Went to the Forum entrance, as our dear friend, Rick, recommends, and bought a combo ticket for the Forum, Colosseum and Capitoline Hill. Wandered throught the Forum, trying to use his audio walking tour, but soon grew confused and just read the signs instead. Next stop was the Colosseum, which probably should have been first, given the crowds that had gathered later in the day, but we were still able to skip the ticket-buying line, at least. Once through the metal detectors, we got to roam all over the massive monument. When we'd about had our fill, we headed out, just in time for a thunderstorm to threaten with some rain droplets. I've never seen anyone move as fast as the street vendors running for the Colosseum exits with umbrellas for sale, and never seen a quicker bargain done than when the guy next to me haggled one of them down from 5 euros to 2. I think the vendor was afraid if he didn't close the sale quickly, his competition would get all the good business down below.
Found a nice little place in sight of the Colosseum, Ristoro della Salute, and had a slighly pricey combo meal, but it was worth it for the proximity to the attraction. Our waiter was a really nice guy who surprised us with his best guess gelato flavors for both of us - I think he took my question about whether we had to select flavors or just be surprised and ran with it.
Off to Capitoline Hill after that, and the nice young man at the main entrance let us through, rather than sending us back to the entrance that comes in from the Forum, so we were once again surprised by the kindness of Romans. There are lovely gardens at the top of the hill, and M narrowly avoided getting beaned by a falling orange at one point. Visited the museum for a bit, did a lot of casual strolling, and just absorbed the flavor of the history there. When we came down off our perch, we stopped at a booth and bought bus tickets, and got our water bottles filled at the most interesting vending machine, where you just push a button and choose the size of your bottle (glass, .5 liter 1 liter) and it automatically dispenses the proper amount of water - ice cold - free.
By the time we found the bus stop leaving Piazza Venezia I determined that we were only four stops away from Chiesa Nuova, and there seemed little point to jumping on the bus again for that distance, so we walked back to the apartment, where we had a glass or two of wine, some antipasti, and relaxed for a little bit.
Decided to wander over past the Piazza Navona to the Trevi Fountain, and found it just as magical and captivating as all of the propaganda would indicate....save for the jillion tourists clustered in the area, with the same idea. Wanted to smack the idiot kid climbing up on the marble of the fountain with his skateboard, but his parents were paying no mind - idiots are universal. Took a roundabout route back, venturing into the "normal" portion of Rome, where there were real shops rather than tourist kitsch, and got back without any losses.
I prepared a nice supper of farfalle pasta with Amatriciana sauce and vongole (baby clams), accompanied by a simple salad, then we decided to go for passagata down to Castel St. Angelo, enjoyed the Tiber river scenery, and closed things out with a bowl of gelato at Blue Ice.
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