Day 96 - Friday, April 11th, 2025 – Rome, Italy

I had to get up real early. We are getting picked up at 7 AM. We had breakfast in the room. We went downstairs and off the ship by a little after seven. We met Francisco, our driver. We drove an hour or so into Rome. We drove towards the Colosseum, where we met Marco, the tour guide. We did our introductions. There was discussion about going to the Vatican and the Colosseum for one or the other. We told him we have been to the Vatican in 2019, so there was no need to go again. We made our way out of the van into the Colosseum area. You cannot imagine the number of people. Everywhere you looked there were thousands of people. Not hundreds. Thankfully, Marco knew the shortcuts. He told us there were four steps to security, which we had to go through. He was able to get us through the line pretty quickly by yelling at people “Attention, Wheelchair! Attention Wheelchair” except in Italian.

With no surprise, the cobblestones were everywhere. When we got off the ship, it was only about 60°. Thankfully, the sun was out. I kept urging Marco to sit in the sun. That is when he stopped. For the most part, he ran through the Colosseum. He did have explanations for everything. He definitely knew his stuff. I will let the pictures most of the talking. I think it's cool to say that I touched the actual columns of the Coliseum.

From the Colosseum, we walked a ways to a café. Mark had coffee. Mary and I drank our Coke and Monster, respectively. We just needed a break.

From there, we walked to the Roman forum. This is an ancient ruins of Rome. There were several different excavations, showing different points and time. It was interesting, but confusing at the same time. There were just too much going on. Again, the pictures will help.

After walking through the excavation, we walked through a little bar on the corner. Mary and I had ham and cheese sandwiches. I had an Italian beer from food. Marco had a Caprese sandwich and more coffee. We sat there for maybe an hour.

We then got in the car and made our way to the Trevia fountain. Again, there were 1000 people on every corner, but Mark was able to get us perfect position for some great pictures.  This is where we also stopped and picked up the T-shirts, refrigerator, magnet, postcards. Mary bought candy before tshirts and Monster. Throughout the day we were looking for an ATM to get EUR from. Believe it or not, we tried 7 different ones and none of them worked. It would take us a day or two down the road before we would find a working ATM. This made no sense to me. We also had to try two or three places for stamps. Finally, Marco walked into an obscure place and was able to get them. These things just fall into the category of nothing's easy.

We got back in the van and drove to the Spanish Steps. Mary got out of the car and took pictures. I stayed in. We said goodbye to Marco. Mary and I compared notes later. There was something different about Marco. It's almost as if he needed a different career because he was phoning this one in. It seemed to be like we were following an ABC Process because he's done it so many times before. Anytime we try to veer off the beaten path or I should say his process, he pushed back a little.  You could also tell that by afternoon he was too frequently. He wanted to be home by 3:00 and this just was not happening. It was nice enough, but as a tour guide goes I would not rate his personality very high.

Francisco, Mary and I drove back into the city where the ship was. He dropped us off. He said he would put the postcards in the mail, which you did. We said goodbye to him and made our way back onto the ship.

Mary and I had decided to go to Sabatini‘s for dinner. It’s a free one for us because it’s the first night on a new segment. We later learned that we should have tw Noo freebies per leg, but we have to figure that out later.

I really was not in the mood to go, but I went to dinner. It worked out OK because I warmed up and I was fine. There was an appetizer of rice balls filled with mozzarella.  I had the soup, spaghetti, and meatballs, and the Brazilian fish. Mary had a salad and caprese burrata. She was supposed to have a pasta dish and her entrée of lasagna but decided to just get lasagna. She thought it was very good. She only ate about half of it. She was just too full.

All along, we were drinking red wine off to Sabatini’s menu. They have a much better wine selection there. I include the picture of the wine list. Mary was drinking the bottom one. I tried the two above that. They were all very good. We will have to go back there just for the wine. Because we were full and exhausted, we skipped dessert.

We made it back to the room. Another very successful day.