We set sail precisely on time last evening for our next port of call which is Livorno, Italy. Captain Giske said that we only had 86 nautical miles to reach Livorno so we were going to go at a relatively slow speed of around 7.5 knots per hour. The weather forecast calls for some rain in the morning.
Before dinner, we sat in the Crystal Plaza as we do most evening's to listen to John Mentis play the piano. It was quite busy when we arrived so we could not sit at the Crystal Cove where he actually plays. John stopped by to speak with us before he started to play. He will be going home at the end of this cruise.
John performs from 6:00 PM to 6:15 PM and then returns to play before late seating and then plays later in the evening. He is always happy to play songs that are requested in addition to all of the other music he comes prepared to play. While on board, John also tunes each and every Piano that is on board the ship.
During the World Cruise, John also plays the piano at Team Trivia and he also takes video throughout the World Cruise that is used not only in the World Cruise Video but also from time to time in video that is used in videos about future cruise offerings. Although John has been to most ports more times than one can recount, he makes an effort to always go out on port day. On the World Cruise he will go on an excursion that is not fully booked to get some video for the World Cruise DVD and when sailing other times of the year he will do something on his own in port. Some of the Crystal Cruisers used to sail on Royal Viking and John is one of some of the crew members of the Crystal Cruises who joined Crystal Cruises after working at Royal Viking.
After listening to John perform, we made our way over to the Crystal Dining Room for dinner.
These are the menus for the Crystal Dining Room.
A few minutes after we ordered, the consultant, Micky, who helped out with the launch of the modern cuisine on both Crystal Serenity and on Crystal Symphony stopped by the table. Since the menu rolled out at the beginning of the cruise he has stopped by as many tables as possible to answer questions about the new menu and to listen to feedback/comments. Micky will be leaving the ship after this voyage ends.
We each began our meal with Salads as we decided to skip the appetizer.
For our entree, we each had the Lobster Tail from the modern cuisine. The sauce that accompanied it was very tasty. Because of the sauce Anne Marie didn't ask for any butter on the side as she normally does and we would suspect that is the case with most people who normally would have the wait staff put some butter on top. Keith would be fine without any butter or any sauce but as we said we both found the sauce to add to the overall flavor of the entree.
For dessert, Keith had mixed berries and Anne Marie had the sugar free dessert.
After dinner was the Captain's farewell reception as this voyage is shortly coming to an end. There was a variety show last evening.
We slept well last evening. The seas were relatively calm and as we mentioned we were sailing at a relatively slow pace.
Keith woke early as he always does and got in a workout at the Fitness Center and time at the Lido Cafe. Since we have a tour for today we had Rao bring breakfast at 7:00 AM. We also arranged for a boxed lunch for each of us just because we wanted to allow more time if necessary for our tour and to get back to the ship at the time we planned. After all, this is Italy and you never know what traffic will be like.
We arrived to the port of Livorno at around 6:30 AM, roughly thirty minutes ahead of schedule.
We met our driver and tour guide at 8:00 AM. His name was Vieri Villi and he was born in Florence and lived there for most of his life but now lives with his wife and three year old son in about 30 minutes from the city out in the countryside. He spoke excellent english as his Grandmother who lived with him was from Scotland and he spoke English and Italian at a very young age. He was very informative and we loved his passion for all of the little things that you can do and see and his passion for travel.
We drove to the city of Lucca. We selected Lucca since we have toured Florence before which is a very special place to travel to when docked at Livorno and we have also toured Pisa and Livorno before. We were very pleased with our decision.
Lucca is a city in Tuscany. It is famous for its intact Renaissance-era walls. Lucca was founded by the Etruscans and became a Roman Colony in 180 BC. The walls stood the test of time not only because of their height but most importantly because of how wide they are.
Vieri drove us on a scenic road with two lanes in each direction and he pointed out fortifications and other historical structures along the way. The drive took just a little over 45 minutes.
Vieri highlighted each of the areas on a map for us and then took us partially into Lucca and then we went off on our own. The map was terrific and we visited each of the places that Vieri had recommended and with Anne Marie as our guide we found our was around the town easily with the map.
We were very fortunate with the weather. Although it was cloudy for part of the day and looked early on like it might rain we had no rain and there were times that the sun came out so all of this made for excellent walking weather.
We visited several churches during our three and one half hour walk along with many other historic buildings. Along the way there were lots of restaurants, pastry shops, and stores and just lots of beautiful architecture to enjoy.
Some areas that we took photos have have large squares making it easy to photograph whereas some are directly on streets which are not very wide so it is more of a challenge to photograph.
In addition to walking every main street along with most side streets we also walked the entire wall that circumvents this beautiful city. The wall is unusually wide and provides some scenic views of the walled city and also the beautiful country-side.
After we finished our tour of Lucca, we drove to Pisa which was about a 20 minute drive. We were last to Pisa in 1998 and at that time restoration was in progress for the leaning tower. In contrast to Lucca, there were lots of tourists but that was not a problem for us.
Anne Marie trying to straighten the tower.
This is part of the residence for the Archbishop of Pisa.
When we left Pisa to return to Livorno we went on a road that although now pavement was built on top of the same road that would lead to Rome back during ancient Rome.
While a lot has changed what amazes us is the length of time that so many historic buildings have stood. They have made it through all sorts of weather events, earthquakes, wars and were constructed without the tools available today to design and construct buildings.
All in all it was a wonderful day.
This evening we will be back in the Crystal Dining Room as we enjoy the last night of this cruise before the next one and final voyage of this adventure begins.
Tomorrow morning will be busy as we get ready to move to another room. More on that in tomorrow's update. At the same time it will be an exciting day as our son and daughter in law join us for this final voyage before it is time to leave the Crystal Serenity.
TODAY'S THOUGHT FOR THE DAY……...
"When we cruise, we cherish each and everyday, and we focus on the good that each day brings rather than getting side-tracked with the few things that might not go our way." - Keith & Anne Marie
Keith & Anne Marie
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