Now for the Boat!

She Says . . .

It is the morning on our first full day on the boat.  It is Saturday.  Yesterday was crazy and at one point I was concerned we would not even make it on the boat this time.

Morning

I set the alarm for 7 AM thinking breakfast was only until 9 AM.  After laying in bed, posting the blog for the day before, and sucking up my last period of UNLIMITED free WiFi for two weeks, It was after 8 AM.  Holy moly! Breakfast ends at 9 AM and once we get ready, we will only get the dregs of the buffet.  Then Blaise pointed out my mis-information and that breakfast ended at 10:30.  Of course I had to validate this with the paperwork and once I did, I was all good.  Thankfully he was right.  But dammit, he was right!

Breakfast was not as good.  The eggs were runny and the bacon was not fully cooked.  This might be important later.

After packing, we checked out and the hotel called a taxi for us.  This was a point of discussion.  Blaise wanted to walk with our luggage to the train station to save money and for exercise, I suppose.  While I have no issues walking, I am not a pack mule.  There was no way I was going to walk .80 miles towing a piece of luggage, my purse and a carryon on cobblestone.  Granted, the carryon was small, but still…

Soooooo, the cab arrived.  The Trastevere train station seemed way more than .80 miles from our hotel.  It was a lovely taxi ride, filled with sitting leisurely and looking out the window. Not one bag was lugged by me.  The cost was 9.50 euros.  I gave him at 10 and we were done with that.

The Train Station Wait

We were WAY early.  Nearly 2 hours.  It was interesting people watching.  They had 2 soldiers with machine guns at the station, something we had been seeing all over the city at key sites.

We made our way to the location where our train would arrive.  At one point Blaise had to go to the bathroom.  To get there, he had to go down stairs, walk under the other train tracks, and I guess go back up the stairs to get to the bathroom.  I am unsure of this last part because I did not use the bathroom while there.  Surprising, I know.  He was gone a long while and came back.  I said “how was the bathroom?”  “I don’t know.  You have to pay and I don’t have any money.”  He told me it was 1 euro.  I only had small change and 20 and a 50.  So he took the 20, went and bought something, and then went to the bathroom.  Needless to say, the taxi ride was the easiest part of getting on the boat.

While he was in the bathroom, I had a small incident with a couple Italian women.  There were 4 seats right in a row, with a duplicate set backing up to ours facing the other direction.  I was in the very end. One lady was sitting facing the other direction on the other end of the chairs.  Another lady was sitting back to back with her on the opposite end of the four seats on my side.  Thus there are 2 seats between me and the other lady.  When Blaise was there, he was seated right next to me and our luggage was parked right in front of his seat.  I know these two ladies were not together as the arrived at different times.  Words were said between the two, in Italian of course.  We are in Italy.  I had no idea what they were saying but the result was a swap of seats.  Totally don’t get it, but whatever.  In the meantime, Blaise got his 20 euros so he could pee and left.  A few minutes later, a couple arrived.  The lady asked to sit next to me, I presume since she was pointing at the seat as she was speaking Italian, so she and her partner could sit down.  In English, since I do not know enough Italian to say “this seat is taken,” I told her no, my husband was sitting there.  She apparently understood this. Now the lady on the opposite end had bags next to her in the only remaining seat which the new lady asked her to move so she could sit down.  She picked up her bag and set them down in Blaise’s seat.  In English (wouldn’t it be something if I could say it in Italian since I can’t even say “this seat is taken?”), I said “no, no, no, my husband is sitting here.”  She looked at me baffled as it was clear she didn’t understand a word I said.  The new lady said something to her, she glared at me (in Italian) and then moved her bags onto her lap.

Really, a pointless story but goes to the overarching theme that getting on the boat was not easy.

Train Ride

The train ride to Civitavecchia was smooth except there was really no place to put our luggage so they sat in the aisle, annoying the shit out of everyone else.  I felt bad.  At one point, Blaise was so bothered by inconveniencing everyone that he took the bag he was lugging, because it was the bigger of the two, and stood by the exit with the bag so it would be out of everyone’s way.

Getting to the Boat

Let me first say, we chose the train ride to Civitavecchia because when we took our 15 night Mediterranean cruise in 2013, it was easy - walk off the train and a short walk to the embarkation location.

This was not the case anymore.  It was a looooonnnnngggg walk.  And the signage sucked.  We were not the only people wandering around in the sun (which I swear is hotter here than at home) with luggage looking for the check in place.

We had been wandering around for quite a while with our luggage watching another couple in front of us doing the same thing, when we decided to stop and ask for directions as did the other couple.  Blaise and I were each carrying 1 piece of large luggage, a small carryon, and a jacket since it was too hot to wear it.  I was also carrying a purse. The other couple also decided to ask for directions.  Now they had been ahead of us the whole time. We had not talked to them prior, we merely noted they were wandering around only slightly ahead of us.  We stopped at a small cafe’ roughly the same time as the other couple.  Before Blaise went in to ask for directions, he said to me “Something’s not right.  I have to go to the bathroom.”  Well that is a bit concerning.  So I am standing out there with all of our bags and so is the other woman about 15-20 feet from me.  We aren’t really talking because we have been wandering around with luggage for about 30 minutes.

We are out there for quite a while, it seems.  The other guy comes out and tells me the guy in the cafe’ says the buses to the boat are behind the police station which we can see from where we are standing.  Then he adds “Your husband is still in there.  He’s a bit ‘woozy.’ Maybe from the heat.”  Well crap!  So they walk off and I am standing there with all that luggage and jackets.  Our new piece of luggage is not doing well on the cobblestone streets (yes they have them too) either.  So I am looking at all this stuff and trying to figure out how I am going to get it all inside WITH me so I can check on Blaise.  Because now I am worried.  And I have to pee. Bad. I somehow manage to get it all in the cafe’ and Blaise is standing there, not looking too well.  A bit woozy maybe. He said he walked in there feeling like he was going to fall down he was so dizzy.  And he had to go to the bathroom badly.  He thinks he ate something that didn’t sit well with him.  I think, perhaps the runny eggs or the partially cooked bacon.

Later on at dinner, he tells me he thought he was going to die.  Well, shit!  I had never gone THERE with the my thought process.  Come to find out, he has never passed out before.  Having passed out a few times, I think that is what was going on.  He got too hot, he was lugging all that stuff, and he had to go to the bathroom.  Not a good combination.

Not only was I worried about Blaise, I also thought, and this is probably bad, selfish me, “We aren’t even going to make it onto this boat this time!”  So this time it wouldn’t be me falling down and breaking my face, it will be my husband too sick to get on the boat.

We made it to the bus and the rest of embarkation was fine - no issues.  Blaise dutifully lied on his health card so we could get on the ship.

Evening on the Boat

We mustered at 4:15.  Nothing to note there except our Captain is a bit of a comedian.  He tells us who is in charge if he is incapacitated, who is in charge if that person is incapacitated, and then who is in charge if that person is also incapacitated.  Then he says if they are all incapacitated, then clearly we are having a better day than he is.

We were late leaving the dock due to a medical emergency which takes on a whole different meaning for me now, having once been that medical emergency that held up a ship with 3,000 people on it.  Blaise and I couldn’t quite joke about that yet.  We talked about how bad we felt for those people and hoped everyone was OK in the end.

The evening was lovely and relaxing.  Blaise was feeling much better.  Thank God!

We lazed around, we ate, we went to bed.

This is getting awfully long so I will write more about the boat later when there is not much going on while we are at sea.

Dana’s Food Watch

Breakfast - runny eggs and partially-cooked bacon

Lunch - Buffet items on the boat

Dinner - We ate at the Luminae, the restaurant for people in suites only.  It was lovely, if not packed.  We had made a reservation as was recommended in the welcome package, I dutifully read.  Others did not and were turned away by the maitre d.  I had burrata with tomatoes and pesto for an appetizer.  It was a ton of burrata with only one piece of bread. Not sure what that was about.  Blaise had the tomato soup.  We both had filet mignon, potatoes, and spinach for our entre’.  I didn’t like any of their dessert choices - I really just wanted sorbet so they brought me some tasty sorbet with basil.  I couldn’t make out what the fruit was but it was delicious.  The waiter even brought Blaise a small scoop of the sorbet even though he said he wanted nothing.  Everything was delicious.

Injury Watch

No injuries, just a small health scare.

He Says . . .

Rome is such a fantastic city, it definitely rivals the best cities in the world; Vienna, Venice and Budapest would all have to be on my top 5 list as well but for some reason I have a true soft spot for Rome.  I’m certain we’ll be back again…

The day began as any other with only one humorous twist for Ami this morning, we went downstairs to have breakfast and she wanted to eat out in the courtyard, it’s quite gorgeous and I agreed without hesitation.  There was to be only one caveat to our seat selection, as we walked through the worn French doors, she said “I want to sit along the side so we aren’t near the pigeons”.  I agreed, while chuckling internally as to insecurities around birds but larger birds seem to really impact her psyche to a greater extent.  Nonetheless we sat down, she went back inside to retrieve her juice regimen and at just the time she disappeared an employee waves a serving tray quite quickly in the pigeon’s direction and says something in Italian that must have been “get away”, guess what, they understood and by the time Ami returned there were 40+ pigeons around our feet, I thought it was hilarious, she didn’t find it amusing in the slightest.  We shooed they away and all was right with the world again.  Breakfast was dicey as I came to realize later but filling, scrambled eggs and bacon, both undercooked I thought but tasty nonetheless, especially for my cast iron stomach.  

After breakfast we headed upstairs, packed and with me conceding the point (I wanted to walk, Ami said no way on cobblestones with luggage) and called the taxi for the 3km trek to Trastevere Estanzione.  We did some people watching and Ami made a great friend while I was being extorted for a Euro to use a public restroom; all tongue in cheek, apparently while I was gone some woman asked to have my seat and Ami told her that is taken, glares ensued from what I’m told.  By the way I had to make a return trip to get the Euro as I had zero currency on me; the extortion thought began when I saw the makeshift 5th grade school desk with a 20 year old NCR “cash” register that didn’t ring anything up that held nothing but Euros and had to paper tape for end of day reconciliations.  It still stings, when I get home I think I’ll see if I can file a complaint somewhere though.  Otherwise everything was churning along according to Hoyle and we were content to watch the comings and goings of commuters doing their daily lives.  

The train ride was uneventful, other than the schedule only popping up on the display a minute before the train arrived and we were concerned but not to worry it was on time and we popped on, luggage, 85+ pounds of it, and all.  For the life of me I can’t figure out how women determine must haves vs non essentials when they travel but geez does it always have to weigh a hundred pounds, sometimes I long for my duffle bag days, never over 30 lbs in that thing!!

It took about an hour to reach Civitavecchia and all was right again, the ocean sprung from the hill as we came into the town’s view and I knew we were close, and yet so very far I would come to realize in just a bit.  

The last time we were here it was a very short walk to the location to catch the bus so we decided to walk it; and did we ever walk it, we walked a mile or two and I started feeling extremely nauseous, I heard and felt my stomach flip and realized that I needed to get somewhere quickly, I didn’t much think beyond that and trudged on down the road to a little dive restaurant called the sandwichiteria, I think and my stomach did it again.  I knew things were not good but I didn’t want to worry Ami so I told her I was going in to ask for directions; I’m sure she knew that was code for something crazy as men don’t ask for directions, especially in a foreign country and more especially in a foreign tongue you don’t know well enough to possibly make that work.  So off I went, now by the time I reached the door I was sweating from head to toe, the stomach was making loud rumbling noises, and churning something terrible and I was starting to feel very light headed, DIZZY is the word!!!!!  By the time I reached the counter I had to grab it to maintain my balance because everything was closing into a circle and my vision was becoming myopic, holding onto the counter was my only option at this point.  I waited for someone to come out of the “WC” and I grabbed and held the wall to get through the door, there were men’s and women’s doors but I didn’t realize that when I went in and took the first door, I sat down for about 5 minutes before things began to return to normal; I was extremely worried when I hit that door thinking is this what a heart attack feels like, anyone I had ever spoken with about it always said it’s like a tiger sitting on your chest and you can’t breathe, it was at that moment that I realized that I wasn’t having a heart attack and whatever was wrong with me when I came through the door was a memory.  Thank God, I don’t even know how to say heart attack in Italian, apparently never makes it into the first two lessons of Rosetta Stone or Memrise.  It really did scare me and after discussing it with Ami I was glad she didn’t know what was going on, apparently her only indication was another passenger who came out while I was inside and told her that I was feeling woozy, unbelievable, didn’t he know I was having a heart attack!!!

We finally made it to the embarkation “tent” and we were heading up the gangplank within 5 minutes of arrival.  I wanted to use the facilities again and make sure my “heart attack” had been thwarted, it had and I was “home” as the porter put it for the next 2 weeks.

Dinner was exceptionally good, tomato soup and filet mignon and a literal bite of a sorbet that the waiter would not accept no to, stubbornly funny I thought.  But the humor of the day was when Ami told me that when the passenger told her I was feeling “woozy” her only thought was so last year we get thrown off the boat for an accident and this year we’re not even going to make it onto the boat!!  We laughed, and had a good time with it, bedtime ensued and as I write this we are on the veranda overlooking a beautiful Mediterranean for miles without a care in the world, more tomorrow… cheers for now!!!

Why are there miniature tomatoes in tomato soup.