Buona note di Roma!
We had a very full day here in Rome! The sun was shining and
there wasn’t even a cloud in the sky! We started our day at the Musei Vaticani
with our Tour Guide Theresa. Inside the museum we saw many of the monuments,
tapestries and gifts that the popes gathered in their collections over the
centuries. It is quite an impressive collection of sculptures, paintings and
frescoes! The highlights of course were visits to the Sistine Chapel to see the
incredible work of Michelangelo and to see St. Peter’s Basilica before walking
out into St. Peter’s Square to see where the pope gives his weekly message to
the people.
We then traveled by Metro to Colosseo and grabbed a quick bite
to eat before meeting our guide to tour the Colisseum and the Roman Forum. The students were impressed to learn
about the Gladiators and the importance of the coliseum as a stadium during
Roman times. They got the chance to climb up to the seating area to get an idea
of what it would have been like to be a spectator and also to walk at ground
level to see the underground area where the gladiators would train and would be
kept along with the animals before their competitions. Our tour guide Marlene was
definitely enthusiastic and had a lot of fun teaching our students, who in turn
were motivated to ask her questions about Gladiator life! It is truly a
wonderful monument here in Rome.
Next we walked over to Palatine Hill and learned more about
the Roman Empire and the importance of the Forum. The students saw many ruins
of houses, fountains, shops and gardens too. The students commented how much
they were entertained by our guide and appreciated imagining life in those
times under the rule of Titus.
We returned to Due Colonne for our Farewell Dinner tonight
and had pasta pomodoro and pesto risotto. Our night would not have been
complete without a last stop for Gelato on our walk back to the hotel-- so many
choices! The students are really going to miss that!
We are just about to head to the airport to fly from Rome to
Paris and Paris home. We have had an amazing adventure both in France and in
Italy. The students have been so much fun to travel with and have not only
learned a lot about the history and culture of the places we have been but have
tasted some great food too! More
importantly they have learned a lot about themselves—they have laughed a lot,
sang a lot, and played a lot too! They are definitely coming back home with lots of great
stories of our adventures together and have hundreds of photos to share too!
Thanks for following along with this blog!
See you in Toronto at the airport!
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