Day 31 Lake Como

Lake Como

We packed up the car and hit the road again to head to Como, Italy. It’s near the southern end of Lake Como, one of the most beautiful lakes in Italy. We had to take the highway through the central mountains again that were a traffic mess coming down to Pisa the first time to get back up to Como. I hate Italian drivers and roads. Like most everything else in Italian culture it’s kind of a free for all. I think I mentioned before that the lane lines on the road are merely a suggestion in Italy and people drive where ever the hell they want to mainly. They weave, they’re jumpy, the truckers are just as bad, and I hate it. While stuck in traffic we saw a cat in the window of a car next to us and Colin was saying “That’s a nice kitty, I like kitties.” Then he says “Mommy you like doggies, Daddy you like goats.” LOL I don’t know where he got that from, but apparently Shelby is fond of goats! After what felt like the longest three and half hours in the car ever we finally arrived in Como. Our hotel was very nice, we always seem to find the nicest hotels when we only have one night to stay there instead of at the places where we stay for a few nights. After bringing some stuff inside and taking a little break in the room we headed out to explore. We went to the lake where Colin was thrilled to gather rocks to throw them in. We fed ducks and found a little playground and park area with a train for kids and another carnival type ride. Colin loved that. We also did some people watching and saw some VERY interesting outfits. You have to wonder if these people have mirrors in their house. One girl was skinny as a rail and wearing a fluorescent pink mini dress with these horrible high top sneaker turned high heel lace up shoe things in the same horrible shade of pink. It was hilarious to walk behind her and watch the faces of people as they noticed her. She’d catch their eye and you’d see them do a double take, then look her up and down and then attempt to stifle the laughter. After walking around some we had to go back to the car to feed the meter and then we sat on a bench and watched the sun go down behind the mountains and the lake. We ate dinner at a place right next to the lake and enjoyed our last bit of Italian seafood. I’m very glad we went to Italy and saw the sights and experienced it once, but I think Shelby and I both agree that once was enough for us. There are only a few things I will miss about Italy, the food is definitely at the top of that short list.

Day 30 Livorno

Livorno

We all slept in until after 8 and Colin until after 9:30! Colin woke up sounding HORRIBLE. He’s very congested and hardly any voice, so we took advantage of being on a base and took him to the peds clinic for a check. Sure enough, upper respiratory infection and an ear infection. I can’t wait for the ENT consult to get this sorted out and hopefully he can stay well for longer than a month. He wasn’t letting the sickness slow him down any though and aside from sounding like a dog toy with a broken squeaker, he was ready to go. After the doctor we grabbed some lunch and then headed to the beach in the afternoon for a bit. The water was much colder than in southern Italy and wind made for some waves, so we didn’t get the water a whole lot. Colin and Daddy did a lot of digging in the sand and we buried Colin, which he thought was hilarious. A little relaxation and rest for all of us was a good thing. The sun was out but the breeze and scattered clouds made it a great beach day and not too hot. After the beach we hit the grocery for a few pickups to keep us snacking on the road and got some dinner. We ate outside on the porch of our cabin which was nice and peaceful. After eating Colin threw more rocks around and then he and Shelby went off watching ants. Shelby showed him all about the ant eater bugs down in the holes and they collected ants to go feed the anteaters with. Colin thought this was great fun. Later on it was popcorn and movies and another early bedtime. I’m going to miss vacation!

Day 29 Livorno

Today we got up very early to beat the heat as we trekked back to the train station for our three hour train ride back to Livorno to get my car from the Army base, Camp Darby, where it has been parked while we were on the cruise and in Rome. To the grandparents and family who complain about us not visiting the States in the last two years; I encourage you to spend three hours on a train with my child, keeping in mind there is much more room and many more interesting things to see on a train than there are on a plane. When we arrived in Livorno I was more than ready to be off the train, but then it was time to hop a taxi to the base, so more riding. My car never looked so good after having not seen it for so long and relying on public transportation. We got checked into a cabin at the “resort” (so they call it) on Camp Darby to just relax and reorganize for the day. There was a lot of laundry to do and repacking to be done. Colin and Daddy went to the pool to play but the water was pretty cold and Colin seemed worse today in terms of sickness, so they didn’t stay out too long. When I came home from doing laundry Colin was happily playing with bugs and throwing rocks around outside and I could see he was pretty happy with our cabin. So we decided to take another day and stay here since the price is decent, Colin loves the place and the beach is nearby. With that decision made I didn’t have to spend half the night reorganizing and packing so we went out for dinner on the beach and came back to head to bed early. We were in bed before ten and for the first time in over a week I didn’t have to get up early for something the next morning. Aaaaah!

Day 28 Rome Day 3

Rome Day 3

Today was another early morning to be up as we had to be ready for our tour of the Colosseum. It was HOT again today in Rome. You really can’t appreciate the Colosseum until you’ve seen it in person and you know some background on it. To realize that it was built almost 2,000 years ago and the extensive lengths that Romans went to to build it. Nero had been an unpopular leader and Vespasian had taken over the role of emperor and had to win back the favor of the public after Nero’s damage. So he got the idea to build the greatest amphitheater ever where all Romans could come together and enjoy sporting events. The whole idea was to keep the people happy and control them by giving them something to do. Vespasian’s arena plan was so grand there was no flat land area large enough to build on, so they got creative. Near the forum was a large lake that belonged to Nero as part of his personal palace grounds. Vespasian decided to drain the lake and use the flat lake bed to build his Colosseum on. So they built an elaborate system to drain the lake, then poured layers of concrete (which the Romans invented) to support the weight of the structure. Building something of this magnitude required great engineering skills to ensure the structure could support its weight. The arch played an important role here because by design it is strong and distributes weight evenly, yet remains open in the middle to make it lighter. The bottom row of arches around the Coliseum is made of marble, then, each layer above that gets lighter by using different building materials such as cement and bricks. When you consider the massive amount of marble needed, and that the marble came from a quarry in northern Italy and had to be transported to Rome, this alone makes the building an incredible feat. After the Coliseum we went to tour the Roman Forum ruins. It’s incredible to see what is there and has been standing since before Christ. For me to walk on original marble stones that ancient Romans and rulers walked across is insane! The tour was quite interesting despite the heat and after it was over we found a restaurant to get some pizza for lunch.

We were so hot and tired after lunch we decided to walk back to the hotel and take a little nap. Colin seems to be getting sick again, he has stopped eating and been fighting a fever since last night, so a nap would do us all good. I didn’t expect to sleep so long but felt great when we woke up two and a half hours later! We got up and decided to head over to the delicious restaurant from last night and eat there again. After dinner we went walking to see Rome at night all lit up. We hit the Trevi Fountain, which is equally impressive at night. Then the Pantheon, the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier building, the Pallazo Nuova, and lastly the Colosseum. It was a late night for us but the sights at night were worth it.

Day 27 Rome

Rome Day 2

We had to be up early this morning to be at the Vatican by 9 to start our guided tour. During tourist season the lines to get into the Vatican, St Peters Basilica and The Coliseum can be HOURS long, so it is best to book a group tour with a guide in advance so you can get there and go in without waiting in the lines. The Vatican is RIDICULOUS. The artwork in there is incredible. Anywhere you see the color gold in the building you can rest assured you are looking at pure 24 karat gold. Gold is everywhere. As is marble. Much of the marble used in the Vatican was recycled from The Coliseum and other monuments and things in Rome. Once the Roman empire fell many of the temples and political buildings were stripped of their bronze and marble and no one really cared. After the Vatican tour we walked around and did some more sightseeing. We found a large park to let Colin run around in. We fed pigeons and then he chased them around the grassy area for a while to burn off some energy. I have no idea what the fascination with birds is, but Rio has become his favorite movie and he’s in love with birds. Chasing birds is one of the best things ever apparently. After the park we headed back towards our hotel to find a place to eat. It was only 5:00 which is super, super early for dinner by Italian standards. Many restaurants don’t even open until 7 PM, Italians and a lot of other Europeans don’t eat until 8 or later. In touristy areas the restaurants open earlier because they know not everyone eats that late. We finally found a place that had just opened and it was excellent. Small little family place and you could tell they were proud of their restaurant. We had spinach ravioli for the first course and mussels for the second. For dessert we had homemade Italian lemon cake and tiramisu, yum!

Day 26 Civitiveccia & Rome

Rome Day 1

We had to be up crazy early to be packed and ready to get off the boat by 7:15 AM. We chose that time, but either way we would have been kicked out by 9:30 anyway. If we were the first ones to get off we got to carry our own luggage off the boat and not deal with the madness of baggage claim and all, much easier. After getting off the boat we walked to the train station to get on a train to Rome for our next adventure. For being Rome’s port, Civitivecchia is not very close via train. On the slow regional train it took us almost 2 hours to get there. By the time it arrived we were tired and ready to get off the train. Then we had to walk through the train station to the opposite end where the metro boards so we could get on the metro to our hotel stop. Travel by train is fairly easy if you are familiar with the system and travel lightly. When there is a kid involved there is no such thing as traveling lightly. We got more than a few funny looks as we trudged through the station and streets with our bags. In our defense we had been on a cruise for the last ten days and it had been 12 since we’d last had access to our car and wash facilities. Two large rolling suitcases connected to one another, each of us with a backpack on, a small duffle bag and a stroller is no fun to lug up and down stairs in train and metro stations. If you are thinking why didn’t you just take the elevator dumb dumb? I should remind you we are not in the USA, ADA does not exist, and accessibility for handicapped people in wheelchairs is nothing short of a miracle.

Anyway…we finally made it to the hotel hot and tired. The room was like a sauna, no air conditioning, but at least they were kind enough to provide us a fan, which at this point I was totally thrilled with. We’ve learned things in Italy are never what they appear to be. We use booking.com to book hotels every time we travel and we usually find the hotel descriptions, reviews, and photos on that site to be very accurate when we arrive at the hotel we have chosen. In Italy, this does not hold true. Most of the hotels we’ve seen pictures of do not look anything like the hotel you actually get. They advertise air conditioning and there is A/C, in the lobby area and not in the rooms. Or there is AC in the rooms, but they do not actually turn it on. Same with internet, they advertise WIFI, but when you get there it is always down, or if by chance it is working it will only work in the lobby or common area, never in your room. So frustrating. Shelby was not thrilled with no air so he asked at the desk and they girl said she didn’t realize we had booked an air conditioned room and gave us a new room that did have air. We had to move but it was worth it, because it felt like Rome was going to burn again at any moment it was so hot. After moving rooms and unpacking a little bit we went to grab some pizza for lunch and found a shady spot under a tree to eat in and then we started walking.

We walked ALL OVER ROME and saw many of the sights you must see while visiting Rome. We hit up the Trevi fountain, saw a lot of ancient buildings, a lot of ruins, some amazing sights, The Forum ruins, the outside of The Colloseum and many other sights. We learned you could probably die rich selling drinks on the street in Rome. A bottle of water is 1 – 1.50 Euro, oh wait you want cold water? That is 2 Euro. Bastards! Can of coke, 4 Euro (roughly 6 USD!) Bottle of Powerade will cost you 4-5 Euro. Seriously, if I actually liked Italy I would retire here and sell water on the street and become a millionaire. The first grocery store we came to we went in and bought a 6 pack of bottled water for less than 2 Euro. Not cold, but who cares!

Day 25 - Naples

Naples/Pompeii

Due to paperwork issues with the government (stupid Italy!) we left Sicily late yesterday evening and we made up time at sea so that we should have arrived in port on time in Naples. Except that there were more clearance and paperwork issues at the Naples port courtesy of Italian officials that prevented us from docking for over an hour. We had booked a private tour through a company to take us on a full day tour of Pompeii and Mt. Vesuvius that was supposed to meet at the train station at 8 AM. At 7 when the boat was not even docked I knew we weren’t going to make the 8 AM meeting time. I called the emergency contact number on the tour confirmation and told the man that our boat was arriving later than scheduled and we would not be at the station at 8. He told us no problem, to just call him back when our boat was docked and we would see if it was possible to still take the tour or not. The boat docked and I called a couple times and got no answer. We got off the boat and I continued calling (paying a small fortune to use my cell phone in Italy no less) a few more times and got no answer so we just started walking to the train station. About halfway to the train station the tour company finally answered the phone and they told me that there was a grey bus at the boat. WHAT? You want me to go back to the boat?! I tried to pre-coordinate for pick up at our ship twice and was told both times it was not possible to be picked up at our boat and now you are telling me there is a bus waiting at the ship. NOT AMUSED. OK fine. We walk back to the boat and look for the grey van/bus they told us to look for and see nothing. By this time most of the cars waiting to pick up people from our ship had cleared out and there were only a few people left. I called the tour company back and told them I was at my boat, and which boat that was, and there was no one waiting for us that I could see, so could they please contact the driver and ask him to hold a sign or get a better description of his location for us. We were told they would call back. At least 15 minutes or more had passed and still no call back so I had to call them again and try to find out. No answer. Finally at about 9:30, an hour after getting off my boat, the tour company called back and said the van was waiting at the “picnic bar” which is right across from the boat. I told them I didn’t see any picnic bar near our boat but I was ask a taxi driver and find it. I ask a cab driver and he says that bar is about a kilometer and a half down at the other end of the port. Not anywhere near our boat and I told them at least a dozen times which ship I was on. URGH! So we start walking. Shortly after we start walking the actual tour guide calls me and starts yelling at me in Italian wanting to know where we are and why are we not at the picnic bar. I explained to her I am trying to find the picnic bar, that I was told there was someone at my ship and to wait there, which I did for an HOUR before I was told now I needed to be at the picnic bar. She was not pleased and asked me how long until we got to the bus. I told her I have no clue, I’m not familiar with the area and then she demanded I stop a local on the street to ask how far away from the bar we were. When they said probably 5-10 minutes walking so was frustrated and started yelling about how she’d been waiting for us for almost two hours and the people on the bus were all mad they had to sit so long. I told her at that point to forget it and go without us. We didn’t want to go on a tour with a bunch of people all pissed off at us for being late when it was totally not our fault and we did everything the tour company asked of us. We were also getting a little concerned about making it back to our boat in time to set sail now that we were starting out two hours late on a full day tour that was supposed to be 6-8 hours. We said forget it and went back to the boat to decide what to do.
We decided we only had time at this point to do either Pompeii OR Mt Vesuvius, but probably not both. So we chose Pompeii because it was already dreadfully hot out and climbing a volcano in that heat would have been tough. We negotiated a cab far to take us to Pompeii, wait for us for a few hours and then drive us back to the boat. It cost a small fortune but what can you do? Pompeii was interesting, and we had watched a video the night before about it which was helpful. We bought the audio tour headphones but they weren’t very helpful and a tour guide (like we had planned to do!) would have been a lot better. It was so so so hot and it was not stroller friendly AT ALL. Colin refused to walk because he was hot and pushing the stroller was a nightmare. The day was just not what it was supposed to be. At least we were there and we saw it. We were back on the boat in time for a late lunch and then we went and played some bingo, which was a bust, again. Shelby took Colin to the pool while I packed our stuff up to leave the boat the next day. Boy does that job stink! That night Colin went to the final party at the kids club for PJ and pillow fight night. Shelby and I went to the piano bar one last time. Many people were staying on the boat for another ten days of cruising around the Eastern Mediterranean, oh how I wish that was us! The last day on the boat was partially a bust, but the cruise was still amazing and we can’t wait to do it again.

Day 24 - Sicily

Sicily

Today we woke up in Sicily. I had a massage and a facial scheduled for the morning, I’m really getting used to this pampering first thing in the morning! When I was done we decided to do just stroll around Palermo. Once the boat was docked and we were cleared to go ashore we got a city map and just wandered. Colin has been doing great on the potty training, hardly any accidents since the first week of vacation, though getting him to take advantage of the opportunity to use a bathroom when one is available can be challenging. He prefers going with Shelby because they will race each other. Shelby will tell him they are going to have a pee pee race and he’s going to finish making pee faster than Colin. This gets Colin going and he eagerly rushes to the bathroom to go race Daddy and win the pee pee race. Today while they were in the potty Shelby started singing a song about “Colin’s going pee pee in Sicily, pee pee in Sicily!” and Colin thought this was hilarious. The rest of the day he would sing “making pee pee in Sicily” anytime they went to the bathroom. After some sightseeing we headed back to the boat to get cleaned up for dinner. Colin was very excited about dinosaur night at Club HAL and wore his dinosaur shirt to club that night. They made dino eggs out of clay and set off a volcano they had built.

Day 23 - Tunisia

Tunisia

This morning we woke up in Africa! Tunisia borders Libya so it was a tad bit interesting given the current status of affairs in Libya at the moment. People on the ship suggested only going out of port on one of the cruise sponsored trips or excursions. We had just planned to go to the beach here but were warned cabs were pretty expensive, so we decided to book an excursion to the beach through the cruise line. The bus took us from the ship to a resort on the beach in Tunisia and then we spent a few hours at the resort and had access to their beach and pool. When we got off the ship there were people dressed up playing music and there were camels sitting outside waiting for people to have their picture taken riding them! We made sure they would still be there when we got back from our beach trip and were assured the camels would be there all day, they were full time workers. I’m really glad we waited because it turns out there were camels and horses on the beach to ride! Driving through Tunisia you can see it is a MUCH different place than the US and where we’ve traveled in Europe. It’s definitely a third world/developing country with a lot of interesting living quarters and dwellings and also a lot of trash around. It is very hot and humid, you see people parked or standing in just about any patch of shade you can find. Shelby said it was very comparable to when he was in Qatar or Bahrain. The people are Arabs but it was also has a strong French influence as the French were in control there at one time, so the people all speak French and Arabic. The resort we arrived at was very nice and there didn’t appear to be many people there and the ones that were there didn’t appear to be locals. We’d been warned about the culture here and the haggling and bargaining you must do for anything you buy. So when we got down to the beach there were several camels and horses waiting and the people were ready to deal. At first they told me 10 Euro for Colin to ride the pony. I said 5 Euro and the guy said OK. I went to get my wallet and realized I only had a 100 Euro and a 50 Euro bill and 4 Euro in coins, so I gave him the 4 Euro when I went for the ride. He tried to tell me it was 10 Euro to ride and I said ok then and took my 4 Euro back and told him they had camels right next to our boat for 5 Euro so we’d just ride there. He let me walk away and then a few minutes later he was over at our beach chairs telling me to put Colin on the horse for 4 Euro. Yay! Then before Colin was even off the pony he was trying to strike a deal with me to ride the camel. He said 2 people for 10 Euros on the camel. I told him OK because Shelby thought he had a 10 in his wallet and since I got the pony ride for a steal I figured whatever. Well Shelby did not have a 10 Euro in his wallet, so all I had left was the 100 and the 50 and I didn’t want to show him those. I took a US $10 bill out of my wallet and gave that to him and told him $10 to ride the camel. He said $15 or 10 Euro to ride the camel. So I then pulled out my 50 Euro bill and told him IF he could give me back 40 Euro in change I would pay 10 Euro for the camel ride. He called all his buddies together and they all attempted to scrape together 40 Euro but couldn’t do it, so then he told me $10 was ok and he took my US dollars to ride the camel. Deal! LOL It was quite interesting. Fun to bargain and haggle once or twice on vacation, but I wouldn’t want to live in a society where I had to argue over prices every time I went to the market or something. After we got our camel and horse rides out of the way we played in the water for a while. The water was crystal clear and turquoise with powdery fine sand on the beach. Lots of seashells and crabs were on the shore and there were fish in the water. We swam and cooled off before heading up to the beach to build a sand castle sea turtle and Shelby went out to catch some fish in Colin’s net for him to watch swim in the pail. He came back with a couple crabs and Colin was thrilled. We enjoyed our time on the beach and then it was time to head back to the bus to ride back to port. Once back on the ship we ate lunch and then headed down to the pool for a while. Colin met up with some of his friends from the kids’ club and had fun swimming with them and his Daddy. After that it was dinner time and then Colin went off to the kids club for pirate night. Arrrgh!

Day 22 - Sea Day

Today we got to sleep in as it was a sea day and we had nothing to do but relax on the boat. We woke up late, had breakfast delivered to the room and then went down to play bingo for the $50,000 grand prize. Neither one of us hit bingo and we didn’t win any money. We had some lunch and then met up at the kid’s club for a family scavenger hunt. Colin helped name our team, “The Hairy Dinosaurs,” and we set off to find the things on our list. We had some interesting things to collect and got lucky to meet a Canadian that had a Loonie on her so we could check that one off the list. When it was all over our team won with 21 items collected and then there was a 5 way tie for second place with 20 items. Colin won a Holland America rubik’s cube and magic 8 ball and he got a magnet and a mood ring thing.
Here are Colin and I with once of his club HAL counselors, Adrienne


After the scavenger hunt I snuck off to my pedicure appointment and spent some time in the spa and I don’t know what the boys were doing. When I was done it was close to dinner time so we got ready and headed over to eat and then Colin went to kids club for camping night. Shelby and I went down to the casino and played roulette and came out ahead $36 in the end. Not too bad and we were just glad we didn’t lose any money. When the piano bar opened we went over there to hang out until it was time to get Colin from kids club.