Saturday, Mar 7
We wake up to the ship coming into Savona, Italy. This will be our last stop in Italy until we return to Rome the following Thursday. As Coronavirus news gets bigger and bigger, my desire to return to Italy lessens and lessens. Italy has locked down the highly infected north part of the country. Milan and even Venice are completely closed. We learn that all of the locations that we had visited in Rome on Tuesday are now closed. There is talk that the Rome Temple will probably close. The main reason we had booked this trip will be closed. It seems that our vacation of a lifetime is beginning to unravel. I have serious thoughts about disembarking from the ship before it gets back to Rome. I tell Rhonda and she brushes it off, so I let it go.
There were two possible excursions we could have taken and we chose to go to ancient Genoa. The other was a trip to Monaco. Some of our group, including my mother and sister went there. Fast cars and casinos didn’t interest us as much as more old buildings apparently..
Genoa is another port city south of Savona, so we had a 45 minute bus ride. I drive almost 40,000 miles a year and rarely have a problem staying awake. Put me in the passenger seat or the back of a bus, and I have a hard time keeping my eyes open, regardless of how much sleep I had the night before. Even with the tour guide rambling on over the speaker on the bus, I managed to miss most of it. After dropping some people off for “free time” at the port, the bus headed up to the top of a hill to deposit us for our guided walk back down to the port.We walked for a couple of hours, hearing stories of particular buildings or locations. Unless you are a real history buff, much of the information went in one ear and out the other. It seemed that every plaza we came to was “the most important plaza of the city” for some reason or another. The were some beautiful buildings and statues though.
There was a prearranged stop at a small museum of sorts. We were lead upstairs to a room that had a table with Foccacia bread, some other “bread” that looked and tasted like 30 year old seaweed, wine and water.
In the corner of the room sat a grand piano. Right away I knew that Joe would be looking for permission to sit behind it. I grabbed a plate of bread, a glass of water and walked into the next room to sit at a table. In a few minutes the sound of the piano filled the whole second floor. He played a song and then started another. This time though, a voice was heard with the piano. Clint and Joe had obviously practiced a bit before the trip, looking for the opportunity to share. Clint shined in this moment unlike his attempt to impersonate Cher a couple of night previously. This would have won him the prize that night.
I made my way back to the room they were in just as they were finishing. Joe then continued with other song. The host of the building, an older man in his mid sixties, watched with a huge smile across his face. As Joe finished, he stood and looked down at this beautiful instrument with a wide grin that showed he was in his element. I talked to the host for a few moments and he explained that the piano had belonged to Princess Caroline and that is was valued at 1 million dollars. When Joe heard that, his mouth opened with surprise. I will say that in that room with a tall ceiling and tiled floor, the sound of the Steinway was extraordinary. Another highlight..
We made our way back to the street and continued toward the port. Just before crossing a small bridge into the port we stopped at a small edifice. A banner indicated that this was the birth home of Christopher Columbus. Many, including myself, forget that he was Italian. When Italy wouldn’t fund his expedition, he was able to get financial backing from Spain.
The group made our way into the port area and were given a short time to browse before meeting back at the bus. Free time always means more gelato! After taking a few pics (Rhonda came home with almost 1500), we stepped into a shop for the tasty treat. As we made our way toward the bus, I looked at my watch and saw that we were out of time. At that point I hear the all too familiar “I need to pee”. As was pointed out earlier, finding a public restroom can be a daunting task. She said there was no way she could ride the bus for 45 minutes without going. We passed another gelato shop, and saw the familiar sign for restroom, so she hurried in, competitor gelato in her hand and all. I figured I may as well make use of the opportunity too. As we exited and approached the bus, I saw it lurch forward. I ran forward and banged on the back with my hand. Our group was all in the back so they yelled at the same time. The bus slammed to a halt and we jumped on to the cold stare of the tour guide. Nap time.
Sunday, March 8
Today would be our first day out of Italy since we arrived in Europe. I slid the curtain open at 7:20am to see the coast of France less than a half a mile away. The ship was still entering the port of Marseille. Looking at a map of our ports, I figure the ship must be doing circles out in the open water all night, because the distances weren’t far. Certainly not a 10 hour journey.
I think Rhonda was tiring of the breakfast buffet, because she didn’t want to go down. “Grab me a chocolate croissant” she said. I have always been a breakfast person and always function best if I have a good meal in the morning, so I headed down to stuff my belly.
Today our excursion involved nothing more than a bus ride to Aix-en-Provence. We would be dropped off to spend 3 hours on our own. That was a relief for a couple of reasons. We had purchased a spa package with a couples massage and unlimited time in the spa. We were looking forward to spending a few hours in a hot tub, sauna and just relaxing after all the the full days of excursions. The 3 hour free time also meant that I didn’t have to listen to another tour guide drone on all day in barely decipherable English.
After getting off the bus with directions to the city square and hub of activity, we made our way up the street. As always, the streets were lined with scooters and smart cars. At each intersection there were long streets, barely wide enough for one small vehicle. I envisioned my 4 wheel drive, full size lifted truck in this part of the world. It wouldn’t even fit down some streets, they were so narrow. In two weeks I think I saw 2 Nissan Titan trucks.
Today was the first time that Mom and RoAnn were on the same excursion as us. We arrived at the square and found a large plaza with restaurants lining one side. On the other side there were vendors set up in street fair setting. This stretched for probably over a quarter of a mile from one end to the other. Julia had become our bathroom master. She had to go more than anyone, all the time. It seemed as though we were always in search of the closest toilette. Once again we looked for a suitable business that would have facilities. Up until this point, almost one week in, I still hadn’t had a crepe. Here I was standing in a French city on a Sunday morning. I was going to enjoy a crepe and we would find Julia her relief. Of course she is the scapegoat, but we all follow suit.
We settled on a picture perfect sidewalk cafe. Tables were pushed together and we sat and enjoyed the atmosphere. Brett said he didn’t want to waste his time sitting at a cafe, so he bound off in search of the nearest cathedral. We ordered crepes and hot chocolate. A perfect combination for the beautiful late morning.
After our brunch, everyone split up to enjoy the area. A favorite snack of Rhonda and I are Macaroons, so we found a bakery and bought a small box. We walked from one end of the street fair to the other looking for anything interesting. We purchased a couple of items and then made our way back to the bus.
As on as we were back on the ship, we changed into our bathing suits and headed for the spa. We were going to get our moneys worth in hot tub and lounge time. After a couple hours there we headed back to get ready for dinner.
The previous night some of us had decided to go the Teppanyaki restaurant on Sunday evening. We had made a reservation for 14, but a few wound up doing other things, so only 10 of us were there. It was the perfect number for the table. Our chef was very funny and entertaining and the food was delicious. Once again there were many laughs. After we finished eating, Rhonda and I wandered the decks for while to walk of the effects, then headed to our stateroom to rest up for the next day.
Monday, March 9
We wake up in Barcelona, Spain. I am secretly excited about the next two days, because now we are in a country whose language I can understand. It’s been 35 years since I came home from Chile and I don’t use the language as much as I should, especially given my profession, but I know that I will at least be able to communicate.
Rhonda and I were looking forward to this day. We had booked an excursion with Segways. Barcelona by Segway. We would have a 2 hour Segway tour and be on our own for as long as we wanted.. up till the last bus at 5:30pm. It turns out that Eunice and Teresa would be going with us. When we get to the bus, we find that there are only 6 on the tour, the four of us and a mother and son from San Diego. The bus drops us off at the Segway shop and we are issued Segways. We walk them across the street to get orientation and practice in a large plaza.
When I first stepped on the thing, I thought for sure that is was going to throw me to the ground like a bucking bronco. I had visions of a broken arm. Amazingly, it only took a few seconds to get the feel of it. A couple minutes later and I was circling around a statue as the guide helped the others get acquainted with their machines.
Our tour would take us around to see the architecture of Antoni Gaudi. His works are unlike any others. There are no straight lines, no 45 or 90 degree angles. The buildings truly are “gaudy”. That phrase is a part of our language to describe something that is over the top, something ostentatious. We passed by three or four of his buildings on the way to his most famous work, La Sagrada Familia. This church dwarfs everything in Barcelona. It was started in 1882 and is still under construction. It probably won’t be finished for another 20 years. There have been periods in the last century where no work has taken place, as the entire project is privately funded. No church or state funds are used. Today there are large cranes as they build the spires higher and higher. It really is an amazing piece of architecture.
We made our way back to the starting point and turned in our two wheeled chariots. Our guide gave us directions so that we could head toward the beach for lunch and some shopping. The four of us found a restaurant with tables in an open plaza and sat down to enjoy a meal. Rhonda and I decided to try a few different tapas (appetizers) and they did not disappoint. It was some of our favorite food of the whole trip.
After eating, we walked a mile or so to the beach. Once again, scores of young African men sold selfie sticks, hats, blankets and other trinkets. It was literally the same thing over and over for another mile as we walked up the beach. I wonder how any of them could make any money with so many of them selling exactly the same things.. Rhonda found a souvenir shop and picked out a couple of things and the filled a water bottle with sand. Whenever we travel and there is a beach involved, she brings home sand. She has a collection of glass bottles in our spare bedroom with sand from all the places we have been.
Finally, we decided to make our way to the bus stop an back to the ship. It was still early so we changed our of our clothes again and headed to the spa. Our actual massages were scheduled for Thursday while the ship was at sea all day. We were looking forward to it.
Little did we know that in a few hours everything would change…