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Chapter 5

Italy was even more amazing than John and Clara thought it would be. Their plane landed in Rome, so they decided to start their adventure there.

            "This is awesome," John said as they walked around the ancient city. "You learn all that history about this place, but none of it seems real until you're actually here, walking where Roman soldiers and gladiators walked thousands of years ago. It's amazing."

            Clara nodded. "Yeah, all that history, and we're right in the middle of it. Oh, look! Oh my stars, John! Is that the Coliseum?"

            John followed Clara's gaze and grinned. "It is! Come on, let's go take a closer look!"

             They walked around the Coliseum, then made their way throughout the other famous structures in Rome. After several cheesy tourist photos, Clara suggested going to the Sistine Chapel to see Michelangelo's paintings. They found the chapel easily and went inside, weaving around the groups of noisy visitors. Finally making it into the main room, both stopped dead in their tracks as they saw the paintings on the ceiling.

            John was speechless. Sure, he'd seen plenty of photos of the famous artwork, but seeing the paintings in person was so much different. They almost seemed to come alive, and he could picture Michelangelo himself as he painted each individual brush stroke, revolutionizing the art world forever. It was more beautiful than he could have ever imagined.

            Clara looked over at John and noticed him brush a tear off his cheek. She smiled. "Are you crying?"

            "What? No, I'm not crying," John said, glancing at her. "There was just a piece of...dust in my eye."

            "Yeah, okay," Clara said, unconvinced. "This is pretty amazing."

            "I could stand here forever," John said.

            They circled the room, not taking their eyes off the ceiling, then after taking one last look, they left the chapel.

            John and Clara spent the rest of the day in Rome, visiting as many places as they could in one day.

            "Where else in Italy do you want to go?" John asked as they sat down to eat dinner.

            "I'd really love to go to Pompeii," Clara replied. "I find that whole story fascinating."

            John nodded. "Yes! I'd love to go there. Oh, and Venice too!"

            "Yeah! Why don't we do Venice tomorrow and Pompeii the next day?" Clara suggested, taking a bite of pasta.

            "Mmm, I think we should do Venice last," John said, eating a meatball. "Wow, this is really good. Anyway, Pompeii is closer to where we are now, and Venice is closer to where we're going."

            Clara shrugged. "Whatever makes sense. Wow, after eating real Italian food in Italy, I'm never going to be able to eat Italian food at home ever again. It'll never live up to this."

            They finished their meal, then walked around Rome for a few more hours. It was even prettier in the dark; the streets and buildings were lit up with white lights that made the whole city shine. It was still cold, but John was happy to see there was no snow. After agreeing on going to Pompeii the next day, John and Clara headed back to their hotel for the night.

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            "This is even better than Rome," John said as he and Clara walked around Pompeii.