Europe Week 2: Italy-Rome, Day 1
Our day at sea went pretty quickly. We all slept in until around 9:30am, then messed around in the room until after 11am, so when we went up to the pool deck, they were already making pizza again. (So yummy!) The kids traded off with Luis' camera, taking pictures, while I tried to get the food orders correct. It was hard to deal with the ship staff, just on the language issue. They were great once you could get them to understand what you needed, but it took awhile sometimes! And, you had to order and pay at the cash register at the bar, then go to three different stations with your receipt to pick up whatever you had ordered (pizza one station, coffee/drinks another station, fruit/hamburgers/sandwiches another station). So confusing. I spent the entire time running back and forth, feeling like a mama bird venturing out to find worms and bringing them back one at a time to her hungry chicks. :-)
Sorry, couldn't resist. :-)
It was really, REALLY choppy for about four hours of the ride. After our early lunch, we came back to the room, and both Ethan and Tommy had to go to sleep to avoid getting seasick. Alanna and Gracie hung out with me in the bedroom and played cards, while Luis played on the computer.
We had been told that the cafeteria was going to be closing at 2:30pm for the duration of the trip, so Luis, Tommy and I went up at 2pm to get food to bring back to the room, and stumbled our way down the corridors. It was crazy. There were people bumping into each other and grabbing onto the walls and railings everywhere you looked! And here we were piling ceramic plates three-high onto a tray and trying to keep the apples from rolling away. Luis got the duty of carrying it back, and succeeded perfectly, thank goodness. :-)
The rest of the afternoon was mellow. At one point, the ship stopped for additional fuel, which gave the kids something to watch. Once the seas calmed down, we took occasional trips up top to see the beautiful blue of the Mediterranean, and one trip to the ship store to get the kids mementos (and me a cool jacket). Then we started packing once again, and waited with the herd of passengers as the ship docked an hour late.
At this point, I was freaking out that our arranged driver would have left and we wouldn't have any way of getting to our apartment that I'd rented for us. I didn't have the address at all, because the paperwork was all through the arranged transportation. But, I just kept outwardly calm and walked off the ship with the kids, making sure they didn't cause an accident getting off the escalators with their bags (a near miss), then literally walking through the customs area without even getting our passports out. The guards there kept impatiently motioning for us to keep moving, and so we did...all the way out to the parking area, where there was no driver holding a sign with "Garcia" on it. Uh oh.
So, we hoofed it over to the terminal, lugging our bags along behind us, and I tried to use the one payphone, but it kept saying something about Emergencies Only in Italian. So, then I tried a couple of different ticketing agents, and finally got one who was amazingly sweet (or else my eyes and voice tone were desperate enough that she took pity on me) and offered to call the phone # I had for the driver. She reached him and he found us five mins later. His name was Alejandro, and he was a total riot. He made a bunch of jokes and the kids loved him right away. He spoke fluent Spanish (had married a Cuban woman), and pretty good English as well, so he and Luis chatted the entire drive into Rome. We had to make an emergency pit stop for Gracie along the side of the road, and he was totally understanding.
We would NEVER have found our apartment in a million years, being up a side street and behind an automated gate. I'm really glad I had made the arrangements for the driver, especially since he totally set us as ease for arriving to our new lodging. It was 9:45pm by this time, and almost totally dark. The apartment complex(?) had a guy waiting for us named Augusto, who walked us through the place from top to bottom, showed us the various keys to the door, elevator and gate, then took our money (it was cash only) and signed our paperwork. We had to fork over an extra fee because we were past 9pm for our check in time, but we didn't care at this point.
This place was completely gorgeous. Very top notch. Unfortunately, Luis didn't get any pictures of it, but you can see them on the company website, if you're interested. (http://www.rome-accom.com/accommodation/spanish-steps/apartment-browning-palazzo-fortuny.aspx) It had a huge private terrace, and a stunning view of Rome, including the dome of St. Peter's Basilica. Three private bedrooms, each with their own bathroom. Full kitchen, washing machine, big living/dining area, and AC units both upstairs and downstairs. Augusto told me that Mel Gibson had rented the same apartment when he was in Rome. I could see why, being so gorgeous, secure, and private...plus it slept eight people without even using the four other couches that were available.
After Augusto left, we went out to find dinner and lucked across this small local restaurant that we will never forget as long as we live. We started off with fresh caprese and scrumptious flat bread. Then the kids had delicious pizza and spaghetti. I had risotto with prawns in a tomato cream sauce. Luis had some kind of chicken fettucchini. It all tasted utterly divine. Utterly! And the service was really superb. We all grinned at each other like idiots and toasted our glasses multiple times. We were in ROME!!!
Luis and I went to bed with smiles on our faces to have made it safely across the sea, and landed in such a better location as far as food, friendliness, and accommodation. We were ready to start our first full day of sightseeing the next morning bright and early.
Next up...Ancient Rome, plus Crypts and Catacombs!
Sorry, couldn't resist. :-)
It was really, REALLY choppy for about four hours of the ride. After our early lunch, we came back to the room, and both Ethan and Tommy had to go to sleep to avoid getting seasick. Alanna and Gracie hung out with me in the bedroom and played cards, while Luis played on the computer.
We had been told that the cafeteria was going to be closing at 2:30pm for the duration of the trip, so Luis, Tommy and I went up at 2pm to get food to bring back to the room, and stumbled our way down the corridors. It was crazy. There were people bumping into each other and grabbing onto the walls and railings everywhere you looked! And here we were piling ceramic plates three-high onto a tray and trying to keep the apples from rolling away. Luis got the duty of carrying it back, and succeeded perfectly, thank goodness. :-)
The rest of the afternoon was mellow. At one point, the ship stopped for additional fuel, which gave the kids something to watch. Once the seas calmed down, we took occasional trips up top to see the beautiful blue of the Mediterranean, and one trip to the ship store to get the kids mementos (and me a cool jacket). Then we started packing once again, and waited with the herd of passengers as the ship docked an hour late.
At this point, I was freaking out that our arranged driver would have left and we wouldn't have any way of getting to our apartment that I'd rented for us. I didn't have the address at all, because the paperwork was all through the arranged transportation. But, I just kept outwardly calm and walked off the ship with the kids, making sure they didn't cause an accident getting off the escalators with their bags (a near miss), then literally walking through the customs area without even getting our passports out. The guards there kept impatiently motioning for us to keep moving, and so we did...all the way out to the parking area, where there was no driver holding a sign with "Garcia" on it. Uh oh.
So, we hoofed it over to the terminal, lugging our bags along behind us, and I tried to use the one payphone, but it kept saying something about Emergencies Only in Italian. So, then I tried a couple of different ticketing agents, and finally got one who was amazingly sweet (or else my eyes and voice tone were desperate enough that she took pity on me) and offered to call the phone # I had for the driver. She reached him and he found us five mins later. His name was Alejandro, and he was a total riot. He made a bunch of jokes and the kids loved him right away. He spoke fluent Spanish (had married a Cuban woman), and pretty good English as well, so he and Luis chatted the entire drive into Rome. We had to make an emergency pit stop for Gracie along the side of the road, and he was totally understanding.
We would NEVER have found our apartment in a million years, being up a side street and behind an automated gate. I'm really glad I had made the arrangements for the driver, especially since he totally set us as ease for arriving to our new lodging. It was 9:45pm by this time, and almost totally dark. The apartment complex(?) had a guy waiting for us named Augusto, who walked us through the place from top to bottom, showed us the various keys to the door, elevator and gate, then took our money (it was cash only) and signed our paperwork. We had to fork over an extra fee because we were past 9pm for our check in time, but we didn't care at this point.
This place was completely gorgeous. Very top notch. Unfortunately, Luis didn't get any pictures of it, but you can see them on the company website, if you're interested. (http://www.rome-accom.com/accommodation/spanish-steps/apartment-browning-palazzo-fortuny.aspx) It had a huge private terrace, and a stunning view of Rome, including the dome of St. Peter's Basilica. Three private bedrooms, each with their own bathroom. Full kitchen, washing machine, big living/dining area, and AC units both upstairs and downstairs. Augusto told me that Mel Gibson had rented the same apartment when he was in Rome. I could see why, being so gorgeous, secure, and private...plus it slept eight people without even using the four other couches that were available.
After Augusto left, we went out to find dinner and lucked across this small local restaurant that we will never forget as long as we live. We started off with fresh caprese and scrumptious flat bread. Then the kids had delicious pizza and spaghetti. I had risotto with prawns in a tomato cream sauce. Luis had some kind of chicken fettucchini. It all tasted utterly divine. Utterly! And the service was really superb. We all grinned at each other like idiots and toasted our glasses multiple times. We were in ROME!!!
Luis and I went to bed with smiles on our faces to have made it safely across the sea, and landed in such a better location as far as food, friendliness, and accommodation. We were ready to start our first full day of sightseeing the next morning bright and early.
Next up...Ancient Rome, plus Crypts and Catacombs!