IntrepidFromDC

We can use the same wells and fountains for fresh, clean water as Romans have used for hundreds of years. The top pic is me, filling up. Bottom pic a woman is drinking directly from the fountain.

Piazza Navonna is one of my favorite spots in Rome. As I entered the piazza a rock band was finishing up a version of USA National Anthem. A husky yet twangy voice yelled above the crowd "Now that's what I'm talkin about! THAT'S a national anthem!" I inferred from the smattering of boos afterward they were playing other national anthems before I got there, and Earl was being called out for showing off.

Circus Maximus is hundreds of years older than the Colosseum and held 150,000 people for events both historic (battles to the death between men and beasts) and mythological (rape of the Sabine women). It sits just south of Palatine Hill, the highest of the 7 Rome hills. The last image is a depiction of what it is thought to have looked like in the days of use.

Roman Colosseum where gladiator fights and other sports took place. But not the chariot races, they were held at the much larger though less impressive and older Circus Maximus

This is the first and I hope last "daughter ditched dad" trips. Faith recently met a Carnival casino pit boss and is now with him in Romania.

Things I love about Italy... THE FOOD! Tonight I ate at the #1 restaurant in Rome on TripAdvisor. I had a first course and second course, 2 glasses of excellent red wine and a large bottle of Italian spring water for just under 40 euros, which is under 40 bucks these wonderful currency exchange rate days! The strazzicana ameritricana was one of the best pasta dishes in my life, exciting and sublime at the same time. I had never had strazzicana pasta before, it was "al dente perfecto" and the bacon was exceptional. The secondi was also wonderful, veal cheeks in black truffle summer sauce. highly recommend and agree with TripAdvisor on this ristorante.

Subway in Rome. If you zoom in on the second pic, you can see the tracks on the next level down.

On the bright side I can shave and poop at the same time now.

Tonight around 1230am I bought my ticket to the cruise port using one of the kiosks. It was super easy and in English... oh and cheap, less than $5.

I just went to double check I wasn't mixing up the misplacement of toilet (aka, porcelain altar or throne, depending on your posture, conditions and needs) and barbaric bidet, yup no bueno...

The hotel exterior and lobbies...

In-flight meal was eh, train station was organized chaos. I don't check luggage, so I walked directly from my gate at Rome Airport to the stazione in 10 minutes, bought an express train ticket to downtown Rome for $14, boarded the waiting train, walked one block from the train station to my hotel (Hotel Mediterraneo, which I recommend despite the bidet having prime bathroom real estate while the toilet languishes, cramped behind the sink). Do bidets gross anyone else out? From deplaning to checkin was only 45 minutes due to the efficient plan of not checking luggage, knowing where the train station was and how to buy tickets ahead of time, plus choosing a hotel near Roma Termini Stazione.

Been on the run, walk, HOHO bus, train and transatlantic flight the past 30 hours or so with only 3 hours rough sleep in the aisle seat, but I'll catch up over the next day and a half...

Very smooth flight so far, no turbulence at all. I hope it stays this smooth after we liftoff.

It's almost perfect... almost.

It's huge and digital everything. I guess that's Newark out the window...

Never flew from or to Newark Airport before. It puts all 3 DC airports to shame, endless shopping, bars and restaurants, both high end and fast food/ crap

Chicken shawarma and chickpeas at airport were good. Taking off!

My flight leaves in a few hours, layover in Newark for an hour and I'll probably drink a few more than usual so it knocks me out for the trans-Atlantic flight even if I have an active neighbor. I originally had a window so I could sleep the whole trans-Atlantic flight and wake up refreshed when I touch down in Rome in the morning, but when the canceled my flight I could only get an aisle on the rebook. Dinner first night in Rome... Menu - Laltra Cheek (laltraguancia.it)

The only reason I had to get tested is Greece and both Greece tourist page and Carnival didn't make me feel comfortable about Antigen vs. PCR, generally they just said it has to be a test type Greece approves without specifying. So I got both. I took the Lab PCR at local CVS on cruise-3-days (Thursday) and the rapid antigen this morning at another CVS. I just got negative results from both tests in the past half hour.

I'm still waiting for covid test results... In the meantime, in today's installment of "Things I Love About Italy", consider their counterpart to our big chain sub and sandwich shops like "Subway": Bono - Bottega Nostrana which has several stores near my hotel in Rome, plus more near Piazza Di Spagna and other famous Roman landmarks I'll be visiting my first two days of the trip. I challenge you to scroll down the list and photos of sandwiches and panini this place offers and not salivate. Actually I challenge you to scroll down the list of sandwiches all the way to the end! Panini Menu — Bono - Bottega Nostrana

September 11, from Rome (Civitavecchia), after half tomorrow, all Saturday, half Sunday in Rome.

Hi, kelkel2, I should have added "live" to the Topic but left it out. Yes it'll be live. I'll talk about the day and post some pics each day. I'll also be happy to answer some questions. Of all the destinations, Mykonos, Santorini, Athens, Turkey, Olympia, Parma, Pisa and Cinque Terre will be firsts for me. I've been to Venice, Rome, Bologna, Taormina, Positano and Pompeii before and love all of them. Also been to Capri and Sorrento and felt too rushed and like they were tourist traps.

As of now, I'm still going... english | deutsch  Dear customer, We have rebooked you, as your flight cannot take place as scheduled. Please accept our apologies. We have rebooked you on the following alternative flight: Flight / date: UA510 / 09.09.2022

Cinque Terre ("five terraces") has been on my list of must-see places for over ten years. Most of these five small fishing villages are relatively new to tourism and not accessible by road (only train and ferry) and many of the fishermen still go out to catch fish just to sell to the villagers daily. Each village is small, when you see photos of them you're seeing a big part of the village. They look like the same place at first glance, but each is unique. Here are photos of Manarola and Vernazza: While many people would probably be thinking about Santorini and Mykonos as the places highest on this itinerary, I am charmed by Cinque Terre (which I have not been to) similar to how I'm charmed by Venice (which I have been to five times). There's just something about medieval/pre-medieval towns without cars...