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7-NIGHT RIVIERAS AND SUNSETS ON THE JOURNEY. Full Trip Report with pix! 9/29/18 - 10/6/18


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Oh my.. and now about that wind. I have NEVER experienced anything like that.  It really started whipping up around lunch time.  Walking back to the ship was a challenge.. you could literally lean into the wind and it would hold you up.  The pier was covered in sand/dirt and there were huge dust clouds of it near the gangway.
Back on board I went out on our balcony to take a few pictures and a gust of wind got behind me and pushed me towards the railing.  I literally OUT LOUD said "hey stupid.. get back inside"  I didn't want to be on the cover of my local paper under the headline "Clueless Woman Blown Off The Deck of a Cruise Ship."
Waves were spilling over the seawall near the lighthouse.
Later that afternoon there was an announcement to NOT GO OUT on the balcony that doors were being thrown off their track by the wind.  I chuckled to Sam.. who would be dumb enough to go out on the balcony in weather like this!
There was a ferry from Algeria that tried to get into the harbor but had to go out and try again later because it was too rough.  A tugboat pushed and pushed it to secure it against the dock.  Finally it was safe catty-corner to us.
 

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Delicious and delightful dinner in Discoveries that night.  A great show by Eric in the Cabaret Lounge capped off a perfect day.

Found a table in Discoveries that was our fave and obviously nobody elses as it was always empty.  It was a table for two SQUISHED all the way in the near left corner behind the wall that separates the bar.  Loved our servers Joliemarie and Manuel and they seemed to love us too!  Thank you Laze and Amit for giving it to us with a smile.

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For those fans of "French Kiss" this is the restaurant in the hotel where Meg Ryan is spying on her fiance and his new girlfriend and trips over a dessert cart and ends up with a face full of cake.  I love that movie!

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After dinner we took our own personal tender to shore.. nobody else was leaving the ship at 6:45 but us of course.:classic_rolleyes:

We hiked up the hill to an overlook with a lovely church. We walked off dinner and admired the sunset all at the same time.

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Today was a day for a bit of shopping!:classic_biggrin:

We walked around the harbor and up the hill to the casino area.  First stop was Van Cleef and Arpels where I bought a necklace for our youngest daughter.. shhh.. it's a surprise so don't tell.🤫

Bought a little something for me too.. very little..

When we were in the store the very sweet saleswoman went in the back to get another size of something and I took the opportunity to try on the necklace to take a picture.  When she came back she was surprised that the necklace wasn't there and so were we.  So we all got down on our hands and knees on the floor looking for the necklace thinking that it had dropped on the floor. We looked and looked but no necklace to be found.  A few hairy minutes later I realized that I actually had the necklace on my neck.

Oh dear! It's like when you are searching for your glasses and they are on top of your head.

 She was a good sport about the whole thing though.. whew!

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After a lovely day in Monte Carlo we had the White Night Dinner Buffet and Party to look forward to!

It was F A N T A S T I C!!

FOOD - AMAZING.

ENTERTAINMENT - AMAZING.

AMBIANCE - AMAZING.

P.S. There is the picture that I happily bought from the photographer. 

Looking 10 years younger than actual age?

Priceless.😉

 

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Oh my.. can't believe it's Thursday already.

Today we took the only shore excursion of our cruise.. the full day tour/transportation into Florence from Livorno.

It was about a 2 hour ride there with traffic which left us a little less than 5 hours in Florence.

Our middle daughter had studied abroad there 3 years ago and we had visited her so thankfully we didn't need to cram in all of beautiful Firenze into a few short hours.

We just ambled around the city.. visiting old favorites.

Loved the pizza and my new favorite drink - an Aperol Spritz - at the food court on the top floor of The Mercado.

 

 

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I didn't even mind stopping at a leather factory on the way home.  It was very low/no pressure sales and it was kind of interesting to see how bags are made and to see what companies this factory made goods for.

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We got back to the ship around 6 and made a fast turn around as we had to have dinner and then be ready to leave for the Azamazing Evening at 7:30.  To accommodate for this, both the Windows Cafe and the Discoveries Restaurant were serving buffet dinners. Smart!

Our Azamazing Evening was delightful!! An Incanto Concert at the beautiful and historic opera house in Livorno.

A quartet of beautiful singers performed 12 songs in two acts that ranged from classic opera arias to Abba.

The opera house was so cool! Hallways that had rows and rows of doors that led to the box seats.

Truly like something out of a movie.😎

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Also must give a shout out to the sport of stuffing as much laundry that you can squish into the laundry bag to get the biggest bang for your complimentary laundry buck!!!

We handed it in on Wednesday night and it came back midday Thursday.

We laughed because they called from the laundry room to make sure we knew that Sam's PJ top had a hole in it.

I asked "only one hole?" as it's a pretty ripped up shirt.:classic_laugh:

 

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