The Big Day had finally arrived – we’re going on a cruise!
But first we had to check out of the hotel and meet up with the driver who would take us to the port. I had arranged for a transfer that included a 3 hour whirlwind tour of Rome before getting on the road to the ship. As far as I could tell, there was no definitive description of what that meant.
The shuttle company had confirmed the time the day before – 9:00 a.m., so we were good to go.
But first we had to check out of the hotel, which proved a bit more difficult than expected. Andy took the suitcases down to the street to wait for the driver, while I took all the keys to the second floor where we had checked in a couple of days ago.
Except the door was locked and no one responded to the buzzer or my knocking. Not sure what to do, I kept buzzing and knocking until someone opened the door – turned out to be people staying at the hotel on that floor.
Ok so, now I was inside, but no sight of anybody to give the key to. Just as I was ready to leave the keys on the desk with a note, Dianna showed up and I was able to hand everything to her.
Now I was able to join Andy at curbside – it’s now a little after 9:00 a.m. and no driver. Finally a small van shows up across the street. The driver introduces himself as Ahmed. He opens the sliding door to reveal two bench seats – one facing forward and one facing backward. Kind of an awkward configuration for a tour, maybe? And the step into the van was very high. I ended up in the front passenger seat – as hard as it was to get into that seat, it was easier than getting into the back.
Finally we are on our way and we pick up The Crew – Susie, Janet, and Susie’s friend and only non-Sheldon, Tom (poor guy).
So Ahmed asks me – “Where are we going?” Besides the thought of “I figured there was some kind of standard itinerary” that passed through my mind, it was obvious that no one in the back seat could hear him. Along with the weird seat configuration, I guess I kind of expected a tour guide to be equipped to make sure everybody in the van could hear him.
Oh it was obvious that English was not Ahmed’s first language, which is ok, but it was far from fluent (hours later I found out that English is Ahmed’s 4th language, which is pretty impressive, but….)
Anyway, Susie wanted to see the Trevi Fountain first, so off we went.
And then it started to rain. But that didn’t stop us, course. And nothing stops the Trevi Fountain:
Next stop was the Spanish Steps. Ahmed parked at the top, which meant to really see everything we had to walk all the way down and then all the way back up. I stayed up on top, sitting under an overhang on my portable seat with my umbrella in the pouring rain.
Tom came up before the others and he came to keep me company. We both noticed a man walking back and forth in the rain, with seemingly no place to be. Out of nowhere, he started talking to me – in Italian – so I had no idea what he was saying.
And suddenly he said: “Eh-lah-vey-tor! Eh-lah-vey-tor! Few steps! Go down!”, as he gesticulated towards the Metro stop that I just noticed.
So we went down one flight of steps (instead of a zillion steps), found the elevator and walked out to the street at the bottom of the Spanish Steps. Here’s our group photo proving we were all there:
Back in the van, Ahmed told me we were next headed to a panoramic viewing spot. And then I shouted this info to the back of the van. I was beginning to notice a pattern – Ahmed told me something and then I relayed the info to the back of the van. The system worked, but just a little odd.
Anyway, this was the view of Rome from the Villa de la Borgese:
We are looking down on Piazza Popolo and at the horizon is St Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican. This sums up Ahmed’s explanation.
Our next stop was the Coliseum. It was pouring again, so I stayed in the car, since we had taken the tour just the day before. This time, Andy was able to get this great shot of the exterior:
At this point Ahmed had stopped asking us where we wanted to go, and took us to Piazza Navono. Again, a spot that Andy and I had already visited up close just the day before, but he still managed to find something we hadn’t seen before – this weird fountain:
Starting to run out of time, we did a “drive by” of the Vatican, though it was more of a “crawl by” with all the traffic. Literally, Ahmed pointed out that this side of the street was Italy and that over there was the Vatican, its own sovereign nation. But there was a purpose to going this particular route – Ahmed brought us to a fabulous gelato place for our last Roman gelato.
Arrivaderci Roma!
Though we still had an hour drive to the port, whereupon Ahmed told me his life story in his not great English, which he realized was not great, hoped he was getting better, but it was his fourth language after his native language from Bangladesh, Hindi, and Italian. He pointed out the restaurant where he had his first job in Italy as a dishwasher, and worked his way up, took language classes, until finally he was able to get his driver’s license. And now he drives.
Really give the guy tons of credit, but he’s got a ways to go before he’s a real tour guide (as opposed to just a driver).
But he tried really hard to please us, and that’s really what counted in the end.
He dropped us off at the ship, and back he went to Rome.
And now the real adventure begins!
The check in was eerily empty. Literally hardly anybody else there but us. Perhaps because it was after 2:00 p.m.? We sent our carry on bags through the security scan – my big metal hair clip confused the security guys for a few minutes until I pulled it out of my bag and showed them. This made them very happy.
Susie snagged The Last Map of the ship. Very odd, and annoying, because we had no idea where anything was.
We had an hour before our suitcases would be delivered to our staterooms, so we went to lunch at the buffet.
We then figure out the wifi situation after a visit with the IT guy.
When we got to our room, my suitcase had showed up. The room itself is fine – just like pretty much any other cruise ship stateroom.
After dinner, we came back to the room to find our fist towel animal:
Tomorrow: our first real day of cruising – The Sheldons In Florence
Game of thrones dilemma
Maryland Meshugas 