Arrival/Rome
Wednesday, May 18, 2005
Wednesday, May 18
Here we are: Rome, the Eternal City. My first trip to Europe as well.
Started in Indianapolis (but drove all the way there from home without my driver's license), then flew to JFK in New York City. A short layover, then on to Rome! It was a looooong flight, nearly 8 hours. Slept only two. Games, snacks, movies, etc. to keep myself entertained on the overseas flight; food was pretty good, too. The kids are great and fun to be around.
| After landing today, we boarded a bus for the hotel to drop off luggage and get settled. Then we got back on the bus and headed to the city center of Rome. |  |
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Our main tour guide is Flavia. She is responsible for shepherding us from place to place in general, but will not always be our guide at various destinations. For example, tomorrow we will go to the Coliseum, the Forum and other major Roman sights and, while Flavia will go along, Maria will be our local tour guide. |
| However, today Flavia took us to some cool places: the Spanish Steps, the Pantheon, and a piazza/fountain that I don't remember the name of. We tossed coins backwards over our heads into the fountain and made a wish. If you made it into the water with your coin, your wish will come true. My coin made it; we'll see about the wish. |  |
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The Pantheon is huge. There was some construction inside, so some of the building was off limits, but most of it was available to walk around. The crowd was pretty big, too. |
Afterwards, Josh, Caitlyn, Vanessa and I walked around the city for a bit. We found a little stationary shop where we found these cool journals. Josh and Caitlyn bought one, as did I, though mine is lined and has fewer pages than theirs.
We're off to dinner in a few minutes, so I'll close for now. More later...
Later...
Had a plain, but good dinner. Pasta for the opening course, pork and puré (puréed potatoes) for the second, and fruit for the third. A typical three course Italian dinner.
Bad news: my pen is out of ink. I borrowed one from the front desk at the hotel to finish this, but I guess I'll have to buy one tomorrow.