Civitavecchia - Saturday 5 October

During breakfast, at 7 am, we watched a massive thunder and lightning storm over the port of Civitavecchia, that went on for about 45 minutes. Thank goodness we weren't depending on fine weather for today's activities.

Some passengers were completing their cruise today, others were joining us for a 7 day cruise, many were travelling into Rome for tours, but we and about 75 others had booked on a Princess Tour: 'Lake Bracciano and wine tasting'.

The torrential rain had stopped as we boarded our bus and set off to an inland area about an hour north-west of Rome. Our Tour Guide was outstanding, a very articulate and witty young Italian woman - everyone loved her. She entertained us during the hour long journey through countryside that was a bit drab. The landscape started to improve once we reached the lake.

First we had a quick photo stop, in the light drizzle, for a distant view of Castello Orsini-Odeleschi, a magnificent feudal castle that stands outside Bracciano town. Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes were married here (so much for that)!

Lake Bracciano, a major Italian lake, is a volcanic lake, and is an important source of water for Rome. It is a popular scenic spot with Romans. We drove further around the lake to the small resort village of Anguillara. This lovely, peaceful medieval town covers a small hilly peninsula jutting into the lake. The drizzle had all but stopped and we enjoyed some free time (about 30 minutes) walking along the lovely lakeside promenade and pier. It was very picturesque, and reminded us in some ways of Akaroa.

Soon we were back on the bus and continuing to Tuscia wine country. Ross and Elizabeth will be interested to hear that we visited a local wine estate and sampled some of their vintages, and I even enjoyed it! We had an hour to enjoy some of their cured meats, cheese, olives, artichokes, and bread with olive oil, whilst sampling a selection of three white wines (two chardonnays and a sauvignon blanc), David also trying the three red wines (including two merlots). Those who were brave enough were also invited to down a grappa (not for me, but David had one and along with everyone described it as being like swallowing rocket fuel). I was already feeling quite merry from my three samples of white wines, and we bought a couple of bottles of a chardonnay at E6.50 each. We'll have to pay corkage of E15 each bottle to enjoy these in the dining room, but that'll still work out much cheaper than buying a bottle of wine off Princess's wine menu.

It was a very happy group that returned to the bus for the 45 minute drive back to the ship! Our guide will have done well from all the tips from her happy customers!

We headed for lunch, and then relaxed indoors on Deck 7, David reading, and me blogging. The weather was rather cool and gloomy, and everyone had been wearing jackets or jerseys for the first time. Towards 5 pm we were chatting with another Kiwi couple from the Whangaparoa Peninsula north of Auckland. We decided to have dinner together, so met at 6:15 pm and enjoyed a great time over our meal. Frances is a school music teacher who also works four days per week taking classroom curriculum music and school choirs (rather like Zarlene) at a local primary school.

PS - I remembered to take a photo of my dessert, flourless chocolate cake, with berries!

Day 2 in Rome - Wednesday 11 September

Another lovely day in Rome, with temperatures in the late 20s! We joined the Barrows at breakfast, and then headed our separate ways for the day.

David and I strolled down to the Piazza del Campidoglio on the top of Capitoline Hill and site of the Capitoline Museum, and used our Roma Pass to tour there for more than 3 hours. We started in the Palazzo Conservatori section and especially liked the special display about the amazing man, Archimedes - it was fascinating how clever he was (Leonardo da Vinci got ideas from his work) and how he met his demise.

 



We had some lunch at the museum (slices of tomato, olives and chunks of mozzarella for me, a bread roll for David, and we shared a fresh fruit salad. The views from the cafe terrace were great. Then we wandered further around the museum and down into the Tabularium (built in the first century BC to hold the archives of Ancient Rome). There were interesting displays on the way around but the views from here out over the Forum Romanum were fabulous, and sad to think that this was where Julius Caesar was murdered! Also incredible to think that this was where the Roman Empire was run from.

From this area we made our way to the second section of the museum (Palazzo Nuovo) where we saw more displays, including the statues of the 'Dying Gaul' and the 'Capitoline Venus'.

Next we followed Rick Steve's guide book advice and took an easy route into the interesting Santa Maria in Aracoeli Church, and then around the back of the Victor Emmanuel building where the views over the city were great, but even better when we rode the elevator right up to the top of the monument - fabulous!

 

We wandered back down towards the Capitoline end of the Forum, passing the replica of the She-Wolf statue feeding Romulus and Remus, and filling our water bottles at one of the many water spouts/taps/fountains around Rome (this particular one is called 'il nasone' ('the big nose'). We'd made good use of these water supplies yesterday, too. Walking in the heat is thirsty work, and the water from these taps is amazingly fresh, cold, and does not taste of chemicals.

We decided to use our Roma Pass for our second free museum, at the Colosseum. Even though we visited there in 2009, we went again, bypassing all the queues. Mind you, we did end up having a frustrating time queuing for audio guides, and wishing we hadn't hired them. But we got there in the end, and marvelled at the information about this incredible building and what went on there.

By now it was 4:30 pm and we needed to have some refreshment, so we headed over to a cafe at the bottom of the street we're staying in, and I ordered a lemonade and some ice cream. David ordered a giant 1 litre beer (that I thought he'd never be able to finish) and shared my ice cream.

Then we hobbled back to our room and freshened up for dinner with Jan and Steve. I couldn't face hopping on a train to get across town and then walking the rest of the way to the fabulous gluten free restaurant I'd found yesterday, so we found a nice little local cafe. Now we're back in our room, all packed and ready to head by train to Naples in the morning, and transfer from there to Amalfi.

Day 1 in Rome - Tuesday 10 September

Our accommodation at the Locanda Colosseo is small but comfortable (I chose it from booking.com reviews), and conveniently located on Via Cavour, very close to the Colosseum, Roman Forum, Palatine Hill, Trajan's Column, and the Victor Emmanuel Monument. There is a Metro stop nearby and the huge Termini Station is a 15 minute walk away.

When we were dropped off, we went in the entrance to the building, and tried to work out where the B&B was. There was one of those really old lifts where you have to shut all the doors and you can see out of the metal cage as you ride, and we went up to the first floor. We had a friendly welcome by a staff member.

After we'd settled into our rooms (facing the street on Via Cavour, but with shutters to cut out the street noise) we wandered out to find the Metro for Jan and Steve so they could catch the train to their early Tour of the Vatican Museum the next morning. Then we sat down and caught our breath over some cold drinks, before heading out for a walk further afield to get our bearings and find somewhere for dinner.

Thinking things were closer than they looked on the map, I led the others past the excavations along the Via dei Fori Imperiali, around the Victor Emmanuel Monument, to an area near the Campo de Fiori.

  

 



I found a gluten free restaurant I'd seen recommended on Trip Advisor, and we enjoyed pizzas for dinner at Voglia Pizza. Initially thinking we'd share pizzas, the waitress convinced us that we needed one each... it turned out that they were huge pizzas. This restaurant had a full GF menu including pasta and dessert, but we were too full to enjoy anything more. I was quite awake, but the others were exhausted, Jan even falling asleep momentarily with her head on the table! Nevertheless, it was wonderful sitting at a table outside with the temperature still 28C (it had been 33C when we arrived in Rome). We fell asleep instantly that night, once we put our heads on our pillows!

For our first full day on Tuesday 10 September, we had a lie in, David waking around 6:30 am, but then sleeping in a further two hours and being amazed he'd slept so late. He obviously needed it! We went two doors along to the little cafe where we handed over the voucher from our B&B and were given breakfast - we chose coffee, juice, yoghurt, bacon and eggs. Then off we went, exploring.

My first priority was to check out the notorious Termini Station, to find out its layout, and the likely platform for our train to Naples on Thursday. We bought a Roma Pass that gives us unlimited train travel while we're here, free access to two museums, and discounted access to others. David bought a bottle of water at a little supermarket, noticing the price of DAS beer supplied in Countdown supermarkets was not very different to the local price here - amazing. We got some small change so I could have a Euro coin with which to access the public toilets (coin operated, no change given).

Then we caught the Metro to the Spagna stop, and had a proper look at the Spanish Steps (we'd only seen these at night during our visit in 2009). See if you can spot David (not Wally) in the photo.

Then we climbed to the top for some great views over Rome. We kept following the road that skirted around the Villa Borgese Gardens, and wandered into one section, coming out at Piazzale Napoleone I and spectacular views over Piazza Del Popolo and across the city to the dome of St Peter's.

As we walked down to the Piazza Del Popolo, we came across a museum exhibition (possibly the same as one we didn't get to see in Christchurch) about 'The Genius of Leonardo da Vinci'. It was excellent.

Then we wandered through the Piazza, through the arch/gate Porta del Popolo and into Piazza Flaminio. By now, David was desperate for lunch (it was around 3pm). The only food seemed to be pizza, no bread rolls or decent sandwiches where we looked, so (of all places) we ended up in Burger King where David had a wrap and I had a smoothie, and we shared some fries.

Next, we caught the train around to the Ottaviano stop, near St Peter's. We thought we might have another look inside St Peter's, but the queues were too long, and then it started to rain. The temperature had been a balmy 33C (but not unbearable at all).

I had also been looking for another highly rated GF restaurant, and found it just in time. We ducked in out of the rain and sat down for a drink. The menu looked good for GF, but it was too early for dinner. Then we headed back to the Termini on what were now very overcrowded trains. We gave up doing one transfer because the train was jam-packed, and walked the rest of the way back from Termini to our B & B, with the rain just beginning to set in more.

We collapsed back into our room and blobbed for an hour, had showers, did the inevitable laundry in the shower, and then shared a bottle of bubbly with Jan and Steve (gift from our hosts) before wandering out to find somewhere nearby for dinner. We ended up in an Argentine restaurant where the food was over-priced but we had a pleasant time (they also understood the 'sanza glutine'). Jan reported that the wind at home had blown in a window at their house, so we're wondering what things are like at our place.

Travelling from Christchurch to Rome - 8 & 9 September 2013

It was good to meet up with Sally, Salehe, Suzie and Rob at the airport (along with the Rattrays who were seeing them off). It was amazing to think that, out of a whole plane, we were sitting in the same row as Sally for the flight. They're heading off to Africa and Salehe's home town of Tanga where they are continuing work from their last trip, building Sally's community house to help the local people.

After a good flight, a lovely gluten free meal (that was vegetarian, as well as minus anything that looked like dairy) and a bumpier touch-down than any I've had in Wellington, we had a three hour wait until the long flight to Dubai. Coffee was off the menu, as there was no way I wanted to compromise any chance of sleep. We were all exhausted from all the stress of getting ourselves away on this trip. It had taken about an hour in the air before I felt myself relax slightly, and half a glass of wine helped even more. I have to say I was not feeling excited yet, with the prospect of a 14 and a half hour flight to Dubai.

Before we boarded our flight to Dubai, Sally gave each of us a Bowen Therapy on our calf muscles - amazing, we were so lucky!

It was a shambles boarding at Sydney with no speaker system working. For the long flight, Jan's TV system wasn't working, so somehow we all got a couple of gourmet chocolates each by the crew to make up for it.... I watched the first half of 'Monsters University', but found the background aircraft noise enough to make hearing difficult, so didn't finish, and I had a few mindless games of 'Ticket to Ride'. David watched three movies. Over a period of about 5 hours, we got some good snatches of sleep, with interruptions, but I felt better after that, than when I had boarded the flight.

I had the same GF meal as out of Christchurch, except fish instead of salmon. My 'midnight snack' was two slices of thick, dry GF bread with lettuce, Aussie tomato, cucumber and a slice of salmon which made it barely palatable. The breakfast of scrambled eggs, mushroom and tomato was better, and included (surprisingly) a yoghurt - up until then everything else had been lactose free. There was even strawberry jam to put on the two rice crackers that I received with each meal instead of bread!

Salehe came for a visit to our section during the flight and said they'd had an awful flight because of crying children - we had been really lucky. With about an hour to go before arriving in Dubai, a message came over the intercom asking if there was a doctor or nurse on board - that sounded worrying. And sure enough, when we caught up with Sally and Suzie at Dubai airport after disembarking, they told us that an elderly man in the row just across from them (another of those coincidences) had appeared to have a heart attack. Sally had given him an external dose of Rescue Remedy, and both she and Suzie had offered support, limited by the rules the staff had to obey. He recovered quite well, but two hours later he got worse again and that's when they had asked if a doctor was on board (there was, and they took over). Very sad and scary, and Sally looked absolutely shattered. We hoped to catch up with her again before we left for Rome, but didn't manage to. I hope she got some sleep before heading to Daris Salam... And I hope they are safe while they're there.

The flight out of Dubai to Rome was announced on board as leaving on time, but for some reason it was nearly 20 minutes late. Nevertheless, it was a good flight, and my meal (as it always is out of Dubai) was so much better. Another fish dish, but with a sauce, other interesting flavours, and even a chocolate mouse and a chocolate. Sounds silly to get excited about it, but those of you who are gluten free will understand why I talk about the meals, and get excited about a dessert other than fruit salad!

The six hour flight to Rome was good. I noticed that we didn't fly over Syria, but skirted around the edge. I had a solid hour and a half sleep as we flew between Istanbul and Italy - this set me up well for our arrival and first evening in Rome. David was able to catch some sleep too, even after the air hostess spilled tomato juice all down the side of his lovely Kathmandu shirt, and jeans - agh! It's seemed to wipe out pretty well, thankfully.

Customs in Rome was interesting - it basically doesn't exist! They give (literally) barely half a glance at our passports, and there's no mention of what you should declare. You just collect your bags and walk out!

We found the driver that I'd organised with our Bed and Breakfast/Hotel, and were quickly on our way into Rome. Yes, QUICKLY - this guy put his foot down and went for it, right up the back of any car in front of us, jamming on the breaks a few times (with us and four heavy suitcases in the back. Jan was freaked out, Steve was bemused, but David and I knew you just had to trust that it would be OK. And, sure enough, before we knew it, we were at our accommodation at the Locanda Colosseo B & B!

Monaco

Loving getting all the emails and comments - thanks! This will be fast cos I'm on the ship.

We had an eventful pickup by bus in Rome - lots of confusion, but we made it after the driver had at one stage parked on the side of the road and deserted us for 10 minutes without a word, blocking in a parked car with an irate woman driver, then later he hit a small car, then he thought we were all going to the airport instead of the port!

The ship is gorgeous! We boarded quickly and easily and then found our cabin and headed to the buffet for lunch. Then we spent the rest of the afternoon exploring the ship. Then we met the other Cruise Critic people from our roll call (over 100 people) and we all felt that we knew each other already - great to put names to faces. This was over drinks as the ship sailed away. (Before that was the muster drill to practise what to do in an emergency). Then we headed to dinner at 8.15 pm and sat with two other lovely couples and had a lovely dinner. After that it was straight to bed and a very good night's sleep - calm seas - and we woke up in Monaco.

We had to be tendered in to the port, that was no problem, then we walked around taking in the sights - a lovely place - very clean, tidy, smart. The yachts we walked past in the marina were amazing!

We walked up the steep hill to the old part of the city and wandered around the little streets, saw the Palais du Prince and the Place du Palais (square) - the views from up there were spectacular; and then took the little tourist train that took us on a 30 minute tour with commentary, around the rest of the country (! - second smallest in the world). We only saw the Casino, without a chance to get off, and decided not to take the time to trek back over to it after the train tour. Everything was busy and the streets are all getting set up for the grand prix in about 3 days - so not the best views there. Back up the 'rock' in the Old Town (Monaco-Ville), we wandered through some beautiful parks with lovely sculptures and fabulous views - it being a gorgeous day of 29 degrees and clear blue skies. We noticed how clean it is compared to Rome - no cigarette butts all over the footpaths in Monaco! No graffiti, no rubbish lying around!

We went into St Nicholas Cathedral, where Princess Grace and Prince Ranier were married, and are now buried. We wandered back through the Old Town streets (not being a very big area) and we decided not to go into the Oceanographic Museum. We bought some cheap water at a little grocery store down the hill (cheap compared to the ship prices - thanks for the tip on where to get this, Bev!) and small bottles of sparkling wine - no souvenirs except my photos, and headed back for lunch around 1 pm. At the buffet again, and it was nice sitting with Bev from Cruise Critic (Sydney) and hearing her stories of other cruises she has done.

Now we're doing the laundry and then will venture out to the pool to relax and read. Then, oh so strenuous, back for dinner tonight - ps - gluten free worked out well - very nice - I had shrimp cocktail, prime rib roast with veges, and then flourless chocolate cake with berries for dinner last night - David had pasta alfredo, then fish, then flambeed bananas!

Not sure if I'll get photos up - may try for just one or two.

Day 2 in Rome

We had a very enjoyable dinner with the couple from our cruise group (Bob and Lorraine). (It was drizzling a little as we arrived, and although it had been a hot day, we were grateful that it had been mostly overcast). We walked all the way across to the restaurant near the Spanish Steps (about 25 minutes). David had a steak, and I had roast veal and potatoes. We shared a salad, and dessert of fruit salad and panacotta, and house wine. Then we walked with Bob and Lorraine over to the Spanish Steps. My photos taken there were hopeless. Then we left them there and walked back to our hotel through the narrow cobblestoned streets of Rome - lots of people about, strolling, in the warm balmy evening air - very pleasant. We passed the Trevi Fountain on the way - a big crowd there, and very beautiful all lit up.

We had a bit of a lie-in this morning, then walked down to the Colosseum around 10 am and listened to Rick Steves. We were grateful to have our Roma Passes, and be able to bypass the enormous queue, thanks to his advice. We got in for 'no' charge, with our passes. We were there for an hour or so, and it was sooooooo HOTTTTT! The forecast said it would be 29 degrees today, and I'd say it was at least that. We were wilting big time. Somehow we still managed to walk down past the Forum to the Victor Emmanuel Monument and Trajan's Column, where David had the most expensive can of Coke in his life (€2.50)! I would have handed it back!

From there we dragged ourselves through the heat, with lunchtime hunger grumbling in our stomachs, to the Pantheon. David grabbed a panini while I slogged through 2 gluten free muesli bars, whilst sitting in the shade provided by the spectacular portico. Then, in we went and my word, what a beautiful building, and it was originally built in 27 BC, and rebuilt in AD 120 by the emperor Hadrian.

It seemed to be getting even hotter, but we were so close to the Piazza Navona and Campo de'Fiori that we had to carry on (actually, perspiration is trickling down my face now, while I'm typing this, and it's 5.15 pm and I'm sitting in the shade, so you can imagine what it was like at 1 pm in the middle of all the traffic, tourist hoards, and heat in these places). We stopped for a gelato (very cold and delicious, with all sorts of wonderful flavours), and then ran to catch the notorious (because of pickpockets) #64 bus back to our hotel. Talk about crush, it was so bad that we had to literally force our way out of the bus (me leading the way ;-)), you couldn't get to the door to exit if you didn't - you can imagine how David was feeling being jammed up against all those people in the suffocating bus! We haven't needed to use the metro, so we've missed that experience here - what a disappointment!

We got back to our hotel at 2 pm, and flaked out for an hour over a beer and a coke, and I added some cheese and ricecake to fill out my 'lunch'. We simply had been too exhausted to scout around in the heat and crowds for something I could eat - I'm sure there would have been something, but we just wanted to see what we could, and escape back to the hotel air conditioning and get off our feet.

We've just got back from a whirlwind tour around the National Museum which is 100 metres away (very interesting), and also we popped into the Church of Santa Maria degli Angeli which was once part of the Baths of Diocletian - a huge baths complex in ancient times. A beautiful church now. We ran into Bob and Lorraine at the museum, and they looked about as exhausted as us!

Anyway, we're relaxing now, and then we're going to have dinner somewhere nearby - David is eager to eat something Italian, some pasta, but this is mostly a first course only, and he wants it for a main course. We'll see what we can find. Then we'll be re-packing for tomorrow's cruise. We'll get picked up around 10 am by a bus organised by someone in the group, so we'll meet a few more people then. I'm not sure when I'll next be online, it may be a few days when I get an opportunity in a port - I'm not keen to pay US$1 per minute for a shonky connection from the ship! I may pop back to this internet kiosk after dinner to see if I can upload a few photos for your enjoyment - no promises though. Check the Rome album, just in case.

PS - added two days later - had the dinner - shocking service - talk about sour! David enjoyed some gnocchi for the first time. Then they tried to charge us more for it than what was actually listed on the menu - rip off - no tip left by us!

PPS - notice how dirty Rome is, graffiti everywhere, people not very polite - others on the cruise have commented that it's like that all over Europe - no wonder Kiwis are considered friendly!

Day 1 in Rome

Hi all, and thanks for all the comments - it's great to know that people are reading this!

Right now I'm struggling to type on a weird Italian keyboard at an internet kiosk across the road from our hotel.

We had a good trip from London to Rome. I gave up on the cab we had booked through reception the night before, and grabbed one that pulled up to drop someone else off. It was a nice trip to Paddington Station to catch the Heathrow Express back to the airport. We were there in plenty of time and check-in was easy thanks to the online check-in I'd done the night before. We had a nice dinner in the local pub that night, too. The flight left half an hour late because someone decided not to travel and their luggage had to be unloaded for security reasons. The flight was good, but nothing gluten free for me to eat, so David enjoyed my sandwiches and I had a muesli bar. We decided to get a taxi from Rome's airport for the fixed price of 40 Euros, and were glad we did. The place is a mad house!

Our hotel room is small but nice, and it should be for 150 Euros per night! It has an antique lift, one of those old ones in a cage. We're in a relatively quiet area, for which we are thankful. Last night we couldn't be bothered doing a proper dinner, so bought some bits and pieces from a small supermarket across the road - Ross will be impressed to know that we had chippies for dinner - along with cheese and crackers, a beer for David and coke for me!

This morning we headed down to the Palantine Hill, where we followed Rick Steve's tour, then down into the Forum area where we followed his podcast tour - we found it a bit hard to follow, but still good. Then up the Capitol Hill at the back and down into a big piazza area - can't remember the name of the huge building there right now (David is back in the room with the guide book). We had an hour, then, to find our way to the Vatican Museum for the tour I'd booked online for 1 pm. OMG - the traffic!!!!! The trip cost 20 Euros, double what it should have because several streets were closed and it was wall to wall cars (Pope arriving back in Rome from his Middle East trip?). I've never seen anything like it, no lanes, just cars pushing in and out between each other. We got to the Museum with 10 minutes to spare - phew! This was the quieter time of the day - but I don't think David believes me! We followed Rick's tour through all the amazing display halls - I have lots of photos, but don't know when I'll get a chance to put them up yet. But, what a fabulous place - everything pillaged by the Catholics, and the Roman Emperors before them, from other civilizations. However, the items have been well looked after here, and I doubt they would have survived otherwise. It is a great pity, though, how invading peoples destroy or carry off the heritage of the country they take over.

Anyway, after the Museum, we popped through to the Sistene Chapel, with Rick again on the podcast, and listened to him explaining what we were seeing. Then, with Rick again through to St Peter's. All very beautiful and interesting. Then, how to get back... We discovered the #40 bus and were lucky enough to get on it before the crush! It brought us all the way back to Termini, near our hotel.

For now, I'm going to head back for a coke, a shower, and to put my feet up to plan how we get across to near the Spanish Steps to meet up for dinner with a couple from the cruise (Bob and Lorraine - we met them on Cruise Critic). That's booked for 7 pm (Friday evening here).

Tomorrow we'll look at the Colosseum, and have a more leisurely walk through some of the streets to some of the spots Rick recommends.

Over and out for now!