Life away from my comfort zone.. My country can have such great benefit even with me missing my comfort zone.. Place that I understand the language… Know my people and can relate… In charge of my situation. 

Now coming from Ghana… Raised in a typical Ghanaian home.. Washing machine and dryer is more like your hands and the sun.. 

With each travels most apartments we have our own washing machine and dryer… But since I try to venture out and learn how people without this technology called washer and dryer and can’t use your hands like we can from Ghana do it. So once in a while I will take all our large towels to the laundry mart… This might probably be my 5th time… But all of them seem different in each country. Here in rome the machines are heavy duty and I love the way it’s set up. I don’t need to bring my soap. It’s automatic dose of soap and fabric softener in the machine. And the machines are labeled with numbers and the weight you can wash in them. 

Like if you have cloths that are 14kg you will put them in the 14kg washer with a designated number on there and you will then go to a separate pay machine.. Choose the machine number and pay with coins or paper money.. And in this case it’s €7 which is about $7.83.

And you can also choose the 8kg machine which will cost you €6 or $6.83
Once its done which takes about 41min to wash… 
Then you will move it to the dryer… Which you pay €2 which is about $1.83 and that’s for 10min drying time. And with tables and baskets there you can then fold you items neatly and walk on home. 
So today my son and u had our mommy date at the laundry mart… Make fun out of every day… 
Such an accomplished day… Gym, deep house cleaning, healthy eating, homeschool kids, date with my son at the laundry mart.. Yeap.. It. All happened and it’s only 2pm.

I honestly believe what makes a great travel is the people you meet along the way. 

And what makes it even more special and memorable is when they welcome you into their home and family. Such a beautiful journey for us. 

One evening marcus and I are coming from our date night and at the train station.. Marcus saw this lady with beautiful braids.. So he just said “you have beautiful braids” but the lady did not speak any English only speaks Spanish and Italian… But with all great friendships… Smiles is all it takes. 

Even though we don’t speak each other’s language we still exchange contacts for whatsapp (super grateful for that app). She invited me for breakfast 3 days later.. With Google translate we where able to make conversation. At breakfast I met her daughter and her mom… Such beautiful family. She has a 15yr daughter and an 8yr old son… So already we both have something in common. 

1 week later we spent the whole Sunday at their home.. Where they cooked us a feast… I mean seriously felt us till we could not eat or drink anymore… Our kids played together with other cousins around. It was a magnificent Sunday. 

We danced… We ate… And all this with just Google translator since no one there speaks or understand an ounce of English… And my Spanish is just single words. But like most fun times… Music and food and fellowship is all that matters. 

Am so grateful for moments like this… That’s my most cherished moments of our travels for the past 3 yrs. 

Here are a few pictures of our fun day 

So it’s almost a whole month since we arrived in Roma… And I must say we are loving the day light savings and enjoying it all with new friends. 

We made new friends near out apartment. And they have a 15yr old daughter and an 8yr old son. 

So now my son says he has an Italian brother. They took us to the park near by and we got to spend some time just playing and talking through Google translator. Yeap they don’t speak any English… But with whatsapp and Google translate we are able to communicate and somehow the kids do well playing together even with the language barrier. 

Today I sent my kids to the grocey store and here they decide to do some photo shoot on the street side. 

We are absolutely enjoying this life in rome… With naps from. 2pm to 4pm and fresh mozzarella with freshly made pasta… 

As we travel making friends has surly been our main excitement in all the countries we visit. 

And in rome we have started making friends. Our friend Joe and his family invited us over to spend the weekend with his family in Nettuno which is 1 hour train ride from rome. 

Such a welcoming and beautiful family. Am so grateful for friends like him making each moment a special one in rome. 

Also date night is rome is so romantic as marcus and I explore the Vatican town and all the beautiful buildings around the city center. So breath taking views and picture taking moments. 

Ohh and in rome when at the movies they take a break for 20min… So the movie will be playing and all of sudden it will stop and you get to stand up and go use the bathroom. Or talk but you have 20min before the movie resume playing. So interesting as we did not know while watching wonder woman we thought the movie was done… Lol

So we are enjoying roma as they call it… When in rome do what the Romans do… 

Rome Exploration Continues…. 

Now when you walk out of that train station… It’s a massive unbelievable building… Yes if you have watched the game of throne series you will feel like you are one of the cast in that movie… 

With the heat hitting the back of our necks and the loud voices of people talking and tour guides trying to Share their knowledge about this massive building… You will definitely loose it. But stay calm there is a less stressful way to enjoy it all at your own pace.

Lets start. If you take the train… The B line will drop you right at the collesseo… Exit and you are right there. Grab you a bottle of water from the train station.. The large bottle is €3.50…if you wait and get it from the guys outside they try to sell the small ones with a block of ice so no water around it for €2.50.

Once you have your water… You will have a couple of tour guides approaching you with some ideas. But wait!! Actually before going to the place I suggest you download an app called “Ricky Steve audio europe” once you download the app download the main attractions for rome like the collesseo. 

Now get you a ear piece and you are set to tour the collesseo with your very own tour guide. 

The entrance fee is €12 per adult and free for anyone under 18yrs old. Yeap.. That’s right under 18yrs is absolutely free. 

Now with your Ricky Steve app and your €12 euro you are set to tour it all by your self. 

But if you decide to just want to gift the tour guides then they will charge you 

€27 per adult and €15 per kid… Which in my case does not make any financial sense. 

So plan well… 

Now why the visit the collesseo… 

The Colosseum or Coliseum , also known as the Flavian Amphitheatre  is an oval amphitheatre in the centre of the city of Rome, Italy. Built of concrete and sand, it is the largest amphitheatre ever built. The Colosseum is situated just east of the Roman Forum. Construction began under the emperor Vespasian in AD 72, and was completed in AD 80 under his successor and heirTitus. Further modifications were made during the reign of Domitian (81–96).These three emperors are known as the Flavian dynasty, and the amphitheatre was named in Latin for its association with their family name (Flavius).

Location	Regio IV Templum Pacis (“Temple of Peace”)
Built in	70–80 AD
Built by/for	Vespasian, Titus
Type of structure	Amphitheatre
Related	List of ancient monuments in Rome
The Colosseum

The Colosseum could hold, it is estimated, between 50,000 and 80,000 spectators, having an average audience of some 65,000;  it was used for gladiatorial contests and public spectacles such asmock sea battles (for only a short time as thehypogeum was soon filled in with mechanisms to support the other activities), animal hunts, executions, re-enactments of famous battles, and dramas based on Classical mythology. The building ceased to be used for entertainment in the early medieval era. It was later reused for such purposes as housing, workshops, quarters for a religious order, a fortress, a quarry, and a Christian shrine.

Although partially ruined because of damage caused by earthquakes and stone-robbers, the Colosseum is still an iconic symbol of Imperial Rome. It is one of Rome’s most popular tourist attractions and also has links to the Roman Catholic Church, as each Good Friday the Pope leads a torchlit “Way of the Cross” procession that starts in the area around the Colosseum.

So now that you have an idea about this magnificent building let’s share some of our pictures with you… 

3 hours of walking and soaking in all the beauty rome as to offer us… Yeap.. It’s the free walking tour in rome and its so worth the 3 hours of walking. 

Let me share with you a bit about rome told by Google search then after I can share my pictures.. 

The city of Rome originated as a village of the Latiniin the 9th century BC. It was initially ruled by kings, but the Roman Republic was established in 509 BC. During the 5th century BC, Rome gained regional dominance in Latium, and eventually the entire Italian peninsula by the 3rd century BC. The population of the city at this point is estimated at about 310,000 people.^{[citation needed]}

With the Punic Wars, Rome gained dominance over the Western Mediterranean, displacing Carthage as the dominant regional power. The Roman Empire was established under Octavian in 27 BC, after Julius Caesar‘s conquest of Gaul, followed by a period of civil war. The city of Rome now surpassed a population of one million, likely the first city in historyto reach this size (compared to world population of about 200–300 million at the time).

At the peak of Roman imperial power in the 2nd century, the population of the city numbered about a million people^{[citation needed]}, a size that it never attained again until its becoming the capital of theRepublic of Italy in 1946; close to three percent of thepopulation of the empire lived within its limits. Following the Crisis of the Third Century and the transfer of the imperial capital to Constantinople in AD 330, Rome entered a period of gradual decline.

After the collapse of the Western Roman Empire, Rome managed to hang onto the empire, still known as the Roman Empire but long centered on the eastern Mediterranean, until the 8th century as theDuchy of Rome. But the city was reduced to a fraction of its former size, being sacked several times in the 5th to 6th centuries, in 546 even temporarily depopulated entirely.^[1] With the final loss of imperial control in Italy, Rome became the capital of the Papal States in medieval Italy. The Papacy struggled to retain influence in the emerging Holy Roman Empire, and during the Saeculum obscurum, the population of Rome fell to as low as 30,000 inhabitants. Following the East–West Schism and the limited success in theInvestiture Controversy, the Papacy did gain considerable influence in high medieval Europe, but with the Avignon Papacy and the Western Schism, the city of Rome was reduced to irrelevance, its population falling below 20,000.

Rome’s decline into complete irrelevance during the medieval period, with the associated lack of construction activity, assured the survival of very significant ancient Roman material remains in the centre of the city, some abandoned and others continuing in use. Rome began to recover some importance in the late 15th and 16th century. TheSistine Chapel was restored in 1480 and decorated by Michelangelo in 1508–1512. Construction of theApostolic Palace began in 1589. Construction of St. Peter’s Basilica was begun in 1506, the most renowned work of Renaissance architecture. TheRoman Renaissance was cut short abruptly with thedevastation of the city in 1527, but the Papacy reasserted itself in the Counter-Reformation, and the city continued to flourish during the early modern period.

Rome was annexed by Napoleon and was technically part of France during 1798–1814. During the Italian unification in the 19th century, the Roman Questionreferred to the status of Rome under the temporal power of the popes. Rome was declared the capital of the kingdom of Italy on 27 March 1861, but the Italian government could not take its seat there because it was defended by a French garrison. Rome was eventually captured in 1870, and the dispute was finally resolved with the Lateran Pacts of 1929 establishing the Vatican State. Rome served as the capital of the Italian Empire and Fascist Italy from 1870 to 1943. During this period, population hextupled from about 250,000 to 1.5 million. ThePalace of Justice was completed 1910.

Yeap.. Thats just a bit about rome… Now let’s get to the fun part… Pictures 

They looked so scary…. 

Rome Explorations Continues… 

Wow!!!! This city is like going through a magical moment of life… Each eye turn tells a story… Each building has a significance… 

Today kids and I ventured out… Seem like the train system here is pretty simple. 

They have 3 lines… 2 are active now… A LINE and B Line. 

You can buy a 1 day pass, 72 hours pass, 7days pass or just go for it like us and buy 1 month pass. Kids under age 10yrs are free to ride the train… So this means not pass for my 7yr old son… 

Each 1 month unlimited ride pass is €35 ($39)… So got all 4 of us pass which we can use for thr train and the bus any other transport. Oh and the A line can get you to the airport.

After we arrived at the main Temini station which seem to be the meeting point for all travels with train and buses. Now we realised the place was filled with Indians and loads of Indian restaurants… Hopefully tomorrow on our free walking tour I will be able to find out why all the Indians… Since in australia it seem like more Asians… 

Anyways we had Indian lunch and after we took the hop on hop off bus which took us around the city for $15 each for 1 hour 40 min straight ride or hop off and back on again. But that’s the price for a day pass. 

We had amazing time getting to see all the prominent buildings… We did not get off to tour any.. We plan on doing that on our next trip into Central. 

So here are a few pictures from the roof top seats of the hop on hop off bus.. 

Rome Exploration Continues…. 

Ok so we arrived late last night in rome and did not get to see much. 

But this morning we walked around and checked out our neighbourhood. Well I must say rome is true to its acheteural buildings and grafities on the walls. And little alleys all around. We live very close to a train station and as well as a busy street so thats good news for us. 

Today we walked to get grocery and also get a sim card. 

Here is the most intriguing thing. When we arrived at the airport, which is what I do at almost all airports when we arrive is to get a sim card. So I went to the counter to buy a sim card all excited. 

I felt like I needed someone to wake me up from my sleep. The lady said for me to get 5gb data without minutes to call or a number to even receive calls is €130 a month… 😄… That’s exactly $146 a month… 😩😲. 

Anyways I just told her we don’t need it that bad… She said oh remember there are no WiFi on the streets… Am like is that suppose to be your sales pitch… Lol!!! 

Well so next day we walked from our apartment about 2min to Vodafone and got 5gb,300 minutes to use for calls and I can recieve calls for 1 month all for $50 which is about €45. So done deal for me. 

After we walked all around our area… We noticed most things close for sesiater from 2pm till 4pm…i totally agree with them on that… It’s super hot and humid around here a nap will be great for all. 

Overall… I think I might fall in love with this city… 

Rome Explorations Begins and Continues 

Yes our time in Australia is up and we are off to our new adventures. 

We have enjoyed truly what Brisbane has to offer… We have done the beach and also the great barrier reef. We have made LLF’S. 

We have created memories that will last as a life time in Brisbane australia. And with that we are super grateful. 

Hope to visit other parts of Australia again in the future… 

Australia exploration ended… 

Rome begins