The Colloseum, a much photographed, well-known piece of history I had the opportunity to see in person will be a sight I can never forget. A couple of summers ago, my family traveled across the Atlantic to Italy and Spain. We visited many places during this trip, but our first stop was Rome, Italy located in the middle of the Boot and the center of many lessons in World History classrooms

June 26, we awoke before the crack of dawn and boarded our first of three flights for that day. We made all our connections and the flights were quite ordinary. We took our first steps in Rome, Italy early afternoon and had our first taste of true Italian pasta which is truly better than any pasta I've tasted in Arkansas. That first day, we toured the Vatican complete with the Sistene Chapel and St. Peter's Basilica. The details were remarkable and the whole place was just exquisite. The most intriguing part of it all were the surrounding differences of people between their languages, nationalities, and fashion. There were people there from all walks of life centralized in one place. Unfortunately, there was a strict no photography rule, so my memory is the only place where the beauty I observed lives.

It felt like a dream, but the next morning when we awoke to Italian espresso and Buongiorno, we knew we were lucky ones actually experiencing this. Our second day in Rome, was packed full so we laced up our walking shoes and began our 14 mile walking tour of Rome. We started at the Colosseum and learned about the usage of it over time. For example, much of it was destroyed so people could use the stone, but someone realized that it was an important piece of history and was preserved from then on.

We walked around the Roman Forum next which was where ancient Romans did business and since it is quite old, very little is left to observed, but imaginations are alighted as our tour guide painted a picture of the glory days of ancient Rome. The Pantheon, not to be confused with the Partheon in Athens, Greece, had been a temple to the Roman gods. A hole was constructed in the middle of the building to let in natural sunlight and the pouring rain. It was an intriguing piece of architecture. One of our last stops was a view of the entire city of Rome which was quite breath taking.

Although exhaustion was really setting in at this point, this was a once in a lifetime experience so the next morning, my grandpa and I took a taxi over to the Colosseum for the sunrise and then walked around the Roman Forum. It was amazing and I am so glad I sacrificed sleep for it. During that day, us girls decided to shop around and towards the end of the day, we found a Ferrari exhibition. That was such a cool thing to experience and I ended the night with the best plate of ravioli I have ever tasted.

It is quite difficult to capture the true essence of Rome from its extensive history to the magnificent food to the ornate details of the architecture. It was a dream come true to see the actual places we discussed in World History in person and to walk where people like Caesar and Alexander the Great strolled.