Rome Italy

Day 5 of our 12-day Mediterranean Cruise brought us to Rome, Italy. We left port at 7am for a 1.5 hour trip to Rome where our whirlwind of a day began. We started at the Coliseum where we enjoyed private access and skipped the lines with our small tour group. The history in this place was humbling. What was more humbling was Julie’s 92 year old Grandmother climbing to the top of the Coliseum unfazed. By the end of today, this woman walked more than 7 miles, climbed countless stairs and flat-out outdid many people half her age today. You want to be inspired, come try to hang with Nana!!! She may have been whooped at the end of the day, but she certainly showed us how to live.

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From the Coliseum we headed to the romantic and storied Trevi Fountain. The crowds were crazy, but we got in our obligatory coin tosses and wishes. From Trevi, we walked up the hill to a sumptuous 3 course lunch at Piero’s Bistrot in the Grand Hotel Palace. Marcus was again served wine and added champagne into the mix. He shared his wine preferences with his table since he wasn’t sitting with us. He’s getting far too comfortable with this life.

After a perfectly satiating lunch, we boarded the bus and headed to the smallest country in the world, The Vatican. Talk about a place of history, of life and reverence. The artwork draws you in and goes on for days. Skipping the line again with our private tour allowed us to take in so much than normal time would allow. After walking through the halls of artwork we entered the revered Sistine Chapel. A hush falls over the room as people take in the artwork of Michelangelo. From there we took in the breathtakingly grand St. Peter’s Basilica. We were lucky enough to take in this space while rays of sun beamed down from the windows over 130m above the marble floor. Check out the shot I got of that. It’s pretty cool.

At the end of the day we were exhausted yet again and loved every minute of what we were able to experience today. We were late getting back to the ship and were literally the last people on board before departure. Phew! NOTE: We booked this excursion through Royal Caribbean. Had we booked outside of them the ship would not have waited for us.

We finished the day with a cocktail in the Concierge Lounge while we said goodbye to Italy. Jay & Ryno had our drinks ready and we were really enjoying getting to know them. We’ll spend the next 2 days at sea recovering as we sail towards our next stop, Athens Greece.