When in Rome.....

This afternoon we went on a trip to Hadrian's Villa at Tivoli, and the Gardens at Villa D'Este. Both very interesting, but a disappointing trip. Firstly, the company allowed four hours for the trip but we felt that to do it justice, it should have been a full day. We arrived at Hadrian's Villa and it was clear we would only have just over an hour there. The guide, a total prat, spent far too long telling us what each tree was as we walked up to the villa, and then gave a load of irrelevant information about it. The complex is massive, more a small garrison than a villa, as you would expect from the head of the Roman Empire. One of the key parts of the villa is the Canopus, a narrow ornamental pool filled with emerald green water and surrounded by classical statues; we suddenly realised that the guide was taking the group in a different direction and missing it out completely! We and a young American couple realised and went off on our own to see it; as a result we were a bit late back to the bus but we saw what everyone else missed. We then went to Villa D'Este; the gardens and fountains are superb, those who saw on TV the Monty Don programme about Italian Gardens a couple of years ago will remember how spectacular they are. Everything we saw was great, but the trip was badly planned and executed. I'll be reporting back on Tripadvisor soon!

And my picture? Well, it's difficult to move round Rome without coming across people taking selfies; even more difficult to walk anywhere without some street vendor trying to sell you a selfie stick. One of them is going to be unlucky soon; he's going to find out how easy it is to insert it where the sun don't shine. But if you're going to take a selfie in Rome, it had may as well be with a Centurion.