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Monaco and Monte Carlo. We ported in this city of excesses, well at least with respect to wealth, and were amazed at the private yachts at the docks and the Mazeratis on the streets. We walked around the port and streets for a short while, watched the "rich and famous" in their natural habitat, then jumped on a bus bound for Eze, France. We had watched a Samantha Brown travel episode about this enchanting little village, only about 30 minutes away, and had to see it for ourselves.

This is truly a fairy tale medieval village perched cliff-side overlooking the Mediterranean. After walking through the village for about 2 hours we spent the remainder of the afternoon, and perhaps the highlight afternoon of our trip, at the Galimard perfume factory. See my separate review of our Galimard experience, but even from a "guy's" point of view, it was delightfully fun. After catching a cab back to the ship (to be sure that we didn't miss her sailing off without us) we departed Monaco for our last stop in Livorno, Italy before the cruise returned to Rome.
Livorno. This is a port of tough choices. There isn't much, if anything, to do near the port. However, it is the jumping off point of 3 main excursions to places we wanted to go, but unfortunately could only choose one; a trip to Pisa to see the venerable Leaning Tower, a trip to Florence to see the museums and the David, or a trip to Tuscany and two hill top towns of San Gimignano and Volterra. We chose the latter, principally because we chose this cruise principally because my wife's adoration with the movie, Under the Tuscan Sun.

This was another one of the special days of our trip. Tuscany is everything that one reads or hears about it - great food, unbelievable vineyards and orchards, charming villas, wine, oh the wine! We happened to be in Volterra a day before the national flag throwing competition in town, and while it was a little busy, we did get to see a parade and flag throwing demonstration much like the scene from Under the Tuscan Sun. Speaking of the movie, Carnival showed movies on the pool-side big screen theater nearly every night, one night of which was this movie. We sat on lounge chairs under a blanket and a sky full of stars, drinking a bottle of champagne to watch this show. There must have been something in the air because my eyes even watered.

Back to Rome on the Carnival Freedom
After the cruise returned to Rome, we transferred to the heart of the city for two final days of site seeing. We stayed at the Sole al Pantheon hotel, right in the Pantheon Square. The hotel first opened for business in 1497, but has been upgraded substantially since then. The window of our room opened right into the square, where we breathed in one last time the ambiance and life of this romantic city. We walked one last time to the Trevi Fountain, and made sure to seal our fate for a return to Rome by tossing every coin we had in our pockets into the fountain. Our driver from Rome Cabs once again (unfortunately) was very punctual picking us up and taking us to the airport for our return flight to Denver.