Mediterraneran Sailing

   Today is he second of our 2 sea days and we are enjoying the warm sunshine and fine sailing weather.  For the detailed readers you probably know that Da Vinci did not have anything to do with the Sisteen Chapel.  Enough said.
     Our trip down to the port took just over an hour and was the local commuter train which means that it was packed with people returning home in the latter part of the afternoon.  We arrived at the station but could not locate the railroad crossing under the tracks which meant that the walk around took about 15 extra minutes.  Taxis were all at the ships that were in that day.  In fact the next day there were 4 cruise ships in, including the Star Princess.  We found our hotel and then walked back to the seaside for a pizza and beer supper and a chance to relax after the 3 filled days.  We did try to get to sleep early but needed to change rooms later that night.
     The morning of boading we again walked the town with a stop at the local museum. This is an old Roman port so they have many artifacts from early times.  The hotel provided a free shuttle to the ship and when we arrived at 12:30 there was nobody in line and we basically walked right on.   The rest of the day was spent relaxing.
     Yesterday we sat around most of the day.  The port lecture was not very good providing little actual details for our visit to Egypt tomorrow.  I attended a "Spook" lecture in the afternoon.  The presenter was a British intell officer and he put me to sleep.  Judy figured it out faster than I did and was gone in 5 minutes.  Line dancing and a movie on deck filled the afternoon.  The Captain's welcome aboard/chanpaigne waterfall event was that evening.  Few people attended.  There are only 1925 on the ship and it is empty by this ship's standard.  It seems like people are somewhere else.  This ship has a lot of younger couples onboard, not like the crossing where few of the passengers are not retired.  In fact at our safety demo we had the most cruises of anybody! Hard to believe.
      Today we went to line dancing again and Veronica is probably the best instructor we have had on these cruises.  She moved the class along nicely and after 40 minutes we had finished a good workout!  12 bells just sounded.  We are 300 miles from Egypt and crusing at 21 knots.  Pub lunch and perhaps the Art auction come later.  Tomorrow is the 12 hour visit to the Pyramids.  We are resting up for the 3 hour bus trip.  More Later

A Find and Moving to the Port

   We still have  a bit of time so I thought that I would try to

Old Wall

finish the Rome portion of our trip.  We needed to take the train to the port so we decided to do some touring in the morning.  Breakfast and packing were the order of the morning.  We stored our bags at the hotel and headed South west on the metro for San Giovanni which is the church which is the home of the Bishop of Rome - the pope.  It is located just inside the old wall fortifications of Rome so that visit was a bonus.  The church itself was like all the others in the splendor of the interior.  We also had a chance to attend Mass while in the the church.  We then headed back to the hotel which took us towards the "Colosseo". 
    Our destination was San Clemante an

old church.  The church itself was very stark by any standard and you would not spend a second in the church.  The attraction was the area under the church.  They have done some excavations and you can enter the "older" church which goes back to 4-500 AD.  It still has some of the original frescos in it.   It was as big as the "new" church which was built on top of it.
 The real attraction however is what is under the "old" church.

  They have found the original  Roman ruins.  It included a temple (room) used for ancient worship by a group that was as popular as christianity in the early centuries.  A room for a school was also in the the area.  Then there was the series of rooms which was probably a Villa of some sort.  It had a small spring in it where the water was still flowing!  Running water in the house!   The place was very large - it seemed like room after room  was opened up.  It may have been used as a Roman Mint at one time.  Very very interesting.  A hidden find in Rome!

  The way back saw us stop at Santa Maria Maggiore.
Another hugh church but by then we were churched out.  We headed back to the hotel,   grabbed our bags and took the train to the port where we stayed the night before joining the ship.  More on that in the next post.  Today we are at sea, tomorrow the same, and then Egypt the day after! Cheers!

A Day At The Vatican

Waiting For The Vatican

   Our second day in Rome we decided to return to the Vatican.  Although we had been there before we thought that we should go back and spend more time enjoying all that it has to offer.  After a good filling breakfast we took the metro and were there in a few minutes.  Our first stop was the museum!
    What they say is true - long lines and wait.  It took us about 90 minutes to get into the place and you could barely move for the people.  At 15 euros a pop the place must be a mint!  We refused to pay the 45 euros for the skip the line and guided tour that sellers offerd every 1.5 feet while we were in the 2 block line.  Next time we may try to book the per entry

time on the internet which I think is available.   In any case we had the opportunity to visit all the exhibits as we were there for about 5 hours in all.  We did see the ancient holding as well as the "usual" tour stops of the tapestry gally and the decorated apartments leading to the Sisteen chapel.  There must have been 1000 people in that area with one one person doorway to get out.  Still a very good visit.  Pizza and beer followed the visit.

     We then headed to the church itself when by that time in the afternoon the lines were very short.  We dicided to go to the top of the dome again but becasue of time took the elevator the first half the way.  It was still close to 300 steps to the top.  It was a beautiful sunny day and because it was late afternoon the sun was in the best position for shooting the plaza in front of the church.  We then followed that with our second visit to the church iteslf - always a jaw dropping experience - but were too late to visit the grottos below the altar where the popes are burried.  Finally a visit to the special exhibit for the JP beautification occasion - quite well done - ended the day.  By now it was getting close to 6 pm.  We decided (why I don't know) to walk back to the Termini -which if you know Rome is across town.  That includes wandering along tiny streets to get to our hotel.  On the way we stopped at the Piazza Navona for a rest and of course the Trevi Fountain. Had to do those 2 areas!  Finally afer a pasta and wine dinner we finally made it to the hotel tired but satisfied.

Flying To Rome

   We are on ship and sailing near Sicily and we finally have a chance to get some computer time to bring you up to day on our travels so far.  Before that I have tried to get into my Primus account but can't read the e-mails so you need to post to this blog if there is something urgent.
    Our flight to rome was delayed for 45 minutes because of "paper work" and then something with the plane.  We did arrive around 10 am in the morning.   The flight itself was very uncomfortable because, although we had the emergency exit seat which in iself should have been a bonus, the seates did not recline at all.  That meant that for 8 hours of overnight flight there was no relief from the upright position.  In any case we did get the train to Rome in timely fashion and within a few minutes walk of the Termini we were at our hotel.  It was very close to a hotel we had stayed at before and down the street from the Diana Hotel.  The hotel was very nice and we would stay there again if needed.

Spanish Steps

   We dropped our bags and headed for some touring.  The day was overcast which later (as we left our wet weather gear in the hotel) the overcast turned to steady rain.  We took the metro and stopped at the Spanish Steps.  Rome is full of tourist this time of year and as expected the area around the steps had wall to wall people.  After taking our pictures we climbed the steps to the church and then to the Villa Medici and gardens behind the steps area.  After wandering the gardens for some time and as the rain started to get heavy we headed to the Plaza dei Popolo.  It was one of those places that we had seen but not visited.  The attraction there was the church

which has the famous painted of the conversion of St Paul in it.  Sorry the signs are not correct - church closed!  We waited for about an hour for the later opening but no luck! A bit disappointing but that is just the way it is.  In order to spend some time waiting we slipped into the Da Vinci Museum which is in the square.  What a find.  It had working models of some of his inventions.  We tended to remember him from the Sisteen

Davinci's Museum

Chapel aand Mona Lisa paintings but some of the inventions were something else.  He "invented" the transfer of power from one plane to another -i.e. the modern jack - and applied this to many things like a propelled cart. Ball bearings to reduce friction, a basic helecopter design, a parachute, elevation devices for morters and a system to repell scaling ladders from forts.  It was wonderful.  Little on his medical drawings and  paintings.
    By this time we were getting a bit tired so a short metro ride, some vino and pasta and bed followed in quick order.  A good sleep was needed!