Sleep7

Hello La Spezia!

Even though we had eaten breakfast only 2 hours ago we managed to fit in a little lunch before going ashore.

Almost at La Spezia..

The daily schedule was shuffled around a bit to accommodate the later than first planned arrival into our new port. We thoroughly enjoyed another informative and entertaining lecture.. today's topic.. Florence.

Breakfast was also being served in Discoveries.

Enough silly Sardinian sandal stories.. lets get back to business! 😆 The water was rough and the ship was rocking but thankfully Sam felt OK. He is prone to getting seasick so I was fretting. Sitting on the back deck and looking out onto the sea made the rolling of the ship tolerable for him so that was great. I do come armed with a whole assortment of seasickness remedies but I always leave the bag of them in the suitcases under the bed hoping that they won't see the light of day until I take the suitcases out a week later to repack.

So Monday dawned and I had the strangest experience.. I had woken up momentarily at 6am and thought I had heard the noises that a ship makes when it's stopping and being anchored. Then fell back to sleep and woke up 3 hours later and we were sailing again. I thought for a moment that Sam and I had totally overslept and missed the port of Santa Margherita altogether! We were still on NY time so it could have been a possibility.. Dressed in pajamas I dashed into the hallway and asked Reyner where we were and what was doing. He said that the water was too rough for the tenders to operate to Santa Margherita so they were sailing on.. finding another port to stop in. Whew! We didn't sleep the day away.. was so glad. We made the tail end of breakfast and then there was an announcement that we were going to dock in La Spezia around noon. I love that about Azamara.. if a port gets cancelled even at the last minute they always have a back up plan in place. Great job!!👏 I was a bit disappointed though as there was a "style your own" sandal shop in Santa Margherita that I was anxious to visit. They have a few branches in the Med and I had previously bought pairs from similar shops in Olbia and Sorrento. You pick the heel height.. the strap style.. the color; they fit them to your feet and make them for you while you wait. This was the store in Olbia.. they are still my favorite pair of sandals!

Oh my.. lucky you!!! I'm quite jealous that you are still aboard.😍 And no.. the sunshine didn't make it back to New York. It's been nonstop rain here since we landed.. going to clear up today though.

MONDAY - APRIL 24TH. Was supposed to be Santa Margherita but changed to La Spezia instead.. more info coming.

Dinner in the dining room tonight and it was delicious! Such warm and friendly service.. so welcoming and anxious to please. 🤩 And just like that.. day two was over in a flash.

Back on board we attended another fascinating and incredibly well presented lecture by guest speaker Norm Hill.📚

And last but not least.. the cheapest wine I think I have ever seen! To me the cheaper the better.. I can't smell so all wine tastes great.🍷

Back out again after lunch we retraced our steps from the tour this morning. More from Genoa.. A cactus that looks like it should be in Disney! A recreated galleon that might have belonged there too.😁 A vintage Fiat car show. A beautiful archways leading up to what had been a convent. The sad lions at the entrance of the San Lorenzo Cathedral. An outdoor salumeria.

Back on board for lunch.. enjoyed the daily destination specific dish from the buffet.😋 Since there were no seats outside the Windows Cafe we sat at a table in the "patio" area. It's always so nice to eat outside.. the true meaning of vacation for me.☀️

👋Good morning Combine! It was such a lovely cruise.. wasn't it? The ports.. the weather.. the food.. the service. All just perfect. Hope you had an easy trip home.. I'm so glad you are reliving the smiles from last week with me.😊

Genoa is known for it's pesto and it's focaccia.😋

Thank you @koconnor214 for organizing a terrific 3 hour walking tour of Genoa. We all met at 9:30 in front of the Genoa cruise terminal where there is a huge propeller. Can't miss the spot. The guide was just wonderful. We also met our "pals" of the cruise that morning. 👋Helloooo B &G!! Despite cruising this "neck of the woods" many times we have never been to Genoa. What a great cruise port and what a great city! A public washing station for the residents of the city. A specialty of Genoa.. these cookies have a hole in them because the vendors used to sell them on strings. La Chiesa Di San Siro.. might be the most ornate and glorious church I have ever seen. There is a long block of all gorgeous 17th century palazzos.. Genoa was a city with a lot of money coming in and going out and it showed in these homes. A few are still private residences these days but most have been turned into public buildings. It's interesting that the buildings were taxed on the number of windows so some crafty homeowners just painted some of the windows on.. no glass.. no tax. Clever!

Also good morning to Eric and Roy and their daily and delightful "Who Cares?" segment on the cabin TV.😊

🌞Good morning Genoa!

👋Good morning! Happy May!🌻 Asleep by 8pm and up at 2am.. I guess that is par for the course right now.🤷‍♀️ SUNDAY - APRIL 23.

👋Hello wjfan417! Yes.. I was happy to see a meet and mingle too. As it said on the schedule it was up in the card room and unhosted. No worries about not being signed up.. we weren't either. Just showed up for it. It was as always so nice to meet everyone and to firm up our plans for the next day. A lovely lady from the roll call had organized a walking tour of Genoa for a group and we needed to firm up what time and where we were meeting. 😊

👋Hello takemewithyou! I'm so glad you are following along.. thanks so much for your kind words. Much more coming today!😊

👋Hello voyager1964! You're so welcome.. it's a pleasure to write. No.. I'm so sorry.. I didn't get a chance to see how wheelchair assisted guests board the ship. Every time we got on and off I did see a lot of equipment to do just that so I'm sure they are well prepared to make it as easy and pleasant as possible.👍

And so ends day one of our seven Italy Intensive cruise and it was TERRIFIC!😍 More tomorrow.. jet lag is getting the best of me. Night all!😴

Shrimp.. shrimp and more shrimp.😋 It reminded us of this funny scene from Seinfeld.. the ocean called.. they're running out of shrimp!