Highlights-Civitavecchia (Rome)

I opted for the included bus tour, Snapshots of Rome (Trumpy tours again, that guy is everywhere!). The duration was 9am to 5pm. Before “tapping off” the ship (with stateroom access card, for passenger tracking), I saw a confused looking man possibly about to return to his room for a forgotten item. A woman who could have been his wife was on the other side of the checkpoint with a “what is that man doing now?” look. He was going to get a talking to later, I’ll bet. While the bus passed some of the main sights of Rome, our guide Francesca would say (in her thickly accented, mispronounced, but good enough English), “Get your cameras ready.” It felt like European vacation, “ Hey look kids, there's Big Ben, and there's Parliament.” Our driver Giovanni parked the bus by the Tiber River. We were set loose between Vatican City and the Piazza di Navona, 11am-3:45pm. I went in the Piazza direction and continued to the Colosseum ruins (very ruined). On the way, I passed the forums of Caesar and Trajan below street level (even more ruined). Since I couldn’t visit museums (advanced tickets essential), I absorbed the Rome vibe. I walked through the narrow streets and alleys with widely-spaced cobblestones. I dodged café seating, long lines for museums and some sandwich shops (queuing for sandwich shops, really?), throngs of people (it was Rome). I avoided vehicles, tiny and large, negotiating for space in the same streets, sometimes mere inches from people, obstructions, construction, and building walls. I sampled pizza (light and airy, which I prefer) and gelato (about the same except for the mint, more subtle than the U.S. versions I’ve tried). My question for the day: why are air hand dryers advertised as more hygienic? Unless they are Dyson Airblades, you *always* have to wipe your hands on your pants anyway.