Pisa

July 21st, Pisa

Today, the boat docked in Livorno Italy. Having always wanted to visit Italy, I was excited. We docked at some sea port on the outskirts of the city and had to be bussed into more exciting areas. My plan was to catch another bus in the city, take it to the train station, catch a train to Pisa, and enjoy a few historic landmarks. I wasn’t the only one who had this in mind, and was lucky enough to find a nice English family from the ship to talk with while trying to figure out the foreign train system. Everything ended up working out great and we made it to Pisa without a problem. I then split from the group to walk through the city (to get to the tower), while they took a bus heading for the same destination. It was great walking though Pisa though; there was an interesting mix between modern looking stores and old fashioned markets, all along a very Italian looking street. I took a good number of pictures while I walked, keeping my eye out for the God Father, and soon found myself at the tower. That was an amazing sight, my camera didn’t stop. Along with the tower is a huge Cathedral, and behind that, a Baptistery, all made with a beautiful white marble (I think, my major wasn’t geology). I bought a ticket to go in the Cathedral and continued with my trigger happy finger, well worth the 2 Euros I paid. I could have bought a ticket to the top of the tower, but it would have been a 3 hour wait, 2.5 of which I didn’t have to spare, and the 15 Euros wasn’t exactly cheep. I then left the area, still taking pictures as I walked backwards, and found myself with the English group again, good timing! We all then met back at the station after being slightly separating during the walk back. I had stopped to buy another 1.5 liter water bottle, and in my haste and inability to read Italian, I bought sparkling water…whatever, you can still drink it. The English group and I all caught the train back and discussed cultural differences and my job on the ship, and after a picture in Livorno, we split again to hopefully meet up again on the ship sometime later. I got back to my cabin, grabbed some dinner, and got set up for the show I had to play that night, a big band set. It was actually fun, and the group sounded great for 5 horns, I was pleased with the show. Everyone else seemed upset though, not at me I don’t think, but they weren’t pleased with how it went, so I guess I set my expectations way low…well, I’m happy. To conclude my night, I tried to get online up in the crew lounge where they have computers set up. I waited an hour, for one of the three working computers to open, only to open a simple account taking 30 seconds. Hoping everything was in working order, I came back to the room to try my newly established account, plugged in, and nothing. So that’ll be my project tomorrow in Sardinia. Well anyways, that was today. I’m having a great time and hope everyone else is back at home!!!