2019 Anniversary Cruise Day 1 - Traveling to Rome

So every year, Terry and I try to plan an epic anniversary trip. We used to alternate the planning of it during the early years of our marriage. Because we are so competitive, we always tried to out-plan or make it better than the previous year. It started a long time ago when we had our first epic trip to New Orleans. That was a fun weekend that included Emeril’s Delmonico restaurant, breakfast in bed followed by a surprise massage by a very strong Swedish woman, and a late night, drunken stroll through Bourbon Street.

This anniversary marked 22 years together and we love cruising as our vacation of choice so we decided to try our hand at going abroad. We had been wanting to go to Europe forever and we found a great deal on a Mediterranean cruise. We absolutely love MSC cruises and took this opportunity to go on the MSC Meraviglia! Safe to say we were a little more than excited! We started planning roughly 8 months before the cruise.

The trip was an 8 day cruise leaving out of Civitavecchia, Italy. Civitavecchia is the cruise port for Rome. The itinerary was a dream come true for me! I have always wanted to go to Europe, especially the places we went to. The itinerary was Civitavecchia, Italy, Palermo, Italy, Valletta, Malta, a sea day, Barcelona, Spain, Marseille, France, and Genoa, Italy.

So, the flight to Rome. This was my first time going on a flight this long. And, it was Terry’s first time going on a flight this long without it being military related. I thought I knew what to expect but I was pleasantly surprised by the flight. The first leg of the trip was to Philadelphia. No problem, right? Well, because Terry and I don't pack like normal travelers; we stuffed our carry-on bags almost to the point of being overstuffed. So, we ended up having to check our bags. No problem, right? I'll come back to this.

The flight from Philadelphia to Madrid was LONG, not bad, but long. I think I would have been okay but I completely over thought it. I wore compression socks thinking that it would prevent my legs from cramping, but the socks made it worse. The food was actually really good. I had a pasta and the smallest most adorable salad. Terry had chicken and couscous. I enjoyed the free movies and my books and my Candy Crush.

my airplane dinner

Getting to Madrid, I discovered that European airports are WAY better than American airports. This airport was absolutely beautiful. I loved the architecture and the colors throughout the airport. This made me have the realization that I need to travel to Europe more often! I told Terry that this meant way more cruises out of Europe.

We had a layover in Madrid of about three hours. This was just enough time to get through customs, get to the complete other side of the airport, get some breakfast, take in some sites in the airport, and get to the next gate.

I had so much fun ordering our breakfast from the cool little kiosk. Breakfast consisted of a huge, buttery croissant, fresh squeezed orange juice (which I discovered is like the only way the Europeans drink orange juice), and espresso with milk (which I discovered the Europeans just call it coffee with milk). YUM!

airport breakfast

The flight to Rome was quick and painless, until we landed and went to baggage claim to collect our bags. To our dismay, we discovered that somehow when checking our bags, only Terry's bag actually made it on the plane! Luckily, they discovered this in Philadelphia and put it on the next flight out. We didn't find out this little tidbit of info till I went to the lost baggage desk and talked in broken English/Italian to the very nice woman at the counter. We had to wait in the airport for an hour for my bag to arrive from London Heathrow!

Once we had our bags, we headed to the train. The train station to the main "downtown" area of Rome is located right in the airport so it was very easy to move around. The train ride was very comfy and was very quick (about 20-30 minutes). It also had free wi-fi.

Getting to the main terminal station, Roma Termini, we had a 5 minute walk to our hotel, UnaHotel Deco Roma. It took us about 15-20 minutes to find it because we got all turned around trying to navigate. This hotel was FABULOUS. It was modern and had lots of amenities including some that we didn't even use like free breakfast, happy hour, and free wi-fi. The concierge/reception desk was so friendly and helpful. They provided us with a map of the downtown area and even made dinner reservations at a restaurant for us when we asked about nearby places to eat.

For dinner, we walked to the restaurant so that we could see more of the city. We had dinner at Osteria Olio, a fabulous little spot that we probably would have walked right by had our concierge/reception not suggested it to us. Now when I say tiny, little spot; the restaurant had maybe six tables. The hostess was also the server and she was very kind and knowledgeable of the wines they had and made suggestions according to our tastes.

For a starter, we ordered the local jamon (ham platter) with bread (it was more of a cracker) and we ordered a bottle of Chianti. She also brought us some fresh focaccia.

Our main entrees were, for me, pici pasta with bacon and eggs (carbonara) and terry had a pappardelle pasta with a wild boar sauce. This pasta was so delicious; Terry and I were eating and ten minutes had gone by before we realized we hadn't said a word to each other! Perfectly al dente, perfectly sauced, this pasta is the stuff that dreams are made of. As much as we tried, we could not finish, even though it was a decent sized portion and not the super giant portions that you would get in the US.

After dinner, we were heading back to the hotel when I looked up and saw the Colosseum in the distance. So of course, because we weren't able to see it earlier before it closed (stupid baggage fiasco), we decided to walk over. Now mind you, this is Rome, local time was about 10:30-11 pm at the end of February. It is definitely not spring yet, or at least not at night. It was COLD. We would have been ok had we packed our big, puffy North Face coats, but in the sake of packing light, we didn't. The walk did keep us warm but the moment you stood still and the wind hit us, we were reminded that we didn't wear coats!

Seeing the Colosseum did get me in the feels. I did cry. Not big tears like seeing Chichen Itza, but definitely a tear was shed. It was absolutely beautiful. I ran up in between the fence and touched the walls. It's just something I do with all historic places to connect myself with the history of the place. Then we walked around the Forum. It did suck that we couldn't go inside or see everything in the day but it was kinda cool and surreal seeing everything at night. There were still people there but mostly locals that were just hanging out so we were not bothered by crowds and the masses trying to take pictures. So, I definitely recommend seeing some sites at night for this reason alone. Seeing one of my bucket list items on the first day...anniversary trip off to a good start!

After making it back to the hotel, we realized we were wired. Although it was a little after midnight local time, our brains and bodies were still on Atlanta time of 6 pm. So we decided to go find a local bar to have a cocktail or two.

Terry being the Master Researcher that he is, he found the Jerry Thomas Speakeasy. It is one of the Top 50 bars in the WORLD. This place is so cool! We first had to get the password to even get in to the bar. You do this by going to their website and entering your email. In the email, they will ask you some bar/cocktail related questions to consider if you are even worthy of entering their presence. We passed. So we set out to find the bar.

For this we decided to do local transit as it was WAY cheaper than calling a Uber or a taxi, plus the added benefit of seeing more of the city. So we walked over to the Roma Termini, which is the central terminal for all the public transportation, and got on the bus that our trusty Apple Maps told us to take. Ten minutes later, we were in the alley the speakeasy was located.

Now, this was some secret James Bond level stuff right here. If you had not known that this was a bar, you would walk right past it. It looked like a residence entrance! You ring the doorbell and the doorman opens the little slider window and asks you for the password. If you answer incorrectly, he says, "Sorry, Mr. Thomas isn't available."; then closes the little window as if nothing happens! If you answer correctly, he then asks if you have a reservation. No reservation, like us, means that you get wait-listed. This meant that we had to wait outside till there was space inside. We ended up waiting about 15-20 minutes.

Once inside, we had to become "members". Basically, signing a little slip of paper explaining the rules of the establishment. This place made you feel as if you went back in time to the 1920s. It was dark and lit only by oil lanterns in the sitting areas; the bar had slightly more light. It was small for a bar; literally like a secret hideaway. Like someone took their apartment and turned it into a secret bar.

The server then poured us a small glass of water that was on our table and gave us menus. These were some seriously good cocktails! The Pisco Sour was so DELICIOUS.

After our cocktails, we decided to walk back to the hotel versus wait for the bus. Mind you this decision was made after cocktails, as it was a 45 minute walk back to the hotel! It was cool though because again we got to see more of the city; never mind the fact that it was around 2 am. I will post more photos from that walk in another blog post.

Getting back to the hotel, we went right to sleep. We were very grateful that we decided to come in a day early before the cruise but were wishing that we had come in even earlier to take in more of the city. We vowed to come back to Rome and we had only been there a few hours!

Stay tuned for Day 2 of our anniversary...