When in Rome... and Florence

I really don’t know what I expected of Rome but I know was surprised at what I got. I knew of the Colosseum and things like that but I don’t think that the history of the place had really set in. The way that there are ruins just laying all over the middle of the city was a little surreal. The stories of things that went down here in the last 2000 years was pretty amazing. We bought a ticket for one of those weak BUS tours ( I would quickly see how bike tours would be a bit of a problem) on the night we got there just to try to go see where everything was and get a plan together for the next day. We grabbed a few beers and crawled on top of the bus and rode around Rome for about the next 2 hours. Good Stuff



To be honest, learning about Rome made all the stuff I had been yapping about it Paris for the last 3 months seem a little less significant. On top of that, I kept seeing things in Rome that the Kings and Emperors of France seem to have copied. The Arc de Triomph. Copied. The Austerlitz statue of Napoleon in Place Vendome. Copied. The Pantheon. Copied. One of the Obelisk from Ramses II tomb. Rome had it first. Paris has its own version of all of these structures only they are about 1500-1800 years newer.

That night we went to a great little Italian joint to get a little local flavor. After they let in three parties of Italians that came in after us on the wait list we finally got a table. No way that gets by me or Dylan back home but we were forced to show some restraint being in their country and all. By now I have just learned to deal with being treated like a tourist everywhere I go. Not a lot I can do about it so there is no reason to get all worked up about it. I feel for the first waiter that crosses me back home. Not Really. But seriously.



The next day we got up and got back on our tour bus and headed over to the Colosseum. We took a tour with this guy from Rome that looked a little shady at first but turned out to be great. He told some pretty cool stories of ancient Rome and was really passionate about it all. That’s one thing that I was probably lacking on in my tour spcheels. He wanted to take all those pre-conceived notions that we all have of the Romans and how violent they seemed and recreate a more realistic sense of what life was actually like back then. A few times he seemed near tears when talking about “his people” and who they really were and are. Don’t get me wrong, I loved my time in Paris and really have developed more of an appreciation for its history, but just don’t see myself getting choked up when talking about it. The rest of the day we just walked around the city looking at all the ruins and then visited Vatican City and went inside St. Peters.



At the end of the day we found a pub in town that was showing American football that night. For Dylan and Charlie it was a way not to miss a Cowboys game for the year but for Graham and me it was our first of the season. So we get to this place, the scholars lounge, appropriate I know, and there are 9 different NFL games being broadcast starting at 7:30 p.m.. I even got to see a little VY in action, which was real special even though he ended the game with a desperation interception. Unfortunately, the following morning, we would have to part ways with Dylan and Charlie. Unfortunately for them, they had to get up at 5:30 to catch a train to the airport. From here Graham and I would open a new chapter in our travel log. Just the two of us and Europe for the next month.

From Rome, we caught the train to Florence. We had to choose either Florence or Venice and though it was a tough choice, we went with the majority opinion we had from our similarly aged Fat Tire patrons back in Paris. Venice will just have to be one of those places I see on my next trip to Europe when I come back to finally climb the Eiffel Tower (still haven’t gotten up there yet but there are reasons which I will delve into on one of my final memoirs)

Florence was great. We took a walking tour in the morning of the city. Then went out on our own and climbed the famous cathedral there, went and saw David, and ended the day in a church on one of the highest hills in the city and listened to a group of four monks do their ritual chants. No real good travel stories to brag about here, just great scenery and interesting history.





I will however tell a little story forewarning any of you couples out there thinking about conquering the sights of Europe together, toting matching backpacks while constantly holding hands, about what NOT to do if you decide to stay in the hostel dorms (meaning not private). We were staying in a 6 person room and the bunk next to us had a couple from Australia occupying it. They were real nice and easy to talk to and even gave us some travel trips because they had just come from Greece and that was next on our list. However, before we even shut the lights out to go to bed, this guy gets down on his knees, next to the bottom bunk, and starts BABY TALKING to his girlfriend and tucking her in. Unbelievable. It was like he was putting a 3 month old to bed. It would have been less awkward for all of us if he would have just gone ahead and crawled on top of her. Believe it or not, that’s not even the worst part. Once they did shut the lights off and he hopped on the top bunk, they started TEXT MESSAGING EACH OTHER. Please, if you want to maintain any credibility among your traveling peers, or even your friends back home (because if I knew any of this guys friends back in Sydney you better believe I would make sure they knew this)…….get a room.

We were in and out of Florence pretty quick and were quickly on our way to the motherland. MY motherland. GREECE.