Trouble’s Travels Volume XII: Where Gladiators Fought

1. Prologue: Trouble Returns From Travels
2. Volume I: Getting To Poland – 30 Hours Of Delays, Kissing-Ass, And Getting Drunk In Airports
3. Volume II: The First Night In Poland, Selling Strip Club Tickets
4. Volume III: Getting Yadstopped
5. Volume IV: Where Is Alpha Dwarf?
6. Volume V: The Wroclaw Dash
7. Volume VI: “I-So-Would” Go To London
8. Volume VII: The First Solo Dolo Day
9. Volume VIII: To The Top
10. Volume XI: Barcelona, First Of The Worst
11. Volume X: Get Me Outta Barcelona!
12. Volume XI: All Roads Lead To Rome

The Roman Coliseum was probably the historic landmark I was most looking forward to seeing through my entire trip.  Ever since I was quite young, I was generally fascinated with Roman history.

For me, the Coliseum was nothing short of breath-taking.  The previous day I had bought a Coliseum/Roman Forum ticket, and I got up early (after sleeping from 8pm-6am) and got in right when the Coliseum opened up.  I was one of the first ten people in, which meant that I actually had some peace and quiet to myself to reflect.  It is incredible to think – hundreds of thousands of people died in this arena.  I’m surprised has activist group hasn’t won a petition to have it torn to the ground, or something.

Like I said in the previous post, I was about a five minute walk by foot to the front door of  the Coliseum.  I am so glad I used AirBNB to find places to stay, and I really couldn’t recommend it highly enough.

So after my morning of wandering through the Coliseum and Forum, I decided it was time to just explore the center of the city and some of the landmarks (the previous night before I had taken a route along the outskirts of the city to St. Peter’s).  I saw the Pantheon (didn’t get a picture worthy of this post), the Fountain of Trevi, as well as all the major squares in the city.

I even found a Ferrari store.  I wanted to get a die-cast model as a souvenir, but they were about $150 at the store.  Needless to say, I said fuck that and bought a HotWheels diecast for $10 at a stand later in the day.

With that being said, that sums up Rome!  It is incredible to me that I haven’t even finished blogging about my time in Europe – I still have an entire country and New York City to go!  Hell, my first post in this series was April 16th, over two weeks ago.  And truthfully, I am ready to return to my normal writing, and was ready to actually just skip today and show the pictures.  However, I realized – I need to do this for my own reflection.  In a year, I won’t be able to remember all the details and sequences of events that I did these things.  I need to have this journal/log of everything I experienced.

The final verdict on Rome: I would go again, in a heartbeat.  One catch though – I would want to do it with a special someone.  I would not recommend it as a city of experiencing solo, unlike some of the other cities (Wroclaw, London, Prague) where I would consider spending a decent amount of time alone.  Rome is very much a city of “love” – everything is so beautiful, you just can’t help but want to share it with someone.  Seeing the sights with someone else to take pictures and laugh with would have made the experience even better.

Check back tomorrow for Trouble with Absinthe(!!!) in Prague.