Cannes, Florence

The two final ports. How sad – tomorrow I have to disembark this fine ship. That means that starting tomorrow my meals aren’t free. This is probably what makes me most sad. I’m going to have to pay for meals. And entertainment. This is unfortunate.

But the final two ports were spectacular. Cannes was wonderful. You know all those wonderful things you hear about the south of France? Well based on what I saw on Cannes it’s all true. We spent the day mostly on this beautiful beach with the finest white sand and warm Mediterranean waters. It was so nice. The sun was shining hot upon us, and it might have been unpleasant, but the water made it so nice. I spent so long in there just swimming around. It was superb. After my mom and sister dragged me out of the water, I dried off by lying in the sun. We then went to a little sidewalk cafe and ordered half a bottle of wine and a dish of strawberries. We had bush wine and a dish of cut up strawberries served with a shaker of sugar. It was so... French. When we were done at the cafe we wandered up the street and stumbled upon a free art show taking place at a hotel, so of course we had to take a look. Chelsea and I then went on a quest for a souvenir shop (we actually had to LOOK for one... this place is so charmingly untourist trap) so I could get a Cannes Film Fest postcard for the people at work. We finally found one, and I got a T-Shirt saying Cannes Film Fest on it (well actually it says it in French, but you get the idea). It was such a perfect day. I can’t wait to have the chance to return to the south of France. Nice perhaps? Or Marseilles?

Today was Florence. A while ago I told Susan that I thought she and I ought to have a villa in Tuscany. It just seemed like a good idea at the time. Now having spent the day in Tuscany, I have to say I’m utterly convinced. The ship actually docked in Livorno which is a little less than two hours from Florence. We took a bus that we booked through the cruiseline. There was a guide dude who narrated the entire way there telling us things about Florence and the region, including handing out a map with a recommended walking tour on it and giving us a bunch of advice on where to go for lunch and gelati and all that good stuff. We got into Florence and went to the Church of Santa Croce. This church is lined with the tombs of some of the greatest Italians of the Tuscan region including Machiavelli, Galileo, Michealangelo, and Dante. We saw the private chapel of the Medicis. It was all quite amazing. Then we went through the nicest square with shops specializing in gold and leather goods. I ended up getting a purse. It’s adorable and purple. My mum also got me a gold charm for my charm bracelet at home. We went to an authentic brick oven pizzeria for a pizza lunch. I had a glass of wine with lunch because a glass of wine was literally the same price as a tin of pop. Seriously. After lunch we went to the Galleria Uffizi, which is often called the second greatest art gallery in the world, second only to the Louvre. Just outside of the gallery in the public square is a copy of the David by Michealangelo – it is the same spot where the original used to stand but they had to move it after the arm fell off and hit a peasant on the head, killing him. The original is now in another gallery, but two copies were made – one is almost identical and in that square, the other is a bronze cast and on a hill over looking the city. We got to the see the bronze one as well when we were leaving Florence. Unfortunately we didn’t have nearly enough time to see the things in the Uffizi gallery as thoroughly as we should have. The highlight for me was seeing the original Birth of Venus and Spring by Botticelli – easily his two most famous works, and some of my favourite paintings ever. This gallery had the best collection of medieval art I’ve ever seen. They also had a phenomenal number of busts and statues from ancient Rome. It kind of felt like we had to run through this gallery, but we still were able to see a lot. I could easily go back there though. After the gallery we stopped for Gelato at the place where our guide swears has the best Gelati in Florence. I had a scoop of white chocolate and a scoop of stracciatelli. It was amazing. Following this was a bit of window shopping and then back on the bust to go back to the ship. It was an exhausting but wonderful day.

Tonight’s dinner, to add the catalogue, was watermelon and feta cheese as an appetizer, followed by a side serving of fetticini alfredo, and a turkey dinner entree. For dessert I had rhubarb ice cream. Written out like this the meal seems kind of lame compared to others I’ve told you about ,but I enjoyed it. The light dessert was because I was really full already – there were more exciting choices I assure you. This is the last time I can report my dinner from the ship.

On that note, this might be the last post for a few days. Tomorrow we’re taking the train from Civitaveccia to Rome. We have two nights in Rome, but imagine I probably won’t have internet in the hotel. After that I fly to London to meet up with Papa at his sister’s house. The next day we fly to Dublin and I do the Ireland bit, going from city to city in a manner that makes me doubt my internet connectivity. You may not hear from me again until I get to Leicester. This also goes for friends who might be looking for me on facebook or by e-mail or other ways. If I get a connection (a free, or reasonably cheap one) I’ll certainly be in touch, but it may not be for almost two weeks.

Cheers!