Rome!!!

What can I say about Rome? It was fabulous, a very long and tiring day, but great.

Instead of doing an excursion w/ DCL, I hired a tour service, limoinrome.com. Marcello was our driver/guide. He was great. The van was right there waiting for us when we got off the ship at 7:30 AM He took us to all the major sites and walked with us and explained so much about the different sites. He would even stop and pullover to the side if we wanted a picture of something. He took us to the Coliseum, the Pantheon, Spanish Steps, Trevi Fountain and other places that escape my crowded mind. We threw our coins into the fountain to insure our return to Rome one day. I certainly hope I get the opportunity to come back one day.

We then had a private guide, Natasha, arranged by Marcello, to take us through the Vatican Museums, The Sistine Chapel, and St. Peters Basillica. She was great and very informative. The whole place was jammed packed w/ people. The Sistine Chapel was a bit hard to enjoy as we felt packed in like sardines. Could barely move. We were there in the afternoon. Don't know if that makes a difference or not.

Before the tour of the above, Marcello took us to this great little restaurant where we enjoyed the most delicious pizza and spaghetti. I'll post later the name of the place as I can't remember it at the moment. It was sooo good.

You must be very careful when in a crowded area. Two men almost came to blows when one accused the other of trying to pickpocket him. Rather interesting. Just hold tight to your belongings.

Dinner was scheduled a 1/2 hour later than normal, 9:00 instead of 8:30. This was good for us. It gave us time to rest up and shower after the long day. We were off the ship at 7:30 and got back about 6:00

Someone asked who our servers are. Head server is Ivo, Asst. server is Alessandro and the Head Waiter is also Alessandro. Our serving team of Ivo and Alessandro are wonderful, love them. Our stateroom hostess is Denista. She is wonderful. She joined in yesterday w/ Laura, Julie and Sam to sing me happy birthday. She is very sweet and is always available for anything we need.

Today we were supposed to go see the Leaning Tower of Pisa. Our excursion was scheduled for 8:30 Am, but we overslept and missed it. We are using today as a day to relax. Laura has a massage at 6:00 and I have a manicure at 4:00. I felt so bad this morning, but I guess it worked out for the best. The 11 day cruisers have a sea day in the middle, which will be very helpful to them. Us 10 day cruisers don't have that and this cruise is so port intensive, it can be a bit exhausting.

We are having a great time. Sorry about not being able to post pics. I will post when we get home. I should clarify that the pic I posted from Barcelona did not post correctly. I guess it was too big or something. I'll fix it when back home.

Thanks to all who are reading and posting comments. More tomorrow.