Italy Stories and Tips

First Day in Rome

The Roman Forum Photo, Rome, Italy

The Colloseum was huge in our faces immediately on stepping out onto the streets. It was a madhouse. There were Italians yelling about sunglasses and stuff on the sidewalks, gypsies all around, Romans dressed up like Praetorian guards, and a breathtaking landscape filled with remnants of the ancient world.

I tried to remember all the things I learned in Latin class as well as try to think of things to say in Italian, but it was all so surreal. All I could do was keep clicking pictures to remind myself that it was not just a fantasy and I wasn’t dead.

The "governor’s mansion" of Rome was gleaming white with a huge gold statue in the center. It was stunning. The landscape itself was different and unusual with tall, skinny trees like cedar with foliage from top to bottom and shorter trees with an umbrella-like foliage up at the top.

We decided to go eat at this al fresco place. We got bottled water, and I had the fettucini romana with meat sauce. The noodles were very yolky and chewy than I’m used to, but the "salza" was absolutely to DIE FOR. Delicious. It was so cool and breezy underneath the ivy at the café. It really was breathtaking and such a relief from hauling baggage around for the past three hours. This laptop must weigh ten pounds, not to mention the excess sweat it cause by chaffing my back and neck. UGH!

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