ROME, ITALY. THE ETERNAL CITY.

General Country Information:  Capital: Rome   Language: Italian   Legislature: Parliment   Currency: Euro

Transportation- All throughout rome, I took the metro. It was very easy and simple because there was never a station far off from where I was.

Hotel- In Rome, I stayed at the Hotel Dei Mellini. It's a beautiful hotel, in the heart of Rome, but also very close to Vatican City. There is a roof garden and a solarium. This hotel has many wonderful features, and I'm very excited to be staying here.

DAY 1                                                                             June 23rd

Mama mia! I'm in Rome! It's around 12:00 in the afternoon and I'm just putting all of my luggage into my hotel room. When I finished getting settled, I decided to go on a tour. I always think it's good to start out with a tour, because then you can get a view of the whole city, so you can begin planning where you want to go. When I was on the computer looking for tours, I fell upon the Rome Segway Tour. IT LOOKED AWESOME! According to google, a segway is a self-balancing personal transportation device with two wheels. I liked this option a lot because you're outside, and free to move all over Rome, in a fun way. So I booked the 3 hour tour for 68 euros, and thankfully, I was able to get in. During the tour, we passsed the colloseum, St. Peters Basilica, the Pantheon, and many museums. It was so cool! Not only did I get to see most of Rome, but I also got to ride a segway. It was awesome! I would definitely do it again. When I got back to my hotel, I ordered some bruschetta with bucatini alla amatriciana. It was delicious! I like some Italian food, but I've never really like pasta. But I was wrong. For you haven't tried pasta until you've tried it in Italy. After a wonderful tour, and an exquisite dinner, I went into my hotel room and got ready for bed. It felt so good to finally rest after, being on a plane for some hours, and "segwaying" all over Italy. I could already tell that it was going to be a long, yet excellent week. Goodnight everyone! Or as the italians say, buananotte. :)


DAY 2                                                                              June 24th

Buon giorno! (Good morning!) It's day two in Italy, and I'm all reved up and ready to go. To start off my day, I'm going to see the Pantheon. The Pantheon is an ancient temple that was for all of the greek gods. Pantheon translates into all of the gods. When I got there, the exterior was pretty, but it looked very old and aged. I soon assumed that the interior would look just like the exterior. And I was right. You can tell that it is a very old building, but the indide is extravagent! The popes take care of it, and boy do they ever do a great job. The inside was beautiful! There I learned a little bit more about the ancient history of Rome, and it was really interesting to go inside of an ancient temple. After that fine cultural activity, I decided to do something thrilling. How about a time machine ride, showing you the history of Rome! Sounds fun right? This is what they call the Time Elevator Rome. It's about 45 minutes long and costs 12 euros. I'm going to take the metro to the theatre and I'll tell you guys all about it when I get back. (In time! haha) See you soon!

      Oh my gosh! That was amazing! In the "time machine" there were 3 panoramic screens, and flight simulators, so my seat moved around and I saw ancient Rome surround me! It was so great, and now I know a lot about the history here! (I even brought my notebook so I could take notes.) If anyone is thinking about going there to see the movie, I would certainly suggest it. Well, I think it's time for me to experience my first pizza....in Italy! I went to a little pizzaria called Dar Poeta. I had the Dar Poeta. It was a sausage and zucchini pizza. Although it may not sound appetizing, it was actually really good! Who would've thought. Zucchini on a pizza? Haha! After my delich pizza, I got back to the Dei Mellini and partied in my room, by myself, all night. Because when your all alone across the world, there is no one there to yell at you when you jump on the bed. :) PARTY!


DAY 3                                                                               June 25th

It's my BIRTHDAY! And day number 3! It is a lovely day in Rome, and I'm hoping to do some outdoor activity. I already had some breakfast in my hotel on a little table outside so I'm all energized and ready to go. I'm going on an excursion to Tivoli! Tivoli is a beautiful ancient city, and I'm excited to explore. The cost of this excursion is around $76 U.S. dollars so hopefully it will be worth all of it!

     Hey guys! I just got back from the excursion! YAY! The whole tour was about 6 hours long, but I enjoyed every minute of it! First we started at the Piazza dell'Esquilino. The tour-guide said that this was one of the "seven hills" of Rome. There we saw extravagent rooms along with the colloseum, the baths of Tivoli, and the Lucano Bridge. From there, we slowly transitioned to Hadrian's Villa. It was built in the second century by the emperor. I have to say out of all the places I've been so far this had to be my favorite. It was breath-taking. Seeing gorgeous fountains, and stunning italian flower gardens was something not even a camera can capture. There was also a pool and an fake grotto. It was soo cool! Since it was my birthday, wouldn't be a great idea to do some birthday shopping? I went to what Italy calls, "Piazza di Spagna" which translates to mean, "Square of Spain." They had hundreds of cute little designer shops all around. I got around only to a few of them when I decided to go check out some of the Italian markets. The markets were very bright and lively. There was a ton of fish, veggies, fruit, spice, utensils, tableclothes, and toys. All of the food was very fresh. I bought a couple of fruits, along with veggies, and some italian spices to bring back home with me. Today was a very wonderful and succesful day. I was to pooped to perry to do anything else so as soon as I entered my luxurious room, I was asleep in an instant.


DAY 4                                                                               June 26th

 Happy Morning! Today I am going to the Museo della Pasta. It is a museum all about pasta! Now how cool is that!
It presents to tourists the history of pasta, the production of pasta, and numerous types of pasta. The mini tour took about two hours. After I left the museum, I was in the mood for pasta so I went to the Antica Pesa restaurant. It is a classical and historical restaurant. I had a pasta sampler platter. There were a bunch of different types of pastas. It was delicious! I took the metro back to my hotel. I decided to go up to the roof garden and solarium to relax and view the wonderous city of Rome. It was a wonderful and beautiful end to my night.


LAST DAY!                                                                      June 27th

 :( Sadly, the time comes again...the last day! Although I will miss Italy terribly, my flight doesn't leave till 5:00 p.m. so I'll still have some time to do somethings before I depart. First, I'm going to the Palatine Hill. The Palatine Hill was a place where the wealthy used to come and have a retreat. There are still ruins dating back to the first century. I went inside and toured the "village" and it was really cool! I learned a lot from this tour, and I'm glad that I went there. After that, I went to an adorable little ice cream parlor called La Cantinola. There I had a tartofa, which is a soft light sweet ice cream. I had the viniglia flavor, which is vanilla in Italian. It was very refreshing, and a wonderful end to my trip in Italy. Well, I wouldn't want to miss my flight so I gotta go! :)