Here we go...

I admit it, I've been stuck in neutral. Thanks to my bestie Anna for giving me a jolt of encouragement which tossed me back in the literary saddle. 

In November our cruise ship docked in Civitavecchia, Italy. While it has a great name it didn't have much going for it but it's proximity to Rome. As we exited the ship we were reminded the ship's departure time was 8 PM. No problem. The cruise ship made arrangements to get passengers via bus to the train station. We purchased our tickets, hopped on the train and were off. 

Unfortunately our Roman adventure was accompanied by a driving rain. After visiting St.Peter's and the Pantheon we decided to have lunch. We ducked into a tiny cafe that catered to locals (their menu was in Italian only). What a divine meal. 

Trevi Fountain

Re-energized we continued our journey around town. Our final stop was the Trevi Fountain. The legend says you should stand with your back to the fountain and toss a coin over your left shoulder to guarantee a return trip to Rome. It worked before so we tossed our euros and headed off to the train station.

We purchased tickets for the 6:15 PM train. Unfortunately we didn't realize we were 3 football fields away. We arrived at Gate 27 minutes after the train left. Swell, by this time we were cold, wet and tired. 

We scurried aboard the 7:15 train, unfortunately it was standing room only. About 20 minutes later the train slowly came to a stop. An announcement was made that elicited a moan from the passengers. After 3 attempts to get the train moving another announcement followed by a louder moan. Being my gregarious self I was able to strike up a conversation with a young woman who spoke English. Apparently we had to wait for another train on an adjacent tract to pull alongside. Any idea when? No. What was I thinking; this was Italy.

Suddenly everyone jumped up and ran for an exit. We had no idea where they were going but we followed them onto a platform down a bunch of stairs, through a tunnel, up a bunch of stairs onto another platform and into a waiting train. We felt like lemmings but hey!

It's was clear we were going to be cutting the time close. When we finally arrived at the Civitavecchia train station it was after 8 but the ship is still tied up. There were no taxis in sight so we ran to a small hotel on the promenade. Could they please call us a taxi to take us to the ship? Nope, the mayor does not allow taxis to run after 6 pm. Seriously!!! We were told to keep walking/running down the promenade and there would most likely be a bus that takes staff to the various ships in port. Off we went. 

Ten minutes later we arrived at the bus but there was no driver insight. Finally I located the guy being amorous with his girlfriend. "Excuse me, we need to get to the M/S Masdam. Soon, soon" he said. Ten minutes later we were off. The ship was still there but the gangway had been taken in. Yikes. Two minutes later the bus driver stopped opened the door and said, "Go". He basically dumped us off in the port. We could see the ship (that's good) but there was a 10' fence around it (that's bad). We see a man standing by a gate in the fence but he said we couldn't go through and pointed away from the ship. We ran that way and found another gate but the guard again pointed us in the opposite direction of the boat as well. Finally we came to another gate where the guard let us through. A guy picked us up in a car and drove us the last distance to the ship. By that time the gangway was out and we were motioned aboard.Whew!

Apparently the Captain just announced we would not be leaving port that night due to high winds.