Salerno

The small town of Salerno.  Thanks for the tip DG! It was perfect!

I skated along the coast in both directions as far as the road would take me without getting on a highway... then went back to the middle, tore off my skates, bought a €1 big ol' beer and headed to the beach.

I'm a crappy photographer...

The first night I had pasta with muscles and tomatoes, YUM!  

Then they brought out this plate of anchovies... I tried it... but NOPE.

Nice marina/mountain view. Photos don't do justice.

hahahaha, yep!

This artist had a number of pieces around... loved this one.

Sat on the beach where I did nothing. And it was everything I thought it could be.

Tunes, beer, a view.... wish it never ended.

5 AM the next morning I headed to the train station to get back to Roma for my flight home.... cryyyyying inside.  The plane was 2 hours late so I missed my Houston plane while standing in the customs line in DC.  I don't need to bring any negativity to this post so I will omit the part about the Don Johnson douche nozzle. He will get his.

Thanks for reading!!!  Someday I may finish my reflections post I started...

Rome

Day 1...Pisa then Rome. relaxed, had a kebab and reflected...

(Full) day 2. Walked for 7 hours and saw a ton! Tomorrow is my last day and I will tour the underground at the Colosseum

St. John Lateran Archbasilica

It is the oldest and ranks first among the five Papal Basilicas of the world

  I wasn't allowed inside due to my shorts and lack of sleeves....

Across the street was the Sancta Scala or Holy Stairs, and the Sancta Sanctorum, previously part of the Lateran Palace and served as the Pope's private chapel.

The Lateran Obelisk is the largest standing ancient Egyptian obelisk in the world, sweet!

Caracalla Metella Quintili... Baths of Caracalla

the second largest Roman public baths built in Rome between AD 212 and 217

These tiles... so tiny and cover such a vast area... amazing!

Tile mosaics 

Still holdin' on...

Big McLarge Huge!

Guard cat on patrol!

Circus Maximus. A place Christians were more likely to have been persecuted for a show (that was NOT the case in the Colosseum)  and also... chariot races! 

Found another invader!!

This is why walking is the best way to see the sites. You don't always miss the small stuff.

Baby havin' a swim.... downstream from the Vatican

Trying to get to the Vatican I went up a wrong street... uphill.. yeesh! So before the trek back down I had a sit in the shade.

Commotion on the bridge.. there was a helicopter circling as well... hmm

Not sure if someone fell or jumped off.  Later that night I had a dream the ado was about a wire, dome bird cage with someone's prized bird in it... sorry, it ded.

St. Peter's Basilica in St. Peter's Square in the Vatican City

I have an awesome panorama but they don't show up on the blog. I'll try to remember to post it in the FB comment section of this post.

Castel Sant'Angelo

Originally a mausoleum then a Papal fortress, residence and prison, and now it is a museum.

Palace of Justice at Piazza Cavour

Tell it, pal!

Day 3: Colloseum backstage tour

Arch of Constantine

WOW!

Our entrance was the exit of the dead.  The floor is a reconstruction (obviously) but the floor used to span the whole arena. It was made of wood and covered with sand to help soak up the blood.  The entry way directly across was the entrance for the gladiators (cue Julius Fučík's piece).  Exotic animals were slain (more exotic the animal, the "better" the sponsor) and there were pulley systems all around the underground in order to hoist them into the arena from unpredictable locations.

This shows the underground.. originally covered with that wood floor aforementioned.

Very tight corridors and not easy to get around. 

I didn't take a lot of photos on this tour but what really amazed me were the huge stones in place.. all held together by pressure and not cement. There must not be any tectonic plates over here... really mind-blowing.... The Colosseum. wow.

In the middle ages it was inhabited by the poor and was a huge shanty town. How awesome would that have been?!

I really loved all of this and I am bummed I was on a tight schedule and didn't have time to wander more after the tour.  Instead I once again hauled ass to the metro, picked up my stored bag, and made my train to Salerno.

Pisa

I stopped at Pisa on my way to Rome and had two hours before my train. So I did what any reasonable skater would do and laced up my skates n blasted off.

I had a beer and a sandwich before checking out the Torre de Pisa.

Skated in the general direction until I saw droves of tourists... found a lot full of buses then followed the crowd, BAM! made it!

Pro-Designed represent!! And RDJV!

Boom! Tower... now gotta go! 

Okay...am I taking crazy pills.... do you stop in the middle of the road when driving to look at your map or do you pull over... same should go for walking, assholes! Like the damn people that stop at the bottom of an escalator to think about what way to go.. MOVE! you are not the only person on the planet. I went as fast as possible safely to get back to the train station.. I was following a bike when a damn woman stops in the middle of the walkable street, with huge available sidewalks, the bike nearly took her out then I rammed the biker.... JESUS! I know I am a tourist too but damn people are stupid! I almost gave her an ear - full but I don't like being made to feel like an ass so I kept my mouth shut and skated onward.  I miss the Netherlands where people understand moving forward... drives me nuts at home too... no need to wait for a complete stop for a pedestrian to pass, just acknowledge you have been spotted by the driver before hauling ass through an intersection... no need to wait for a complete stop for your royal highness to pass.  And suddenly stopping when a skater or biker is heading your direction... i see you, dummy! Thanks for suddenly changing our cruiding trajectory!  Yeesh! I guess i get it as a mobile person...but it seems like simple logic to me... good thing ive get great stopping skills and jammer brain.

I hauled butt, picked up my bag from storage and missed my train by 10 seconds! Paid for reservation down the toilet... so I took a longer train which did not need a reservation to Rome :/ but I made it! Now in a sweet B&B for two nights... two nights in one city is like a vacation hahaha.

Florence

I'm slowing down a bit, or Italy is just so rich with culture, art and history that I don't have much direction anymore. Still beats being in Texas...  but I miss my cat. Second year in a row I am missing tournament season... but I don't really care either... thoughts about derby have about ceased and I am excited to come home to a fresh start. I have work in my future and a new place to live alone...very happy about all of this.

Another day of getting purposefully lost in a new city

Aimlessly wandering and walked into an amazing square! I honestly had no idea David was outside. 

Love this. I believe that is Achilles..but I will be doing a lot of reading when I get home to say the least.

I had to double take on this place to be sure it wasn't a facade.... mind blowing beauty! 

Meanwhile in the USA.... everything sucks ass hahaha  to put it simply, things made in Europe are built to last while things in the US are made to break. We will be the reason Earth turns into a garbage planet 3 million years from now....

I made a friend! It was nice to wander around the city at night with someone sweet to talk to. We went to a park and watched some great music.. again... at home nothing works out like this... cops shutting down fun, large groups in public places are patrolled and broken up... looking for an oportunity to write tickets for open containers and pissing in public.. I guess that's why all my fun like that happens mobile on roller skates. 

When I get Peapo home she will be depressed to not have nature to romp around in daily... and I will be depressed that I live in the US..

Venice

For me Venice was my "relaxing" stop. I got a room smack dab in the middle of the canals. It was beautiful. I hadn't taken a shower since Vienna. I was even able to comb my hair totally... I usually do that outside because of my ridiculous shedding. High rollin'!

Pro tip: grab a glass of wine, and throw navigational intuition out the window and get lost.

As some of you know I've spent a good amount of time at the Venitian in Las Vegas so coming to the real deal was very much appreciated. 

I couldn't decide which canal smells worse... Venice or Vegas.. but I'd rather hear shouting Italians than stupid stupids that go the Vegas anyday.

A running theme throughout Europe.

After taking the long awaited shower I took to the streets... had wine and a calzoni classico for dinner then ventured onward.. turning every which direction until I was clueless to my where-abouts. The thing about Venice is that the streets are not marked, and tiny alley ways are also streets.. and you can walk a good 150ft before realizing you're at a dead end. Don't get frustrated, get wine.

When I realized I had made it all the way back to the main train station (which I took a canal ferry to my place initially) I figured I should look at my cashed phone map and get back to where I'd sleep.  I went by a store n got some wine and comfort cheese for €4 and enjoyed some time up on the terrace of our building overlooking the canal.

In the morning breakfast was delivered to my room :)

View from the terrace in daylight.

Rode the ferry back to the train station and ventured onward to Florence.