Sunday - April 28, 2013
After we woke up, we (by we I mean mom) decided to go back to the Trevi Fountain to see if the shoe store was open so we can buy Raymond some flashy two toned suede shoes he wanted. We got to the store by 9:15 am and waited since their sign indicated they opened at 9:30 am. We waited. And waited. Then we went to the fountain to take some photos since it was sunny and pretty and our photos from the day before looked so sad and dreary.
After we woke up, we (by we I mean mom) decided to go back to the Trevi Fountain to see if the shoe store was open so we can buy Raymond some flashy two toned suede shoes he wanted. We got to the store by 9:15 am and waited since their sign indicated they opened at 9:30 am. We waited. And waited. Then we went to the fountain to take some photos since it was sunny and pretty and our photos from the day before looked so sad and dreary.
Oh, we also dug in our bags and found some pennies (American pennies - hey a Euro penny is like, 1.3 U.S pennies) that we tossed (over the shoulder) into the fountain. Then we waited some more. Then I looked at the little handwritten sign on the door. It was about 9:45 and the store was still dark. The sign said "Chiuso la domenica". I took out my phone and used the Google translate app. Uh...it meant closed on Sundays. Noooo!!!! No flashy shoes for Raymond!!! Once again dejected, we walked back to our flat and surfed the internet until it was time to leave. The usual check out time is 10 am, but I asked Maurizio if we could leave at 11 instead since our train from Termini to Civitavecchia wasn't until 12:10 pm. He wasn't going to be in his wine shop on Sunday, but he told us we could just hand our keys to his assistant who's manning the shop and she'll call for a taxi for us. So at 11, we (carefully) carried (or kind of threw/slid) our luggage down the steep stairs and wheeled two doors down to Maurizio's wine shop where we dropped off our keys and waited less than 5 minutes for the taxi to show up. Our ride to Termini ended up being a little over 10€ because you're charged an extra 1€ per piece of luggage - but we got there by 11:30 and had about 40 minutes to wait. My parents found a couple of seats while I wandered around Termini.
Termini is big. And gray. And kinda ugly. But that didn't stress me out. What stressed me out was trying to figure out which platform our train was going to be on. I knew from prior research that when trains are listed on the board they don't necessarily list your stop, so you have to figure it out based on the train number instead. I was stressed because there have been a lot of reports that the platform number for the trains to Civitavecchia aren't posted until about 10 minutes before departure - and the platform assigned is often one of the few that are VERY far away and requires carrying luggage down then up a flight of stairs (no, there aren't elevators). Fortunately, we got lucky and our train ended up being assigned a platform within the main station instead of the annex. Once the platform was assigned, we rolled our bags over to the correct platform and joined the horde rushing over as the train pulled up on time. OMG. There were SO MANY PEOPLE. Most, if not all the people were taking the train to embark on a cruise. You could tell because of all cruise line luggage tags (you're required to put it on your bag - it has your name, cabin number, floor, and which quadrant of the ship your room is in - for the porters since they've got to sort through thousands of pieces of luggage and deliver them all within hours) - there was Royal Caribbean, MSC, Celebrity, Crystal, Princess, Costa, Seabourn and AIDA from what I can remember. When we arrived in port, they told us there were 15 cruise ships docked and that's why it was pandemonium. Which it was. I was about to have an aneurysm it was so bad.
But back to the train ride - I opted to book the Frecciabianca train from Trenitalia for our port transfer. I looked into booking private car transfers to drive us from our flat to the Port of Civitavecchia. Even now knowing the aggravation we would face at port with the shuttle problems and the near riot breaking out because RCL did an ass job of coordinating the shuttles and keeping order among hundreds of hot, tired, and pissed off tourists trying to storm the (rare) shuttles like it was the Bastille - I'd still do it again. Why? Because I'm a cheap ass, that's why. I spent 72€ round trip for the three of us to take the Frecciabianca from Roma Termini to Civitavecchia. I looked into the two companies that had the best reviews for reliabililty and service for private transfers. Rome Cabs charges 140€ each way and Rome in Limo (we used them for our city tour last time and loved them) charges 165€ each way. WTH. Seriously. Doing some research (because I wasn't going to spend 300€ for just a freakin' port transfer if I could help it) I found that you could take the train to Civitavecchia from Termini. There are local and regional trains that'll run about 5-8€ per person - but these are like subways - crappy seats, lots of commuters, nowhere to store luggage, and a lot of stops. The trips take anywhere from an hour to an hour and a half. Frecciabiancas on the other hand, run on schedule, have reserved seating, no stops between Termini and Civitavecchia and have luggage racks in the center, ends, and above the seats of each train car. Sold! Granted, it's more expensive than the regional trains, but I didn't want to spend the whole train ride worried about who was coming on and off the train and if they were going to be able to steal our luggage.
We climbed onto our assigned train car and found our seats. We managed to get on early enough to store our luggage on the luggage racks in the center of the car and sit and chill. My parents were across the aisle from me and I ended up having 2 seats to myself, though I faced an older distinguished Italian gentleman who just read his book and smiled at me once across our shared table. I took my kindle out and read - the train ride was only about 40 minutes and flew by. I thought there was going to be one stop between Termini and Civitavecchia at Roma Ostiense, but we had no stops and when the train started slowing down, I noticed we were traveling along the coastline at that point. Once I saw the sign for Civitavecchia, I jumped up and started dragging our suitcases from the rack. When the train arrived, it was a mass departure. You couldn't get lost going to port if you tried - because it was literally a horde of people moving en masse the 2-3 blocks between the train station and port. I had worried about finding our way - but clearly, this was not going to be a problem.
What WAS a problem was evident upon arriving at the port. The Port of Civitavecchia provides buses to ferry passengers to their cruise terminal...except because there were so many ships in port, it was a freakin' HOT MESS. As far as I could tell, RCL had 3, yes, THREE port agents working this - there were HUNDREDS of us who arrived on the same train - it was convoluted and confusing. People were crowding the sidewalks, the port shuttles didn't have appropriately large (and legible) signage indicating which ship they were ferrying, arguments were breaking out and people (crazy Asians) were just shoving their way onto the buses. The problem wasn't so much there wasn't enough seats in the buses - but that there wasn't enough storage for the large suitcases everyone had in the lower compartments. Every time a bus would pull up and the driver would come out and open the storage compartment, people would just run for the buses throwing their suitcases in and making break for the seats inside. It was crazy - I'd never seen anything like it before, and dude - I've freaking traveled to China before. Twice. Do you know how bad it has to be to be worse than China? Duuuude. Unfortunately, the dock was too damn far to walk (about 3.5 miles) and we were stuck there - under the noon sun baking and marinating in our sweat and the body odors of the Europeans who didn't have the good manners to apply deodorant before going out in public (sob). My mama had some mad skills - she dodged a bunch of people (okay, she cut in line, but there was no line - there was just a mob) and shoved her suitcase (and granted, she was pulling the smallest one) in the bus and ran up to get a seat. She saw us staring at her from the horde as we were stuck in the middle being jostled by the crowd. I couldn't even get close to a bus, and I was shoving people too. It was sooo bad. After close to an hour my dad got mad and said "let's just walk." Uh...okay.
BAD IDEA. EPICALLY BAD IDEA. In fact, I will dub this the WORST IDEA EVER IN THE HISTORY OF THE WORLD. (okay, aside from all the genocides and bad, bad things - like wars. And the mullet). But granted, the stupid retarded port agents told us it would only take a half hour to walk. I would like to know on what planet it only takes a half hour to freakin' walk 3.5 miles while dragging a big ass suitcase? But my dad set off, and I followed him. SOOOOO STOOOOPID. My arms were tired, I was hot and sweaty and frustrated as I dragged my big purple suitcase on uneven pavement behind my dad. We walked about 15 minutes before we even hit a ship. It was the wrong ship. In fact, we didn't know where we were and I convinced my dad we were lost. He went inside the little office (shack) at the pier we ended up at and they told him to go back and wait for the shuttle because Royal Caribbean's pier is too damn far to walk. So we walk the 15 minutes back. At this time I think I'm about to pass out. But I can't say anything because my dad's face looks like THE FACE OF DOOM. I didn't want to set him off since the man is in his 60's and dragging an even bigger suitcase than me and wearing more clothing than my measly t-shirt. If my arm was falling off, I figured he was suffering even worse agonies, so even though I wanted to bitch and moan and sit down and cry, I kept quiet and sobbed on the inside. And we engaged in the walk of shame back to the shuttle loading area. In the half hour we were gone, the dumbasses managed to institute some kind of order. Well, not so much order as it was no longer a riot (though people were still yelling - two chicks were calling each other bitches - not in the affectionate way I do - but in the throw down I'm-gonna-kick-your-hick-ass kinda way). At this point I thought my dad's head was about to explode - he told me to wait by the curb while he stomped up to the pimply 20 year old port agent wearing an ill-fitting suit and just yelled at the kid about how we've been waiting for over an hour (well, we've actually been walking the last half in completely the wrong direction, but let's not quibble about that) and this was completely unacceptable. Poor kid stuttered, then gestured for me to come over and told us he'd get us onto the next shuttle bus. And he did. When we finally sat in the air conditioned bus, I was so relieved I thought I was gonna pee my pants. [oh, btw, my mom didn't know about any of this because my dad didn't tell her. He didn't want her to think he was any more retarded than she already thought he was. Also, he was embarrassed that we dragged our suitcases around for a half hour completely lost and going the wrong damn way. Hi mom! Yes, we are retarded. Surprise!]
So our shuttle takes us to the pier where we drop off our luggage with the porters and we check in. Once we enter into the building, we see my mama there - she already managed to check herself in and has refreshed herself with cookies, lemonade and iced tea provided by the cruise ship. Oh, she also has our passports so I couldn't check in even if I wanted to without her. As I'm checking my dad and I in, the port agent nonchalantly passes me a handout while asking for my credit card for charges to the room. I casually glance over at the handout until I realize it freaking says that our stop in Athens will not take place because of May Day demonstrations and protests. I understand the cruise line's concerns since all the workers are on strike and there are protests all over the city. But these dumbasses should've figured this out months ago. Hell, myself and other cruisers even posted about it here. I was aware of the protests and demonstrations months before and had been really disappointed. It wasn't until a few weeks before our cruise that the Greek Prime Minister tried to move the May Day holiday from May 1st to the week after as not to interfere with Holy week festivities. I received an email from PK Travel Greece, a tour agency I had contacted about private tours before I realized that all the sites would be closed for the holiday two weeks before we left stating that the government had decreed that the May 1st holiday be moved and all sites should be opened on May 1st. So I booked a tour with her that included the Acropolis, the Agora, the Areopagus, the Plaka and Ancient Corinth for 240€. Well...I guess it doesn't matter if the sites are open (and to this day I still don't know if the sites were actually open) if there's no one to work them. Either way, the captain opted NOT to dock in Piraeus on May 1st and instead, we'd be going to Ephesus on May 1st instead of the 2nd. Though the captain tried to arrange it so we could go to Athens on May 2nd, there wasn't any room at the Port of Piraeus for us on the 2nd. This is what severely pisses me off. They shouldn't have waited until the last minute to change the freakin' itinerary - this was NOT an unexpected unscheduled event - EVERYONE IN THE WHOLE WORLD knew about this as it happens every year - and the cruise line should've done something about this MUCH earlier than the day we were sailing off. So not only am I incredibly disappointed that I'm not going to get to see Athens, now I have to contact all the vendors for our private tours to rearrange everything and cancel my Athens excursion on top of being really pissed off at the cruise line for their laziness and lack of foresight. (You can see I'm still pissed off about this and I've been home a week.)
So, completely stressed out at this point and afraid I was going to lose reception upon embarking on the ship (I didn't, but I was crazy stressed and pissed), I sat my ass down on a crappy plastic chair next to the crappy restrooms at the port and start emailing Ephesus Shuttle and PK Travel Greece to 1) beg and try to move our Ephesus tour to May 1st and 2) to cancel our planned excursion to Athens and Corinth and Google the crap out of their cancellation policy.
At the end of the day, I wasn't penalized for cancelling our Athens tour and Ephesus Shuttle was very good about accommodating the change (our guide in Ephesus told us that their agency had over 30 bookings from our cruise ship alone and there was a lot of scrambling to get guides for all of us since 5/1 is also a holiday for Turkey). So even though I was starting the cruise all pissed off and stressed out, it did all work itself out. Whew. (I'm exhausted just reminiscing about it)
So once my rambling and desperate emails are sent, I embark. Ahh...we head to our room where I'm quite happy (and it's bigger than it looks in the photos) with it, I change into my beloved Rainbow flip flops that haven't gotten a whole lot of wear so far, and I mosey my way to the buffet to begin my Week of Eating Like It's Going Out of Style.
Termini is big. And gray. And kinda ugly. But that didn't stress me out. What stressed me out was trying to figure out which platform our train was going to be on. I knew from prior research that when trains are listed on the board they don't necessarily list your stop, so you have to figure it out based on the train number instead. I was stressed because there have been a lot of reports that the platform number for the trains to Civitavecchia aren't posted until about 10 minutes before departure - and the platform assigned is often one of the few that are VERY far away and requires carrying luggage down then up a flight of stairs (no, there aren't elevators). Fortunately, we got lucky and our train ended up being assigned a platform within the main station instead of the annex. Once the platform was assigned, we rolled our bags over to the correct platform and joined the horde rushing over as the train pulled up on time. OMG. There were SO MANY PEOPLE. Most, if not all the people were taking the train to embark on a cruise. You could tell because of all cruise line luggage tags (you're required to put it on your bag - it has your name, cabin number, floor, and which quadrant of the ship your room is in - for the porters since they've got to sort through thousands of pieces of luggage and deliver them all within hours) - there was Royal Caribbean, MSC, Celebrity, Crystal, Princess, Costa, Seabourn and AIDA from what I can remember. When we arrived in port, they told us there were 15 cruise ships docked and that's why it was pandemonium. Which it was. I was about to have an aneurysm it was so bad.
But back to the train ride - I opted to book the Frecciabianca train from Trenitalia for our port transfer. I looked into booking private car transfers to drive us from our flat to the Port of Civitavecchia. Even now knowing the aggravation we would face at port with the shuttle problems and the near riot breaking out because RCL did an ass job of coordinating the shuttles and keeping order among hundreds of hot, tired, and pissed off tourists trying to storm the (rare) shuttles like it was the Bastille - I'd still do it again. Why? Because I'm a cheap ass, that's why. I spent 72€ round trip for the three of us to take the Frecciabianca from Roma Termini to Civitavecchia. I looked into the two companies that had the best reviews for reliabililty and service for private transfers. Rome Cabs charges 140€ each way and Rome in Limo (we used them for our city tour last time and loved them) charges 165€ each way. WTH. Seriously. Doing some research (because I wasn't going to spend 300€ for just a freakin' port transfer if I could help it) I found that you could take the train to Civitavecchia from Termini. There are local and regional trains that'll run about 5-8€ per person - but these are like subways - crappy seats, lots of commuters, nowhere to store luggage, and a lot of stops. The trips take anywhere from an hour to an hour and a half. Frecciabiancas on the other hand, run on schedule, have reserved seating, no stops between Termini and Civitavecchia and have luggage racks in the center, ends, and above the seats of each train car. Sold! Granted, it's more expensive than the regional trains, but I didn't want to spend the whole train ride worried about who was coming on and off the train and if they were going to be able to steal our luggage.
We climbed onto our assigned train car and found our seats. We managed to get on early enough to store our luggage on the luggage racks in the center of the car and sit and chill. My parents were across the aisle from me and I ended up having 2 seats to myself, though I faced an older distinguished Italian gentleman who just read his book and smiled at me once across our shared table. I took my kindle out and read - the train ride was only about 40 minutes and flew by. I thought there was going to be one stop between Termini and Civitavecchia at Roma Ostiense, but we had no stops and when the train started slowing down, I noticed we were traveling along the coastline at that point. Once I saw the sign for Civitavecchia, I jumped up and started dragging our suitcases from the rack. When the train arrived, it was a mass departure. You couldn't get lost going to port if you tried - because it was literally a horde of people moving en masse the 2-3 blocks between the train station and port. I had worried about finding our way - but clearly, this was not going to be a problem.
 |
| oh, so happy and completely ignorant of the crap that lies ahead at the port |
What WAS a problem was evident upon arriving at the port. The Port of Civitavecchia provides buses to ferry passengers to their cruise terminal...except because there were so many ships in port, it was a freakin' HOT MESS. As far as I could tell, RCL had 3, yes, THREE port agents working this - there were HUNDREDS of us who arrived on the same train - it was convoluted and confusing. People were crowding the sidewalks, the port shuttles didn't have appropriately large (and legible) signage indicating which ship they were ferrying, arguments were breaking out and people (crazy Asians) were just shoving their way onto the buses. The problem wasn't so much there wasn't enough seats in the buses - but that there wasn't enough storage for the large suitcases everyone had in the lower compartments. Every time a bus would pull up and the driver would come out and open the storage compartment, people would just run for the buses throwing their suitcases in and making break for the seats inside. It was crazy - I'd never seen anything like it before, and dude - I've freaking traveled to China before. Twice. Do you know how bad it has to be to be worse than China? Duuuude. Unfortunately, the dock was too damn far to walk (about 3.5 miles) and we were stuck there - under the noon sun baking and marinating in our sweat and the body odors of the Europeans who didn't have the good manners to apply deodorant before going out in public (sob). My mama had some mad skills - she dodged a bunch of people (okay, she cut in line, but there was no line - there was just a mob) and shoved her suitcase (and granted, she was pulling the smallest one) in the bus and ran up to get a seat. She saw us staring at her from the horde as we were stuck in the middle being jostled by the crowd. I couldn't even get close to a bus, and I was shoving people too. It was sooo bad. After close to an hour my dad got mad and said "let's just walk." Uh...okay.
BAD IDEA. EPICALLY BAD IDEA. In fact, I will dub this the WORST IDEA EVER IN THE HISTORY OF THE WORLD. (okay, aside from all the genocides and bad, bad things - like wars. And the mullet). But granted, the stupid retarded port agents told us it would only take a half hour to walk. I would like to know on what planet it only takes a half hour to freakin' walk 3.5 miles while dragging a big ass suitcase? But my dad set off, and I followed him. SOOOOO STOOOOPID. My arms were tired, I was hot and sweaty and frustrated as I dragged my big purple suitcase on uneven pavement behind my dad. We walked about 15 minutes before we even hit a ship. It was the wrong ship. In fact, we didn't know where we were and I convinced my dad we were lost. He went inside the little office (shack) at the pier we ended up at and they told him to go back and wait for the shuttle because Royal Caribbean's pier is too damn far to walk. So we walk the 15 minutes back. At this time I think I'm about to pass out. But I can't say anything because my dad's face looks like THE FACE OF DOOM. I didn't want to set him off since the man is in his 60's and dragging an even bigger suitcase than me and wearing more clothing than my measly t-shirt. If my arm was falling off, I figured he was suffering even worse agonies, so even though I wanted to bitch and moan and sit down and cry, I kept quiet and sobbed on the inside. And we engaged in the walk of shame back to the shuttle loading area. In the half hour we were gone, the dumbasses managed to institute some kind of order. Well, not so much order as it was no longer a riot (though people were still yelling - two chicks were calling each other bitches - not in the affectionate way I do - but in the throw down I'm-gonna-kick-your-hick-ass kinda way). At this point I thought my dad's head was about to explode - he told me to wait by the curb while he stomped up to the pimply 20 year old port agent wearing an ill-fitting suit and just yelled at the kid about how we've been waiting for over an hour (well, we've actually been walking the last half in completely the wrong direction, but let's not quibble about that) and this was completely unacceptable. Poor kid stuttered, then gestured for me to come over and told us he'd get us onto the next shuttle bus. And he did. When we finally sat in the air conditioned bus, I was so relieved I thought I was gonna pee my pants. [oh, btw, my mom didn't know about any of this because my dad didn't tell her. He didn't want her to think he was any more retarded than she already thought he was. Also, he was embarrassed that we dragged our suitcases around for a half hour completely lost and going the wrong damn way. Hi mom! Yes, we are retarded. Surprise!]
So our shuttle takes us to the pier where we drop off our luggage with the porters and we check in. Once we enter into the building, we see my mama there - she already managed to check herself in and has refreshed herself with cookies, lemonade and iced tea provided by the cruise ship. Oh, she also has our passports so I couldn't check in even if I wanted to without her. As I'm checking my dad and I in, the port agent nonchalantly passes me a handout while asking for my credit card for charges to the room. I casually glance over at the handout until I realize it freaking says that our stop in Athens will not take place because of May Day demonstrations and protests. I understand the cruise line's concerns since all the workers are on strike and there are protests all over the city. But these dumbasses should've figured this out months ago. Hell, myself and other cruisers even posted about it here. I was aware of the protests and demonstrations months before and had been really disappointed. It wasn't until a few weeks before our cruise that the Greek Prime Minister tried to move the May Day holiday from May 1st to the week after as not to interfere with Holy week festivities. I received an email from PK Travel Greece, a tour agency I had contacted about private tours before I realized that all the sites would be closed for the holiday two weeks before we left stating that the government had decreed that the May 1st holiday be moved and all sites should be opened on May 1st. So I booked a tour with her that included the Acropolis, the Agora, the Areopagus, the Plaka and Ancient Corinth for 240€. Well...I guess it doesn't matter if the sites are open (and to this day I still don't know if the sites were actually open) if there's no one to work them. Either way, the captain opted NOT to dock in Piraeus on May 1st and instead, we'd be going to Ephesus on May 1st instead of the 2nd. Though the captain tried to arrange it so we could go to Athens on May 2nd, there wasn't any room at the Port of Piraeus for us on the 2nd. This is what severely pisses me off. They shouldn't have waited until the last minute to change the freakin' itinerary - this was NOT an unexpected unscheduled event - EVERYONE IN THE WHOLE WORLD knew about this as it happens every year - and the cruise line should've done something about this MUCH earlier than the day we were sailing off. So not only am I incredibly disappointed that I'm not going to get to see Athens, now I have to contact all the vendors for our private tours to rearrange everything and cancel my Athens excursion on top of being really pissed off at the cruise line for their laziness and lack of foresight. (You can see I'm still pissed off about this and I've been home a week.)
So, completely stressed out at this point and afraid I was going to lose reception upon embarking on the ship (I didn't, but I was crazy stressed and pissed), I sat my ass down on a crappy plastic chair next to the crappy restrooms at the port and start emailing Ephesus Shuttle and PK Travel Greece to 1) beg and try to move our Ephesus tour to May 1st and 2) to cancel our planned excursion to Athens and Corinth and Google the crap out of their cancellation policy.
At the end of the day, I wasn't penalized for cancelling our Athens tour and Ephesus Shuttle was very good about accommodating the change (our guide in Ephesus told us that their agency had over 30 bookings from our cruise ship alone and there was a lot of scrambling to get guides for all of us since 5/1 is also a holiday for Turkey). So even though I was starting the cruise all pissed off and stressed out, it did all work itself out. Whew. (I'm exhausted just reminiscing about it)
So once my rambling and desperate emails are sent, I embark. Ahh...we head to our room where I'm quite happy (and it's bigger than it looks in the photos) with it, I change into my beloved Rainbow flip flops that haven't gotten a whole lot of wear so far, and I mosey my way to the buffet to begin my Week of Eating Like It's Going Out of Style.
Then we go to our room and take some photos. Like these awesome ones:
For the rest of the afternoon, we chill out. We unpack, our room steward (Claudu - love him!) comes and introduces himself, we have the muster drill (even more important now after the Costa Concordia capsizing - seriously? They sunk a luxury cruise liner? morons) and I go off and explore the ship. Navigator of the Seas is a Voyager class ship and the largest one we've been on. Brilliance, the last ship we were on was a Radiance class ship - RCL's mid-size ships that are gorgeous because there's a lot of glass that lets in a lot of light and the ship is built on graceful lines. Navigator on the other hand, was the largest ship in the world when it was built. It is gargantuan. Although compared to the new ones being built, it's not considered so large - but seriously, because our room was an aft room, it took a thousand years to walk there the ship was so large. Instead of just a few shops tucked away like smaller ships, this ship had like, a mall. There were stores of all kinds (clothing, makeup, jewelry, liquor, cigarettes, dry goods, snacks, tux rentals...) and a lot of pubs. Irish pubs, piano bars, wine bars, champagne bars, and my favorite - Cafe Promenade, which served snacks 24/7 along with coffee, tea, and juice. It also had a Starbucks attached to it and a Ben & Jerry's too. Mmm...
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| looking up from the Promenade |
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| the Solarium, my preferred pool because it's quieter and no kids are allowed |
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| the library - with the biggest most comfortable couches - if I wanted some quiet, this is where I'd slip off to |
After I explore the ship (which took hours, and I was literally just strolling around) I went back to the room for sail away. Party animals gather on the pool decks where they've got bands and beer, but I just wanted the quiet of my balcony.
Tired after the long day I had, I end up falling asleep and napping for a few hours. Yes, I'm old and weak. We were assigned late seating for dinner, which is at 8:30 pm, and honestly, it's just too damn late for me. But we change and go (no flip flops, ratty jeans, or holey t-shirts allowed in the dining rooms) and realize they've stuck us at a large table for 10. We seriously lost the lottery when it came to dining companions. Some tables have fun lively people. We have quiet sullen people. We have a family of three Americans who ignore everyone else, an older couple who I think are German who only look at their plates and barely talk to each other, and 2 Italian women who talk at a rapid pace but don't speak English (or they pretend they don't speak English) and my mama is hiding behind her menu and yawning every other minute. After one VERY awkward hour (dinner service is slower than molasses) we opt to leave without dessert. I make excuses to our waiter (who was super nice) and uh, lie and tell him we're jet lagged and too tired for dessert and we make a break for it. My mama suggests we go to the buffet to see if there's dessert there - but they shut down at 9:30 pm. (oh, btw, my mama straight up went to the buffet around 7 pm and ate a plate of food already. She was bragging about the size of the scallops she ate.) I could've gone down to Cafe Promenade at this point for dessert, but I was actually tired and opted not to even though I have to admit I felt a little deprived. Which I more than made up for during the next week when I ate the world. In fact, I may have eaten the entire solar system, not just the world.
But full from shrimp cocktail, prime rib and baked potatoes, finally showered so all the gross dust and grime of the day was cleaned off, I climb into my (surprisingly comfortable) sofa bed that Claudu made up for me (I lurve Claudu, I really do) and fall asleep before I finish reading the page I was on.
The next day - we wake up to Sicily!
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