Welcome to Civitavecchia, Italy

September 28

Our last morning in Mirabella was lovely. The sun was shining and Mom, Uncle Joe and I had coffee at our favorite café one last time. Carmela and Milam were both there so we had the pleasure of saying goodbye and wishing each other much luck and happiness. I attended mass at 8:00am in Saint Pasquale church which is the church at the convent where my grandmother was sent after her mom had passed away in 1915. The church had been remodeled after the 1980 earthquake so it is very modern but the Madonna which stood prominently in the church during my grandmother’s time is the only thing that remains of that time period and the only thing that was not harmed when the church crumbled to the ground. We met a lovely older woman in the church who told us about its past and also her life in general as an elderly woman in Mirabella. We really have met the most interesting people and have learned a lot.

Paula and Aurelio were, as always kind and generous and they drove us to meet our train in Benevento .We got into Civitavecchia via train from Rome around 1:00pm. This sea side town is quaint and I only wish I had known it was so beautiful we would have made arrangements to spend one night here upon our return from the cruise. But it is too late now so we will just have to enjoy the time we got to spend here already. I took a short walk along the rocky beach and on the beach front promenade looking at the old, yet lovely, pastel colored homes and businesses.

We arrived on board our Ship, the Costa Concorida and found our room to be absolutely perfect with a balcony and a great deal of space for two people. I ventured up to the spa, of course, and found they have a wonderful thermal solarium program including unlimited accesses to the multiple steam rooms, saunas, quiet relaxation rooms and the sea water whirlpool which is my favorite. The Spa is the largest on any cruise ship in the world so I feel like it was so form of destiny that we chose this ship versus any other. I really do love a spa day and now I get to have seven in a row and I am truly grateful and feel very blessed to be on this trip. Mom got to rest some when I wasn’t bothering her and she even went to mass at 8:30pm on board in one of their bars. This is an Italian run ship so Roman Catholic mass is just part of the everyday life here and mom even said there were around 60 people in attendance. We had our appointed dinner table and sat with two wonderful couples, one from Dayton Beach, Florida (Dave and Pat) and the other from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania (Bob and Sessil.) I love meeting new people and it was a pleasure to get to know all of them. As you can imagine we were all exhausted so everyone parted each going to their respective rooms for a good nights sleep as the boat slowly travels along the Italian coast line and the Mediterranean lulls us peacefully to sleep.