6/5/2009 (2) Rome to the Port
We made it on board the ship in very little time once arriving at the port. The ride on the bus to the port is a whole different story. The streets in Rome are very small and there seems to be no rules of the road. People double park, speed, there seems to be very few stop signs, the motorcycles weave in and out of traffic even on the sidewalks. The bus got stuck on a small street for about 30 minutes because there was a car parked in a crosswalk so we were not able to make the turn. It was funny to me to listen to, and watch the driver deal with it. He had a typical Italian temper. I am sure if I understood Italian there would have been many curse words. At on point we saw a student driver on the streets. I thought I saw the driver tell the student to cross two lanes of traffic to make a left turn. The rest of the drive was fine. It is interesting to see the difference in agriculture here. There are many small areas of grapes. It appeared that they were to make the wine for personal consumption.
Once on board we got settled and went to eat lunch. Then as the Romans do we took a siesta!! After that was time for dinner. We sat next to a couple from Hawaii (Jack and Eileen) that cruise a whole lot. There last cruise was 114 days!! It was fun to talk to them about their experinces.
6/6/2009
Our nights rest was great. At one point the ship seemed to be going through rough seas as we were jostled out of our sleep, although not for long. We had to get up early to eat and leave for Pisa. The trip on the bus was very interesting. This part of Italy is known for their white marble. There were many plants that had huge chunks of marble straight from the quarry.
Once in Pisa we were amazed that we were actually looking at the Leaning Tower of Pisa! We took a tour of the area including the inside of the cathedral. It is amazing that they were able to build such an incredible buildings in the 10th century. And of course we took pictures of holding up the Tower! Of course we found a small café and had a ‘sandwich’, pizza and birra’s. (see picture)
We got back to La Spezia where the ship is docked and decided to walk around the town for a little bit. Obviously it was during their siesta since all the shops were closed. That saved us some money! We love to walk around the towns and go down side streets to see how the locals live. We found a Mercado and enjoyed trying to figure out what everything was. Of course we picked up some wine for our stateroom and dinners. We learned yesterday that the best vintages of this region are 2001, 04, and 06 so we were able to find some 06’s. We are vary rarely sure of what we are buying since most of the wines are of a different varietal than we are use to. We have found Chianti’s and some Cabernet Sauvignons. The Mercado (grocery store) had great prices too. 2-8 Euros per bottle. I wanted some cheese and went to the counter to have them cut some off the blocks for me. Since he did not speak English and my Italian is even more limited it was mainly pointing and shaking my head for approval. We then walked back to the dock to take the tender back to the ship to eat our cheese and crackers with our local wine. And now to siesta
Since Dawndra used her American Express to make our down payment on the trip we are now exclusive members of the AE Mariners Club. Even though this trip is a total of 5500 miles we are included. There were other couples that had 60,000- 100,000+ miles. The party included open bar, which is unheard of on cruise ships. And we did take advantage! There we meet two great couples that had a lot of great advice for the ports. One couple, Tom and Mernerva, were very talkative. He had no problem giving advice of what we should do on our first time at our ports of calls.
Dinner was very good tonight. It was formal night so we had to dress up. We both had the surf and turf of lobster and new york strip steak. Boyd and I spice the steaks much better than they do.
Tomorrow, Marseille France!
Caio,
Calvin & Dawndra
6/7/2009
Marseille, France
We did not book a shore excursion for this port thinking there was plenty to do here. This is a very industrial city. We took the ship shuttle to the interior of town and walked around for a little bit. There was a sailing competition going on while were here. We could not see it of course since we are in the bay and the sailing was out further. We strolled through the tourist area and had a beer. We are now waiting on the shuttle back to the ship.
We went to an Olive Oil tasting on the ship. It was very educational. Who knew that there is as much or more about the processing of olive oil as there is wine. We learned that olive oil goes bad for optimal taste in about 3 weeks after opening. That the tin cans are great, because like wine, light, heat, and oxygen are bad.
Until tomorrow, Barcelona Spain
C&D
We made it on board the ship in very little time once arriving at the port. The ride on the bus to the port is a whole different story. The streets in Rome are very small and there seems to be no rules of the road. People double park, speed, there seems to be very few stop signs, the motorcycles weave in and out of traffic even on the sidewalks. The bus got stuck on a small street for about 30 minutes because there was a car parked in a crosswalk so we were not able to make the turn. It was funny to me to listen to, and watch the driver deal with it. He had a typical Italian temper. I am sure if I understood Italian there would have been many curse words. At on point we saw a student driver on the streets. I thought I saw the driver tell the student to cross two lanes of traffic to make a left turn. The rest of the drive was fine. It is interesting to see the difference in agriculture here. There are many small areas of grapes. It appeared that they were to make the wine for personal consumption.
Once on board we got settled and went to eat lunch. Then as the Romans do we took a siesta!! After that was time for dinner. We sat next to a couple from Hawaii (Jack and Eileen) that cruise a whole lot. There last cruise was 114 days!! It was fun to talk to them about their experinces.
6/6/2009
Our nights rest was great. At one point the ship seemed to be going through rough seas as we were jostled out of our sleep, although not for long. We had to get up early to eat and leave for Pisa. The trip on the bus was very interesting. This part of Italy is known for their white marble. There were many plants that had huge chunks of marble straight from the quarry.
Once in Pisa we were amazed that we were actually looking at the Leaning Tower of Pisa! We took a tour of the area including the inside of the cathedral. It is amazing that they were able to build such an incredible buildings in the 10th century. And of course we took pictures of holding up the Tower! Of course we found a small café and had a ‘sandwich’, pizza and birra’s. (see picture)
We got back to La Spezia where the ship is docked and decided to walk around the town for a little bit. Obviously it was during their siesta since all the shops were closed. That saved us some money! We love to walk around the towns and go down side streets to see how the locals live. We found a Mercado and enjoyed trying to figure out what everything was. Of course we picked up some wine for our stateroom and dinners. We learned yesterday that the best vintages of this region are 2001, 04, and 06 so we were able to find some 06’s. We are vary rarely sure of what we are buying since most of the wines are of a different varietal than we are use to. We have found Chianti’s and some Cabernet Sauvignons. The Mercado (grocery store) had great prices too. 2-8 Euros per bottle. I wanted some cheese and went to the counter to have them cut some off the blocks for me. Since he did not speak English and my Italian is even more limited it was mainly pointing and shaking my head for approval. We then walked back to the dock to take the tender back to the ship to eat our cheese and crackers with our local wine. And now to siesta
Since Dawndra used her American Express to make our down payment on the trip we are now exclusive members of the AE Mariners Club. Even though this trip is a total of 5500 miles we are included. There were other couples that had 60,000- 100,000+ miles. The party included open bar, which is unheard of on cruise ships. And we did take advantage! There we meet two great couples that had a lot of great advice for the ports. One couple, Tom and Mernerva, were very talkative. He had no problem giving advice of what we should do on our first time at our ports of calls.
Dinner was very good tonight. It was formal night so we had to dress up. We both had the surf and turf of lobster and new york strip steak. Boyd and I spice the steaks much better than they do.
Tomorrow, Marseille France!
Caio,
Calvin & Dawndra
6/7/2009
Marseille, France
We did not book a shore excursion for this port thinking there was plenty to do here. This is a very industrial city. We took the ship shuttle to the interior of town and walked around for a little bit. There was a sailing competition going on while were here. We could not see it of course since we are in the bay and the sailing was out further. We strolled through the tourist area and had a beer. We are now waiting on the shuttle back to the ship.
We went to an Olive Oil tasting on the ship. It was very educational. Who knew that there is as much or more about the processing of olive oil as there is wine. We learned that olive oil goes bad for optimal taste in about 3 weeks after opening. That the tin cans are great, because like wine, light, heat, and oxygen are bad.
Until tomorrow, Barcelona Spain
C&D
love the snazzy orange lifevests!
ReplyDeleteGlad you were able to figure out the vest with the big "FRONT" on it.
ReplyDeleteMy boss just got back from Italy, said he was in a cab doing about 100 (mph?) through the city, and then all the sudden stopped because he saw a girl in a red dress on the side of the road and started talking to her. I would go crazy if someone held me up for 30 minutes though.