I'm not really sure how to describe the trip from Rome to the port city of Civitevecchia ... we arranged for a minivan to "drive" the 6 of us from the hotel in Rome the 80 km to the port. This in and of itself turned out to be a very good plan since the trains and public transportation buses had scheduled a "political action" meaning union strike for today and nothing of public transportation was moving in Rome.
Rome we have learned is a city of between 5 and 6 million (not the 3 million I had previously been told) and like New York or Chicago in the states ... the populous of Rome depends heavily on public transportation ... subways, buses and trains. As a result of the strike (which by the way was scheduled well in advance so every one has time to prepare) ... is simply that traffic in Rome is one huge (and I do mean huge parking lot.
It's really hard to describe the scene ... our driver and his minibus arrived on time (early in fact) and since there is never any available parking in downtown (and our hotel was very "downtown") anyway (picture George Costanza trying to park in midtown Manhattan and you have a fair idea of the normal day to day parking problem (and as far as I could tell no such thing as a high rise parking garage anywhere)) ... so our driver "Alessio" basically parked on the corner of the street blocking a couple of lanes and turned his blinkers on ... this while we loaded way more bags than his van was designed to carry and 6 full grown adults ... no problem!
And off we go ... "oh my God"! ... picture a street absolutely filled on both sides with parked cars two deep ... now add to that picture two lanes of opposing traffic ... lottsa traffic ... and then add several hundreds of frustrated Italians honking horns, waving arms, yelling and making many excited gestures ... now enter Alession and our overstuffed minivan. He's what I would call a "fearless" driver ... crossing 4 lanes of snarled, dead stopped traffic making a left turn through a totally blocked intersection in front of other large buses, trucks, many "Smart Cars" and so on ... no problemo! To his credit Alessio got us out of downtown and onto "autostrada #1" ... kinda a IH35 toll road.
OK ... we're juning down the highway through the beautiful countryside with well manicured fields, trimmed trees and very picturesque houses ... sweet!! on our way ... hmmm ... just how fast are we going??? ... uh ... speedo shows 160 km/hr ... people passing us on
occasion ... that's about 96mph ... in a minibus fully loaded ... I'm pretty sure between the traffic in Rome and the speed on the highway ... I owe the shuttle company a new front seat!
We did make it to the port in one piece ... the port city is very pretty and clearly a tourist hot spot. Onboard the ship with no hassle ... one couple in our small group was visited by the upgrade fairy and scored a minisuite upgrade ... very cool! Way to go Jeanne and Paul!
It's good to be on the ship ... tomorrow is Napels/Pompeii/Sorrento ... probably a self guided walking tour since Woodie has been here before ...
Bade
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3 comments:
Wow, Pompeii!
Good thing you got to the port with no issues on a strike day!
Oh the public transportation strikes in Europe - I know Lauren and Allen (Allen more specifically since he used public transportation daily for work) had to endure that in Paris last year - for a month, if I remember correctly. Glad that it didn't keep your driver from getting you to your destination on time (read as "early" since for you, dear father, early is on time, and on time is late!)... I would bet the Italian driver you had could rival the bus drivers in Guadalajara! When you are riding a bus with little old ladies who ride the bus daily that cross themselves more than once (and not just in front of the churches) on a bus ride, you know there could be trouble!
Pompeii - I can not WAIT for pictures!
Awww crazy driving,... Always works!
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