March 13 - Outside exploration day

---

I decided today would be my outside exploration day. Firstly, I headed off to the see an aqueduct! It's so nice being outside of the hustle and bustle for a bit and just enjoying a park - it's pretty far out of the central area, so it's nice to kind of be away from that scene too.

The park was lovely - a few little pieces of old buildings and then one giant old aqueduct running down the middle of it. And the dogs!! Oh so many dogs. I was in doggie heaven. Everyone and their dog was there.

From there I wandered back towards the metro, enjoying walking around some of the more local areas. They really do have little vendors for everything - hey, you need a step-stool? There's a guy with a truck full of them on the corner. Diapers? Yep, street-stall for that too.

I also love the amount of graffiti here. Unfortunately I haven't got that many great photos since most of the great ones I saw while on busses, but it is truly everywhere. Even the metro trains are literally covered in it.

Anyway! I headed off to another park to walk along some of the Appian Way. You wouldn't think you could get lost in a park in Rome, but I did find a way. To make things even more fun, it's a big valley of sorts so I got stuck going up and down more often than planned.

I ended up in the depths of some forest-y thing. All I could hear was crows and sheep. Like... 1000s of sheep. It was weird. I felt like I was going to my doom in a Disney movie.

I came out the other side to a find a dog all by his lonesome. No idea where he came from, but glad to at least see something alive at least... He was a happy little scamp, gave me some kisses and then off he went.

I did finally make my way back to a road of sorts and followed it until I found a bus stop. Exciting times. I went to some catacombs after that which was equally interesting and eery, and from there it was back into the city.

I got off at some fancy building which I discovered was a museum - amazing, amazing outside. I spent forever just taking pictures of all the statues and flags and trying to get all the nice angles lol, as per usual. They also had some military guys standing guard in front of a wreath and there are some eternal flames which were fascinating.

Oh. And they had security guards whose sole purpose was to blow a whistle at anyone who sat on the stairs outside the museum. Swear to God. What a job.

From there I followed where people seemed to be walking - which brought me to the Colosseum. I have a ticket for tomorrow, but I roamed around the outside for a bit. There were some guys outside trying to get tourists to sign some petition and woops gotta donate money (ah, good to see this scam is still going strong 4 years later) - anyway, I kept walking and the guys was like : "But you're from Canada! LAND OF THE BEAVER!" ... yes, that really makes me want to come back.

I then headed up to Piazza del Popolo which was a nice area - from there you can climb up to the Pincio for a lovely view of the city. I timed it perfectly, so I was up there for the sunset. Just beautiful!

To end, some random other notes that didn't really fit:


• While roaming around today I also enjoyed playing "spot the Canadian tourist" - it was about 16-17 degrees today, and in the entire day I saw 3 people, plus myself, without a coat. We were all Canadians. We're like pffft this is our warm and glory now - no jacket required.
• Considering how often they repeat their metro announcements, I'm fairly certain I could tell you which stops are closed and to keep your luggage with you at all times, in Italian.
• I remember the first time I was in Paris and there were police everywhere with their giant guns and how unsafe it felt because of their presence. Rome metro feels the same. Idk just something about seeing the big guns makes me shiver.

---