From Starkville Mississippi to Cergy France

     It’s now the 2nd day of my travels and it’s time to see some major stuff. Thankfully one of my roommates, Ashwin, told me all about the public transportation in Rome which made my stay so much easier. Also, something great happened. I had no idea, but while I was in Rome it was Cultural Week. What does that mean? Everything is free. The Coliseum, Roman Forum, museums etc… It was great! I had no idea before I got there. What a great way to start!

(The Coliseum)

(Looking out from the Coliseum towards The Arch of Constantine, and the Roman Forum.)

     I spent about 3 hours at The Coliseum. It was amazing! It’s so weird to be walking through a build so old and to know what happened there. Incredible. After that I decided to have some lunch I brought with me. While sitting down eating my lunch a kid walks up and says, “ciao gatto!” There was a cat behind me trying to drink the water from my bottle. Then he started clawing at my bread! What a little scavenger. Oh well.

(Ciao gatto)

After the Colosseum I met up with Ashwin and went to the Roman Forum. On the way there I of course had to take a picture of the Arch of Constantine seen below. I’d have to say the Roman Forum was one of my favorite things I visited in Rome. It was so cool just being there and thinking of how long ago the arches, pillars, buildings etc were made. There’s just so much detail in every square inch of everything here! Truly astounding!

(This is the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier and it was epic. Not so much as a tomb, but there was an awesome art museum inside that I walked through. For free of course because it was Cultural Week!)

(Just some art I liked.)

(Finally…Pizza! Really the only thing I ate while I was there. It was so good and fresh! Also it wasn’t too expensive. Ranging from 3 to 4 Euros and sometimes with a drink at that price. I didn’t try spaghetti, tiramisu or much else. Just pizza and gelato for me! And maybe some chinese food when I got back to my hostel, but hey! It was the cheapest thing around late at night after a long day of walking the streets of Rome.

(There it is. Gelato…)

     That was my 2nd day in Rome. Never a boring moment and always something interesting to see everywhere you look. I don’t think it’s possible to go to Rome and not have a good time. After all that walking I made my way back to my hostel to chill and meet up with Joe. He had a hostel the 1st night on the other side of town so we were separated for a day. Once got back to the hostel and saw Joe, I met some other Americans and a guy from Germany. We all started hanging out and kind of became a crew for the next few days.

-C’est tout!