Rome

Rome was eventful. At the airport, the lady at the counter refused to check us in because Air Italia's policy was to refuse check-ins forty minutes before take-off. We had arrived an hour and some change before our flight. However, it was a little too late to teach this lady math and her expression became increasingly mulish so we spoke to another man who seemed to be reasonable. He had a third person check us in despite her protestations, telling us next time to be on time because it wasn't "nice." Our flight with Air Italia was delayed both ways.

Our Rome weekend included a tour of the Vatican (including the Sistine Chapel and St. Peter's Basilica), the Coliseum, the Roman forums, and some ruins around the center of town. It was pretty fantastic seeing live ancient history. Our tour guide was this old half ornery half charming historical embellisher who carried a multi-colored umbrella so we could find him among the throngs of people. Although the tour guide and signs warned us that taking pictures and video were forbidden at the Sistine Chapel, there were plenty of people taking both while the guards watched on, only to intone "No flash, be quiet!" every few minutes. It's pretty crazy imagining Michelangelo meticulously painting for hours the entire chapel on his own for years. Apparently one of the bishops disapproved of his work during a preview and Michelangelo painted his face on one of the characters going to hell. Ouch - talk about having trouble taking criticism, Michelangelo don't play.

We are going to go on a rant now. Everywhere we have gone, we have seen street vendors or, as is the case in Rome, men carrying their merchandise, such as fans or umbrellas, who approach you to make a sale. Yes, it can be uncomfortable when a seller is persistent, but they are just doing their job and all you have to do is decline or buy. One of the members of our tour group, however, thought it would be funny to counter-bargain with the street vendors by offering sips of beer or pieces of gum, which absolutely enraged us. They, who stand in the unforgiving heat day after day, making a pittance from their goods, learning three, four or five languages sufficient to be persuasive, subjected to the mercurial moods of entitled tourists and this man thinks he needs to teach them a lesson about manners. How incredibly patronizing, as he chased them and shoved gum in their faces, mimicking "one Euro" while they smiled uncomfortably. And worse, the men doggedly kept their game expressions and continued bargaining because they could not afford to turn off the rest of the crowd watching the farce. Absolutely disgusting.

As a side note, we recognize some of these pictures do not have one or either of us making appropriate faces, which is often a problem for us. But we give up.