Rome Take Two

Today was not my favourite, as far as sight seeing went. It had been our intention on our return to Rome, to seek out the sights in the city centre by ourselves. However two factors convinced us that getting transport through the cruise would be sensible; we had such a tight timeframe for All Aboard (3 pm) and the port at Civitavecchia is 75 mins from Rome central. That's in predictable traffic, and today was a Wednesday, Papal Audience, so traffic flows were expected to be I creased and variable. Also we had heard several horror stories about the trains here in terms of 'helpful men' that public transport wasn't something either of us wanted to risk as two women travelling together. Not that couples are immune, take Jenny and Mark's experience, where Mark's wallet was lifted but fortunately Jenny spotted it happening and slapped the dude, (go Jenny, yes he was a 'bad man!'),  and Mark is not the sort of guy I would think you'd want to mess with... 

So anyway. We booked the Rome on Your Own Tour, only to have it cancelled yesterday. Our only real option was 'Easy Rome', pretty much sight-seeing in a bus... But we would have 90 mins free time in the city, so we were kind of Ok with that, it just meant we would not be able to get inside the Colosseum.

40 minutes into the trip, we were stopped at a routine police checkpoint, and the bus driver was asked to produce all sorts of paper work. Some of which he obviously didn't have, and we were kept waiting for 25-30 mins ... By the time we got into the city we were already time compromised, add the Wednesday traffic to the mix, and to cut a long story short, we ended up with a poorly framed photo opportunity near the Colosseum, and most other photos had to be stolen though a moving bus window. I was thankful we were last on the bus today (you can ask Mum about that one) and I cheekily asked to have the front seat that's reserved for the 'infirm'. So I managed to snap these two bambinas through said window, and it's probably my fave shot of the day lol.

We ended up with no free time, but a crowded and hectic guided walk like lemmings from the Trevi Fountain, past the Spanish Stairs to the Popolis Square. To add to my disappointment, many of the artefacts in Rome are under restoration in preparation for a big Expo next year. The Trevi Fountain, for example, is barely recognisable under all the scaffolding. 

I don't want to sound ungrateful, we were in Rome after all! Mum really enjoyed all the old architecture, and she's right, some of the structures are really incredible. But you know how you get to the stage where ancient ruins become underwhelming, no matter how amazing they are, and incredible architecture becomes passé because you have seen so many examples of it. So sorry Rome, if I didn't appreciate you as much as I did in 1997... 

There was one moment of excitement as we made our way to the meeting point; ahead of us we could hear loud swells of screaming and cheering. I suggested to Mum that there must be someone famous up ahead. As we approached, a person popped out on to a balcony and waved. Girls screamed. And I played the paparazzi and clicked my camera. We had to jostle our way through the teenage girls, and I tapped one on the shoulder and asked 'who?'. Justin Bieber, she said. Well I zoomed in on the pic and I am pretty darn sure it ain't the Biebs. But he was supposedly in the hotel, so who knows?

We only just made it back to the ship on time - not that they would never leave without a tour group. It is weird having a different group of people on board. Though we still managed to dine with some lovely folk this evening. An early morning is planned as we are off to explore the Amalfi Coast with another Kiwi couple. I can't wait!

PS was disappointed last night to hear that we are no longer going to Tunisia, due to safety concerns... We have another Italian stop instead.