Ok so I feel remiss not to have elaborated on my WTF moment about my new travel family forgive me for some poetic licence to keep you in suspense.
No word of a lie, last night when I looked around I thought I was probably the youngest by a good 30 years, really truly everyone I saw around was at least 65!!!! Getting on the bus for the first time all I heard around me was 'gee those steps are steep, watch my knees, huff puff' ..... Are you kidding me???????? What's worse is it was all said with heavy American accents. Now please excuse the total stereotypes about Americans also given I had just spent the last 10 days with 8 absolutely amazing fabulous Americas but seriously!!!!!!!! To steal Georgia's line I thought perhaps I'd gotten on the wrong bus heading for a retirement hm!
Last night we went to dinner and I did sit on a table with a mother daughter from Australia and another lady called Sharyn from Australia, along with two guys and an older American couple. Dinner was ok and I was just hopping that I could at least hang with the Aussies to keep me sane, hopping to god that I got on with them and they were my kind of people. The food was nice and Letizia was careful to ensure I was served only what I could eat. There were lots of instructions and I did go to bed furiously texting anyone who was up relaying the hell I was in, and begging if anyone knew anyone In Italy who I could at least hang out with during the evenings. I guess what was hard was the stark contrast between this group and my last travelling buddies. Young, friendly, same ideas about holidays, positive outlook..and now this seemed to be entire opposite. Fortunately or unfortunately my expectations were high.
So the next day with a little foreboding I went up to breakfast and got on the bus. It was really early, about 7:40. The early start paid off though as we got to Saint peters cathedral / Vatican well before any of the lines. I guess that was the benefit being in a tour group is that pre bookings could b organised and thus lines could be skipped. It was on the way here that we got our first talking to about soft hands and gypsies. We were told not to worry but.... Suffice it to say we all got off the bus bags positioned at our fronts and gripping them tightly lol. We were also told about seat rotation.... Sorry say that again... Yes we were told that we would b sitting next to whomever we were sitting next to and then rotated around the bus so no one got too attached to their seats or hogged the 'best' seats. Really??? Are we in primary school??? Writing this blog a little later than I had intended, I totally understand why it was necessary, not so much for the tour guide to be in control and baby us, but more so due to the demographic of the people on the tour. We would be thankful later. Also was thankful that atbthe time of seat rotation deciding i was sitting alone, which meNt two seats to myself on the bus the whole time!!! Score! Also at this time we were given our bright orange devices, as they were called. Little radio, that tuned into a frequency so we could walk along and hear our tour guides.... Can anyone say obvious tourist?
We walked into Saint Peters Basilica, it was breathtaking. It was here I began to realise the scope and history of the country I was visiting. It was grand and awesome is the only word I can use to describe it. Now you will have to excuse my lack of intimate knowledge or even understanding of the religious or even historic significance of many if the places I visited. I listened attentively but lack background knowledge. That said I still wholeheartedly appreciated the absolute beauty, history and importance of these places. I respected that what I was seeing, experiencing, touching and walking through were monumentally important in the development of a country, it's people and all that goes with it. Saint Peters Basilica was massive. I walked around trying to absorb where I was. I often like to touch the marble pylons and try to imagine what they had been witness to over the hundreds and hundreds of years. Besides thinking I wanted to get out the hand sanitizer I tried to fathom who else over the years had touched and been apart of this amazing place.
After this we all went to the 'smile room' aka toilet Letizia liked to call it. This was the first of many times I waited waited waited in line for the loo. You can take the lines out of the attractions but you can't take the women out of the line to the toilet....no matter where we were this became a part of everyday touring life!! This occurred every 2 or so hours...so I have seriously trained my bladder in a bad way! I would have to laugh that as we were walking around our local guide would tell us to watch out for the tricky step... It was a crack in the pavement no lie - seriously ... Traveling with pensioners who could break a hip!!!
I had already begun to team up with Sharyn and then Georgia and her mum Kerri- all Australian. It was nice having a little group of like minded people, same sense of humour who understood the looks of dismay when we heard most of the other tour people complaining.
From St Peters we went onto the colosseum, not before having a group photo... So cheesy you could spread it on a cracker and I was thinking would I want to remember all of these people?
The Colosseum was spectacular, such a huge structure and so advanced for its time. It was designed with retractable shade and the ability to flood the grounds so ships could sail and compete. So amazing to think stories like gladiator actually occurred here... Yes I realise my references to historical events are a bit suspect lol. Sharyn and I climbed to the top storie and got a wonderful view, even better because most of out tour group couldn't make it up the stairs lol you gotta laugh !!!!
We headed back and had a few hours off to get lunch. Sharyn Georgia Kerri and I headed back to the restaurant we went to the night before which in actually fact was just around the block even though we travelled there by bus the night before. It was a nice lunch and we all chatted easily, it was great to have these gals, certainly would keep me sane.
After a few hours Sharyn and I opted to do the optional walking tour of Rome's sites. We headed devices in ear to the Trevi Fountain and threw a coin, left hand over right shoulder which apparently makes your wish come true. I think it was one coin to return to Rome, two to find love, three for divorce hahaha, not telling you how many I threw in!
We walked around with our guide for about two more hours and saw all sorts off ancient pylons transported by ship, by slaves, by horses from Egypt. We went to the Pantheon, and various other small churches and sites. Our guide was great and told us little stories along the way. One if which was a famous sculpture was commissioned to do a work for a wealthy statement who he hated but was forced to do the work anyway. The artist was forced to make create a marble elephant. His big 'screw you' to his employer was to position the elephant with his behind facing his employers house and the elephants tail swishing to one side showing off another part of his anatomy lol
We ended the tour in a big piazza. We went to a recommended restaurant....we were given a yes no list of those in the square. Dinner was nice but everyone else was also there, perhaps next time it would be good to break out a bit. Ended the evening with chocolate and pineapple gelato.... Well when in Rome!!
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