22 January 2021. A historic day. A turning point day. The day Anna took 20 people on a (virtual) tour of Rome. Our first-ever overseas tour. (Our second one – Venice, also guided by Anna – will follow in a few days. And then, early next month, it’ll be the turn of Athens and the Acropolis, guided by Chris.)
This podcast is an extract from today’s tour. Well, an extract from the narrative. At no little risk of belabouring the obvious, the people who were on the tour today didn’t just hear these words – they were looking at what Anna was talking about. Pictorially, visually they were in Rome, being shown round it by a world-class guide.
So, yes, it was a feast, visually and aurally. Which given Anna’s deep and abiding relationship with Rome – she knows it inside-out, she’s been there “approximately 200 times”, she takes groups there every summer – was to be expected.
A great virtual tour squares the circle: it satisfies and whets the appetite (makes you want to go to the place your virtual tour took you to). Anna’s virtual tour of Rome squares the circle.
“let’s enter the Roman forum”
“can you see what’s inscribed there”
“you need to go to the far side, which is what we’re going to do”
“slightly to the left, another triumphal arch”
“this really was the heart of ancient Rome”