DAY 10 - DAY 4 CRYSTAL SERENITY

LA SPEZIA, ITALY

We decided to have dinner in our room last evening given the time we arrived back to the ship for our tour.  These are the menus from the Crystal Dining Room.  

Dinner Menus from last night at the Crystal Dining Room.

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Dinner in our room made for a nice relaxing evening.

We began dinner with some sashimi and sushi which Butler Rao ordered for us from the Silk Road Japanese Restaurant.  We had asked Rao for some specific items and he also added of few additional ones which was very much appreciated.  

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We didn't get photos of the next three courses.  Our next course was a Greek Salad for Keith and a Mixed Green Salad for Anne Marie from the Crystal Dining Room.  Often we just get a set salad but this cruise we are trying to go with mainly the salads on the menu.  They were each a work of art.  The one that Keith had was tasty and just a work of art and was very colorful. The one that Anne Marie had even had very tiny Monte Christo Sandwiches.  

This was followed with an entree of Local Fresh Sea Bass which also was on the Crystal Dining Room menu.  The Sea Bass was very moist and already cut into smaller pieces.  

Dessert was blueberries for Anne Marie and strawberries for Keith.  The fruit was delicious as we find it to be when sailing this area of the world.  

We began today as we begin most days when we cruise.  Keith enjoyed another workout at the Fitness Center on both the Elliptical and the Spin Bikes and Anne Marie got in a short walk before we enjoyed breakfast in the room.  

On the next cruise we will be hosting an Exclusive Vintage Room and with no sea days we selected today to meet with Head Sommelier Tilmar to plan the evening.  We looked over the food items that are contained on four menus (one menu is vegetarian) and we selected the food items with input from Tilmar.  We booked about an approach for wine as we like to try out new approaches but we leave the selection of the wine to him.  An example of trying to do something different was one-time having two red wines served.  Each one was from the same vineyard, with the same grapes and the same year.  The difference was one was in an oak barrel and the other one was not.  It's fun to discuss the differences in aroma and taste and to see if one is favored over the other one by each person.  

We arrived to La Spezia at 9:00 AM. The town is located within five to ten minutes of the terminal on foot and has a population slightly below 100,000 residents.
 
It is situated between Genoa and Pisa and you can take day trips to both of these locations.  There are nearby villages of this section of the Italian Riviera, which are UNESCO World Heritage Sites.  It is at these nearby villages where many will spend their time because of the their picturesque views and charming settings.

We took a two minute shuttle to get from ship to near the exit of the terminal since this is an industrial port.  There were two ships in port including the Oceania Riviera which was in port with us yesterday in Livorno.

We made a short visit to the town, as this was our first visit to La Spezia.  There were no shore excursions of interest to us and when planning this cruise we selected to take full day tours the day before in Florence and the following day to tour Nice.

After enjoying a nice stroll around the town we returned back to Crystal Serenity. We had lunch at the Lido Cafe.  Keith enjoyed several games of tennis.   He also met up with fellow guests, read and wrote.  Anne Marie walked for quite awhile outside.  Afterwards she began the first of two books she checked out from the library today.  This evening we dine at the Prego Italian Specialty Restaurant.

​Anne Marie & Keith

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