Rome, Italy

During my semester in Germany, I got the idea to spend a week traveling through Italy with my favorite travel partner and best friend, my mom! I left on Saturday night Nov. 27th for an all night train to Rome, while my mom rode in first class from Atlanta to Rome. We decided to meet in Roma Termini train station and walk to the hostel together.

I got to the train station around 9 a.m. on Sunday and started to look for her. About twenty minutes later, I hear my name yelled. My mom and I had found each other in Italy with no problem!

We walked to the hostel together with all of our luggage. Mom had a few surprises in her bag to give me. She had 3 cans of American Diet Coke that she had gotten from the flight attendant. She split a can while we looked at a map of Rome. I 'upgraded' at the hostel to a four person room (instead of an 8 person room) but no one else ever came. We had the room to ourselves for two nights in Rome!

We started walking for the Coliseum which was only ten minutes away. We joined a guided tour of the 2,000 year old arena. My mom and I were both shocked to find out an estimated 700,000 people, including gladiators, servants, and prisoners, had died in the arena. In between the tour of the Coliseum and Palatine Hill, we ate an Italian restaurant where we split mushroom pizza and salad. This meal became the 'usual' for the week. After lunch we had the tour of Palatine Hill which was the center of the Holy Roman Empire. We stood on the ground where "all roads led to Rome."

To finish up our day, we threw pennies in the Trevi Fountain, walked around Piazza Nivona, and saw the Pantheon. We stopped for cappuccinos which became a daily event to escape the cold or rain. At least this was our excuse. Surprisingly, cappuccinos were really cheap so we drank one every day! We were so excited to be together and to conquer Italy!