Day 21 - Busy, Busy, Busy

Colosseum

Roman Forum

Villa D'Este

Villa D’Adriane

This morning I had forgotten to set my alarm. So of course when I woke up I assumed we had overslept. But we didn’t. When we got up we ate some of that granola in honey stuff I’ve been carrying around (Vitalis). Then we headed off in search of more fruit. The market was closed because it’s Sunday, so we had to find a supermarcato. I ate a peach and a handful of small apricot things. Then we took the Metro (the subway) to the Colosseum. It was one of the most unpleasant things I’ve ever done in my life. Being squished up to all these sweaty, sticky, stinky strangers. Once out at the Colosseum, we signed up for a guided tour. The first part was the Colosseum; the tour was given by this guy who was so dry and boring. I really didn’t enjoy him. The info was interesting, but it was hot and he didn’t make it too exciting. Then he said to meet Collin outside the exit for the second half at 12:30. The guy didn’t show up till 1:00, because apparently that’s the time we were supposed to be told. And his name was Jonathan, not Collin. But he had a nice accent, so it was pretty cute when he told us he wasn’t Collin. Then he took us up to see Palatine Hill, and he was much more charismatic than the other guy. He made a joke about the Ancient Romans with their chariots, and now the modern Romans with theirs. They’re called smart cars and fiats. He said that when Italians get behind the wheel, their eyes just gloss over and it’s as if they are back in the Stadium. So don’t get in front of their car, you’ll have to jump out of the way. And if they look like they are slowing down, they’re not; they’re just on their cell phone. His tour of the Palatine Hill ruins was really interesting, but we had to leave early because we were going to be late for our Tivoli tour. Dom and I decided that in hindsight, we should’ve skipped the Tivoli tour, because it was expensive and totally not worth the money. Plus we had to run through Rome to make it on time. It was super hot and we were drenched by the time we made it to the pick-up. At Tivoli we saw Villa D’Este. It was beautiful but our tour guide brought us there, bought the tickets and said have fun. She had nothing really to add about the history or anything. Then we moved on to Villa D’Adriane. These ruins were pretty cool too. But everything she told us we really already knew, so we both think we kind of wasted our money on that one. Silly Vascours Tours. We won’t be going with them again. When we got back into Rome, we went to Pasta Ritos again, because it’s delicious and fast and we hadn’t eaten since breakfast really... We ate some delicious pasta. Dom decided she wanted to try a limoncello because her mom drinks them. She didn’t like hers, so I ended up having both shots. Wow, I’m so exhausted. Spain won the World Cup! I wanted Ghana, but they were out last week when the other team cheated. So unfair! I also got a bit of a sunburn today. Oh man, it is so hot, even at night, but at least there is a fan that swings my way...or not. This girl from France didn’t like the noise, so now it’s not moving. She wanted to shut it off completely; crazy girl, there’s other people in the room. Quite selfish.