Sunbay Park Civitavecchia

... back home (same as I thought it’d be a fun way to get back to the US from Russia). Rick and Kiwani are on their way back to Seattle and it seemed as though we were all very likeminded spirits. Rick is a contract software developer for Microsoft so between contracts he can travel and do whatever he likes and Kiwani is a massage therapist who got to take a leave of absence from work to travel. But they are also ...

We are planning a couple of days in Viterbo now.<br>Chance to look around this lovely town with its Medieval district and also to visit Villa Lante<br>This is us parked under the walls of the town

... the town of Tivoli to see Villa dEste, where the most amazing Baroque garden in Italy is located. It was built in 1550 for Cardinal Ippolito D'Este, son of infamous Lucrezia Borgia. The gardens were the most beautiful gardens i have ever seen with mazes and hundreds of fountains. I took a picture of almost every fountain and it is hard to say which one i liked best. One of the most unique was about 50 different heads of ...

... vs treadmill! So, while Rick hit the bike and peddled like he was racing in the Tour de France, I put on my ipod and walked the treadmill with nothing more than the wide open waters of the Mediterranean in my view. <br><br>The workout made dining feel a lot less guilty! Not that we ever feel guilty eating on a cruise ship! The early dinner allowed us to catch the 10:30pm hypnotist show in the Princess Theatre. Unfortunately ...

... tour of Parlermo before heading out to a farm in the country where we were treated to a cooking lesson and demonstration by a local Duchess. Interesting &#8211; all in Italian and sort of translated by our guide. We were to have lunch which we figured was going to be just what we had seen being prepared and cooked &#8211; not so! The tour was called &#8220;Taste of Sicily&#8221; but should have been called &#8220;I ate Sicily&#8221;. We ate from ...

Hi Everyone.  Greetings from Civitavecchia..which is a city/port about 45 min from Rome.  Today we woke up early and the boat was pulling into the dock.  We had our breakfast delivered to the room, got dressed and met our group for our private train into Rome.  We could have done a different excursion, but decided to just take the train in and walk around ourselves.  So we boarded an express ...

... that our tablemate grandma spoke no English (although she understood plenty) and my Mom speaks no Spanish so the eldest generation wasn't able to communicate all that well. Nevertheless, they were very nice tablemates and Boo had a blast with the girls. <br><br>After dinner, we went to the kids club orientation and Boo did some socializing. We were still somewhat jet-lagged, so we hit the hay early while the ship sailed on to Napoli. <br><br>

... to this church-and now I was one of the fortunate to be able to walk on these historical marble floors! There was one, of the many chapels within the church, that we stepped into. This area was strictly for praying and cameras, talking, etc. were not allowed. This church put St. Jude of the Lake to shame...i still love ya jude, but sorry, the pope has a one up on you! This tiny chapel was pure gold. It startled me when I first walked in...the candles and red oak pews ...

I loved Rome. I wish I had spent more time in Rome. The first night we did a whirlwind tour hitting some of the really touristy stuff. I though coins in that fountain saying that I would return again, I was blown away by the Pantheon and I sat and people watched on the Spanish stairs. The Pantheon was amazing- it was constructed in 118 AD! And it looks that perfect....more perfect than anything we as humans can make today. I really was just ...

... deafening and totally opaque. We spent at least an hour, with others, cowering in a shops entrance. Finally we were on our way to the Collesseum, passing other Roman ruins being excavated, practically in the city centre and also getting lost for a bit. The Colosseum was mind boggling, very large and well enough preserved to get a good idea as to how it functioned. Once inside we discreetly cottoned on to a tour group and picked up some pretty good ...