So. Much. Learning.

At some point since this week, Liza was prattling off a list of suggestions of things for me to do in Rome while she was at work on Thursday. I wasn't really listening (as per usual) until she said, "great, you're all booked!" Well shit.

What she booked me for was a free bike tour of Rome with a company started by two friends of friends of theirs. The company is called Free Bike Tour Rome. They spent a lot of time working on that. The tour is completely free, you just have to show up at the meeting point with a bike (if not, they'll help you rent one at a discount), and then give the guys a tip at the end. The two tour guides, Simone and Lorenzo, used to lead tours for one of the bigger companies (and in fact, Simone left early to go lead a segway tour -- which he leads from his bike, not a stupid segway) but they wanted to have more flexibility to go places other than the usual tourist hot spots. I thought I was going to get a personalized two-on-one tour, but a chick from the Czech Republic came along as well sadly. That bitch.

We started at the Coliseum because you can't do a tour in Rome without seeing that, but they showed a different side of it, focusing on how the Coliseum became a rock quarry after it was closed. Rocks from the facade were used in buildings and on streets all over town, so you never know if you might be stepping on or looking at a piece of the Coliseum (learning!). From there we went to a museum inside part of the walls of Rome, and learned about Roman miles; down the Appia way a bit; to the pyramid (built in 333 days because the person it was built to honor said it had to be done in that time otherwise no inheritance - LEARNING); to the Bocca Della Verité (which was a sewage cover - LEARNING), to the original town center and the only statue in the city that has an Emperor (Marcus Aurelius) on it that wasn't melted down by facists (LEARNING); a whole bunch of facist architecture (and sidebar, gotta say, facism doesn't sound totally terrible - LEARNING KIND OF); to a basilica with the first wooden doors in the world (according to who, I'm not sure); and a church where the first ever mass was held (again, according to who i'm not sure). And I know I'm forgetting some spots for sure. It was awesome, and highly recommend if you're here.

After my tour, I got tourist trapped and romed the streets for a few hours until Liza was done with work. Saw the usual faves - Pantheon, Piazza Navona (and went inside the church there for the first time which was gorgeous), Campo di Fieri, etc etc etc. The thing that is most hilarious about Rome at the moment is that there are about 9 million guys out selling selfie sticks. It's insane. I thought i was being so special brining mine, but not so much.

Liza and I walked home from her work, had some wine, and then headed out for drinks and dinner in Pigneto (which means "little pines," and is the Brooklyn of Rome). We had some wine and waited for her friends to join us, before heading to her favorite restaurant in town, Porchettone. It's here I think I had the finest meal of my goddam life - the house specialty of gnocchi with 'nduja & pesto. 'Nduja is like a spicy sausage in oil and it's so fucking good you don't even know it. Liza had gricia which is like carbonara but without the egg, and that too was one of the best dishes I've ever had. We also had a starter with three types of mozzarella and some porchetta. I cannot tell you how good this meal was, and (with wine) it was 70e for four of us. INCREDIBLE. We ended the night with some wine at another bar down the street, and at that point Liza, NOT ME JUST HER, was getting drunk and still had to drive us home. Once we got there we split a bottle of Lambrusco from Parma,  because why not. And on Friday morning I may have had some other ideas about why not - ouch.