Day 5: Nov. 7
Busted on the Bus: Missed mass at St. Paul's Outside the Walls AND got to the Protestant Cemetery after it closed, all because we were accosted by the Italian Police. No kidding. We were on our way to church on the bus when three Italian machos demanded 50 Euros for not placing our ticket correctly into the ticket slot. (We had tried.) We had just purchased bus tickets and were not trying to be sleazy. Besides, Rick Steves warned us about imposters trying to extort money from tourists. When we refused to hand over the Euros, the "nasty one" wrote us a ticket for 100 Euros that we were supposed to pay at the post office. Janice, who had just arrived for the tour and had only been in Rome less than an hour said, "Welcome to Rome. This was the only ugly incident we've had in four European trips. Once the uniformed thugs released us we went on to St. Pauls, Outside the Walls. Here is a picture of the outside of St. Paul's Outside the Walls (more later).