Venice and Rome

Venice
I think if I were to travel again, I would do my research into the history, or significant aspects of a city before I get to it. I'll be honest, I didn't know a thing about Venice other than it might be a nice place to take your girlfriend/finacee/wife for a romantic gondola ride through the cities waterways. That might explain the extent of my stay there:

• Got lost, couldn't find the hostel
• Checked in
• Walked around for a few hours eating pizza and gelato, and sat on a nice bridge that probably has a name because everyone was taking pictures of it.
• Got lost again
• Made some new friends at the hostel and went out looking for a good time.. Couldn't find one.
• Woke up the next day and figured thats enough of that, off to Rome!

Rome
It's too bad that Rome was the last part of my travels in Europe, because it was such a neat place. However at this point I had exhausted my desire to Rome roam around and sight see. But when in Rome, do as the Romans do?

• Spanish steps (Pubcrawl): Check
• Trevvi fountain: Check
• Vatican city: Check
• Palantine Hill: Check
• Roman Forum: Check
• Colosseum: Check
• Win a beer pong championship in the basement of a pub against two Koreans: Check!
• Get lost wandering around Rome at 3am, subsequently walking about 10km: Check...

One of the more fascinating things done while not Rome'ing was hanging out with an interesting new roommate at The Yellow Hostel, and getting advice about a Thailand adventure, as well as learning about symbology and cults (Angels and Demons may or may not have brought that topic up) that he has a real keen interest in. The people you encounter are often the ones that leave a longer lasting impression than say, the dusty stone remains of the House of Augustus at Palantine hill... Joe had priceless information about where to go, what to do, what to say and how to say it, from his experience living in Thailand for a few years....

Speaking of meeting new people, it's funny what simple conversation can lead to when in an unfamiliar place and without any familiar faces around.
For example:
Me: "Hey, I just got here to Rome, any suggestions where to go tonight?"
Cute girl doing makeup: "Well I'm doing a Spanish steps pub crawl tonight, why don't you come?"
Me: "uh, Ya!"

Trevi Fountain. An estimated 3,000 Euros worth of coins thrown in daily!

...Which in turn led to dinner and gelato the next day -> a Christmas market/fair downtown -> Beers with her two German friends (Xena..and Ben) and a fun night out -> overall a great last impression before leaving Europe. Boom.
Bored or lonely? Just talk to someone, you never know what will happen....









Again, I don't think I did enough research to really get the full experience out of Rome. If you go, do yourself a favour and learn some history and significance to some of the famous areas.