Wednesday, April 13, 2011
This morning is very windy
and rainy. The wind not only turns
umbrellas inside out; it prevents our larger sister ship, the Queen Mary 2,
from entering the harbor until it calms down.
It is cold enough for heavy jackets.
Amazingly by the time we reach Rome the sky is a clear, rich blue, and
the day is glorious.
Civitavecchia has been the
port of Rome since ancient times making me wonder what the extensive ruins at
Ostia Antica were—more ancient times? As
I recall the sea moved away from Ostia Antica, and it is now landlocked. Anyway we are docked an hour and a half from
the city.
Having been here before we opt to revisit the
Sistine chapel without a guide and wander the Vatican museums on our own. We buy our ticket on the bus and the guide
tells us to follow the groups through the door on the right to leave the chapel
and enter basilica that way. Advice to
treasure. It allows us to cut all the
lines which are horrendous. The line to
get in the basilica curves all the way around St. Peter’s Square and the one to
the museum is four deep and at least a block and half long.
There is simply too much
to see. And it is dizzyingly
glorious. And I won’t remember half of
it. There are many works of art which
are intriguing and by artists with names I have never hear of and will not
recall. After several hours we stagger
out and find a trattoria for wine and pasta.
The time left we wander the streets perfectly happy just to be in Rome.
The Veranda is the upscale
dining room on the ship and an extra fee is charged. There is no need for it—the dining room meals
are of good quality, but once in three months we have to try it. Tonight’s menu in the regular dining room did
not appeal to John, and the Veranda had a vacancy so this is it. For dinner we select a seafood first course
and veal as the entrée. The desert is
particularly fine. It is lovely. The room is much quieter than the main
restaurant and the service is attentive without being intrusive. There are the extras of upscale dining: an
amuse bouche, a sorbet to clear the palate before the main course, a finger
bowl after although it isn’t needed, and after desert some petit fours—in fact,
a lot of petit fours and you can have as many as you have room for.
On Acupuncture I have a lower back pain from time to time and early
on the cruise developed a shoulder pain that interfered somewhat with
movement. A medical speaker noted that
the most effective treatment for sea-sickness by a large amount was
acupuncture, and I have known nursing home residents helped by it. My gut tells me that it does not work. My husband notes that they have been using it
for 3,000 years, and there must be something to it. I remind him that I am an atheist, and that
argument won’t wash with me. On the
other hand, I have no physiatrist on board, and acupuncture is not likely to
have negative side effects. I decide to
give it a try. After the acupuncturist
takes a history, and we discuss the goals of treatment, an appointment is
made. The possible sensations and side
effects are explained.
I am led into a room with
a massage table and soothing music, told to remove my top and lie between the
sheets and in almost no time I am full of needles. The needles are not particularly painful; the
treatment is not unpleasant. Best of all
it seems to work. I definitely have less
pain. I revert to my exercise program as
set up years ago by my physiatrist and take the stretching class in the gym
when I can. It doesn’t work miracles,
but there is definite improvement.
No comments:
Post a Comment