Civitavecchia, Italy: Day 2

We went back to Rome yesterday with no specific purpose in mind (sweet leisure!). Jill dragged me—kicking and screaming—from my bed at 10 AM (I didn’t go to bed until 3:30 and I’m too in love with my sleep to get only 6.5 hours of it) and we headed to the train station for the 1 o’clock train from Civitavecchia. We arrived and walked for what felt like twelve hours to the subway, which we took to the shopping district. We marveled at the people who could afford Valentino and Chanel and wondered…what do they do for a living? We bought nutella gelato and ate it on the Spanish steps, which were, of course, overrun with tourist demons!

I would like to interject here to just say that Europeans have got ice cream DOWN. In America they always give you too much ice cream, not enough cone; in Europe, however, they give you extra long sugar cones with just one scoop of gelato (and gelato is by far the most delicious invention—ever—and when paired with a cone…perfection!). On top of that, they eat these wonderful creations every day! Brilliant.

After gelato we window-shopped for a bit, but as I enjoy my sweets before my meals I immediately craved real food. We spent quite a deal of time on finding a place that was serving appetizers (all I wanted was some ham and mozzarella!), but it was 4 PM and most places were only serving pizza and drinks at that time. I saw one restaurant with a great deal of potential, but George Lopez was there and after Jill made her starstruck introduction to him she refused to return. We finally ended up at an alleyway Irish pub, where I had a Diet Coke for the first time in what seemed like forever (it was just as delicious as I hoped) and ordered crostini with prosciutto and mozzarella. Jill got a bruschetta sampler, and both of our snacks were amazing (and cheap!). Sitting next to us was a 25-year-old (liar! He was at least 30) Greek who went to Stanford for chemical engineering and was vacationing for the week. We talked to him our entire meal and at the end gave us his business card so that we could contact him in Greece when we go there. After we ate we made our way back to the metro and then the train to return to the ship to shower before going out.

At 10 PM, Jill and I, along with my roommate Amy, left the ship to get dinner. We settled into a café along the beach in Civitavecchia, which other Semester at Sea students had recommended. I could not decide what I wanted, but I told the waiter I loved cheese and he said he would take care of it; he returned with two plates: one with chunks of parmesan on it and another with sliced apples and pears. Obviously, this was my kind of meal and I was very happy; I also learned that real Italian parmesan contains more protein than steak and that I would be eating the equivalent of three hundred grams of T-bone with my meal. Jill had tortellini with meat sauce and Amy had a pepperoni pizza with sausage, both of which looked delicious (I steered clear of the beef). They barely charged me for the food (3 euro) but I believe overcharged me for the two beers I ordered (4 euro EACH!). We had a revolving door of waiters at our table, and they all seemed to get in trouble for talking to us too much. The young one even asked Amy to wait for him to get off work so they could go out. The Italian boys from the night before, at the request of Jill, met us at dinner and we left (waiter in tow) for a bar down the street. They ordered me the most giant beer I have ever seen, but it was dark and a bit too strong for my taste, so I switched with the person next to me so I could have a smaller, lighter flavor. At some point the waiter disappeared, and he didn’t return until after we finished our drinks to tell Amy he was going to go with his own friends (she did not like him much after that). We left around 1 AM to go back to the ship, where I watched a movie with Denzel and Forrest Whitaker about a debate team, which I still have not figured out the name of. Jill has left me for Rome for the day, but I am content to explore a little of Civitavecchia and get a gelato on my own before she returns. I want to relax, as tonight we leave for Naples and tomorrow and I am hiking to the top of Mt. Vesuvius!