This is a shot of the ship as we were getting on the shuttle.
On our way to the bus stop...if this is what I would see on the way to the bus stop in Dallas, I would actually consider riding the bus here at home.
The bus took us right to the train station and we bought tickets and hopped on the train heading for Pisa.
Something that I need to do is a separate picture post about riding the trains. EVERYONE seemed to be able to hop on the train and then promptly fall asleep. I however could not, so I just took pictures of everyone sleeping. Teena even slept so hard she started talking in her sleep and woke up saying "He's frowning at you!"
Once we got to Pisa, we grabbed another bus and headed to see the leaning tower of Pisa.
Luke and Teena walking towards the tower.
This is a shot of all the tourists lining up to take that famous "Look I am holding up the Leaning Tower of Pisa" shot.
One of the markets outside of the piazza.
Our next plan was to grab the bus back to the train station and hop on yet another train to Florence.
This is Den while waiting for the train....not sure what he was doing or what he was saying but I am sure that it was important and profound.
The first order of business when we reached Florence was to get our return tickets. We didn't want to have to worry about not making the train back and having to take a taxi back to the ship which would have been outrageously expensive. Then we stopped at McDonalds to grab a quick cheap lunch before heading out.
Our first stop was the Basilica di Santa Maria del Fiore. It is the cathedral church (Duomo) of Florence, Italy, begun in 1296. The exterior of the basilica is faced with polychrome marble panels in various shades of green and pink bordered by white and is absolutely stunning.
The cathedral complex, located in Piazza del Duomo, includes the Baptistery and Giotto's Campanile. The three buildings are part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site.
We were going to go inside but the line was pretty long and we were quickly running out of time so we headed to the market to see what we could find.
Florence is known for its leather goods. And even though it felt like 105 outside, I stopped to admire this beautiful leather jacket. The salesman started talking to me, asked me if I liked the jacket, and then offered to show me some more...and by offered, I mean grabbed my hand and pulled me past the stand where the jackets were and into the shop behind him and into the back room. Luckily Christina was following along behind me and eventually her sister and mother joined us. While in there, we met the designer and tried on several different jackets. In the end, Christina, her sister Monica, and I all purchased a jacket. And it is a pretty awesome jacket if I do say so myself. :)
After all the alterations and purchases were completed, it was about 3:00. We had bought tickets for the 3:28 train, so we started heading back to the station. We got to the station about 3:15 and decided to stop back in the McDonalds to use the restroom and grab snacks. All the girls headed upstairs to wait in line, but it seemed kind of long so I joined Den back downstairs to wait. Den ordered, got his food, returned his drink and got a refund because it was flat, and still no one had come downstairs yet from the restroom. By now it was about 3:20 so we decided to go ahead and figure out which platform we needed to be at to board. As we started looking at the schedule, it showed that our train was leaving earlier than we expected. So Den told us to hurry over to platform 2 and he stepped back into the McDonalds to hurry everyone up, which I think consisted of opening the door and shouting "CHRISTINA!!!!"
We were starting to feel a little panicked at this point because we really couldn't afford to miss this train. So walking very quickly, we made our way to platform 2 only to realize that it is NOT the train back to Livorno.
This was when the running started...
Skirt flying, camera bouncing and new leather jacket clutched tightly to my chest we ran to platform 4, which sounds like it might be close to 2 but it is not. I am not sure why we ran to 4 but that was where the group was going so I followed. We jumped onto the train, confirmed with some of the passengers already seated that this was in fact going to Livorno, and then started looking for seat.
We found a seat for Christina's mom, who was a rockstar and kept up with us the whole time, even during the sprint to the train. Then we found another seat for Monica, but that is where our luck stopped. So Den, Christina, Luke and I found a nice comfortable spot between the cars on the floor.
Just passing the time on our hour long train ride by trying on the masks that Christina bought
Thankful that these feet can run in flip flops
I told you....everyone falls asleep on the train but me.
A few things I want to remember about this train ride bullet style:
* The homeless man who almost spilled his beer on Teena.
* Lime green pants
* Freaking out every time a train passed us
Near the end of the train ride the homeless man returned to our little compartment. He had the song Forever Young playing on his phone and I remember thinking that there wasn't a better song to use as a soundtrack for this day. So thank you homeless drunk man, for helping make a pretty awesome day even better.
After a couple of cramped bus rides, we made it back to the ship in one piece. We all showered, grabbed some snacks and met up at the pool for movie night.
Christina, Den, & Monica
Luke attacking the watermelon.
And then everyone fell asleep. :)
