A funny thing happened on the way FROM the FOrum

So, I finally got to Rome today! We had a safety drill this morning, so by the time we got into the city, it was almost 1. We had to be back on board by 6 which meant that we needed to take either the 3:45 or 4:09 train back.This gave us a little less than 3 hrs to see as much of Rome as possible. We decided to head to the Collosseum first and then see what we had time for from there.

The Collosseum was amazing. We talked about who or what might have walked exactly where we were. Lions, gladiators, Caeser maybe? We wanted to go in and walk around but there was a 40 minute line and time was scarce. We walked past and headed towards the Roman Forum. On the way we stopped at a little stand for something to eat.

Food. One of the things I was most excited about when I came here was to eat all sorts of native food. The problem is, when you're in touristy areas, what do you trust? The fanciness of a restaurant is not a good measure of food authenticity. The best seafood can be found in little shacks and the best barbeque is found in places that you're not sure you want to eat in. So, whether to order pizza in Rome from a cart becomes a tough decision. I think of Michael from the OFfice getting "a real NY slice" at Sbbarro in Times Square. My pizza was good nonetheless.

After food, we walked past the Forum and then went the the Fountain di Trevi. At this point I tried to get gelato but ended up being repeatedly cut in line by small Japanese women. I wanted to sick Sun on them.

So, we arrive back at the train station in plenty of time to catch the 3:45 train. On the departure board, next to our train, said "suppresso." We weren't sure what this meant so I pulled out the little Italian/English dictionary I inherited from my predecessor and looked it up. The definition I found was "abolish." This was not only not promising, but somewhat overdramatic. We learned that "suppresso" did indeed mean the train was cancelled. Not a problem. There's a 4:09 train that will get us in with a half hour to spare.

I fell asleep soon after the train left the station. When I woke up, we were stopped. Not at a station. Just stopped. It seems we had been that way for about 25 minutes. By the time we got back to the port, the train had been delayed about 45 minutes.

We were on board 30 minutes past when crew is supposed to be back. I'm not sure what happens now. There were a lot of crew and passengers late becuase of the train problems. It could be that nothing happens. We could get a slap on the wrist warning. Or...I don't know.

But I went to Rome for 2 and a half hours. And it was great!