15 August Rome

Not sure how hot it was today but got rather a lot of sun. I like to think Bill and I am now sporting decent Italian suntans, which will fade quickly once we endure the chill of New Zealand. At least September announces the first day of spring so hopefully the worst of the weather in NZ is behind us.
Today we had plans of grabbing an on/off bus tour to orient ourselves with the city then decide where to go from there. Prepared for the heat, plastered with sunscreen and loaded up with water we decided to walk down to the Spanish Steps, the first of the must sees. Thanks to Allan we now work the underground Metro to our advantage paying 2 Euro for the two of us to go anywhere as long as it is not any longer than 75 minutes. Unlike London you only have to validate your ticket when you enter the underground, not when you get out so a real saving. Went to “Termini” which is the Rome Central Hub and bought a 48-hour bus ticket to suss out the city. Highlights were the Trevi Fountain that is fed by Rome’s last remaining original aqueduct.People throw coins in the Fountain giving then an annual revenue of $180,000 per annum. In Rome’s hay day 11 aqueducts fed the city. They believe the population then was a about a million and a half people. Went to the Coliseum and saw enormously long queues (Queues make me grumpy) Fortunately God was on our side and we ran into an English speaking tour group who were about to go in and we bought into their guided tour for an extra 8 Euros for express entry plus we got to see the Palatino for free, also a guided tour, which in our opinion was better than the Coliseum. The Coliseum is self explanatory, The Palatino is a Roman city in ruins and you get to see Caesar’s Palace, the throne room, the arena, the entertainment areas and baths plus you get to see the old Roman city. Our tour guide Todd brought it alive for us as he described details from the early Romans way of life. I had heard of the name Vomitorium. It is as you think. When Caesar had a feast, it could last for 8 hours with 30 courses. If you got full say after 8 courses, you were taken by a slave to the Vomitorium. They would tickle your throat with a feather to make you throw up, then you get back to your 9th course. Bad eh? Also the Romans of that era were all little men so according to Todd, suffered from short man’s syndrome. He said the size of a Roman man then was about the size of a 12-year-old boy. Another thing he also told us that their purple robes were dyed from the excrement of a rare snail. I’ll let you think about that one. Back to the hotel feeling very tired and footsore. No pool so a refreshing cool shower to banish the dust. Met a Canadian couple from Vancouver at dinner who flew into today .Bob and Jackie are real fun so will spend the day with them tomorrow before they head off for a 3 week cruise. Will sleep like logs