Beyond the Sea: Day 9 - Pisa

[Gill H]

<<<Day 8


This morning heralds yet another new experience – we have booked a port adventure with DCL. We are docked in Livorno today, and most people are either going to Florence, Pisa or both. We’ve decided that, as with Rome, we want to explore Florence another time at a more relaxed pace, whereas Pisa seems worthy of a half day excursion. We’ve therefore booked DCL’s ‘Easy Pisa’ port adventure, at a cost of $73 each. Doubtless we could have booked this cheaper with a local company or made our own way there, but we’ve decided we would like to try one of DCL’s port adventures to see what they’re like.

Accordingly, the alarm goes off at 6am and I hit the shower straight away, so that I’m presentable by the time our room service order arrives at 6.30am. We then enjoy our coffee, juice and pastries while we get ready for the day. And this morning we make darn sure that both of us have a copy of our passport with us, to allow us back on the ship!

By 8am we are in Fathoms with several other groups waiting to be escorted off the ship for today’s port adventures. We are group 12 which seems quite popular, though not as popular as the combined Florence and Pisa one. Interestingly, DCL offer two versions of ‘Easy Pisa’ – one for adults only, and one which includes children. However, the adults only one doesn’t leave the ship till this afternoon, so we have gone for the morning one – much better for us.

Soon we are escorted off the ship and onto the waiting coach outside. We’re given some information by the tour organisers, who are called ‘Trumpy Tours’. This causes much hilarity for several reasons! According to today’s Personal Navigator, the ship’s agent in Livorno is called Hugo Trumpy – not sure whether that’s a person or a company.

It’s a brief drive to Pisa, about 30 minutes away, and the route is mostly pretty dull until we get to the outskirts of Pisa. Once we reach the coach park, we’re shown onto the promised ‘little train’ which is waiting for us. This is rather like the vehicles used on the Kilimanjaro Safari at WDW – it’s not exactly luxury transport but for a 15 minute journey it’ll be fine. So we all find seats on the train, and it heads off for a scenic drive round Pisa.

Pisa is very pretty, retaining many features of bygone days. One of those features is cobbled streets. I leave you to imagine the experience of driving over cobbled streets in this boneshaker of a vehicle, but fortunately the journey is a short one. Our guide then sees us all off the train and shows us to a small courtyard just round the corner.

He explains that we need to meet back here at 11.15 in order to be driven back to the coach. He also says that the cafe just to our right – rather blatantly named the ‘Cafe Turista’ – has an arrangement with tour groups. It allows them to use the bathrooms free of charge without having to eat there.

Of course, the cafe aren’t daft. Most people order a coffee or soft drink at least, and have a good look at the shop as well. I’m sure they do pretty well from this arrangement. Indeed, we spot a rather nice souvenir for ourselves - some ceramic limoncello glasses which are locally made, for 10 Euros each. We also have a cappuccino, which is made with good strong Italian coffee and definitely wakes us up!

Just in case you didn't think we really were in Pisa...

[Gill H]

So we have two hours to explore Pisa, and where do we start? A gift shop! Not just a gift shop but an exchange bureau too. We have decided to exchange some of our Euros for dollars, as we are spending very little on our port days, and figure that with a bit of changing around, we could scrape up enough in dollars for the 10 photo package at Shutters. Having done this, we also find another nice pen for Peter’s sister, and move on to the historic buildings.

Basically there are three main buildings of interest, stood next to next in a row like a child’s Lego city. Firstly there is the Baptistry (where baptisms were held).

Next to it is the Cathedral.

Both these look interesting buildings to explore, but it turns out you need a timed entry ticket in each case, and we don’t have enough time today. So we content ourselves with the outside of the buildings, which gives us plenty to see - particularly the intricate cathedral doors.

However, the third building is the one most people have come for - the famous Tower.

Yes, it really does lean. As evidenced by the crowds of people all trying to take the perfect ‘holding up the Tower’ photo. We resist the temptation to join them and content ourselves with taking some normal pictures.

After that, there isn’t a lot else to do in the immediate vicinity apart from dodge the tourists.

We browse a couple of shops, and try to avoid the swarm of people who are trying to get us to sign various petitions (no idea what these are about, but with this many tourists we suspect they are either a scam to get your details, or a distraction technique for pickpockets). We head up a little side road and find a nice looking gelato shop. Ah, this is more like it! I choose watermelon and lemon flavours, as it’s quite warm today and I could do with something refreshing. Peter chooses strawberry and strachiatella (vanilla with a chocolate ripple). We go to find a nearby wall to sit on, and bump into two of our tablemates enjoying the sunshine, so we have a little chat with them (which is impossible to do with any degree of elegance while trying to demolish two enormous and rapidly melting gelato!)

Following this we stroll back to the cafe, where we buy two of the limoncello glasses we spotted earlier. There are still a few minutes before we need to meet our tour guide, so Peter does a little filming nearby while more members of the group begin to gather.

Meanwhile I try to avoid the persistent appeals of a local umbrella seller, who has latched on to our little group and simply refuses to go away. I try a polite but firm “No thank you”, a “No, grazie” and then try moving away or turning the other direction, but he continues to stalk me. Eventually I treat him to a Paddington Bear hard stare and a “NO! Thank you” and he simply moves on to others nearby. Fortunately our tour guide returns and leads us back to the little train - followed by the umbrella man who continues to pester people even once they are back on the train! He doesn’t get anything from us though, and soon we are taking the rickety but mercifully short journey back to the coach.

The short journey back to the ship is enlivened only by the constant screams of a small child who has clearly had enough today. Shame we couldn’t use them to see off the umbrella salesman! It does bring home to us how quiet the ship is generally, though. Even though it’s term time there are still quite a number of families on board, but any fears of being knee-deep in loud, over-excited children have proved unfounded.

[Clamshell]

It looks beautiful Gill. You are really helping me make a decision on what next years holiday is going to be!

[Gill H]

Once back on the ship we head straight for Cabana’s to get some lunch. We find a table and a friendly CM offers to get our drinks, which is nice of him!

Afterwards we decide that as it’s still warm, we really should spend some time on the sunloungers, so we find a shady spot. But frankly we are just not sunlounger people, and within 10 minutes we’ve got bored and decamped to Cove Cafe for a latte. We check our Navigator app and discover that Cars 3 is showing in the Buena Vista Theatre (aka cinema) this afternoon, so we decide to go and watch it.

The cinema is classic old-fashioned red plush glory, with soft music playing as we await the film. Which currently looks as if it will be a private screening as we are the only ones in here! We are joined by a couple more people eventually, but evidently people have better things to do this afternoon.

As for Cars 3, Peter quite enjoys it, whereas I feel perhaps it’s ‘one for the guys’. It’s better than Cars 2, but then again, most things are…

After a quick trip back to our stateroom to freshen up, we head out again for a wander and some more random 'ship detail' photos.

We come across Goofy in ‘artist’ costume, with no queue, so we stop for a quick photo.

Shortly afterwards we see Belle in her blue ‘village’ dress and have a quick chat. I tell her that like her, I’m a keen reader, and just yesterday I finished my book so I need another one. She confides that she hasn’t yet found a library here … hmm, now there’s an idea for the future!

After our wonderful experience at Palo last night, we have decided to take a chance and ask if there is any possibility of a brunch booking during the cruise. We don’t hold out much hope as we know these are quickly snapped up well before the start of the cruise - but it can’t hurt to ask. The brunch only happens on sea days, so for us, that will be Friday (or will it? Teaser for later…!)

We drop by Guest Services and ask if they can see whether there are any places free for the brunch. They phone Palo but it’s shut at the moment, and they advise us to ask our servers during dinner.

As it’s still too early for dinner, we decide to spend a little time relaxing in the Promenade Lounge, where we find two of our tablemates and settle in for a chat.

Eventually we are joined by the others and head in for dinner.

[Gill H]

Tonight’s dinner is in Lumiere's, and features a ‘Prince and Princess’ menu. This basically seems to mean that some of the dishes have random character names attached - I can understand ‘Princess Tiana’s jambalaya shrimp’ as it makes sense with the character, but ‘The Beast’s lentil soup’? At least they don’t follow the tradition of Cafe Mickey at DLP in calling a fish dish ‘King Triton’s Favourite’, which casts a whole new light on the undersea ruler; or indeed ‘Snow White’s Apple Pie’ which is just rubbing the poor girl’s nose in it, don’t you think?

Anyway, we start with a fig and date ciabatta roll, not attributed to any character (a missed opportunity for Jasmine maybe, as a reminder of her trip to the market?). I then choose a ‘Coronation of mixed leaves’ which is what we commoners would call, um, a salad. Specifically, judging by the Apple, blue cheese and walnuts, a Waldorf salad. Oh wow, that makes me muse on the possibilities of a Muppet themed meal! Presumably with no pork on the menu…

Peter goes for ‘John Smith’s duck terrine’ (presumably he didn’t mention that to Pocahontas).

We both decide to have soup tonight - ‘Snow White’s wild forest mushroom soup’ to be precise (OK, yes, I can see the point of that one, though given her lack of judgement in food matters, I hope Grumpy picked the mushrooms!)

Peter’s main course is New York Strip Steak ‘Fitzherbert’. So, all you Flynn Rider fans, please note that he likes his steak with truffle layered potatoes, honey parsnips and buttered spinach, with pepper sauce on the side. And presumably not cooked in a large, heavy frying pan!

Meanwhile, I go for Prince Ferdinand’s Trio of Veal (nope, me neither, except that veal is expensive). It consists of grilled tenderloin, pulled shank and tortellaci pasta (which turns out to be a big version of tortellini). According to the menu it comes with a sun dried tomato and sage reduction garnished with a potato crisp. Did you catch that? Yep, ‘a potato crisp’. For those of you imagining the chef delicately picking out a single crisp from a handy packet of Walker’s (or Lays) - I can find no trace of said crisp on the photo but I presume it means the traditional ‘game chips’ which were the forerunner of today’s tasty snacks.

I finish up with Cinderella’s Lemon Cheesecake which comes with a dark cherry compote. Perfectly nice, but why not something pumpkin flavoured?

Peter goes for - wait for it - Aladdin’s Tiramisu. Yes, really. Surely baklava would be the obvious dessert for Aladdin? As for Tiramisu, I’m struggling to think of an Italian prince or princess in a Disney film… anyone?

Anyway, during the meal two important things happen. Firstly, we talk to Nikola about booking Palo brunch and he nips off to see if there’s anything available. He soon comes back to confirm that we are booked in for 11.45 on Friday (which is our second sea day). So after all the tales of gloom and doom after not being able to book it however many days out – it was worth taking a chance while on board!

Secondly, about half an hour later there is an announcement in the restaurant regarding tomorrow. Now, we’re due to dock at Villefranche tomorrow, where our plan is just to wander around and explore the town, rather than head out to Monaco, Nice or Monte Carlo. The main difference between Villefranche and the other ports we’ve visited (well, apart from Villefranche being in France) is that we will need to travel on tender boats as it’s too small for the ship to dock there.

However, the announcement says that due to high winds, it’s not safe for the tender boats to run tomorrow (does that mean they are chicken tenders? Badoom tish…) and so the decision has been made to have a sea day tomorrow instead. At this point we’ve realized that we like sea days, so this is a good thing! They then announce that on Friday, rather than having a sea day as planned, we will dock at Marseille. This throws off our careful planning a bit! We know nothing about Marseille and have no idea what there is to do. But the ever-helpful DCL crew have everything under control. They explain that any port adventures planned from Villefranche will be refunded, and information about activities and port adventures in Marseille will be available tomorrow so we can book if we wish.

They also announce that any pre-booked activities for sea day such as, oooh, Palo brunch for instance, will be transferred to tomorrow instead. Ah. This means we need to give Peter’s white shirt a quick wash, so he can wear it again tomorrow. So we nip down to our stateroom, put his shirt in the machine and set it going. It’s a good job we are so near the laundry room!

[Gill H]

Then it’s time to head to the Walt Disney Theatre for tonight’s show. This is extremely popular as the show is brand new this year – it’s “Tangled: The Musical”. This is a telescoped version of Rapunzel’s story, and alongside the familiar songs it features some excellent new ones, including one we’ve already heard on our first night, “Flynn Rider, Wanted Man”.

To celebrate the show, there are 'spot the Thug' pictures around the ship. We find Ulf but don't have time for any others.

We get to the theatre early and notice that Rapunzel is having a meet outside the theatre, and the queue is reasonably short. So we decide to take our chance now, as there are other activities planned after the show. We have to wait a little while as Rapunzel is taking plenty of time to chat to guests, and seems popular with everyone. But eventually it’s our turn and we have a chat with her, pose for a quick photo and head into the theatre.

We are very much looking forward to this. As indeed are most of the ship, as the theatre is already very full. But fortunately we manage to get decent seats and settle down to enjoy the show. (Of course we put our camera away before the show starts!)

And what a show! There’s plenty of humour, great songs, dance routines, a show-stopping performance from a puppet Maximus, and even some emotional moments. Well worth making a special effort to catch this one.

After the show we retrieve Peter’s shirt from the washer and hang it up in the bathroom to dry, then go up to the ‘After Hours’ area for the rest of tonight’s entertainment. Unusually, we aren’t going to Fathoms immediately. Instead we are off to O’Gill’s Irish Pub, which has tonight been taken over by the Thugs from Tangled, and is rebranded as the Snuggly Duckling.

It’s the first time we have actually been to O’Gills (well, OK, we did pop in for a quick look on our first day but it wasn’t open then). DCL’s idea of an Irish pub would get a funny look from most Irish people I know, but I’m betting it doesn’t usually feature Thuggo (which is like bingo, but with pictures of the Thugs instead of numbers) or pictures of the iconic duckling.

I go and get us a couple of Irish coffees (letting out a gasp at the price, but we are planning to sip these very slowly – which is just as well as they have a sizeable shot of whisky in them!) Meanwhile Peter has attempted to find us a table, which is no easy task. Like the show, the Snuggly Duckling takeover is very popular indeed. If you intend to go, get there early. Nevertheless, we do eventually manage to find a small table to perch our coffees on.

Just in time, because proceedings are being kicked off by a familiar face – our favourite host, Tisa, aided by her ‘brother’ Vern, who are both in Thug gear and are supposed to own the Snuggly Duckling.

Tisa talks us through the rules of Thuggo and we have a go, but don’t win anything. But then her spiel is interrupted by the arrival of none other than the Stabbington Brothers, who proceed to terrorise guests and generally create havoc. One of them tries to tell the story of how he got his scar, but is periodically interrupted by his brother, who wants to tell his own story, and heckled by Tisa. The story gets more and more fantastical as the routine goes on, and Tisa eventually gets the audience to vote on whose story is best. It’s all in good fun and eventually Tisa manages to get them in order. Great fun and definitely worth going to experience.

At the end of the ‘takeover’ Tisa invites us all to pop over to Fathoms, where there’s another chance to see ‘Kyle Knight and Mistie’ doing their magic. Since I missed last night’s show due to my post-Palo food coma, I’m keen to see this, and Peter rarely turns down a chance to see some magic. However, by the time we reach Fathoms, it’s already extremely full and we have to make do with two seats on the left hand side of the room, squashed in the middle of a row of people who don’t take kindly to having to move. (Yes, the ‘move to the end of the row’ rule is flouted at sea just as much as it is in the parks!) Our view is not great, and in fact it means we can see something of how a couple of the tricks are done – oops. You might want to think about sight lines for your magic shows, DCL.

Despite the ropey seats, we do enjoy the magic show, though I’m sure the experience was much better in the Walt Disney Theatre. Afterwards we head back to our stateroom, to find some more fish extender gifts waiting for us, as well as of course the inevitable towel animal and chocolates. (Incidentally, I haven’t been listing our towel animals, as there’s a special little feature on Peter’s videos which will tell you all about them – do check it out!)

And so to bed, with heads full of all the lovely things we are going to do on our unexpected ship day tomorrow. Join us for drawing, brunching, shopping and of course – Pirate Night!

>>>Day 10

INDEX

[clochette]

Another great day Gill, though I'm not sure cobbled streets and little trains area good combination!

One day, I will convince DH to go on a cruise, but in the meantime I am enjoying living vicariously through yours.

[Guest]

OK...you know I like a good pun - so nice one there with "Easy Pisa", Disney.

Shame about the scammers/pesterers/et al...that's what I really struggle with in Italy. The last time I was in Rome we went to look at the Trevi Fountain and - literally - every thirty seconds somebody was trying to sell us tat. I tried to be polite (can you imagine doing that for a living?) - but it really did spoil our experience. And, as you say, they are at EVERY tourist attraction.

Hehe...better than Cars 2 - if THAT's not being d*mned with faint praise, then I don't know what is. I thought C3 (which we also watched on the ship) was...pretty dire (though yes, better than C2) - and about as subtle as a flying brick.

PS: We saw people bringing PLATES OF FOOD from Cabanas (piled high with nuggets and mac 'n' cheese) into the cinema. Oh, the smell! Were we just unlucky - or did you see that, too?

And we also mocked the poor Prince and Princess menu. Clearly somebody SOMEWHERE needed an atlas.

But not gonna lie, Gill - I was expecting some "holding up the tower" snaps. How DID you resist (I know I couldn't)?

[mick]

Another good day when we did the Pisa trip from The Independence of the Sea we had to walk from the coach park no little train
Not good when you have dodgy knees

Joan