YCGL - Friday, October 6, 2023 Florence and Pisa - …and Some Days You Get…

Yesterday, Thursday, I had a good/great tour in Milan.  We saw Castle Sforza (the Sforza’s were the Milanese contemporaries with Florence’s Medici’s in power, almost wealth and fully in intrigue), the Santa Maria delle Grazie church and Di Vinci’s Last Supper and a drop off and walk on your own in downtown Milan to look at the Duomo, the famed Galleria and I walked off to see La Scala. Which is like a beautiful music history book with a plain cover, it doesn’t look like much, but you know it’s richly beautiful on the inside.  

Castle sforza

Santa Maria della Grazi

Our guide here was truly exceptional. She is a Di Vinci-phile.  She was quoting information published two months ago.  She had to leave us here to lead a tour at La Scala. 

The Duomo

La Scala

But, I started coughing on the way back to the bus.  And by the time I got to the ship, I knew it was a cold.  So today, I got to watch Florence and Pisa on ship’s TV. And same tomorrow for Rome.  The only time I was out of the cabin today was when the door closed behind me when I put my dinner tray out into the hallway…without my medallion key to get back in.  Luckily I had a t-shirt and PJ shorts on, or it could have been a real trip.  

Strangely, these are the two tours that I could most easily miss.  I’ve already spent four days in Florence, but there were two churches and a museum I wanted to catch.  And for some reason I can’t explain, Rome has never thrilled me that much.  And all the stops were going to be 20 minutes on the outside of the buildings.  I’m sad, but not heartbroken missing these two.  On the other hand, I really want to see Naples with Pompeii and the Almafi coast. Call me crazy.  

Maybe I’ll take pictures of Rome on the TV screen tomorrow….