Pati and Beebee take a ride...

Pati and Beebee's cruise ended and they found themselves outside the cruise ship at a waiting area for a shuttle bus to the station of the train that would take them to Rome. The shuttle bus was free but Pati found a taxi for 20€ because he was cold and it was faster. They got to the station and bought train tickets for 5€ each to Rome.

Pati knows the metro is the best and cheapest way around European cities. He bought tickets for 33€ for himself and Beebee. At the conclusion of the transaction, he learned that the metro workers were on strike and he would need to take a taxi to his hotel.

Beebee and Pati got a taxi pretty quickly. There were hundreds of them in a line. The driver was friendly and drove like a maniac. He was frequently in the lane of oncoming traffic which Pati quite enjoys.

When the got to the hotel, Pati handed him the amount on the meter (25€) plus a tip. The driver said "Wait - this is the wrong amount. There is a surcharge today! You must pay me 35€." Pati did while forgetting that he had already paid 25. He wound up paying 65€, including various tips, for a ride that should have cost 18€ (it isn't clear to Pati that he was on a direct route). Pati had apparenly just fallen off the turnip truck.

Pati and Beebee got to their room and were let in by a very nice young Italian woman named Valentina. The room was very IKEA but large for European standards. One strange feature of the room was that it had a private bath that was not connected to the room. However, it was close to the Vatican and the metro.

There are three rooms in the hotel (actually B&B) Pati and Beebee are staying in. One contains them, another contains Glen who is from Norway (and Pati and Beebee call the Swede). The third room is empty. Pati and Beebee have a very small bath just to themselves. Glen shares a much larger bath with the empty room. Pati and Beebee are glad the paid extra for the private bath.

After check-in, Pati and Beebee visited St. Peters and the Sistine Chapel. They saw a lot of crypts in St. Peters and noted that popes seemed very much like the diefied Roman emperors. It was a parallel they had not noticed when they visited years ago.

On the next day, Pati and Beebee wanted to visit the forum, the Trevi fountain, the Parthenon, the Spanish Steps, and the Colleseum. They made it to everything but the Parthenon. The forum was most interesting and took a large portion of Beebee and Pati's day.

After their visits, Pati discovered that a pickpocket had borrowed their map. He hope the map is useless to the thief.

To end their day, Beebee and Pati had a nice meal near their hotel. A couple next to then engaged them in conversation. The man was a civil engineer and his wife a contracts lawyer. He worked on transportation systems. During conversation, the wife said that everyone in Italy carries an American one dollar bill for good luck. She showed her good-luck bill and pointed out another one framed on the wall behind the restaurant counter. Pati gave her another $1 bill and the husband then gave Pati an unused special metro card that had been made for one special occasion involving the Pope. He had it because of his job. It was a nice end to a nice day.

Now, on to Egypt!

 

Posted with Blogsy