I am back and my brain consistency is similar to a low quality gelatin product. I would rather lick the floor of the Roma Termini than dig through the virtual pile of emails sitting in my inbox. So I write.
Italy was amazing. Pictures and full verbosity later.
Highlights:
- Hooking up with locals (some of The Girl's distant relatives) and listening to them scream at each other while trying to navigate the roads of Roma in a Mazda 6. (Compared to the other cars on the road the Mazda was roughly the size of an F350 Quad Cab with an extended bed).
- Partying with aforementioned locals till 5am at a disco embedded in the side of a cliff.
- Hurtling through the Tuscan mountains (hills?) in both a shitty 24-speed hybrid bike and a Ford Transit driven by a mad Scotsman.
- Feeling very James Bond when sitting up at the pool of the Hotel Exedra.
- Fantastic pork products
- Statement about viewing the countless works of priceless art and 2000 year old ruins go here.
- Realizing that knowing a bit of Spanish and Latin roots go far toward picking up the language quickly.
- Incredibly cheap wine
Lowlights
- Venice - You will never find a more wretched hive of scum and villainy. You must be cautious.
- Tourist volume - There were more English speakers in Rome than live in my neighborhood in Chicago.
- The dollar's continued free fall against the Euro.
- After a while countless works of priceless art and 2000 year old ruins kind of blend.
- Incredibly expensive beer
Big thanks to Doug and Shiggy for picking up the slack while I was away.
I have links!