Still haven't seen Colosseum

We got up and had the hotel breakfast. It is a great buffet - buns, croissants, meat, cheese, yogurt, fruit, cereals, bacon and eggs, and - included - capucchino (on request - each table also had American coffee and hot milk in carafes). When we left the breakfast room to go upstairs for a bathroom break before leaving the hotel it was pouring rain, but by the time we walked to the Metro it was just sprinkling. While we were buying our tickets it poured again, but by the time we exited at the Vatican Museum stop the rain had ceased. Aidan congratulated me on buying a "skip the line" ticket ahead of time - the line up looked about 2 hours long, at 9 am after a couple of downpours. So we just met our tour guide where indicated - he was Graham from the Napa Valley, been in Rome 4 years doing the Vatican museum tour. I get the feeling he was an art history major in college. He gave a good tour - the current method for tour groups is to give everyone a little receiver to hang around their necks, with an ear bud, and the guide talks into his little transmitter. This efficiently keeps the tour guides voice lowered and the groups from blocking traffic, while still allowing questions to be answered and things to be shifted according to the crowds and the day. Last Easter Saturday there were 75,000  people through the Vatican museum - it is always the biggest day of the year.

  

There were some really nice ceilings in the hallways and a cool ugly guy Aidan liked (both above), but we weren't allowed to take photos of the Sistene Chapel. And since we weren't allowed to use flash a lot of the photos I did try were too dark. So we just looked instead, and you can check the internet for pictures of things in the Vatican Museum and Sistene Chapel.

Then we skipped the line into St Peter's Basilica and saw it too, including the Pieta. The Pieta is behind safety glass in a dark chapel (due to some crazy guy with a hammer) so look it up on the internet too. As we were exiting St Peter's we saw some priests doing a sound check for the big mass tomorrow. They have nice flowers already set up too.

After leaving St Peter's Basilica we went to the Bronze doors and I got to chat with the Swiss guards as I went to pick up our tickets for Easter mass tomorrow. They said to get there before 8 am if we want a seat (mass is at 10). So we'll try for that - I don't want to stand for ever. Then we got to check off another food experience in Italy and had pizza for lunch.

 After lunch (there were 2 buskers playing guitars and singing for entertainment, dressed up in black velvet jackets and long capes) we returned to the Metro and went to Spagna (stop, not the country). We saw the Spanish Steps (last time I was there they had flowers all down them, but not this time) and a lot of high end designer stores around Piazza Spagna. Umbrellas were up and down, and rain jackets on and off for awhile, but no downpours on us. There are a million men just waiting for rainy days, standing at all Metro exits and tourist spots, selling umbrellas. I had brought one with me and kept disappointing them.

Aidan threw a coin in the Trevi Fountain, so she's sure to return to Rome. I threw one in last time, and here I am, so we know it works. But I think there may be a limit on how many times you can do it, so didn't repeat the coin throw.
Well, we thought, it's still early, let's go hit the Colosseum. So we hopped on the Metro again, using our cool 3 day pass, and went to the Colosseum. The line was short (every one was in the Vatican area today I guess) so we got inside and were close to the ticket wicket when I went to take out my wallet. Someone had thoughtfully already done that for me, while on the Metro I guess. We went back to the cafe by the Trevi Fountain in case we both had the same false memory of me inserting the wallet in my zipper pocket and zipping it shut, but it turns out it wasn't a false memory and I'd been pickpocketed. The Polizia at the fountain said I had to go make a report to the Carabinieri.

So that was our next tourist spot. I'm hopeful someone will steal the cash and return the wallet. Pretty unlikely, but I can dream. The Carabinieri station was opposite from the monument of Vittorio Emanuele II - which is a really cool building - and we had to walk past Trajan's Markets and Forum of Augustus and some other excavations in order to get to our street.

Then we came back to our hotel, sent Dave an urgent "Call Me" e-mail, and Dave called. We still have each other, our passports, and Aidan's bank card. Dave will put money in Aidan's account. We have prepaid all hotels and several tours, and only need cash for meals, souvenirs, and a couple of train rides. So all is well, our trip is not ruined, and Rome on Easter week has as many pickpockets as London and Puerto Vallarta. The only common denominator (since 2 were Dave and 1 me) is all occurred on public transit - Rome's Metro, London's tube and Puerto Vallarta's buses.