DAY 121 - DAY ONE HUNDRED THIRTEEN ON THE CRYSTAL SERENITY

Although we didn't dine at the Crystal Dining Room last evening, these are the dinner menus.

We decided to stay in our room and have a Movie/Pizza night.  We watched two movies which recently arrived on board the ship.  First we watched Gravity.  While we know some people really enjoyed this movie, for us it was pretty much average.  We then watched Captain Phillips and enjoyed this movie.  These two movies along with several other more recent movies were shown in the Hollywood Theatre during the World Cruise but we didn't get to the Theatre this time around.  Many of the movies which we didn't see when they appeared in the movies we plan to see after we return home.

We began the meal with our standing order salads which Rao got from the Crystal Dining Room.

We then enjoyed Pizza which is also made in one of the Crystal Dining Room Galleys.

Rao brought us each a Pizza.

Since it was Movie night the next and final course was popcorn which is popped in a microwave.

We slept very well last evening.  The seas were relatively calm and the distance to the next port of call was not very long so we went at around 10 knots per hour.

Keith was up first and by now you know the routine.  It was reading, writing and a nice workout in the Fitness Center and then over to the Lido Cafe.  We arrived early in port so we also had an early breakfast so we did not take an early morning walk knowing that we would walk in port.

After having breakfast, we got ready to go into port.  We did not have an excursion planned for today.  We do have one planned for tomorrow though after we dock in Livorno, Italy.

We took the first tender over to Porto Venere as we were anchored off the Port.

This turned out to be a wise choice because about ninety minutes after we arrived the rain changed from a very light drizzle to an amount that made it impossible to take photos and to walk around without umbrella's .

Porto Venere is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

This was our first time there.  Although it was drizzling and overcast it is a very quaint and beautiful town.  

The harbor is lined with brightly colored house and narrow medieval streets.  

We did a lot of walking and there were lots of steps we climbed and we needed to be extra careful as the steps and other walkways were wet.

We visited an area with absolutely stunning and beautiful views known as the view from Byron’s Grotto.  Lord Byron is said to have written Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage in Porto Venere.

We visited a couple of churches.

First was San Pietro, which originated as an early Christian building, which is made of black marble dating from the 6^th century.  Adjacent to the church is a Romanesque loggetta with arches, which frame the coastline.

There was no lightning inside the church other than natural lighting but we thankfully got a nice photo of the interior.

The second church we visited was Chiesa di San Lorenzo which was built in the 12^th century and has a Romanesque façade.

On the way to the church, we passed this statue.

We walked up to the Castello dei Doria, which is the Andrea Doria Castle, which was build by the Genoese between the 12^th and 17^th centuries.  They do allow visitor inside for a fee but it was not open when we were there.  Adjacent to the Castle there was a cemetery. We noticed that many people lived long lives and much longer than the life expectancy of people who lived around the world during these generations.

From the upper tier of the castle, Keith took this photo of Anne Marie who was waiting for Keith to return.

We walked by residences as well as stores, restaurants and places selling baked bread, pastries and cakes and other items.  This region is the birthplace for Pesto.

This is the fresh basil which is a key ingredient for the Pesto.  We thought this was an interesting sign. This was outside a shop that sold the Pesto.

We did purchase a few items in one of the shops and there were lots of nice quaint shops to walk in and out of.

After we got back to the ship at one point we heard some big noised and could not figure out where they came from.  Ironically, about 10 minutes later Cruise Director Gary Hunter came on with a special announcement from the Captain that there is a military base nearby and they are carrying out an exercise, including firing off cannons that were making large noises and smoke. It continued on and off for about two hours or so.  

We had lunch at the Lido Cafe.  We made salad entrees and today they were cutting turkey from a whole turkey and we each had some of this on our salad.

In the afternoon Anne Marie walked and then started to prepare for our move in a couple of days to a new room and Keith helped to and also worked out at the Fitness Center.

This evening we will be back in the Crystal Dining Room for dinner.

TODAY'S THOUGHT FOR THE DAY…...

"Beauty comes as much from the mind as the eye." - Grey Livingston

Keith & Anne Marie