Monaco and Italy

We hit our first port on the enrichment voyage yesterday, then our second one today. Monaco is the second smallest country in the world (after the Vatican, I believe). It was tiny, luxurious, and yesterday quite wet. We only spent about two hours in Monte Carlo, Monaco after we returned from an all day trip to the French Riviera. The modern art at a museum called the Maeght Foundation was a highlight of the day, the village of St. Paul de Vence was cute, the rain and fog that cancelled our stop in the picturesque town of Eze was not.

The ship moved just a few hours last night to port today in Livorno, Italy. I am soooo excited to finally be in Italy. I think part of me has wanted to visit Italy since I was 3 years old and my parents spent 6 weeks here while leaving my sister and me with my grandmother in Pittsburgh. Today did not disappoint. The Cinque Terre area of Tuscany is as picturesque as it comes. I have saved up all of my cheese and dairy consumption for Italy (lactose and I are not friends), and spent it all today on lunch and dinner. Mozzarella, gelato, eggplant parmiagiana, pizza, and my favorite, cannoli, were all worth the calories and enzyme pills. Fruit juice fast after Italy, right?

We are getting used to the different rhythm and routines of the enrichment voyage. It is more laid back, and with the European itinerary we move quickly from port to port. We do still miss the students but are meeting some very nice people on the ship and on trips. I will admit we were thrilled today to run into Matt and Christine, a sister and brother set of students from S13 in one of the Cinque Terre villages, and to hear they will be back on the ship when we get to Belgium. Their parents were amused and surprised we were all so excited to see each other.

Tomorrow Sr and I are off to Lucca for a bike tour, it will be a very easy hop on and off tour but we'll need that after all the months off. Jr and Grandpa are headed to Pisa which is only 12 km from our current port in Livorno.

Ciao!

Photos: Jr in front of the MV Explorer in Monaco as we hiked up to the Prince's Palace; Cinque Terre town of Venere where we had lunch; rowers we saw in the canal in Livorno on our way to dinner. Rowing friends, notice there are no sliding seats, only extra thick shorts and a smooth platform.