Europe – Day 3

Last night - a couple of pictures

Dinner with our friends - Barb, Barb, David, Jeff, Vera & Ed

5 in the back seat - Jeff, Vera, David, Barb & Ed underneath!

We had to get up early today as we had to be at the Vatican by 9am for our tour of the Vatican Gardens.  We ate upstairs on the roof first as the sun was breaking and what a great way to start the morning.

Out into the Rome morning we went, walking the two blocks to the subway and went to the Vatican.

The tour was amazing as we were walking in the gardens that the Pope’s had walked in the centuries past.  The gardens take up ½ of the Vatican grounds and we spent 2 hours with our guide walking through them – it was an amazing experience.  We did not see any of the Pope’s; however, one of the ladies on our tour fell and broke her femur.  When the emergency vehicle came, we found out that there were 3 on the grounds at that time.  Probably not bad when we found out that 25,000 people visit the Vatican every day!!

Then we went into the Vatican Museum and then to the Sistine Chapel.  We had been there before, but it is always amazing to be inside the Vatican.  We then went into St. Peters Cathedral.  To show you how big the Vatican is, when we left the Vatican Museum, we took a cab to the other side to St. Peters.  It took the cab about 10 minutes to get there in the city streets.  We were glad we didn’t walk.

After walking around St. Peters, we walked up to the subway station and took the subway back to the hotel.  We had been gone for 8 hours and almost all of it walking.

To get back into shape, Ed iced down his knees while Barb took a short nap.  Barb is still struggling and Ed’s knees hurt so we don’t walk as fast as we used to this trip

Palm trees in the Garden

The English Maze

A fountain in the Gardens where the former Pope lives

One part of St. Peters

The ceiling in one of the hallways in the Vatican

Europe – Day 2

We slept in until 8am and then went up and ate at their roof-top restaurant.  What a nice, top quality place it is.

Then it was out and up two blocks to the subway and one of our favorite places, this great big flea market that is only open until 2pm.  Who knows where they get their merchandise, but wow is it cheap.  Barb bought 4 scarves and a great leather carrying case with also a smaller purse inside and Ed bought a shirt.

Then we took the subway back to the main station and boarded a train to take a 41 minute train ride to the Pope’s summer residence.  The ride was fine; however, we then had to walk up hill on a winding road for 30 minutes until we reached the town which is high above a volcanic lake - really picturesque!!

The town is very, very small with one 3 block in and then a center courtyard and at the end is this massive building which is the Pope’s and they do not have tours but it was neat to see the town and the view was fantastic.  We spent some time wandering the stores, Barb bought 3 more scarves and then we were told there were stairs down behind a church and so we took them, cutting our trip down by 15 minutes.

Back to Rome, we dropped off our packages and then took the subway to the Spanish Steps and walked around like tourists. 

Back to the hotel, we met Jeff and Vera and another couple David and Barbara, who are playing blackjack with us and we went to this delightful Roman restaurant.  We spent a couple of hours eating and drinking wine.  Then we asked the owner where the best gelato place was and instead of giving us direction, he took us in his car – a VW Jette – with 2 in the front seat and 5 in the back seat, 3 guys on the seats and Barb and Vera on our laps.  What a nice gesture the owner did and we laughed getting in and out of the car.

A short walk back around the hotel and it is now midnight and time to finish the blog and go to bed.

Barb is still a little shaky but doing better than last Saturday. 

Night from Rome another nice day.

Breakfast

You just gotta have another one

A long walk up - 30 min.

Old and new friends!!

Europe 2013 - Day 1

The trip started out when Ed arrived home Sunday afternoon from Chula Vista to find Barb really, really sick.  As a matter of fact, Barb told Ed that she wasn’t sure she should or even could be going.

Barb had gone to the Doctors for the second time on Friday and he gave her new medicine and told her he thought she would be ok.  So with that in mind, Barb decided to wait and see how she felt Monday morning.

We were all packed on Monday morning and Barb felt like she was gaining so off we went to Rome.

 We flew from Bloomington to Chicago and then on to Rome.  Both of the flights went well and we landed in Rome just a little ahead of time.  It took an hour to go through Customs and get our luggage and find out driver – we were then on our way by 10:30am.

We met out driver and for the first time had no problem with fitting our luggage into the car as we were able to pack one less big suitcase – hope we didn’t forget something!

The ride in took about an hour and our room was ready at the Hotel Columbia.  This s a very nice, small clean hotel but as a typical European hotel, the rooms were small and somewhat spartan, but that’s just fine.  The hotel is close to all of the areas that we want to visit and close to the Subway/Train stations.

We ate lunch at a street shop down the street and then we were off seeing the sites that we had picked out.  The first was a big park, and then we took the subway over to the Trevi Fountain and again each of us threw in 3 coins – who knows, we just might be back.

We walked and walked seeing the sights and finally ate dinner at a sandwich shop close to the hotel.

As I am writing this, we have been up for 29 hours.  My knees are hurting but Barb is better and already asleep – s goodnight for the first day.

Hotel Columbia Lobby

Lunch

Hotel Columbia

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Trevi Fountain and yes, we both threw in 3 coins!

Spring 2013 – Day 9

Ed was up at 7:30am as we gained an hour of sleep and it was a good thing because deck chairs were going fast.

Barb came up shortly after that and it was a beautiful day at sea – calm winds and about 80 degrees.

There were a couple of empty chairs in front of us and a couple sat down and we realized that we had been in the Jacuzzi with him yesterday and they were from Boston.

To make a long story short, we were talking about what we did and Ed mentioned Bloomington Gold. They knew about the show and he said that he has always wanted a ’03 Anniversary Convertible.

After he found out that Barb had one, we spent about an hour talking Corvettes. He is planning on going to Mecum’s Houston auction so I gave him the name of the Corvette expert with the staff there. It’s a small world.

We then ate healthy at the Aqua Spa, stayed out until 2pm and came inside and packed. We packed in record time and then changed clothes and went for a walk around the ship.

The show was early and it was just fair.

As we do, we met Jeff and Vera for dinner and it is always sad saying good bye to such a great staff as we had at dinner.

We then went to the casino for the closing session of this trip, knowing that we were a little up and hoping to improve.

Barb lost at the slots, but is up a little for the trip, which is great. Ed started with a huge losing streak and changed tables. With only $200 or his original money, he quickly had a huge streak which puts us up significantly for the trip - WOW.

We are finishing packing and will be leaving the ship at about 9am. Our plans are to go check in at the airport and then take the Marriott shuttle to one of their hotels, lay out by their pool, eat lunch and then take the shuttle back to the airport for a 5pm flight which will get us home before 10pm tomorrow.

It has been a wonderful trip. We loved seeing our old friends Jeff and Vera and also friends both old and new in the casino.

It was a great trip – see everyone at home.



Going out for an afternoon walk around

Ready for dinner time

A "perch" in the reading area

In the Aqua Spa

Our dinning room staff

Spring 2013 – Day 8

A day at sea and a day of relaxation.

As usual, Ed was up early and reserved the deck chairs and ate breakfast.

Barb came up and we stayed in the sun until 12:30 and the sun was just about perfect and it was 80 degrees.

We cleaned up and when to the casino where Ed won the blackjack tournament!!

By then it was late in the afternoon so Ed took his nap and then we got ready for an early dinner.

Dinner was at the Captains Table and our host was the Hotel Director, who we had met before. There were three other couples with us and it was a fun experience. Barb had Lobster and Ed had Beef Wellington.  The Hotel Director is responsible for everything except the running of the ship and its maintance.  She and the Staff Captain are the only two people that report to the Captain of the ship so this was quite an honor to being asked to dinner with her.

After dinner, we went to the show and it was the music of Broadway and it was really good.

Then we went back down to the dinning room and sat with Jeff and Vera until they had finished their dinner and of course it was up to the casino.

Barb and Ed both lost, but we are still ahead every so slightly for the trip. Tonight Ed played blackjack for three hours which helps his ratings.

It’s 1:30 am and time for bed; however, we do set our clock back one hour tonight – that will help.

Tomorrow is our last day and we have to pack (ugh).

Night

Ed with the blackjack trophy and winnings, with the dealer and our casino host. Nicki

Barb picking out pictures



Ready for the night out



Barb's Lobster

Spring 2013 – Day 7

The island of St. Kits is a really small island, only 64 square miles and from our standpoint there is really nothing to do. We have been to all of the tourist and local interesting spots. Also, we have been to the good beaches and we felt today that the only thing that we wanted to do was to get off the ship and walk into the old town where there was really neat clothing shop selling Batik clothing.

The ship docked at 8am and we were up and out by 10am, stopping at a few tourist shops and then into town. When we got into town, we found out that the shop we always went to had closed.

So we walked back to the port and stopped at a lot of the port shops. Ed bought a short sleeved Batik shirt and that was all.

We were back on the ship for lunch and then it was up to the top deck for sun.

We stayed out until almost 4pm and came in to rest until it was time to get ready for the evening.

We went out and people watched and then went to the show, which tonight was at 7:15pm. The show was a magician who was a semi-finalist in the American’s Got Talent competition and also spent 7 years at Caesars Place. He was very good.

As you can tell, we are very predictable in the evening. So, next it was dinner and then the casino. That’s our three main events for the evening – Dinner, show and gambling – life is so good!!

Ed won tonight and Barb lost, but we are ahead for the trip and that is just great.

Tomorrow is our first of two days at sea and we will, of course, be working on our tans.

Everyone stay well – night.

The Independance of the Sea docked beside us

Ready to go out with the Independance in the background

Notice the wording on the shirt!  If the shirt fits, wear it!!

Getting water from an 1867 water fountain

Spring 2013 – Day 6

St. Martins, one of our favorite islands. Not only does it have lots of shops like St. Thomas, it has one of the best beaches, Orient Beach.

We got off the ship at about 9:30am and immediately took a shuttle for Orient Beach.

We had to use a beach umbrella for Barb because she had sunburn from laying out yesterday.

We talked to a couple that we have met every year from Pontiac, IL and then unexpectedly ran into a neighbor – oh well!!

The sun was great, the food and drinks on the beach were great and we really enjoyed our time on the beach.

We sat next to a younger couple from Maine and shared some laughter about people on the beach.

After the shuttle back to town and the ship, we shopped for a little and only bought Kahula for Barb.

When we got back to the ship, we found an invitation for dinner at the Captain’s Table on Thursday at 6:00pm, which is the second formal night. The invitation came from the Hotel Director who we had met earlier in the cruise. This should be fun and interesting because it is a big deal.

Then it was back to the ship and into the Jacuzzi before getting ready for the show which was held before dinner this time. We really like that timing as we can then go to the casino right after dinner.

The show was ok and then dinner was great.

We had a great blackjack table and Ed had a huge run. Barb played slots and didn’t win anything.

Tomorrow St. Kitts.

Night from somewhere in the water!!

The view from our balcony



Ready to go



Orient Beach - sorry no pictures allowed!!

One of the shopping streets