Italy

The first two stops on our cruise were to Rome and Naples. In Rome we had booked an excursion to see the city. It was a rainy day this day. I thought we would see a lot of the city that way. As it turned out we only really had time to see three things. We first saw the colosseum. After the colosseum we got in our van and drove around the city and saw some other things from the window. I was a little disappointed that we didn't get to walk around and experience some of the sights. We drove to the Pantheon and saw that and walked around the plaza around it to find a place to eat. Afterward we headed straight for Vatican City and the Sistine chapel. It was impressive to see but I thought the statue of the pieta by Michelangelo inside St. Peters was more. Afterward we immediately headed back to the port. We missed out on a lot. I would have liked to see the Trevi fountain and some more of the city. I guess that means I need to take another trip there sometime.

Naples was one of my favorites. We got off the cruise and took the train to Pompeii. It was funny, when we got off Brent went up to a person and asked where do I see the dead people. We all laughed at that. Pompeii was amazing. The whole city is still in such good condition. You can see painting on the walls, mosaic floors, statues, and the streets are still intact. It was a very large city and we only saw a small part of it.

Afterwards we went back to Naples. Brent took the younger ones back to the ship and the rest of us went shopping. We had amazing pizza (Naples is the birthplace of pizza). We walked around the historic part of the city and walked around all the many shops selling nativity sets. I was looking at one and took it off the shelf to look at it and the baby Jesus fell out and broke. I had to pay 12 euros for that baby Jesus. I really liked the set and was going to buy it but after that happened I changed my mind. Instead I bought a different one elsewhere.