(PS: (pre-script?) if you want to see more pictures from the trip, I'm on instagram as "brendantakesphotos") Ooh pretty things. Done with the UK leg of my trip, which was wonderful. The coast of Scotland was the most beautiful place I've been in my life. I went on a bird cruise up in North Berwick (30 mins north of Edinburgh), which was incredible. I was surrounded by thousands of birds at one point, and felt really small in a very good way. Just got to Italy last night, went to the Vatican today, which was...underwhelming. At least considering the line I had to wait in. Got hit on by a guy in the Sistine chapel, because why not. My friend is coming to do the rest of the trip with me tomorrow, which I am so excited for. I've been happy to have some solitude during this trip, but it's been right on the edge of isolation for the past few days. It will be nice to have a friend here. And also my Italian is shit, and he's fluent, so that will be pretty sweet Edit: oh yeah also my ex has come out as a lesbian, so there's that. She was Bi while we were dating, and I always kinda suspected it. If anything, it makes being her friend now a whole lot cleaner. I am really happy for her, and also feel weird about having dated someone who is now no longer interested in men for 4 years.
Sidenote: going to Vatican city as someone who grew up Roman Catholic, was super aggressively atheist in High School, and now has settled on "I feel weird calling myself Buddhist" was kind of jarring. I really loved seeing how much it meant to some people there though - a few people broke down in tears at points, and it was really powerful seeing their devotion. That being said, visiting the Vatican Museums made me want to start a second Protestant reformation. Holy shit, so much unnecessary opulence. I was as angry as I was awestruck. Also, look at this gnarly crucifix: