Maria was in her room, excitedly packing for her family trip the next day to Rome. The sun was shinning through her window, and when it touched her face she wondered what the weather was going to be like there.

After getting everything packed, she carried her suitcase downstairs, and placed it with the rest of her family members stuff. Then she went back up stairs and got ready for bed. After she got into bed she couldn't get to sleep, because she kept on thinking about Rome and all the amazing things there. The last time she looked at the clock before she went to bed, it was 2:30 A.M.

The next morning she was awaken by her alarm clock set for 6:00 A.M.

She hopped in the shower,got dressed, and ran down stairs ready to go to the airport.

After driving an hour and a half, her family arrived at the airport. They boarded the Delta flight. By then it was 8:30 A.M. It took ten and a half an hours to get to Rome.

After landing and getting their bags, Maria and her family took a cab to The Royal Hotel. The hotel was very old, had a lot of antiques. Maria's favorite about the hotel was their out-door swimming pool.

After unpacking, Maria and her sister went swimming they all went out to dinner. Maria ordered eggplant.

Wail walking back to their hotel room, Maria felt enchanted about all the cool buildings and ancient writings.

When they got to their room, Maria got ready for bed. She decided to read a little bit of her book before she went to sleep. Maria opened her book and when she did that her book mark fell to the floor. The corner of her book mark had gotten wedged under a beautiful, ancient Roman rug.

Maria bent down and lifted the rug, and noticed a secret compartment in the floor. Maria opened the compartment and saw a scroll. The scroll had Roman writing on it, so Maria could not read it. She ran into her parent's room and showed them what she had found.

Her parents said they would take it to their tour guide the next morning to see what it said.

The next day when they all got up, Maria and her family went to their tour guide's hotel room. They were so excited to see what it said.

When their tour guide came out he told them he could not read Roman writings, but they could go to the museum and they would know.

So they all headed off to the museum. They finally got to the museum. They talked to the manager of the museum.

"This is a journal of a girl named Emilia," the manager told them.

"This is Emiliašs point of view, of Rome long ago," the manager replied again.

"One of the things she saw, that is nothing like it is now is the Colosseum."

The Colosseum that took eight years to build, and rises to height of 165 feet. There are 80 arches for each of the 3 stories of the building.

The Colosseum has and oval spaced floor with wood. The rooms of it has lifts, animal cages, and a stage.

The amphitheater even held gladiator combats. It also had fights with men and wild beasts. Even naval battles, because the arena could be flooded for boats.

Maria and her family decided to check out the Colosseum that Emilia had discribed in her journal.

When they got to the Colosseum, they saw a much different structure, than Emilia had wrote about.

They saw no wood floors, part of the third story had been destroyed, and the bricks in the walls were falling apart. It is now no longer the incredible building it was in Emiliašs time.

The museum manger gave Maria the scroll as a keepsake of her trip to Rome, which Maria will treasure forever.

As Maria packed for home, she decided to keep the scroll with her on the plane.

When she went to school the next week, she brought if for show and tell. She also brought a book called Rome then and Now. The book showed what Emilia had seen and what Maria had seen in Rome.