Mediterranean Cruise - Day 15 - Sunday, May 13, 2018

Happy Mother’s Day to those who qualify.  We bid farewell to our first member today as Toni Super heads out this morning at 7:30 to the Rome airport and her departure to Dulles Airfield and home in Florida - safe travels, we will miss you!

Today, our last full day in Rome, is a free day for all.  Frank and Jean take off for a tour of the Tivoli Gardens.  Needelmans lead a pack of us to the Jewish quarter near the Tiber river where we toured the area, walked around the Synagog and finally dined at a Kosher restaurant on pasta, artichokes, beer and wine.  Thereafter we walked to the Trevi fountain and then to the Spanish steps. We walked back via the shopping street featuring all the top fashion and luxury brand stores: Cartier, Bulgari, Tod’s, Dolce & Gabana, Burberry, Jimmy Choo and more.  Not being tempted, we arrived back at our lodging and settled down with the other group returning from their visit to the fountain and their unsuccessful search for the Steps.  

We then indulged in wine, pizza and conversation. After dinner, five of the seven couples trouped off to Piazza Navona for gelato before retiring to repack their luggage and bed down before awakening early to head out for the airport in the morning. So it is Arriverderci Roma for us.  A great trip and travel with friends old and new. 

Mediterranean Cruise - Day 14 - Saturday, My 12, 2018

Up this morning after a late night of partying and packing.  We dock at Civitaveccio, the port nearest Rome, and sit to await our call for disembarkation.  At 8:45, we are called (Green #3) and we proceed down the gangplank for the final time to claim our luggage.  All goes smoothly except for Needelmans.  One of their bags takes a walk about with another passenger before finally turning up some distance away as the miscreant passenger realizes his mistake and leaves the bag sitting alone.  Reclaimed, we waltz out to the waiting zone to claim our transfers into the city of Rome, to which our road leads (as do all, we are told.)

The drive into the city on Saturday morning is very easy as the traffic is light.  We arrive at our hotel, Pantheon Royal Suites, at 10:45 and unload our full fifteen passengers and all luggage. As rooms are not ready for some time, we check-in and leave the luggage as we stop for a bite or coffee before our 1:00 meet up with our tour guide for a 3-hour walking tour of the central City.  As we are just across the square from the Pantheon, we fight our way through the crowd and head for the Coliseum.  We gain entry and tour with 2,000 other tourists this most famous of all arenas. We learn that the word “arena” is derived from the Latin word for sand, the covering on the false floor of the original coliseum. Much easier to sweep blood and guts up with the sand than to scrape it off cobblestones one imagines.

From there, we walk next to the Forum, descending down into its valley and strolling along the cobblestones and learning of all the history and use of these architectural remains that were once administrative buildings, temples, then churches and one vast open space for the meeting of the citizens and the killing of emperors (Julius for example.)

Back to the hotel by 5:00 after an exhausting 4 mile plus stroll, we regroup with a cocktail and then strike out in groups to discover restaurants.  Mostly successful, some more quickly than others.  We enjoy a Roman Holiday meal of sorts and then stumble back, exhausted but ready to rest and attack our last full day in Rome.

Mediterranean Cruise - Day 13 - Friday, May 11, 2018

This morning we docked in Napoli (Naples) alongside the Royal Caribbean Line Rhapsody of the Sea, a huge ship that seemed to dwarf our ship, and another MSC ship.  A busy port for the day.  We met our guide, Francesca, and headed out in our coach towards Sorrento and the Amalfi coast drive.  Once out of the 1.2 million population metropolitan area, we traveled along the coast to some of the most stunning scenery ever.  

The Amalfi Coast is like driving US 101 along the California coast, but closer to the edge and more populated and more traffic.  Eventually we arrived at the Village of Positano, a vertical community replete with stairways up and down the cliffs and donkey carts to haul goods up and down.  Never had we seen an area like this - cars parked for miles along the highway, as parking in the village was limited, scooters and motorcycles likewise along the highway cliffs.  Buses are limited to 12 meter length, as any thing longer could not make the hairpin turns required. 

After photo stops and a turn around, we headed back up the coast and stopped in the  town of Sorrento for a marvellous lunch at the Ristorante da Gigino for some genuine Italian meals, gnocchi with shrimp and white sauce, gnocchi with red sauce, caprese salad with fresh ripe tomatoes and mozzarella, lasagne, and some of the best Margherita pizza ever tasted. A truly stunning meal.  We then shopped for 1/2 hour, lost one of our troupers, who was later tracked down, and then headed to our final stop of the day.

Pompeii is almost indescribable.  We had two hours, and our guide rightfully said that she could spend a week with us there and still not cover it all.  Beginning in 63 AD, with an earthquake, the village was just beginning to rebuild when, in 79 AD, Mt.Vesuvius erupted covering the entire 20,000 population city in ash and asphyxiating gas.  The City remained buried until the mid 1800’s when archeologists began to uncover the area.  

Restoration has continued to this day.  We saw marketplaces, temples, homes monuments and everyday shops for fish, meat, poultry and bread. Roads for chariots and horse carts, storage places and homes.  We viewed plaster casts of people that were killed, in various stages of agony or just sleeping in their beds when disaster struck.  We all vowed that we would return for another tour and more time in the future.  We will see.

We returned to our ship at 6:00 after a long but educational day of touring.  As this was our last night on the ship, we held an impromptu cocktail party in three adjoining cabins, using up all our remaining wine and champagne, and nibbling on the breadsticks we liberated from our luncheon.  We completed our evening with the final performance of the piano quintet, giving the young women a standing ovation for their final performance, as they too were ending their stay, although in their case since December 20, 2017.  We are headed tomorrow for Rome and a last few days before returning west to see what has happened in the world since our departure. 

Mediterranean Cruise - Day 3 - Monday April 30, 2018

Up early at our final breakfast at what has been the best breakfast on the road in this observer’s memory. Afterwards, some go for a last stroll along the canals, some go shopping at Guggenheim Museum Shop; Frank tracks down a camera store for a charger cord for his camera. The entire crew assembles back to the hotel by noon for our transfer to our ship. The bags are all tagged for ship and then we wait.

Two water taxis arrive at 1:30 for the transfer to Ship.  After a quick 15 minute ride, we schlepp out and watch our bags disappear onto ship, and all is well except Mark’s pocket knife (confiscated) which didn’t make it through the shipboard TSA-like search. We are to learn that this is standard operating procedure each time we reboard the ship.

Our vessel, the ms Oosterdam of the Holland America Line is a 1,900 passenger ship of 11 storeys. On board ship, all bags reappeared in our cabins except Howie’s carry-on (wine bottle broke, saturation no clothing - pink underwear.)  

We begin to explore ship, and end the day with dinner in main dining room, Don Hosford nearly laughing to death. We had all opted for open dining rather than 1st or second seating.  As on all cruises, lack of food or feeding opportunities are never an issue.

We stroll the decks after dinner, variously taking in the classical music quintet, the rock & roll bar, the casino, or just sitting quietly enjoying a drink.  After a long and busy day, we are finally under way on this Mediterranean adventure.

The Mediterranean Cruise - Day 2 - Sunday, April 29, 2018

Day two actually began the night before with George (Dell) and Karen Sennentz finally arriving via London at 10:30 Saturday evening, although without Karen’s luggage. This morning we all bounded down to the breakfast room, which turned out one of the most delicious hotel breakfast spreads ever encountered. Fresh fruit, perfectly cooked scrambled eggs, sausage, bacon, sweet rolls galore, cereals, cheeses, breads, even sparkling rose Prosecco, together with juices, coffee, and cappuccino.

At 9:30, all struck out for a walk to Piazzo San Marcos for a guided tour of the Plaza, the Doge Palace and a walking tour of the area. So much information, so well presented by our guide, Bruna. As today was Sunday, no tours of the basilica itself were allowed until afternoon, but given the crowd at the Piazzo, we were not discouraged for this omission.

We left our guide at 1:00 near the Rialto Bridge, after first enticing her to lead us to a small Bar/Ristorante for a refreshing glass of wine or beer and a small snack for some.

After the break, we separated into two contingents, one to head for some shopping and then back to the hotel for rest and conversation in the lobby garden and bar.

The other group, consisting of the Needelmans, the Coverts, and Ann Hosford soldiered on to the Jewish quarter for some investigation. The further away we traveled from Rialto and the San Marcos area, into the Canaregianno region, the less dense the crowds and the more we noted what appeared to be local residents. We learned that the term ghetto is derived from the Venetian word gheto, meaning foundry; the early Jews in the area were first foundry workers, and then were confined to this area to live and flourish. During WWII, Venice was the only city to protect its Jewish citizens, saving and protecting over 1,100 from the holocaust. We toured three synagogues and a short portion of the Jewish Museum.

After the long trek back to the hotel, we learned that we had posted over 18,700 steps - nearly 9 miles. No wonder there were some aching dogs.

Frank and Jean Daharsh had arrived in the afternoon from Omaha (the last of the group to rendezvous.)  Karen Sennentz’s luggage arrived and all was right with the world. We met in the lobby at 7:00 and struck out in search of restaurants as Dell had researched earlier in the afternoon. A long walk later, although three dropped back to eat closer to the hotel, we commandeered a large table and sat down to a surly waiter, good food, and an indecipherable bill. As the establishment did not accept credit cards, nor did they serve coffee, we settled on an amount that was acceptable to the waiter and mostly fair to the diners.

Back to the hotel by 9:30 and some well deserved rest in preparation for our transfer to the Oosterdam Holland America ship tomorrow

The Mediterranean Cruise - Day 1 April 27, 2018

Day one begins in multiple cities with multiple problems. From Phoenix, George (Dell) and Karen Sennentz head out for New York. Unfortunately, a weather situation in the New York area causes a delay in their flight. It is doubtful whether or not they will make their connection and arrive in Venice at the scheduled time on Saturday.

From Florida, Antonia (Toni) Super’s flight to Newark is also delayed due to weather. We learned that she did make her connection, so we expect to see her in Venice as scheduled.

Rick and Becky Utz and Jan and Larry Rupert from Tennessee were leaving from Atlanta to New York, and experienced no delays beyond a malfunctioning airline head that miraculously started working at 16,000 feet altitude!

The Omaha Contingent, Howie and Lee Needelman, Don and Ann Hosford, and Mark and Deb Covert, all arrived at Eppley in time and made their connection into Chicago, headed on to Munich.

On the Omaha to Chicago leg, Don and Ann engaged in a muted battle of gin rummy, no visible scoring was noted. Lee and Howie read and Deb worked crossword puzzles and Sudoku. The Omaha World Herald was read (for the small amount of news and there were no known obituaries - the most studied section after the comics for those of a certain age.)

The Chicago to Munich leg featured wine at no charge, dinners that were universally poor and a plethora of movies on the small screen. The only hitch in the flight was some light-headedness and nausea on Lee’s part - assume it was the food and not the company.

Poor napping and a less than stellar breakfast service culminated this leg of our adventure.

A two hour layover and then onto Venice, arriving at 1:00. We caught our transfer via a water taxi and arrived at the hotel around 2:30. The Palazzo Veneziano is a beautiful modernized hotel on the Fondamenta Zaterre Ponte Lungo, a market street running along the Canale Della Giudecca waterway. We repaired to our rooms for a short recuperation (nap) for some and then met out front at 4:30 to walk and explore. The entire group, sans Dell and Karen who had not yet arrived, and Toni who was an early arrival and had walked herself out, walked to the Ponte de Academia bridge and then back. We stopped at a water side restaurant for pizza, calzones, ravioli, clams with pasta, lasagne and seafood with pasta. All accompanied by local draft beer and wine.

After dinner, some stopped for a gelato and then a short walk, returning to our hotel for an early retirement by 8:30. Still no sign of our two missing troopers, but we expect they will make an appearance tomorrow (Sunday.)