DAY TWELVE

Docked in Livorno at 8am - the gateway to Tuscany, so we were off on a 40 minute drive to the walled town of Lucca. When we’d visited it years ago, we were most disappointed to eventually find our way through the wee cobbled streets to the central Roman amphitheatre, only to find it filled with a huge stage set up for a concert by some old has-been rocker. Today it was clear, with just cafe tables set out. Much better!

We had quite an extensive walk around (8,568 steps) and I was getting pretty tired, but there was always a wall to sit on while we listened to the commentary. But after an hour or so, we had a wee surprise (I hadn’t read the trip description) when we went to sit in a beautiful garden full of statues, to be served canapés and prosecco in the sunshine by two uniformed staff. I like surprises like that.

We were back in time for lunch on the boat. We love the lunches - there is always a freshly done stir-fry, or the extensive salad and cold meat section, with breads and cheeses, as well as, of course, a big selection of hot meals. Not to mention the fabulous selection of tiny desserts, always with a hot pudding (eg bread and butter pudding). Also, we were pretty desperate for a coffee.

I had a snooze in the afternoon, while JR did the washing (thanks J) and then sat in the sun on our balcony. As we’re flagging a bit, when our butler suggested we have dinner in our cabin, we thought that was a good idea. 

Then we went to confirm our NEXT cruise booking! The one we had planned to go on two years ago, but was cancelled due to COVID - the Rockies and an Alaskan Cruise.

We have an on-board spend to use up (it was given to us as an enticement to book the cruise initially), and we haven’t used it. So we went to the shop. We had quite a long time while JR tried on several different gold/diamond bracelets she’d been lusting after for two weeks. But the spend didn’t stretch into the $1,000s… 

We met our new friend there and went for a coffee. She has been on several tours with us and we’ve just exchanged pleasantries, but tonight we had a great chat - she and her husband have been travelling the world for years. Though he has dementia now and doesn’t go on any tours, he still loves being on the ship. Any country we mentioned - they’d been there, even the Arctic and Antarctic.

Corsica tomorrow.

Last day…