Genoa, Italy

The wind pushed us onto the bus this morning, its icy breath sending us running. Today we are in Genoa, a large Italian port town full of historical buildings.

The bus wound through the city, taking us to a high belvedere overlooking the harbour and old city. It was a terrific view with a ferocious cold wind - I was glad I’d worn my puffer coat, and especially glad that it had a hood. No snowstorm though so I was grateful.

After we’d all clamboured back onto the bus we drove around some more until we reached the city center and a big square. This was to be the start of the walking tour and our final meeting place after we’d had an extra hour on our own.

First we had 20 minutes to find coffees and use the loo. Remind me before I come to Europe again to practice my deep knee bends. And oh! the Espresso :-)

The guide took us down narrow streets to the old city gates and through to the ancient city. We stopped at two impressive churches, one of which had a huge Rubens behind the alter.

At the end of the guided part we were set free to discover the city  on our own. It was a maze of streets much like Rome, except without the hundreds of souvenir shops. Instead there were coffee shops, high end clothing shops, a lovely pottery shop, and finally a shop that sold canelli and of course espresso.  We walked and walked, fired up the the now two cups of bitter espresso.

We were back to the ship mid afternoon, too late for more than a snack at the International Cafe, and a Latte (more coffee). We rested for a while then got ready for supper.

Supper was an interesting affair… we were seated with 2 other couples, both members of the ‘most travelled’ club. Not the most most, but 3rd and 6th… One couple had done over 58 cruises!!!! They were late middle age from Australia and had been everywhere. They were cruising for 6 months this year, and most of the year next year. Yes, they’d been to the Antarctic 3 times… 

From supper we went to the theatre for another performance by the 4 boy band singers. It was a new show and perhaps even better than the first one. Those four guys could really sing. I must be getting a big tired though as I teared up when they did a great version of ‘Peaceful Easy Feeling’ which is kinda like my anthem.

We are back in our room now, watching ‘Men in Black’ and then another early night.