Italia - Venezia and Roma

I am so sorry this post is so late and I am SOOOO behind on posting! If I could just catch up it would be so much easier to post recent updates. Please stick with me! I will do my best to get updated ASAP! This post is a continuation of our 3 week trip in August - hopefully you are not too confused having to think that far back....I know I am!

Monday, August 15: On Monday morning we inspected our third of seven ships on this trip (Venice). We finished work around 1pm, went back to the hotel to drop off the bag and change clothes, and then went back into the city around 2pm. We walked through the Jewish Ghetto to try and go into a children’s bookstore (which seems to never be open) and met a Jewish man named Saadia. After talking with him for a few minutes we found out he has an uncle that lives in Colorado Springs and is the Rabbi of the Chabad group in Colorado Springs. It is amazing to me how small our world really can be. Saadia invited us to join them for Shabbat dinner in the ghetto on Friday night and Kevin and I told him we would do our best to be there! We continued our walk over to St. Marc’s and went into Hard Rock to find a pin for a friend of Kevin’s, but there were so many people in there you could not even turn around, so we escaped as fast as we could. We went to have some dinner at a familiar restaurant and the food was as good as always. We had a caprese salad and each had a plate of gnocchi pasta with a Gorgonzola cream sauce. It was delicious!! After dinner, we spent a little time people and pigeon watching in St. Marc’s Square, but it was so HOT again and we decided to go back to the hotel earlier than planned. I have never seen so many tourists in my life! There were people everywhere. On the way back to the hotel, we stopped in the grocery store to get some wine and the line to check-out was backed up to the back of the store. It probably would have taken at least 30-45 minutes to get through the line. We by passed that line and got some gelato instead. Then we stopped in a bottle shop closer to Piazza le Roma and were on our way back to the hotel. We got back to the hotel around 7pm, packed our bags again and called it an early night.

So HOT after work!!

One of the many canals. 

There were more pigeons this time than ever before!

The pigeons loved this woman - I am sure the bread in her hand played a role. 

This little guy landed on my shoulder without any bait!! Kind of cool and nasty all at the same time!! 

 Tuesday, August 16: Our flight from Venice to Rome left at 8am and we were at our hotel by 10am. We were pooped from going non-stop for the last 5 days so we decided to take a well deserved nap. We slept for 4 hours and when we woke up we spent some time catching up on emails. By the time we even considered going into town it was 4pm, so we decided to just stay at the hotel (our hotel was about 30 minutes outside of the city and it would have been almost 60 Euros just to get there and back). We had dinner at the hotel and enjoyed a nice and relaxing day!

This was an awesome shot of the island from the plane. It really does look like a fish! 

 Wednesday, August 17:

We left our hotel at 8:30 am to go to the ship. When we inspect ships in Rome we stay in Rome but the ships actually dock in a city called Civitavecchia, which is about an hour and 20 minutes north of Rome. Our hotel was right near the airport, so getting to the ship was a bit tricky. We took the hotel bus to the airport, then we took the airport train to Termini train station (Rome’s main train terminal), and then we took another train from Termini to Civitavecchia. We finally got to the ship around 11:30 and started working. We were on one of the bigger ships in the fleet and there was a good bit of work to be done. The hardest part of the day was moving one of the top rope anchors from one position of the wall to another. Now, this ship is different from most other ships in that it has 2 walls connected by a walk way. I had to go inside the wall while Kevin stayed outside and we tried (not well) to communicate through the empty t-nut holes on the wall. The inside of this wall was covered so there was absolutely NO airflow inside, and I was literally dripping sweat and hanging in a very uncomfortable position. I can honestly say it was one of the most uncomfortable situations I have ever been in! We got through it, but I was not a happy camper (or DRY camper) when all was said and done. In fact, I had literally sweat through my entire shirt and needed a replacement – fortunately the ship had some extras!! We worked until about 4:30pm and then started our journey back the hotel. We had to wait almost an hour at Termini, and did not get back to the hotel until about 8pm. It was a very long day!!

Not a happy helper!

YUCK! Thank goodness for the clean shirt!

Thursday, August 18:

This was the only day on this long trip that we were not working and/or traveling, so we decided to spend a day in the city. We woke up around 9am, ate breakfast, showered, and then went to the airport around noon. We decided to try and find a cheaper way into the city (instead of paying 14 Euros/person/direction) and fortunately didn’t have any problems making that happen. We found a bus from the airport to a metro/train station (Piramide/Ostiense) that only cost 6 Euros/person/direction and we hopped on the opportunity. It took about 30 minutes to get to the city and then we explored. I had planned to explore some of the cathedrals in Rome (aside from St. Peter’s) so our first stop was Basilicas di Santa Maria Maggiore – which is the largest cathedral in Rome that is dedicated to Mary. It was beautiful! The layout was very similar to that of St. Peter’s but it was neat to see a new place. I feel like every church in Rome is so extravagant and beautiful. Nothing in the U.S compares to what you see overseas! We spent about 45 minutes at this church and then walked about ½ a mile to the next destination which was San Giovanni Laterano – which is known as Rome’s Cathedral and was the first cathedral ever built in Rome. It connects to Lateran Palace which was the home of the pope before 1305. We entered this church from a back entrance and were a little disappointed in the appearance, until we realized we had not seen the full beauty of the cathedral from its proper entrance. The layout was very similar to that of Santa Maria Maggiore, but it was much larger and even more exquisite (I still prefer St. Peter’s, but it was beautiful none-the-less)!

The back of the Santa Maria Maggiore...

And then the front - such a difference in appearance! 

An exquisite ceiling. 

Beautiful stained glass. 

The backside of the San Giovanni Laterano. Can you see why we would have been a little disappointed, not knowing this was not the main entrance? 

From the alter looking toward the main entrance. Gives you an idea of the size. 

The Alter 

And finally the front of the building. This is what we expected to see! 

Trying to be artistic with the sun...not too bad if I do say so myself. 

Our next stop was just across the street to the Scala Sancta – The Holy Steps. These steps are believed to have been walked upon by Jesus himself during his Passion. They were originally located in Jerusalem, but were relocated to this location in 1589. The tradition is to climb the steps on your knees in order to be granted indulgence by the catholic church (forgiveness of your sins). We did not climb the steps, but it was very interesting to observe and learn about. Our final destination of the day was the Coliseum to play a game of Canasta – this has become a tradition of ours in Venice, and we thought it would be fun to implement in another city. Easier said than done! There were people everywhere, it was stifling hot, and there wasn’t a great place to sit and get comfortable. It was worth a shot, but didn’t work out so well. Because it was so hot, we decided to go back to the hotel early to cool off and eat dinner. It was a great day of exploring!!

Very neat experience!

Trying to be artsy again. 

Our attempt at a card game.

This building is just so incredible! I can't get enough of it!! 

The next 4 days of the trip played out like so: On Friday we flew back to Venice for a ship inspection on Saturday. Saturday afternoon we flew back to Rome for a ship inspection on Sunday. And Monday we flew to Barcelona to sign-on to a ship and work for the week on the ship (separate post to follow). Because it was so hot and we were busy working and traveling, we were not able to sight-see, so I won’t bore you with the daily details. It was a hectic and busy trip, but we certainly enjoyed spending the time together! Stay tuned for the next post about out adventures on the Brilliance of the Seas!!