DAY 36: Last Day in Prague/First Day in Rome

Travel day. Took the tram into Prague station. Followed by a bus to the 2nd terminal at Prague airport. Clean and devoid of large crowds. I wish LAX was like this. Arrived to early. Can’t show up earlier than 2 hours prior to a flight for any European airline it seems. Didn’t mind the wait though. There was a model of the airport constructed out of legos, which was a blast to photograph. They had control panels on the outside for children to press buttons that’d make the flight tower light up or the helicopter lift off the ground. Life-sized chess set and game of Sorry nearby too.

Boarded the plane and we were off to Rome. Delayed again. I still haven’t had a single flight in Europe that wasn’t delayed. Maybe it’s the cheaper airlines, I don’t know. Upon exiting Rome Airport, I was reminded of my hometown in South Florida. The humidity outside hit me like a brick wall. I can tell more than one shower a day will be happening during my visit here.

I only know two words in Italian. That’s “hello” and “thank you”. Hopped in a cab with a driver who didn’t speak a word of english nor had a GPS to find where he was going. Tried conversing with me in the car. Sounded like he was complaining about traffic but, again, he could’ve been telling me I was a cockgobbler and I wouldn’t have known the difference. There were a handful of times I thought to a certainty we were going to rear end one of the vehicles in front us. He was aggressive behind the wheel as were most Italian drivers on the freeway.

Settled in. Internet’s slower than dial-up here. Takes me at least half an hour before I can post a blog entry anymore. I’m 40 minutes outside the city center so I have no finger on the pulse of this city yet nor did I intend to leave for the city tonight. Had a splitting headache. Think the traveling has taken its toll in that regard. The lack of sleep and general stress on the body. It’s almost time to return home. The surrounding apartment structures are graffiti-ridden and decrepit. Roads sloppily cemented. This definitely wasn’t the picture I had painted in my head of what Rome would be like but it seems to be a commonality amongst European cities.