13 Oct and back at the port of Civitavecchia where the Italians were replaced by a mix Europeans. Still destined to be a noisey ship just because of the numbers but a slightly lower decibels. We had booked a tour this day to go to the Vatican, we were herded to our bus and met a seemingly charming guide called Sirini. She spoke a little on the 40 minute journey into Rome giving us some facts on the area and once in the city we drove past many of the famous spots that we had seen on foot. We were then all let off near the Vatican. Sirini said we had a short time for a lunch break and that she knew of a charming eatery with wonderful food at very reasonable prices if we wanted to follow her. Well she headed off at a fair trot, we had one man with issues who could not keep up, I stayed with him and his wife and Kent went about half way between us and the group to wave over the tops of the very busy sidewalks and keep us on track. Sirini didn't care that someone was being left behind and we discovered later the reason for her rush.
She wound about the streets and finally came to the restaurant where they took us right inside where tables were set up in a room not outside on the street as is usual. The owner came out and spoke to us in English and said their speciality was spaghetti and meatballs and if we didn't order that which was already prepared then they would not have time to serve us all and we would not have time for our lunch. Most did order the meatballs which were a less than enjoyable meal. We had a menu and most plates were around 12 euro and no-one thought to ask about the price of the S&M dish well more fool us all! When our bills came the S&M dish was 20 euro, there was a 5 euro serbing charge per person! and Sirini (who had sat outside in the sun to eat with the MSC girl) had the cheek to come around and say to each table that we must remember to give a tip. We were angry but paid the bill with no tip but others refused to pay the 5 euro charge and had it deducted, I wish we had thought to do that.
We followed Sirini to the Vatican, compared to the journey to the restaurant it was straigh forward andnot that far. After talking with the others who said she was on her phone a lot we figured that she was not only walking fast and winding through the streets to make us feel lost but also to make sure the restaurant had time to prepare for us all. Not good to feel scammed like that but a small thing in the overall.
At the Vatican we were divided into two groups with different guides and escorted through the church. Our guide was nice but told us he wasn't going to nor was he able to tell us much about all the statues we would pass walking through but he figured we were only here to see the Sistine Chapel painting by Michelanglo so lead us there really. When I went through about 25 years ago my memory was of walking down long halls of paintings but today there was none of that so I'm unsure if my memory is wrong, I remember a different place or the tour was substandard...
After admiring the Sistine Chapel we went back out to find our bus. On the street was an artist and I bought one of his paintings that reminded us of the evening we walked back through the lit up city togetther a week ago. It was a magical evening that made us love Rome and the art captured that.
Next stop Genoa
