Thurs, Jun 7: Rome:
On our first full day in Rome, we took a Hop On Hop Off tour (good for 48hrs) around the city, which supposedly included “no wait” entry into the Colosseum and the Vatican Museums, including the Sistine Chapel.
The timing worked out for us to visit the Colosseum today, late in the afternoon. Maybe because it was a Thursday, the “no wait” ticket really didn’t save us more than about 5 minutes.
The Colosseum itself was very impressive, if a little smaller than I had expected. Jeannie and I agreed that we were glad we didn’t spring for a guided tour, because it has been our experience that on tours like that, only the 3 people closest to the guide can hear them anyway. In fact, we witnessed many examples of people at the periphery of tours looking very bored. We got our pictures and got out. I’ll do some research at home to fill in the gaps in my knowledge while I’m sorting our pictures.
In the evening, we went downstairs with Kathy and Randy for some drinks and conversation, and we met a very nice foursome from England. The conversation was very nice until one of the fellas broached not just one, but both of the forbidden topics for polite conversation: yes, he wanted to talk about politics AND religion. The other 6 of us successfully steered the conversation back to something safer, only to have him circle back to Politics and Religion. Of course, it didn’t help that he was being egged on by one of our number. It sure made for a very entertaining evening.
Oh, and did I mention that the Hotel Diocleziano has the most reasonably priced bar of any hotel in which I’ve ever stayed? Yes, an absolutely fine evening indeed.
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