Day 1. Leaving home!

The 7th November is finally here!!! Our trip has begun!! I forgot how much fun it is packing for a trip that includes a cruise, particularly when they ask you to dress up for dinner. Mmmm.... Fortunately, or unfortunately some may say, we are not going on a warm weather holiday, so we can leave out the beach gear. That all said, it is going to be a struggle to keep our cases under 20 kilos. We are travelling on several different airlines on this trip, and they all have different policies, so had to factor that in - Argggghhhhhh!!!!

Can you pack me in your suitcase too?

What is all this packing about?

This morning we arranged everything for Cosby and Macy. They are just as excited as we are about the trip as they are getting to spend lots of time with their grandparents (both sets) and will have back gardens to run around in and chase lizards and eat snails (as we may do later in our trip- mmmmm). 

Staying with grandparents.

Even Stephen's Kandii tried to come.

Cory wanted to make sure his ears were as clear as possible so he decided to do a candle-ing treatment on his ear canals. Not sure it did anything but he did look quite funny and as though he was a birthday cake with a candle sticking out of his head!

Cory as a birthday cake?

Once the kids were sorted out, we headed out to Tullamarine. We were fortunate enough to have our lovely friend Mark offer to pick us up and take us out to the airport. Thanks Mark - made everything a lot less stressful and was good to see you and hear about all your exciting things going on. Cory loved showing off his recently bloomed hydrangeas too. 

It really does feel different when you are going on holidays compared to going to work!!!! Excitement, trepidation, what if we don't get on the flight? Will we get seats together? All those things cross your mind, though we definitely worry about them far less now than when we were younger. 

At the airport, there was a long line for check in which raised some eye brows, and we were soon to find out that the reason was because another flight to Singapore had been cancelled. All of its passengers were being placed onto our flight... Grrrr. This was going to change things a bit, though the check in staff assured us that Qantas customers - including us - would be loaded on before the other airline’s delayed passengers.... ( We had fingers crossed as this had the potential to totally derail our whole plans - There was a bit of nail biting going on)...

Everything ended up getting nicely delayed because of the extra passengers, but we kept our seats and got onto a very nice looking A380. It was a fantastic flight with beautiful food and wine!

 

We had some very exciting news from a few fronts letting us know that Obama had won the USA elections. This was a massive relief for all... Could not imagine arriving in the USA to a suppressive leadership later in our trip... Congrats to all Americans for choosing the right guys!!!!

And we are off!!! Goodbye Melbourne!!!

We arrived at Singapore Changhi a little late and said a goodbye to our A380, which was going onto London and made a change to the trusty 747-400 bound for Frankfurt!!!! The 747 still looks so beautiful!!! Next stop: Europe!!!! Will report back to you then!!!

A view of Singapore city twinkling at night, taken on the 4th November from Swissotel, the Stamford, 46th floor.

Day 2. Singapore, Frankfurt, Rome, The Vatican

Welcome to ROMA!!! It was a long time getting here, but we finally arrived!!!! Our change in Singapore resulted in a very rushed transfer!!! There was someone standing at the gate as we got off our flight from Melbourne calling everyones name for the flight to Frankfurt, so we literally had to high tail it to our awaiting 747!!! It was a nice surprise to see some friendly faces!!! Hi Wayne and Jacquie!!! The whole crew was fantastic and  that flight went so fast!!!  There was a small mid air drama which I won't talk about too much right now, but it was well handled by the 747 team!!! Thank god we didn't have to put the oxygen masks on!!!

A quick transfer in Frankfurt and a fabulous hot shower (felt amazing) before we got on our Lufthansa flight to Rome... Back to economy for this one, and a delicious continental breakfast -chocolate muesli with yogurt!!! YA.... 

A bit tighter on the Lufthansa A320.

After a smooth arrival in Rome, we joined the Leonardo express train to Rome. A very comfortable ride, though we were both already exhausted, but relieved to finally be in Italy! What happened to the last 24 hours??? 

We spent the afternoon visiting the Vatican, which blew Cory away. Don't think he realised how massive/spectacular St Peter's basilica was going to be... Fortunately, it was not too crowded.. I too was  taken aback with how much money the catholic church must have had at some stage to finance this amazing place.  Absolutely amazing!!! 

After the vatican, we stopped off at La spagnola, the Spanish steps... This is a big tourist hotspot and lots of people comment about "whats the fuss all about", however we really liked this area, and stayed to take lots of photos and went up and down looking at all the people there. unfortunately, we had a camera malfunction, and could not print any of the pics from there... 

We were both taken aback by how well the locals dress. We could get away with wearing what we have planned for the dress up nights on our cruise in Rome. Everyone looks like they have just hopped off the cat walk. Another thing that shocked us was the number of smokers. Everyone, young and old sucks on their ciggies while downing the obligatory afternoon espresso on the hop.

We wandered up and down a few cobble stone streets and found a cute little wine bar where we enjoyed an italian sauvignon and some bruschetta while watching the locals go home from work...

A wonderful afternoon,after a very long day, before we headed back to our hotel, the hotel UNA Roma!!! Very nice and comfortable room with a delightful staff and comfy bed and pillows... mmmm. Sleep is beckoning!!!!!!!!!!! Zzzzzzz...

Day 3. Rome sightseeing

Bonjiorno Rome!!!! We slept like the dead! No wonder after yesterday. I had some dreams about getting pick pocketed and Cory woke up during the night roasting and went and sat out on the terrace to cool down. The sun came up at about 630am, and it was beautiful! So peaceful and it felt very Roman!!!

Today was our day to see the whole of Rome! There was no way that was going to happen, but we wanted to have a good crack so we headed off very early to see the Colloseum. We caught the subway (metro) and when we got off at the train station, it was literally right there in front of us! Breathtaking. Being the savvy travellers we are, we pulled out our iphones and listened to the tour we had downloaded as an app. It gave the whole history of the Colloseum. The Romans were quite barbaric! During our self guided tour, Cory said he is really looking forward to seeing the movie "The Gladiator" after seeing where it all happened! One interesting tit bit was that they had to shower the arena with perfume because of the stench of blood from all the fighting! Not a pretty thought at all. 

Vittorio Emmanuelle monument.

From the Colloseum, there was an enormous amount of history and architectural brilliance which left our jaws on the floor. The view up to the Vittorio Emmanuelle monument - All of it was truly spectacular! We had not been in Rome for 24 hours when Cory said to me " Oh my God, I can't believe that I have left it for so long to come to Europe! At least I still have a few years left to see it!

We made a beeline for the Pantheon and stopped off at the basilica at plaza de Minnerva. The amount of decoration and opulence in this church was amazing. After this, and a little quiet time in the church pews, the pantheon was waiting for us just around the corner. Damian recently told me he could have spent an entire afternoon in the pantheon and I can understand why! It is one of the oldest and most momentous of Roman buildings and was built as a place of worship for all religions (provided the people fell under the monarch's rule). Lots of dome's around the world have been built around its architectural brilliance including those in St Peter's basilica and the Whitehouse in Washington (Thanks Rick Stein's audio tour). It is still used as a church for weddings etc.

The pntheon stunner!!!

We wandered the streets and found a lunch spot away from the crowds. It was nice to sit in the sun and relax a bit. The place we stopped at had super fast wifi, hence the videos from today I was able to upload! LOL. 

Naughty nuns late for church and locked out

The weather has been very kind to us, with 20 degree days. Not sure if I would care for Rome in summer when it is really hot and there are many many more crowds. We have not had to wait for anything, or queue up for any of the places. The busiest place was the trevvy fountain which we wandered to after lunch.  Cory's artistic side has kicked in again, and we stopped so he could take photos of everything!!!

Trevvy fountain

Deli Roma style

There was a special message waiting from Charlotte when we got back to the hotel! Thank you Charlotte for your video! It was so nice to see you and hear your voice!!! The sun was also setting and our little terrace was so nice to sit and watch the sunset! The last we will see over Rome!

We finished the day with a bowl of pasta and a glass of wine! Quiet and tired! Ready for another big snooze (fingers crossed)...

Day 4. Rome-Civitaveccia-Seabourn Pride

yum donuts.

This morning, we woke up before the sun did!!! Think we are still adjusting to the time change. The birds started chirping very early and were keen to get the day started, so we watched the sunrise again. Breakfast was delicious. Surprise surprise, Cory managed to find some donuts !!! The coffee is SOOOOOOooooo good in Rome. Now I understand why the Italians are such coffee snobs.

With a few hours before we had to leave Rome, we decided to visit the Villa Borgese gardens. It is the second largest park in Rome covering 83 hectares. It was a touch of paradise away from all the buzz in the city and a lovely way to spend the morning...

We headed back to the hotel and picked up our bits and pieces. For some reason, our baggage seems to have gotten heavier and heavier... We hauled all of it around the corner to the train station and waited for our train to the cruise port, Civetavicia. There were lots of gypsys looking for tourists to con at the Rome termini and lots of beggars as well. The police were constantly chasing after one or the other. It was amusing to watch, but we held tight to our bags. The train turned up and there did not seem to be that many people getting on, but it felt as though the train was pretty packed. It was very comfortable though, and  it zoomed through the Roman suburbs and countryside to the port. This was a train bound for Milan via the coast, so faster than normal. It was very exciting to catch our first glimpses on the Mediterranean as we approached the port.

The train journey from Rome to Civitavechia

The Seabourn Pride was parked at the front of a few ships and looked very proud indeed. Much smaller than the others though, which Cory pointed out very quickly. ;) The welcome was amazing and very personal, like we were joining a family at their home. Champagne was flowing and the white gloved crew were very attentive indeed. On this ship, registration etc is done on board. This was in the show lounge where all the passengers were busy sizing each other up. We heard lots of accents and saw a generous smattering of M2M couples amongst the crowd. There was only one child, who we later found out was traveling with the Captain... There are 196 passengers on board, so almost a full ship. Thats slightly more than we carry in a 737, so not many at all really.... We settled in quickly and it wasn’t long before the Captain was giving his spiel, warning of a choppy sea in front of us for tonight. His advice was to take a sea sickness pill to avoid a night of nausea.  

We decided to have a little afternoon tea, which was little sandwiches and scones. YUM! It wasn’t long before we were being pulled away from the pier by a tugboat. (The old gag: Anyone for a tug? did bring a smile to my face. LOL).

We passed the HAL Maasdam, a ship we would love to go on one day! We were headed for Naples, and the bumps did not take long to start!!!!