Hello travel. It's been a while.

As mentioned in the last entry, Ella and I have been planning a very long, overly ridonkulous European trip this summer, to get over being stuck in one country for a few years (and stuck in one apartment for a super fun few months). Fortunately, the monster of Ella's visa was finally slain, but not without a last minute bout - you see, we only had three stamps on form 47D Subsection E2 instead of the required four, and only Hermes Conrad would be able to untangle that bureaucracy. Fortunately Jupiter pardoned our heinous crime, and granted us access to our first destination, Rome.

To be honest, I went into Rome with very low expectations - that it was not a safe city, and it has a reputation of not being particularly friendly to tourists. I also had heard it's not a very pretty city, aside from the curated tourist areas. Two friends who had been there before said that you only need a day or two to see what Rome has before moving on.

And then I've learned that everyone is completely wrong about Rome. Maybe it's just because I'm excited to be somewhere new, but I find everyone to be super nice, it's a beautiful city, and I don't regret booking 3 full days here. Honestly I'd prefer 4, and I'm still leaving a lot out that I wouldn't mind seeing. I also see a lot of families with children and women walking alone at night, so it seems pretty safe to me, certainly more than most American cities.

But there are things to see in Rome, and boy did we see things. I guess the main sight is The Colosseum, which in retrospect is nowhere near my favorite. It's large for sure, but fairly crowded and pretty touristified. Honestly after you get inside and say "Yup, there it is" you're kind of done, but instead you get to circle around it twice to say "Yup, there it is again". Maybe it's because I learned way too much about it already from Latin and history class, but I'd actually say maybe skip it if you're in Rome? If that even makes sense? Or at least I'd prefer an express package where you take some steps to the top, snap your picture, and move on.

Alright, so what else is there to like in Rome? A lot. Honestly I just like walking around the city center, because it's so compact. It seems like every corner has a small plaza with streetside cafes, and I quite like that. It's a maze, not unlike how I felt in Macau. But I like how walkable it is, and how you can take your time to enjoy things. It is kind of surreal, we were walking along and I thought "Crazy that Romans once lived here." Then some dude walked by chatting on his phone and I remembered that guy is actually Roman now. 

But for more touristy things, I thought the Trevi Fountain was really neat. Also Saint Giovanni's, the Pantheon, Capitoline Hill Museum, the site of Julius Caesar's Assissination, all worth a look. Probably The Vatican was the big standout, especially Saint Peter's. We waited to go into The Lower Levels, and got to see lots of graves, which is a bit macabre, but also I kind of like it? Sort of like I explained when I saw Mao, or Ho Chi Minh. Like, these people had a large impact on the history of the world. And since you can't meet them, this is where their story ends. It's sort of like finishing a book, which I find satisfying. So yeah. Got to see a lot of dead popes. Even Benedict, who just died recently. He had a pretty modest white marble stone, with a few people laying flowers and praying. There were no photos allowed down there, but tbh you're not missing too much - a small cramped hallway lined with gravestones.

As far as The Vatican museum... Amazing place but poorly designed. The Map Room and the Sistine Chapel are just, wow, and make the experience worth it. But to be honest I was a little underwhelmed at some of the other things. A lot of it is you are just one person in a river of people passing through rooms. And while I understand there are hundreds of people waiting, it really hurts the experience. Of course limiting numbers is a giant pain too, so there's no good solution. It would be nice to be able to wander around instead of being led in a meandering one-way path around the place, with guards rushing you along. Still, it's definitely worth it for The Sistine Chapel alone. The chapel is a pretty small place, probably about the size of a classroom. Also the famous painting of Adam is pretty small, partly because it's pretty high up, but I guess it's only about a meter or so wide.

That was the last stop, and our tickets included lunch, so we made our way to the cafeteria. I had heard the food there was pretty bad, but continuing with the trend of everyone being wrong about Rome, I thought the food was really good. Heck, I'd go there again to eat if it was convenient. The peppers especially were amazing, and restored my faith that it is possible for western cuisine to make vegetables that don't taste like sad.

Anyway, Rome. Who knew? I'm really glad we came, because I love it here. I wouldn't even mind moving here if a job were to present itself. It feels like a city that's really lived in, with a lot to explore. Maybe it's because we're comparing it to China, so visiting another place in Italy would give some perspective. That being said, tomorrow we're off to Florence, which I honestly know very little about. That's a blessing in a way, because we had a packed schedule here. There's only one or two things on the agenda in Florence, and now, wandering about and discovering things seems to be my preferred method of exploring Italy.