Friday, November 8, 2019; Transfer from Budapest to Rome

20191108 Friday; Transfers from Hungary to Rome, Italy

It’s hard to believe our Prague pre-cruise extension, Passau to Budapest Viking River Cruise, and Budapest post-cruise extension are all behind us already.  The time does fly when you’re having fun adventures.  

We awoke to find the Pest valley enshrouded with mist and drizzle.  The weather forecast for Rome is for solid rain the next week- remnants of the storm that raged through France a couple of days ago.  Life below our Hilton Castle Hotel window has returned to normal, with tourists milling about in St. Stephen’s Cathedral Square and the Fishermen’s Bastion.  The Hungarian security forces have packed up and removed all the traffic barriers and warning tape that had festooned the square the last two days.  The hotel hallways and dining room just don’t feel the same without “Christopher Reeves” and his Rambo buddies loitering about.  

We said our farewells to several other Viking guests in the dining room and hallways.  We had come to know Geneva, and her 3 sisters April, Virginia, and Eve, who had recognized us from our Viking Star Cuba cruise, or at least recognized Ben as “The photography guy” because he was always running about on excursions shooting pictures when the guides would be stopped and talking.  Many other fellow passengers refer to him as either the “Camera Guy” or the “Strudel Guy”.  I guess that’s a bit like Ben’s brother Franklin, who rapidly is known as “The Karaoke Guy” on his cruises.

The Budapest Airport is a half hour drive from the heart of Budapest.  We shared our Viking airport transfer with two young women who had been traveling with their Aunt, who had struggled with her walker on the cobblestones of Szentendre and other excursions during our cruise.  The younger of the two lives in Spokane.  They will be flying to Munich to fly back to the US.  The airport is small, but well laid out and maintained.  The bathrooms are clean and there are no piles or trash on the floor.  Trash and recycling receptacles are also clean. There is also adequate seating, and the security check points flow very quickly and efficiently.  There are very nice duty free shops and free samples of liquors and wine abound.  It’s a wonder that so many international airports we have been through really make LAX look like look like a Brazilian favella (the worst kind of urban slum) by comparison.  The US really needs to invest in updating and maintaining their infrastructure.  

While the Budapest Airport was spacious and modern, the same cannot be said for Alitalia’s A320’s, which really packed the passengers in like sardines.  Janet’s knees were firmly jammed into the seat back in front of her.  As passengers were loading, a huge guy stood in the exit row, and I joked that was the guy who was assigned to our window seat. There was no way he could be shoe-horned into that window seat.  As seating was just about completed, we though we were going to be luck and have an empty seat in our row, but the suddenly, that huge guy lurched forward and indicated he was indeed in our window seat.  So we struggled to get out of our seats and into the aisle, so he could wedge himself into the seat.  He did not fit- He had to sit with his knees splayed on either side of the seat in front, halfway across Janet’s seat.  That was going to be a huge problem.  Fortunately, there was actually two empty seats in the row directly ahead of us, so the lady in that row scooted over to the window, and Ben snuck forward into the aisle seat quickly before the flight attendants could give us the stink eye.  That allowed Janet to move to the aisle behind Ben, and the Giant could keep his knees splayed across two seats.  

Mercifully, the flight was under 2 hours.  I didn’t realize that this segment of our trip actually was headed nearly due west, so we were zig-zagging a bit in our eastward jog around the planet.  

The airport in Rome was not any better than the seating in the plane.  Alitalia unloaded us onto the tarmac and into two extremely overcrowded buses.  They really should have had a third bus, but packed like sardines, or Japanese Salarymen during a Tokyo rush hour, there was no place for anyone to fall once the doors closed.  

Reclaiming our luggage was painless, and the transfer that Theresa, our travel agent, had arranged was prompt, pleasant and comfortable.  She had a large BMW sedan, and her driver seat was not scooted back at all.  Janet and I could easily stretch out with our day packs either in front of us on the floor or on the center of the rear seat.  Her car’s trunk swallowed up all our suitcases, and she had no qualms with grabbing our big suitcases and rolling them down the curb to the car or unloading them at the end of our transfer directly into the hands of the bellman at the Rome Savoy.  

The streets and traffic in Rome are absolutely insane.  I’m so glad we didn’t attempt to drive into downtown Rome.  Our driver knew her way through the tiny streets.  At one point, she had to squeeze between two vehicles with probably only an inch of clearance on either side.  It’s a wonder her car wasn’t covered with dents and scratches.  She was from Poland and has been working in Rome for a few years.  She certainly didn’t mind working hard.

We checked in to our room, and saw that the there was a Princess Cruises representative with a small desk in the hotel lobby.  We were not on her passenger lists because we were not booked in Princess’s block of rooms, which had sold out.  Our travel agent managed to book similar rooms at a better rate in the same hotel through BedsOnline.  The Princess representative said that we could certainly book any of the Princess Pre-Cruise excursions that were offered, but we would have to pay cash up front for them.  Tomorrow, they had a Vatican “Skip the Line” tour in the early afternoon, and a “Rome by night with dinner” tour.  We booked both, so we wouldn’t have to worry about figuring out how to get around and what to see during our full free day.  On Sunday, we will transfer out of the city to the Mediterranean coastal city of Civitavecchia, a bit past the airport, to board the Sapphire Princess.

When we got up to our room, we were expecting a typical tiny European hotel room just big enough for a bed and toilet, but this room was even larger than our room in the Hilton Budapest Castle District.  You could easily park a Fiat 500 in the middle of the bathroom, which as equipped with a bidet, as well as a huge shower.  The windows open into a large central courtyard.  

Our hotel was about a half mile from the Trevi Fountain and Spanish Steps so we planned to walk to these landmarks today and find a place to have dinner.  The Hotel Concierge did recommend a place called the iL Piccolo Mondo, located just about a block and a half around a corner.  He made reservations for us for 5pm and at 4pm, we headed off to see the Spanish Steps.  It was surprising to see just how crowded it was around the Spanish Steps.  There were lots of men trying to give people flowers- we were certain it was a scam of some sort.  There is a fairly humble church at the top of the Spanish steps, and choir practice was being held inside at the time. 

After taking a few pictures, it was time to head back to the iL Piccolo Mondo for our dinner reservation.  We were the first ones seated, and our food and drinks came out promptly.  We made the mistake of ordering too much food. We had ordered Roman Artichokes and a side market salad as side dishes to go with grilled octopus with potatoes and spaghetti with clam sauce for entrees. We also ordered two glasses of wine- a Chianti for Janet and Shiraz for Ben.  The Chanti was dry and oaky, while the Shiraz was sweeter and easier to drink- a good companion to the grilled octopus.  There was also a basket of bread.  Olive oil and basalmic vinegar was at the table.  The salad came out as a huge bowl of mostly arugula with cherry tomatoes and the artichokes were whole young buds with the down cut out. You could eat the stems, as well as the leaves. Janet’s spaghetti came out more what you would expect of a bowl of spaghetti.  Ben ended up turning the market salad, artichokes and grilled octopus into a grilled octopus salad, which was tasty and filling.  When the bill came around, it amounted to US$85.  (75.80 Euros).  They had charged 6 Euro for the bread and 3.80 Euro for the “Tap Water”, which ended up being a decanter of bottled water.  Nobody said Rome was going to be inexpensive.

At the restaurant, we met a couple from Australia, who were also going to be boarding the Sapphire Princess on Sunday.  They said the long flight was behind them, because going from Singapore to Australia is not that bad of a flight.  There were many other cruise ship passengers dining in the restaurant. By the time we were done, the place was packed and very busy.  We were glad to have had an early reservation.  

After dinner, it was raining and dark, but there were still lots of people in the streets.  We made our way through the slippery cobblestone streets to Trevi Fountain, which was surrounded by a sea of umbrellas.  

Interestingly enough, there were two armored personnel carriers parked just around the corner of the fountain and a pair of soldiers stood by with assault rifles at the ready.  Janet spoke with them, and they said there were there to provide security for the Trevi Fountain.  

There is a building that forms the back wall of the fountain, and through the windows, it looked like a fancy ball was going on, with elegantly dressed young women posing for pictures in the windows and balconies overlooking the fountain.  We snapped a few pictures, but the limestone steps were slippery in the rain.  

We’ll have a breakfast here at the Savoy in the morning, and the Vatican Tour tomorrow afternoon.  That will be followed by the Rome at Night tour with dinner, so we won’t have to worry about finding a place to eat tomorrow night.  We are looking forward to getting aboard the Sapphire Princess, where finding a place for our next meal has never been a concern.