We tried to get started early this morning, but last night went late after we ended up visiting with three 19 year olds from Vancouver named Jordan, Stephen and Thomas. The boys reminded Margaret of school and its upcoming start up. Also joining us were two teachers from Gloucester. The Canadians had been mugged on the train while heading to Naples for a day trip earlier that day, so we were drawn into that story! Just crazy.

Conversation ranged from everyone's experiences and backgrounds, to the teaching system of England, and beyond! Barry found out that the Canadians had been told that they would have to wait three days to leave Rome using their train passes because they needed a reservation. So he told them that they had been given the wrong information (or asked the wrong questions) and showed them how to put together their own itinerary using the German online train timetable which, among other things, indicates which trains require reservations and which ones don't. They were thrilled because they thought they were going to miss their flights home, so they walked to the store and bought us some beer. Hence, the late evening!

Anyway, we awoke and hit blistering heat when we walked out of the hostel doors at 10:30! We'd wanted to catch an 11:00 am walking tour but were too late. Later, we were glad it worked out that way because it was really, really hot. We took a city bus to the Coliseum, after only 5 or 6 unsuccessful attempts to buy bus day passes only to be told, "no ink", "finito", "finished", "all gone" and "you can't buy them here at the metro station. You must by them at a tobacco store". Makes perfect sense. Not! Eventually, we found a tobacco shop that had some passes. After examining them, we made the mistake of thinking they were already validated because they had a date and time stamp. Therefore, we didn't bother punching them into the machine on the bus. Unfortunately, we met up with a very, very serious bus security officer who threatened to fine us 200 euros for our mistake. Luckily, he didn't. The heat continued to be brutal, so we opted to view a movie called The Time Elevator of Rome in an air conditioned theatre. The cool air was nice; the time warp and elevator effects provided by the mechanical "flight simulator" chairs were not (at least not for Barry!). Afterwards, we felt equipped with knowledge and cool enough to go for a walk to the Coliseum and the surrounding ancient ruins, which blew our minds.

At 2:00 pm, on the advice of our hostel staff, we went back for siesta, hiding from the heat and having our big meal of the day then. That night, we took the metro to the Porta del Popolo and walked from there along the Via del Corso to the Spanish Steps and the Trevi Fountain. The Fountain wasn't working, which was quite a disappointment, and our Metro stop was closed already at the end of the evening. However, we caught a bus instead and got home in time to visit with the Canadians, an Aussie, a Japanese girl, a German and 2 Americans for the evening. It was a lot of fun and Hotel Lodi is a definite recommendation to anyone wanting to travel to Rome!