"Best Mediterranean Cruise ever!!"

Sunday, June 24. Disembarkment from the ship was smooth, but it was not the end of our perfect vacation, for we took a train from Civitavecchia to Pisa, then to Florence (Firenze). The hardest part of the trip was in Civitavecchia, for there is no way to get from the ticket station to the track without hauling suitcases down stairs, across about 20 feet, then back up another set of stairs. That was awful. There is no elevator, and heaven help anyone who might be handicapped… I thought I was going to be (handicapped) after moving the suitcases!

Anyway, the train took us through picturesque countryside, farms surrounded by huge (10-15 ft) oleander bushes in full bloom in numerous shades of pink, rose, white, and fuscia, olive trees, grape vines, and lush fields of indeterminate vegetation. The sun shone brilliantly, and we had an entire compartment to ourselves and our luggage (of which we decidedly had too much. We were by now quite tired of hauling dirty clothes around!)

As the train moved north through Italy, we passed a rocky coastline, filled with tourists, sunbathers, and countless beach umbrellas. The scenery was incredible.

We arrived in beautiful Firenze by mid-day, and dragged our luggage (I now know why it's called LUGgage) to Hotel Azalee (Azalea in English). It had been a villa, and was over a hundred year's old, yet very modern inside. Our room was (thankfully) on the ground floor, and access was through a pleasant, well tended English garden, which we could view through the glass door of our room. Although it was charmingly decorated with ceramic plates and antiques, it had been recently renovated, and had the best plumbing and bath amenities we'd seen in Europe, including a towel warmer! Internet is 6 Euro (about $9.) an hour. It also had a TV that got CNN from Great Britain. It was good to finally get a little world news we could understand, even though most of it was about Tony Blair's last days in office.

In Florence, we met an American couple from San Antonio (celebrating their 20th anniversary) who had also been on our cruise, and we joined forces, so to speak, to do some sight seeing. We started with the Medici Palace, adjacent to the Ufizzi Galleries. There, our English-speaking guide explained the art, took us through some back passages and stairwells, and even into the attic to view how the trusses are set, and the way the heavily decorated, suspended ceiling above the Great Hall is supported. Judging by the amount of dust, not much has been disturbed since Michelangelo's days there. It was quite impressive.

From there, we "window shopped" the beautiful stores and open market shops found in the city, then found a small trattoria for something to eat. We had unwittingly arrived on a very fortunate day, for the city was celebrating their patron saint, St. John the Baptist. At 10 that evening, an hour of fireworks erupted, mirrored over the Arno River. We stood among the people of Firenze as well as other tourists, and it was as spectacular-and lasted longer-- than any 4th of July celebration I've ever seen. However, both Foye and I found ourselves falling asleep while standing up before the display ended, so we returned to our villa hotel and fell into an exhausted sleep.