Day 4
Not well and today is a big day too. We have to be up early, so go upstairs to the buffet. I simply can not eat. The place is crowded with 3,000 starving individuals and the noise is unbearable. Cough medicine & a number of panadols later, we are ready for our adventure in Rome. Vivian & Ivan have agreed a plan and Lynne & I are just going along.
The port is about an hour away from Rome and our package is "Rome on your own by private train". First we were bussed to the train, which would look modern by NZ standards, but in reality just made it out of the 60s. Carriages are cute and probably date back to the 20s. Anyway, it works and within the hour we are pulling in to the station behind the Vatican. This is far better than being in the main train station in Rome. Our guide has already told us that it would be best to get a taxi to the Colosseum, as we'd waste too much time walking that distance. Good advice and good taxi driver too.
We did not go into the Colosseum as we simply did not have the time. However we got a good view, particularly as we were pretty early and ahead of the crowds. We walked back towards the Trevi Fountain (which was a little disappointing) and the Spanish Steps. On the way we found the signs for the Pantheon and found s building which we thought was that, but of course it wasn't, but it was a lovely church which had a great history. Our main objective however was to reach the Vatican in time for our scheduled visit at 1.15.
Needed some lunch before going to the Vatican and we came across the golden arches-so that should be safe food. Went to the McCafe section and had a muffin & drink. Very busy place and apparently even busier upstairs, in the main area. Although we were relatively close to the Vatican, thought it would be easier on our bodies to take a taxi. He was not such a good driver and took us pretty well back to the Colosseum, before crossing the river. I was checking our location on the GPS on my tablet and even though I continually made comment about heading out of town, he insisted on giving us the grand tour. At least he got us to the main entrance in good time and we entered the ticket area just before 1.00. Well organised and got our tickets and entry with no problems.
Vivian had already decided which rooms she wanted to see in the museum and in particular wanted to see the Roman chariot. Well to cut a long story, she couldn't find it and took off looking for it. It was a bit scary to find her gone and we had to backtrack through the crowd and were very lucky to locate her, back near the entrance. Got pictures of the chariot however and moved on. The halls & rooms of the Vatican Museum were absolutely stunning and we were enthralled. Not so much so when we eventually reached the Sistene Chapel. We found that the crowds, the guards and the light did not inspire as the halls & rooms previously.
Anyway, I had read on Trip Advisor that there was a quick way to get to St Mark's without going all the way out and around. The trick is to tag onto a tour group and go out the special exit marked "No exit - authorised tours only". So we hung around waiting for a Princess tour to go through (as we had similar badges). This wasn't really happening fast enough so we just tagged along at the end of some other group. At least we got through to St Marks in no time. All the chairs etc. were set up I'm St Mark's Square and we saw that the following day over 50,000 attended the Pope's address on peace. Thankfully not on our day!
A relatively short walk back to our train and then back to the ship. We were quite pleased with ourselves and that we had achieved Rome in a day! After all this, I am feeling a lot better, but both tired, knowing that tomorrow is yet another big day - Amalfi Coast & then Pompeii.
Day 5
Another early start. Hey, I thought that this was supposed to be a holiday :-) Anyway we are in Naples and ready to board our bus to head down the Amalfi Coast. Great scenery and amazing how people live in these houses just clinging to the cliffs. Even more amazing is the skill or stupidity of the drivers along the coast road. Cars etc were literally MMS away from both the walls and each other. Surprisingly there was little evidence of unfortunate incidents. We eventually stopped at Amalfi and enjoyed a break before continuing on to a restaurant for lunch. Had a most pleasant 3 course lunch & bottle of wine along with an older American couple (she is well into her 80s and still as practising Attorney) who were travelling with their nephew and his much younger partner/girlfriend. They were also both in the legal world. Anyway, wine in the middle of a hot afternoon is not the best, but made our ongoing journey to Pompeii pass quickly.
Pompeii is so worthwhile and an absolute eye-opener to the life of a past civilisation. We were enthralled and our guide was very helpful, even if a little grumpy with other people she thought were jumping the queue. The only downside was that there were so many tour groups as well as individuals, that it became a bit jumbled - I am sure the wine had worn off by then :-) We could easily have spent more time exploring and appreciating the excavations etc. but we had to get back to the bus, and the ship awaits. Thank goodness tomorrow is our first sea-day. We love sea-days and we also love a relaxing morning. I think that we have earned it after a full-on 5 days onboard, not to mention Barcelona.
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