Milan and Savona, Italy and Cruise Ship (continued)

Sat Nov 19
We got up to a delicious buffet breakfast at the NH Grand Hotel Verdi where we stayed last night in a nice comfortable room. We then left for a guided bus tour of Milan and learned much of it's history back to medieval times. Much was also explained about Leonardo De Vinci who grew up around this area as an illegitimate son with no last name. Consequently he became known by his Italian first name of Leonardo "from" (De) what was known as "Vinci."

Ancient castle with moat now drained but very evident

Yes, it was a little chilly

Duomo Cathedral built entirely of marble

Large "Indoor" but open air mall

We then took a couple-hour bus ride to Savona to board our ship. The first part of the trip was rather boring with much flat farmland. Later on it became mountainous and the highway became a series of bridges and tunnels along the coast of the Mediterranean Sea. There were literally dozens of tunnels of varying length from fifty yards to about a half mile.

Once on board the ship our luggage caught up with us and we were off to sea. The two couples with whom we traveled and two others joined us at our table for a nice dinner before looking around the ship a bit and turning in for the night.

Our Ship (Costa Fortuna Genova)
This cruise was unlike any other we have experienced. The ship itself was very beautiful and clean and the service was excellent. There were close to three thousand passengers but only about fifty spoke English as their native language. All announcements including entertainment introductions in the theater, lifeboat drills, etc. were made in six languages in sequence: Italian, French, German, Spanish, Portuguese and English. Virtually everyone you met in hallways, elevators, etc. were speaking a foreign language. It felt similar to our time in Europe this summer. It also precluded some traditional cruise events such as a scavenger hunt, sexy legs and belly flop contests or the newlywed game. Nearly all entertainment where vocals were involved was in some foreign language also. Here we have provided just a glimpse of some of the ship's highlights.

Our ocean view cabin

Atrium

Typical painting on stairway

All elevators had painted doors except glass ones in atrium

One of three formal dining areas

Our dining table group: L->R: Jerry Sanford & Lorie Ross, Lorraine & Drew Day (seated), Dottie and Darvel Allred (standing), us, Carma & Bob Johnson

One of two pools (other was in solarium that could be covered)

Crowd gathered for token "baptisms" by King Neptune as we crossed the equator