Oct. 23 2011

After a good night sleep, we are ready to start off the day with a good Italian coffee...There are no Starbucks in Rome, and no such thing as a tall, soy, skinny, vanilla latte.

Now, if Espresso is your coffee of choice, you are in luck. I opted for a cappuccino, since I am a pretty wimpy coffee drinker. It was yummy.

I'm not going to go into much detail on the next set of pictures. Needless to say, we did a lot of walking on this day.

                                                             St. Peter's Basilica

                                                            Castel Sant'Angelo

                                                      Bridge over the Tiber

                                                           Campo de'Fiori area

                                                          Campo de'Fiori

                                             There are ruins around every corner

                       Yes, I am in Rome, and that's the Colosseum behind me!!!!
                                                            Pinch me!!

                                                          Yup, you guessed it

                                                       Arch of Constantine

                                          See the Vatican in the distance? Yeah, we walked!!

                                                                   The Forum

                                  We decided to take the Metro (Rome subway) back to our flat.

Tomorrow is the Vatican Museum, Pantheon, Trevi Fountain, and Spanish Steps.

Roma Oct. 22, 2011

We had decided to rent a 2 bedroom flat in the Vatican area, which was a great idea. It was definitely more economical than all of us getting hotel rooms.

We were all pretty tired from our flights, but we decided to grab a bite to eat at the corner restaurant, and walk over to St. Peter's square, which was only a few blocks away. After that, we wondered around our new neighborhood, and picked up a few food items for our flat.

                                                     

  The neighborhood....you can see part of the Vatican in the center of the bottom picture

Rome to Galveston, Texas Oct 21, 2011 - Nov 11, 2011


When I knew I would be retiring in Sept./2011,  I knew that my 7 and 8 day cruises would be coming to an end, and I would start focusing on longer cruises. I had already done my first solo cruise in Apr/2010, on the Carnival Elation repositioning cruise through the Panama Canal, so I already knew how much I enjoyed cursing solo. Now, mind you, cruising solo, doesn't me alone.

I booked this TA cruise in May/2010, so I had a year and a half of anticipation. My friends from San Diego, Amy and Bob, and friends I me on a cruise in 2008 from Tennessee, Dennis and Carolyn, also booked.

We had decided to fly over to Rome early, and spend 4 days there, prior to boarding Royal Caribbean's Mariner of the Sea.

So, my journey will begin on Oct. 21, 2011, at the crack of dawn (or close, since it's still dark out), heading down to the airport in San Diego for a 0645 flight. We will change planes in Philly, then off to Rome we go.

Carolyn and Dennis were on a different flight, but we all arrived in Rome at about the same time. It is about 0800 on Oct. 22nd in Rome, so the body is a bit confused. I actually slept on the plane for about 4 hours, which is rare for me. I did try to follow all the pointers before I left about jet lag, but even though it said avoid alcohol, I had to have that 1 glass of wine. After all, I thought it would be a good sedative. And it was!!!! I'm not feeling to bad after that 4 hr. nap, and definitely excited to be in Italy.

Check off the bucket list!!!!

The next few pages will be about our 4 days in Rome....enjoy!

I have always loved to travel. When I was a child, my Mom couldn't take me to exotic places, that I had dreamed of. Our trips consisted of Stockton to San Diego to visit my Aunt. When I got older, I discovered cruising. it was 1980, and The Love Boat was a hit on TV. And so it started..... The internet and blogging did not even exist then. Though I cruised with friends in the beginning, when I had my daughter's, I introduced them to cruising when they were 8 and 11. We continued to cruise many times, but now that they are grown and gone, I have discovered the joy of solo cruising. And so my journey begins, to visit the places I only though I would read about.