Rome III

Today I've been a good boy and walked for several hours. I had plans to see the Colosseum and then the Palatine, but when I came down there I decided to drop it (partially because they'd changed the entry point to the Palatine and I couldn't be bothered with the extra climbing). So I walked on south, took in the open space that was once the Circus Maximus and then turned east to the 3rd century Baths of Caracalla. This was a place I hadn't really heard of before, but it was quite a nice place - absolutely huge in size and with some interesting remnants (pics will follow... eventually).

I then walked all the effin way back to Termini and beyond, to have lunch at the Eritrean place. Sadly they were closed today (a surprising number of places are closed on Mondays here) so I had a highly mediocre pizza at a place close by. This is my fourth proper visit to Italy and I've stuffed my face in cities big and small over a large part of the country. I therefore feel qualified to prounounce this surprising but nonetheless true judgement on the Italian cuisine: It's much better outside Italy. Their pizzas are mediocre at best, and they tend to put strange shit on it. Their pasta is often bland and dry. They even manage to fuck up lasagna, and that's actually quite a feat.

In their defense, I've yet to see a single ethnic Italian working in any of the kitchens here in Rome, and I suspect there's a similar lack of locals in most of the restaurants in the bigger cities. The one thing they still get right is their ice cream, though. It's sorbet-like in texture and some of the flavors are simply divine (my personal favorite is to mix strawberry and lemon).

Tomorrow I'm planning a quick trip to see the parts of Terme Dioclezian I didn't get to see Sunday, and then I'll take a bus to the Vatican to see Castel St Angelo and the Palazzo Altemps. Keep watching this space, bitches!