Roman Holiday
Trip Start
Jun 06, 2008
1
17
31
Trip End
Jun 10, 2008
Rome,
Lazio,
Italy
Monday, November 10, 2008
We bought 3 day Roma/Metro/Public transit passes which allowed us unlimited travel and entrance to 2 major attractions not including Vatican City. After our first Roman Breakfast at the hotel just before closing (bread, meat, eggs, cereal and Italian coffee. We headed out on the Metro to Vatican City where if you were not on a private tour it would have been impossible to get in. We figured it would not be worth the wait and since the Pope didn't come out to welcome us we figured that a Private Tour was also not worth the cost of 26 euro entrance fee then up to 40 euros per person for tour. If we paid that you could skip the line-up that looked like it would last at least four hours so much for listening to tour guide books. Did manage to take many pictures of the outside. Even got a couple of bad ones of a couple of Vatican guards in their fancy uniforms. Also didn't feel particularly religious maybe because we didn't go inside St Peter's Basilica. Stopped for Lunch of Pizza, (have pictures doesn't look anything like Pizza Pizza. Mary got her Italian Leather purse from a street vendor. Spent about an hour there then decided to hop back on the Metro to go down to the Coliseum and Palantine Hill, the Forum, Circus Maximus and the Italian Independence Monument, etc. Took many pictures from the outside. On Sunday got lost going to the Metro and saw the Spanish Steps and a couple of minor monuments then caught the Metro back to the Coliseum where we used our Rome Pass to get entry to the Coliseum then paid 5 euros more each to be part of a guided tour which got us into the attraction ahead of the general rabble plus it got us the basic history of the building. We could have continued the rest of the tour but we had done that the previous evening because on Saturday we got there too late to go into the Coliseum and simply toured the outside. Then climbed Palentine Hill and took pictures of the all of the major monuments and historical sites, arches and buildings from the backside. Of course we had to go into a church (the one at the top of Palentine Hill) because Rome has more churches per square Km than anyplace else. If you can't get into the biggest one go to a tiny one (which is what we did).
Today we headed off to catch our cruise. First by Taxi to a Cruise Bus shuttle service from another hotel. Then by bus to the Port Civitavecchia where we boarded without incident and very quickly too. Grabbed my "Coke Card" cost of about $5.00 per day for all the soft drinks you can handle as opposed to spending $3.00 per each serving. Iced tea and water gets boring real quick. Next step was Muster stations - anybody who has ever cruised knows the routine but it is mandatory. Glad we went because we were able to see Robyn's Princess Roomie "Bernadetta" sic spelling. Attached picture from sail away party is for Robyn but you all can look. She has her Dad and Aunt onboard and we will have dinner with them later in the cruise. There was a lot of screaming and hugging going on. I'm just on my way to buy an overpriced Princess wireless Internet Access Package so that I can send regular email after some of our shore excursions.
