Livorno

Today we did a tour with 3 other couples to Pisa, and Tuscany.  Specifically to the Chianti Classico region for lunch and wine tasting.

This is the typical corny tourist picture with Larry trying to straighten the tower.  There's a plumb line inside the tower so you can see how off it is.

I climbed the tower and had a beautiful view from the top.  What I found so intereting is how worn the steps are from people climbing up and down.  For some reason I didn't think about marble getting worn out.  This is the view going up, with a break from the crowds

 and I turned around to get the view looking down and still no people!

 The view from the top

 One of many bells on top

We stopped in the town of Greve in Chianti on the way to our wine tasting.

This is the statue of Giovanni da Verrazzano, famous explorer that discovered the Hudson Bay in New York and who was born just a few kilometers to the north of Greve.  The Verrazzano Bridge was named after him.

We went to Fattoria di Maontecchio for our wine tasting and lunch.

The views on the ride up were so beautiful. 

We passed some bikers going uphill, sure glad I wasn't one of them.

We had Italian bread with fresh chopped tomatoes (no seeds) and white beans, olive oil that they also produce and Chianti Classico. The next course added some sliced cheese and Chianti Classico Reserve.  These were followed by some meat trays and two more bottles of wine.
After four + large glasses of wine we bought a case of the Chianti Classico Reserve.  It arrived the same day we were "supposed to" get home.

 Our group:  Mike, Susan, Barb, Larry, Tom, April (our great tour organzer), Linda, John

 Here we are with a bottle for the bus ride back.

Finally the drive back to the ship and plans to all meet for dinner.

Leaving Toulon