Say Please

As always, it’s interesting to step back and see how fast days are going by. I haven’t slowed down on my adventures for 2015. Shortly after the trip to The Great Portlandia, the Great Star Slinger came to Austin, TX for a great set!

For Gloria’s spring break, it was time for our long planned trip to Rome and Prague. After some delays and flight switches due to weather, we made it to Hotel Taormina. It is a really nice hotel that is walking distance to many of the places we wanted to see. The staff is super friendly and courteous!


After a night of rest, we took a quick walk to The Colosseum in the middle of the city. It is a heavy tourist spot, with many people from around the world. Within a few feet of the Colosseum is the Arch of Constantine, so a few photos were of course needed.

We didn’t have time for the tour of the Colosseum or the massive Roman Forum, as the weekend was to be spent in Prague, Czech Republic. After a quick bite to eat at one of the many pizza places, we were off to a weekend in Prague.


Gloria’s college roommate, Tatiana, was a visiting scholar at the University of Texas, and a Ph.D holder from the University of Economics in Prague, is a good friend that we have kept in touch with since 2013, and we stayed with her there.
2013 in Austin

2014 in Ibiza

Upon our arrival in Prague, Tatiana was there to help us get around and find food. It was another wonderful reunion.

We spent hours walking around the city with Tatiana, seeing lots of churches, castles, and other amazing buildings. The architecture in a lot of Europe is breathtaking.




Charles Bridge


After hours of sightseeing, Tatiana took us to U Slovanske Lipy for some food and drinks. The plate I got was heavy on the meats, and I was unable to finish even with Gloria’s assistance. It was delicious though!

THE MEATS

The night was enjoyable and unforgettable. After some rest, it was time for some breakfast and more sight seeing.


Prague is known for their breads and sweets, so it’s only natural that we had as much as we could while here.



More pastries

Before we knew it, our time in Prague had ended. It was great to see Tatiana again as always, and the weekend trip would have been significantly harder without her there to show us around.

Back in Rome, the first day was spent walking to the Fontana Di Trevi (Trevi Fountain), but sadly they were doing some repairs and restoration during our visit.

However, they did let us inside for a closer photo.

Next up was the Pantheon. This was a very crowded and lively area.



Our Italian friend Livio said we have to go to Giolitti for gelato, and wow, it did not disappoint!


Related, a 30 second clip from one of my favorite movies, Scott Pilgrim vs. The World

I couldn’t get enough of the Roman architecture. These structures have stood tall for a very long time.



After a bunch of walking, we found ourselves inside Vatican City, where we spent some time in the Vatican Museums.



We made our way to the Sistine Chapel. It was heavily guarded, and no photos allowed, so I didn’t want to risk it. I encourage everyone to go see it if possible. Words cannot describe it.

We finally back tracked to the Colosseum and Roman Forum for a proper tour. The Roman Forum is huge, and after over an hour we still hadn’t seen it all.



I made sure to buy some cool street art while we were in the area.

To end this day and the last day, we made sure to make it to the Spanish Steps, inside the Archbasilica of St. John Lateran, and checking out as much architecture as possible.

It was a magnificent trip, and the best of my life so far. There is so much that I couldn’t squeeze into this blog post, including all of the pizza, pasta, wine, and sandwiches consumed. I recommend a place called Devil Planet for pizza, as well as My Bar near the Colosseum for more excellent pizza. Gloria told me that My Bar was actually a gay bar (in hindsight, I’m not sure how I didn’t notice haha), but it made no difference to us.

Well that’s all for now. As always, I’ll try to do better about keeping up with this blog. Grazie (thank you).

Song of the post: Teams vs. Star Slinger – Say Please. Enjoy!