Highlights Cruise Day 5- Civitavecchia (Rome)

The port’s name is pronounced “chee-vee-tah-VEK-kee-uh.” There were three cruise ships in port, including Viking Saturn going the opposite way from Naples. I took the included bus tour, Snapshots of Rome (Trumpy tours again, that man is everywhere!). The duration was 9am to 5pm. On the bus tour of Rome buildings, our guide frequently warned us with, “Get your cameras ready.” It felt like European Vacation (the movie). The bus parked along the Tiber River, and we were set loose between Vatican City and the Piazza Navona, 11am-3:45pm. I walked through the narrow streets and alleys, with cobblestones so widely spaced the gaps could swallow a cement mixer. I couldn’t visit museums (the advance tickets roadblock again). My question for the day: why are air hand dryers marketed as more hygienic? Unless they are Dyson Airblades, you *always* have to wipe your hands on your pants. How is that hygienic?

Forum of Caesar?

Looked like dirt and marble chunks to me

Notable Items

Having been to three ports, I noted a routine for the daily sightseeing assault (oops, “Shore Excursion Transportation”). At 8am, Cruise Director Arran announced important information for the port, only I couldn’t hear it in my stateroom. Dressed in my underwear, I cracked open the door to hear the audio. Zuhri, the housekeeping manager for my deck, told me this was intentional, so people could sleep in. I wore running shorts on subsequent morning door openings.

My learning started before we left the port. Listening to our guide Francesca, I realized I’ve been mispronouncing Italian words for most of my life:

Meeck-el-angelo
Neron-ay “he was the bad emperor” (there was a lot of competition for that honor in ancient Rome)

Within the Rome city limits, Francesca pointed out landmarks that we could observe from the bus windows. I passed. When I take pictures from a bus, I just get a reflection of myself messing up the picture (“There’s my forehead reflected in front of the Rome train station”).

When the other bus passengers and I were unleashed on Rome, I walked in the direction of the Piazza Navona and the Coliseum. I didn’t dwell on what I couldn’t see from the bus and not being able to visit museums in the time we had. My attitude was “I’m in Rome for the day, absorb the vibe.”

The first vibe I absorbed was the McDonald’s in Piazza Navona. I needed to use the bathroom. Next I found a pizza place: Fiore.

Inside, there were more varieties of pizza than I have seen gelato in some shops. As I was weighing the options, the woman behind the counter was saying Ciao, Ciao repeatedly. Why was she saying goodbye when I hadn’t ordered anything? Was she kicking me out of the shop? From context (context is everything in language), I decided that ciao must be one of those multipurpose words that can mean hello, goodbye, and “please order something, dude, I don’t have all day.”

The pizza was lighter, more “risen” (is that a word?) than ours. It is left out in a glass case and warmed in an oven only when you ask for it. This beats drying it out under heat lamps like they do in airports. I liked it.

Pizza infused, I continued to the Pantheon (mobbed so it I just did a walk-by), the Coliseum (yup, ruined) and the Forums of Caesar and Trajan (lots of dirt, marble blocks here and there). I thought that the Piazza Venezia (monument to King Victor Emmanuel II) was more impressive. It was probably where the stones from the Coliseum went.