Day 3: Boarding the Ship!

I forgot to mention the bus accident! Saturday night (from yesterday's post), had us taking the last of the open air busses from the Rome Termini station (kind of their Grand Central Station). I still wanted to take pictures, so I went to the top, while my mom, to stay warm, stayed at the bottom level. Well, as we were pulling out, our bus driver evidently wasn't paying attention and hit the passenger side corner of the bus with the back of the bus in front of us (as we were making the turn to leave). I felt the bump and a second later heard a woman yelling in pain. I knew who that was, so I leaped down the stairs.

My mom was wearing a slick rain-proof jacket, and it was under her when we hit. She was sitting in a forward facing seat across from an empty backwards facing seat. She slid forward when we hit and hurt her back. After some anxiety, Mom decided she was OK and didn't need to go to the hospital.

So, we took the regular city bus back to the other train station by our bed and breakfast. I kept worrying about my mom's back, but it ended up OK.

So the next day we decided to brave the busses again and use the rest of our 24 hour pass on the bus. I still wanted to check out the rest of the tour we didn't see, and particularly see the Spanish Steps and, since it was the same stop, see the Trevi Fountain again.


My mom feeling better the day after the accident


The Spanish Steps - after all the hype, it wasn't that exciting. It would be picturesque if it wasn't littered with so many people. Still, I climbed up them all, which was kind of fun.


I liked the Trevi Fountain so much, I just had to go see it in the daylight.


This lady is an artist. My mom and I each bought a painting from her. This is my painting, which is now hanging in my kitchen.


As we finished riding in our open air bus tour, I took this picture of the Tiber River.

We got back to our bed and breakfast, took our suitcases, and walked the couple of blocks to the train station. Now, this was the bravest part of our trip. I think a couple of hairs turned gray worrying about this trip. We got to the train station, and it was Sunday, so the normal staff wasn't there. There was nobody there manning the desk. So we had to figure out how to use the kiosks. And it didn't take credit cards. And there really wasn't anything in English. Luckily I found an employee that did speak a little English and he helped us get our tickets. The train ride was really only about 5 euros, which is a lot cheaper than when I was searching on the Internet, so I kept worrying if we were going the right place and if they'd be OK with all of our luggage.


The train station in Rome by our bed and breakfast.

Nobody was speaking English around us and I kept worrying that we'd get off the wrong exit or we'd accidentally board the wrong train. I thought though that we had a few hours to spare. I found out later the time I thought we could board until was actually the depature time. Good thing I didn't know that earilier, or I would have been really worried.

Anyway, we got on the train, and figured out how to get to Civitavecchia, the port city closest to Rome.


Once we got there, we found a couple going on our same cruise ship. Steven and Diane, I think. They're from Georgia. We also found Mario, who told us he'd take our luggage to the free shuttle, so that we didn't have to take a taxi. As we were walking, Mario took off, and we later all admitted that we thought that was the end of our luggage, that Mario was taking off with them. But he wasn't. He walked them down a mile or two to the free shuttle. We gave him all of our change and thanked him for his help.


Our ship, the Azamara Journey. She was a small ship, which was a unique experience after the huge Celebrity Infinity my mom and I were on in Alaska.

There was a mixup with the rooms, as someone who stayed from the previous trip was supposed to move out of her room. So we went to grab something to eat before we sailed off. The buffet was good, and it was nice to just relax at the back of the ship and enjoy our meal. I knew that now that we were on board, we wouldn't have to worry too much about making sure we didn't miss our boat or the airplane the rest of the trip. What a relief.

So after food, we found out they gave us a new room. They said it was better, but it was right by the main lobby, which wasn't bad, except that one of the main tender boats was right above us, so several mornings we were woken by them getting the boats ready. And one time when we docked the gangway was literally right next door, so the set up was very loud. Still, it wasn't bad.

Every cruise ship has to have a muster drill before take off, by international law. That's basically the lifeboat drill. You go to your muster station (gathering place), then head out to where the life boats are.


Having fun at the lifeboat drill.

After that, we went back to unpack our stuff, get settled, and then grab something else to eat, before enjoying the sail from the port. And of course we had the ship's entertainment to enjoy. Then we went to bed to get ready for our first port.