That was our big itinerary item today...along with about a million other visitors to Rome. Thankfully we had a good night's sleep in our very nice Hotel Napoleon before we donned our long pants and long shirts to cover our knees and shoulders as we zipped through the Super Crowded Rome Metro for our guided tour of the Vatican Museums and St. Peter's Basilica on another sweltering day in the Roman sun. By the way, your students are all becoming quite proficient at navigating a metro system. After their initial learning curve on the Munich U-Bahn and now the Rome Metro they're usually leading US to the platforms and on and off the trains!
The chaperones know it's not possible for us OR the students to take in all of the information being fed to us as we walk through the vast museums of the Vatican. But it's important that we TRY to take in at least something new that we didn't know before. After all, the students have prepared too much, the parents have invested too much money for us to go to such an incredible country as Italy and just see site after site after site without learning anything. That's why we invest in an official Vatican Guide for this day. She was actually one of the best we've ever had and took us not only through the most important places in the Vatican but also to the Sistine Chapel as well as into the Basilica itself.
From the Basilica the next item on the "sedjule" as Mrs. Mynatt likes to call it, was climbing to the top of St. Peter's Dome...again much to the Chagrin of Drew. I'm thinking we might just cure Drew of his fear of heights after this trip as we same to climb ever tower available to us!
And that dome just over Mary Lawson and Drew's heads is exactly where we're heading for the highest point in all of Rome. Nothing is allowed to be taller than the top of St Peter's Dome.
After an official group picture in St Peter's Square...
We head to the Spanish Steps - not because the Spanish Steps are an especially picturesque place, but because it's LUNCH TIME and one of the largest McDonald's in the world is just next door, and Alex knows just what to do :-)
It's been a long hot day so far and a cold soda in an air-conditioned McDonald's is just what we need.
We had a lot to see and do today in Rome including Trevi Fountain which is currently undergoing restoration. The fountain currently isn't running and a temporary "pool" is set up for tourists to toss their obligatory coin over their shoulders in hopes of returning to Rome.
Looks like all of them are coming back!
After a quick look at the Pantheon - which just EXUDES antiquity (it was commissioned sometime between 27 BC - 14 AD)...
It's now time for our dinner reservation at a favorite little restaurant "That's Amore". Super nice people and Super good food. We're hungry and THIRSTY!
Our last destination of the evening is a stroll over to beautiful Piazza Navona as the sun begins to set and the temperature changes to feel more like a spring evening. We let the students explore the many artists dotted around including a sketch artist who made a pencil drawing of my son and daughter back in 2005. This evening the same man is still sitting sketching in the same spot and several students have portraits made. Other students haggle with various artists for special prizes to bring home. It's been a nice end of the day in Piazza Navona.
An interesting encounter...as Mrs. Mynatt was taking one of the students to an ATM in Piazza Navona they just happened upon a couple visiting from Knoxville! As they struck up a conversation (you know, Mrs. Mynatt tends to have that effect on people) the couple from Knoxville were complaining about they had just been ripped off by a Currency Exchange shop just down the road somewhere. The exchange booth took 30% commission from the exchange FIRST before exchanging the remaining US Dollars at a less than favorable rate. I'm glad our students (and parents) took advantage of the pre-planning information sessions and about bringing Debit Cards to withdraw money and avoiding Currency Exchanges. The Knoxville couple said they had learned their lesson the hard way. I'm glad none of our kids have had to learn that unfortunate lesson.
Tomorrow we awake and head for Rome's Termini Station where we'll board our fast bullet train to Florence - in FIRST CLASS, no less. We learned about a special promotion that allows 4 young people to travel FREE with 1 paying adult. What a deal! So our travels tomorrow will be First Class all the way for our 1.5 hour journey to Tuscany and the beautiful city of Florence.
It's almost 1:00 am here in Rome and all the kids have been tucked in for a while now and the chaperones are finally winding down their responsibilities for the evening. Good night from Rome.
Ciao!
The chaperones know it's not possible for us OR the students to take in all of the information being fed to us as we walk through the vast museums of the Vatican. But it's important that we TRY to take in at least something new that we didn't know before. After all, the students have prepared too much, the parents have invested too much money for us to go to such an incredible country as Italy and just see site after site after site without learning anything. That's why we invest in an official Vatican Guide for this day. She was actually one of the best we've ever had and took us not only through the most important places in the Vatican but also to the Sistine Chapel as well as into the Basilica itself.
From the Basilica the next item on the "sedjule" as Mrs. Mynatt likes to call it, was climbing to the top of St. Peter's Dome...again much to the Chagrin of Drew. I'm thinking we might just cure Drew of his fear of heights after this trip as we same to climb ever tower available to us!
After an official group picture in St Peter's Square...
We head to the Spanish Steps - not because the Spanish Steps are an especially picturesque place, but because it's LUNCH TIME and one of the largest McDonald's in the world is just next door, and Alex knows just what to do :-)
It's been a long hot day so far and a cold soda in an air-conditioned McDonald's is just what we need.
We had a lot to see and do today in Rome including Trevi Fountain which is currently undergoing restoration. The fountain currently isn't running and a temporary "pool" is set up for tourists to toss their obligatory coin over their shoulders in hopes of returning to Rome.
Looks like all of them are coming back!
After a quick look at the Pantheon - which just EXUDES antiquity (it was commissioned sometime between 27 BC - 14 AD)...
It's now time for our dinner reservation at a favorite little restaurant "That's Amore". Super nice people and Super good food. We're hungry and THIRSTY!
Our last destination of the evening is a stroll over to beautiful Piazza Navona as the sun begins to set and the temperature changes to feel more like a spring evening. We let the students explore the many artists dotted around including a sketch artist who made a pencil drawing of my son and daughter back in 2005. This evening the same man is still sitting sketching in the same spot and several students have portraits made. Other students haggle with various artists for special prizes to bring home. It's been a nice end of the day in Piazza Navona.
An interesting encounter...as Mrs. Mynatt was taking one of the students to an ATM in Piazza Navona they just happened upon a couple visiting from Knoxville! As they struck up a conversation (you know, Mrs. Mynatt tends to have that effect on people) the couple from Knoxville were complaining about they had just been ripped off by a Currency Exchange shop just down the road somewhere. The exchange booth took 30% commission from the exchange FIRST before exchanging the remaining US Dollars at a less than favorable rate. I'm glad our students (and parents) took advantage of the pre-planning information sessions and about bringing Debit Cards to withdraw money and avoiding Currency Exchanges. The Knoxville couple said they had learned their lesson the hard way. I'm glad none of our kids have had to learn that unfortunate lesson.
Tomorrow we awake and head for Rome's Termini Station where we'll board our fast bullet train to Florence - in FIRST CLASS, no less. We learned about a special promotion that allows 4 young people to travel FREE with 1 paying adult. What a deal! So our travels tomorrow will be First Class all the way for our 1.5 hour journey to Tuscany and the beautiful city of Florence.
It's almost 1:00 am here in Rome and all the kids have been tucked in for a while now and the chaperones are finally winding down their responsibilities for the evening. Good night from Rome.
Ciao!
Bravo bravo! Thank you again for a supremo report. Prayers for a safe journey tomorrow!!
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