You are using an insecure version of your web browser. Please update your browser!
Using an outdated browser makes your computer unsafe. For a safer, faster, more enjoyable user experience, please update your browser today or try a newer browser.
Day 4 started poorly, with the return of our laundry. At usual, the results were less than acceptable. This time they got our clothes mixed up with another cabin and we had to go through and pick ours out. And then we had to deal with the fact that 4 shirts and a pair of pants were VERY wrinkled and had to be returned to be pressed. Having free laundry on the ship is great, but it would be even better if they did it right.
We got that done just in time for me to go downstairs and stand in line to sign up for a free caricature. I was #9 in line and got a slot for noon on Day 5.
After breakfast I did some trivia and did very poorly. But I did learn some really important facts. Did you know that the Eiffel Tower has 1,749 steps? I do now.
We had a light lunch (salad) and played cards. This time I held my own, 2-2.
Dinner was the first of 3 formal nights on the cruise. I had steak au poivre (very good but not very peppery). We did a little dancing after dinner, then headed to the casino where I promptly lost my $50. I watched Marlene for a while (she continued to win – she is up over $1000) and then got bored and decided to throw away another $50. Good decision – instead of losing the $50 I won $260. I am now UP $10 for the cruise. It won’t last long, but I was able to feel good all night.
Us, more or less
Day 5 started with us cleaning the room so it could be cleaned. Yes, you read that right. We don’t like to have the cabin done up every day. If it were left to Marlene she would NEVER let the room steward in – she would just get fresh towels. We compromise at letting the room get cleaned every 5 days. It will happen again on Day 10.
We had breakfast with Gary and Tania from CT, then went down for our caricature. The artist was very fast, doing the caricature in 10 minutes. I like me in this one. Marlene is captured pretty accurately too.
We had more laundry drama. Two of the items that we had sent back to be redone were still unacceptable. We sent them back for a third try.
I had a salad for lunch then spent some time writing these posts. Couldn’t upload them as I had no internet, but they will be ready when we get to the Azores tomorrow.
My good luck in the casino didn’t last. I lost $120 (down $110 for the cruise).
We attended the first full-scale show of the cruise: “Heart of Soul”. a very colorful revue of soul and Motown music. There are some very good voices in this cast.
Heart of SoulHeart of Soul
We went to the comedy show and the two comedians were just fair. I got a few laughs. Then we had a late night snack.
Jett and I visited Cartagena in 2018 on our first – and last – transatlantic cruise. It was aborted when Jett developed a critically low hemoglobin issue which forced us off the ship and landed Jett in the hospital. It was not a happy introduction to Cartagena. But with Jett in the hospital for 4 days I had time to explore the city. I liked it and was looking forward to sharing it with Marlene.
The Miracle docked early in the morning and passengers were let off around 8 am. The “back on board” deadline was 3:30 pm so it was a relatively short port day.
It was even shorter for us as we had a leisurely breakfast with 3 women who joined me at the table where I was blogging – Belinda, Karen and Regina. Marlene joined later. We had a lively chat and when Marlene and I excused ourselves to go ashore Regina asked if she could join us. Of course, we said. And off we three went.
The path from the pier to the town was lined with vendors of crafts and we had to inspect them all. And there were souvenir shops in the city. Also a museum that looked interesting and was inexpensive – 1 euro for a tour – but the tour didn’t start for an hour. We couldn’t wait so we continued on, up the hill to the fortress at the top. The entry fee there was 7 euros and we passed on that too. We walked down to the top of the Roman theater, getting photos of peacocks on the way. Then back down to the city to do a little more shopping, then back to the ship.
The Miracle in CartagenaThe welcoming committeeLots of stepsResting near the topPeacocksRoman theaterRoman theater
We had dinner with Sue, Mary, Steve, Angie and Lynette. Sue was doing the last *6* back-to-back cruises and had been on the ship so long that crew members were referring to her as the “Mayor of the Miracle.” Interesting dinner.
After dinner we visited the casino. I continued to lose, down $200. Marlene continued to win. She also continued to beat me at cards after we left the casino. Another 2 games for her, none for me.
We logged over 10,000 steps today. Got our exercise.
This was the longest and most complex of the 3 ATW segments, taking 28 days of travel by auto through Italy, France, Germany and Austria. We rented a car after two days in Rome and returned it before our final 3 days in Rome (a total of 23 days of auto rental).
By the numbers:
About 5,500 km in the car (about 2800 miles)
9 hops in 23 days (about 310 miles per hop)
11 hotels totalling 26 nights (2 nights had no hotel as we were traveling)
About $2300 spent on hotels (about $100 per night)
$340 Spent on 57 gallons of gas ($5.96 per gallon, 49 mpg). I have serious doubts about the MPG. My records may have missed a fillup. But the car did get good mileage.
Highlights:
The Vatican. This was at the top of Marlene’s bucket list. It wasn’t at the top of mine, but I was impressed nevertheless.
Sydney. This was a new city for both of us and we loved it. We were more impressed with the library than the opera house, but the whole city was very pleasant. If I had to choose a foreign home, this would be a strong candidate.
The cathedrals of Europe. Marlene is a big fan of cathedrals and I like them too. We didn’t keep a list of the spectacular cathedrals we visited, but the best were Chartres, Tours and Notre Dame of Paris in France and St Peter’s in Rome. But there were many other impressive ones.
Venice. Unique and beautiful. The weather wasn’t great but we enjoyed it anyway.
Some of our accomodations. Ange, Florence, Germany, Genoa (for the breakfast), Sydney.
Seeing my old friend Benjie and Junko in Paris. Not many people can maintain a friendship for 60 years, but we have.
Lowlights:
Losing my wallet in Paris. This was a painful loss of money and created difficulties (e.g. loss of my driver’s license and two credit cards). And I will have to deal with some of the losses when I return. But I still don’t know for certain whether it was lost or stolen.
The parking ticket in Rome. We didn’t see the handicap markings because we were hurrying. I haven’t paid it yet but it may double the cost of the car rental.
The Hotel Comfort in Paris. This place was disgusting and I am still fighting to get my money back.
Observations:
The trip over the Alps into France was both the most terrifying segment of the auto trip and the most memorable. I can’t say it was bad because, having survived it, it became a pleasant memory.
Europe has a LOT of roundabouts / rotaries / traffic circles. We wished we had kept count. We may have encountered more than 1,000.
The US is, unfortunately, winning the culture wars. Compared to my visit 50 years ago, Europe is much more like the US now. Almost everyone spoke some English and US companies – especially McDonald’s – were EVERYWHERE.
Security is much tighter now. Places like the Eiffel Tower and the Arc de Triomphe that were wide open to the public i 1974 are now enclosed in security fences.
We ate very frugally, as I expected we would. The bread in Europe is as good as I recalled. Our breakfasts, lunches and sometimes dinners consisted of bread, cheese and deli meat. Why can’t we have good – and INEXPENSIVE – bread in the US?
Gary, the cruise director, with a raucous crowd in the Atrium
Ah, a day at sea! After a month with the stress of driving in Europe and finding hotels, it was a relief to just kick back and relax. The rough seas in the morning made relaxing more difficult, but I managed.
We slept in after a late night in the casino. I lost, as usual but Marlene did quite well. We visited the casino again today and I continued to lose, down $150. But Marlene is up over $600. Drinks will be on her if she can continue her winning ways.
We had a late breakfast and chatted with Mary and Todd, a couple from Missouri. Then we played cards. A LOT of cards. 5 games, of which I won 1. The usual.
In the afternoon I read and napped. We had dinner in the dining room with 5 others and had a spirited discussion of travel and art.
We danced a bit in the evening. The Miracle Rockband is good, but not as good as the Luminosa Rockband.
We rose at 7 am and did our best to consume what was left of our food. We had bread, cheese and our mystery meat for breakfast, with a side of peach jam. Instant coffee, too. We didn’t quite finish the bread, meat and jam and bequeathed them to the cleaning girl. She actually seemed grateful.
We had booked a transfer to the cruise terminal via a “shared shuttle” service that gave us a quote of 80 euros. This seemed like a bargain as it was similar to the much less convenient option of public transportation: bus to the train station, train to Civitavecchia, taxi to the ship. And it was certainly cheaper than the quote I had received from the city-sponsored service that we had used to get us from the airport to the hotel when we arrived from China: 130 euros. EACH. The third option that we considered – Uber – would probably cost about 130 euros for the two of us.
The low price concerned me. It struck me as too low. But they didn’t have any of my money – we were to pay the drive – so what would be the point of scamming us?
After breakfast we continued our final packing. The scheduled pickup time was 10:30 am – which would get us to the port shortly after noon. Our scheduled boarding time was 3:30 pm, so there was plenty of time to switch to Plan B or Plan C if necessary.
At 9:30 am – while we were still packing – I received a phone call informing me that the van would be at our door by 10 am. We quickly rushed to finish the packing and started hauling the bags downstairs. We had no sooner done that – and while Marlene went back upstairs to return the keycard – the van arrived. It was 9:50 am.
We loaded the van and away we went. We were the first passengers in the van. We had to fetch 6 more. But before we were a block away Marlene remembered that we had left our insulated cups on the ledge outside the hotel. Back we went. We retrieved the cups. Whew!
There were two other stops. We collected 4 passengers from Tampa at one hotel and two passengers from California at another. We were all bound for the Carnival Miracle. But getting there required all of us to trust that the driver could get us there safely, threading the large van down the narrow streets of Rome.
Fortunately he was experienced and skillful and got us to the ship before 1 pm. We expected that the terminal would be swarming with people, as usual on embarkation day, but were surprised to find it a ghost town. Rather than forcing us to wait for the 3:30 scheduled boarding time they let us right in. We were told that we would have to check our large bags because the X-ray machines for boarding were too small. That was a first and we didn’t like it but had no choice – we checked our bags and headed for the small X-ray machines. I realized that I was carrying a large (half liter) bottle of beer which I had not drunk the night before. So I went out on the sidewalk, knocked the cap off on a trash can and chugged my bottle of Moretti beer. Not bad. Would have been better with pretzels.
Then we had to wait to get through immigration. They were calling by groups. They were processing G2 when we arrived and we were J2 so we figured we would have to wait a while. So we grabbed a table in the cafe and started playing cards. But after 30 minutes or so we realized that they had stopped calling groups. We looked out and the waiting area was empty. An empty terminal on embarkation day? Downright spooky.
Anyway, we went through immigration in a few minutes and were on board by 2pm.
The MiracleBoardingAtrium
I will be curious to hear how many passengers are on board because I have never seen a cruise terminal so vacant on embarkation day.
We had lunch in the buffet (our first hot meal in a few days), chatted with Louis and Cindy from Sacramento, then went to our cabin, found the big bags had been delivered and spent an hour unpacking. We then took a nap and explored the ship before dinner, which we ate in the buffet.
We were supposed to leave by 6pm but didn’t leave the dock until 8pm. In the interim there were multiple announcements requesting Lisa Williams to report to guest services. My theory is that Lisa checked in and then someone reported her missing. Don’t know, but it was certainly an unusual embarkation.
After the ship got into the Mediterranean we checked out the casino. My luck continued to be on the bad side (lost $50) but Marlene did great, winning nearly $700. If she can continue that for the rest of the trip is will offset the money she lost getting to Sydney.
We played some cards before bed and there my luck was better, winning both games.
Our last day in Rome was spent touring the Colosseum and the Roman Forum – the surprisingly large area of ruins surrounding it.
We had breakfast in our hotel room, then walked 10 minutes to the Colosseum. The proximity to the Colosseum was one of the main reasons I selected this hotel.
We arrived just before our scheduled 9am ticket time and were let in. But, to our surprise, we were asked to show our ID (later, when I read the fine print on the ticket, I saw that ID was required). We would have been screwed except that as part of our contactless check-in we had to send photos of our passports to the hotel manager. The Colosseum staff accepted those photos.
It would have been a shame to have missed the experience, but we were a bit underwhelmed overall. Yes, the Colosseum is VERY old and it is kind of amazing to walk the same steps that Roman citizens walked 2,000 years ago. But after all the incredible churches we have seen in Europe the Colosseum seemed… bland.
The highlight of our hour there were the two seagulls who were begging for food. I think they didn’t bare at all that the building has stood for several millennia… they just wanted bread.
EnteringLooking out the archesFirst view of the interiorHow many bricks?Model of Colossem, pre-ruinOn ancient stepsTalking to the gullsLooking downYes, we were thereFrom the other end
After we left the Colosseum we walked to the ruins of the Roman Forum, the seat of the Roman government for over 1,000 years. Not much left now except some columns. But the site has been rebuilt and repurposed about 10 times and the fragments that remain are interesting. We spent more time wandering this area than we spent in the Colosseum because the space is HUGE. I don’t know how many acres but it must be well over 100.
And there is a museum with some interesting short videos of the history and artifacts from the archeological digs in the area – mostly around 1900. Extensive gardens, too.
Arch outside the ColosseumOn our way to the ForumArch near the ForumIn the museumMore museum statuaryAt the ForumGarden fountainA view from the gardens
After over 4 hours in the Colosseum and Forum we headed back to the hotel, getting some gelato with the last of our euros (except the 80 reserved for our trip to the ship tomorrow). We took a nap and then I blogged. Then we played cards and, miracle of miracles, I won all 3 games.
Our home for these 3 nights in Rome was the Tullia & Prisca Relais which I expected to be a hotel but is actually a private home with about 10 rooms that are rented out. The rooms are large, comfortable and modern. It was just… odd. I think the place was well suited to our needs, but I should have read the note that was sent to me before our arrival. The nightmare of checking in could have been averted.
No microwave, but a good minifridge and a teapot that heated water in a flash.
8 out of 10.
This ends the ATW-2. Tomorrow we board the Carnival Miracle for the trip home – the start of ATW-3.
I wiil post an ATW-2 wrapup when I next get internet. Probably in our first port.
Our penultimate (love that word!) day in Europe was low-key. We wandered the city for a while but otherwise just chilled in our room. And played cards which, of course, Marlene won, 2-1.
Our meandering route took us up the hill behind the hotel where there were some Roman ruins, past the skate park and the basketball game near the Colosseum, then down past the Colosseum. We were in search of a thrift store. Along the way we saw a condom vending machine – not something you see in the US. We found a thrift store and Marlene found a dress that she liked (I didn’t, but my opinion on fashion carries little weight). Then back to the hotel, getting gelato along the way. We had our usual bread-and-cheese dinner, with cold cuts. Yum.
Then I blogged.
Random ruinsBasketballSkate park More ruinsColosseumCondom vending machineIn search of a thrift store
Let me tell you about our apartment at the Fattoria il Milione Agriturismo in Florence. This is a rural estate in the hills overlooking Florence. Yes, it is difficult to get to, but worth the trip. Almost everything about this place is fantastic. We had a large apartment with a view down to Florence. The place is furnished with vintage and very lovely furniture. There was a kitchenette with minifridge, a cooktop and plenty of pots, pans and utensils.
BedFireplacePool at duskLiving room/kitchenetteBath house
The complimentary breakfasts were very good. Cold cuts, scrambled eggs, toast, croissants, very good coffee.
The problems? Our toilet dripped, which wasn’t pleasant. And if the apartment had heat we never figured out how to use it. But, overall, a very nice, very interesting place.
8 out of 10.
We left around 9:30am. We had a full day ahead of us. The plan was to drive to the thrift shop in Rome where Marlene could see if that dress that she just had to have was still available. Then drive to our hotel, check in, remove everything from the car, return the car and figure out how to get back to the hotel on public transit.
It sort of worked out that way, but not without drama. Too much drama.
First, we spotted a small town – Tuscania – that had some very old fortifications and buildings. We stopped to take a look. The tourist signs in town – fortunately in both Italian and English – informed me that this was a VERY old town with evidence of inhabitation during the Bronze Age – perhaps 2000 BC. It also had Etruscan graves, still in existence, dating back to about 700 BC. The monastery / cathedral ruins there dated from the 12th and 13th century and hadn’t been used since the 16th century. A very old town.
The cathedral ruins were the setting for some of the 1968 Romeo and Juliet film. It also had a well-preserved section of Roman highway.
Tuscania in townRoman highwayUp to the monasteryEtruscan gravesView from monastery
This town would have been fun except that Marlene and I had a fight. It was over the photo above (“Up to the monastery”). She wanted me to take it from further away. I thought I should be closer. She got mad and walked away, which is what you see in the photo. The argument was about micromanagement – an argument we have had many times. I hate to be micromanaged. You want a photo? Fine, I will take a photo. But I will choose where to stand and what to include. She wants the photo taken where she says, when she says.
We should be able to get over this silly little tiff. But it put a pall on the rest of the trip.
It got worse in Rome. We found a parking place near the thrift shop and she did find the dress. But when we returned to the car there were two policemen writing me a ticket. Turns out the parking spot was a HANDICAPPED spot – something both of us should have noticed but didn’t. I haven’t paid the fine yet and I am not sure how long it will take an Italian ticket to catch up to me. But if it does it will double the cost of the car rental – over $400.
That worsened by already sour mood.
Then, to top off a really swell afternoon, we were unable to find the hotel. We found the address but no hotel was there. We asked around and learned that it was a private rental – basically a VRBO. But the call button at the door to the building brought no response and I was unable to find a number to call from my reservation. I finally noticed a placard on the other side of the door that had a number. Calling that number got a response and we got in. It was an interesting check-in experience. I got a keypad code to get in the front door, got to the first floor where the person on the phone opened the door into the residential area. Then, when I found our apartment (A), she opened that door too. Inside, on the desk, were two keycards. She asked me to send her photos of our passports via WhatsApp, which we did. She said we would have to pay the city tax to the cleaning lady the next morning. End of check-in. All done without ever seeing a person.
Once in the apartment we had to empty the car, which we did in three trips. It was then 5:40pm and the Budget rental office, where I had to return the car, closed at 6:30pm. It was only 15 minutes away, but I had to find gas, too. Off I went, in the dark, over unfamiliar streets, with scooters zooming past on both sides and a trolley running down the middle. All while trying to watch the GPS. Terrifying. But I found a gas station, filled the tank for a final time (at 1.69 euros per liter, not bad) and made it to Budget by 6:05pm. The car return was simple and efficient.
Then I had to find the subway. A 12-minute walk got me to the station. I figured out how to buy a ticket (2 euros) but needed help using it (the turnstile invited me to insert the card but apparently it meant the reusable card – the single-use ticket was a touch-and-go on top of the turnstile). 4 stops dropped me 12 minutes from the hotel/apartment. I got a message from Marlene to get some cheese, so I stopped in a store along the way and got 2 varieties. We had the usual bread, cheese and coffee dinner.
The day started with the complimentary breakfast at the hotel, served in a rock-walled room directly below our apartment. A very good breakfast. We chatted with a group of 6 from Lincoln NE who were staying at the hotel for a full month. They loved Italy and Tuscany in particular. For one it was her 12th visit to Italy.
They gave us advice on how to get into Florence and we took it: drive to Scandicci, find a place to park and take the tram to the railway station in Florence. Which is what we did. On the way down the mountain we encountered a car and had to back up to let us pass. That had Marlene cursing again.
We were fortunate to find a free parking spot only a few hundred yards from the tram station. Figuring out how to get a tram ticket took only a few minutes and we had to wait only a few minutes more for the tram (aka “light rail” or “trolley”) to arrive. The ride to Florence took about 20 minutes.
The train station has a huge underground shopping mall, complete with a video tunnel. In the course of shopping (nothing bought) I somehow managed to lose the cloth bag we had brought with us (empty except for stale bread for the pigeons). We spent a few minutes searching for it, unsuccessfully.
Our walking destination was the Piazza del Duomo, the heart of Florence. On the way we spent some time in the Piazza di Santa Maria Novella. Marlene wanted to see the interior of the basilica there but there was an entrance fee. Nothing pisses Marlene off more than churches that charge entrance fees. We didn’t go in.
Video tunnel at the train stationPiazza Santa Maria Novella
The cathedral in the Piazza del Duomo (Cattedrale di Santa Maria del Fiore) – and the building that gives the plaza its name – was free to enter. It was beautiful and I loved the fresco on the dome. But after seeing the ornate cathedrals in France it felt empty.
The other huge building in the square – the Baptistry of St John – also charged a fee and we also skipped it.
Baptistry of St JohnCathdralAbout to enter the cathedralInside the cathedralThe domeOne of many statues
When we exited the cathedral we walked toward the river. We found the plaza with the Galleria della’Accademia where Michaelangelo’s status of David is located. But the entrance fee was exorbitant and the entry was timed so we passed. But the plaza had an open-air gallery of some very impressive statues.
We finally made it to the river and it was beautiful. A perfect day, weather-wise.
As close as we got to DavidMarlene and fountainStatueStatueStatueAt the riverRiver with pigeonPonte Vecchio
The Ponte Vecchio – a bridge with high-end shopping – spans this river. We walked to it but only to look. On the way there Marlene fell off the curb and, fortunately, escaped with only a scraped knee. She could easily have broken a bone so we felt fortunate.
On the way back to the train station we encountered another church – the Chiesa di Santa Trinita – and it was quite lovely. We encountered a few other interesting buildings and sights along the way but finally made it back to the train station. We took the tram back to the car.
OutsideInsideAltarAnother museumObelisk
We wanted to get some bread and we had been told of several markets in Galuzzo, a little town south of our hotel. Going there not only got us some bread (at a huge supermarket with underground parking) but also let us approach the hotel from another direction. The roads on this approach were less intimidating than the other.
We had dinner of ramen and sausage in our apartment. Then we played cards and I lost again, 0-3. Then I blogged and edited photos. Lots of photos.
It was a good day in Florence. We logged over 14,000 steps. And my back, though aching, was less painful than in Venice. Healing, I hope.
Our hotel for 3 nights in Venice (or, as I have explained, Mestre, a suburb of Venice) was the Hotel Ambasciata Venice, a small (20 room) hotel near the Mestre train station. I picked it for its location, its free parking, its free breakfast and its low price. I wasn’t disappointed. It was everything I hoped for and not much more. The room and private bath were clean and comfortable. It had a minifridge, a teapot and lots of closet and drawer space. It had a TV which, for us Americans in Italy, was nearly useless. We turned it on once for the unique pleasure of watching a movie in Italian.
The biggest problem was that we initially believed that the minifridge was not working at all. It was unplugged when we arrived so I plugged it in and the light came on. But even after an hour it didn’t seem to be chilling and the compressor didn’t feel warm, which to my engineering-oriented brain meant that it just wasn’t working. We called the manager on duty up to the room and he assured us that it was working fine, just give it another hour.
My one photo of Bologna
After an hour I could feel a slight chill inside and a slight warmth outside. So we decided to give it until morning.
It the morning it was cold inside. So it was working. Just at a glacial pace (so to speak).
Anyway, the hotel was quite satisfactory. 7 out of 10.
After our free breakfast we packed and checked out. We drove (no tolls) for about 5 hours through mostly flat terrain until we reached Bologna. I wanted to stop there as I had recently read a book set there and it sounded interesting. But I quickly discovered that driving in Bologna is even more insane than driving in Rome. While looking for a place to park we encountered a street fair and had a great deal of difficulty maneuvering through it. We finally found a place to park but decided to not stay. We drove on.
We found a little mountain town called Monghidoro and walked around there a bit and took some photos. The church wasn’t very interesting but the town did have a gas station and I was running low so we got 10 liters of expensive gas – enough to get us comfortably to Florence.
View from MonghidoroView from Monghidoro
Getting “comfortably to Florence” took on a whole new meaning as we approached our hotel. The road was excruciatingly narrow and winding, to the point that Marlene began cursing me, swearing that she didn’t want to stay there and I must have been drunk when I booked it. And when we finally got there (safely), it was not obvious where to check in. I found a sign that said “Reception” finally and it was the right place. We got the key to our apartment (and, yes, it was really an apartment) and directions for getting there. The whole property was beautiful. Marlene began to smile again.
Driveway to apartmentSmiling againIn the courtyard
I will give a full review of this hotel in two days, when we leave. But it will be positive.
ATW-2 wrapup
This was the longest and most complex of the 3 ATW segments, taking 28 days of travel by auto through Italy, France, Germany and Austria. We rented a car after two days in Rome and returned it before our final 3 days in Rome (a total of 23 days of auto rental).
By the numbers:
Highlights:
Lowlights:
Observations: