Mapping & Exploring Rome 2019!

After stopping at Vero's for my usual fruti rosi smoothie with whipped cream and two plain croissants, I made my way to the Lepanto metro stop.  I got on the A and packed in with people on their way to work.  I noticed several people staring at me for uncomfortable amounts of time.  This was probably because I was wearing shorts.  From what I've noticed, most Italians were dressed quite conservatively; they still considered this to be winter, not summer.  Flash forward five minutes, I got off the train at Termini, took the escalator upstairs and hopped on the B to San Paolo.  I grew to enjoy riding the B beyond the city walls because that's where it went above ground.  Through the graffiti-stained windows, the bell tower of the basilica came into view.  I got off and made my way toward Saint Pauls. At this point in the day, (11 am) it was already scorching hot, but because I have morals and I wanted to be respectful, I pulled out a scarf from my bag and wrapped it aroun

My eyes immediately darted to the harsh indents of Pluto's large fingers in the side of Proserpina.  I was amazed at how soft and full the skin appeared.  I followed the hands down the hanging legs, the right foot pointed downwards, the left knee pointed upward.  With a second glance, I noticed a figure behind the left foot, a goat, leaning toward the sky, mouth wide, horns curled at its sides.  From the goat I began to trace up the muscular body, starting at his toes to the massive calves, thick veins popping out from under the glossy skin.  A silky drape hung directly over his genitalia, allowing the site to a set of thick thighs.  The V-shaped abdomen moved my eyes up the toned torso of the figure, his hips protruding from his center.  Up the ribs to his hulk-like arms, back to his hands, and eventually across a small gap to her curved stomach.  From the stomach to left her arm, a bent elbow leads my eyes to her flared fingertips.  Despair and anger rest in his eyes, as her hand

After stopping at Forno for a couple of slices for the road, Joseph and I headed towards the Campo de 'Fiori.  We sat on the edge of the monument to Bruno, as we scarfed down our pizza.  Sooner than we anticipated, it began to pour again, so we took refuge under a tent selling every cheese known to man.  Of course, the rain made me realize just how badly I needed to use the bathroom, luckily the guys working at the Wok-To-Walk were sympathetic and pointed me in the direction of the ladies.  I came back to Joseph eating a monstrous container of stir fry.  This shouldn't have surprised me because Joseph has the appetite of a Skidmore athlete, but I was still struck by the site.  After taking a few bites of his food, I decided to order some noodles as well, which I shouldn't have done because I ate less than half, and the container exploded in my bag after being stuffed in there the remainder of the day. We made our way to the tram and came across a bride and groom leaving a

I looked out the window as the train slowly started pulling away from the station and towards Rome.  Peter was already asleep, Reshma was journaling, Emma was scrolling through her phone, and I couldn't tell if Bucky was trying to talk to us or talking to themselves.  It was our third full day in Rome, and some of us decided to go to a nearby lake in a small town called Bracciano.  Backtrack six hours, the five of us stepped out of the uber and into the Roma S. Pietro station.  We had no idea what we were doing, but the woman at the ticket box told us exactly how to stamp our tickets and how to get to the right track.  The second we stepped on the 15:33 train, a huge wave of relief washed over us.  It had been a hot and to some, a stressful morning, a day trip to the lake was exactly what we needed.  We didn't anticipate how meaningful our trip to Bracciano would be.  An hour or so later, we hopped off the train, and I began racing down a hill, with no sense of direction at

Across the Piazza Cavour, I noticed three individuals sitting outside of a restaurant across the street.  The woman on the right, who had blonde hair with platinum streaks, wrapped her arms around the shoulders of the man sitting next to her, as she left kisses up and down his neck.  The man next to her had dark hair and was dressed in a light blue polo which complimented his eyes quite well.  In and out of fondling each other at the table, the two sipped their goblets of wine and made chit chat with the man sitting across from them.  He was older with brown hair and a white button up.  Turns out, the three were from Switzerland and traveling across Italy together, but their story is much more complex than just that.  The woman and the white-shirted male were married and had been for several years.  Within the past months, they made regular visits to see a marriage counselor, because their relationship began to evolve in a negative way.  The two became bored with their daily lives as a