Day 57: The Vatican, All Aboard Odyssey of the Seas! We’re “HOME”

Tuesday, October 22nd

We slept in again this morning. Let me tell you, traveling (at least the way we do it exploring nonstop while also trying to work) is EXHAUSTING! We have done a lot of time changes the past couple of months. Also, not sleeping in the comfort of your own bed can be difficult at times. But, we do love the excuse to drink more cappuccinos ;)

We started our day packing up and scheduling transportation through our hotel to the cruise port. Ubers are very expensive here in Rome and majority of Europe.

We walked to Vatican City. On our way to the Vatican we saw a beautiful castle called Castel Sant’Angelow. We haven’t walked over on this side yet, so it was nice to explore a new area before heading out. This part of town doesn’t seem as nice, so we were very happy with the area we ended up in. Near Piazza Navona and the pantheon is a good area to stay.

It was a short walk to the Vatican. It’s so crazy to think how there is a city inside of Rome. The church is absolutely beautiful. We didn’t go in to the basilica or museum, because the lines and crowds were insane! I remember being packed like sardines in a can when we went into the Sistine Chapel over 10 years ago, and I can only imagine it being even more packed now. We couldn’t believe the lines wrapping around the entire city. Regardless of the crowds, we still enjoyed from afar, taking in the beautiful views, and had a wonderful day! I think the Vatican is a bucket list location, and if you do have the extra time, it would be worth it to go in, but make sure you have a full day blocked out for this! I saw Michelangelo’s sculptures and paintings before, and Christopher was just grateful to see everything from outside, plus we have to get going, because we have a cruise to catch! ;)

We went back to Trentaquattro for lunch today. The staff remembered us from 2 nights ago. I got a Caesar salad. They were able to do grilled chicken for me with dressing on the side, and they made Christopher a cheese pizza with no red sauce and ham only. Most restaurants will substitute and are great at being flexible!

Once we were done, we were just around the corner from our hotel, so we were able to grab our bags quickly, and our driver arrived right on schedule! He drove like a madman and chipped 15 minutes off the ride. I journaled the whole way.

The boarding process of the ship was far easier than I ever remembered. I couldn’t believe how easy and fast it was! We chose to carry our bags on ourselves, and right as we got on board, we did our mandatory safety talk that took less than a minute, and went straight to our room to unpack. Our room is an interior one, but it is actually bigger than I expected! We have a nice sized bed and a couch! We have plenty of closet space, and the cruise is 12 nights, so we completely unpacked our bags and finally set ourselves up a nice comfortable “home base”.

We spent the evening exploring the entire ship. We walked around everywhere and then hit the gym. It is HUGE!!! It’s the best gym we’ve had since being home. We were like two little kids in a candy shop. It felt so good to get a great workout in. This gets us even more excited for the next two weeks onboard.

We stopped by a little liquor tasting. It was made from a fruit in Africa. The lady doing the demo was hilarious. She talked about the elephants who stomp on the fruit get drunk and pass out under the trees. We got to have 3 little tastes, all of them were similar to Rum Chata and what they use to make espresso martinis. They were tasty, but we were hungry, so we didn’t stay for more and we booked it straight to dinner!

We had dinner at the “”adults only” restaurant called the Solarium, instead of going to the main dining tonight. It’s a “fancier” buffet. After we ate a little, we then went to the big buffet to grab a little more. Overall, we ate pretty clean. I loaded up on so many veggies and delicious grilled chicken, then we shared a cookie and 1 mini scoop of ice cream for dessert!

We were ready for an earlier night and headed straight back We got into bed around ten. I journaled some while Christopher searched for a new show for us. We ended up staying up until 2am watching Silo. I cannot believe we couldn’t stop! I don’t even know how we had the energy to stay up so late! But it was so nice to just feel “at home” watching a show before bed. When I just asked Christopher his highlight for today, he told me it was this, and I have to say it was mine as well. There’s no place like home. As I always say, home is where the heart is, and tonight it was on the Mediterranean Sea aboard the Odyssey in our little cabin.