Saturdays Away: Where All Roads Lead

Today, we grab a quick breakfast and hit the road. I decide to return the rental car to the airport since I'm already dropping off a passenger there. Most of the drive is fine, but the last few km are a harrowing gauntlet of 4 lanes of traffic somehow splitting into 6 different directions over and over. I think if I had to get back to town on my own, I'd have just pulled over, set the car on fire, and walked away. Good thing I had a closer option. From the airport, it's a quick tram ride to the station, where I catch a high speed train to Rome. Only 2 stops. My hotel is about a 15 minute walk from the train station, which isn't too bad, but I can't help but notice it's all downhill. Hmm. How bad will this be at fuck-thirty AM when it's all uphill and I'm tired and stressed about flights? I made a last minute change. When the US dropped the test requirement, I decided I didn't need to move to the airport hotel the last night, which, given a tour I booked for that night, was going to be kind of terrible. I'll need to get an early start here, but not as early as I would have to hit the test site in the airport. The hotel website wouldn't let me modify my reservation at this hotel, though, so I booked a single night and let them figure it out now that I've arrived. They figure it out and hand me this ridiculous set of keys.

Since I didn't book train tickets in advance and had no idea how long it would take to settle in or how tired I would be, I made zero plans for today. I ask for a restaurant recommendation on my way out and check out the vintage shops scattered around my hotel. It takes zero time before I look down a street and see the Colloseum peeking between buildings, and start wandering in that direction.

I don't know if I can describe how hard it is to not take pictures while walking around Rome. Every corner you turn greets you with a new old building, ruin, garden, fountain . . . it's wild.

I find myself in Campidoglio, a hilltop square designed by Michelangelo, and the Musei Capitolini doesn't look particularly crowded, so I go in.

While I haven't photographed all of it, I have seen a truly delightful amount of art dedicated to lions and other large cats murdering other animals. The colossus is cool, and so is Medusa, but neither is like being in Animal Crossing.

I still don't have the real one in the game, but now I've seen the real one. My companion for this museum tour is Jake via text message since I don't know who would appreciate this collection more.

I took a lot more pictures than this, in case this seems like a lot. Then I walk down the stairs and set off to see what else I can find. This turns out to include the Pantheon, which is closed for a privet event, and Trevi Fountain.