1. Günther Uecker's Spirale Scura (1970) in Galleria nazionale d'arte moderna e contemporanea 

2. Fish in a grotto on Palatine Hill 3. Pantheon 4. window on some street I didn't know I was on

You know, I wanted to go to Rome because every time I've been to London the Asperger features that bother me the most virtually disappear and I get a break from being myself, and I thought maybe Rome would do the same thing with the added bonus of a warmer climate. You've probably guessed already that our trip didn't go quite as planned. V calls me Sperg whenever I get all Asperger-y and freak over something perfectly normal. This little trip to Rome was a proper Sperg-fest. I expected to have problems finding my way there but that wasn't an issue at all. I had also expected to eat well for a change (I'm not too great at eating enough/healthy/regularly), since who doesn't love Italian food, but I got frustrated with not knowing the right places where to get good food or knowing where to get great food and feeling intimidated by the restaurant and walking away. So we ended up in random unintimidating places, eating random things, none better than my own cooking and including the worst artichoke pasta ever. And I get really grumpy when I have to eat things I'd rather not - I'm a terribly selective eater (=picky). The other thing I'm very picky about is my personal space. I do not like people coming too close or crossing my ready-planned route of advancement. Not surprisingly it was extremely uncomfortable to step out of the hotel. This is really something I should've realized ahead of time. The crazy traffic was fine compared to the herds of tourists blocking the streets and aisles and steps and everything. Note to self: do not go to any European city most visited by tourists (i.e. Rome) or you will feel like needing another vacation. It's crazy difficult to sperg out in Rome. London is much better, everyone there behaves as if they had Asperger's anyway.

So yeah, I'm the person who whines about a vacation abroad. Now that we got over that I can tell you about how we also saw amazing art, trees, fountains, houses, ruins. We did all the tourist-y things one would expect, then V caught a cold and we didn't really get the chance to venture out in the really interesting places. Oh well, life. Now that we're home, we both have a cold and it's gotten even darker in Finland. If you want to see photos of our trip, you can check out my Flickr set. I will share some of my favourites here later.