Floridia Rome

... records of the burials lost. It was common during the centuries, as it is today, to unearth spectacular intact Greek and Roman artifacts, like the Laocoon sculpture, commissioned and transported to Rome from Rhodes in the 1st century BC, but lost for centuries under Nero’s Golden House. Its discovery in 1506 became a sensation involving Pope Julius II ("Il Papa Terrible" for his bad temperament), Michaelangelo, Raphael ...

... for some time. Burrowed beneath the ground are 5 miles of tunnels filled with the remains of thousands of Romans from centuries past. Actually the bodies have been moved. Anyway, in addition to the fascinating tunnels are the myriad relics found throughout. The first tourguide was Australian and I could understand about 50% but the second guide had such a thick accent of a nature unkown, I couldn't understand anything. It was interesting though. All I can ...

... crowds at a large outdoor concert, or one of those soccer cup finals...people wore various coloured garb obviously identifying their particular group, some held huge banners 5m long, many chanted, all clapped & yelled...it was something to behold, until it instantly became silent once Papa started speaking! Some elected to join the queue to walk thru the Basilica, whilst others stayed for the whole address (given in several languages), and still others ...

... over 2500 years, Rome has been in a revolving state, transforming through the ages, but never forgetting its origins that still lie in the partial ruins mixed directly into the modern city. There are countless incredible works of art here and monumental sites that are difficult to put into words. As a kid, like most, I grew up with an interest in archaeology. After this visit to Rome, I feel that this has been revived, as we experienced visiting the ...

... history. And it was great to spend some time just getting to know the nutrition girls, who already knew eachother by virtue of living together. Then Mike, who worked in a kitchen for a long time, cooked a fabulous dinner of spaghetti and tomato sauce and we invited some of the girls over. Everyone really enjoyed the dinner. Tomorrow should be an exciting day. 8:30 in the morning we are meeting at the school and walking to an ...

Monday - Being woken by train staff for the first time on Monday morning when they had breakfast for me was acceptable, but the second time when the man standing at the door insisted on taking my sheets while I was still in my pyjamas was not so impressive. Other than my not so pleasant wake up call, the trip was pretty comfortable and travelling overnight meant that we had the full day to spend in Rome. Having dropped bags off at our hotel I left ...

... being Sant'Agnese in Agone built in 1657 in memory of the young St. Agnes who was exposed naked to force her to renounce her faith. The interior like many of these ancient churches is quite breath-taking with marble columns and gilded friezes and cornices. Other highlights here are the big flamboyant (i.e. OTT) fountains created in the Baroque style. The largest - Berlini's Four Rivers - was unfortunately being restored and was ...

... a lot of people here while walking and talking, and I sat down with a group of girls to eat food and hang out in the wonderful italian sun! The weather here is amazing, because it is very warm during the day without the humidity or stickiness so it is pleasent and then the nights are nice and cool which is nice for sleeping. Then a group of us girls walked across the street to the public park. It was gorgeous and full of fountains, flowers, statues, trees and ...

... so we got that working when she got back. We finished the day with a walk to one of the many local pizzerias and had some of the best pizza I've ever had. The way it works here is that about 10 varieties of rectangular pizzas are displayed in a glass case. You tell them which ones and how much and they sell it by the weight (priced by variety). They cook it for you and you can eat there or take it away. We had several types - artichoke and olive, zucchini and cherry tomato, smoked ...

... a truck and how did this idiot think he was supposed to pull it up when people pulled in front and then propped to make right hand turns in front of him. The car driver again made some smart remark and the next thing, the truck driver is being restrained in the doorway as he tried to get to him. By this stage, I figured it was time to get around the truck. No one behind us would back up, so I had to back and forth, to stick my nose out into the overtaking lane and ease forward ...