Happy (belated) Thanksgiving!!

The $.65/minute internet was down last night.  But anyway...

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!  I hope that you’re all having a wonderful holiday, surrounded by family and friends J

Today we docked in Livorno, which is relatively close to Pisa and Florence in Tuscany.  Our excursion du jour was to tour a Tuscan Vineyard and to do a wine tasting.  We were pretty excited because the excursion didn’t start until 1:15, which gave us a little bit of extra sleeping time (every other excursion has required a pre-7:00 AM wake-up call).  We were somewhat foiled, however, because the crew had its muster drill around 9:00 AM (3:00 AM, EST).  It’s pretty darned hard to sleep through a fire drill.  So we got up.

Being awake for a few hours pre-excursion did allow me to finish my fifth book of the trip, and because I’m trying to do a better job balancing trashy romance and not trashy romance (the two Kindle book categories) on this trip, I’m now reading The Life of Pi.  I can’t even express how much I love my Kindle.  I don’t read as much when I’m not on a trip, but the fact that I can go online for anywhere, without having to pay $.65/minute, and download a new book, which is often discounted and doesn’t take up any additional room in my suitcase, is a strange and wonderful thing.

The Tuscan Vineyard was a little more than an hour away, and so our tour guide gave us some information about the area on the way there.  She was interesting – reminded me (probably more than was flattering for her) of Melissa on The Real Housewives of New Jersey.  She kept having us wave to the black sheep for good luck and giggling into the microphone.  Ben was pretty sure that she was smashed the entire time.  Anything’s possible.

When we got to the vineyard, we took a “tour,” which consisted of about 10 yards of walking to one corner of the (now hibernating) grape vines, about a paragraph’s worth of information, and backtracking about 5 yards to an olive tree, where we talked briefly about the process of making olive oil.  Having also toured a vineyard in Sonoma Valley, which was a much more robust and informational experience, Ben and I were both a little underwhelmed by the “tour” in Tuscany.

The main part of the excursion was the wine tasting.  There were two red wines, two white wines, and then later a dessert wine.  The vineyard also gave us bread, oil and vinegar, roasted tomatoes, cheese, ham, and olives to snack on while we tasted.  Sitting around, eating, drinking, and chatting with our fellow cruisers was a very enjoyable experience.  The other two people at our end of the table have done more than 20 cruises, and they were happy to talk about where they’ve been that they’ve liked and disliked.  They’ve done some really awesome sounding trips to southeast Asia… not on my current top five travel destinations (which may include Peru, Austria, Scotland, Portugal, and Turkey), but will definitely need to happen at a point when I have more disposable income to travel.

We came back from the excursion and both of us pretty promptly fell asleep for a few hours, waking up just in time to go and enjoy a Thanksgiving turkey dinner.  The fact that our cabin doesn’t have any natural light is very disconcerting for naps.  We woke up and had absolutely no idea what time it was (though I suppose that natural light wouldn’t have helped us all that much – sunset was at 4:42 this evening).

In closing, I’m grateful for so many things (including the opportunity to travel :) that I want to share.  I’m thankful for the support my parents and family have always given me, and for my brother having suggested that we start to do some traveling together.  I’m thankful for Troy and our awesome life together (with cats!) in North Carolina.  I’m thankful that I had the opportunity to go to Massachusetts three weeks ago to see my family (hurricane be damned!) and to have seen all of the (recently enlarged!) Carter family two weeks ago when we came up for the Morgan State tournament.  I’m thankful for my support system of friends, and the technology that helps me to stay close to them, even as we have scattered around the world.  I’m also grateful to work with colleagues I enjoy in a position that I find challenging and rewarding.  And, while it doesn’t come anywhere close to the level of gratitude that I feel for everything else I’ve listed, I’m grateful that I am now within the 48-hour window for a real Diet Coke. 

Tomorrow, to France!  Since we don’t have an excursion planned, we will be like Napoleon.  First we will show up.  Then we will see what happens.