roma


 Hey there!

And just like that it’s already been 12 days and I’m back in Hong Kong already. My 10 night Eastern Mediteranean cruise on Celebrity’s Reflection is officially over :(
It’s strange because in a way I feel like I was gone for so long, but at the same time it passed by so quickly!

So where did we leave off?…Oh yes, I was on my way to Rome

hk to rome

We took the midnight flight out out from Hong Kong and arrived in Rome early Thursday morning, June 6, and headed straight to our hotel. I stayed in the same hotel as I did the last time I was here, Grand Hotel de la Minerve, because of it’s close vicinity to everything.  It’s steps from the Pantheon and just a short walk everywhere else.

pantheon

My sister ended up catching a stomach bug right before we boarded our flight from Hong Kong to Rome and ended up only seeing the inside of our hotel room during our 1 night stay in Rome. Which meant I got to spend the majority of the day with my dad. First we had a quick breakfast/lunch nearby. It was kind of an odd time to eat since it wasn’t quite lunch time, but breakfast was already over so it was more of an early lunch.

bresaola & rocket

I wasn’t feeling anything too heavy and went with a salad of bresaola (the beef equivalent of prosciutto), rocket leaves, and giant shavings of parmagiano regiano. A very salty but enjoyable lunch.

After eating, my dad and I headed towards Piazza di Spagna to do some shopping and sightseeing in that area. On our way over we made a mandatory stop at Giolitti’s for some gelato.

giolitti

Pistachio and extra dark chocolate for me. And Pistachio and coffee for my dad. Apparently a photo was not enough of a memory for me and I proceeded to drip an entire chunk of melty chocolate gelato down the front of my white shirt. Classic.

As my dad, my stain, and I continued on our way towards the Spanish Steps, the sun was really blazing. I’ve never been to Italy in the summer months and it was pretty warm out there. The good thing is it cools down significantly in the evenings and mornings. Kind of like cali weather.

spanish steps

rome

Eventually we headed back to the hotel to get ready to go to dinner at Maccheroni.

maccheroni

I had been thinking all day about their tomato and basil spaghetti and was more than ready to dig in. My favorite thing about their pasta is that it is always al dente and full of plump ripe tomatoes.

After dinner, I was leading us back to the hotel and lo and behold I somehow took the wrong turn and ended up back at Giolotti’s. I’m usually the one in charge of leading the way and the last time my family and  I were in Rome for a week I (no joke) led us to Giolotti’s just about every night after dinner. And honestly it was by accident every.single.time. Gelato just has a way of calling out to me. ; ) Not a bad place to get lost I guess.

giolittis

Since my mom didn’t eat gelato with my dad and I in the afternoon and we just happened to be next to two gelato shops, we made a quick stop into Groms (which is a few steps down the street from Giolotti’s) for a small cone of grapefruit and apricot.

grom

If you’re ever in Rome and deciding between Grom and Giolotti’s, I would personally suggest going to Giolotti’s because you get a lot more for the same price of 2.5 euro. Plus there are way more options at Giolotti’s. However, I’m not saying Grom’s is not good, because it is definitely delicious as well. I just prefer more gelato :)

The next morning we had a quick meal of scrumptious crusty bread and  bresaola we picked up that day from a nearby grocer, before catching a taxi for the 50 min drive out to Civitavecchia to begin our cruise.

bread

bresaola 

Before we knew it we were already all checked in and ready to go!

reflection

Once on board we had a quick lunch at Ocean View Cafe on deck 14, where there is basically food served buffet style from 6:30am-1:30am daily, before heading to our rooms to unpack and become better acquainted with what was on board. (I knew 24 hour room service and an ice cream bar for the next 10 days meant trouble)

room

veranda

A little after we arrived in our rooms the alarm sounded for us to attend the mandatory emergency drill. On our way to our designated emergency area is when I really realized just how large this boat was. 16 floors total with an art gallery, theater, casino, spa and so much more. There was even a mini flywheel studio onboard.

When we returned from our drill there were little canapés (delivered daily around 4pm) waiting for us to snack on.

canapes

We began pulling away from the port just as we were finishing up unpacking and a little later my sister and I headed down to Opus on deck 3 to join our parents for dinner.

civitavecchia

Opus is the main restaurant on the boat where you are assigned a table that is yours throughout the entire cruise whether you choose to dine there or not. They have a 4 course menu that changes daily. Although there were many other dining options, my family chose to eat there the majority of the nights as we enjoyed the company of our waiter.

I started with the beet and goat cheese salad, as well as an unpictured white gazpacho.

beet salad

For my main I chose the pan fried salmon over summer squash.

salmon

And rounded it all out with a couple scoops of vanilla lychee frozen yogurt for dessert.

vanilla lychee froyo

I’m happy to report that everything I had that evening was delicious, especially the frozen yogurt.

There were already activities and shows happening on board our boat that night, but after dinner I was beyond ready to head back to our room to turn in for the night. Plus we had an early morning the next day.

 celebrity today

Next stop: Messina, Italy!

 

 

 

 

hello from the sea

Hello from the sea!

cruise

I’m 3 days in to my 10 day Eastern Mediterranean cruise today – we just departed Athens, Greece a few hours ago and will be in Kusadasi, Turkey tomorrow morning. I don’t have much access to Internet so I probably won’t be on here again until I return to Hong Kong end of next week where I plan to do a full recap. Until then, you can find me on instagram where I hope to post photos when I find wifi!

Cya next week!

hk to rome

Why, hello there! 
Long time no talk. I need to fix that.

Last time I posted, I was still in San Francisco waiting for my flight to Hong Kong.

san fran

I arrived in HK without a hitch (minus some turbulence over Japan – which I feel has been getting worse over the years..) and pretty much have been crazy busy during the day and then when I finally make it home at night I’m too jet-lagged to blog because I’m so incredibly sleepy and cannot stay up past 11pm. Two nights ago I finally stayed up past midnight, but it was because I didn’t get home until a little past 11pm. Otherwise I’m sure I would’ve been in bed by 10pm.

I arrived to a gorgeous evening in Hong Kong, around 6:30pm just before the sun began to set.

hong kong

Busy times means breakfasts and lunches have been quick and easy. The first morning I was here I was craving something warm and made oatmeal with whatever else was in the kitchen.

apple oats

I ended up finding and apple, chopped and cooked in a small pot with a tiny bit of water and generous sprinkling of cinnamon until softened. Then I cooked up my oats in some almond milk, topped it with the apples and added some drizzly roasted almond butter. It’s been so long since I’ve had oats and it hit the spot!

Another morning I had some almond butter over a baguette that I picked up from L’atelier de Joël Robuchon which was preeeetty delicious.

baguette and almond butter

Wouldn’t it be wonderful if baguettes had the same nutritional value as broccoli? But its doesn’t. Womp womp.

And lunches have looked very much like this.

pret salad

Tuna and/or veggie salads from Pret. Both because it’s quick to eat and because lately it has seemed harder to eat a balanced diet. Lunch seems to be my best bet in sneaking in veggies.

Last night I left this scene behind and headed back to the airport for a midnight flight.

hk

And now I’m over half way to Rome (7 hours down – 6.5 more to go!) where I’ll be spending a night before taking the train over to Civitavecchia - the port for Rome – tomorrow to embark on our cruise. I’ll be publishing this once I touch down and find internet.

 I’m looking forward to some good italian food at one of my favorite restaurants here tonight and of course, gelato! I just hope I can stay up late enough for dinner since Hong Kong is 6 hours ahead of Rome and I can’t seem to settle on a timezone yet. Our plane lands a little after 7am so I still have a full day ahead of me. Must find some caffeine today!

I’ll try my best to continue to update, but I’m not sure how the whole internet situation is yet. So hopefully I’ll see ya sooner than later!

Do you get freaked out by turbulence?
What have you been eating for breakfast or lunch lately?