Day 115 - Rome

5 April 2022

Wake up to blue skies. We have been in Italy for seven weeks. Six of those we have been in Rome. It feels like home. There are three ways leaving somewhere can go. First, you hate the place and you cannot wait to go somewhere else. Second, you love the place and you dread to leave it. Third, you love a place, you are sad to leave, but you are excited to start the next adventure. I am firmly in the third. I love Rome. while I am sad to leave, I can’t wait to be on the road again. It is the best way to be.

“Nostalgia in reverse, the longing for yet another strange land, grew especially strong in spring.” ― Vladimir Nabokov

We grab some coffee at the new local. The sky is so bright and blue I am thinking about getting sunglasses. We drink coffee, chat, and read our books until the ships open. We need two things. Hot weather riding clothed and sunglasses.

We hit the shops. Camping stores followed by sports stores. We grab some cheap cool weather gear. We have been traveling in merino. The brand is Ice Breaker and it is excellent. Made in New Zealand. Not only warm, but you can wear it for days without it smelling. I need this. I am a chronic sweater and smell easily. The summer stuff will dry fast and keep me cool but it will smell.

“The air was soft, the stars so fine, the promise of every cobbled alley so great, that I thought I was in a dream.” ― Jack Kerouac

We grab some lunch near our place. The owner is from Bangladesh. It is hard to explain how extraordinary his story is. From Bangladesh to Turkey. To Italy working 12 hour days ina kitchen while he studies to be a chef. Had I not lived in KL and had an insight into just how tough a Bangladeshi refugee life is it might have not registered. He now owns his own restaurant in the heart of Rome and makes the best spaghetti amatriciana I have had in Italy.

“Extraordinary people survive under the most terrible circumstances and they become more extraordinary because of it.” ― Robertson Davies

We head home and drink some more wine. It is a beautiful day. The afternoon drifts and becomes evening. Read and catch up on the Australian election. The current government is a disgrace. I said to my mate Darren, if this government is reelected, I will give up on Australian voters.