11/12-11/13: Got up at 6:30, had everything (usual morning stuff, food to go - two vietnamese shrimp wrap and two torda sandwiches) ready by 9:30.Jack came picking us up at 10:30. Checked-in at 11:40, went through security check at 12:00. There are some schedule changes due to a delayed takeoff of a flight that blocked the same gate (97), we were moved to gate 95, boarding time was changed to 1:45, actual boarding time was 2:10, this flight(B747) was unbelievably empty, Anita and myself each has a complete row to ourselves, there are quite a few unoccupied seats (rows). Flight took off at 3:00. Beverage was served at 3:38, I was going to have red wine but it's not free so I had water instead :-) Lunched is served at 4:10 - meatball pasta, taste OK but pasta is a bit burned, butter is liquified. A very light breakfast is served at 11:50 pm(Rome time from this point on), stone cold butter with bun plus a small fruit salad - also very cold. Started descending at 12:30. touched down at 9:55, docked at tramway at 10:18. Our flight was rebooked to LH234 leaving at 12:15, had to walk and ask around to find Lufthansa ticket office to get new boarding passes and have our luggage rerouted. Walked 15 minutes to get to gate 68 which is at the end of a long wing. Used the 30-minute free Wi-Fi to Skype Arches B&B to let them know our new arrival time. Entered the gate swiftly, this is the first time we entered the gate by simply scanning the boarding pass ourselves. Boarded the plane after riding shuttle for 8 minutes. The flight(B737) was less than half filled - more people came on board after 10 minutes, but it's still about 15% empty(we sat in the second row - we were the sole passengers, after the business class section, the entire first row - 6 seats - was empty; lucky us). After taxing and waiting, we finally took off at 3:35. Even though itinerary indicated that there's no meal served on this flight, we were surprised to get a small sandwich right after leveling off, AND no charge for red wine:-) Landed at Rome Fiumicino(FCO) airport at 2:20. It took 20 minutes for our luggages, however, we were met by our pick up driver right after exiting the airport. Since we've already showed our passports at Frankfurt immigration(entering EU), there isn't any more custom in Rome, quite convenient. Arches B&B sits in a relatively old residential area, it's got 3 rooms only, since we were the only guests the first night, we had the whole complex to ourself - hotel owners do not live here. Went to bed around 6:30pm (9:30am San Jose time) but woke up at 1:00am. Had breakfast at 2:00, had second breakfast at 4:30.
11/14: After going through the crowd issues visiting Vatican complex, we decided to purchase tickets online(for 9:00am) so we don't need to wait in line for tickets. Ticket price(Vatican Museum and Sistine Chapel) was €16 plus €4 fee each, I wasn't able to upload the voucher to Google drive to print it, I had to make a local copy on my Nexus 7 and show it at the gate, this worked out OK, we were able to go in directly at 8:20 when we got to the entrance by simply showing the voucher on my Nexus 7(ticket office open at 9:00, meaning those without pre purchased ticket won't be able to go in before that, tour groups do not have their usual privilege of early access here). Our tour began with the Vatican Museum, followed by Sistine Chapel, and end with St. Peters Church(Basilica of St. Peters) - the last one is free and is thus the most popular.Bought pizza on our way back to Arches B&B, it was a simple cheese pizza but costs €5 and the quantity was about one slice from Costco:-). Slept until 4:30, went to check out the Metro station and ticketing, picked up half dozen organic egg (€2.92) and a bag of Farfalline (€1.47), our healthy/inexpensive dinner.
11/15: Found and booked first class seats on Frecciabianca train for tomorrow at 12:00 with booking number (PNR): 3BA9VN - these are so called ”two for one” deal which is 50% off, the catch is no refund. (http://www.italiarail.com)
Head toward the Metro station to visit Colosseo. We explored the Metro station Ottaviano yesterday. Purchased two tickets( from the ticket office, returned two extra tickets to the lady who was possibly a little preoccupied. Got on A (red) line at Ottaviano, got off at Termini/Train Central Station, switch to B(blue) line then got off at Colosseo, the Coliseum is right outside of the station exit. We were a bit disappointed as a good portion of the coliseum was under reconstruction and thus destroyed plenty photo opportunity. We enjoyed orders of Italian ice cream(gelato), Pistachio flavored (€8 each). Walked to see Fontana, also stopped by Piazza Venezia on the way. We had some challenge going to Pantheon as the Nexus 7 lost its GPS reception for a good while,, Anita got help from people she asked and we were able to find our way there. As it rained throughout our walking tour, with my one hand holding the umbrella and another on Nexus 7, I wan't able to focus on taking good photos. Rest and doze on/off most of the remaining afternoon.
A note on close call on B(blue) line Metro: When I was stepping onto the B(blue) line Metro, I felt someone was pulling me(or my bag), I glanced back and saw a woman carrying a baby in front of her, at first I thought it was simply too crowded, but later on noticed that the zipper on my tablet was about 70% open, luckily nothing was missing - my glancing back must have broken off the theft process - thank God.
11/16: Got up at 5:00, finished cleaning and packing by 8:00. Packing wasn't as easy as I had to put the larger jacket and sweater in and wear polo short and slack instead. Paolo came by at 10:10 to check us out. He called a taxi for us which took us to Termini station in 15 minutes. We had a McDonalds Big MAC and a Coke for €5, Big MAC was kind of small though. There wasn't much left after the platform number was displayed - we were assigned carriage 1 which is at the head of the train - walked nearly 5 minutes to carriage 1, it was 11:55 after we got to our seats, only 5 minutes before departure time. These's a guy at every carriage trying to help people with their luggages, I fell for that and handed over our luggages, luckily we did not have much Euros and Anita gave him half Euro when he asked for 10 - ridiculous. Carriage 1 was only 30% filled, maybe that's why they have the 2 for 1 sale. Arriving Civitavecchia at 12:45, the station here is kind of old even though it's an important cruise ship port. Walked about 20 minutes before getting to a small cruise ship pier gate. Waited nearly 10 minutes for Norwegian Jade shuttle, another 10 minutes to get to check-in point, after going through health questionary, registration with credit card we were issued entry cards - Anita has the Bronze status while I have the regular stateroom entry card. After unpacking our luggages, we went to Garden Cafe for a light meal, it was good - not only because we had 3 days of abnormal meals but also because the dishes are actual nicely prepared. We dodged the 4:00 Life Boat Drill.
11/17: Apparently they did roll call during the life boat drill and we were notified to attend a make up session in Stardust theatre at 11:30 today, not sure we will be on board at the time. Got up at 4:30, there were tons of people in Garden Cafe when we got there for breakfast, guess most people could not sleep due to jet lag, should be better in a couple of days. Made a mistake having a full bagel by myself, will skip it tomorrow and focus on other less filling food items. Got off ship at 9:10, the shuttle to Livorno city cost €5 each round trip. Of the 15 minutes ride, 10 were inside the pier. Livorno is a small city, most popular vista points are close by the harbor, it took us less than 3 1/2 hours to finish what we wanted to see. Got back to the ship at 12:35. Lunch and dinner at Garden Cafe again - we are used to freestyle dinning, even considered sit down dinner as a burden. We never attended the make-up Life Boat drill session, no new notification so far.
11/18: Went for breakfast at 6:00.8:20; 15 minutes tender ride to Villefranche. Walked 10 minutes from tender docking pier to bus stop. 9:00; Got on Monaco bound bus 100, bus fare is €1.5 each. Arriving Monte Carlo at 9:50. Marked down return bus location on GPS map and started tour of the city. Walked up a wide ramp toward Palace of the Prince, souvenir shop, Cathedral, and the Oceanographic Museum. Walked back to the bus stop in 15 minutes, we watched closely the next stop display on the bus but did not see ”Villefranche” about the time we should be arriving, thought it'll take a few more minutes until I took out the GPS and found out we've already missed it - the stop where many people got on nut the stop was a different name. The driver let us off at the next stop and told us to take the bus across the street, it cost us another €1.5 each to go back, sigh :-(
11:00; got on bus going back to Villefranche. Struggle s little but finally got back to where tender docked.
11/19: Had breakfast at 6:00, pretty much the same stuff daily. Got off ship 9:15(ship docked at La Seyne Sur-Mer which is an industrial city), a water taxi took us to Toulon at 9:25, took about 20 minutes. We didn't spend much time in Toulon as it rained non-stop while we were there, visited The Cathedral, local market, and Marine Museum(closed today - Tuesday).Water taxi started back at 11:27 and docked at La Seyne Sur-Mer at 11:45. Had lunch at Blue Lagoon, there's only one menu throughout the entire cruise from this restaurant, we ordered buffalo wing, finger chicken, chef salad, and mozzarella cheese stick, very tasty food but need to wait about 10 minutes before taking order.
11/20: Had breakfast at 6:00. J8:15 left ship8:17: boarded port transfer shuttle8:40: arriving information center in Barcelona8:55: exchanged $500 for €340 on La Rambla, the street has a 20ft wide walkway in the center of the street where people can walk, merchant can set up seats on both side for guests, a very popular night attraction.9:10: got on Metro L3 (€2.00 each), switch to L2 blue, got off at Sagrada Familia (architected by Gaudi, still under construction)at 9:32.10:02: Took L2 to Pasage de Garcia to see a few more Gaudi's products.
2:25: boarded port transfer shuttle.
2:50 - back to stateroom3:20: Sit down at Blue Lagoon for fried cheese sticks and buffalo wings(10 pieces), this time it was served within 5 minutes.
This is the first day of the cruise which sunshine dominates.
11/21: After several wake-up breaks during the night, got up at 6:30 which was close to normal now. Breakfast at 6:50. Met an old gentleman from Arizona at the breakfast table, he was a Marine and stationed 14 months in Taiwan in 1956.Shuttle from dock to Valencia center costs €12 person round trip. It's extremely cold with wind blowing widely - felt like 0℃, the sweater plus a light vest weren't enough to keep me warm, had to find shelters every now and then to regain some lost body heat. Started Valencia tour at 9:35. First at the bus stop was Torres de Serranos(Highland Tower), should have paid €2 to get a panoramic view of the city from the top of the castle. Next stop is Cathedral of Santa Maria which is in a square with a couple of other churches and a fountain. The Mercat Central(Central Market) is a mix of super market and traditional produce exchange, it is in-house and has everything you can expect from a super market (vegetables, fruits, pastry, raw and preserved meat, cheese, nuts,...) but each unit is individually owned and operated, the most amazing thing is that it is so clean you'd think you are in a model home, it is a popular for locals (to do grocery shopping) as well as tourists (for admiring). La Lonja de la Seda was a Silk Trading place famous for its architecture. Also moved down the street to see an old building area for beautiful designs. Went back to the Cathedral square and had a light bite at the McDonalds there, also went online the first time since leaving Rome.
Taking the shuttle back to the ship at 1:50 after it was filled. Got back to Jade at 2:05, carry-ons were not scanned for some reason. Had Potato skin and buffalo wings at Blue Lagoon after hot bath and short rest.
11/22: [Due to unfavorable weather condition crossing Mediterranean sea, our next stop will be Palma de Mallorca instead of Cagliari]It rained heavily while we were having breakfast, but sun showed its face a little later. But it started to rain again when we got shuttle tickets and walked off the ship. After debating to go or not to go, we realized tickets appeared to be non refundable so here we go. It rained cats and dogs when we got off the shuttle, hats and umbrellas everywhere, the entrance to the Palace (Palacio de la Almudaina)was filled with tourists trying to stay dry.We visited the cathedral(La Seu) for €6 each, it's well worth it, we not only get to stay dry but also see the beauty of this cathedral(bought 3 beautiful scarfs for €5 each - plan to give them to mom, sister, and sister-in-law on Chinese New Year trip to Taiwan) The weather cleared up by the time we finished visiting the cathedral. The La Lonja here wasn't nearly as nice as the one in Valencia, luckily there's a modern art exhibition going on inside, we stayed and enjoyed the display for nearly 40 minutes. Went back and see the surroundings of Palacio de la Almudaina - its garden and swan pool.Back to ship at 1:20.
11/23: [At sea]Stayed in bed most of the time when not having meal - get sea sick if stay up too long.
11/24: Got up at 6:00, ship docked at 7:25 while we were having breakfast at Garden Cafe. Anita studied ship excursion sheet and decided to join "Medina & Sidi Bou Said", $29.99 each - inexpensive but have to see exactly what's provided. We waited in Stardust theatre for call to exit the ship. Since we are exiting Euro and entering Tunisia, Ship ID, passport, as well Landing card are required. We were finally called to exit an boarded the bus at 9:35. Bus started at 9:52. The tour guide was very knowledgeable in the history and religion of the area, obviously well experienced guide. He took us to Carthage for a short stop to see Roman aqua duct (85 miles?), it's nice since this was not on the original tour itinerary. Next stop at Medina, we bought a small bottle of Lemon oil for €10 at the essential oil store - very pure oil. The carpet store has many colorful and nicely made carpets but they cost too much. Final stop at Sidi Bou Said; date store was nice but packaging wasn't flexible so we skipped that, Anita bought a carpet at one of the souvenir store, asking €400, final price $150 - 1/4 of the original, good deal. Back to the ship at 2:45. John and Amy shared our table for make up lunch.
11/25: Woke up at 6:30. Left ship at 9:30. Palermo is a small city where most scenic views are in the same area named Quattro Canti(at the cross section of via Maqueda and Corso Vittorio Emanuele). We started at ship's dock at Molo Piave, walk to via Emerico Amari, turn left on via Roma, then turn right on Corso Vitttorio Emanuele. The Cathedral, Fontana Pretoria, and several churches are all in the general area.Back to the ship at 12:45.Watched "Elements" in Stardust theatre, a combination of magic and circus show, not bad.
11/26: Final port of call, we bought "Pompeii on your own" excursion, essentially a bus ride to and from Pompeii - $24.99 each. Our bus was scheduled at 8:15 but didn't leave until 8:30. Ride to Pompeii took 30 minutes, ticket to Pompeii ruins is €11 each. It's difficult to comprehend the ruins without a guide as there's virtually no info anywhere you go, had to guess for ourselves. The entire ruins will need about 3 hours to cover, we had to leave and meet our bus at 11:45 which only leave us w hours and 20 minutes - ticket procuring took away 25 minutes. For people used to the info provided at a National (or even state) park/museum, this is way too primitive. Back to the ship at 12:32. Went to Naples(or Napoli in Italian) to look for Wi-Fi to check in our flights tomorrow, it didn't work at the McDonald's as Italian is the only available language there, we had to go back to the customs building where there's a snack shop with Wi-Fi, I bought a pistachio ice cream for €2, the store owner enter the password on my Nexus 7 and we are online. Anita did the check-in which had to through Lufthansa website, it's not easy but she did it in 30 minutes. Time to pack!
11/27: Got up at 5:00, had breakfast at 6:10, disembark at 8:15, got on shuttle to gate at 8:20, got to gate at 8:40(ride took only 8 minutes), we were met by CIVITATOURS at the gate drop-off(Forte Michelangelo), walked about 10 minutes (extremely cold) to bus boarding stop, got on the bus at 8:35. Passengers came on board a few at a time, bus finally heads out to Fiumicino airport at 9:35. Temperature was 5℃ but felt much colder
ADD PICKUP POINT PHOTO HERE - USE TICKET VOUCHER INSERT.
Got to Fiumicino airport(FCO - Leonardo Da Vinci) at 10:35. Check-in was easy, but we do have 2 hours to kill before boarding (1:00). Had a meal at McDONALD'S - I Grande Classic plus a Sundae ice cream.(€9.45), ketchup and mayonnaise each cost €0.25 extra. Wondered around a bit, this airport is kind of primitive, more like a domestic airport. Went through security check point at 12:25, passengers traveling to US and Israel go through a more strict examination. Stores and general surroundings are better than those outside the gate. one interesting comparison, a 7 oz lindor chocolate costs €8.4($12) where a one pound(16 oz) of the same costs only $8 which is roughly 1/3. Our flight LH233(A321) was delayed to 2:20 as we waited to board, it then was delayed again to 2:30, the actual take off time was 2:40. Because of tail wind, our flight was able to make up some lost time, we landed at Frankfurt at 4:20, we fast walked through the airport (from gate A all the way to gate Z), and got to gate Z23, after being questioned for luggage packing issues, we boarded flight UA933 at 4:45, our seats are 46G and 46D with empty seat 46E between us, after the doors are closed, the lady attendant offered to move us to economy plus with the same seat condition, we kindly declined after think it over - row 46 may be a little bumpier and has shorter leg room, but we still like it much :-) The dinner meal was surprisingly tasty, a first from an UA flight, also 777, although relatively old, does have individual entertainment center. The flight ran into a rough turbulence about one hour from Dulles airport, it continued all through landing - possibly caused by strong tail wind since we landed 25 minutes earlier - I probably would have thrown up had it lasted one minute longer. The airport was surprisingly empty, this flight appeared to be the only plane landed at the time. Going through customs and baggage claim(although ours came out really late, worried us a bit) smoothly. We were expecting a large crowd as this is Thanksgiving eve, but once again, to our surprise, no crowd in the domestic area. The flight to SFO was delayed by 15 minutes, Anita was in a row with all seats filled while I got a better deal - seat next to me was unoccupied. Again, no food except water was served on the flight. We landed at SFO pretty much on time. Jack pick us up at baggage claim exit gates (9 & 10).
Saturday, December 14, 2013
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)