Chivitavecchia/Messina

August 8th/9th
Chivitavecchia/Messina

Chivitavecchia, the port city with access to Rome, was more like a sea day for me. If you remember back to St Petersburg, I traded my IPM duty for a night at the Russian Ballet, so now it was my friend’s turn to enjoy his day in Rome. I didn’t mind considering I’ve been there a few times before and enjoyed my free time on the ship. I can’t there was a whole lot to write home about, sitting on a ship and all while my friends hung out in Rome, so I won’t. That night we had a really lame show to play for some guy who played piano like Jerry Lee Lewis, but sang terribly and talked with the strangest inflections in his voice, almost as he was singing a song, but a song that you’d never want to be burdened with hearing ever in your life. Yeah, real nice thing to say Mike, real nice…
The 9th was Messina, Sicily. It was actually my first time in Sicily so I was extremely excited to get off the ship. Unfortunately, due to a rehearsal, I couldn’t go on my tour as planned and had to settle for a stroll through the city. It was a gorgeous day, over 90 degree weather, and just another reminder of how much I like my job. The city wasn’t exceedingly spectacular, and considering they do the same “shut down everything at noon” routine, I missed most of everything due to our 12:00 arrival. But regardless, I had a great walk through the city and saw some really nice areas. I bought a cowboy type hat (I guess it has some Sicilian history) for 3 Euros and an unbelievable canoli. The hat was fun to walk around the city with, and even though it pointed me out as a total tourist, it was funny when people would pass me making comments about John Wayne or asking me about having “pistolas.” Then it was back to the ship for another rehearsal and show. And that’s about all, thanks for reading!