Lake Bracciano, the FBI?? and moving staterooms - what a day!!

 

Today we docked back at Civitavecchia, the port for Rome - this is our second stopover at this port so today we headed out into the countryside rather than the hustle and bustle of Rome, where we have been on other trips.

We decided to explore the area around Lake Bracchiano, northeast of Rome, a popular holiday destination in Europe. Our first stop was in the village of Anguillara, on the shores of the lake, where we walked around the lake, popular for swimming sailing and fishing particularly in summer.

The village of Bracchiano reached international notoriety a few years ago when Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes were married in the Castle Odescalchi – and we had a guided tour of the castle conducted by a very knowledgable Italian girl Elenora – the castle dominates the local landscape and had a very interesting and chequered past. Particularly interesting was Catherine Medici who was married at the age of 12 – according to legend, she was very promiscuous and had a different lover every night. Outside the door to her bedchamber she had a trapdoor, and in the morning she would send the current lover down the darkened hallway, and he would drop down through the trapdoor into the bottom of a well –later  65 bodies were found at the bottom of the well – however, her husband finally got his revenge – he had her killed when she was 36 and married again. Sections of the castle are open to the public but the current owners still live in part of the buildings – each rooms has a fireplace and  it would be so hard to heat in the winter with the large stone walls.

After leaving the village, we were pulled over by the Carbinieri for a check of our driver, Fabrizio’s, documents. While they were on their computer checking his documents, Fabrizio came around and opened the side door of the van for ventilation, and then stood there while he gave a ‘talk’ through the open door about how wonderful the Cabinieri were in Italy – so much better than the municipal police of each city – in fact, they are the equivalent of the FBI in the US – he was really laying it on thick, knowing that they could hear every word he was saying and they were smiling as they checked the documents – whatever happened – he didn’t get a ticket and we were soon on our way.

The village of Calcata, above the lake was our next stop – it is off the beaten track and a haven for creative types and artists who have set up home here – no tourists here in this hilltop village which time has forgotten – we enjoyed wandering around down narrow laneways and peeping into doorways and windows of the village artisans.

Lunch was calling so we stopped in the village of Ceri for a selection of pasta washed down by the local wine. There was a group of very dapper Italian gentlemen at a nearby table – looking like they had stepped out of a Godfather movie – we concluded that some form of mafia transaction was taking place under our noses – what an imagination - the combination of the Tuscan sun, delicious pasta and some seriously good wine maybe??

Our next stop was at the Museum and Necropolis of Cerveteri. This area was originally inhabited by the Etruscan civilisation and we visited a necropolis from that time – still in very good condition. The tombs are housed under dome rooftops with everything inside that will be needed by family members for their travels to the afterlife. The exhibition has recently added a multimedia display which was very informative. We sat in the darkened tomb under the domed roof while the tomb came to life courtesy of modern technology – very eerie and a bit claustrophobic but well presented.

When we returned to the ship, we were stopped at the gangway as our access cards made a loud screaming sound when scanned and we were quickly moved aside out of the line. The security guard checked and said that there was a message that the back office was to be contacted when we returned to the ship – immediately I started to worry that something was wrong at home, but when the Customer Service Manager came down to the gangway, she told us that our cabin had been changed and we had to get new cards.

Now this was the first we had been told of the cabin change and we were puzzled. Then we remembered that we had been speaking to the Future Cruise sales rep, Ralf a few days ago. Our friends had been offered a cash bonus to downgrade their cabin from a balcony to an ocean view, since the ship is overbooked in some categories and there are more booked on balcony cabins, than there are balconies on the ship. As we were leaving him, we just mentioned that if there were still any of those overbooking offers, we could be interested. He said that there weren’t any more, and that was the end of it as far as we were concerned and didn’t give it another thought…….Until, we couldn’t get back onto the ship. It would seem that he must have mentioned our interest, and overnight someone was allocated to our cabin, and we were moved, but because we left the ship as soon as it docked in the morning, so didn’t get the message.

Imagine the surprise of the newly boarded cruisers when they opened the door to their new cabin, to find it was occupied!!! Apparently, the only thing they noticed at first was the two bottles of wine chilling in the ice bucket on the desk – luckily they didn’t open any cupboards or drawers!!! All evening, others were coming up to us and telling us that there were suitcases outside our door and people trying to get into our cabin!!

 After we got over the surprise, we had one hour to pack up with the help of a couple of stewards and move to the new cabin, so it could be cleaned and made ready for the new occupants – they were being entertained in a bar at Princess’s expense, until there cabin was ready.

It was actually a good thing to have to pack everything and move mid-cruise – we got rid of a lot of stuff we had accumulated and repacked a suitcase under the bed, with all the souvenirs as well as things that we aren’t using, not wearing – so a forced chance to re-organise. We love our new home – on deck 8 forward – with an enormous picture window – we have a better view of the ocean than in the balcony cabin. And of course, now I have more on-board credit to spend – maybe a massage and pedicure in the future!! Every cloud has a silver lining!!