just got back home.
it was a very, very pleasant trip! i had envisioned this thread to be something of a travelogue but i’d be so tired by time we got back to the hotel room every day, posting was too much work (not to mention i lacked a notebook)
some scattershot things that caught my attention:
-service workers smoke a lot on the job. even saw a police officer #vaping in florence!
-people there are nuts for small motorcycles that are super bulky and appear gigantic on the sides
-drivers lowkey only signal when turning whenever they feel like it
-all the cities with liveable “historical centers” (rome, florence, siena, san giminiano, etc) are quite walkable. narrow streets, bars, restaurants, squares w public benches everywhere; it’s a cliche but i really had such a great time getting lost in those places, walking around for hours as it got dark eating a sandwhich or whatever
-to the surprise of no one, the food really is all amazing. ate so many pizzas these past few days it’s ridiculous. specially amazing though was the ice cream. what the hell. i had no idea italian ice cream could be so different from the muck i’ve been eating my whole life. melon best flavor 
-the roman public bus system is wild. there are no turnstiles, no guy charging you to get into the bus. nothing!! the thing just stops and you get inside through whatever door. technically you need a validated ticket you pay for (which i did) but no one looks into it? ugh, the italians’ minds.
-huawei / alipay ads everywhere. there were even bilboards entirely in mandarin outside the airports
-god it’s so hot. i know this year was particularly tough across europe, but like, i was fucking around museums and ancient churches n shit at 39ºC! i’m from a tropical country and have never seen something like this