Europe Prologue: NYC to Rome

Here we go again. It’s been 2 years since I’ve written a post here and I welcome back the readers who followed along as I crossed the United States in 2017. I received great feedback on the blog the last time around and hope to improve my writing and content for this trip. If you like what you’re reading or have suggestions please let me know in the comments section of each post. I love the feedback.

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Saturday 5/11

There is something less dramatic about heading to the airport as the first stop of a bicycle tour. For the last trip I grabbed my bike, headed out the front door and just started pedaling. This time I had to box my bike up, throw it in the back of a Lyft XL and head to Newark Airport. I arrived at the airport around 8:30 PM and was greeted by a long line at the Norwegian Airline bag check. After some confusion and waiting I was able to check my bicycle and a bag. I think I did a good job packing the bike up, but I will be concerned about it until I see an undamaged box waiting for me in Rome.

After getting through security, I sat down at McGinley’s Irish pub around 9:30 PM hoping to grab a quick meal before my flight boarded. I didn’t receive a menu until 9:55 and when the waiter came back to presumably take my order he instead informed me that the kitchen was closed. The bar was still serving drinks so I had a Guinness which came to $16.00, with a 15% gratuity already included. By the time I paid for my beer it was 10:45 PM and the only food option in the terminal was McGinley’s Irish Pub To Go. I’m not sure why they don’t offer this food to bar patrons once the kitchen is closed, but I had to wait on a line for 20 minutes to purchase a sandwich that was likely made 2 days ago. I don’t plan on developing a rating system for restaurants during this trip, but we’ll call this a 5 flat tire restaurant. 5 flat tires being the lowest rating with 0 flat tires of course being the best.

By 11:00 PM my flight began boarding right on time. I was in the air just before midnight and hoped to get some sleep on the flight and arrive in Rome well rested and ready for the next day.

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Sunday 5/12

Today was a lost day in the sense that I didn’t really do much, but it was also successful given how much could have gone wrong. I landed in Rome at 1:30 PM local time and headed to baggage claim to pick up my bike. I was nervous about my bike making it to Rome in one piece and was happy to find the box was undamaged. I settled into a quiet corner of baggage claim and methodically put my bike back together. It took longer than I would have liked, but after an hour or so I was ready to leave the airport.

The airport is about 20 miles from the center of Rome and the most convenient way to get there is by train. Bicycles are not allowed on the express train, so I hopped on the regional train for a 30 minute ride to the Roma Trastevere Station. From there it was a 6 mile ride on my bike along mostly bike path which followed a river.

I’ll be staying for 3 nights at Guest House Ava which was a great cheap option at only $35 per night. It is also within walking distance to many of the attractions I’ll be checking out over the next 2 days.

Once I was settled into my room I took a shower and then headed out for dinner. I found a small restaurant close by and ordered a pasta appetizer and a small pizza. Based on the combined price of €15 I expected small portions but received a dinner sized portion of pasta and a 12 inch pizza. It was a good meal and something I could likely finish in a few weeks once I’ve been riding consistently, but this time I had to leave leftovers behind. I walked around for a bit after my meal but exhaustion started to hit me hard. I finished the night by watching an NBA playoff game on my computer while trying to stay awake long enough to adjust to the 6 hour time change.

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Monday 5/13

I had ambitious plans for my first full day in Rome and with an early start I covered a lot of ground. I arrived at the Colosseum around 10:00 AM after a quick breakfast pastry and cappuccino. After 45 minutes in line I entered the Colosseum for a self guided tour. I admittedly don’t know much about Roman history. When I think of the Colosseum my mind immediately goes to the movie Gladiator. There were guided tours going on so I was able to linger close by and pick up bits and pieces of information. The sheer size of the Colosseum was impressive as was the exhibit which took me through the entire reign of Roman emperor Septimius Severus.

My next stop was the Roman Forum and Palatine Hill. I thought the Colosseum would be the highlight of my day, but I actually found my walk through Palatine Hill to be more enjoyable. Palatine hill is one of the most ancient parts of Rome and at 40 meters tall provided great views of the city. The area is sprawling with gardens, fountains and steps to climb which made for an interesting walk.

The rest of my afternoon was a leisurely walk through the city which took me past the Trevi Fountain, Spanish Steps, Pantheon, Piazza Navona, and Campo de’Fiori.

With my sightseeing finished I headed to the neighborhood of Trastevere for some beer and food. I started at a great bar called Ma Che Siete Venuti A Fà (translation: but what did you come here to do?) followed by Bir & Fud. I haven’t heard great things about Italian beer, but found both bars had beers from craft Italian breweries that brew American style beer. After trying a few very good beers I capped off my night with a walk past the Vatican to have some gelato from Old Bridge which was great.

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Tuesday 5/14

My only real plan for today was to visit the Vatican Museum and the Sistine Chapel. I had purchased a ticket in advanced and was able to skip a rather long line as I entered the museum. If I could describe the museum in three words they would be chaotic traffic jam. The Vatican Museum has many narrow passages and with most people traveling through the museum in tour groups of 20+ people it was nearly impossible to enjoy the experience. Many tour groups would stop and block the entire passage way only to later move quickly past several interesting pieces of art. If you were not traveling at the pace of a tour group you were likely to get trampled. The museum is set up in a way that once you enter you are set on a path to walk the entire museum in a specific order. This is not a choose your own adventure experience. I’m sure the museum is well curated and has a ton of amazing things in it. I was unfortunately forced to bypass many exhibits in order to get out of a grid lock or forced to abandon reading signage explaining pieces of art because I was getting overwhelmed by the crowd growing behind me. I can’t say the Vatican Museum should be skipped if you are visiting Rome, but I certainly wouldn’t make it a priority.

The Sistine Chapel was definitely impressive. I stood in the center looking upwards for at least 15 minutes taking it all in. There are no pictures allowed, so there is nothing I can share from that experience. If they offered an express pass to visit just the chapel without the museum I probably would have done that.

After spending 3 frustrating hours walking through the museum and chapel I spent the rest of the afternoon walking around Rome. It was nice to not have a plan and just wander around. I arrived back at my room around 5:30 and spent some time editing photos and writing this blog.

By 6:30 I was ready to head out again and decided on a trip to the Jungle Juice Brewery. I know I’m in wine country, but there is also a growing craft beer scene in Rome that I wanted to check out. The brewery was a bit out of the way, but I enjoyed a great selection of beer and some good conversation. A replay of game 6 of the Sixers-Raptors series was playing on TV and I struck up a conversation with the bartender about professional sports in Europe compared to the United States. We joked that our NBA players show up in Europe when they are too old and washed up to play in the NBA whereas all of the old Euro soccer players are making their way to the MLS to finish out their careers. The bartender also had an extensive knowledge of Kobe Bryant’s Italian roots. We also talked about the craft beer scene in Italy and how it is becoming very similar to the United States where big beer companies are buying up small competitors to maintain a monopoly on the industry. It was overall a really interesting conversation and well worth the trip out to the brewery.

I finished the night with a slice of pizza and a quick subway ride back to my room where I called it an early night. Tomorrow is my first day of riding. I’m hoping the weather cooperates and my body is up to it. I’m really excited to get on my bike and see what lies beyond the city lines of Rome.

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Musings:

• Everyone (for the most part) speaks English even if at first they don’t appear to. I was sitting at a bar with 4 other people for 30 minutes and could not understand any of the conversation that was going on around me. Soon after, a friend of this group came in with his new bride, an American. She started to say hello to them and within seconds the group was all of a sudden conversing in English with perfect American accents. Lesson learned. If I try to initiate conversation I might be surprised.
• Pasta as a first course is a large enough meal on its own. Italian menus confused me at first because everything is listed as a first and second course which to me implied that the first course is an appetizer. I usually use price as a way to determine food size, but in Italy an €8 pasta dish listed as a first course can be dinner on it’s own.
• Wherever there are tourists there are people trying to hustle those tourists. The number of people that have approached me in the last 2 days trying to get money out of my pocket in various scenarios is unbelievable. My favorite hustle is what I’ve been calling the “reverse steal”. Someone comes up and literally tries to force a small souvenir object into your pocket or hand. Once the object has been transferred unwantedly into your possession the hustler will not accept it back claiming it is a gift. They then try to beg for cash using the “generosity” of this gift as guilt. The first time this occurred a guy blocked my path and forced a hand shake. I had my guard down and didn’t realize the object was in my hand until it was too late. Now I treat these hustlers like I would a dog chasing me on the bike. Head down, no eye contact and hope they lose interest quickly.
• Crosswalks are a great thing, but can be made even better with lights or stop signs. The streets of Rome are fairly safe but I got into a few standoffs with cars where neither of us could decide who should go. Unless there is something I’m missing, it appears the rule for pedestrians is to step out into traffic and hope not to get hit.
• Subways in a major city can be clean and on time. Get your shit together NYC.