Monday June 1st 2009 (Day 6 Part Two!)

Well McDonald’s was not as cheap as we had hoped and the reason why is……. Tim had his Blackberry stolen! It was in it’s holster on his belt but instead of being in front it was nearer his back, the strap holding it down is only magnetic so it was easy, the thief just had to lift it and take the phone out. Tim said he heard the flap fall back but when he reached around his first thought was whether he had left his phone at the hotel or not, when he remembered that he had brought it with him and turned around it was too late. He remembers what the guy looked like but it was too late. Nothing we can do, we have no insurance and he is seriously pissed! We called AT&T and managed to get the sim canceled but that was a trauma as there is no internet at the hotel and we had to hook up to an adjoining hotels internet. I’m sure the thief isn’t that interested in calls, just the Blackberry but Tim will have to sort it all out when he gets back. BUMMER!

We had hoped for an early night, no such luck, took us ages to get the phone canceled and Tim was still really wound up so he went to the corner restaurant and got a Gelato. It was midnight but thankfully (well this time thankfully) they eat late so he was able to wind down before bed. He still didn’t sleep well though, not surprising.

2 weeks before we left for this trip I told Tim I really had a bad feeling about this trip, I guess my instincts were right!

Tuesday June 2nd 2009 (Day 7)
Today we decided to take a walk around the Colosseum, The Palatine and the Roman Forum. We were so tired because of such a late night AGAIN that we got up late and didn’t get to the Colosseum metro station till about 1pm. Claire’s guide book stated that the line for the Colosseum was always huge and to go to either the Roman Forum or the Palatine and buy tickets there as you can then walk to the head of the line at the Colosseum and the tickets cover all three places. It seemed like a good idea at the time!

Yeah, we’re map reading AGAIN!

We had a map but not all the roads are marked on the maps and we ended up walking all the way round the Forum and Palatine to find an entrance. If you have seen the facebook pictures then you will know that every other picture is Claire Yates and me looking at the map.

It was hot, a bit rainy and by the time we got there Tim was seriously hot and fed up (I think he was still fed up from yesterday if you ask me). Unfortunately Claire and I had trouble with the map and it took 40 minutes to walk round the whole place that finally did it for him. Especially when we finally got to the Palatine and found out that because today was a National Holiday it doesn’t open until 2pm and we had to wait in the heat for another 20 minutes!

So he decided he was going back to the hotel and Claire and I spent the day on our own. We finally got the tickets and walked around the Palatine which was really interesting, It is where the rich and famous used to live up on a hill (there is Augustus’s house you can go through and Caesar lived up there too). Loads of ruins and artifacts, we listened in on various tours that were going around which was cool, free guided tour!

Yes it’s raining again.

We then walked through to the Roman Forum which was also very good and amazing to see everything layed out the way it would have been during those times. It’s still ruins but looks amazing. Again we had downloaded free
audio tours and they are very informative.

Part of the Roman Forum Ruins

As you can see the sun finally came out and the afternoon was glorious if not a bit hot and muggy because of the earlier rain.

We then went across the road after that and went to the Colosseum and sure enough the line was huge, it would have taken 2 hours of waiting to get inside but because we had bought our tickets at the Palatine we walked to the head of the line and went straight in. COOL!

There is quite a bit to see inside and again it is great if you have downloaded an audio tour as you then learn all about it. It’s also great if you get to listen in on tour guides. It is amazingly huge and very innovative for it’s time, it had the first stadium retractable roof would you believe.

Anyway, after that Claire and I found a cool restaurant on a side street and we sat outside under a canopy surrounded by lovely flower bushes. Then fabulous gelato for desert and i have to say they really know how to make great ice cream. A good end to a good day even if Tim wasn’t there!