So the first night in Civitavecchia, we went out to dinner. I was a whole big deal because the time got pushed back and I thought everyone had left, and 2 girls were on a trip that got back late, but we all managed to get together and went out for some yummy Italian pizza and pasta and gelato. Plus the wine is really good in Italy.
So the next day I got up bright and early to go on my overnight Rome trip. I really liked this trip because we got a lot of free time to see Rome, but also got the advantage of an SAS trip by getting transportation, housing, food, and tours of the main attractions. The first day we took a 90 min bus to Rome and went straight to the Colosseum. We got to cut the line because we had a tour guide so that was nice. We got these headphone sets so we could hear the tour guide and then we got some free time to walk around. Our tour guide showed us this book that had overlapping pictures so we could see the difference between what it used to look like and what it looks like now. It is way cool. The view from everywhere but especially the top was amazing. It was just really awesome to be there just because it’s the Colosseum. Then we walked around the Roman Forum and saw all the ruins-ish stuff there which was really cool. Apparently at some point we walked through/ by Venice Square and Circus Maximus but a bunch of us didn’t realize it at the time. Then we got free time to eat lunch and walk around. It was kind of annoying that we had to buy lunch on our own because it was during the prepaid trip, but whatever. We found this cute little pizza place. We were so thirsty by then because it was really hot out. They had such good pizza (it is Italy of course). I got a piece with thin potato slices and a piece with cherry tomatoes and flat mozzarella cheese like when you get that tomato mozzarella salad but on pizza. They were both soo good. And I got French fries too. Italy has really good olive oil and the French fries are cooked in the olive oil so they are soooo good. I like them better than French fries in America (no salt or anything needed). So then we walked around Rome and did some shopping and some sight seeing. We went to the Trevi Fountain and we were just getting to the Spanish Steps when we heard thunder. It had taken us a while to get there because we kept stopping in all of the stores, but when we heard the thunder we knew we needed to hurry up. The day before some of my friends had been in Rome. They said that out of nowhere there was this huge storm and it started pouring right away. So we knew when it got dark and thundery that it was going to pour any second. We hurried to the Spanish Steps, took a few pictures, and then it started to rain (I have a video of us getting into the cab). Really just as we were jumping into the taxi it started pouring. It was thundering pretty loudly and it was pouring outside so when we got to the hotel, we paid inside the taxi and got out to run inside. However, me being a klutz, I slipped and fell backwards onto the wet ground. So even if I had still been dry, I definitely wasn’t by the time we got inside. But I laughed it off and we asked the lady at the counter to take some pictures and then we went upstairs and sat on our balcony to watch the storm (I have some videos of that too). Roommates get decided alphabetically by last name, but I got lucky and my friend Kara was my roommate. We both got bags at this stand on the streets and they were stuffed with newspaper. Kara had gotten a birthday present for Aubrey and we wrapped it in almost all of the newspaper. We then realized that security was probably going to want to check it when we got back to the boat to make sure that it wasn’t anything prohibited, but we didn’t want to unwrap it haha. So then we got changed into some dry clothes (at least it was an overnight so we had other stuff to wear) and met up with the group for dinner. We went to this really cool place for dinner. We walk into the restaurant and you can look down through this grate thing and see tables. So we don’t go into the regular seating area, but they send us down these steps. IT seemed like we were going into a dungeon kind of thing. There were also these older guys singing and playing guitar. The food was really good (of course). We had yummy pasta and then this thing that’s like a giant pasta tube with meat inside. It was so good. Then we had this mashed potatoes with ham and cheese in the middle and bread crumbs on the top. Then we had some ice cream thing that was a bunch of different flavors put together. You get a lot of courses in Italy. Then we got back on the bus and went on our tour of Rome at night. We walked around to the Trevi Fountain (and threw in some money) and Piazza Navona (Navona Square). There were all these vendors with paintings everywhere. We also went to see the outside of the Pantheon and get some more gelato. I gave some girl in our group my camera to take a picture of us eating the gelato by the sign and she let go of my camera before I was holding it when she went to give it back to me. It landed on this rocky area and the frame got damaged so the back part is sticking out a little too much which means the buttons are in a little and the inside of the camera is exposed to stuff a little. Luckily, it still works fine I just have to be extra careful. So then we went to bed and had breakfast in the hotel the next morning. We went to the Vatican Museums and 16th Chapel and St. Peter’s Basilica. It wasn’t as huge a deal because I’m Jewish, but the buildings and pictures are still pretty impressive. And the marble inside on the floors and pillars was really pretty. Then we got lunch at nice place that also had delicious food. We got bread and delicious pasta and chicken and French fries and salad and I think tiramisu (again a lot of food). So then we got some more free time and walked around and did some more shopping. We also went to the Pantheon and went inside where we ran into Mel and Alexis who were there on there own. Then we walked back to the restaurant and took the bus back to the ship.
Ok dinner time, more Italy to come later.
From the ship in the water close to Croatia (but not at the port because we have to use the tenders), Sharon
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