Monaco & Barcelona

Sunday & Monday April 17 & 18, 2016

Today we passed a lovely day in Barcelona. The weather was most agreeable--mid to upper sixties and sunny. We got a late start after a leisurely breakfast and some morning needlepoint. We opted for a taxi rather than the shuttle bus (5€) to get into town. Our first stop was the Bocqueria (sp?) market. This is a wonderful food market located just off the Ramblas which is tourist central. Consequently the market is also quite crowded but we did not let that deter us. R found a chocolate, nuts and dried fruit vendor where we went, some would say, a little overboard. We also found some more tomatoes to bring to the dining room (as we did last night) and even some mozzarella di buffala (not very vegan of us) to accompany them. 

Bocqueria market

Our persuasive (very) salesperson 

Ramblas -- crowded as usual

Our second stop was a real surprise -- a clown store! Isn't that funny? This place sold juggling supplies, hula hoops, clown shoes (where can you find those?), wigs, clown hats & bow ties and, of course, red noses that you can squeeze to make them squeak. It also had circus- and clown-themed art which is what attracted us.  Couldn't have found this place if we tried but we ended up buying a couple of things (prints & bookmarks) and had an enjoyable time.

Clown store!

Vegan restaurant for lunch

Friendly staff

Lunch was at a tiny vegan restaurant that was hard to find. We sat at two stools by the entrance where we had a view of both the street and the kitchen. The kitchen was clearly ill-prepared for the noon time opening so we decided to cut them a break and let them serve us whatever they wanted. The result? A tasty puréed soup (squash? carrot?), risotto (leek and asparagus), spinach "burger", seitan Milanese (the weakest dish), chocolate cake (a close second) and carrot cake (v. good). All in all, it was too much food but they were friendly and it felt good to be supporting a micro-business (like our own) and to be eating vegan again.

After lunch we took what was supposed to be a medium-sized walk but which ended up being rather a long one. Not sure how that happened. We must have fallen into some GPS wormhole type situation where distances are longer than they appear. At any rate, our destination -- an English language bookstore -- turned out to be surprisingly good with an excellent selection of classic and contemporary fiction. I was a happy camper and R was very patient with me.

Departing Barcelona this evening

We returned to the boat in time for some relaxation prior to dinner. It's been four days of a different port each day. Yesterday in Monaco we took a tour of "Nice and Eze" or as some comedian in our group called it, "Nice and Easy".  We started the tour with a scenic drive along the Middle Corniche to Eze which is a hilltop village straight off a Hollywood movie lot so classic does it appear. We parked at the bottom of the hill and walked up and I was gratified to see that some of the shops along the way were open or opening despite the fact that it was early Sunday morning. We got some tremendous views of the coast down below as well as plenty of intimate Kodak moments with doorways, alleyways, etc. When the tour allowed us some free time R and I visited a couple of stores that we had passed where we picked up some knicknacks including three Limoges boxes: a monkey, a bee and a snail.

Eze

Got my new sunglasses on

Like I said cute, cute, cute

Ditto

Back on the bus it was more scenic driving this time of Nice. The town has more substance than I had expected it would. I was thinking that it was just a beach/resort community but actually it feels like a real place; that is, a place where families live and children grow up. The shops weren't full of tourist junk and the restaurants seemed to still be attracting lots of natives. Unfortunately as we were doing the walking part of our tour it started to spit rain which gradually got harder and harder until it was pretty much pouring. This was an unfortunate development especially since R had chosen not to carry his bag which contained the umbrellas. What are you going to do? Either get wet or do as we did and purchase two more umbrellas. Thankfully these two umbrellas even managed to remain functional for the duration of the rain (60 minutes) despite their incredibly flimsy mechanisms which promised at any moment to give up the ghost (isn't this a fascinating discussion?

Nice

Alleyway (don't you try to park there)

Starting to rain

We were given free time in Nice also. R and I chose to walk around the farmers' market where we purchased a couple of croissants (also not very vegan of us), crossed the street to the "Promenade des Anglais" (fancy name for the sidewalk) where we found ourselves a bench, sat down and pretended it wasn't wet and that the croissants were better than they were while looking out at the sea. 

Farmers' Market (raining now)

View from our picnic spot

View from Lower Corniche

Ditto 

The drive back to the ship was on the Lower Corniche and again the views of the coast, the various towns and capes were engaging. I enjoyed the day more than I expected to. Plus we did not have to tender in to Monaco because either this ship is a.) small enough to use the dock (whereas our ship last summer was not) or b.) the dock is brand new. Either way it made for a more convenient embarkation/disembarkation procedure and a visit to France that far surpassed our visit last year to Monaco, which is, imho (in my humble opinion), really just a glorified condominium community for tax cheats (with mediocre shopping to boot). Snap.

Monaco-- just big boats, condos for tax cheats and mediocre shopping

Livorno, Italy (Florence)

Saturday April 16, 2016

Wow, what a day. I am really pooped right now. We woke up early (6:00 a.m.) for a 7:00 a.m. departure. The ship was late getting in so we left late and then one of the passengers announced at the first rest stop that they were not feeling well enough to continue with the tour. This necessitated a thirty minute delay as we waited for a cab (which never came) to pick him up. Obviously, we were then late getting to Florence which is already a two hour drive from Livorno. Buses are not allowed in the city center of Florence which is an idea I wholeheartedly support (not that anyone asked me) but it does mean rather a long walk from the bus drop-off point to the Duomo. On our walk to the Duomo, one of our group fell. She didn't get hurt but it was another delay and so by the time we finally got to the Duomo I really felt that we had accomplished something.

Sunrise over Livorno as we arrived this morning

R's favorite sunrise shot

Our "local" guide was very good and she used one of those speaker/headphone systems which made it so much easier to hear what she had to say. We stopped at the Baptistery for a look at the famous (but only a reproduction) "Gates of Paradise" after which we headed off down a side street to our next stop. Wait, hold on. Aren't we going to go inside the Duomo? Apparently not. Well, okay -- shifting gears now. So this is going to be a walking tour primarily. Got it. Message received. To be fair, I am sure it said something about viewing the Duomo exterior and not that we would be going inside. They are very precise when they write up these tour descriptions and you have to really read them closely which I obviously failed to do in this instance.

Spring has come to Tuscany

Your mission? The Duomo.

I am not going to say who fell but I will say she was wearing purple pants. That's all I'm sayin'

The one photo today where I don't look (too) fat

So, we are on a walking tour now. Heading toward the City Hall which was the Medici family's in-town palace. Not that we were going inside it. No time for that. Oh and by the way -- it's time for another bathroom break because one of our group simply cannot wait. Since there are no public restrooms we go into a gelato place, buy a four euro Coke (that's over five dollars for a soda people) and use their facilities. Others followed our lead buying sodas or gelato. The place probably made thirty euros on our little group's need  for a bathroom break. Not a bad scam.

Duomo

Gates of Paradise

Medici palace/City Hall

Open air art museum

Anywho, the group eventually re-gathers and we listen to the guide talk about the outdoor art gallery all around us which includes a life-size replica of Michelangelo's David which, if you ask me (which again no one did), has some pretty goofy proportions. 

Our next stop is a viewing point for the Ponte Vechio. Once again we didn't actually go on the bridge. We just looked at it. From a distance. Which was good enough for me as I understand the bridge is filled with stores selling gold jewelry. No thanks.

Uffizi Gallery 

Ponte Vechio with your intrepid reporters 

Ponte Vechio with crew-er 

Another long walk takes us to Santa Croce Church. This time we were able to go inside; it was free. The place is less a church and more of an indoor cemetery for Florence's (and Italy's) rich and famous. It includes the remains of Michelangelo (despite his expressed wish that he be buried in Rome), Machiavelli, Galileo, Rossini (the opera composer) as well as a monument to but no remains of Dante. Not a bad neighborhood. Just ignore the fact that most of them were rejected by or rejected Florence during their lives.

Santa Croce Church

Tomb of Galileo

We broke for shopping and free time now. R and I hadn't really seen any shopping that we absolutely had to go back for so we choose to buy a soda and hang out in the square people-watching.

Lunch at first didn't seem likely to please as we were brought to a small banquet room outfitted with a high ceiling, frescoes and a chandelier. "This isn't even a restaurant", I thought to myself. "We're getting hotel banquet fare for lunch!" But hey if your hotel serves food that good in their banquet rooms then sign me up. We had pasta with tomato sauce, eggplant parmigiana, spinach, roasted potatoes and tiramisu. It was all lovely even though we had to share our table with this jerky closeted (he thinks) gay guy who has a real chip on his shoulder when it comes to Russell despite the fact that neither Russell nor I can remember doing anything to warrant the active disdain of this person. Only two weeks more and I'll never have to see him again. There are a few people on board that I am using that mantra with -- two weeks and then never again!

R's photo pick of the day

Lunch -- thank God because I am starved! 

More wisteria (just couldn't resist)

After lunch it was another long walk back to the bus followed by a long drive to Pisa (1 1/2 hours). Once again Pisa does not allow buses downtown so we had to park and hoof it. We were given one hour (and no tickets) to see all the buildings on the "Miracle Square". This was news to me, this whole "Miracle Square" thing. I thought: a.) that the leaning tower was by itself and b) that it was more integrated into the fabric of the city than it is. The "Miracle Square" is an open air, grassy space that accommodates the Cathedral of Pisa, the Baptistery (apparently it's a thing here) and the leaning tower plus a museum and something else (involving fourteenth century frescoes I think). We chose to purchase tickets to the Baptistery and the Cathedral. Neither were particularly gripping and they were both undergoing extensive renovation but still it was something to do and I am glad we did it. We saw lots of people posing for stupid pictures of themselves holding up the tower or lifting the dome off the Baptistery (there's that word again). Fortunately both R and I were of the same mind on this one and refrained from emulating them, satisfying   ourselves with an old school selfie instead.

Miracle Square

Yes it does lean

Cathedral of Pisa

Interior of Baptistery (bet you didn't think I was going to use that word again)

We arrived at our meeting point early but thankfully found a seat as my feet were beginning to bother me; it was a lot of walking for one day. Then, the hawkers descended. Bags, watches, sunglasses. And people bought. Including Mr. Jerk (no surprise there). Amazing. Never ceases to surprise me when I can be so wrong about something. I mean I suppose these guys wouldn't be out there unless somebody bought what they were selling. Right? (You see, I still just can't quite believe it).

For 18€ you can go to top

Had to do it

The drive back to the boat was only thirty minutes. We are chugging along right now toward our next port of call (Monaco) and I am feeling tired and sore and fat. Was very bad today and noshed my way through the whole day. And you should have seen me at lunch. I mean you would have thought I hadn't eaten in thirty days not thirty minutes. But I had an excuse. The woman next to me took a picture of me and Russell and in it I looked fat and dumpy. So what do I do? Eat some more so I can get fatter and dumper. Honestly, not too smart. Let's hope I do better tomorrow.

Civitavechia, Italy (Rome)

Friday April 15, 2016

What a nice day we had today! However, it was not without surprise. And the surprise came early, in the form of a couple that we have had dinner with. They are a nice couple but rather kooky I would say. Anyhow, we were waiting outside the ship for our car to arrive (it had gone to a different ship). Not surprisingly, R engaged them in conversation and also not surprisingly they asked us what we were doing. I bet you can see where this is going already. We told them we were waiting for our car to arrive to take us to Rome and then it came -- as if somehow preordained simply through the "happy" accident of our paths converging -- the inevitable "Can we go with you?" question. I knew it was coming. I expected it. I could see it. And yet, I was still shocked. I could see right away that there was going to be no polite way of getting out of this one. Not that R didn't try. Saying things like: "It's likely to be a small car" and "We've planned this awhile ago." They were not going to be put off however. And the questions just kept on coming: "What are you going to see?" and "What church?" and "Whereabouts did you say you were going shopping?". Seeing this whole situation rapidly starting to spin out of control (we were not about to spend the whole day with this couple) we decided to cut our losses, offering them a ride into the city (they quickly offered, thankfully, to pay for half the cost) and a drop-off/pick-up type arrangement to which they also fortunately and rapidly agreed. I am quite certain however that had we been willing they would have gladly spent the whole day intruding on what R and I had planned as a special day for just the two of us. What, I wonder, were these people thinking -- standing on the pier with no plan on how they were going to get to Rome and only nine hours in which to get there, see whatever it was they wanted to see and get back to the ship? And yet, it worked out for them. Thanks to Sap #1 & Sap #2. 

Walls of Civitavechia (civitas = city, vechia = old; "Old City")

Our old stomping ground 

I exaggerate of course. We wouldn't have agreed to share a ride with them if we didn't genuinely like them and it all turned out fine. They were good company in the car helping to pass the time even though the backseat was rather tight. After dropping them off at the Colosseum, our driver, Claudio, took us to a small cafe where we bought "due espresso" mostly because we needed the "toilet-o". 

And again because you can never have just one photo of the colosseum 

Wisteria blooming On a gorgeous, sunny but comfortable spring day

Basilica di San Clemente

Interior, San Clemente church

In my preparation for today (some people do actually prepare) I had uncovered a church near the Colosseum that was highly regarded and very old. I was worried that we may have visited it already because I hardly could conceive that we hadn't been there -- it being so close to our former apartment but I told Claudio to take us there anyhow. Sure enough we had walked right by this place, on numerous occasions, without ever knowing what it was or that it was worth visiting. Too funny. 

Ceiling was a later addition to 11th century church

The name of the church was the Basilica of St. Clement. The present structure was built in the 11th century, replacing a previous basilica that was built on the same spot in the 4th century which in turn had replaced a pagan temple. Amazing. I would say, "Only in Rome" but based upon previous ports of call  I can tell you that Rome is not the only place where layer upon layer of history exist in the same spot (e.g., Israel, India).

Mosaic work

Good shot Russell!

The interior of the church contains marvelous frescoes and mosaics. The floor and ceiling are both quite striking. And, in general, it has an older feel and is far less ostentatious than some (most?) Roman churches.

After a quick drive-by of the old apartment, we headed for the Via dei Condotti (sp?) to do a little shopping. R was on a quest to find a pair of shoes that I had seen and wanted but did not buy last summer thinking that I would be able to find them either online or back home. I never was able to find them so they became the shoe equivalent of "the one that got away". Anyhow, to R's disappointment, they were not there. Ah, but there was this other pair ... And some great sunglasses too. Then, we moved on to Zegna where I am embarrassed to admit I scored another pair of great sunglasses plus a terrific wallet from Natalia, a charming and  talented (obviously) sales-person. As I've said before, it's nice to be me sometimes. Scratch that. Pretty much all the time.

The old apartment-o looking rather bleak I must say (I think it needs us!)

Will they be there?

Natalia the very talented (I have to blame it on someone) sales-person at Zegna 

Back with the driver, R checked his "Happy Cow" vegan/vegetarian-food-finding-app on his phone, showed Claudio the name and address of a place and off we went. The restaurant, called "Ops", was further away than we had thought it would be so it was good thing we had the car. But it certainly was worth the effort to find. An upscale cafeteria-type establishment with Italian-style vegan dishes. The food was delicious. Really not a bad dish among them and believe me I tried quite a few different items. R was quite taken with the concept and thinks, rightly so I believe, that a similar type establishment in Philadelphia (and probably elsewhere) would do incredibly well. He's ready to be an investor but thinks it would take more money and energy than we have to do it by ourselves.

Ops! A vegan cafeteria style place

Lunch

The final verdict

After lunch it was back in the car for a quick jaunt to our favorite neighborhood in Rome -- Trastevere. I had mentioned that I wouldn't mind visiting this bookstore that we had visited last year and R very graciously (and without hesitation I might add) agreed to go. He shopped for food while I bought more heavy books that I have to transport home where I have no room for them and no time to read them. Don't ask. I am damaged that's all I can say.

Trastevere 

Yummy pizza -- R bought some and brought it back to the ship for our dinner (though having them re-heat it for us nearly caused a complete system failure!)

Our intrusive and clueless but also fun-loving and garrulous friends were at the appointed spot at the appointed time so we were able to launch right into the Friday afternoon rush hour traffic. Claudio found special lanes just for himself and got us back to the ship by five thirty which was the cut off time for the vehicle thus concluding what could have been a disastrous but turned out to be memorable day in Rome.

Arividerci Roma!