Arrivederci, Roma!

Instead of “Arrivederci, Roma”, we were saying “Good bye, friends” as the 57 day Grand Mediterranean part of our cruise came to an end.   Friday had been a day of packing and weighing luggage for the vast majority of the people we had gotten to know or at least recognize by sight over the last 8 weeks.  On a long cruise, your fellow cruisers become almost family but now they are gone and a whole new group has overtaken the ship.  For us, the day before the cruise ended was moving day.  We had taken an upsell for the Grand Voyage but the part that started in Civitavecchia is an entirely separate cruise and we had not paid an upsell.  We weren’t willing to pay what they were asking for the two week upsell so were moving back to the room we had originally booked.  No one had used that stateroom on the Grand Voyage so it sailed empty.  That gave us a chance to move things there before the crew became busy helping disembarking guests with their luggage and helping the new ones get settled.

After saying good bye to those that we knew on Saturday morning, I set out on yet another shore excursion.  Not much was going to be happening other than getting people off and new ones on, so since there was an excursion to Rome and I hadn’t been there in 14 years, I decided to take an excursion called Easy Rome.  The trip was offered for those who had been on the ship and were continuing on to Amsterdam.  It involved about a 90 minute ride from the port to Rome, followed by a panoramic tour of the highlights of the city and then a couple hours of free time before returning to the ship.  Our guide, Mat (for a somewhat longer Czech name), explained that while he was Roman born and considers himself Roman, his ancestry is part Czech.  He is a young man with perfect English and an outstanding English vocabulary.  He had only the slightest accent that one could detect as Italian – just enough to make one realize that we were in Rome.  Mat asked us if it was our first visit to Rome but it was not the first visit for any of us so he realized we were all seasoned travelers.

En route he explained the plan for the day and reminded us of the legend of the founding of Rome by Romulus and Remus.   He had maps for each of us with our drop off place (Piazza del Popolo) clearly marked and then he circled three places he thought we could reasonably walk visit in the allotted time – the Spanish Steps, Trevi Fountain, and the Pantheon.  As we drove through the city, he pointed out familiar landmarks like the Roman Forum, the Coliseum, Arch of Constantine, the imposing Victor Emmanuel Monument, Mussolini’s Balcony and much more.  While we rode, Mat reminded us of the historical importance of these places in one of the most historic and most visited cities in the world.  He told us something that we already knew – that we were very fortunate to have had such a beautiful day to see Rome:  sunny and mild, but definitely not hot.  This has been a great time to visit Europe since southern Europe can get pretty hot in the peak tourist months of July and August.

When we reached Piazza del Popolo, he led us to the steps of a church in one corner of the piazza and said we’d meet there at 12:50 for our return trip to the ship.  Then he left us to either walk with him or to set off on our own.  Most chose to go as couples to see what they wished.   Of course Barb decided it would be best for her not to do this as she has seen Rome and wants to save herself for the several ports coming up in the next two weeks that will be new for her.  Likewise we just didn’t know where we would be, what the walking would be like, and if it would be wheelchair accessible.  It would have been essential to have had the wheelchair with us had she gone. I concluded she had made a good decision as the crowds were large and the wheelchair would have been nearly impossible.  We have a friend that we met on the 2012 World Cruise who was on with us in 2013 as well and now on the Grand Med.  Joan, from the Seattle area, said since she was by herself, that she’d like to walk with me which was fine.  I didn’t expect to get lost but thought that if I did, at least two heads would be better than one. We began walking down Via del Corso which could take us to Trevi Fountain and the Spanish Steps by just walking a short distance down a side street and back again to Via del Corso.

The street was primarily pedestrian but with enough motor traffic to make one prefer to walk on or close to the sidewalk.  It was a Saturday and large numbers of people were out on the nice spring day.  There were street performers similar to those that are so familiar on Barcelona’s Las Ramblas.  A particularly popular form of street performer in Rome seemed to be ones that pretended to be headless with shirts up over their heads, but hats above where the head should have been.  They attracted quite a bit of attention.  We walked toward the well known Trevi Fountain (Thee Coins in the Fountain for those who remember back to the 1950s).  We approached by a busy street along the side of fountain and foot traffic along with some vehicular traffic created near gridlock.  I snapped a few pictures and we were on our way back to Via del Corso. As we returned, I had noticed the Spanish Steps off in the distance down one street, so we turned there.   The crowds were intense and it was hard to stay together.  At one place, we were in the street near a curb and people were moving past. Of course there was no rhyme or reason to people walking in opposite directions.  In one particularly crowded area, someone unintentionally brushed against Joan.  Because she was so close to the curb, she was thrown off balance and fell on the sidewalk.  She had tried to regain her balance and I was too far away to do anything.  She professed to be OK as she got up. One kind young man helped her up and asked if he she needed any help.  Joan graciously declined saying she was OK.  Fortunately she didn’t strike her head though her cheap (that’s what she called them) sunglasses were scraped.  She insisted she was fine and from her walk, it appeared to be correct.  We got closer to the Spanish Steps which were packed with tourists but we decided not to go closer into the crush of humanity and turned back.  We walked slowly back to our meeting point with a short stop at an old Catholic Church.  We stepped inside for a few minutes to admire the magnificent ornate artwork and sculpturing on the inside and to gain a brief respite from the crowds.   From there it was a short walk to the steps where the guide told us to meet him at 12:50.  Joan and I arrived about 5 minutes early and were surprised to be the first ones back but our guide was already there on the steps waiting for us.  Within five to seven minutes the entire group was back so we could make our way back to the bus.

Those who know Rome will be familiar with our route across the Tiber River, past Castel San Angelo and toward the Vatican.  Mat had told us we would be able to see St. Peter’s from the bus and he was correct.  Several blocks away at one busy intersection, we caught a fleeting view of St. Peter’s Basilica.  Huge crowds were in the streets and Mat told us that they were a part of the celebration that had taken place at the Vatican two weeks ago when Pope John XXIII and Pope John Paul II had both been named saints of the church.  Never before had two popes been sainted at the same time and never before had two living popes participated in the ceremonies.  Even now, two weeks later, people were still coming to celebrate.  I even caught a quick picture of several African men with their red hats that Mat said meant they were cardinals.  Not being Catholic, I will take his word for that!  They weren’t in their red cardinals’ vestments but did have the red hat.  We were stuck in the slow bumper to bumper traffic for quite a few blocks but fortunately broke away from it and shortly we were out of the city and on our way through the countryside back to Civitavecchia.  I was pleased with the beautiful rolling hills and countryside between Rome and the port because the scenery passed the time quickly.

Once back to the ship, we checked through security and recognized all those new unfamiliar faces.  This group was somewhat younger than our Grand Voyage since younger people can take two weeks for a vacation while it takes a retired person to be able to be gone for eight weeks or more as we had done.  There were even children and some teenagers on board and I even saw a toddler.  As the retired teacher, I always wonder when I see kids out “when they should be in school” and wonder why they are out.  Of course today, there is a lot of home schooling and some schools are on a year round basis and this may be the time of the break.  Who knows but it’s not my job to be truant officer and to round them up!

The day was pleasant, we were settled into our new digs, and looking forward to visiting even more new ports, all except two of which coming up will be new for us.

CT