Day 8: Laundry Day

That's right. It's finally time to wash all the clothes I brought with me. Doing the math, the fact that I lasted this long means I will have to find ways to do laundry six or seven more times. Which would be a terrible way to measure the length of this trip, so let's use it.

I am officially one round of laundry through this trip.

Laundry was relatively painless though, I basically threw my clothes into the washing machine and then went out to lunch. When I got back they were dry and ready to go.

THE DAY DIDN'T END THERE.

With plenty of time left in the day I decided to hit a few key landmarks for my Roman visit. Fortunately everything today was free to make up for the extra laundry expense.

My first stop was the Spanish Stairs. A brisk thirty minute walk from my AirBnB, and in the same neighborhood as a few other spots I wanted to see. The easiest way to find the stairs, was to find the crowd. The one downside to free attractions, is that they are crowded.

I'm not sure if normally you are allowed to walk on the Spanish Steps, or if they are always blocked off, but they were blocked off. But what was really interesting was the small fountain at the base of the stairs. People gathered around it like a watering hole, and did indeed drink from it. There was a steady procession of people stepping up to the fountain onto a small platform and filling their empty water battles with water from the fountain. I have never seen anything like this anywhere else, so kudos Italy. Free drinking water for all, and served in such a fantastic way.

Just down the street was the Trevi Fountain, a slightly less humble fountain than the first one. This was extremely crowded, to the point of claustrophobia. Just getting to a good position to see the fountain was a waiting game of watching other people. When they left you had to be the first to jump into their spot or someone else would beat you to it.

When I finally did get a good viewpoint on the fountain, I understood why it was so crowded. The sheer magnitude of work and talent that went into this fountain is simply impressive.

Next up was the Pantheon. Something I consistently associate with the Parthenon in my head. While both are impressive, I must say I enjoyed the Parthenon more. But don't get me wrong, the Pantheon was still amazing to see, and I spent at least half an hour wandering around the single large room. I only wish I could have seen it during midday, when the sun would shine through the top hole (maybe not straight down, but close to it).

When I finished with the Pantheon it was time to start walking back and look for dinner. Today I was determined to try Italian pizza. I got my wish.

The first pizza on the menu was pizza without cheese. All lactose intolerant's rejoice! I was so excited, I ate the entire thing. It got difficult towards the end, but I regret nothing. Both pasta and pizza, the two foods I was most excited to try here, pass my test.

The way home was one of my favorite walks so far. First I walked by the Roman Forum again, but for some reason, the street was clear of cars and people were walking down the road. Above the forum hundreds of swallows filled the air. The sun had just set and the air was cool. The perfect time for these birds to come out and catch insects. I didn't even have to look that up. I'm a bird nerd. I also know that swallows enjoy nesting on cliffs and rocks, or perhaps the ruins of ancient Rome that were all around us. It was a great separation from the usual hustle of the city. Hundreds of people walking down an empty street in the cool evening air as swallows twirled gracefully above.

Then later, as my walk led me past the Colosseum, I found out what was keeping the cars off the streets. First a few and then many runners came up the street. I had no idea it was happening, or what was happening still, but thousands of people came running down the street. The ran right past the Colosseum, which would have made me make a comparison to the "athletes" in the ancient times, but I don't think I could really call them that. Still of all the buildings to run by, Colosseum has to be one of the top five.

I don't know where they came from, or where they were going, but there was a lot of them.

On a slightly different note, I am excited to announce that my Ireland video has finally been put together and uploaded, so feel free to check it out at your own leisure. I decided to focus it mostly on Galway and leave Dublin out because ninety percent of my footage was from Galway. Sorry Dublin, I just didn't always feel like taking a video when I was there.

Tomorrow I'm going to try to go to the Vatican. I have no idea what to expect in terms of crowds or lines or anything like that. But I'm going anyway.

Thanks for reading, see you tomorrow.