24. Return to Rome

The Norwegian Jade docked at the Port of Rome before daylight on Wednesday morning. The port city is actually the small village of Civitivecchia, which is a full hour’s bus ride into the center city of Rome. NCL had arranged for a local guide to ride with us on the motorcoach and provide us with an informative narrative all the way into Rome. As we entered the city, she gave us an expert guided tour of the many major landmarks across the ancient and modern city. The bus dropped us off at the Plaza Popolo, in the heart of the upscale shopping district for a 2 hour block of “free time.” Unfortunately, it was raining throughout the two hours, so Cynthia and I strolled past several stores, such as Cartier, Gucci, Armani, Tiffany, Louis Vitton, etc. (yes, I said we walked past them!). We then decided to have lunch at a sidewalk café nearby, asking for an inside table. After our rainy free time, the bus finished our city tour by dropping some of us at our hotel, the Crowne Plaza, St. Peters. Then the bus proceeded to take the others on to the airport to meet their departing flights. Fortunately, our airline tickets gave us an extra couple of days in Rome, so we were not stressed like many of those who were heading into the troubled aftermath of the massive storm that had just hit the Northeast of the United States. Once we were settled into the hotel, we re-organized our bags from the ship, used the hotel business center to check our email from home, and then had dinner and crashed for our first night in a bed on terra firma since last 11 nights. Hopefully, tomorrow will not be so rainy and we can enjoy one last day in Rome, before returning home on Friday.