- Prologue: Trouble Returns From Travels
- Volume I: Getting To Poland – 30 Hours Of Delays, Kissing-Ass, And Getting Drunk In Airports
- Volume II: The First Night In Poland, Selling Strip Club Tickets
- Volume III: Getting Yadstopped
- Volume IV: Where Is Alpha Dwarf?
- Volume V: The Wroclaw Dash
- Volume VI: “I-So-Would” Go To London
- Volume VII: The First Solo Dolo Day
- Volume VIII: To The Top
- Volume XI: Barcelona, First Of The Worst
- Volume X: Get Me Outta Barcelona!
We’re starting to wind down my European adventures, with only two countries to go – Italy and Czech Republic.
When we left off, I had headed home from the Barcelona nightlife at 2:30am, and I had to be at the airport by 5:00am. After a half hour of drunken sleep, I rolled out of bed and hailed a cab to the bus stop. Except, the taxi driver drove right past that bus stop and continued onward…somewhere.
In a bit of panic, I whipped out my poor Spanish and figured out that I had somehow agreed to have him take me straight to the airport. For only 20 euros, it actually seemed like a decent deal, so I stuck with it. After a mid-flight nap, I found my way to the beautiful city of Rome.
I stayed in a bed and breakfast, and never saw any of the occupants of the three other rooms. They even put breakfast out every morning, and changed the sheets every day. Plus, being right next to the Coliseum was a big bonus. It was amazing how small Rome was – St. Peter’s Square was the farthest possible major landmark from the B&B and it was easily walkable in 45 minutes.
Despite my utter exhaustion, I made the hike across the city to the stunning St. Peter’s Square. Here’s a few pictures I took along the way.
On the way home, I had some of the best pizza I have ever had in my life. The actual fancy restaurants in Rome were not that great, I actually much preferred the small little pizza shacks (and the same held true in New York). Lesson learned, pizza is not meant to be enjoyed as a gourmet food.
After what I reckon was my third all nighter of the trip the night before, I called it a night by 8:00. Again.
Check back tomorrow for my tour of the Roman Coliseum, Forum, and Fountains of Trevi.
Is IX a typo?
Also, where did you have that excellent pizza? Give us the name of the place.
good catch, dyslexic moment.
I don’t remember, to be honest. There were so many. I just walked in to any place that smelled good. It’s hard to go wrong with pizza in Rome.
I was once on a 7-day trip to towns in northern Italy; Venice, Pisa, Florence, Trieste, etc. and pizza was shitty everywhere. Although, to be honest, I did go for restaurants only.
The restaurants are largely commercialized unless you find the hole-in-the-wall spots, which often means very little or no English, in addition to being hard to find.