Today is my last full day in Rome.  I will not lie; I am looking forward to my stay here being over.  I am just dying to go east.  I am doing that thing again where I wonder why the hell do I keep coming to places that are not even in my top 100 places to see before I die.  I keep getting sucked in by famous tourist spots. Like how can I not go to Rome and see the Sistene Chapel or the Colosseum?    I need to guide myself away from doing this in the future.  The three days I have spent here could have been spent anywhere east of the Adriatic and I would have spent these three days in absolute heaven.

But then I think of things like my time in Naples or last year in Florence.  I fell in love with Florence.  I loved my time in Naples and all its surrounding areas.  I wasn’t really expecting either of those things to happen.  I am so glad I went.  I love finding new places I love that I hadn’t planned on falling in love with.   It makes me feel like I am learning about the world and growing as a person.  I guess I am bipolar about my vacation destinations.

But anyway, less deep thoughts with Jennifer and more back to Rome.

I am up early to get to the Colosseum before it opens.  I want to get in before it gets too packed. I was not the only person with this idea. The line was so long before doors opened.   It turned out okay though because I had bought a ticket before I left so I go to pass everyone and go straight inside.

I had a combo ticket for the Colosseum, Palatine Hill and the Roman Forum.   Out of the three, the Roman Forum was by far the most impressive.  You can also pretty much see it for free from the street.  Just so you know.

At some point between Palatine Hill and the Roman Forum, it started pouring again.  I am getting so over walking around on uneven and slippery ground in the rain.  I am walking around like an octogenarian, while literal octogenarians whiz past me.  At one point, I drop my new camera – that I had to buy on this trip to replace the one that broke on day one of my trip – onto a cement block where it bounces off into a puddle.  You have got to be fucking kidding me.  Somehow nothing happens.   The camera still works fine.  I don’t know how I got to be this lucky since I am the opposite of a lucky person.  This does however, encourage me to walk even slower since I am now so petrified that if I slip and fall, the camera will not withstand a second smashing into the ground.

Once I am done, it is still pouring, even harder now.    I hate wearing a yellow poncho.  I hate fearing my camera will get wet.  I hate worrying that everything in my bag will get soaked.  I am sick of dodging assholes who do not know how to not poke my eyes out with their umbrellas.

Rain in Rome:

I go back to my hotel for lunch.  As is the norm for me, when I get off the train at my hotel, there is no rain.   Of course.

I eat and nap and give Rome one more chance.  This evening’s itinerary is St. Peters Basilica, where I was just unable to force myself to do when I was RIGHT HERE two days ago.

This place is a mess.  So many people.  There are no signs telling you what line is for what.  So I just went where there were less people and it turned out that line was to enter the church.  The church is absolutely beautiful inside.  I am the opposite of a religious person and it saddens me always to see how beautiful churches are, when so much of what they stand for is the exact opposite.  It just seems like such a waste.

I wandered around inside for quite some time and then went back out.  I think I was planning to go up into the dome but I got sidetracked.  Then when I saw the line, I was just never going to do this.  I sat down and tried to talk myself into it.  Dude, this is your last night in Rome.  Last time you will ever be in Rome.  Go up in the freaking dome you dumbass.   But I just could not do it.  I am done with this city.   I don’t like it and it surely doesn’t like me.  I cannot do this one last thing.  I cannot.  I seriously sat for about an hour having this internal fight with myself.   I was never able to convince myself to go.  I do not regret not going.

Although Vatican City is considered a country of its own, it does not have a passport stamp.   So instead, they market their post office.  People just love to buy stamps or mail themselves post cards so that they have a Vatican City stamp.  This was the post office I saw:

After leaving here, I again made the mistake of trying to find the internet again.   I will spare you this rant. I will say though, that the limited access I have from my flip phone shows me my flight to Bosnia tomorrow is changed.  I cannot see what has changed since it’s an attachment and flip phones do not do attachments.  I am also being picked up in Sarajevo tomorrow night by the driver for my hotel.  Am I arriving at the same time?  Who knows.  Rome hates letting people use the internet.  I am not too worried about it though since check out at my hotel is 11:00 am and my flight is (or was?) at 4:05 pm.  This hotel does not do luggage storage since there is no reception or anyone working here. So I will just go to the airport all those hours early and figure it out when I am there.