Travel: We left Seattle On Saturday June 21 for Rome at 11 am. We flew Continental and had an easy trip; Seattle to Newark and Newark to Rome. We arrived in Rome Sunday June 22 at 12:30 pm. We met our driver for a transport to our B&B upon arrival. We are a family of 6. Two adults (ages 43 and 44) and 4 young adults (ages 16, 18, 18 and 19. The transport was arranged by our B&B and cost 60 euros. We had 9 suitcases and one or two carryons each and given how tired we were, I am thankful we did not try to do the public transit to the B&B.

Pre-Cruise Stay in Rome (5 nights):We arrived at the Obelus B&B, which I highly recommend, at 3 pm and were greeted by Therese. We enjoyed a cold beer while she showed us the rooms, gave us some maps and keys. The Obelus B&B (http://www.obelus.it/Sito-5/ENGhome.htm) was a fabulous find. We had two rooms of 3. The Obelus only has three rooms and they book up fast. We paid 110 euros per night per room. We got a discount for staying a min of 3 nights and for being a group. The B&B is small, with only 3 rooms, each with their own bath, a delightful breakfast area and use of the refrigerator (to keep our wine and water cold!). It's on the second floor of a building about a 10 minute walk from the Colosseum. Each morning Therese or Carola had a lovely breakfast with pastries, yogurt, cheese, jam, nutella, coffee and cappuccino ready when we awoke. They are both very knowledgeable of Rome and speak fluent English. They provided great information as to where to eat, how to get somewhere, bus/transit connections...you name it..they were fabulous! Each bathroom had a toilet and a bidet...my daughter found a great use for the bidet...a foot wash after a long day of walking!

Activities Tours in Rome: Sunday June 22, 2008 We got settled in to the B&B, unpacked and freshened up. Our adrenaline was high and to help with the 9 hour time change we set out to see Rome. I had arranged with Through Eternity Cultural Association (http://www.througheternity.com/group_tours_rome.htm) 3 different tours during our 5 day pre-cuise stay. Our first tour was the Rome at Twilight Tour among the piazzas and fountains. This tour was led by Ian and although it was a group tour with a max of 15, there were only 8 of us. We met at the Spanish Steps, then saw the Trevi Fountain, the Pantheon, Piazza Navona, Campo D'Fiori and many other sights. Ian was so knowledgeable as to the history and details as to what to were seeing. We ended the tour at 9:30 pm and then walked to the St. Ignatius church and ate a wonderful meal right outside in a Trattoria under the stars. We arrived back to the B&B at 12:30 am promptly fell asleep. Read more