Verona, Italy

We are off the ship.  Yesterday was a good day.  We were invited to tour the bridge while the ship was just passed the Straits of MesJusina.  We got a quick lesson in how they drive the ship and all the other details which made my head swim.  It was really fun and I impressed them with my nautical questions.

Just after that we sailed right by an active volcano, Stromboli, off the coast of Messina.  It was spewing a light colored ash and not making any noise.  The amazing thing is that people live right on the slopes.  They are nuts.

Packing was the usual hell, we saw the show and went to bed.

This morning it was up bright and early and on the train from Civitavecchia to Rome and then from Rome to Padova and then from Padova to Verona.  The killer was the train from Rome to Padova.  A couple and their two babies got on and both children screamed for three hours.  They were sitting right in back of us and gave me the biggest headache I have ever had.  Everyone on the train was ready to kill all four of them.  Italian trains sure aren't what they used to be!  Ugh!  While in the Roma Termini main train station someone tried to pick Jerry's pocket but he started yelling and the guy and scared the crap out of him and he ran away.

We are now in our hotel in Verona.  It is immaculate and quiet.  It is hot here in Italy and more crowded than ever.  Where is the world-wide recession?  It sure isn't here.

We are not eating fresh vegetables for the next two days because of the e-coli scare.  It is pretty serious and nobody is eating veggies.  Of course, tomorrow we will be in Germany where the worst of it is.  Maybe I will just have bratwurst and beer.

After all this running around by train we are convinced that cruising is the only way to travel.  It makes life so much easier.  You are pampered, you only have to pack once, and you can do as much or as little as you like.  I am so over schlepping luggage on and off crowded trains filled with tourists.  The days of fine train travel are over unless one can afford the Orient Express, which we can't.

Photos will follow later this evening.  We are starving and are going to take a walk around this tiny little town where we are staying in the suburbs of Verona.