Holy Civitavecchia

**Note: Post Date is July 2, 2009**

Today my Great Grandfather turns 82. I was able to call him today and wish him Happy Birthday. I have  looked up to this man for as long as I can remember and probably before then. He is a man of wisdom, peace, discipline and love. And for 82, or any age for that matter, he is a good looking guy. I hope I’m blessed with his aging genes. I had a very nice and long talk with him. I wish he was able to be here in Italy and share this amazing time with me. I will be honored to visit Montemurro in a couple days.

“I’m proud of us. Look we are actually doing this. We are actually going,” says Kate after we took about 2 hours to actually make our way to the Vatican. Rachel wasn’t apart of the A.B.A. today. She went off on a bike ride through other parts of the city for she has already been to Rome.  But it was a long morning between checking out of the hotel, packing, and coordinating meeting times between the two separated groups. Hotel Mariano provided us with a continental breakfast (why do they call it a continental breakfast?) and it was surprisingly very delicious with croissants, tea, coffee, orange juice, cereal and more. I was very content having a lovely morning meal in Italy.

Kevin was not in the mood for any delays this morning. He was on a mission to get to the Vatican. But we only made a couple of detours along the way to stop at Internet Cafés, to buy water, to change into appropriate clothing, to buy postage, and the ever occasional hassle to buy a subway ticket. A very nice Italian woman was kind enough to personally walk us to buy a ticket. She spoke English quite well. I held some conversation with her about Canada as she quickly took her shot of espresso and led the way. It is funny how we find the closest thing to each other to talk about. For example if I met someone from Germany in New York I would probably say I’ve never been there but I’ve been to Italy, but in actuality who really cares. Any who, we were officially on our way for our second day in Rome.

Rome, Italy. The Pope lives here! So many times I have thought about the Pope and Rome and they have each seemed so unattainable yet here I am right outside the Pope’s home in the Vatican City. (Side note: It is amazing what movies will do to make things work for the sake of their production. In a final scene of Angels and Demons a character runs directly out of the Vatican into the street of St. Peters Basilica. However seeing as I was just there today, there is no way this would have been possible. Not only is there the area in which the Pope speaks but there is also rows and rows of chairs. Good going Hollywood) Speaking of the Pope Kate and Becca were blessed by the Pope yesterday morning. So lucky. I sat looking at his area wondering what it must be like to see such a dominant figure not only in the religious world but in everyday life. St. Peters Basilica: What an unexpected sight this was! I didn’t expect to be impressed or to even be emotionally connected but it was quite amazing! I loved it so much and took lots of pictures just for the sake of my Great Grandfather, who I would have loved by my side for this entire time at the Vatican if nothing more but to fill me in with all the information that I’m sure I surpassed during my 3 hour walk-thru. The Vatican is massive. It seems to never end and for someone like  my Great Grandfather who would most likely stop to read all the side notations it would probably take three times as long. I loved all the impressive statues, all the beautiful paintings, the complex infrastructures and the amazingly historical pieces all through out but I couldn’t feel my feet. It took us an hour alone just to walk to the Chapel of Sisters: The Sistine Chapel. I snuck a couple of pictures. It is the one thing my Great Grandfather requested. Mission Accomplished.

After a overloaded and exhausting time at the Vatican it was time for some more Italian cuisine. I was beyond starving so me and Becca shared a pasta dish with lasagna, pasta and ravioli and then we each also got a pizza for ourselves. There was no playing around. However I refuse to buy a drink at any restaurant. They charge you for water in Europe. If there is one thing I miss America for is free water. And free bathrooms. You have to pay for those too. Ughh! The food was of course delicious though. I mean I’m not one to complain about food but I’m pretty sure even the pickiest of them all, my grandmother, would have taken kindly to this meal. After every meal comes what!? Gelato. Duh! Some of us seem to think that we are overdosing on Gelato (maybe Kevin who doesn’t eat ice cream, because he got fat from it in middle school) but I strongly disagree. To swim in gelato wouldn’t even be too much for me to handle. Bring it on!

As we finish up at the restaurant it was time to crack down on the remaining sights we had yet to see. With map in hand we marked our route as it would follow for the afternoon. First stop: the Pantheon. It is my favorite sight in Rome. From the outside not so impressive, but from the inside unlike anything I’ve really seen before. With a gigantic dome and a hole in the center you are left with your head straight up and your jaw open wide in awe of this spacious and majestic creation. The hole is literally a hole with no covering so when it rains the sight is probably that much more amazing. I wanted it to rain so badly, which it did. Again.

Sadly we were already on our way to our second stop, the Trevi Fountain, when it started to rain (and by rain I mean down pour) so I couldn‘t see the coolest sight ever of it raining in the Pantheon. To hide from the rain we crowded ourselves into a souvenir shop. Kate and Becca ran off somewhere. “It was a black shirt ok,” Kevin assures me as he defends his demeaning act of rubbing a stain off his shirt with a shirt in the shop. This kid is a funny one.

Ok, I couldn’t stand any longer. The hinge between my knees and my calves were going to give out, so I bravely ran through the rain to a pizza place. It was right next door mind you, but I still got wet. Yuck! It was blissful to sit. I haven’t had soda in about two weeks and have been really craving some so, since we had to buy something to remain safe and dry, I decided to buy some sprite! Soda here comes in a more slim can than our stumpy version. I think it’s more fancy. We were all sitting around talking, there were locals in there as well, when all of a sudden we heard a deathly screeching sound from outside. I thought someone was in distress, when out of the rain comes Kate screaming, “holy f***king shit,” as she enters the probably catholic establishment, which is the city of Rome, where the Vatican is, and where the Pope resides. Everyone in the tiny pizza place (which is probably the size of a bedroom) was completely silent.

Thank goodness the rain had stopped very shortly after that incident and we were finally able to see the gorgeous Trevi Fountains. Water gushing from every which way as it flowed through white, intricate statues of beauty. As the sun shined through those dark clouds I couldn’t resist but just sit there and watch. The water in this fountain, as well as others, is so cool and after a long hot day nothing feels better. We even resorted to drinking from water fountains, which were so refreshing. I say resorted because as Kate was leaving a restaurant I guess she filled her bottle with the tap water in the bathroom. The guy at the front was nice enough to tell her that it wasn’t smart to drink that water. She poured it out. But the filtering from the water fountains is supposed to be legit so no need to panic. I’m still alive.

Now it was time for shopping. Erika and I weren’t interested and the boys weren’t gung ho but remember we have the shopping duo: Kate and Becca. So amidst our initial planning you can be assure that there was shopping time budgeted in. Yet they didn’t buy anything. Rather disappointing. Erika and I during that quick hour tried to find a internet café but failed miserably. We did manage to find ourselves in a Burger King, but only to go to the bathroom. Erika was strong enough to stay away from the food this time. But I have to admit it is going to be nice in 6 weeks from now to pull up to a McDonalds drive-thru and order a #4 with a sprite.

At the end of the hour we all met up including Rachel. It was time to leave Rome. “I’m Staying,” I stated time and time again, but I soon caved in from the lack of support from my group. I urged and urged the others to stay. I wanted to stay so badly.  Rachel offered to stay with me, but considering money for a hotel and the majority vote to go back to Civitavecchia where I am now writing this post, I settled for the economically and group morale decision. 

We bought our train tickets (well some of us did. They don’t check your tickets on the train so what’s the point of wasting 5 euros?) Kate’s lotion exploded in her bag so we had to sit down and salvage the rest of her items. Rachel, Erika and I went on a wild goose chase for Gelato but failed miserably. It was about  9:50 and our train left at 10:09 at track 28. But where is track 28? We didn’t know, nor could we find it. Bo and Kevin had taken an early train because we stopped to use an internet café so it was me Becca, Kate, Rachel and Erika all frantically running (and I mean actually running) to find this hidden track (like from Harry Potter) After a run back and forth and up and down the stairs we finally saw the sign, which wasn’t far from where we were initially. It was about 10:07. We had to run even faster. We quickly hopped on the train as we were being greeted by some strangers. I was convinced that we had to be in 2nd class so we all hopped off with 30 seconds to spare to find a 2nd class coach, but simply had to jump on. The door was closing. I, with my non-existent reflexes, stuck my hand in. The doors thankfully swung back open and we all immediately jumped on. Two seconds later the train started moving and we were off to Civitavecchia.

I call it Shitty-Vecchia for that is what it is. There is nothing to do. It is very similar to Florida which is all fine and dandy but I want to be in Italy, not Orlando.  We had a good laugh on the train after that ridiculous event. We shared pictures, told stories and just relaxed into our ride. However the rest of the night wasn’t as relaxing nor fun. Who knew that almost missing a train would be more fun than a night in Italy? We got to the boat (which is about a 20 minute walk from the actuall town) quickly got ready and went back to find any entertainment in the area; preferably dancing which I had yet to do. To our disappointment it was Thursday and nothing was open in regards to a club. I asked a local what they did for fun and he said drink. Not my idea of fun! I don’t like the atmosphere of bars nor the people in them. The highlight of the night was a large piece of watermelon and some more gelato.

Today’s Expenses:

………………………............Euros……..Dollars

Metro All-Day Pass: …4.00.…….5.80
Vatican (student) …….8.00.…….11.60
Lunch………………..........10.00.……14.50
Total Gelato………….....6.00.…….8.70
Internet Café…………....3.50.…….5.08
Drinks……………….........3.00.…….4.35
Watermelon………….......2.00.…….2.90
Stamps……………….........4.00.…….5.80

Total………………….........40.50.……58.73


I’m so excited for another day in Shitty-Vecchia! If all fails, I’ll save money.

Explore. Dream. Discover.

~Michael-Anthony

P.S. When in Rome…Stay IN ROME!