Day 17 Livorno Port

Livorno Port

Today was our first real day on the cruise and our first stop was Livorno. If that name sounds familiar it’s because we were just here a few days ago! LOL The Army base where we left my car parked is in Livorno and it’s right next to Pisa, which we had already seen. Because we had already done the Pisa thing we booked an excursion through the cruise that took us on a wine tasting in the Tuscan countryside. Perfect! We got on a bus and went to a small village called Lucca where we walked around and visited some shops. We bought some handmade Italian pasta made right there in town to bring home. We also visited the butcher and bought some Tuscan style salami and some marinated olives. We had a nice cappuccino and then it was time to get back on the bus to head to the winery. Torre a Cenaia Winery has been around for many years and they make several different varieties of wine. We learned about how they process it, how the type of wood the barrel it is stored in affects the flavor, and how the type of cork used makes a difference too. Then we got to go inside and sit down for a proper wine tasting. We sampled five different wines and they were all paired with the right foods to compliment them. There was salami, bread, Tuscan bruschetta (olives, anchovies and chicken) and cheese. Then for the dessert wine we sampled we dipped our biscotti in it. OH MY! Yum!! After all the sampling we got to buy the wines and other stuff to go with it. I bought several bottles and of course some biscotti too for my dessert wine. It was a nice trip and Colin was very well behaved on it. Our tour guide was great too, she gave us lots of good information and was funny and personable.
When the tour returned back to the port in Livorno we ended up taking a taxi back to the Army base so that we could go to the US bank branch there on base. Stupid me put a bunch of money in an account we don’t use often and then forgot the pin number to my ATM card (because I never use that account!) and couldn’t get the damn money back out. Ugh! I tried calling the bank to change the pin over the phone but of course that would be too easy and they don’t do that…so I had to go in to the bank. Luckily I realized it where I did, but a few days earlier when we were already at the base to drop off my car would have been much better!
When we were done with that we boarded the boat and got some dinner and relaxed watching the sun set. When we returned to our room that night there was another sculpture and more chocolates waiting for us. The steward also makes up Colin’s bed in the pull out couch and gets it all ready for him. As soon as Colin entered the room he made a dash for the chocolates and snatched them up off the bed without me even noticing. Colin took the chocolates and then ran and hid underneath his bed. Shelby saw this happen and didn’t say anything to Colin. Immediately after hiding his chocolates Colin said he had to poop and he went into the bathroom. While he was in there Shelby took the chocolates from under the couch bed and put them up. When Colin was done in the bathroom Shelby told me to come out and watch and I didn’t know what I was watching for. When Colin came out of the bathroom he made a beeline for under the couch to go knock off his spoils. When he got under there he realized they were gone and was quite upset and came out asking who stole his chocolates! LOL He remembered they were left on the bed the first night and made sure he was getting them all to himself tonight by running into the room, stealing them, and hiding them. Little stinker!