All Our Bags Are Packed!

                                                    Europe April/May # 29

Miscellaneous photos, Civitaveechia (Italy) and Its Port

To improve movies, sometimes scenes are cut from the final version to improve the overall affect. We have done the same with our blogs. Following are a few photos left out from previous blogs still interesting enough to show them now.

Our lovely Villa host in Perugia (Lavenia) and her son (Lorenzo)

Jerry had to get gas for the rental car. Normally the process is easy. He asked help from another driver. The two spent a lengthy period of time trying to get the pump to work. Zilch

Jerry keeps trying - inserting, reinserting credit card - gets help from the station attendant - still zilch. It turned out a "pin number" was required for this station. Jerry decides to let AVIS fill it up.

Getting ready to eat, again

Most ports we entered had an old fort that was originally built to keep the "bad guys" away - this one does too

Port towns are always pretty to see

Starting to rain - still raring to go

Getting ready to eat again

Itinerary for the second half of the cruise

We've been to Civitavecchia (Rome's port city) several times. The town has a lot of significance for us. This is where Jerry fainted in 2015, going on a "crazy" ambulance ride, having "hours" of testing at an Italian ER --- ultimately leading to a pacemaker

Old fort now used as a military base

Discovered a new pedestrian zone - it has places for women to chat...

and for men to argue about sports, politics and life

Jerry was released from the hospital but not permitted to travel for 24 hours. This is where we stayed in 2015 while trying to figure out what to do. It was located right above the train station. Can you imagine hearing trains going and coming, loud station announcements (in Italian) and passengers talking at all hours of the night?

The big kiss

The ship has a place where we could grab a quick "on the go" sandwich

Cruising revolves around food, some touring and more food

Rich dessert

Maltese Falcon: Quite a fancy sailboat. It can be chartered for $495,000/week. Any takers?

We actually had fun watching different types of ships coming and going: Cargo, Ferries, Tankers, Passenger, Vehicle carrier, Military, Bulk, etc.

All of the ports and harbors were extraordinarily busy. This almost looks like an old painting of New York harbor

Our ship's windows had to be cleaned. The washing equipment and scaffolding was quite interesting

Pilot boats as well as tug boats play a key part in the harbor activity

Even ferryboats and cargo ships get updated designs

This was a little too much

Jerry used his "Marine" App to show that boats coming and going have to follow a specific route

WOW! Look what just sailed by us!

The day ends with a pretty sunset

So much for the English language and ordering room service: Arlene wanted a snack: Chicken soup, crackers and a pudding. She also ended up with four baked potatoes, a cup of rice, a basket of rolls and a lemon wedge. Lemon wedge why?

Another pretty sunset