April 3, 2015


I got a lesson in Italian when I bought some souvenirs.  The salesman said “Gratzi” – thank you.  I said “You're welcome.”  He looked puzzled.  I pointed to him and said Gratzi.  I pointed to me and said You’re welcome.  He smiled and said “Prego” which is Italian for you’re welcome.  I said Prego.  He smiled and said Gratzi.  Who’s on first?

We went for a walk around Civitavecchia today, exploring the sights and sites.  First stop, down by the docks to gawk at three cruise ships in the harbor.  Yesterday there were 6.  Busy port.  Other than a Costa ship one day, we didn’t recognize anybody.

We walked past a historical part of the city that was bombed by the Allies during World War II.  Actually, the whole city was bombed by the Allies during World War II, what with C’town being a port city leading to Rome and all.  The wall – still standing in part – dates from Roman times.  Repairs and new construction were ingeniously made, keeping it with the new construction.

We went inside Fort Michelangelo.  He had nothing to do with it, but his name is on it.  No longer a fort, today it is used for cultural events.  There was no guide or anything there, we just wandered in and looked around.  Some signs in Italian and English gave us a clue.  There was a door open with stairs leading to the ramparts of the fort.  I wanted to climb them and look around, but She Who Must Be Obeyed said, “No!”  I approached a policeman on the outside to ask him about climbing the stairs, but he said it was way too dangerous (so she was right – one time – big deal).  You know there may be some ugly-acting people in Italy, but we haven’t met them.  Hope we don’t.  I just walk up to folks and ask them questions.  Everyone so far has understood enough, or we were able to make each other understand enough to get around and to get by.

Next stop (I think the order is correct) was the free Architectural Museum.  There were some great statues – one of Athena, one of Apollo – and some incredible pottery.  One depicted the god Dionysus overthrowing a pirate attack and turning the pirates into dolphins (that one goes into my pirate talk next time).

And we walked out on a stick-out-in-the-ocean thingy.  Actually it sticks out into the Mediterranean Sea and we got spray from the waves crashing in.

On the way back we went to the Istanbul Café where we had lunch: hot dogs, french fries and Cokes.  They served the fries with ketchup, mustard, and mayonnaise.  Never had mayo on fries, so I gave it a try.  It wasn’t Duke’s, but it wasn’t bad.

Back towards home and stopped in a shop called “Chocolate Art.”  They are selling the most incredibly decorated Easter Eggs – some as expensive as 80 euros.  Beautiful.  But we’ll never know how they taste.  We did buy a couple of small candy bars.  Yum.

Many of the stores were closed from 2-4 for Good Friday.  I remember when Oakland, Maryland closed from noon to 3 on Good Friday.  Tonight is a Passion Parade, and I’ll tell you about it.

The Parade was very impressive.  Where we were standing there were about 2,000 spectators, and we couldn’t see everyone.  It lasted for over half an hour and must have had 1000 actors in it.  By actors I mean Roman soldiers, Jewish officials, and celebrants of all kinds.  Little kids.  Marching band.  Cub Scouts.  Police.  Armed Forces.  There were various people carrying symbols of the Passion Week, all of them dressed in white sheets with hoods and eye holes cut out.  I do not know the symbolism, but in Seville, they had ceramic figures of them for sale in several shops and all of the shops had little signs which said, “These are part of Easter celebration.  They are not KKK.”  I’ll have to google it.  Or you can and tell me what it means.

Every part of the Good Friday story that you know was represented.  The weather was cold when the sun went down and with the air coming off the Mediterranean, it was very chilly, but it was an experience to remember.  Glad we were there.

And now I am thawing out, so this is off to you.

I’ll post again tomorrow sometime, and then do pictures when we get home Monday.  We fly into Fort Lauderdale on Sunday, arriving around 8 p.m., but it will be something like 2 a.m. our body time, so I have booked us into a motel, and we’ll drive home Monday.

TTFN