This post is long overdue as well, but I just need to do it to make a record of it. I've more trips to blog about, before I forget the details, and more trips coming up this year, so here goes. To read Part 1 of the cruise, click here.
Thursday June 11th
Today the port was Villefranche, France, which is right near Nice. It was a beautiful view from the ship.
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| In the square where the royal palace is. |
We had decided to take the train to Monaco, which is practically, right next door, and we had heard how beautiful it was, and we were not disappointed. Monaco is so clean and well kept. Breathtaking, and very hilly, but the views were worth it.
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| The famous Monte Carlo Casino. |
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| |Monaco's Harbour |
Then we headed back on the train to Nice, got some crepes for lunch at a sidewalk cafe, and walked along the beach. Holy cow, was it HOT! It was soooo hot. 41 C if I remember correctly, and humid. The water was so blue. I know I took some pictures, but they might have been lost.
Friday June 12th
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| (Please ignore my back fat) |
We were at sea today. I hadn't gotten much color on the trip so far, so I made the foolish decision of laying out by the pool without any sunscreen on. Just for a little while, I told myself. I thought I was doing alright. I kept checking my skin to make sure it wasn't burning, cause it felt hot, but it still looked white as anything, when I took my sunglasses off. I thought I looked a bit pink when I looked through my sunglasses, but thought it was just the tintedness of them, playing tricks on me. (Is tintedness a word?)Anyway, as soon as I walked back inside, I looked in a mirror, and whoa, was I burnt!! Guess the sun was too bright for me to see correctly. I was so sore that night. I asked our waiter at dinner for cider vinegar, because I knew it would help the pain, but he came back with white vinegar instead. I don't think he quite knew what I meant, and there was a bit of a language barrier, so I had to suffer. My own fault though.
Saturday June 13th
Today we were in a port called Livorno, Italy. In the morning, we booked an excursion to Pisa to see the Leaning Tower. It was really quite something to see in person. Unfortunately no one is allowed inside the tower anymore. They were doing some restoration work. Here are a few picsof Brian being silly.
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| Bracing the tower. |
|In the afternoon, we had booked an excursion to Florence. We spent the afternoon in and around a famous square, trying to squeeze in as many tourist attractions as we possibly could. It was almost unbearably hot there too. On the bus ride back to the ship, the busdriver stopped on side of the road, beacuse there was a teenage guy vacationing with his family, who needed to use the bathroom. He must have been pretty desperate to want to go on the side of the road. Anyway, while he was gone, his brother told everyone on the bus to clap for him when he came back on the bus. It was pretty pretty funny, but he was a good sport about it.
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| These are of the Duomo. It is a massive cathedral. I can't even begin to describe how utterly huge it is. We didn't have time to go inside, unfortunately. |
Sunday June 14th
We got off the cruiseship today in Civitavecchia. It's about an hour's train ride from Rome. We got on the train, and went a few stops to a place called Santa Marinella. One of Brian's friends has a brother who married an Italian girl from Santa Marinella, and they run a hotel there. We had made arrangements to stay in their hotel overnight and went out to dinner with them that evening. We just lazed around all afternoon, went for a swim in the Mediterannean, it was a lovely end to our trip.
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| The view out our window. |
