FUN-travel: Rome, Italy to Marseille to Arles, France – 7 Day Uniworld Rhône River Cruise
August 13, 2012 by Susan Clarke · Comments Off on FUN-travel: Rome, Italy to Marseille to Arles, France – 7 Day Uniworld Rhône River Cruise
Trip Day 26 – Cruise Day 1 – Sunday, August 5 – Rome to Marseille to Arles, France – Uniworld Rhône River Cruise
Coloseum
What I LIKE
- that I took my shower last night
- clothes all laid out
- in lobby @ 6:20 for coffee
- 6:30 shuttle only takes 10 minutes
- Air France is Delta partner
- flight is only $69 per person
- always carry a foldable flat bag
- put overweight items in it & save 55 Euros
- good cappuccino only costs 1.40 Euro
- 8:45 flight only takes 75 min
- 11 am – one hr drive to Arles
- van has air conditioning
- 12:30 nice wine with lunch in the lounge
- 2:30 room ready & need a nap
- really nice dinner with FUN tablemates from London
What I DON’T LIKE
- overslept and fly out of bed @ 5:55
- coffee is really bad
- Air France wants to charge us 55 Euro for being over by 4 kilos – we can have 3 bags and only have 2
- cappuccino is really small – really only a half cup
- Arles airport pickup – crammed into 8 passenger van
Roman Amphitheater in Arles
FF (FUN-Fact) – The moon hit my eye like a big pizza pie – that’s amore!
Not so FF (FUN-fact) – Rome in the summer is filled with tourists and the lines are very long like Disneyland. Glad I was already here in the 90’s.
FUN-travel: Rome, Italy – Day 2
August 10, 2012 by Susan Clarke · Comments Off on FUN-travel: Rome, Italy – Day 2
Trip Day 25 – Saturday, August 4 – Rome, Italy
Borghese Park
What I LIKE
Pantheon
- nice hot coffee in room compliments of my amore
- noon walk through Borghese Park
- Via Veneto to pick up hop on bus
- stop @ Vatican for photo op
- hop off bus back @ Via Veneto for nice cold beer
- take nice long leisurely stroll to Pantheon & Piazza Navona
- continue on to Via Del Corso
- La Capricciosa – dinner of “you guessed it” – pizza, caprese salad & wine – this time a nice Barbera
- stroll back to hotel
- lots of shops open
- 8pm taxi to airport is only $60 Euro
- private car is $80 Euro & air conditioned!
- pre-paid Hilton Garden Inn – decent room only $130
What I DON’T LIKE
- sleeping @ airport hotels
- wasting sleeping time driving to airports in the morning (it’s a dilemma)
FF (FUN-fact) – Rome is filled with fountains that spill out fresh, cool water. Everyone stops to splash and cool down and fill their water bottles.
FUN-travel: Rome, Italy – 2 days
August 9, 2012 by Susan Clarke · Comments Off on FUN-travel: Rome, Italy – 2 days
Trip Day 25 – Friday, August 3 – Rome, Italy
Piazza Venezia
What I LIKE
Spanish Steps
- another couple shares taxi
- no traffic – everyone’s on vacation
- get to Rome in one hour – to hotel by 11 am
- really, really cute boutique – Hotel Lord Byron @ edge of Borghese Park
- take really long walk to hop on, hop off bus
- on the way see Piazza del Popolo for first time
- 2:00 stop for gelato & cappuccino
- best coffee in the world is in Italy
- 3:00 get on hop on bus
Photo Ops include:
Spanish steps
Trevi Fountain – it is the cleanest we’ve ever seen
Piazza Venezia
the Coloseum
Circo Massimo
- 6:00 stop Piazza Navona for serious people watching
- filled with artists & musicians
- dinner @ Tre Scalini starts with nice cold beer, then really thin crust pizza, buffalo mozzarella caprese salad, Barolo wine
- taxi takes us home for only $10 Euro
Trevi Fountain
What I DON’T LIKE
- taxi to Rome costs $150 Euro (so we’re told by ship)
- have to wait for a taxi
- price is $230 Euro – OUCH!
- then jumps to $280 when we share!
Piazza Navona
- no air conditioning and it’s over 80 degrees already
- $12 Euro surcharge to eat gelato @ outside table – 2 gelati + 2 cappuccinos + water = total bill of $22 Euro
- temp jumps to 100
FF (FUN-fact) – We made it to our 5th New 7 Wonders of the World! We’d both been there in the 90’s – but not together – so it didn’t count.
Not so FF – Beware of scams! Walking in Rome on major road with map in hand a car stopped us for directions. Turns out it was the president of Armani Milano. He was so happy that I could help him and because I was so nice he wanted to give me a purse from his fall collection that was worth $1600. Imagine that! Then he told me he only wanted some gas money. My husband was onto him before me and told me when he drove off, “I knew he was a fake because he wasn’t wearing an Armani tie.”
FUN-travel: Island of Elba to Rome, Italy – Day 8 – End of Seabourn Cruise
August 9, 2012 by Susan Clarke · Comments Off on FUN-travel: Island of Elba to Rome, Italy – Day 8 – End of Seabourn Cruise
Trip Day 25 – Cruise Ends – Friday, August 3 – Rome, Italy
Tiber River
What I LIKE
Salvador Dalí
- don’t have to get off ship until 9:30
What I DON’T LIKE
- have to be out of our room by 8 am
TIRA (Things I Remember After) – The Seabourn chef bought fresh shellfish in the morning markets and cooked it tableside for lunch. We had some of the best mussels and linguine with clam sauce.
Seabourn Cruise Recap – Travel is very personal! This is our second 6 star cruise and we were impressed with Seabourn. (we plan on cruising with all four of the 6 star cruise lines)
What we LIKED
The food and service was excellent! We booked a room with a big picture window and without a balcony. Nice and big at 295 sq ft. We don’t spend that much time in our room and are perfectly happy going up to the pool deck and sitting outside while having lunch and dinner. In our opinion – You can’t wear an upgrade! We were surprised by how many young people, families and children were on board. This is because of the time of year, length of cruise, and ports of call. We booked a second cruise with Seabourn next February in South America.
What we DIDN’T LIKE
- paying for internet!
- and it was extremely slow!
- we expected the wine by the glass to be better
FUN-travel: La Spezia to Portoferraio, Island of Elba, Italy – Day 7 – Seabourn Cruise
August 8, 2012 by Susan Clarke · Comments Off on FUN-travel: La Spezia to Portoferraio, Island of Elba, Italy – Day 7 – Seabourn Cruise
Trip Day 24 – Cruise Day 7 – Thursday, August 2 – Portoferraio, Island of Elba, Italy
Napoleon’s Fountain
What I LIKE
- only 4 hr tour
- leave @ 9:30
- 1st stop – Villa San Martino – summer residence of Napoleon Bonaparte during his exile on Elba – sits half way up the hill – clear view of the harbor in distance – able to walk through and see rooms with furniture & one filled with fanciful Egyptian frescos
- 2nd stop – Porto Azzuro – charming fishing village
- Locman Watches are made on Elba & I have one
- back to ship in time for lunch of fresh shrimp scampi cooked table side
- walk through town – find bigger Locman Watch store
- buy a new watch band & it makes it look brand new!
- dinner with 8 ship mates in the main dining room
What I DON’T LIKE
- can’t remember anything
FF (FUN-fact) – Elba is the largest of a scatter of islands know as the Tuscan archipelago off the west coast of Italy – 16 miles long and 3 miles wide.