A Blind Woman, Two Wheels and 25,000 Miles – Day 21

Ah what can I say about the Hotel Cecil? My abiding memory is of The Mortar Bomb Toaster.

Bernard, as you may have guessed is prone to a bit of exaggeration. Actually, he is prone to a lot of exaggeration. As we entered the breakfast area he went off to discover what was available and when he came back he described in great lengths the builders helmets hung on the wall. He did have me going for a while. It was his description of the hanging Lacrosse gloves and hockey sticks which gave it away he was off on one of his fabricated stories. I could hear a mechanically clunk every now and then and he admitted that the sound was the toaster which he had already taken note of.

The toaster, if I am to believe him, fires the toast up in the air. It doesn't just click, it was a pronounced clunk as the toasting was finished. From that point on he explained that you could bring your own crash helmet to protect you from low-flying toast if you wanted or, in the spirit of the European Union, the owners has kindly supplied a range of equipment to deal with this potential hazard; thus the lacrosse gloves, hockey sticks or builders helmets. Every morning after this description the clunk signified an "Incoming!" from either of us and we would laugh as the other patrons looked at the two giggling fools in the corner.

We set off from the hotel with vague directions for using the metro (underground) to get to The Vatican City and, on the one day we want to use it, the whole system is closed. We find out later that some poor soul had decided to "Kiss the train" as a guard told us later. Thus the whole of Rome took to the buses and, after a long walk and multiple stops to ask directions, we found one.

We spent the next 30 minutes being told all about the city by a man who adopted us at the bus stop. He insisted on describing all the main features as Bernard furiously tried to keep track of the road names as the bus zipped along. It was really funny to listen to as Bernard would - obviously - point to map and say "Where?" During the whole journey the man would say he was getting off only to decide he was staying on. I think we shook his hands three or four times as he was getting off only to discover he had changed his mind! We think he stayed with us to make sure we got the Vatican without getting lost. As we said our farewells with the whole bus watching we are, even now, certain he stayed on the bus to direct us and that he then stayed on to go all the way around the circular route to his own destination. Such a nice man and a fantastic greeting from a citizen of Rome.

St. Peter's square was quieter than we expected and we joined the cue to enter the Basilica and see the resting places of Popes from the past along with St. Peter's tomb itself where a very heated exchange occurred between tourists and guards who would allow no pictures or videoing. Voices were raised and the guard could be hear saying "I put you out if take picture!" We passed on by and went on leaving them to argue about recording their visit to the centre of the Catholic world.

The Basilica itself felt 'cold' and with little real atmosphere compared to for example Notre Dame where you could feel the age and you could smell the history - the same was true of the Cathedral at Bayeux. It is probably a function of marble which encased the whole building leaving it with a very clinical feel. Bernard described the massive structure and artefacts of the building and explained and described everything he could see. There was no information boards or leaflets available that we could find and people seemed to be relying on various guide books which they had brought with them.

We made our way to the Vatican post-office and kept our promise to buy cards from Rome before setting off to find the Coliseum (the metro was by now working). This seemed full of French college students complete with loud voiced teachers endeavouring not to lose one of their charges and we set off across the city to the fabled building which has been reconstructed in so many block buster movies; the Coliseum.

Outside this fabled structure Bernard encouraged me to have a hands-on exploration of a full-dressed roman soldier. I must admit I was extremely bashful about this but Bernard insisted as how can you picture something if you have no reference points for the uniforms.

So it was that people passed by and stopped and watched as I explored the uniform with the owner explaining in broken English the significant of each item. We thanked the person and went to join the queue while my face returned to its normal (non-blushing) colour. An American tried to convince us to take his tour which would mean us not waiting in the queue for 40 minutes to get in (obviously at an additional cost). We pondered and decided what was 40 minutes and were rewarded by talking to Mark from Brisbane in Australia who was on holiday. He was fascinated as he listened to the hundred bits of information which Bernard seemed to know about the history. Sometimes he doesn't realise how much he knows about bits and pieces from all over the place. It probably comes from his many years as a teacher and mixing with teachers of all subjects. Mark asked many questions which were answered and elaborated on as we made our way to the front of the queue. On arriving there it turned out that our entry was free due to being blind. Thus it was very naughty Mr American to try to take our money when it was obvious entry would have been free anyway. Naughty, naughty!

We paid for the hire of an audio recorder and went to pick it up but unfortunately they would not give us one. The reason was that we had no identification on us and this meant "No ID then no player". We did try to explain all our ID was back at the hotel but they would not relax the rules even though Bernard plainly pointed out (even though it was obvious) that the player was for me; the person with the big white stick. An American woman behind got quire irate about it and even though she offered a large deposit (name your price) they would not relent. We entered the coliseum tapeless but not beaten!

Moving around the coliseum it was interesting to note the guides where actually giving the same information as Bernard was giving to me anyway! Plus if you use an audio player often it can leave you cut off from those around you. In the end, I was glad I did not have the audio player as I could expose Bernard's lack of knowledge whenever I saw fit!

So here we are in the middle of Rome, in the Coliseum, and who should we bump into? None other than a colleague and my former teacher at Liverpool Community College. No matter where you are in the world, you can easily meet someone from home! Cameras where unslung and multiple pictures taken which we believe will be appearing in the college magazine on his return. Sometimes it really is a very small world indeed. Hello Mick if you are reading this!

Our journey back to the hotel meant taking the Metro several stops and despite Bernard's best efforts the ticket machine did manage to eat several Euros without giving us our tickets!

I passed though the barrier without any problem but it didn't like Bernard and it would not let him pass. Not to be deterred he jumped the barrier to the consternation of staff indicating "Madame Avergler, Madame Avergler!" (madam blind). It didn't matter he was in Italy shouting in French, over he came in a surprisingly youthful bound (at least that's how I pictured it - he probably fell over the barrier really!)

Fortunately and international incident did not occur and they let us proceed.

We walked part of the way back to the hotel taking in the architecture and fabulous fountains which are all over Rome and turn up in the most unexpected places. During this walk we even managed to find our Italian pin badges and so a very successful day on many levels!

The evening passed in a tired but satisfied way as we talked about the days events and the gentle hum of the air conditioner filled the room as our freshly washed clothes dried on the balcony in the night air.