Location: Rome, Italy
Today got off to an incredible start at 7:00 am. To fulfill my duty as skipper, I graced the crew with the most angelic wake-up call theyve ever had – a live music performance (most people cried from the sheer beauty). I led the sleepy sailors up to the deck for breakfast like a pied piper leading a pack of rats. We had some delicious overnight oats prepared by Claire, Grace N., and Eduardo and went over the plan for todays trip to Rome. We walked about fifteen minutes to the train station, got some coffee, and climbed aboard to start our journey.
Our first stop was the Vatican, where Theo unveiled the first stage of his plan to Tech Deck on every famous landmark we came across. We bought some authentic Pope Francis merchandise and continued on toward the Colosseum. Unfortunately, we couldnt find the gladiator toilets we were looking for, but getting to see the location of some of the most famous pay-per-view events in history was pretty sweet.
We stopped for lunch at an incredible sandwich shop, which was popular enough to have its own bouncer, making sure people were lining up in an orderly fashion. Ruby was able to snap some first-bite photos before the sandwiches were inhaled faster than you can say, whatever the name of that sandwich shop was. Next up was the Roman Forum, where Watson flexed his history knowledge by being able to identify almost every ancient ruin we saw.
Next up was the Trevi Fountain, where we split up into groups to explore some of the surrounding market streets. My group snacked on some gelato before tossing some coins into the fountain. Its said that this will bring you back to Rome someday. We then checked out some of the local shops. After meeting up with the rest of the group, we headed to the Pantheon to see one of the most insane architectural wonders in history.
We finished our day in Rome with a fantastic dinner in a very picturesque restaurant. We ordered the single largest order of spaghetti carbonara that the cooks had ever seen, and then we headed back to the train station. After a walk that slowly increased in speed all the way to the train, we took a nap-filled ride back to Civitavecchia. We hopped back on Vela, and I signed off as the greatest skipper since that one penguin from the Madagascar movies. Tomorrow, we will embark on our first passage of the trip as we head for Sardinia.
Shout out to Mom, Dad, Ryan, Patrick, and George. Love you guys!
– Brendan