Firenze!

It's Monday morning as I write and I'm sitting on our balcony looking at the rising sun glittering off the buildings of Monte Carlo in Monaco.  We arrived at this port overnight, coming only 100 miles from our previous port, being Livorno.  So allow me to catch you up on the events of Sunday, our port day in Livorno.

Livorno is the closest port to Pisa and Florence.  We've already been to both Pisa & Florence already; this is the only stop on our voyage that were are familiar with.  So it felt a bit like a homecoming.  In fact, the main event of the day for us was going into Florence on a hour and a half coach ride to meet with our friend Christiana Farina, who was the owner of the villa and apartments we stayed in a few years ago in Tuscany and Florence.  So indeed, it was not only a homecoming, but also a bit of a reunion.  Having already spent so much time in Florence, we didn't feel the need to rush about and cram as much in as possible.  Instead we had a very pleasant leisurely lunch near to the Duomo (Cathedral) with Christina.

That was followed by a bit of shopping and then back to our coach to bring us back to the ship.  Compared to the hectic pace of Rome the previous day, this was a very relaxing and pleasant day.

Back on the ship, we had time for one of our "elegant casual" (jackets, no ties) dinners and then the comedian show following, which was very fun.

Ahoy!