ROME

Years ago I went to a psychic who was..we’ll just say she’s not the best psychic I’ve been to in my time, but she was so adamant I had a past life in Rome as a senator. She even went as far as to say that I was “fair”. Like ok great, I was a politician, a man, and on top of that I was a people pleaser?? Lame.

Anyway, I’ve mocked that for years only to go to Rome and absolutely fall in love with it. The price I must pay for being such a little shit for all that time.

Now while I’m still not sold on having a background in the Roman senate, Rome really surprised me. The history of the Roman Empire was never a subject I had interest in, I couldn’t care less about gladiators because I find it nauseating, and my uncultured ass doesn’t like Renaissance art. That said, going to Rome was more about having a large airport option to fly into and hitting the Rome highlight reel for a day before heading back home.

I was SO wrong.

We did a whirlwind walk of the sites you just have to see, though I didn’t go inside any and don’t necessarily have the desire to. Coliseum, Pantheon, Spanish Steps, Trevi Fountain, etc. The whole experience in a matter of hours.

To be honest, the hours of my time in Rome I’d have taken back were the ones spent at the Vatican. Like..ok I’m weirded out by the sheer amount of wealth being hoarded by the Catholic church so the entire place gave me weird vibes, even if the art was impressive.

The tour process also takes around 3+ hours due to dealing with the security of getting into Vatican City since it’s its own country or whatever it is they are. Again, weird vibes. It’s a lot to push through to see the Sistine Chapel, which is conveniently the last place the tour brings you to. Cruel. Twisted, even.

Once ditching the Vatican tour early by sneaking off from our tour group, I spent the rest of my evening in Rome in the neighborhood of Trastevere. I loved everything about this.

I had an extra day to kill all by myself before my 8pm flight, so I actually came back to Trastevere with the sole purpose of taking photos.

My favorite time spent in Rome was wandering Trastevere, getting a new tattoo, discovering Roman dive bar culture, buying Italian tarot cards and an astrology book from an old bookstore, eating tiramisu for lunch, and buying some new eyeshadows for the thrill. These are truly some of my favorite travel memories.