It was surprising how much better Rome was than Athens. At the time I thought that Athens was an amazing city because it was so different to Auckland, but Rome was just so much cleaner and the buildings were still intact. All the buildings were made of a cream brownish brick which looked so awesome if your looking down a street. The roads in Rome are different to Auckland's - they are made of small square cobblestones rather than asphalt. There are also a lot of one way streets so a lot of the time you don't even have to remember that the cars drive on the other side of the road.
On the first night in Rome we went to see the colosseum, Trevi fountain and the Spanish steps. It was amazing to actually see them in person after seeing so many photos of them before the trip. The Trevi fountain was definitely one of my favourite things we've seen in Rome. Over the next few days we saw a lot of churches which were all similar in some ways but each one was unique. My favorites were probably St. Peter's basilica, the Sistine chapel and St. John Lateran. They were all really impressive as a lot of them had magnificent gold decorations all over the ceilings and some had huge paintings and sculptures everywhere.
Seeing the Roman Forum was definitely a highlight. I got to see the arch I built in third form for my Latin project which was really cool. Like some of the places we visited in Athens, the forum was a place where it was easy to really appreciate the history of it. That afternoon, I finally dragged Mr Buckingham out on a run which was actually a really cool experience even though we were both a bit tired. We ran past the colosseum and the Circus Maximus and then back along the Tiber. It was amazing to see everything again a second time - I've found that running is a great way to see a city.
The food in Rome has been really good. Besides breakfast, most of what I had to eat has been pizza and nectarines. The pizza is fantastic here, there is no way to describe it other than the best pizza I've ever eaten. I have also tried lasagne and some spaghetti carbonara which were amazing as well.
We went to two ancient cities during our time based in Rome which were both better than the ones we saw in Greece. In Ostia, everything was made of brick and broken down quite a lot so it was mostly just the thick brick walls of old houses that were still standing. It was a really cool place to just run around and climb or jump over walls. Pompeii was by far the most amazing ancient city we've been to. It was surprising how well preserved everything was, it was possibly in the best condition out of all the other ancient cities. It was a bit sad to think of the people who died there, especially because it was so easy to visualise it as an actual populated city.
Our time in Rome has been absolutely incredible, but now we have said goodbye and are on the train to Florence.
Andy Stewart
