Post #25: Rome, Day 1

Pictures:
(they may not look like 'sets' to you, but they were to me when I uploaded them)

Set #1
Civitavecchia train station as the sun rises
In the station
On the platform
On the train
At Termini station in Rome

Set #2
Walking to our Inn
Crowded street
Push the button for Nicolas Inn
The entrance door
‘Behind the door’

Set #3
A decorated Metro car
A crowded Metro car
First view of St. Peter’s Basilica
Another view
Our lunch restaurant

Set #4
Kim and Jimmie of Angel Tours
The Pope’s Swiss Guard
Walking along the wall of the Vatican
Entering the museum
Jimmie talking about the Sistine ceiling

Set #5
The grounds of the Vatican
4 shots of walking to the Sistine Chapel

Set #6
4 shots inside St. Peter’s Basilica
Heading for (and buying) gelotto

Set #7
Rich and Lynn at top of Spanish Steps
Yours truly filling water bottle at Spanish Steps
The Bar where we got ‘revitalized’
My ‘Jack and Coke’ presentation
Our guide, Alex
Janna throwing a coin into Trevi Fountain

Set #8
The Pantheon
Two shots inside
View from a bridge on our walk
In Trevestere
The view from my seat at dinner
The house specialty pizza

Blog:

Up early to catch the 7:30 shuttle to Civitavecchia
Met R/L at 7:20, plenty of time
Too early for Aqua café to be open
Opted not to do room service again
Went to main food court (Ocean Café) to bring back food
Lots of people up and about
Assuming they were on the ship’s tours and not catching the train
Shuttle buses lined up to meet us
Every 10 minutes (no walking on the dock allowed)
Not that much demand, bus was barely 1/3 full
Got off bus at port entrance and headed to the right
We walked about ¼, mile, cut across the road (at the cross walk)
Up a ramp and then down to the train station
If you don’t cut over and go up ramp
Then there are stairs in front of the station.
We were there easily by 7:45
Train departs at 8:02
Bought our BIRG tix for 9E each (round trip if w/in 24 hours)
Filled out name and date
Stuck them into the yellow validation box (just prints date and time)
2nd Ship shuttle people arrived
Maybe 20-30 people for the ship all doing the same thing
Validated the gate (for Termini station Rome) 2T
The train was there and waiting
Sat down stairs (should have gone up, better pictures)
There is a water closet on board…that is always a relief (pardon the pun)
Just like Vaporettos in Venice,
Never saw anyone at any time checking for tix
Stopped several times on way at smaller stations (very short stops)
Some people standing by time we arrived (commuter train)
Train empties at Termini (must just go back and forth)
Track #28 at the west side of the station
Had perfect walking directions from Nicolas Inn
You have to be bold with Rome traffic
Very much like walking in San Francisco
Got to the Inn 10-ish, met Melissa and Francois Nicolas
Got a great map and instructions on how to use Metro
Room not ready. Got keys and left bag
One key for street door, one key for Inn door (up one flight)
and key for room.
They were so nice and helpful
Took Metro B to Metro A
Got off at St. Peter’s stop
Walked down to see where Angles tour started
Passed a HUGE line for the Vatican museum
It must have been at LEAST ¼ mile long (OK ½ mile)
That had us worried for how we going to get in later
Walked into St. Peter’s square and were in awe…amazing.
After gawking a bit we found our rendezvous point
Then went in search for vino and food.
Found a lovely place a couple of blocks away
Pre-made sandwiches, beer and wine.
Fun little place…with a WC (always good to have)
That would be ‘water closet’ (or toilette)
Checked in for the tour (found the umbrella)
Pre-paid (I thought we paid after…guess not)
Bought a Vatican pin for my hat while waiting
It was 10E!!! At that price I assume it was blessed by the Pope!
Jimmy was our tour guide.
What a hoot! Great guy, fast talker, knew his stuff.
But you should have seen his trousers and shoes.
I have seen homeless people sleeping in the streets of SF better dressed.
Oh well, I guess he truly is a struggling student (I think he was only 21)
After a brief overview in the square
We walked around the corner to the Vatican Museum…
and the (drum roll here)…Sistine Chappel
Where there was line before, there was none then
We rounded corner after corner at a marathon walker’s pace
We ‘finally’ encountered about a 100 yard long line
This was probably due to the security we had to go thru
Just like at an airport
Bought tix after security and entered the museum
If you looked at each piece of arr in the museum for only 3 seconds
It would take 12 years to see it all (we only had 3 hrs, so we didn’t see THAT much)
Exhibits, paintings, sculptures, busts, columns, sarcophagie (several)…phew
Stood outside before going into Sistine hearing what we would see
…frame by frame…you see, no talking is allowed inside the chapel
Amazing going through the rooms just to get there…TRULY amazing.
32K people per day visit on average…that is a LOT of people.
15 minutes inside is what we were allotted.
We were surprised at how ‘austere’ it was.
Perhaps we confused the elaborateness of the Basilica with the Sistine Chapel.
Amazing none-the-less…but also comical at that same time.
Comical?
Signs…MANY signs saying no cameras…and to be QUIET!
The Pope has the Swiss guard to protect him.
The SC has the Vatican Mafia.
How do you spell SHHHH? (Capitalized means yelling!)
People talking and getting SHHH’shd,
And people taking pictures and getting an IN YOUR FACE
Reminder to TURN IT OFF AND PUT IT AWAY!!!
I was tempted to try, but Karma kept me from it.
Then it was on to St. Peter’s Basilica
Pretty much beyond words.
One could spend a very long time there and 1) not see it all,
And 2) not get bored (and that is quite a statement coming from me)
Jimmie left us to look around on our own,
But we were pretty much ready to move on.
Originally had planned to go back to our hotels before the 2nd tour.
Some plans are meant to be changed!
After the tour took a lot of pictures in the square
then got a gelotto…yummie
Headed back to the Metro to go two stops for our next tour
Spanish Steps stop.
After lots of pictures we found a great little bar
Had a little ‘happy hour’ before our Heart of Rome tour
My Jack and Coke was a little different
Jack and two ice cubes in one glass, and a 6oz bottle of coke
Then the Angel’s Heart of Rome tour.
Alex was our guide, but he was not as energetic as Jimmy
This appeared to be more of a job to him than a passion
But it was still fun hearing about;
Spanish Steps, Trevi Fountain, Pantheon, and other places
(by then I was burnt out on hearing stuff anyway and just took pictures)
But the Pantheon was a surprise, and very pleasant surprise.
Wow, what a building, what a history…what an experience!
We ended up in the Trestevere district of Rome
It is known for its restaurants
At the recommendation, and help of, the Nicolas Inn
We had reservations at Taverana de Mercanti
We arrived in Trestevere with over 45 minutes to spare.
We had two maps and knew EXACTLY where it was
(Thanks to Melissa at Nicolas Inn circling it on our map)
We still got lost. But lost in a fun way.
What a cute area.
It reminded us of Venice. Narrow alleys full of shops.
Although we didn’t know ‘exactly’ where we were,
We knew we had plenty of time to get it figured out.
We knew the river curved and that we were in the ‘elbow’

So we couldn’t go to far wrong.
The guy we asked by the square with a church (oh, there’s more than one?)
Said to go back the way we had just come.
The lady taking off her helmet (while parking her scooter)
Everyone is so friendly, and they all seem to speak very good english.

Said to turn left, turn right, it is in a square…ok, getting close.
At last, we found it, and it was ‘dreamy’.
Outdoor seating with lighting from fire-lamps,
And a singer at the place next door…Oh Solo Mio!
Pizza and wine…and a cab ride back. What a night!
The cabbie was very nice, and a soccer fan
He had a match on the radio, and kept slamming the steering wheel.
It was pretty funny. No one I know would ever do that ;-)
Go Bears!
All three keys worked and we settled in ready for another big day.

Post #24: Naples (Sorry about the formatting!!!)

Docking at Naples
Boarding Salvatore’s van
Mt. Vesuvius from two directions
View down the coast

Views going down the Amalfi coast

Not too many helmets worn in Italy

Coming into Amalfi
Amalfi
Lemoncello shop
Shop where we got the tile

View when we parked to go to lunch
Walking up the alley to the restaurant
Views from the restaurant
My lemoncello (one from cantelope)

Our guide Franco at Pompeii
The outside of Pompeii
A typical road with stepping stones
Chariot ruts
A tourist with Franco

In a bakery (baked goods found in ovens)
Shop lined streets
Typical shop
A very nice house with indoor garden/fountain

A poor soul that didn’t make it.

Many things just in storage.

Saying goodbye to Salvatore (Steve and Chris)

Vesuvius from our balcony at ‘sail away’

It was nice getting the hour back last night
Had the alarm set at 8:00am to meet for our tour at 9:00am
But was awake by 6:30.
Got the morning coffee at Aqua Spa then back up later for breakfast
Had fun taking pictures as we were docking
Met Steve’s group of four and Rich/Lynn at the dock
Walked to meet our driver, Salvatore
Nice Mercedes van.
He was talking about things right out of the chute.
Very informative
Had a head set so sound came from speakers…easy to hear.
Due to the crowds we saved Pompeii for last
Naples is a very large city
Lots of traffic and industrial areas
Drove down the coast to Amalfi
Mt. Vesuvias visible most of the time
as we drove to the start of the Coast drive.
Stopped at several ‘scenic turnouts’ for pictures.
Island of Capri could be seen in distance
Pronounced CAP-ree, not kuh-PREE
The roads are just as discussed and visualized…
Meaning narrow, crowded, with steep drop offs
An Italian, talking with his hands,
driving a stick shift and talking on the cell phone
certainly added to the excitement!!!
Beautiful drive. We all had fun.
Stopped at the ‘village’ of Amalfi and shopped…cute place.
Bought a colorful tile and a decorative lemoncello bottle
Continued our journey.
Had lunch in a fabulous restaurant up a canyon with a great view.
Caprese salad, Pizza, wine, 3 kinds of pasta, dessert, and lemoncello
The Italians love: mozzarella cheese, extra virgin olive oil, balsamic vinegar
And pizza…oh, and did I mention wine (and lemoncello?)
With four of the 8 being non-drinkers
meant more Lemoncello for me!
Pompeii…Great guide (Franco’s family is what he called us)
Pompei was very impressive. A heck of a lot bigger than we thought
Similar to Ephesus in that we could see a complete town and how they lived
Franco was very knowledgeable, fun, and really added to the experience
Imagine if a city like Walnut Creek, Ca. had the same thing happen today
And years from now it was excavated…yup, like that.
When we left Pompeii,
Salvatore drove like crazy to make it back in time
Traffic can be bad between Pompeii and Naples.
If there had been an accident we would have been sunk
Pun intended
Made it back at 6:30pm…1 ½ hour to spare
Met Rich and Lynn for a drink before dinner…I detect a pattern.
Only four of us for dinner...others ate at the Ocean Café.
Good thing, we were duds (very tired)
Off to bed early to pack for the next two days.
Had the balcony door open as the ship’s sound is soothing.
Just as we were settling down to turn off the lights
A bird flew into the cabin (looked like a finch…not very big).
They must get under the ‘eaves’ while in port.
Scared JB, she thought it was a bat…pulled covers over head
I was cracking up chasing it around the cabin ‘hearding’ it outside
And I never even thought to try to take a picture!
Can we relax NOW! We had to try…
Need to get up early to catch the 8:02 train into Rome (from Civitavecchia)