Thursday, July 10, 2003

Well, matt the inexperienced traveler strikes again. Evidently, Rome needs one-day reservations for trains out of Italy. First I have heard. So I am stuck in Rome. There is actually nothing wrong with that. I love this town. There is so much to do that I needed to spend a week solid to just scratch the surface. Last night was great. Nicole showed up and we all had a great time. My head is saying I had too much fun, but that pounding will stop eventually.

I just hope the hostel in Austria has a room open for Saturday instead of Friday. E-mailed them and apologized for my stupidity, but I have not heard back. Met a girl from St. Louis last night with season tickets for the Cards. We hung out, she was pretty cool. Suppose to give her a call and head to a game with her when I get back. It is strange who you meet doing these things.

Even with that, the question as to whether I am a backpacker or not have been answered. I am a "come to a town, stay in a town, see the town, move on" kind of guy. I think that Rome is so much fun, besides the fact that it is such a great city, but I will be here four days and four nights. No rushing around, just relaxing with friendly people. Spring break in Rome would be excellent and pretty cheap. Besides the airfare, 22 Euros a night, 5 nights, cannot beat that. Pub-crawl every night. 7.50 Euros plus just to be lit. I think I have stumbled on to something.

I am really looking forward to Prague. I have not heard a bad thing about it. A couple of stories that have not made it in yet, but I want to write them in before I forget. When I was walking around Rome Tuesday, some guy form France pulled over and asked me for directions to the Vatican. I told him the best I could, he had a map, but evidently he could not read it. In return for my help he said he was clothing designer/salesmen and wanted to give me some samples of two coats. He said they were worth 1,ooo Euros together. They were probable stolen or something. Anyway, he said I could take them as long as I did not sell them. Then he asked for some gas money. That is when I walked away and checked my wallet and chest just in case. Not that I had room to carry the extra load anyway, but it makes you think about the times we do not do something, or all the things we think are shams but would really work out well.

And last night on the bus back, I was joking around with a bunch of drunken Italians. I think they were making fun of me more than anything, but I enjoyed it anyway.