You Could Say I ROME'D Around!! (But you probably shouldn't)

Took the train into Rome from Florence this morning. No issues with the high speed train. Took a quick cab (less than 10 Euros) to my hotel hidden in the back streets of Rome's central area. I mean it's basically right in the middle of the city centre. Only problem is that the 'single' bed, which in Florence was slightly smaller than a double, is real small, like dorm room small. Four nights. Hopefully I don't roll onto the floor.

Since I had the afternoon I took to seeing the outdoor sights nearby. The first was Piazza Navona, a big plaza with three fountains and an assload of tourists (including me). Then a two millennia-old temple to the ancient gods called the Pantheon -- it's technically a church now -- but it's still in the Roman style. Took a ten euro quick tour with a guy they said was an 'archaeologist'. I have no idea whether or not that's true but the tour was entertaining and worth the ten euro. Plus I learned that Raphael (who's buried there) died of syphilis, so you know, that's something new.

Then it was on to the Trevi Fountain, which was mindblowingly cool (see picture). Just an enormous fountain from the 18th century coming out of a building. Truly impressive. Then on to a couple more Piazzas, including the Piazza di Spagna, where I went up the Spanish Steps and took some elevated photos of the city.

BTW in a lot of the main attractions and piazzas you see these obelisks covered in Egyptian hieryoglyphics. According to my Pantheon guide all of them were gifts from Cleopatra to her lovers, either Julius Caesar or Mark Antony. All of the obelisks have a bronze topper with a cross on it. That's how the Romans did it -- if it wasn't Christian they didn't destroy it -- they just added a cross and made it Christian.

I'm hoping to knock out the Vatican tomorrow. The line for the Sistine Chapel (and the other museums) is supposedly absurdly long if you don't have reservations (which I don't). I'm sure I'll get in. Just a matter of whether I'll have heat stroke or not.

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Florida in the Key of West

Yesterday was not a pleasant day. 10 hours of driving only to end up at the Best Western in Jacksonville, just so I could stand around waiting for my laundry to finish because the hotel in Key West that I'm staying in for 4 nights had no laundry mentioned on their website. So it's 10:30 at night and I'm sweating on the second floor between the world's loudest dryer and the local ice machine for an hour. And that's following 30 minutes of washing. I even had to hang dry some stuff because even after an hour it still wasn't dry yet. It's times like that that make me question whether or not this trip was even a good idea. It usually happens in the waking moments before sleep when I'm lying in my rented bed in the middle of a town where I know no one. Why am I here? Am I learning anything? Is this just a giant waste of time and money? And then there's times like the Wendy's. I got in too late in Jacksonville and the hotel was far enough ...

A long time coming but I'm finally here

So I made it to New York. That's the long story made short. Here's the story at longer length: I got out of the house and on the road about an hour later than I expected to, but judging by all the maps I was looking at I would still be able to make it within a reasonable amount of time. The thing about trips though is you always forget something. I knew that once it was too late I would realize I forgot something that I absolutely needed. That's just the way it goes. I was dreading the border most of all, it would have really sucked to have to go through a hassle just cause some border guard is having a bad day. As I was approaching the Queenston/Lewiston crossing I picked a spot with two cars in front of me. The first car got the point. As in please park over there sir so we can ransack your car . The second car also got the point, and now I'm thinking is this the designated point guy for the day?! Am I gonna cavity-searched cause it was his turn to search everybody? ...

Walkin' in Memphis, and boy are my feet tired!

The trip through Tennessee, incidentally, was beautiful. Hilly, with roundabouts and full forests. Fun to drive. I tried to take some pictures with my phone, but they all came out pretty assy. I arrived at Memphis at around 4:20 which I later discovered was 3:20. Ah time zones. Looking for a place to eat I headed south down the road to what I hoped would be a nicer area since my hotel room gives me a beautiful view of the freeway. Walking through Memphis I got the impression that this is a city that's either on the verge of a fall or the verge of a comeback. At first I thought it was the former, though now I'm leaning towards the latter. There's a lot of nice things around, decent restaurants, nice views, ok shopping... but for every location with activity there seems at least one other that's boarded up with big For Lease notices stickered to the window. The other thing I noticed as I was walking was that nobody else was. Nobody. The city was dead to walking traffic. P...

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