Firenze, Tuscany

We had a wonderful dinner last night to celebrate Adam’s 21st birthday - there was a pianist and a singer in the restaurant and she sang happy birthday to Adam and they presented him with a delicious chocolate cake. She had an beautiful soulful voice and sang some really good jazzy numbers.

This morning the boat arrived in Livorno and we were up early as we had to meet our guide by 8.30am. We did not visit Livorno - we were told it was quite badly bombed in the war and so consists of rather modern buildings, but as we drove out we did see the old fort at the harbour. Our guide Paola was excellent, as we drove to Pisa she told us so much information about the area, the history of the Medici family and the noble families, and gave us much general information about Tuscany. We passed a huge American military base - not sure why they need such a large presence in Italy but the base was given to them after the war and we drove past so many military vehicles, rows and rows of them. 

Pisa was an unexpected delight - the birth place of Galileo and Vesper scooters, it is so much more than just a leaning tower! We have visited Pisa before, but all we saw was the leaning tower - today we saw the beautiful university, learnt about the influential people who shaped the city, and of course wandered around with the other tourists taking silly photos with hands out pushing the tower straight back into position!

From Pisa we drove to Florence, with Paola educating us about the area all the way. We passed so many sunflower fields, the flowers were all dried now but they must look quite a sight when they are in full bloom. Our first stop in Florence was the Academia to visit Michelangelo’s magnificent David. I have seen images of it so many times before but until you actually see it up close you cannot appreciate the beauty and skill involved in creating such a wonderful sculpture. We then drove on the left bank up to this viewing place to get a photo of the city, as per my blip. Then on to visit Sante Croce piazza where she had booked lunch at a trattoria, and what delicious food we had. Although it was 35C it did not feel that hot, it does not have the humidity of Venice and it was not nearly as crowded as Venice, so it was actually very pleasant. 

After lunch we walked through the piazza and on to an artisan’s workshop who makes the most intricate mosaic work - if like me you think of mosaics as the tiles in a swimming pool or shower, this will have you thinking again! Some pieces took 3 years to complete, and we were given a tour where the entire process was explained, from choosing the stones to delicately cutting them out as per a template and then how they inlay them into the slate to create images. It was so interesting as we never have seen anything like this before. 

We then walked on to see the magnificent Duoma that dominates the city, had a lemon sorbet on the way, and continued to another piazza where we saw the building housing the old Italian guilds. On to the Ponte Vecchio to admire the views of the River Arno, before finally getting back into her car to be driven back to the boat some 10 hours later.It was a very full and long day but so worthwhile - we definitely want to come back to Florence and Tuscany again!  

We have now had our last pre-supper drink while watching the sun set over the sea, and our last delicious meal - we have to pack up tonight and tomorrow morning when we arrive in Monte Carlo we disembark from our wonderful cruise. It has been an absolute treat, I cannot believe it has come to an end and wish we had more time on the boat!

There is another family birthday tomorrow, so we are not flying home tomorrow but staying one night in Monte Carlo before flying back home again....I wonder whose birthday it is?!