Rome, Italy

Ah, the eternal city. It was an incredible day, the weather was pleasant and we spent the day exploring on foot. For many centuries, Rome was the center of western civilization and her history goes back 2,500 years.

We did not get to see some of the sights such as the Colosseum or go into the Vatican because it was a national holiday and many places were closed or the lines to get in were hours long. So we just concentrated on the north part of the city. We visited Castell San Angelo, Spanish Steps, Pantheon, lots of piazzas and walked along the River Tiber. One of the highlights of our stops was the Trevi Fountain, made famous in the movie “Three Coins in a Fountain.” It is said if you throw one coin in the fountain, you will return to Rome; if you throw in two coins, you will find true love; and if you throw in three coins, you will divorce. We only threw in one because we had already found true love.

The top sight was the Vatican. We were not able to tour inside because the line was at least four hours long and we did not have the time. We saw St. Peter’s Basilica and the surrounding areas. The Pope gave an address today, so things were really crowded. Big huge magnificent churches were around every turn. I think we walked at least five miles today.

We saw some interesting things that looked out of place in Rome, at least to me. We saw palm trees! While near the Vatican, a police car drove by with sirens blaring followed by two prison buses full of nuns! They had a red cross on their habit and I must assume that they were on the way to the prison to do some volunteer work. It sure was a weird sight. The area of Rome we were in was very old. The streets were extremely narrow and the roads and sidewalks were cobblestone. The cobblestone has worn down smooth from all the auto traffic.

The public water fountains were works of art. Here is some absolutely meaningless trivia -- above the water spigot was the word SPA; this is Latin (translated into English) for “health through water.” Next time you go to a spa, you can wow them with your incredible knowledge of trivia.

At the Pantheon, we had lunch at one of the many, many pizza restaurants (I bet you can’t guess what we ordered). There were little pizza and gelato stands everywhere, and then there were more pizza restaurants. The side streets look like alleys, but there were exclusive upscale shops and restaurants here. The shopping – there is every designer known to man represented here.

It was so hard to believe we were actually in Rome. As a matter of fact, this whole trip has been hard to believe. We have seen so many incredible places, and yet, we are not done. We must be doing something right, because we just received escort duty for the next four ports of call.

We returned from this all day excursion, exhausted and needing a shower. It was dinner time and then somebody feeds you! What a way to go – after a grueling day you get a gourmet meal and don’t have to do the dishes. We got bumped again from the table we were sitting at on the last segment, and were seated at the “kids table,” a table in the corner by the wait staff door all by ourselves. I felt as if I was being punished. I enjoyed our last table dining companions, and we don’t know where we will be seated tomorrow.