Ciao from Livorno!
Well we are not suckers. We will not pay $55 for an hour (or some such ridiculous sum) of internet on the cruise ship. So we are in a cafe in town paying 4 Euro an hour. Nevertheless, we will make this short, just to let you know we are having a blast and are taking way too many pictures. Scottish folk, beware, we are brown! You never thought it would happen living in Scotland, but yes, we are TAN.
We had a wonderful few days in Rome hoofing it around the city and consuming about 2 gelatis a day. By the time we leave I should know all my fruits in Italian as we have had every possible fruit ice cream. We left on the cruise on Sunday and have been to Corsica, Elba and today we are in Livorno, which is actually a surprise because one of the other stops we meant to take was not able to be reached due to some festival. Anyway, it has all been amazing and Bryce is ordering 2 entrees a meal and we are very much enjoying the copious amounts of food and apertifs on board as well.
Elba was very cool. Unfortunately all the vespas were sold out so we did not get to motor around the island, but that is the plan for our stop tomorrow in Portofino. Today we took a day trip to Cinque Terre, five little villages hugging the Italian coastline. I had been there actually in 1999 and loved returning to walk the Via dell amore (I am probably butchering the Italian there) with my love this time. We had lunch on an ancient watch tower and swam in the clear Mediterranean water. Gorgeous.
We will have lots more stories, lots more pictures and a few pounds to lose I am sure when we return on Monday. Till then, ciao!
August 17th, 2005 at 7:58 pm
Yahhhhhh!!!!!!! I was just saying how I hoped you might be able to post and there you were! So glad the trip is going well, eat, tan, drink, be merry! Ashley - near perfect italian, not butchered at all. Cinque Terre is great I am hugely envious of your swim. Have too much fun and we will see you soon.
PS Bryce the posters and fliers could not be better, they are universally loved!
August 19th, 2005 at 3:25 am
WOW you guys! Your trip sounds so wonderful. Did you see any Napolean history stuff on Elba? That’s so cool that you got to go back to Cinque Terre! (Did you see the site of Katchen’s multiple jellyfish stings?)
August 19th, 2005 at 10:38 am
Glad you’re having fun! Come back soon though, your plants miss you.
August 19th, 2005 at 1:39 pm
Haha, yesss, gelato! We soon discovered that that stuff was the only way you could get a break in Italy - only if you bought something at a restaurant could you use the bathroom, but since the bathrooms were usually unspeakably primitive we avoided drinking water, but we got very thirsty. The solution? GELATO. We averaged about two a day as well.
You swam in the Mediterranean? Mmmmm. Glad you all are having a great time.