Patricia wakes us up so we can go to the gym. I have to go so I can keep on pigging out on the breakfast buffet.
An hour later mom joins us for breakfast. It's as crazy as usual maybe even more today. The cruise started in Genoa a week ago and all the passengers who boarded then, leave the boat today. Although we're not getting into port until noon, they have to vacate their cabins by 8am. So they're all lounging around (about 400 of them)and we have to literally "steal" a table from someone who's done with breakfast. We then go back to our cabins to get ready for our outing.
We are on the deck as the ship enters the port. The view is breathtaking. Beautiful buildings going way up the hills surrounding the bay. This is also the birth place of Christopher Columbus. We are finally given permission to disembark. Mom is tired today, so it's just the 3 of us.
Since we've been doing all of our visiting on our own, we wanted to do at least one organized tour with the ship. We signed up and then yesterday we were told that the excursion was canceled!!! Go figure. I'm guessing since this is the end of the cruise for all the Italians on board, they didn't have enough people left. Not to worry, we're resourceful. We'll take one of those double decker buses that take you around. You can hop on and off at your leisure. We've been seeing those everywhere we stopped over. As we get offshore, we ask in the terminal where we can buy tickets for those buses and are told that...they don't have them here. However they have smaller buses that give you a little tour of the most famous spots in the city. I guess that will do.
Following the instructions from the lady at the information desk we arrive near the aquarium in the "Porto Antico", and find the departure station of the tour bus. According to the schedule we have almost an hour until the next departure. We decide to go to a cafe near by for a quick lunch.
The tour starts and is actually quite enjoyable. You have a commentary in 6 languages telling you about the sights along the way. This city is absolutely amazing. Everywhere you look are incredible buildings and monuments. We are so thrilled that when we get back an hour later, it feels like we've only been gone for a few minutes. After the tour, we decide to walk and go back to some of the spots that we enjoyed the most. It is really hot and we are sweating, but we don't care. We walk all afternoon.
We get back on the boat around 6pm. The Italians who left this morning have been replaced with new ones, so the ship is full again. Tired from our visit we go take a little nap.
For our last dinner on board, we go to the dining room, where Dennis takes care of us one last time. Except for our table mates, we are surrounded by new faces tonight. After dinner, we go watch the show.
Mom goes to bed and the "kids" go to the disco. It is our last night on board and we want to enjoy it.
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