After yesterday, we didn’t want to get up too early, so about 11:00 we caught the camp bus to the train station and then onto Rome. The itinerary for the day is to visit the San Calisto Catacombs. When we purchase our train tickets each morning for the ride into Rome, it costs us 1 Euro. The ticket is good for 75 minutes after it is put into the ticket meter. That gave us the opportunity to ride the train, jump onto the metro, ride the metro for 6 stops, jump off, and grab a bus that would take us for a long ride through the back part of Rome to the catacombs. That was a good deal, and I’d like to ask why the heck doesn’t Seattle get on the ball and get some rapid transit available??? Arriving at the catacombs, we (along with a dozen others) found out that the catacombs would be closed until 2:30 for lunch…OK, we forgot again, so we headed across the street to grab a bite ourselves. For us, 30-45 minutes was enough, but for them…2:30 !!! OK, we waited… Finally, time has arrived and so have all the tour busses…6 of them, with 200 people per bus…or so it seems… anyway, we are finally called…”English Tour !!!” We jump up and head for the gate, only to be told that the first of the group was all they could take, but we could join the next group… Well, OK, but the next is all, yep !! As the next group is called, it turns out to be a group from one of the busses. As we muster in line with them, they tell the gate keeper…”THEY DON’T BELONG WITH US !!!” Now I know how to keep my cool so long, and then… OK, let’s talk about this… We got in and enjoyed the tour very much, except as this was a special tour that we had joined, we got more information than the standard tour. The catacombs were the meeting and burial places of the Early Christians in Rome. With miles of tunnels and thousand of burial niche throughout, it made for the burial grounds for 300 years. There were Popes, Saints, Myrtars, and other Christians alike, that were buried here. Each niche was hand dug horizontally into the walls of the tunnels. Most were just big enough to slide the body in and seal it up. There were others that were family plots, and then other larger niche that were for the wealthy or Saintly. Ok, speaking of Saintly, the group were getting a special “Mass” down in the catacombs as well. As they started to enter this other area for the Mass, they started all over again as how we ‘DID’T BELONG WITH THEIR GROUP’ !!! This is a religious group, and I’d like to ask where is their Christian Charity to others? Ok, we were through, and we had enjoyed, but now it was time to head back to the “fort”. A bus ride, metro, and then a walk through a portion of town to the train. Before we called it quits, we just had to have one more GELATO !!! “Auntie Ann” is a bad influence on Louise and myself…
25 October ’05, Tuesday
After yesterday, we didn’t want to get up too early, so about 11:00 we caught the camp bus to the train station and then onto Rome. The itinerary for the day is to visit the San Calisto Catacombs. When we purchase our train tickets each morning for the ride into Rome, it costs us 1 Euro. The ticket is good for 75 minutes after it is put into the ticket meter. That gave us the opportunity to ride the train, jump onto the metro, ride the metro for 6 stops, jump off, and grab a bus that would take us for a long ride through the back part of Rome to the catacombs. That was a good deal, and I’d like to ask why the heck doesn’t Seattle get on the ball and get some rapid transit available??? Arriving at the catacombs, we (along with a dozen others) found out that the catacombs would be closed until 2:30 for lunch…OK, we forgot again, so we headed across the street to grab a bite ourselves. For us, 30-45 minutes was enough, but for them…2:30 !!! OK, we waited… Finally, time has arrived and so have all the tour busses…6 of them, with 200 people per bus…or so it seems… anyway, we are finally called…”English Tour !!!” We jump up and head for the gate, only to be told that the first of the group was all they could take, but we could join the next group… Well, OK, but the next is all, yep !! As the next group is called, it turns out to be a group from one of the busses. As we muster in line with them, they tell the gate keeper…”THEY DON’T BELONG WITH US !!!” Now I know how to keep my cool so long, and then… OK, let’s talk about this… We got in and enjoyed the tour very much, except as this was a special tour that we had joined, we got more information than the standard tour. The catacombs were the meeting and burial places of the Early Christians in Rome. With miles of tunnels and thousand of burial niche throughout, it made for the burial grounds for 300 years. There were Popes, Saints, Myrtars, and other Christians alike, that were buried here. Each niche was hand dug horizontally into the walls of the tunnels. Most were just big enough to slide the body in and seal it up. There were others that were family plots, and then other larger niche that were for the wealthy or Saintly. Ok, speaking of Saintly, the group were getting a special “Mass” down in the catacombs as well. As they started to enter this other area for the Mass, they started all over again as how we ‘DID’T BELONG WITH THEIR GROUP’ !!! This is a religious group, and I’d like to ask where is their Christian Charity to others? Ok, we were through, and we had enjoyed, but now it was time to head back to the “fort”. A bus ride, metro, and then a walk through a portion of town to the train. Before we called it quits, we just had to have one more GELATO !!! “Auntie Ann” is a bad influence on Louise and myself…
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