Rome
Morning walk south then west along the Tiber to the Vatican, enjoying the deserted streets and the cooler weather before the heat. Witnessed a fashion shoot on one of the bridges right in front of Castel de Sant'angelo as well as the long lines trying to get into Saint Peter's Square before Sunday mass.
Trying to hit Angrypig Porchetta for lunch but alas they opened an hour later than I had been lead to believe, and the scramble for a backup plan lead to a second terrible meal outside of the hotel in a row of the trip, at a fake American-southern themed restaurant that not only was one of the few places open on a Sunday morning, it was so popular they asked almost everyone (including me!) if they had a reservation. Given how disgusting the fried chicken bagel sandwich was, I was shocked. Randomly hit some very nice streets and plazas on the way back from Angrypig at least, which still meant that the morning was worthwhile.
Another taxi back to the airport, made sure to enter door 7(ish) at the terminal for the special part of the airport for flights returning to the USA, and reasonably quickly through security and immigration and into the decidedly meh club. Was hoping to stuff my sweaty self into the shower in the club but alas was not meant to be as the shower facilities at the club were sub-par and I did not bring my own towels.
Upgrade to Polaris cleared right before they called boarding, so at least got to fly home in reasonable comfort. (congrats to the #2 on the upgrade list too, who cleared near the end of boarding). The black halibut filet was pretty good as was the shrimp, the catering team expressed their disapproval at the crew's plating, and a good ten or eleven hours later the pre-arrival burger was acceptable if a little dry. Pretty smooth flight as well, just hit the southern tip of a rather cloud-covered Greenland, and a smooth landing at SFO.
Pretty long layover at SFO meant ample time for not only the Polaris Lounge but also sashimi at Tomokazu while airplane watching. Was a long day but overall a productive one filled with travel.