After a reasonably pleasant night of sleep, we woke and had breakfast in the dining room, then searched for the iLounge to set up our computer accounts for the voyage. Happily, we found that when we booked, we received the special bonus of unlimited wifi! You can contact us whenever we aren't sleeping .. This afternoon was the first art auction.  We love to see the new pieces being offered.. Joey won a free artwork, so after a dinner at the suites resta...

Today we transitioned from the hotel in Rome to the ship in Civitavecchia. Before we left the hotel, however, we wanted to stop at a Bancomat for some euros .. because of the weekend, the machines were out of money. so we were able to cobble together enough between the four ofd us to pay the driver taking us to the ship in Civitavecchia, drop our luggage at the ship, and walk into Civitavecchia in search of a less-used Bancomat and perhaps a few bottles of Amaron...

OK, our tour concierge said we'd been going great guns, but we should rest Sunday morning. And we sort of agreed; we were exhausted. So we kicked back, leisurely morning. But I contacted our wonderful personal shopper Barbara to see if Joey and I could do a quick shopping before the concierge arranged a tour of the Jewish Ghetto and Trastavere. Barbara was available, and drove us to a wonderful handmade shoe outlet where I purchased shoes and a handbag...then we ...

Today was a helluva long day! After a late night last night having aperitivos with our travel concierges (Elizabeth and Blaine) at a small inn they were checking out (we determined it was not an appropriate choice for seniors - an elevator only to the 3rd floor and two floors of walk up to the roof garden) and then dinner at a local family-style restaurant that we closed down at midnight, we forced ourselves out of bed for breakfast then a 9:45 meet up with our ...

OK, call me a crass American (and Lillie, too) but we wanted to shop. (And while the ladies shopped, the gentlemen trudged all over the colosseum with a wonderful tour guide). We started in the Monti area, right behind our hotel, but this area is a more laissez faire type of attitude ... They close for a coffee run, for a bathroom break, for a nap ... Whatever we wanted to see was closed. So we took a taxi to the Spanish Steps area of Rome (the steps are undergoi...