Day 11 - Naples, Amalfi and Pompei (And Michael's 40th!)

This was a big day...our last port of call and Michael's 40th Birthday!

We woke up in Naples, met our final tour guide and started our final bus tour.  Today was a two part tour - first up was a morning spent on the Amalfi coast with a stop in Amalfi.  We took a boat tour of the coast to get there and it was spectacular.  Steep cliffs with lined with lemon groves, small quaint beach towns that looked carved out of the side of the mountains, and gorgeous beaches and waters.

Biggest lemons I have ever seen...

Back on the boat...

We got to walk around the little town of Amalfi for a while...we actually found another water color here but it didn't make it home with us.  Pretty sure it (along with our French Open poster) was left in the Barcelona airport...we were rather forgetful while in paradise.

After our boat tour, we hopped back on the bus that took us to our afternoon destination - Pompei.

Lunch was part of this package, so we were herded to a local family restaurant that served us a pre-fixed menu.  Of course, wine came along with lunch...today's sampling was "vino"...house table wine.

Birthday Prosecco toast

I had already eaten half of my lunch before I remembered to document it...spinach manicotti with fresh pasta...yum...

After lunch, we had a 'forced' tour of the cameo factory (the downside of being on a cruise sponsored tour) but it was actually interesting to watch this 80+ yr old man carving a cameo out of a shell.

Then it was time for the main event.  We entered the preserved ancient city of Pompei...

Mount Vesuvius in the background...

The city was literally frozen in time from 79 AD.  It is really unbelievable...the pictures just look like ruins but walking through a town whose entire population was wiped out (yet preserved) in one day is rather remarkable.  More of an experience that the pictures can capture.

This was a restaurant counter where food would be kept in these vats.

The city was much larger than I was expecting.  We only were able to cover a portion in the hours we were there.  The streets were really interesting...Michael is standing on the stepping stones which were throughout the city - used for crossing when the streets flooded (and also because they threw waste out in the streets in those days for the water to carry away).  You can still see the grooves in the streets from the wheels of chariots.

It is obvious that most of the goods from Pompei are on display in various other locations but the walls are still so colorful in places and detail who lived in different spaces.  This was the "House of the Tragic Poet".

The craziest thing to see there are the preserved bodies - frozen in their final poses.  The ash covered the people and hardened, once their bodies disintegrated it left basically a open shell within the ash that they were able to pour plaster into to recreate them.  This one in particular still had his skull and teeth in tact.

After a long day of sight seeing, we took our final bus ride back to the ship.  That night, we had our best, and most memorable, dinner of the trip in the ship's steak house to celebrate Michael's big milestone.

The next day was our only day at sea...it was the first time in nearly 2 weeks where we didn't wake up early (in a foreign time zone) and have somewhere to be.  So, we slept in...had breakfast brought to the room...and then slept some more.  Apparently we had been really fortunate to have such amazing weather all week - the cruise before us had rain every day - but this was the one day we did have grey rainy weather.  So, our hopes of laying by the pool all day were dashed...so we watched the French finals indoors instead and took advantage of our last day of "all you can eat".  Not terribly exciting but it was still nice to have a down day.  One more day to go....

Day 10 - Rome

Today's port city was Civitavecchia, which was an hour outside of Rome.  Luckily, on this day we upgraded to a private tour and it was worth every penny - we wished we had done this on every excursion.  Our private driver, Roberto, picked us up at the ship and we hopped in our Mercedes van to begin our full day cram session of Rome.

Our guide started on the outskirts of town at the catacombs.  Although there are no bodies/bones left in them, it was still a little eerie being underground looking at tombs.

Then we headed in to town and got our first taste of Rome.  Circus Maximus...

One of the great things about having a private guide is that we also had a group photographer...

The Victor Emmanuel Monument (or as our guide said the Roman's called it "The Wedding Cake"). It truly was gleaming white and impressive.

The Pantheon...

...complete with Roman soldiers.

We were amazed and confused by these street performers...until we overheard another tour guide explaining the fake arm on the bottom guy.

Fontana dei Quattro Fiumi in the Piazza Novana

The Forum

Then we stopped for a quick bite to eat al fresco (that is Romulus and Remus nursing from the wolf in case you are wondering)

Today's wine...a local Frascati...

We got our Italian pasta fix...Tortellini for me (which were delicious, even if they don't appear to be)

Raviolis for Michael...

After lunch, it was time for the Coliseum.  The great thing about having the private guide was that he was able to zip us through town and take us to buy tickets for the Coliseum at a undisclosed location that no other tourists seem to know about.  So we literally walked right in.  The line, otherwise, was pretty atrocious and it was a hot day.  We were very thankful to Roberto that we didn't have to wait in that line - actually we probably wouldn't have had time to so we would have missed the amazing site that is the Coliseum.

Next up, we grabbed some gelatto to cool off and went to one of my favorite stops...Trevi Fountain...

And to end our Roman Holiday, we swung by the Vatican and walked through St Peters square (definitely didn't have time for the Sistine Chapel line...oh well, next trip!)

Rome really was a wonderful city...we covered a lot of ground and we left feeling like we had seen the city...but I know I will get back one day.  Arrivederci Rome!

Day 9 - Florence, Italy

On this day we woke up in our first Italian port, La Spezia (or at least I think we did - I think they ended up changing our port but I don't remember the name of the town) - whatever town it was, it was not as scenic as the French towns we had docked in.  But that was ok, because we had plans to load up the tour bus and head to Florence any way.

So, after our morning nap on the bus, we arrived in Florence.  The first thing we see is their "Free Hug" art exhibition...there were these signs on every tree in town with "Free Hugs" written in every language.

Once off the bus, we made our way through some side streets and finally came out upon the Duomo.  I was taken aback by how huge and ornate it was...

And then we found out we were on the "dirty" side (the only side where cars were allowed to drive on the streets so years of exhaust had dirtied it).  The front was even more impressive.

The arch under the big circle is where the David was created to go...

The famous "Gates of Paradise" bronze doors of the Baptistery

And then we arrived in the Leather Market, aka Purse Paradise.

Il Porcellino (aka The Lucky Pig).  This day was also our 9th wedding anniversary...so I think it was extra good luck for us to rub that boar's nose that day!

Mounds of gelatto...

Ponte Vecchio

David (replica...didn't have time to wait in the real line)

This bride was leaving her wedding at one of the museums...it was adorable...

We had a great tour guide in Florence...she is "required" to promote certain restaurants that are somehow sponsored by the ship but she was kind enough to tell us about an actual good restaurant - she even joined us for lunch.  She was from Scotland but had lived for over 30 years in and around Florence (she had a fantastic blended accent), so she provided very lively conversation and commentary on the local culture.

Today's local spirit - Chianti...

I can still taste this eggplant and zucchini pizza...I ate every last bite, it was delizioso.

The vibrant colors (I am wearing bright green pants) and stripes were actually not planned.  (We should have gotten our guide in our picture...)

Once back on the ship for the day, we were able to watch some tennis on the deck...not a bad way to watch tv...

Florence is definitely a town that I left feeling that I didn't get to spend enough time in.  It was small and very touristy in the main areas we were in (with lots of gypsies!), so I wished we could have branched out of the main square a bit to explore and that we had more time for the museums.  So, needless to say I need to make another trip back here!