DiscussWorldIssues - Socio-Economic Religion and Political Uncensored Debate - View Single Post - Just booked a trip to Rome

**Biradallo** · 07-13-2012, 11:21 PM

The Spanish Steps and Colosseum are tourists traps. Don't bother.

Here's one story I will never forget, visiting the Colosseum (which is, in reality, a must for any tourist):

My girlfriend got lured to a stall where a foreign salesman tried to sell her a small, ugly, cheap-ass statue of the brother-and-sister gods (Diana and...?). I could tell it wasn't worth much, but my girlfriend was totally in awe of everything she could get her tourist paws on, so I checked the price on the bottom. It said €70. I burst into laughter at the ridiculously high price, to which the salesman hastily replied:

"No no no, that's the American price!"

(He went on to lower his price "especially for me" to €30, when I decided to bid no more than €20, to which he replied it was "real marble, not made of chocolate!"... So we settled at €25, which is probably €5 for what the thing was worth, €10 for the smile on my girlfriend's face and €10 for the comedy replies from the dude selling it.

)

The view from the top of the Spanish Steps is nice, you can see all the way back to the St. Peter's Cathedral. The church is a nice contrast of serenity, compared to the crowds at the Steps themselves.

Sometimes it's okay for a tourist to behave like a tourist.

07-13-2012, 11:21 PM	#14
Biradallo Join Date Oct 2005 Posts 512 Senior Member	The Spanish Steps and Colosseum are tourists traps. Don't bother. Here's one story I will never forget, visiting the Colosseum (which is, in reality, a must for any tourist): My girlfriend got lured to a stall where a foreign salesman tried to sell her a small, ugly, cheap-ass statue of the brother-and-sister gods (Diana and...?). I could tell it wasn't worth much, but my girlfriend was totally in awe of everything she could get her tourist paws on, so I checked the price on the bottom. It said €70. I burst into laughter at the ridiculously high price, to which the salesman hastily replied: "No no no, that's the American price!" (He went on to lower his price "especially for me" to €30, when I decided to bid no more than €20, to which he replied it was "real marble, not made of chocolate!"... So we settled at €25, which is probably €5 for what the thing was worth, €10 for the smile on my girlfriend's face and €10 for the comedy replies from the dude selling it. ) The view from the top of the Spanish Steps is nice, you can see all the way back to the St. Peter's Cathedral. The church is a nice contrast of serenity, compared to the crowds at the Steps themselves. Sometimes it's okay for a tourist to behave like a tourist.
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