Saturday AM

I’ve just overheard some people in our hotel discussing the tourist tax. This isn’t some sort of political term. Rome has an actual tax on tourists, variable depending on how nice a hotel you’re staying in. There is a sign in the lift of our hotel saying we’ll be charged €2 a day, per person, for being here. I think it goes up to €5 a day per person in the expensive hotels. You pay it when you check out, in cash, which certainly doesn’t sound dodgy. At all.

On the one hand, some of the ancient monuments are free, the streets are relatively clean, and there is the potential for tourists to make more mess, I guess. On the other hand, shouldn’t this be included in the business rates? Tourists are propping up Rome’s economy, buying overpriced food, souvenirs, etc. after all.

I mentioned in the last post our breakfast had everything in miniature. Here’s some pictures to illustrate that fact.

That’s all for now.