NO ROMAN HOLIDAY!

Today was a very lazy day. We basically did nothing and it was wonderful. Most everyone went to Rome, but since we had been there on three other occasions, we decided to pass.

One thing we have found out since we started cruising. If your main point of interest on a shore excursion is many miles away from the port, you spend the majority of that excursion traveling on a bus. You usually only have time to have a quick bite of lunch or tour one thing and then you're back on the bus to return to the ship in time to leave. Since we have been to so many of these ports, we prefer to stay on board the ship or check out the port town on our own if it involves an all day excursion.

I do have what I consider to be an interesting aside about Rome on one of our other visits there. La Bocca della Verità is an image, carved from Pavonazzetto marble, of a man-like face, located in the portico of the church of Santa Maria in Cosmedin in Rome. The sculpture is thought to be part of a 1st century ancient Roman fountain, or perhaps a manhole cover, portraying one of several possible pagan gods, probably Oceanus. The most famous characteristic of the Mouth, however, is its role as a lie detector.

Starting from the Middle Ages, it was believed that if one told a lie with one's hand in the mouth of the sculpture, it would be bitten off. When we drove by this on our last visit to Rome, there was a long line of Asian people in front of the "mouth" but they were afraid to put their hands in. Our taxi driver said that they would stand there for hours, but never participate. He got a big kick out of telling us this.

The mask is so famous that even Hollywood honored it in a film about the city called Roman Holiday. In one of the most memorable scenes, Gregory Peck, in front of a terrified Audrey Hepburn, daringly challenges the mask by putting his hand inside its mouth.

Since we had most of the ship to ourselves, we decided to take in a movie. The one that was playing in the Screening Room today was "The Hangover".

It had gotten good reviews, but as far as we were concerned, it was very crude and we didn't enjoy it at all. I would not recommend it. We should have left, but instead, we fell asleep.
We skipped the entertainment tonight, had dinner at the usual time and went to bed. We'll be going to our beloved Tuscany tomorrow!

XOXO, Pcasso