Rome To Venice

The ship docked in Civitavecchia early today and almost everyone went to Rome except us. Rome is too hot and crowded at this time of year. We have been there many times and there was a metro and bus strike and the Pope had some big shindig so we decided to pass. We stayed in the port city in the morning, took a tram ride and went to see the local market which was interesting. Lots of loud Italians waving their hands while shouting at each other. I loved it!
In the afternoon we decided to take a local train and see where it took us. We ended up in a small seaside town called Santa Marinella. We were the only tourists in the entire town and that was fine with us. There is a beautiful beach with nice white sand and sand chairs, called sunbeds here. We saw some beautiful villas and homes. It was very quiet. They still believe in the concept of the siesta here and that is so nice. We dawdled away the afternoon here, took a long walk by the beach and caught the train back to the port city where we boarded the ship for dinner. We have been walking our feet off and it has been very hot so Idecided to take it easy tonight. We had drinks before dinner with a retired major league baseball player and his wife. It was fun. He was a pitcher for the San Francisco Giants in the 1980’s named Jeff Stemper. We never heard of him but who can remember that far back.
Tomorrow it’s the Isle of Capri, Naples and Herculenium for our outing. Let’s see how long we can keep this up before collapsing in our tracks. All I can say is we will do it till we drop. There is nothing like a good, long trip to get me going. I love to travel so much. Even if I have been to a place, I don’t mind going back again for another look. My Italian is progressing nicely. I asked for the key to the ladies’ room in a bar today using a complete sentence and saying it correctly. I also asked the station master which track the train from Rome will be on in a complete Italian sentence and he understood everything I said. He even came out and showed me the very track! I love Italy! A man called me “bella” today. That means pretty. I am on cloud nine! I think I will end this post now while I am still in my “bella” mode. Lots of walking tomorrow and hopefully a trip to the Blue Grotto if the tides are right.
Ciao from the Med off the coast of Italy on the way to Napoli, where pizza was invented, or so they say. Also, home of the Mafia. But I won’t go there.
Point of information: the original name of the Mediterranean was Mare Tyrraneo. The ancient Romans called it Our Sea, because it was!