The day we went to the Colosseum was a fairly standard low 80's high humidity day, except we had to be at the Colosseum at the time we normally were eating breakfast. Now on day three of being in Rome, we were feeling almost like old pros on the Metro system. You are, for instance, not allowed to take photos or videos in the subway system. We had not encountered tourist scammers yet. As we made our way to the meeting place, one guy stopped us by complimenting us on our tans and said he could tell we had good hearts. I know. We stopped, eager to hear more about how he could tell by sight how wonderful we were, and he popped a bracelet on each of our wrists. Then more conversation, and he learned there were more children back at home, and he heaped more jewelry on us. Then as we started to walk away, he said, "I have a new baby in my home country, can you give me something?" Of course, I said, "No" and handed him back everything he had piled on us. Well, th
I'd splurged on a ride from the airport to the hotel so instead of dragging our bags from Fiumicino Airport to the train station, we scanned the crowd for someone holding a sign with my name on it. It said Mr. Lauren Trecosta, but we knew who they meant. We went out later that afternoon for a treat then pizza. By dinner, we were literally falling asleep at the table. Our room at the Flower Garden Hotel is on the small side, but is very clean and has comfortable beds, air conditioning, and a great shower. Due to COVID, breakfast was delivered to our room instead of in the dining room downstairs which suited us fine. Elena at the front desk has been a huge help with directions and suggestions for using public transportation. The hotel is just 100 meters or so from the main bus and train station. This proved to be very useful as we traveled everywhere by bus and metro. Mercato di Testaccio On our first morning, we took the metro to Testaccio to go to the covered market there. I&