Pizza, Pasta, Gelato, Oh My!

Even though we only left Italy yesterday, it feels as though it was
forever ago that we were there. Maybe its because we spent 6 days in the
country which is the longest time we've spent in any place so far. Our
time in Italy was divided between two ports, one outside of Florence and
one outside of Rome, with the option to travel overland which meant that
we didn't need to get back on the ship between the two ports. I've been
to Italy before, specifically to Florence, Rome and Venice, so I wanted
to make sure that my experience this time was different and that I saw
new places that I hadn't been before.

Our first three days we were based out of the port of Livorno. Livorno
is actually a really nice town which was pretty much destroyed during
World War II and has rebuilt itself since then. Most people left the
ship right away to start their adventures throughout Italy and didn't
return to the ship until our last day in our second port. For the first
day, I decided to stay close by and head to Pisa which was only about a
15 minute train ride from Livorno. What I didn't know was that the walk
from the port to the train station was an hour. I went to Pisa with two
other staff members on the ship and we decided to have a really relaxed
day with no specific plans. We arrived in Italy on a Sunday so a lot of
things were closed but we still managed to have a great time. We
wandered around Pisa, stopped for a slice of pizza, stopped a second
time for large beers, and then we finally ended up at The Leaning Tower
(we also managed to pick up a fourth staff member on our way to the
tower). The area around the tower was nice, but was filled with lots of
tourists. It was still really neat to see, but I honestly thought it
would be a lot taller than it was. We took pictures, but none of the
stereotypical tourist pictures and then headed back into town stopping
for gelato and then finding a nice, off the main road, family restaurant
where we shared multiple pizzas amongst the group and drank homemade
wine that was cheaper than water. That night several of us went out for
my birthday and ended up at a little cafe outside the port talking,
eating, and drinking more wine (we were in Italy, so its totally ok). It
was really nice to spend time with some of my friends on the ship for a
pre birthday celebration.

The second day, my birthday, I spent my day leading a field program to
Sienna and San Gimignano. My last semester at UT, I took a Renaissance
history class as an elective that pretty much only talked about these
two places so when I saw this was a field program I could go on, I knew
I needed to sign up for it. Sienna is absolutely beautiful and I wish I
had been able to spend a couple days there. The city was built on three
hills and is divided into 17 districts (kind of like the Hunger Games).
Each district has there own crest and when you walk around the city you
can tell what district you are in because each of the roads have little
crests. I really wish I had been on a tour of all 17 districts. I think
we ended up walking through about four. I also ended up having a
delicious birthday lunch with five of my co-workers at a restaurant that
we just happened upon. We had three bottles of house wine, two appetizer
plates with different local meats, and then for my entree I had a
ravioli pasta with pear and cheese inside with a Gorgonzola cheese cream
sauce and walnuts on top. If your mouth isn't watering right now, then
we can no longer be friends. San Gimignano was our second stop of the
day and it is a city that used to be full of lots of towers. Today only
a few remain. It was a neat town, but far more touristy that Sienna had
been. We had free time to walk around, so I got more gelato and shopped.
It was a great day which was then topped off by my actual birthday
celebration where about eight of us went back out to the port cafes and
hung out for several hours.

The third day began my independent travel in Italy where myself and one
other RD headed off to explore two other places while the ship sailed on
to Rome. Our first stop was Milan which is really just an urban city
with lots of shopping. I got a little lost going to our hotel, but we
finally found it and were able to get settled and then head off to the
city. We went down to the main cathedral where we quickly realized
neither of us would be getting int because we didn't have appropriate
clothing on. This was really disappointing, but it was still spectacular
to see from the outside. The rest of our day was spent consuming Italian
food, shopping, and wandering the city with an early night in at the
hotel. Milan was nice, but it isn't somewhere I feel the need to go back
to unlike the place we visited on our fourth day.

My fourth day in Italy I absolutely fell in love. We visited Verona
which was about an hour and a half away from Milan by train. I didn't
know this, but the entire city of Verona is a UNESCO World Heritage
Site. It is absolutely beautiful and so picturesque that I could see
myself living there at some point. Maybe I'll end up having a house in
Santorini and another one in Verona :) We spent some time in the main
Piazza looking at memorials, the fountains, and the super impressive
Roman Arena which is second in size to the Colosseum. After that we
headed in the direction of Casa de Guilette and on the way stopped for
some coffee and to do some shopping. Casa de Guilette, which is where
Juliet's balcony is and if you have seen Letters to Juliet is where the
start of that movie takes place, is just incredible. As an English major
it was really cool to see that area that may have inspired the play.
When you walk in, the tunnel walkway walls are covered with large boards
that you can sign and write messages on. These are up nowadays to
encourage visitors to write on them instead of putting gum on the walls
to tack up letters and notes. When you walk through the tunneled walkway
you come to the small courtyard which houses the balcony and the statue
of Juliet. Legend says that if you rub the right breast of Juliet's
statue that you will be lucky in love, so you better believe I rubbed
Juliet :) The other cool thing that was in the courtyard were large
gates where you could take a lock, write note on it, and then attach
your lock to the gate. The gift shop sold locks, so of course we decided
to buy the locks and put them up. It was a really neat experience. After
that we went to another piazza for lunch and then continued our walk
around the city finding the old castle and bridge. We then headed back
to the main piazza, shopping more and getting more snacks. We ended our
day taking a little train that went around town in about 30 minutes
which was really nice to sit back, enjoy the sites, and learn more about
the city from our audio guide. We had a long trek back to Rome, the
port, and the ship after that but the day was worth all of the traveling
we ended up doing.

My fifth day was my no fun day where I was on duty and per usual got
less than three hours of sleep. I have officially been cursed on this
ship with duty and am not looking forward to my last two 24 hours duty
days which happen on 2 of the 3 last days of the voyage in Lisbon. I'm
really looking forward to being back at UWF with my normal duty and not
getting as many calls, or having to spend the night in the observation
room with students. Because I hardly slept, I almost cancelled my plans
for day six which were to just go into Rome by myself for a few hours.
I'm glad I decided to push through and go because I needed a day just to
be alone wandering the city. I went over to the Vatican but the line to
get into St. Peters was too long and it was way too hot to stand outside
waiting. I did end up doing a lot of shopping and then I ended up at the
church of the Caupchin monks whose crypt has the bones of over 4000
monks arranged in different patterns (including mummified monks) in five
rooms. It was a really neat experience going there and was somewhere
different than most tourists go to. In the first room there was a sign
that said "what you are, we once were. what we are, you will be." The
sign made me really think about life and death and how it was absolutely
true, one day, hopefully a long time from now, I will be just like the
monks on those walls- all that will remain of me will be my bones. This
experience also reminded me how important life is though and it cherish
every moment that you have.

Our final day in Italy was a class/port day. What this means is that we
are still in port, but students have classes throughout the day. Between
classes, students are allowed to leave the ship but have to stay in our
port city. Faculty and staff are permitted to leave the ship anytime
throughout the day so I got off the ship around mid day and headed into
town to explore which turned into me shopping more. I ended up getting a
new purse, several pairs of earrings, four new dresses, and souvenirs
will I was in Italy. It was a little ridiculous to tell you the truth.
The port city was actually nice and I decided to have my last Italian
meal in a little pizza restaurant that I found. I was by myself and when
I told the waiter I needed a table for one you would have thought i was
asking for the world. It took them five minutes to figure out where to
put me and then I ended up in a corner by myself next to the kitchen. I
felt really awkward but stayed and ordered food which turned out the be
the largest pizza I have probably ever seen for one person. I didn't eat
the whole thing because I had to save room for gelato which was great
because my last gelato was my favorite for my entire stay- half coconut,
half pineapple. Italy was great, but my bank account is probably not
happy with me right now.

We spent last night and all day today at sea and tomorrow morning we
arrive in the very small island of Malta. I'm excited to visit because I
really don't have any expectations about Malta and what my experience
will be. I'm taking it easy tomorrow with an afternoon field program and
then duty tomorrow night. It should be a good three days, but I'm
starting to get sad about it being the end of the voyage so soon. Five
ports to go.