Day 25/Cruise Day 12 -- At Sea

We passed between Italy mainland and Sicily and could see both. Bo had her hair done in the ship’s salon (a pretty good experience and the result also pretty good) and then had a very lively lunch with two couples from Texas who have a lot of land and raise cattle and horses. They told us about a desperate drought they were experiencing that forced them to sell almost all cattle and drive long distances to buy feed for their horses. We compared notes about this cruise (they are very experienced cruisers who started cruising in the 1970s) and came to the same conclusion that we have not seen that many obese people gathered in one place before. Then Bo went to a seminar entitled “How to eat more and lose weight”. Surprisingly, it was very sparsely attended, but it wasn’t very good either.
Tomorrow morning we get to Civitavecchia at about 7 am and get off the ship at about 9 am. Our first cruising experience is almost over. Would we do it again. Maybe.

Day 24/Cruise day 11 -- Chanie, Crete

The port of Chania on the island of Crete is our last port of call. The ship was docked about 8 km from the town so we had to take buses to get there. The old port area is very charming with a Venetian lighthouse and fortifications and a row of colorful houses (mostly hotels and restaurants), but it is totally geared toward the tourists forced onto the island by the cruise ship. We walked the port then inland to get a feel of the city. Nothing noteworthy. On the way back to the ship, it got quite unruly as everybody was trying to squeeze into the bus to make it back before the 1:30 pm deadline.
At dinnertime we were all together again and everybody got quite chatty, even the Irish lads who are normally quiet. One of the told us about the leather waistcoat he bought on Crete. But the biggest bombshell came from Dorothy, one of the Lancashire ladies. When we started talking about the tonight’s show whose theme was the Beatles songs, she told us that she knew John Lennon very well as a boy and young man because her late husband was related to John’s mother. She saw him grow up and remembers his first music pursuits and his first performances. She even got some drawings and writings that John did as a boy, but her husband threw them out because he didn’t like them. She knew Lennon’s first wife Cynthia (who apparently was a “very lovely girl”) and their son Julian. This was quite amazing. Then we went to the Beatles show, which was a lot less amazing as the group who pretended to be the Beatles was definitely much less talented.

Day 23/Cruise Day 10 -- At Sea

We decided to try breakfast in the dining room. All other days we did buffet, where you can help yourself to all kinds of things then find a table and enjoy it. In the dinning room they sat us at a table for 10. It was a very unpleasant experience having to listen to a bunch of self absorbed Jewish Americans. The daily list of activities included a table tennis tournament. Al signed up and after several games emerged victorious and received a gold medal.
The day was sunny, but very windy so we mostly spent it inside -- reading and … yes, eating.
For dinner, we were all together again -- the two English ladies and two Irish lads. We even took pictures together. The Irish guys befriended an American couple from Miami currently living in Berlin who joined us for a brief chat.
After dinner, we went to the jacuzzi in deck 11 and had a nice long chat with a young American couple from Missouri. Then we went a 9:30 show, which wasn’t very good.

Day 22/Cruise Day 9 -- Haifa

We decided to not take a tour and do it ourselves. We set out walking the city. It is a pretty city built on and around many hills. It is called the San Francisco of the east. We walked a main street Ben Gurion Ave in the area called the German Colony because it was started by the German crusaders. Many street cafes, all with wifi. We took a bus to the top of Mt. Carmel with a spectacular view of the city and the gardens of the Bahai temple below. Getting around is difficult since most signs are written in Hebrew and busses have no routes posted. We asked directions from several people but they did not speak English. But many spoke Russian (there must be a huge population of Russian Jews in Haifa) so Bo’s Russian came in handy. On the way from the bus stop to the top of Mt. Carmel, we met a young woman and asked her for directions. She answered in perfect English and told us that she was from Ohio and moved to Haifa two years ago when she married an Israeli. She walked with us to the top and told us about her experiences and observations. After viewing the Bahai Temple gardens which were beautiful, we needed to take another bus to an area called Stella Maris. We found the bus stop, but didn’t know which bus to take so we asked. Again English was useless, but the elderly lady answered to Russian and told us to take bus 32. However when bus 115 came, she ushered us to get in with her. As we got in, she consulted half of the bus in Hebrew where we should get off. We didn’t understand anything, but half the bus was saying Stella Maris so we figured they were trying to help us. Finally, another lady told us when it was time to get off. She walked with us a bit and showed us where to go (in Russian again). From there we took a scary aerial cable car down to the sea. We picked up another bus and got back to the German Colony. Lunch was at a sidewalk café. The waiters supplied a hookah (eastern water pipe) to many of the patrons (men and women). Food is good and plentiful (also expensive). We ordered just one fixed priced lunch package, which consisted of an appetizer, main course, beer and desert for the price of the main course. What we got could feed at least 3 people. We had a big plate of fabulous hummus (hummus is a specialty here and every restaurant has its own and they can be quite different) and a special kebab, which turned out to be pieces of ground lamb with herbs + 6-8 little bowls with fried cauliflower, squash, marinated peppers, stewed tomatoes and a salad with lettuce, tomatoes, olives, cucumbers and pickles. It was all delicious.
After lunch we went to the train station and took a train to Akko (ancient Acre), about 20 miles north of Haifa. It is the oldest port in the eastern Mediterranean. It has a totally different character from Haifa. We went to the old city which is a walled city dating back 1000s of years. It also has a high percentage of Arabs. The crusades came here and established churches. Napoleon brought his army here but was not successful in conquering it. We walked steep steps to the top of a fortification and when we got to the top there was a group of about 12 Muslim women (in traditional clothing) sitting on the ground having a picnic. They offered us food and insisted. We each took a stuffed grape leaf (dolma) and thanked them but they offered us more food (chicken) but we politely declined as we were still full from lunch. We visited the Citadel which was also built by the crusaders. We walked in the maze of narrow streets, through the local souk, peeked into mosques and other buildings. We also went to the port, which is still a working fishing port. It was a hot day so we got pretty tired. Around 6 pm we took the train back and ended on the ship by 7 pm. Again, we watched the lights of Haifa from the 14 deck bar as the ship was leaving. We shared a table with a nice young German couple, Mathias and Sabine. Mathias was a computer programmer so he and Al had a lot of things to talk about.
Impressions of Israel. Security is more than anywhere else. Metal detectors everywhere- shopping mall, train station, etc. Military service is compulsory. It is common to see young girls in uniform carrying M16 rifle.

Day 21/Cruise Day 8 -- Jerusalem and Tel Aviv

After breakfast we joined our tour to old city Jerusalem. The 20 minute ride through the Israeli country was very informative. There is a plethora of agriculture in what was previously desert. Water is precious, so there is no overhead irrigation. Instead it is computer controlled drip irrigation. We arrived at Jerusalem along with thousands of other tourists. It is very interesting with 5000 years of history. In 1917 the Brits passed a law that all buildings must be of stone. They have never repealed it so all buildings have no other sidings., We visited Mt. Olive with a great view of the area. We then went to the old city (us and 10s of thousands of Jews, Christians, Moslems, and others.) We first visited the wailing wall. The entry was through metal detectors so it was pretty slow. It was a bar mitzvah day too so here were groups of families going through singing and rejoicing. To get to the wall itself, men had to go to the left and women to the right. There were thousands of people by the wall praying, putting their wishes in and just touching the wall in reverence. Then we walked along Via Dolorosa. (the path Christ took carrying the cross). Narrow tiny streets every inch covered with tourists and vendors. One endless flea market. At the end we got to the church of the Holy Sepulcher, which was even more crowded than other sites. We made our way through the final stations of via Dolorosa which are inside the church and then visited the most important parts of the church, including the Armenian chapel.
The whole tours was going through 3000 years of history in 5 hours. Over whelming. Then we drove towards Bethlehem to the border with the Palestinian Authority. We saw the huge wall and the checkpoints. We drove back for some time on a shared road with the fence on one side and the guide pointed out the Palestinian villages.
Right after we got back to the harbor we got into a taxi and went to Tel Aviv, which is only 40 km away. Our Jerusalem guide, Eli, suggested we get off at an old clock tower in Jaffa and then walk along the Esplanade to Tel Aviv and that’s what we did. The old port of Jaffa is a complete contrast to the very modern city of Tel Aviv. The view of the city from the coastline and the beaches is breath taking. We walked through the center and some very cool small neighborhoods such as the Yemenite quarter and the upscale Neve Tzedek (suggested by a tourist information person.) We had lunch of delicious hummus and a huge salad in a beach café. Israel is relatively expensive compared to US prices, but their veggies and fruits are amazing. It’s said to be vegetarian’s paradise. Then we walked back to old Jaffa and picked up a cab back. This time the cab driver was very talkative. He was a Yemenite and told us about Tel Aviv, Israeli life and drove us along the coast for as long as possible so we could see other coastal towns. Back on the ship, we went to the nicest bar on deck 14 and celebrated Al’s birthday with a few drinks as the ship was leaving the harbor for Haifa.

Day 20/Cruise Day 7 -- At sea

At sea all day. Spent easy day eating, sunning, and reading. At 9 am we went to a lecture about the history of Jerusalem, which was quite interesting. The main event of the day was a mandatory face-to-face with Israeli immigration to get a stamp allowing us to enter Israel. All 3000+ passengers had to go through it. They divided us into groups by deck, but at our appointed time, the line was half a mile long and it took us almost an hour in line to get to the table with three immigration officials (young ladies) to get the card stamped.

Dinner was formal and our two elderly English ladies are delightful. We met the two Irish guys on deck together during the day. They are alive and well, but they didn’t show up for dinner. This gave us a chance to compare notes with the English ladies who told us that the younger one, Patrick, talked to them quite a bit after last night’s dinner. They found out that he worked on a farm (our suspicions confirmed again!) and that the two of them were friends, not relatives. They also thought that the younger one was on a lookout for a new girlfriend. He had told them that he had two girlfriends before, but things didn’t work out. We’ll see if anything develops here.

Day 19/Cruise Day 6 -- Rhodes

At dinner last night the head waiter came over and asked about the dinner. Al stated that the touted Black Angus steak was mediocre. Tonight at dinner Al ordered roast chicken and Bo ordered fried Tofu. We both got our ordered meal PLUS each an entire steak dinner. What a waste.
Today we toured Rhodes. We spent 7 hours walking, shopping, and eating. We confined ourselves to the walled old city, When we started walking at about 8:30 in the morning, the town was almost completely empty and only some of the store we just starting to open up. Two hours later we couldn’t recognize the place. It was mobbed with tourists, every store, restaurant, café and sidewalk stall was open and tried to lure you inside. In spite of the crowd, it is a charming little town with very narrow streets, stone houses, a huge castle built by the crusaders Knights of St. John in the 15th century, some churches and mosques from the time that the island was occupied by the Ottoman Turks. The city of Rhodes itself dates back to the 7th century BC and the 30 meter high statue of the Colossus of Rhodes, one of the seven wonders of the ancient world, was supposed to be erected by the Greeks in the town’s harbor. Unfortunately it was destroyed in 227 BC and there is no trace of it now. The streets are paved with small rocks (like our river rocks) set on their side - not flat. Very pretty but bumpy. The proliferation of cats is incredible, all colors and sizes. They are everywhere. They are calm and friendly and look happy, and well fed. Bo has taken tons of cat pictures for her “Cats of the World” album.

Day 18/Cruise Day 5 -- Kusadasi

We woke up a bit late so had to rush to get to our 8:15 meeting place for the morning tour of the Ephesus. Ephesus is the most amazing archeological site imaginable. Structures from 400BC intact. The city was the fourth largest city of the ancient times -- after Alexandria, Rome and Athens. Population about 250,000. We saw amazing public buildings, including the Celsus library, agoras and public baths. At that time they had water pipes for fresh water and sewer pipes both in public areas and in private villas. The private homes are also quite well preserved under an enormous roof and plexiglass floors over beautiful mosaics. There was also a big stadium for 250,000 spectators, which is used even today. Last time it was used for the Sting concert last year. We were lucky to have two very good guides, one of whom was an archaeologist working on the site. The place was awfully crowded with tours, but it was worth the effort. Definitely one of the most amazing places we’ve seen. The whole experience was mind blowing.
In the afternoon we also toured Kusadasi on our own. Nothing interesting -- a typical tourist town with lots of bazaars with plenty of junk, “genuine fake watches“, fake jewelry and fake perfumes.
In the Irish front -- the older man has disappeared, but the younger one is flourishing and becoming a lot more talkative. He is also taking advantage of such meeting places like the jaccuzzi and the sauna. We hope that he will bring a female companion to the table soon.

Day 17/Cruise Day 4 Pireus and Athens

The previous night we went to a presentation supposedly about our upcoming ports of call. It really is a hard sell for the excursions. The presenter repeatedly stated how worthless it would be to go into Piraeus. “There is nothing there and the taxi drivers will pressure you to take a 100 euro trip to Athens. We decided not to take the advice, We left the ship at 8 am and discovered there was free high speed wifi in the port terminal. After checking email and Skyping Poland we walked into Piraeus. It is a lovely port city. And tour buses to Athens are reasonable. We walked through a nice neighborhood (because we got lost) then to the downtown main shopping area. Nice clean city. We got back to the ship at noon for lunch then took the organized excursion to Athens. By then the weather has changed and the sky got very dark, but we didn’t have time to go back and get an umbrella. It started pouring almost immediately after we got on the bus. We got a tour of the city from the bus and then we arrived at the Acropolis. It was still pouring so our guide gave us the explanation on the bus, but when we were ready to get out, the rain diminished considerably so we didn’t get soaked. After Acropolis, we went to Plaka where we had about 1.5 hours of free time. We walked up two streets and decided that this was a typical tourist trap and walked out of there. We found a nice café near the Acropolis museum and had fantastic grilled feta with tomatoes, olives and olive oil and delicious bread + beer and wine and we were happy campers. Overall we were pleasantly surprised by Athens. We heard that it was crowded and dirty and disorderly, and experienced none of it. The city we saw was clean, pleasant and pretty.
We returned to the ship in time for dinner. One of the Irish guys (the older one) didn’t show up, and probing his younger companion didn’t produce any results as to his whereabouts or their relationship. He just dodged our questions. We did however established for a fact that he (the younger one) is indeed involved in animal husbandry by tactfully asking if his part of Ireland is industrial or agricultural. He emphatically stated that it’s purely agricultural and most people are involved in farming and in sheep and cattle raising. The two English ladies told us some more about their travels and it sounds like they have been almost everywhere. You wouldn’t suspect it by looking at these two frail, soft spoken and mild mannered old women.

Day 16/Cruise Day 3 -- At Sea

At sea all day. We did what everybody else does on cruises - eat, eat, eat. Breakfast buffet, lunch buffet, snack, formal dinner, snack. In between eating we toured the ship. We visited the rock climbing wall, in line skating course, basketball court, soccer field, putting green, miniature golf, 300 meter jogging track, and 3 swimming pools and 5 hot tubs. In the evening we went to an ice skating show which was quite good. . Tonight was the formal night so everybody had to dress up for dinner and for the captain’s reception between 8 and 9 pm. We were curious about our Irish dinner companions. Surely enough, they were about the only two men in this huge dining room who didn’t have jackets. They wore shirts and ties, but it looked like they had problems tying their ties. Our theory is that they (or at least the younger one) are on the cruise to find a rich wife. He definitely seems to be on the prowl. After dinner there was a captain’s reception with free champagne. It was very crowded and rowdy. We drank a few glasses of champagne and had our picture taken with the captain, a mousy-looking Scandinavian guy. We also saw our younger Irish companion in the crowd by himself, and it looked like he was following a woman, but to no avail since she was later joined by a man. Bo is determined to find out the story of the two Irish guys before the cruise is over.

Day 15/Cruise Day 2 -- Naples

We got an early start and left the ship by 7:30. Getting off the ship was quick and easy. No lines at all. The harbor is practically in the middle of the city so no logistics issues. We first walked to the tourist information office (which wasn’t easy to find) where we got a decent city map and some recommendations. Following them we walked for several hours around Naples. It has a completely different feel from Rome. In the old part streets are very narrow with lots of amazing pasta shops where many different types of pasta of different shapes and colors is hanging inside and outside. There are also hundreds of cafes with wonderful looking pastries. Prices are one third of Rome’s. We visited several churches and the cathedral. We went to Michele’s pizzeria which was recommended and had great pizza. The wall signs stated this was the location where pizza was invented.
We then took a train to Herculaneum. It was a city, a well-to-do summer resort, that was buried in 79 AD when Vesuvius erupted. It is different from Pompeii. Pompeii was covered with ash - Herculaneum was buried under hot lava which solidified air tight and prevented biological decomposition. Even the 2000 year old wooden beams survived. We walked the entire excavated site. It is amazing because the houses, streets and public buildings are very well preserved, with original frescoes, beautiful mosaic floors and architectural details. You can really get a picture what life was like in the city and what the city looked like. On the way back to the train station we had to stop for another great Neapolitan pizza. We got back to the ship around 5:30, in time for our 6:30 dinner. We are getting used to our dinner companions. We actually had quite an interesting conversation with the ladies from Lancashire who are quite well traveled and very nice. The Irish guys are still an enigma. They are definitely related, but we can’t figure out if they are father and son, brothers, cousins or something else. To be continued.

Day 14 Start of Cruise

We checked out of our hotel and walked the 5 minutes to the train station. We bought tickets to Civetavecchio. The walk to the platform was longer than the walk from our hotel to the station. The train arrived on time, but a nice Italian couple whom we met on the platform and who was also going on the same cruise informed us that the departure time is only “estimated”. The 10:39 am departure was indeed a rough estimate because the train didn’t leave the station until after 11. After a 50 minute train ride and a 5 minute walk, we got to the harbor entrance where a Royal Caribbean bus was waiting to take us to the dock. After a 5 minute bus we arrived at the ship. The checkin was very quick and efficient. They really know what they are doing. Lunch buffet was already available. Lots of choices and great food. At 5:20 the ship left the dock amid thunder and lightning. Our stateroom is about the same size as our Rome hotel room but more efficiently laid out. It is on level 6 and there are 12 levels with the top two being pools and sports facilities. The main entertainment floors are 4 and 5 with bars, restaurants, theater, shops, cafes and a casino. We decided on an early dinner sitting and were reassigned table 466 in the main dining room. We went to dinner and were seated at a table for 8 so we were curious who our dinner companions will be. It’s hard to say if we were surprised because we didn’t know what to expect, but we were a bit disappointed. The first two dinner companions to join our table were two men from Ireland whose looks and behavior suggested a close association with a pig farm. Shortly afterwards, we were joined by two ladies about 80 years old in lovely pink outfits who turned out to be from Lancashire. One of them had a hearing impairment so the conversation was rather limited. Dinner was very tasty, though. Bo had a sea bass, spinach salad and chocolate mousse and Al had a Vidalia onion tart, prime rib and an exotic dessert. After dinner we continued to explore the ship. We walked into a show, which wasn’t too good, then we tried some venues with music -- classical quartet and a guitar. We walked inside and outside and have no clue how much of the ship we haven’t seen yet. It’s huge. Al says it’s bigger than the entire Villa Park. Tomorrow we dock in Naples at 7 am so we have to have breakfast at 6:30 or so to make the most of the time we have available on land.

Day 13 Rome

This morning we decided to escape crowds and explore yet another of Rome’s neighborhoods, San Giovanni. It is Sunday so there was a mass in almost every church we walked to, and we walked into quite a few, starting with Santa Maria Maggiore just a couple of blocks from our hotel. It’s another beautiful church. Then we walked to the church of San Clemente, which we wanted to visit because of its three levels starting with the pagan temple of Mithreus 10 meters below ground, then an early Christiam church from around 300 A.D. and finally, the current church from the 15th century. We walked around the newest church because the lower levers were closed until noon. We decided to go to the Basilica of San Giovanni in the meantime. It is a huge church that serves as the cathedral of the city of Rome. There was a mass going on, but the church was still open to visitors. There were lots of confessionals and each of them had languages listed in which you can confess. Also, every church has a sign saying that they don’t allow people in shorts and women in sleeveless outfits. They are pretty strict about it. After San Giovanni, we went back to San Clemente ( with a stop for cappuccino) and visited the three levels of the church. It was amazing, so well preserved. The only complaint we have is that the order of visiting was poorly marked and the descriptions were poorly lit and very difficult to read.

After hat became our typical rest in the middle of the day, we walked the Quattro Fontane street to Fonatna di Trevi again, and then to Corso. We stopped at Galeria Alberto Sordi, a very attractive shopping center and made our way through unbearable crowds to the Pantheon area. By the time we got there, we were so hot, so tired and so exasperated with the crowds that we decided to take refuge again in our favorite place with wifi. It is called Pantharei and it maybe 100 meters from the Pantheon in a narrow alley. Once you enter this alley, you are all of a sudden in a different, quiet world. People who work there are super nice, food is very good, wine is cheap and they have free wifi. This time, when we got there they told us they were closed because they were expecting an ambassador (or a group?) from Macedonia. They let us sit at a table in front of the restaurant though and have a beer and use the wifi, which unfortunately was so slow that we couldn’t use it. As we got in, three Irish computer geeks were leaving and also couldn’t praise the place enough. We felt much better after this rest stop and visited a nearby church Santa Maria Sopra Minerva and then took a bus home. We barely made it before a downpour.

Day 12 Rome

Last night after resting in the hotel, we got out again and walked to the Pantheon area. We had a very nice dinner in the WiFi place where we had drinks before and then walked to Piazza Navona. It was a madhouse -- mobbed with crowds of tourists and locals, all kinds of street performers, a stage or two with loud music, pulsating lights and the whole bit. We walked and walked and walked until we couldn’t any more… It seems that we’ve walked at least 10 hours each day here.

This morning we got up later and after breakfast decided to go to the Aventine Hill neighborhood by way of the Forum Romanum and other Fora, the Palatine Hill and Circus Maximus. Seeing the 2000 year old remnants of palaces, temples, public buildings and squares, parts of which are amazingly well preserved is a mind boggling experience. In the height of the Roman empire, Rome was a city of over a million people with a well functioning public infrastructure, not to mention the opulent villas of the aristocracy. You can clearly see the evidence of it in the archaeological sites. Parts of our walk were extremely crowded, but when we got to circus maximus, which was the largest public venue in ancient times, a stadium for over 400,000 people where chariot races took place, the crowds were gone. Aventine Hill was shady and lovely, with beautiful villas of wealthy Romans, and a few very pretty churches. In all of them there were weddings in progress when we visited. From there we decided to walk even further south to see a pyramid built for one of the Caesar’s by his freed slaves. We didn’t know exactly where it was so we walked in circles a bit until we found it. It wasn’t particularly interesting, but cat people had an adoption fair there so we saw some very cute kittens. From there we took a bus home.

We rested for an hour or so and got on our feet again. We decided to see piazza Navona by day and then have dinner in one of the restaurants in the ghetto area. As we approached Pantheon, it started to rain so we took refuge in our WiFi place with a carafe of wine and a pizza. When we came out, the sun was shining again. We walked through Piazza Navona, just as crowded as last night, headed down to Campo de Fiori and from there to the ghetto. We read an article about a funky restaurant called Sora Margherita, hole in the wall without a sign that only takes a few tables and serves real Roman home-made food so we decided to find it. We did and the waitress was out so we made a reservation for 8 pm (the only option). We walked some more and came back a few minutes before 8. A small crowd was already waiting in front of the unmarked door. Promptly at 8, a waiter came out and started calling names and assigning tables. The place was very small and windowless. The menu was handwritten on a piece of paper and only in Italian. The specialty was fried artichoke and fried zucchini flowers so everybody had that, including us. Then the waitress asked us in broken English if we wanted pasta, two different pastas? Not to make things complicated we said yes and left the decision what pasta to bring us to her. She brought us a portion of fettuccini with ricotta and a portion of meat ravioli. Both were home made and delicious. We watched people at other tables and every table had at least a couple of kinds of pasta and some also had a meat dish. There were maybe 10 tables in the place, some for 4, some for 2, and not a chair empty. We were so full after this meal that we decided to walk home to even though our feet hurt.

Day 11-- Rome

After posting the blog last night we went into the Pantheon, which was originally an ancient temple built by the Romans in 20-something B.C. and then consecrated as a Christian church in 609. It’s pretty amazing. From there we walked to Area Sacra Argentina, the ruins of four Roman temples that now house a cat sanctuary. There are hundreds of cats there of different sizes and colors. They seems to be happy and very friendly. The sign says that they are all spayed, vaccinated and can be adopted. Lots of people gather there to pet them, take pictures or just to watch. From there we walked to a little island on the Tiber called Isola Tiberina. There is nothing much there, but it’s pretty and peaceful. There used to be mills there in Roman times. Not far from the island is the Jewish area, the former ghetto. We intended to go to one of the restaurants there for dinner, especially to try the famous artichokes. When we got there, however, we weren’t hungry yet so we just walked around and continued walking until we were so tired that we had to sit down. By then we were pretty far from the ghetto so we had dinner in a regular restaurant along the way. Nothing to rave about. We will go back to the ghetto for the artichokes, though.

This morning we decided to leave early. We wanted to go to the Vatican and the guidebook said to get there before 9 am to beat the crowds. We took the metro and got there at 9:05 and there was already an enormous line to get into St. Peter’s. It moved pretty quickly so we got in and wondered around with the guidebook not to miss anything important. It’s huge, it’s amazing and it’s crowded. After the basilica, we walked some more around the square, sent a postcard from the Vatican post office and made our way through the overwhelming crowds that had filled the piazza by then. We decided to get out of there and took a bus back to the hotel to have some rest.

After an hour respite we embarked on a walk to Villa Borghese, a huge park that used to be the summer estate of the Borghese family. It was a nice walk. After entering the park we saw the Borghese palace which houses an art gallery with the treasures accumulated by the family. We wanted to go in, but the tickets were sold out until Tuesday so we just admired it from the outside and continued walking. We passed the Zoo and got into Galleria Nazionale del Arte Moderna, where we had some sandwiches and beer in their lovely outdoor café. Reinforced, we continued walking through the park to the Pincio gardens that overlook Piazza del Popolo. On the way we encountered a gelateria which we couldn’t resist and had some strawberry and pistachio gelato (delicious). We descended down the hill to Popolo, walked along Corso stopping at a couple of amazing churches and then took a bus/metro back to the hotel to rest.

Day 10 -- Rome

After a big breakfast in the hotel we decided to explore Termini Station and get our questions answered at the tourist information there. We needed to find a laundromat, a place with wifi and information how to get to Cevitavecchia. We got most of it, except for the wifi. We found a laundromat nearby and took our dirty stuff there, paid 7 euro to a young man who was going to wash and dry and fold our clothes that we could pick up later. Then we walked down Via Cavour to the Colosseo and along Fori Imperiali to Piazza Venezia and from there to the area called Campo de Fiori. Bo read in her guidebook that Via dei Giubbonari in that area is one of the best shopping streets for shoes and clothes. It didn’t disappoint. It also took us to piazza de Fiori with its lively fruit and vegetable market where we had some fruit. We walked around Campo de Fiori some more and when we got tired, we stopped at an outdoor café for some wine and beer. Refreshed, we decided to cross the Tiber to visit the neighborhood called Trastevere. It’s a very picturesque maze of narrow streets with lots of cafes, restaurants, pizzerias. We walked and walked and walked and when we got hungry, we stopped at a small pizzeria for some local pizza. They have large pizzas there and cut you a piece the size you want, weigh it and warm it for you. We had a piece of pizza with cheese and arrugula and another with mushrooms. Both were delicious. After that, we took a bus back to Termini, picked up our laundry and collapsed in the hotel.
We are now sitting in a small restaurant near the Pantheon, one of extremely few places that have WiFi here. Most places that do have it charge between 5 and 10 euro per hour. This is free -- with two beers that we needed anyway after another long walk.

Day 9 Warsaw-Rome

We had a leisurely morning, repacked our bags, tidied the apartment and took a cab to the airport for our flight to Rome. The new Warsaw airport is much nicer than the old one -- everything was quick and smooth. The flight to Rome was uneventful. Our private car pickup at Rome could not be found. After waiting 30 minutes we took a shuttle which turned out better. We got a little tour of the city with the driver pointing out things. We got to the hotel at about 5 pm. Our hotel room is much smaller from our Polish ones - the castle room was about 1200 sq feet; Wroclaw was about 400 sq ft; Rome is 120 sq ft. We started out on our 5 hour walk. Since we had no concept of the city and the distances, we took out the map and started walking. The hotel is close to Stazione Termini so we walked toward the station first, then to Piazza Republica and from there we decided to go the Spanish Steps. We followed the map and ended up at the top of the steps with lots of tourists. We wanted to stop for a beer & wine, but the restaurants by the steps were grossly overpriced, we took a few side streets and found a nice street café to have our drinks for less than half the price. Then we walked along Corse to Piazza del Popolo and from there to di Trevi fountain, which was totally mobbed. It was about 8 pm and we were getting hungry so we started to look for a place to eat. There were plenty of restaurants near di Trevi, but again we were aiming for something a bit less touristy so we took a few turns and asked an prosperous-looking Italian man on the street for his recommendation. He sent us to a place called Restaurante de Quirino, which turned out to be very nice with good (but not great) food . Bo had pasccheri with swordfish, capers and olives and Al had chicken and we shared a bottle of wine. After dinner we walked back to Corso and took a bus to Termini to get back to our hotel. Not bad for the first day.

Day 7 Marszalki-Opole

We woke up to a beautiful sunny day so we had coffee outside on the porch and waited for Wojtek, Phoebe and Jacus to arrive. When they arrived around 1 pm we had lunch and then all of us together with Ania, Kasia and baby Bianka went to Opole. First we went to visit Bo’s mother’s grave and then took a long walk in the city. We were in Opole 2 years ago and since then some new buildings have appeared in the center -- a couple of new shopping malls, restaurants, a renovated amphitheater…. It was nice to be all together in our blended family. Bianka, Bo’s 2-month old grand-niece was asleep during our three hour outing, and 15 month old Jacus (Wojtek and Phoebe’s son) had a great time chasing birds, running around and charming all the girls. We got back to Marszalki in time for dinner.

Day 6 Moszna-Marszalki

We got up at 9 or so, had breakfast in the castle dining hall, packed our suitcases, checked out and headed for the follow-up party. The party started at 1 pm. The main purpose of the follow-up party is to get rid of the food and drinks that are left after the wedding so we ate, drank and even danced until about 4 pm and then packed up the rest of the food ( a lot!) and decorations and headed for the house in Marszalki. Marszalki is a suburban village located about 10 km from Opole. When we arrived at the house, we organized the food, the flowers and the decorations and then spent a relaxing evening in front of the fireplace since it was pretty chilly outside. They have a big dog (Great Dane) named Lizzy and 3 cats -- a black one, an orange one and a grey one. All the animals adore Al.