruise port, but this excursion wasn’t organized specifically for cruisers – there were people from all over town. They sent us on the wrong bus, then finally got the right one to take us to the port. Thank God for the cool washcloths at the pier! We were hot, dusty, and tired and that cool cloth was very refreshing!

Joseph hopped in the pool, and I took a nap! Then we dressed for dinner – which was yucky. The Cordon Bleu was dry, the veggies were indistinguishable, and the cannoli was SOGGY.  (Sounds like I am a spoiled Southern woman!   I am, I like peas, cornbread, and fried chicken,) After the tiring day, we both collapsed into bed! This vacationing isn’t for old people!

DAY 12 – June 7, 2022 – Sicily

            Today, we awakened after 10 blessed hours of sleep – rested and ready to tackle whatever was to be thrown at us. We had a nice breakfast in the main dining room and headed to the other end of the boat for the staging area, only to get our little blue circles with six in them.  Then we were told to go back toward mid ship. So, altogether, we walked twice the length of the ship on this relaxing day.  You know, I’ve never been in the Army, but this is a little like I think it would be.

            We got back to our assigned destination and immediately begin loading onto the tenders that would take us to shore at Taormina, Sicily. We boarded our luxurious motorcoach and headed toward Mt Etna. Now, that sounds fascinating, but we were really headed toward a jewelry factory where they make jewelry from the lava produced by Mt Etna. As we went up the mountains, we could partially see Mt Etna in the distance because it was cloudy up at that level. Since Mt Etna is still active, we thought that we might be able to see lava, but we could not see anything from the bus. We got to the Gival Jewelry Factory where they gave us demonstrations of how they make some of their jewelry. Most of it was 18K gold, so – since I had shot my wad on the ship the other night, I ended up with a beautiful sterling silver gold electroplate adjustable ring with a cameo on top. I love it! They also had a nice brunch for us, and Joseph enjoyed that while I looked at jewelry!

            As we left the factory, we headed toward Mt Etna and stopped at a scenic overlook so that we could see a little better, but the tour-guide told us to be sure to look after dark and we could see the lava flowing.

            Once we arrived back in Taormina, we stopped for a repast at a little alfresco restaurant overlooking the water. We named it the D and D. Joseph thought it was delicious and I thought it was disgusting. We ordered seafood salad – cold seafood, mayo, a little crispy celery – NOPE. It was hot seafood – octopus, calamari, shrimp with heads and mussels. Still steaming that nasty smell.  (It sounds like I am a fussy eater, but I’m NOT!)  We also ordered an antipasto plate and part of it was edible to me – Joseph finished everything! And had his daily lunch beer!

            We got back to the ship early today in anticipation of tea, but, alas, no. Tea was only twice during the 12 days and was very disappointing. Instead of having tea, we went to the puzzle room and ordered Pina Coladas. I put my swollen elephant ankles up on a cushion and Joseph worked on the puzzle.

            Joseph must have worked up an appetite working on that tractor puzzle. For dinner he ordered the 72-ounce Tomahawk Steak! It was so big, the server sliced it for him, and he was generous enough to share with the table – only four of us tonight. Joseph wasn’t about to let any of it go to waste, so he gnawed the bone like a cave man.

            After dinner, we took our Mexican Train Dominoes up to the smoking section and played while we waited for the lava flow. I had brought my good binoculars and Joseph got a good bead on the lava flow and took a picture with my iPhone. It is amazing. We were air-dropping Mt Etna photos all over that ship. Joseph’s nerd-engineer friend, Victoria came up and

we enjoyed the evening together.