Gladiator

The one thing about Rome that I appreciated the most was the water.  Everywhere (mostly near every church, piazza and fountain but sometimes in the most unlikeliest places) there are nasoni - water spouts that continuously dispense clean spring water for the public.  They even have a neat design where if you block the outlet with your hand, the water would be diverted through a hole in the top so that you can drink directly from it without having to turn your head upside down.  Some people would use it to splash water on their heads to cool off, others put a bucket underneath to gather water to clean clothes or tools, but most people used it to refill their water bottles.  I have never, ever, drank so much water in one day in my whole life.  I refilled my bottle a dozen times or more.  Every time I saw a nasone, I immediately pulled out the bottle and got in line.  It's amazing that I have any electrolytes in me at all anymore.

Today was the big day: the Colosseum.  But first, as the guide book suggested, I was going to go to the Roman Forum and Palentine Hill, which is included in the admission ticket and is where you can buy it without having to wait in an enormous line.  I stopped at the Campidoglio first, thinking it would flow naturally from one site to another.  But, once again, I found myself circling the perimeter, trying to find the entrance.  However, I did end up passing by Circus Maximus, where the great chariot races were held.  I eventually made it into the Forum.  It was really neat seeing what was once a great city.  The Colosseum was worse than the Vatican for lineups.  But I was able to breeze through again.  In a word - amazing.  The place could hold up to 70,000 people back in the day.  The history in Rome is mind boggling.  Stone paths walked on millennia ago by emperors and scholars, marble columns that have stood for ages, statues of real people who have long turned to dust.  The size of the buildings they could build with the technology they had on hand is unbelievable.

The one thing Rome didn't really do well was their transit system.  There are two subway lines that run through part of the city and intersect at one point in the middle.  They are in the process of building 3 more lines, but those are years away.  Their bus system is kind of wonky too.  It's based on the honour system, like a lot of European train systems are.  The bus drivers only drive and let people on or off; they don't check fares.  There's also no cash fares - you have to pre-purchase a ticket from somewhere else, like the subway station or at tobacco shops.  Occasionally, an agent will board a bus and start checking everyone.  If you don't have a valid ticket, you'll get fined on the spot.

I met up with my friends in the evening, and we decided to go out and take night photos of the main tourist sights.  We were also going to meet up with my friend Peter's sister at the Spanish steps.  We weren't close to the subway line, so we decided to try the bus.  After staring at the signage for a while, Victoria decided to ask the guy sitting at the stop for help.  Luckily for us, he spoke English fluently.  He suggested taking the same bus he was taking and getting off at the last stop, then walking.  We agreed and waited with him.  As we talked more, it turned out he's a musician.  His name was Marco and his band, Stag, performs mostly around Italy but they write and sing English-language pop songs.  He said that Italian is good for opera, but not for other kinds of music.  One of his major influences was Coldplay, which basically sold it for me.  He gave us a copy of his CD, which we're going to share amongst ourselves.  In the end, we were able to take the bus for free and when we got off the bus we said goodbye Italian style (double kiss on the cheeks).  Peter was awkward, to say the least, but he did it anyway.  His only comment was that his beard was scratchy.

"And if you were to ask me, after all that we've been through, still believe in magic, yes I do"