Today we were able to visit the United Nations World Food Programme. We took a bus to get there since it was on a different side of Rome that was too far to walk, and I was a bit relieved for the break since we have walked almost everywhere, and we did climb the 551 steps yesterday, plus all of the stairs up and down the castle we visited.

I was surprised at how colorful the building was. It turns out that countries often offer a donation for a room in the building, usually decorating it to match their culture. All of the artwork there was beautiful, and much of it had been donated by countries. It was really cool to see one of the many ways that the UN is a neutral place for the countries of the world.

Our speaker, Allison, took us into the Iran room to show us a presentation about what exactly the UN FAO does. We learned that this year is the international year of soils and that they are helping and informing farmers of the world better ways to farm that preserve the soil so that they can continue to successfully farm. It was really interesting to hear about how involved the UN is with the other nations, but also the academia side of things. They are constantly working with scientists to find new and improved ways to farm and eradicate world hunger. She also took us up to the roof of the building, which we found has one of the best views of Rome. It was beautiful!

After we visited the UN FAO, we also took a walk and visited the arena of the ancient Chariot Races (which was pretty much Roman Nascar and very awesome), a famous garden, as well as stopped by the smallest country in the world, Malta, which turns out to be practically 4 square blocks (give or take). We then went out to lunch and I was able to try some real Italian coffee. It was really strong, but it came in really small cups and was AMAZING. I would take the coffee home with me if I could!