C and I spent the day in the Ancient city here in Rome. We were both kind of disappointed by the lack of character here. Naples, Venice, Milan, and Florence all had a very distinctive, if dirty feel. But Rome itself seems kind of… generic? The drivers here even slow down for you when you cross the streets, a rarity in Naples.
The Ancient City itself is rather impressive. The Colliseo is much larger then I imagined. It is currently (like EVERYWHERE else in Europe) undergoing a massive restoration. I think they should just rebuild the whole thing, and bring back the man vs. animal fights. Those animals have been getting uppity for too long now and we need to show them who is the dominant predator again. (Pro tip- Don’t buy your tickets at the Colosseum itself. The ticket is a joint ticket with the Colosseum and Hill together. Buy your tickets at the hill where there is no line, then you can bypass the hour plus wait at the Colosseum and walk right in. Be sure to snicker at all the suckers standing in the two hundred meter queue as you go straight to the gates.) Inside the stadium there was a small museum set up, devoted to, strangely enough, ancient Roman theatre. It wasn’t too bad for the price- (free) but I think a small museum where you could take a sword and hack up some fruit on human shaped stands, or possibly try your hand at persecuting some Christians would fit in better with the locale.
The other day C and I also got to see a full fledged Communist Party march. (Again, its like finding someone who still believes in Santa Claus. Who still follows this stuff?) Most of the marchers looked like high-school students, and they were too busy taking pictures of each-other to really get a good rally going.
One thing that popped up here in Rome that we haven’t seen since the Sacre Couer in Paris- the string men. Strange men walk up to you and ask you (or yell at you) to put your finger in a loop of colorful strings. I am not sure what their plan is, because if a dirty guy walks up to me and growls at me to put my finger someplace, you can better believe listening to him is the last thing I am going to do. Still, however, how they plan on extracting money from this string thing is beyond me. C theorizes that they tie a quick loop around your finger then demand money for the service. Since your finger is now tied to a string they are holding it is difficult to make an escape. Sounds plausible to me but who would fall for it, seriously?
In a small tragedy today, I lost count of how many Canadian flags I have seen in the past six weeks. I am not sure of the exact number but it was at least 1.5 times as many people actually live in Canada.
Tomorrow is Sunday so the Vatican will have to wait until Monday. (Apparently people are supposed to be in Church or something on that day, instead of sightseeing- pfft.) So I will have to wait two more days to fulfill my lifelong dream of shopping at the Vatican gift shop. (I am hoping they have Pope shaped Soap on a Rope, or matched Pontiff salt and pepper shakers.)
Repatriate 