Best Trip Ever, Part 4!

Rome!  For most of our trip, our group had adopted a fairly laid-back approach to our adventure, but this would all have to change for Rome.  Our itinerary gave us one day in Rome.  One day!  The ship docked in a port that is about two hours from Rome.  This was going to be a challenge.

I researched our options to get to Rome and I kept coming back to simply doing it on our own.  Everyone agreed that we would walk to the train station and take the train to Rome.  By train, by metro, by cab, we were going to conquer Rome all by ourselves.

We started at the Coliseum.   Thankfully, we had bought our tickets for the Coliseum and the ruins prior to leaving the US.  This probably saved us hours of waiting in lines that stretched the span of multiple city blocks.  We were allowed to bypass the line and immediately get into the Coliseum and the ruins.  Chris and I separated from the group to take in the impressive Coliseum.  He was too excited to wait for everyone and eager to get in there and see it all for himself.  Even with this being my second trip there, I am in awe of walking up steep stone stairs that have been here for centuries or standing on ledges built so long ago.  It is a spectacular sight.

After the Coliseum, we walked the ruins of Palatine Hill before heading for a walk through the city to Trevi fountain.  We all really enjoyed walking through Rome.  I had been to Rome before, but walking on its cobblestone streets truly gives you a chance to experience so much more in the city.  As we were on a mission, we stopped for a few slices of pizza on the go after throwing pennies into Trevi fountain for our wishes.

I told Chris that the last time I came to Trevi fountain, I wished that I would come back to Rome with him.  It felt so good to see this beautiful city with him by my side.

After the fountain, we walked to the Pantheon and then hopped into cabs to the Vatican.  At the Vatican, the first timers in our caravan decided them wanted to do a guided tour of the inside of the Vatican.  Dylan, Christine and I had already toured the Vatican, so we opted to find a cafe and indulge in probably some of the best gelato of my life.  I had chocolate gelato, with an espresso poured on top, covered in whipped cream and chocolate covered espresso beans.  Oh, simply heaven.

After our gelato feast, we set off to walk to the train station.  A cabbie, a police officer and a shop keeper ALL told us we could walk to the train station from where we were because it was "just a ten minute walk."  After walking for a hour, we determined that "ten minute" walk means something completely different in Italy.  We seriously must have walked, walked and walked for a little of an hour before we finally got a cab and then, still had a ten minute cab ride more back to the train station.  (Note to self:  Italians have no sense of distance. )

We made it safely back to the ship and the rest of our group joined us a few hours later.  We were all exhausted from the day, so Chris and I opted for room service to rest up for adventures in Tuscany tomorrow.

We docked early in Livorno, an Italian city in the Tuscany area of Italy.  Livorno is close to many sights in Italy, but we had determined that we would spend the first day using the train to get to Pisa and then Lucca.    After getting off the ship, we were told (again) that the train station was about a ten to fifteen minute walk.  And (again), we realized that Italians think everything is a ten minute walk.  We literally hiked for a good hour and a half before we finally made it to the train station.  It got us off to a little later start than we would have liked.

We hopped a train to Pisa, got off the train and took cabs to take in the Leaning Tower.  I was more impressed than I imagined I would be.  There is just something pretty incredible about a tower that looks like it should topple at any minute.  After a few hours in Pisa, we hopped back onto the train to set off for Lucca, a city in the Italian countryside completely surrounded by a two and a half mile stone wall built in the medieval times.

I adored Lucca.  In order to get in or out of the city, you have to walk through tunnels through the walls built around the city perimeter.  Once inside the walls, you walk up a bunch of stairs and see a long pedestrian path alongside the wall, surrounded by trees on both sides with a beautiful view of mountains in the distance.  It is a peaceful city, blooming with flowers, colorful balconies and cobble stoned streets.  It was simple, but beautiful.

We enjoyed lunch at an outdoor cafe, overlooking a large, cobble stoned piazza.  After lunch we explored the streets and found the cutest little Italian bakery where not a soul spoke English, but they had the most delicious italian cookies.  Chris and I ate those cookies as fast as we could, and actually went back at the end of the day to buy more to bring back to the ship.  They were a little slice of heaven.  (But isn't all food in Italy?)

After a few hours exploring, our group separated.  Chris, PJ, Danielle and I ended up in a piazza with lots of people and a few outdoor cafes.  We promptly decided it was cocktail hour and ordered the most interesting things we could find on the cocktail menu.  Danielle and I had the most amazing drink ever: mulled strawberries, brown sugar and vodka.  It was our happy place.

We enjoyed leisurely cocktail hour before deciding it was time to head back to the train station.  But honestly, I didn't want to leave Lucca.  It was yet another place in Italy that I could see Chris and I returning to visit someday soon.

That night we enjoyed dinner at the ship's steakhouse and an early bed, knowing we had another long day tomorrow: our second day docked in Livorno and a day in the Tuscan countryside.