To avoid the big crowds, we decided to go to the coliseum first thing in the morning.
As a couple of us were heading towards the main entrance, there were some guys dressed up as roman soldiers. I went to take a picture and one of them grabbed my camera out of my hands. I followed him...
"That's MY camera." I said.
He motioned with the camera that he was going to take a picture of me and one of the other soldiers. So I posed and then took my camera back.
"That will be 5 euros." the soldier said to me in a thick italian accent.
"What?" I asked.
"5 euros, please....for picture."
"Wait a second. " I protested. "You didn't tell me it was going to cost anything."
"It's 5 euros!" The soldier said more forcefully and held out his hand.
"I don't have any change on me." I said. "I'm waiting for the rest of my party."
"Then they can pay me 5 euros." He said in a gruff voice.
"You should have told me up front that it was going to cost me money." I told him.
"Now I'm getting mad, lady." The soldier said as he glared at me. "I have a wife. I have kids. I need to put food on my table. I'm sick and tired of you tourists trying to short change me all the time. This isn't free. This is my job!"
"Well, you should do your job more honestly. It's your job to tell me up front that I would be paying for a service" I replied.
"Delete the photo off your camera then!" the soldier yelled at me.
"Fine with me." I went to go do that on my camera when all of a sudden he erupted into a series of expletives.
"You stupid b!tch! You're a f@#kin' &^%*&)(*&)*&)&)(&)(*)(*)#^$^$^@^$^$....etc.!!!!"
Shocked, I started backing up.
"Get out of here you f**kin' nazi!" he said to me and then spit in my direction.
I was so taken aback at how hostile and vulgar he had become that the only response that came out of my mouth was "You're ridiculous!" And with a glare, I turned and walked away.....with the picture still on my camera.
I was so angry about the whole encounter that I had to walk it off. What I really wanted to do was go back and rip him a new one along with a few choice words and a couple other things....
From then on, whenever a roman soldier would approach me about taking a picture with him, immediately I would say, "I don't have 5 euros."
Because we had arrived first thing in the morning, we were able to get into the coliseum almost immediately. The picture taking started right away and continued the rest of the time. The coliseum was spectacular and I loved the way it looked in the morning light.
My sis and I
Inside the hallways of the coliseum are ancient statues and art. You could literally spend a day in there just looking at everything there is.
As we were leaving we noticed the long line that snaked around the outside of the coliseum. I am so glad we showed up early!
All around were tourist carts brimming with roman trinkets.
I took a close up picture of some of the little statues. Bottoms up.
Aside from my nasty encounter with the roman soldier, the coliseum was a highlight for me. Sometime in your lifetime, you should check it out.
