Welcome to Italy!!

Good Morning and Welcome to Italy!!

This morning we arrived in Civitavecchia, a massive port on the western coast of Italy. This was the one place I really wanted to visit as it is the port that serves Rome. We were up early as Dad and I had booked a trip into Rome by coach.

We got on the coach at 9.15am, it left from just outside the ship.Twenty minutes later we made a 'loo' stop at a service station !! I was amazed as we could virtually still see the ship!! (we had travelled up into the hills and could look down on the harbour!) About an hour later we arrived in Rome, on the 'pagan' side of the Tiber river. We were able to take photos without leaving the comfort of the coach. The tour guide gave us a load of interesting information. We stopped on a hill above The Coliseum and I was able to get some great shots. Rome also contains the smallest country in the world, The Vatican, so dad and I visited two countries this morning.

As we were leaving this morning another liner was entering the port and to say it is massive is an understatement. Our ship is huge but this one is possibly twice the size or more that ours. Its called the Splendida. It looks like a ten story block of flats stuck on top of a boat. I am sure it must be safe but I am at a loss as to how it manages to float, its so cumbersome!

I am sad that I have missed the election excitement at home. I like to watch the results as they come in. I did stay up until the first few came in last night but because we are an hour ahead of England I was quite tired by the time the results started to come in. I would like to thank my son for texting me the results of Welwyn Hatfield at 4.14AM !!!!!! Woke me up!!! I wanted to know the result but would have liked them even more at 8am!!!

Tomorrow we head north and arrive at Livorno, which is the port for Pisa and Florence. Not sure if we will be taking any of the trips!