Tommy Holt's Rome Recap!!

Usurping Rome will be tough in my mind’s power rankings. We spent more time in Rome than we are planning to in any other, and justifiably so. As a Greek and Roman history minor we should have spent all 19 days here, but I can understand that seeing other places was probably a good idea.

The sites of Rome were incredible. Standing in the colloseum was a very powerful experience when you step back and think about the rampant death that occurred right where I was standing. So many people from so long ago had traveled along the same paths on the very same stones that I was. We had an excellent tour guide that managed to even teach a few things to an ancient history expert like myself. The forum was just as impressive in my opinion, but looks like a pile of rocks to the non-appreciative tourist. St. Peter’s Basilica and the Vatican museum were a hair below the ancient sites, simply because of my bias towards the older stuff. The church is incredible; nothing like anything I have ever seen. The ceilings are unnecessarily high, and the walls are flush with unbelievable artwork that seemed to lose a little of their appeal because there was so much of it in one place. If there had been one piece of similar artwork in a church in the US then it would be the masterpiece of all masterpieces and glorified beyond belief, but because these pieces are in the Vatican, they get overshadowed a bit. The museum is breathtaking. The Raphael room and the School of Athens also hits home for the classical student I am. But nothing compares to the Sistine Chapel. I am not talented nor creative enough a writer to justifiably describe Michelangelo’s work on the ceiling and I am not sure that one that could do so is alive today. 

A great quality of the city of Rome is their cheap wine and the ability of frugal tourists to purchase and consume it in a place that in no way shape of form is equal in quality to what is being drank. For example, a 3-liter jug of gross crap costs a total of six Euros and is sufficient enough to put even a traveler as experienced as Odysseus into a state of drunken belligerence. It is almost insulting that we would take this mockery of wine to a place as beautiful and renowned as the Trevi Fountain or any one of their Piazzas filled with classical sculptures and age-old churches. If that isn't sufficient enough, the bars are high quality as well. For example, we visited the Drunken Ship. This is a place where Americans from America go to do American things not in America. They had a flip cup table, karaoke, and WWE wrestling on TV. Since it was apparent to us that finding a table within viewing distance of the TV was essentially mandatory, we sat down and enjoyed some specialty drinks with titles outrageously inappropriate for a PG(ish) rated blog. Scholars Pub was next on the list of can’t miss spots given to us by some of our traveling predecessors. This was an Irish pub that gave you a discount if you claimed to go to the University of Rome, so of course we told a few white lies there. But realistically, we should have been given free drinks for the performance of Little Jimmy and the Golden Goose on the karaoke stage. Little Jimmy’s rendition of Chad Kroger singing “Photograph” was not received well by the crowd and he earned himself some character building boos. However, the Golden Goose received a standing ovation as he departed the stage after he swagged all over Brian McKnight’s heartwarming masterpiece, “Back at One.”

One of the most appealing advantages of being in Italy is being able to enjoy Roman cooked Italian food. No better place to enjoy a nice bufala pizza or penne vodka than Dar Poeta or Tony’s. Not kidding, the pizza at Dar Poeta was life changing. I would give up the usage of the internal combustion engine and never use a car again if it meant I could eat this pizza every day for the rest of my life. I would cut off my left arm, and abide by all of the other cliché things to say here combined. It was that good. I want everyone in the world to eat this food at least once. It is a crime not to.

After a few late nights and early mornings in a row, we found ourselves on a grassy patch overlooking the city, laying down and taking a little catnap. When we woke up, we discovered that we had all been picked up and moved a few feet by about ten million ants. We had stumbled into downtown Antville, and at the moment, in a city full of some of the worlds most amazing wonders, could not take our eyes off this anthill. There were so many ants doing so many things.

Anyway, a pilgrimage to Rome is necessary for everyone. We are off to go hang out with David in Florence, hear he is a fun dude, gets white-marble-wasted like everyday. Alora.