Day 2
Walked past The Colosseum to Top Bike Tours. The bikes were nice (good shocks are helpful on cobblestone) and our tour guide Federico was awesome. We had one other couple in our group. An unfortunate highlight of the tour was when Federico had us stop at one of the many drinking fountains in the city and was about to explain to us how you can get a drink without a bottle when the other tourist tried to get down pushup-style to drink from the faucet and slipped onto his face and belly in the water. Then Federico showed how you can put your finger over the spigot and water will shoot up like a school drinking fountain.
We visited 14 sites by bike and stopped for gelati as well. I can’t recommend this highly enough. We felt like locals weaving in and out of traffic and pedestrians. Michael got scolded by a woman who said she has been sideswiped before and would appreciate a warning bell.
After lunch we took a train to Ostia Antica (“old mouth” of the Tiber River), a 2000-year-old sea port that was well-preserved by mud after being abandoned with the fall of Rome. We regretted not being able to fit in a visit to Pompeii (which would take a full day to travel there and back) but really enjoyed this similar glimpse into ancient times.
That evening we ate pizza at a place recommended by Federico, attended a short Vivaldi and Bach concert at St. Paul’s Within the Walls church, and visited Trevi Fountain along with every other tourist in Rome.
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