There was a nice little notice saying the suitcases should be out side the cabin the previous evening by 2300 and to get off the ship by 0800 LATEST is not what I call a holiday but more like boot camp. Anyway we followed orders and had an early breakfast and left by coach to Rome for a tour of the main sites and then a short walk in St Peters Square, which is actually round and not a square, and then on the Bernina Bristol Hotel where we arrived around midday and it was beginning to rain. We dumped our suitcases at the Hotel and started walking up the Via Venetio when it started to chuck it down with rain and so we found a nice little bar where we drank several large glasses of red wine and watched the tourist rush by with their umbrellas in the pouring rain.
So a little earlier than expected, as we had planned to visit several of the sites in the afternoon, we took a cab to the airport after having demolished an expensive ice cream in a shop where the waitresses tight tops and short skirts certainly increased my blood pressure, and arrived at the airport.We were lucky enough to be able to change our flight home and caught a BA flight two hours earlier than planned and then got home in time for a shower, a cup of tea, in a non moving bed and looking forward to a restful night.
We don't think we will do any more cruises as neither of us sleep well on a moving ships and also we are not huge eaters or drinkers and agreed that we much prefer the flexibilty of being on shore, in a non moving Hotel bed in a town centre and not a port surrounded by cranes and containers.
Now to sort out the paperwork from last few days
