Colosseum during Rush Hour

Today, Tuesday, we walked by the Colosseum on the way to a tour of two incredible churches, San Clemente and San Giovanni in Laterano. As we made our way back to the classroom from these churches at around 12:30 p.m. I got to witness one of the more entertaining aspects of the day, the swarming of the Colosseum by the stereotypical tourist. Disclaimer: before I start making fun of these people, please realize that I completely understand how incredible the Colosseum is and how worthy it is of the amount of attention it is given, and this is a generalization. With that said, some people/groups are hilarious. The typical tour group consists of about 20-40 slightly overweight middle-aged white people. Each group is led by a person holding a metal stick that has a handkerchief at the end of it and all are listening to portable headsets so they can hear the tour guide over the sound of vendors, traffic, and Polizia yelling at them to get the hell out of the street. As they walk the streets near the Colosseum they all have the most blank stares on their face as they listen to the ramblings on of a by the hour tour guide who realizes that the slower they walk the more money they will make. As the guides point at the incredible arches of the Colosseum, the group turns their back to the traffic they are blocking and everyone acts surprised when a motorbike scoots by nearly taking a fanny pack out in the process. Finally the group gets in front of the colossal structure and being so relieved to not have to worry about traffic begin chatting with each other in whatever their native language is completely ignoring the history directly behind them.