Well…my day actually began almost 24 hours ago when I got to the DFW airport. Upon arriving, I was confronted with an extremely long line to check in. I was quite worried that I may not make it, but after 30 minutes, I finally got through and was on to the security check point. After boarding the plane, I found that I was sitting in the very last row next to a somewhat larger woman. I was kind of upset at finding I was in the last row, since there usually those seats can not lean back very far. I was pleasantly surprised to find out that I was wrong though. The seat was able to lean back and then just before take off, the stewardess asked me if I would like to move to the seat across the aisle so I would have more room. Things were going quite smoothly thus far! The rest of the plane ride was pretty uneventful. I got some sleep on the plane, but not much. The movies they showed were Wimbledon and Around The World in 80 Days. I pretty much slept through both of them. Upon arriving in Germany, I went through the checkpoint pretty quick and my passport got it’s first stamp! The departure to Rome was 45 minutes delayed because of the late arrival of the plane we would be using to get to Rome. Finally we boarded and I was off to Rome! From the airport I had to take the train into town. The only problem was that the validation machine ate my ticket when I was trying to get it validated! I got help and the guy told me not to worry about it. Boy, these Italians are pretty laid back! I got on the train and there ended up being a ticket guy come around to check tickets. I told him the machine ate mine and he let me go without a problem. After arriving at the train station in Rome, my first order of business was the check into the hostel. I found it without a problem and checked in. I was the off to explore the city. I
ended up walking quite a bit and taking over 70 pictures!!!
I began by walking towards the Colosseum. Along the way I saw much graffiti about the United States, check one of my upcoming posts about that. I didn’t go to the Colosseum, instead I saw the Roman Forum, Capitoline Hill, the Patheon, Pizza di Trevi, Piazza del Popolo, Pincio, Piazza di Spagna, and then back to the hostel. I ended the day with dinner at a little pizzaria and a half liter of wine. I then ended up back at the hostel where I found my room, wrote some emails, and then decided I needed some sleep!