Well it seems that my blog has disappeared. I had been entering little bits and pieces as I go along because there doesn’t seem to be enough time to write, complete and send…… even if we have “unlimited wifi”. So sorry. And so i will start again.  I will send as i complete each of the days…even if it is a week late.

The flight to Vancouver was short and uneventful as one would expect.  The next leg was to Paris France on Air France.  This is a first for me.  We were fed….that is unsual in this age of flying and we got free beverages as well.  Whohoo!  Nice service, nice plane!  Because we were flying into time, this was a good time to try to sleep.  Just as i /we were drifting off, two women started a conversation talking very loudly.  Well that was the end of that.  We arrived pretty much on time only i guess two hours is not enough time to walk the mile and a half to clear boarder control, then to get to our connecting flight to Rome.  We were already supposted to be boarding and we hadn’t got through the immigration checkpoint so a few were getting anxious.  But….we did make it.  We arrive into Rome airport only to have to walk again ….to the end of the pick up section.  (As many of you are aware, my knees are not very good these days).  That was where we were to catch a shuttle to our hotel.  Waiting, waiting then finally.  When we arrived at the hotel, my roomate Jeanette was there having arrived from New York, and Shirley and Jim from Nova Scotia.  We were also missing on  of our planned 12.  She ended up in hospital.  We don’t know what got her there except extreme pain.  We were so tired and hungry by the time we get to our rooms (its 3 pm and the restaurant doesnt open until 7) so we just walked into the little village/town near the airport to get some food and drink.  It was quite nice with a canal along the street with a sort of “malecon” and sidewalk cafes….the only places that were open at this hour of the afternoon.  You know they close for the afternoon and don’t reopen until 7 pm.  After arriving back at the hotel, although we had originally planned to go into Rome and do the hop-on hop-off bus, none of us made it.  It was straight to sleep by about 6:30 Rome time.  We had all been up since the early morning hours of the day before.

Next morning it was breakfast included at the hotel and then the shuttle (pre-paid) was to pick us up to take us the 90 minute drive to Civetevecchia port.  Upon checking out we were all quite surprised to find that the shuttle from the airport, was not free even though it was a hotel shuttle.  I guess we should have check that one out before.  Never assume anything.

We boarded the ship with absolute speed……yeah!  Unlike in Rio.  Maybe it was the upgrade that we could queue jump.  That is nice.  The ship Riviera is gorgeous….much bigger and grander than the Regatta although no where near the size of alot of the ships out there.  The staterooms are huge and the balcony is so nice.  We even have a full sized bath tub and seperate shower.  Jeanette and i are right next to Joyce and Marion so we get the steward to open the door between the two balconies.  Pam and Shirley and Jim are doing the same.  Right away we run into Fausto from Honduras who was on the Regatta with us.  It was like running into old friends.

I am going to send this off before i lose it and then go in search of the rest of the gals and Jim.