Wordless Wednesday ~ Pre-Flight Spin

 

The End (Day 14 - Rome and Home)

June 2nd is Italy's Republic Day.  This is a national holiday celebrating the day when Italians voted to abolish the monarchy in 1946 so their country could become a republic.  It was also the last day of our vacation. Because of the holiday, Martina had warned us that the streets would be busy and she might not be able to see us before we left since she rides the train in to Rome each morning.  We were fine with one more breakfast across the street with our new friend, Carlos.

We were the first ones in and enjoyed cappuccinos and pastries.  While we were finishing up, several groups came in and it looked like it was going to be a busy day in Rome.

I had Martina schedule a shuttle to the airport.  Our driver was on time and drove like a normal person.  Much better than the driver we had from Expedia  Live and learn! 

We breezed our way through luggage and security and had a couple of hours to just hang out at the airport until it was time for our 13 hour flight home.

I had contacted our travel agent after we arrived in Rome to see if we could upgrade our seats.  We were able to get bulkhead seats so we had more legroom.  The seats were still narrow and broken down, but we did have a little more space.  I had the aisle seat, while Les was in the middle.  It appeared that no one paid for the window seat so we had several ask us if it was available.  One guy ended up taking it.  The flight home was long, the service was typical airline service.

We were finally back in America!  Since we had a direct flight, we were able to get our luggage, go through about four security checks (no kidding!) and then were out on the sidewalk waiting for our shuttle van.  We shared a van with one other couple and we were fortunate enough to be dropped off first.  Traffic was pretty heavy, but we eventually made it.  Home, sweet home!

The End.

(If you've gotten behind, all the posts are now in order HERE.  And all our pictures are HERE.)

Disembarkation Day, a Crazy Shuttle Driver, and a Little More "Rome-ing" (Day 13 - Disembarkation Day and Rome)

Our cruise came to an end on Wednesday, June 1st.  Can you believe I am still blogging about it?!  It's been a lot of fun to remember so many great times. Our luggage was set outside the room the night before.  We didn't have to be careful with our carry-on bags since we were not flying home until the next day so that made things a little easier.

We went to the 11th deck for one more breakfast.  There were fresh donuts with all kinds of toppings!  Please don't judge me by the number of donuts on my plate...

We snapped a few shots of the inside of the ship and then we were off...

We were off the ship by 7:15.  I had booked another shared van through Expedia.  We were suppose to leave at 8:00, but didn't leave until 8:30.  I blogged about our experience getting to the cruise ship on June 17th, but this experience was much worse!  This driver was so scary!  He was all over the road.  It seemed like he preferred to center his tires on the striped lines instead of staying between them.  I had booked a transfer from the ship to hotels in Rome.  After about an hour I noticed our driver take an exit to Fiumcino Airport.  He dropped a couple off at a hotel near the airport, which was about 20 miles out of the way.  Instead of getting back on the motorway, our driver took crazy back roads into Rome.  This ended up adding about 45 minutes to our trip.  They say "all roads lead to Rome" but we would have preferred a more direct one!  Everyone in the shuttle was pretty upset with his driving and the extra detour.  When we got out of the van, as we were getting our luggage, the driver said, "Tip for the driver."  This was the only thing he said the entire trip!  I think I had about 30 cents in Euro coins, and that was more than he deserved.  Lesson learned:  do not book a shared van through Expedia.  Ever.

Nearly three hours after getting off the ship, we were finally free.  We had to work really hard to shake off such a negative experience.  But stepping back into Sweetly Home Roma helped!  The sweet Martina was there waiting for us.  We dropped off our luggage and headed back out for one more day in Rome.  St. Peter's Square was very crowded.  We took very few pictures, but after about an hour we did find pizza one more time!

Les ordered a calzone...

Our next stop was gelato.  We were looking for a store that Les was very interested in - Lazzaretti Cycling.  On our way, we walked by the U.S. Embassy.  When I pulled out my phone to take a picture, I was quickly stopped.  I have no idea why, but Google provided what I was unable to obtain...

Lazzaretti Cycling was founded in 1916.  Les enjoyed looking at their bikes and he came home with a new cycling jersey (that I did not take a picture of!)  We walked over 7 miles that day and took about one picture per mile.  Sometimes you have to put the camera down and just enjoy the journey.  It appears that all we did was eat during our last two days of the trip because I only have pictures of food.

Dinner that night found us back at La Pillotta de Mario - the same place where we had our first dinner in Rome!  Mario was there and just as kind as the first time.  This time Les had lasagna and I had fettuccine Alfredo.  They were both incredible!  We finished the evening with lemon/vanilla ice cream.

A Final Sailing and Sunset (Day 12 - Naples, Italy, Part 2)

 
After our beautiful day in Capri, we enjoyed one last sailing and sunset from room 8616.

Two very content travelers!

The Island of Capri and the BEST Pizza (Day 12 - Naples, Italy, Part 1)

I realized after yesterday's post went live that my title might have been a bit confusing.  "Our Final Day at Sea" did not mean we were getting off the ship.  It was a full day at sea with no port of call.  We still had two more nights on the ship.

Naples was another repeat port.  In 2011 we saw Pompeii in the morning and Herculaneum in the afternoon.  This time we only booked a boat trip to the Island of Capri which we would explore on our own.  This was another great decision.

We left our ship, walked around the harbor with our guide, Rosario, and boarded a ferry to the island.  On the walk to the ferry we were mobbed by taxi drivers and tour guides.  A simple "no" wasn't enough to get them to back off, but when I pointed at the number on my top, they knew I'd already paid for an excursion and they moved on to someone else.

I would love to say that our ferry ride was uneventful, but unfortunately a little boy a few rows behind us lost his breakfast.  Poor guy!  The ride was a bit bumpy and I was very glad that I had taken Dramamine.  His mom handled it well and said the first stop would be new clothes.  I said, "If you had a girl, I'd think she'd planned that!"

We gathered in the Marina Grande and Rosario did his best to up-sell us to another boat ride.  This would have taken us to the Blue Grotto.  We opted out and bought tickets to the Funicolare (incline train) which took us up to the city of Capri.

We spent several hours just wandering this beautiful island.  I do not exaggerate when I say it is beautiful!

There were lots of neat little shops.

But the views were spectacular!

Much like Santorini, the streets were full of shops and restaurants.  The Car Shoe store was pretty neat, patented in 1963, just like the love of my life!

This might be the only slight regret I have of our trip.  We walked by this particular shop with brightly colored dresses and tops.  There was a sale rack outside with items for 20 Euros.  I didn't buy anything at the time.  Later I thought if we passed by again that I would take a closer look.  Unfortunately, we never saw that store again!

We continued walking, talking, and taking pictures.  I'm pretty sure there are more pictures of us (especially me) taken on this day than any other.  We had a lot of fun exploring at a relaxing pace!

We followed the road up to the Augustus Gardens.

Get ready for the amazing views!  (And to see more, go to my Shutterfly account HERE!)

We spent a lot of time in the gardens just watching the boats below and staring at the view!

We noticed this switchback path that led from the gardens to the marina.  This is called Via Krupp.

Via Krupp is a historic switchback paved footpath on the island of Capri, connecting the Charterhouse of San Giacomo and the Gardens of Augustus area with Marina Piccola. Commissioned by German industrialist Friedrich Alfred Krupp, the path covers an elevation difference of about 320 feet. Built between 1900 and 1902, ostensibly Via Krupp was a connection for Krupp between his luxury hotel, Grand Hotel Quisisana, and Marina Piccola, where his marine biology research vessel lay at anchor. Secretly however, this path also conveyed him to Grotta di Fra Felice a grotto where sex orgies with local youths are supposed to have taken place. When the scandal surfaced, Krupp was asked to leave Italy in 1902.  Since 1976, Via Krupp has been closed most of the time due to the danger of falling rocks.  (Sorry, I know I said no more history lessons!)

Charterhouse of San Giacomo

These beautiful flowers were not in the Augustus Gardens, they surrounded the doorway of a store.

More views of the island.

All this beautiful scenery had made us hungry!  We walked back to the center of town and found a little cafe.

We didn't realize the word "bar" was part of its name....

I was happy since they brought us olives!

And this amazing pizza!  Les said, "Best pizza ever!  No joke!"

There was still another part of the island we had yet to see - the comune of Anacapri.  Not to be confused with the word commune, a comune is a basic administrative division in Italy, roughly equivalent to a township or municipality.  The elevation of Capri is about 500 feet, the elevation of Anacapri is about 900 feet.  That meant a crowded, crazy bus ride up a windy, narrow road!

When we arrived in Anacapri our plan was to take the chairlift to Mount Solaro which has an elevation of about 1900 feet.  This was our only major mistake of our trip.  We got off the bus in the city center when we needed to stay on until the next stop.  We couldn't find our way to the chairlift but we did find gelato so all was not lost!  We knew we needed to get back to Marina Grande by 3:30 so we got in line for the bus back to Capri.  And waited and waited... in the hot sun with lots of other travelers.  A bus came by but it was completely full and no one got on or off.  There was a taxi stand that had a long line as well.  As we were trying to decide what to do a man yelled out, "Anyone want to share a taxi?"  I stayed in line while Les talked to him.  We split the cost and rode in this open air taxi.  So basically we had the most expensive gelato ever!

We made it back to Capri and got in line for the Funicolare again.  While we waited, Les took a few more pictures.  Mount Vesuvius across the Gulf of Naples.

This was a perfect final port of call!