10/16 Barcelona

It’s an incredibly beautiful day!  70 degrees, cool breeze, not a cloud in the sky.  Makes up for the rough and tumble night we had last night with with winds so strong we were listing to port at a very disturbing angle, 10 foot seas that made incredible noise against the hull and the bow slap at 2 or 3 AM that woke the entire ship and had things falling over in the cabin.  Wow!  That was obviously a cold front!

But today, all is forgotten as it is such a picture perfect day.  We lazed around in the morning, hitting the gym and then grabbing cappuccino at the International Café downstairs on the ship.  Finally headed out around 10:30.  We have nothing planned but wandering La Rambla and having lunch at Caracoles -  the restaurant famous for its snails where we ate on our very first trip to Barcelona some 11 years ago.

We eschew the $5US each way shuttle from the ship and head off over the bridge out of the port area on foot.  The walk from the ship to La Rambla doesn’t take us as long as we though – only about 40 minutes – and it’s such a great day – its refreshing to be out and walking and enjoying the weather. 

La Rambla is – well – La Rambla.   Not as busy as usual, but it’s early, and it’s still filled with sidewalk artists selling there wares, mimes and “statues” making their living, as stalls of flower and trinket vendors.  It’s as vibrant and alive as ever, and terribly fun to stroll along people watching and soaking up the atmosphere.

As usual, we head to the Bocquaria market and stroll through that madness of meat, fish, vegetable and candy stall morass.  Everything looks so good and fresh and it’s a shame we can’t just buy tons of sausage and meat and bring it home!  The restaurants all look so great too – just little bar stools up against the side of the food stall with tapas menus.  Hmmmm…maybe we’ll just eat here!

Or not –back out on the street we head down La Rambla to the little side street that leads to Caracoles.  They are not open yet (it’s only a little past noon), but they are already roasting their chickens on the corner of the building.  We stand at the corner for a while, debating our next move.  Do we wait? Do we go back to the market?  Eventually we decide to just wander around, look at other places and make a decision when Caracoles opens. 

We actually never get that far!  On the Placa Reial, one block away, are several restaurants, all with interesting menus, but one, Mariscco, catches our eye because of the seafood tapas.  We can both get everything we want – sea snails, octopus and sepia!  Perfect.  Plus the tables are outside, in the sun, and as a bonus – there is some TV production going on in the Placa where two guys are playing the piano and a guitar with great rock tunes. We can’t go wrong!

		Mariscco on Placa Reial VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

And we don’t – the food is fantastic, as is the beer and wine. It’s warm and sunny on the terrace, and we couldn’t be happier.  Caracoles was great 11 years ago, and its probably still good now - but its all inside and dark and oddly decorated – and here we’re basking in the Catalonian sun eating exactly what we wanted in the first place!

We finish our delicacies, but it is still too early to go back to the ship so we head back to the market.  A lot of the stalls have this new thing…we are calling it Antipasto to go!  Little paper cones filled with jamon or salami or cheese for about 4 Euro.  We figure that will be an excellent dessert!  So we grab a cone and happily munch our way back through the market stalls, inspecting the incredible array of foods.  We also splurge on some chocolate covered almonds (although I read the price wrong and thought it was 5 euro per kilo, when in fact it was 55 euros.  Oops! well, let’s not get 1/2 kilo then, let’s get – oh – say 5 euro’s worth!).

Finally, it is time to head back to the ship. Boo hoo.  I so love this city.  Off we troop, down La Rambla, stopping to buy a really cool little painting of Sagrada Familia (all bas relief with little dots of color, very avant garde, very different), then onto the supermercado for supplies and then off to the ship.  Gazing at all the cool architecture along the way…this great “chinese” building with the umbrellas and dragon!

		Barcelona Architecture VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

As we round the Christopher Columbus monument, we notice one of the port buses picking up passengers and we figure – what the heck!  We can walk – but why? Especially with the added weight of our supplies in our back packs!  So we hop a ride (half price from the Ship shuttle), our wonderful restaurant Maitre d Jelanda and her beau get on as well, so we spend the next few minutes chatting and talking about our day, while we’re whisked away to the ship.  Good call on the bus!

Back aboard, we dump our purchases in the room, then hang out on the balcony watching everyone come back aboard.  Ed stays outside, while I nap (this darn cold/allergy/infection thing we both have just knocked me out!).  I awake for sailaway, and we begin our nightly routine as always!

Tomorrow – a relaxing sea day – with all day blog writing session!

10/15 Cannes

Today is a day of first:  first tender port (and only, fortunately!) and first day that looks like it actually will turn out to be nice weather!  We are up and out fairly early, because we are taking the train to Antibes.  We can’t really get our bearings though on the location of the ship.  It seems we are in an odd location, but we’ve not been here in ages, so we think we are mis-remembering.

The tender process is a breeze – didn’t sit in the waiting area for more than 5 minutes and we were off.  Fantastic! Tender takes about 10 minutes, which seems too long to us – and well – when we get off – we see why! We are at the “alternate” tender point which is like 3 miles from the main town area of Cannes!  Bummer.  We need to be at the train station – and walking looks (even for us) like a totally long slog.  Fortunately the lovely travel info lady tells us of the #8 bus that is just up the street – 1 Euro each and we ride into town in about 10 minutes. Totally simple.

The train station is a few blocks from the bus stop –and there it is simplicity as well. Ticket office is brand new (leather settees and cubes to sit on while in line, really nice!) and tickets are easy and cheap (10 euros total, round trip for both of us).   We even have 10 minutes to spare for the train.  Gotta love it when it all goes off without a hitch! 

The regional train here goes everywhere! A couple of minutes and you can be in Nice or Monaco – or virtually anywhere on the French Riviera. It’s so fast, and simple and cheap!  We could come stay here  for a couple of days and really see so much around the area.  Hmmm..something to think about!

Our train arrives and the ride is fast – only 11 minutes zipping down the coastline – and we’re walking down the long water promenade in Antibes before we know it.  There are tons of yachts here – and we mean yachts!  And a great fortress that sits up above the harbor across from the fortressed town.  Since this was the last harbor before Italian border, it was heavily protected from invasion – thus the fortress and the huge thick ramparts surrounding the town. Of course now, it’s a huge boating/yachting town with bars, pubs and restaurants all catering to the British and Australian crowd that comes along with the yachts.

We stop at just such a pub, right inside the ramparts, for a cappuccino before we head off into the old town proper to explore.  Sadly, it is Monday though – so the fabulous Picasso museum here is closed.  The incredible town market (produce, flowers, etc.) is also closed.  As are a number of shops as well.  Today, Antibes is a sleepy medieval sort of town, but that makes walking around and exploring all the easier.

		Sleepy Antibes VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

   We hit the main promenade,which is a little busier as we approach the noon hour.  Just walking around here is so fun, and relaxing. The shops are great too – but we just window shop – looking at all the great euro style clothes and shoes.  Fun!

We head back to the train station through the “new” part of town, past stores and cafes and restaurants now bustling with activity.  The trains are so frequent, we don’t even have to wait 10 minutes for our ride back to Cannes.  11 minutes later….and we are back.  Cannes is bustling as well, outdoor cafes starting to fill up with customers, the little trolley train tours are full to capacity and people are everywhere.

We decide to take our 1 euro bus back to the ship for lunch instead of staying in town.  For the prices here, well, it just isn’t worth it to stay outside for food. Plus, it’s a short port call, so we’d just as soon be back on the ship and enjoying the nice weather from our balcony with a glass of wine and beer without the rush.  So – off we go to do just that!

Another lovely sail away from the balcony – and another standard ritual night: relax, gym, Vines for Sashimi, Michelangelo for dinner then balcony for night caps.   Tomorrow – Barcelona!

10/14 Bologna

Today is our exploring day. We arrive in Livorno – normally the port from which you would tour Pisa or Florence or Siena. But no, not us, we have to be different. Of course! What else would you expect?  Today – we are going to Bologna!  2 hours away, almost as close to Venice – where we started this cruise – as it is to Livorno!

Off we go, first thing in the morning. Our car rental is waiting for us right outside the ship as planned.  We hop in the car, mark the port as a favorite in Alice to find our way back, and head out onto the Autostrada.  It is definitely a 2+ hour drive – out past Pisa and Florence then north through the mountains and finally down into Bologna.  The drive is fabulous – the typical Tuscan scenery flashing by in the low lands and the beautiful mountains and bridges and ravines as we go higher into the center of the country.

After taking a 2nd mortgage to pay the tolls, we exit the Autostrada and immediately miss our first turn.  Argh.  Oh well, Alice “recalculates” and we actually follow the signs into the Centre of Bologna.  Of course there is a catch though – Bologna has a heavily restricted driving area.  Most of the old town is restricted only to permits.  No one else can drive there - if you are staying in a hotel, you can drive in, but you must get a permit from the hotel in order for your car to be allowed inside the restricted area. There are very steep fines for not following these rules.  We’ve done research in advance and have a list of parking garages – but we’re not 100% convinced that Alice has this programmed into her little GPS mind. Thus we only follow her so far until CPS turns on. 

Alice does get us all the way to the ring road, which, as the name implies, circles the outside of the restricted area of Bologna.  The parking garages are all close to this road, and following the only little map we have (which we copied out of our huge Italy road map book)we follow the ring road around from where we entered and manage to successfully navigate our way to the Agosto VIII Piazza parking deck.  Phew!  From here we are a short walk away from the main historic district.

Again, following our trusty little map, we head down Ave. Indipendenza to the Piazza Maggiore – the main plaza in town.  It is Sunday, and unbeknownst to us, Bologna apparently shuts down all the streets in the old town on the weekends.  There are barriers and guardia at each main entranceway to the town –with banners that read something to the effect of take old town back to the people, or something.  Heck, better for us! It’s all pedestrian everywhere we want to go. 

We stroll down this main artery and come upon a crowded little bar where we decide to stop for cappuccino.  It is just barely past 10:30, so we figure we’re still safe to order it (10:30 being the “cut-off” for any “real” Italian to be drinking cappuccino).  It is hot and delicious and hits the spot!  And cheap! It’s the cheapest cappuccino we’ve had in a long time – only 1.30 euro each! 

After warming up with our coffee (it is really cold here – and overcast – not at all like in Livorno where it looked like the sun might shine.  And I did not dress appropriately thank you! Did not check the weather so I have on my capri’s and a short sleeve shirt – I do have my rain jacket and scarf, but that’s it.  Ack! Ed of course is fine in long pants, dark shirt and windbreaker) we brave the cool air and head out into the Piazza.

Bologna is said to be the 2nd prettiest city in Italy, behind Venice, and we can see why.  They have miles (well, kilometers) of porticos that run all around the city.  You can easily navigate your way to the furthest edges of the city walls inside these beautiful arched walkways.  Very medieval, incredible architecture, and something different to see at every turn.

Today, in the Piazza, there is some large fundraising festival for starving children in Sudan Africa.  We have a little flyer that we picked up – and there is something to do with food, with starvation, and with plates – thousands of which are being lined up in the middle of the piazza as part of this event.  There are also big billboard type signs around the Piazza explaining the plates, and painting them blue….well…who knows, but it is huge and impressive nonetheless!

Around the corner from the Piazza is the Fontana del Nettuno– Neptune fountain. Neptune has some connection to Bologna, thus the huge fountain, we never figured out the connection – since – well Bologna is totally landlocked – but the the huge fountain is an incredible piece of artwork, especially with the old style architecture in the background.

Neptune Fountain VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

Next we head toward the Two Towers that dominate the Bologna skyline.  As long as you can find the towers, you can orient your location within the city.  Both built in the 12th Century, the Asinelli tower is the tallest of the 20 remaining towers in Bologna.  You can climb to the top (498 stairs) for what is said to be an incredible view of the city.  We’re athletic, but we’re not that athletic!  Not to mention, the entry way to the steps looks so claustrophobic, I couldn’t even make it up there to pay the 3 euro entrance fee.  Nah, we’ll take it on good authority the view is fabulous!

The other tower, The tower of the Garisenda, is half the size, but has been closed to the public for years because it has a lean of over 10 feet.  Fairly precarious. 

Done with our tower visiting, we continue to wander around the town, taking in the fabulous architecture of the Palazzo D’Accusio, the town hall, the churches and the buildings lining the roads and porticos of Bologna.

Bologna VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

Soon, it is time to think about food. We’ve wandered enough, and we now need to fortify ourselves for the drive back to the ship.  After perusing some cafes and restaurants with touristic menus, we settle on a little restaurant we had found off the beaten path, on a little square by a museum:  Trattoria Corte Galluzzi.  It was out of the way and deserted when we arrived.  We sat outside with the only other customers, a couple just beginning their meal.  The menu had looked great – and it got even better when I spied Artichokes Alla Romagna as an appetizer. I’m all in!  Ed finds cheese and meat antipasti – and we are both set! 

Everything is excellent.  A perfect meal! And, by the time we leave, the place is packed. There is a line waiting for tables!  Perfect timing for our escape and journey back to the ship!

The drive back was even easier than going.  Found the Autostrada with only one wrong turn, then ended up missing our turn for the A12 – but that was a good thing, because we found the smaller road out of Florence (in the direction of Scindisi) that took us through the peaceful countryside, with a lot less traffic, and a lot less tolls, and directly into Livorno.  Once back in town, we drove around a bit and found a grocery store for supplies then headed back to the port.

Since we had marked our starting location, we used Alice to direct us back to the ship.  We backtrack back toward the port, but instead of going around the circle to head left to the Valessini port, Alice tells us to go right – back toward the autostrada.  Then left into the port area. We end up at some other port way the heck away from where we need to be.  Hmmmm…..we ditch Alice!  CPS is in control now – back we go around the circle to Valessini where we leave the car in the appointed area and head back to the ship!  When we get to the cabin and look at the GPS turn by turn instructions?  Alice was trying to have us get on a ferry to cross the port!!!! Yeah, well, there’s something to say for regular maps and just paying attention to where you want to begin and end!

Back on the ship – standard evening routine, sashimi every night for app’s – I’m in 7th heaven!

10/13 Rome

Another dreary day – there are some streaks of blue, but mostly clouds and a humid wetness.  The temps are cool enough, it’s just not the best of days for sight seeing – we’re glad that we are just taking it easy and visiting Paolo at Hosteria Antica Roma for lunch.

We take our time getting up and out.  But do manage to hop on the free port shuttle just before it leaves.  Good timing!  They drop us off way away from the port gate though – there are a ton of ships in port and obviously we didn’t get the closest drop point. Just a little bit more walking – for us – it’s not an issue, but for some of these people it is definitely going to be harder for them.

We trot ourselves up to the rail station in no time, passing all the ticket stands selling “fast train” tickets to Rome for 15 euro.  That’s the direct train that lets you out at St. Peters/The Vatican and only leaves at 9:30 am and returns at 4:30pm.  We don’t want that because we’re going to Appia Antica – a long way from the Vatican.  And as it typically is, when you do your own thing, we get round trip tickets to Rome for only 12 Euros each, we can take any number of regional trains at any time of the day and we can also use the tickets on the metro and the buses.  So really? That’s the way to go regardless.

There is a train in the station when we purchase our tickets, but we don’t want to rush and get to the restaurant too early, so we wait for the 10:02 train – which is there, just on another set of tracks.  We pull out right on time and watch the countryside give way to the magnificent city of Roma!

We take the train all the way to Termini, then walk the 100’s of miles of tunnels underneath to get to the metro.  Sheesh – it’s further to the metro than it is to walk from the Civitavecchia train station to the ship!  Wowzer!  But – again, we’re in no hurry, so we amble along.  We get to the metro turnstile and Ed’s ticket won’t work again for some reason (this is getting a little disturbing 2 days in a row).  Odd – it was validated and everything, but it won’t open the turnstile.  Thankfully there is an agent there who takes the ticket, tries it at every turnstile and finally gives up and sends Ed around through some open gateway.  Phew!  That would have been ugly!

We think we’re close to the train – but oh no – just because we’re in the Metro station doesn’t mean the track is close – seriously – another 5 minutes of walking and traversing stairways and escalators and we’re finally at the train tracks.  No wonder no one is fat here! You can’t be with all this walking.

We hop our designated subway train and alight at Colli Abani – on the other side of the Parco de Appia Antica.  We’ve done this before, walked through the park to get to the old Appian Way, but today it’s just an icky hot and sticky day, so even though it is a lovely oasis away from the city, it’s a little bit of a trudge.  And the sky is threatening.  Yikes!

But Team ELA’s prevails! And we make it to Hostaria Antica Roma just before the deluge comes down!  Even though we tried to time our arrival, we’re still a bit early and Paolo’s first customers.  He greets us, as always, with his infectious grin and big warm hugs.  We sit inside (a first in all the times we’ve been here) and trade stories and chat amiably as the restaurant begins to fill up with a few more diners.

After reading some reviews – and talking about the restaurant being published in the upcoming NYTimes 36 hours in…book, we finish our meal and have to say a fond goodbye. We end up exchanging t-shirts – a new Hostaria Antica Roma shirt designed by Paolo’s wife (and really awesome design at that!) for Ed, and a Lowcountry Harley Davidson shirt for Paolo (who has lost so much weight on his diet, I’m a little worried we should have brought him a medium!)

We end up calling a taxi because it is still raining and we don’t want to stand outside waiting for the bus (there is so little room on the side of the road, and with all the rain, we’d be a soaking mess by the time the bus came).  The ride to the Ostiense train station takes about 5 minutes and is well worth the 10 euros it costs.  Once there we have 30 minutes for the train, so we shop in the little grocery store, picking up beer, wine, chocolate and cookies (which I end up giving the cabin steward so we don’t eat them all!).

Back on the train, we snooze our way to Civitavecchia, then wake ourselves up with our walk to the shuttle, and hop aboard – after a very relaxing day in Rome –well –outside of Rome!

Tomorrow – Livorno – where we will head into the interior of Italy for Bologna!

10/12 Naples

Another not so nice day in Italy.  Cloudy, overcast, and well, rain.  Today we are going to try to go to Ercolano, a town destroyed by the eruption of Mt. Vesuvius in AD 70 (the same one that destroyed Pompeii).  But the weather isn’t really cooperating.  After leaving the ship, it starts to sprinkle, then really rain with strong winds that are blowing our umbrellas inside out.  Yuck!

We manage to make it across the street to the Tabacchi where we buy our train/tram ticket without completely drowning.  But it’s close! Fortunately, the tram is right there on the tracks and ready to go – so we hop on, avoid some of the wetness, validate our tickets and get to the train station with relative ease.  Then down into the station, where, oddly enough, none of the overhead LED boards are working. They are only showing departure of one train – and that train is still sitting on the tracks.  Uh oh…strike?  We don’t think so, because we know there is a strike on Sunday when we are in Livorno, and normally they wouldn’t have a surprise strike – they plan them.  Hmmmm…..we go through the turnstiles and Ed is having a problem with his ticket. The turnstile won’t open, he tries it a couple of times, and finally goes to a different turnstile that works. Oh, that would be ugly!  After standing around with a whole bunch of other people, we exit and go back upstairs to the ticket office.  We ask there – and she says, yes the train to Sorrento will come in 10 minutes, just look for it.  Okkkaaaayyyy.

Back down to the turnstiles, Ed’s still having issues with the ticket.  Sigh…but it finally works and we go to mill about the tracks once more.  Finally, the train does indeed come – phew! - and we hop aboard and are off.  We arrive at the Ercolano station without incident and find our way down the street to the arched entrance of the ruins.  Passing through the arch you get your first glimpse of the amazingly preserved city.  Incredible!  The buildings just stretch out in this carved out section of land below the new town….fantastic!

Ercolano VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

We pay our admission fee, then skirt the excavation site on the long walk to the entrance and gift shop. There we have to buy a map (no free maps here.  Pooh!), but it’s must here – even though the streets are all laid out in easy perpendicular blocks, you’d never know what to look for or what you should see if you aren’t on a guided tour.

The city is preserved so well because of how the volcano erupted and the ash fell.  Only a little bit of ash fell on Ercolano, but six flows of super heated mud gradually covered the city.  The mud was so hot, that it actually carbonized the wood and prevented the buildings from collapsing.  Then the volcanic rock that covered the site for 1700 years formed an airtight seal, keeping everything exactly as it was on the fateful day of the eruption.  that’s why there are actually buildings with upper stories completely intact and beautiful frescoes and mosaics throughout the site.

Another bonus of Ercolano is that it is hard for tour buses to get to the site, so it is not overrun with tourists. As on the day we were visited – there weren’t more than maybe 50 people spread through the entire site.  Whether that was due to the impending thunderstorms or just the norm, we’ll never know, but it was fabulous walking around without crowds, being able to enjoy the well preserved ruins by ourselves!

We wandered down the first street (Cardo III) peaking into the House of Argus and House of the Genius – all interconnected and open to each other with walkways and doorways. And an incredible red fresco still intact on one of the walls. Then we crossed over to the House of the Hotel – so named because it has so many rooms, it seems like it must be a hotel.  also outside the “hotel” is a small garden with an apple tree and flower gardens.

		Cardo III street in Ercolano VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

Next we meander through the House of the Skeleton (don’t know, I’m not asking!) and end up out on Cardo IV where it begins to sprinkle and start to prioritize what we want to see.  We head off for the House of the mosaic Atrium and find that easily enough.

House of the Mosaic Atrium VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

Then we go in search of the urban baths which proves harder to locate. In the meantime, we’re just wandering around, soaking up all this incredible ruin.  Astonishing – you can really see how people lived in ancient times, the roads made with cobblestones and arched in the center for drainage, the incredibly delicate and intricate mosaics and the crazily picturesque and sometimes erotic frescoes. It’s quite an experience!

Miscellaneous Ercolano scenes VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

After getting lost trying to find the College of Augustals, we stumble onto the House of Neptune and Amphitrite which has an incredible mosaic along with what appears to be a tomb area.  And we stumble in just in time too – because there is at least shelter here after entering the courtyard and the skies have decided to completely open up.  Monsoon city!  So, we take advantage of the downpour and stand and just absorb the beauty of the room and think about how it once must have been, what it must have been to live there, in that era…..

		House of Neptune & Amphitrite VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

Finally the rain subsides enough for us to leave our cover and we wander about trying to see as much as possible before the next downpour.  It’s well worth the wetness though – so superior to Pompeii, and amazing in its solitude.

		Ercolano Misc. II VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

We trudge back up the long slope leaving Ercolano and head back out up the hill to the train station.  It’s still sort of raining, but we decide, what the heck – we’ve got our tickets, might as well use them, so we wait for the next train to Sorrento – where we will have some lunch and hopefully find some of those delicious sugar coated almonds!

We arrive in Sorrento no worse for wear, although the train was drenched.  I mean an inch to an inch and a half of water was sloshing around inside on the train floor. Wow!  But it’s relatively clear when we hit Sorrento, we don’t even need our umbrellas (yes!).  We meander – as we always do there. Up and down the little narrow side streets – all the way to that great B&B where we ate last time we were here. Since it’s so wet, they aren’t serving (their only serving space is all outdoors, and not undercover).  We backtrack, and find a store selling herbs – but that also sells the exact sugar coated almonds we bought from the B&B – they are SO good (and yes, SO bad!).  We pick up bags of lemon, the pear and ricotta and dark chocolate!  Yum.  I also manage to find a bag of those Tarallini cracker things I fell in love with in Salerno.  Oh carb hell - it is so good!

After wandering aimlessly, we settle on Old Taverna Sorrintina (since 1860) for lunch because they advertise a pizza and beer for 7 euros.  It’s an adorable little place.

But, the advertised pizza is only a Margherita pizza, and the beer teeny (and it’s only like a 50 euro cent discount), so we end up sharing a scrumptious meal of artichoke, ham, tomato, mushroom and mozzarella pizza and an octopus salad. 

Plus an adorable carafe of wine (we did NOT share that!) and a couple of beers.  Heck – we’re on the train!

Back to the train we go, loaded with our purchases, and our stomachs loaded with good food and alcohol (the first of our two days of being bad with food!).

We both manage to nap on the train, then hop the tram in Naples and head back to the port.  We try, very unsuccessfully to get free wi-fi at one of the port restaurants, but only manage to spend too much money on too little beer and lousy wine.  Sigh..we’re just going to have to put up with the ship services for now.

Back aboard, we fall into our now accepted routine….gym, Vines for app’s, dinner and then tonight, the comedian in Explorers.  Tomorrow – Rome! And another bad carb day – but we’ve planned for this!