Last day of the trip - Ancient Rome - Tuesday, March 25, 2014

For our last day in Europe, we walked around Rome and toured the ancient sites of the city.  Here is a run down of our day and the ancient sites that we visited:

* Piazza Navona and Emma's presentation at Bernini's Fountain of the 4 Rivers

* Tyler's presentation inside the most preserved ancient Roman building in Rome - The Pantheon

* St. Ignazio, Trajan's Market, the Imperial Forum, and more

* Griffin's presentation on Emperor Trajan and Trajan's Market

* Nicole's presentation about Caesar Augustus and Pax Romana

* The Coloseum and Palatine Hill

* Several hours of free time in small groups to navigate back to Fraterna Domus with a map of Rome

* A really nice dinner at a fun Italian restaurant near the Pantheon to celebrate a great trip together

* Throwing coins into Trevi Fountain

* And to cap off the evening... you guessed it, gelato!

Here are some pictures from Rome on the last day of our fabulous trip ~ enjoy!

Emma giving her presentation in Piazza Navona at Bernini's Fountain of the 4 Rivers.

The Pantheon was amazing to see! It has been a Roman Catholic church since the 7th century called Basilica of St. Maria and the Martyrs, but when Emperor Hadrian built it around 126 AD, it was a temple to the pagan gods.

Inside the Pantheon - so impressive!

Tyler giving his presentation on the Pantheon. 

The oculus (which is Latin for eye) in the Pantheon - it is open to the air and when it rains or snows, the weather comes inside the building onto the floor where it is carried away through drains. The Pantheon's dome is the world's largest unreinforced concrete dome.

We also visited the church Ignazio di Loyola / St. Ignazio.

One of the major reasons we went in to see this church was to view its dome.  Mr. Stromberg told us that this dome is entirely an optical illusion - it is not a dome at all, but a flat surface painted in a way to look like a dome. So neat to see!

Griffin presents to the group about Emperor Trajan and Trajan's Market.

Nicole presents to the group on Caesar Augustus and Pax Romana.

Trajan's Market area...

Some of our group posing as ancient statues/super heroes. So very serious!  :)

The group outside the Coloseum... having fun on our last trip day!

Inside the Coloseum... listening to the history and architecture lesson from Mr. Stromberg and Mr. Johnson. What a treat to have our very own uber-knowledgable tour guides on the trip with us! They made the trip so interesting for us in every city we visited. The trip overall was such a major learning experience - what a blessing for all involved.

This small but beautiful church is a hidden gem inside the convent we were staying in, Fraterna Domus. Enter through a small, unmarked door off of the main lobby, and this is what you would enter into. I personally felt so surprised and very moved seeing this quiet, reverent, unexpected beauty that I didn't even know was there until the last night of our stay. It was a special part of my last evening on the trip to see this church, for sure.

The Pantheon at night - spectacular!

Leaders Mr. and Mrs. Johnson (not related) sharing a "Happy 25th Anniversary" tiramisu dessert. Some of the students in the group played a little prank on us and told the restaurant owner that we were celebrating an anniversary... not true, but it was a pretty unexpected and funny moment. By the way, tiramisu, next to gelato, is perhaps the most popular Italian dessert... so yummy!

We had fun stopping at the world famous Trevi Fountain after dinner. There is a coin throwing legend that says if you make a wish and throw a coin with your right hand over your left shoulder, the wish will come true and you'll someday come back to Rome.

An estimated 3,000 Euros are thrown into the fountain each day - over $4,000! According to info I read online, the money is used to help the needy in the city. 

And you know our trip would not be complete without one final stop for gelato! I think the shop owners were sad to see our loyal customer base go home.  ;)

The three fearless leaders... we made it, phew!  :)  We were very happy to have had a wonderful, smooth trip - everyone had fun, stayed healthy and safe, and learned so much.  Ciao, Italia!

Like I've said earlier in this blog, the trip was fantastic and we all have memories to last a lifetime. What a great group of students to travel with, and what a fantastic CFE program and experience through our school that we are all blessed to attend and work at. I hope you all have enjoyed keeping updated on our adventures through this blog and keep it as a memory of the trip. Until next time... keep traveling and learning through life, you'll be so happy you did!  

~Mrs. Julie Johnson

The Vatican - Rome, Italy - Monday, March 24, 2014

We had a FULL day at the Vatican this morning - Mr. Stromberg estimated that we probably walked about 8 miles total just today! Here is a run down of our day at the Vatican:

* We met for breakfast in the convent's restaurant area at 7:15 am - an early start to our Vatican day because we wanted to beat the crowds to St. Peter's Basillica. One of the highlights of breakfast was the fresh from the oven croissants - we had a choice of either jam or chocolate inside. YUMMY!

* After breakfast our walk to the Vatican was about 45 minutes. When we got there it was quite a process to even get to the church - you have to go through security first, then it's at least a 5 minute walk from the security line to get to the church. It's not quite the same process of just walking right into church at home. Luckily we got there early enough that there was no line yet to go through security or get into the church. We enjoyed being among the first for the day in the massive Basillica to enjoy walking around the structure without any large crowds of people. While in St. Peter's, Cole gave his presentation on the history of the impressive church.

* Other interesting things we saw in the Basillica include Michelangelo's Pieta, Bernini's Baldeccino and Papal Alter, and some Papal tombs. 

* The whole group climbed Michelangelo's dome at the Basillica to the cupola. The views of Rome were gorgeous - check out pictures below. After we came back down into the church from climbing the dome, we had some journaling time in the church.

* One of the highlights today was getting to go on the Scavi tour at the Vatican. The tour explores the preserved ancient roman city that is under the Basillica, and you get to see St. Peter's burial place. Not very many people get to go on this tour - you have to put your name in months ahead of time if you're interested, and even then chances are slim that you will actually get to go on the tour. Mr. Stromberg has tried to go on the Scavi tour with past groups he's led to Italy, but it's never worked out. But this time around he got an official letter a few months ago from the Vatican saying that our group is welcome on the tour! So this was a very special and neat thing to be able to do. No cameras were allowed down there, so I don't have any pictures, but if you want, look some up online. Parents, make sure to ask your child about this tour and what they thought about it.

* After the Scavi tour, we had sandwiches and other snack items for lunch from a street truck vendor right outside the Vatican to fuel up for our visit to the Vatican Museum. We stood in line for about 45 minutes to get into the massive museum - there were so many people at the Vatican on Monday, it was a bit chaotic, especially inside the museum. While we were standing in line outside, I was impressed and happy to see how our group of students were interacting with each other - everyone gets along, and there were several times where I saw the whole group laughing and having fun together. As a teacher, I always enjoy seeing that with my student groups, whether in class or in a CFE setting. All three leaders have been very impressed with our group of students as a whole!

* Among other impressive works of art, the main attraction at the Vatican Museum is of course the Sistine Chapel, and it did not disappoint. The only unfortunate thing from my perspective is that there were so many hundreds of people in there at any one time that it was difficult to just take it all in and marvel at the beauty when it seemed like we were kind of just herded through. But I think everyone was able to see the beauty all around in the Sistine Chapel and appreciate what we were seeing.

* After we finished at the Sistine Chapel, we walked back to Fraternus Domus where we're staying and had a bit of free time before dinner in the convent restaurant downstairs. Our big meal of pasta, pork chops, green beans, eggplant, salad, and fresh fruit tasted so good after being on our feet all day and doing so much walking. After dinner some chose to go to bed after a tiring but good day, while others decided to go out for a short walk in the neighborhood to get, you guessed it, gelato!  We really are eating well on this trip.  :)  

It is Tuesday night right now, and we leave the convent by coach bus transport to the airport tomorrow morning at 4:00 am. So I'm not sure when I'll get around to posting about our Tuesday in Ancient Rome, but I'll make sure to get it done sometime in the next few days to complete this trip journal of sorts. I hope to print this off when we get back to school so everyone can have a copy to keep with their other trip memories. 

Update: I am sending this now on Wednesday night - we are home! I tried sending this on Tuesday night in Rome and Wednesday morning from the Amsterdam airport, but time/internet access/my almost dead iPad battery didn't allow the post to be published. I will definitely also do another post from our Tuesday in Ancient Rome to complete this blog journal.

Here are some photos from our excellent Monday in Vatican City - enjoy! 

Vatican City and St. Peter's Basilica 

Looking out from the Basillica's steps onto St. Peter's square.

Cole doing his presentation on the history of St. Peter's Basillica.

Michelangelo's Pieta

Pope John Paul II's tomb.

Bernini's Baldeccino and Papal Alter

Short service at Pope John Paul II's tomb.

View down from the climb up to the dome cupola.

Top inside of dome.

What a view - wow!

Kalli and Mrs. Johnson

Vatican Museum - below Mr. Stromberg is telling the group about the artwork in the Sistine Chapel.

Nightly gelato run!  :)

Florence to Rome - Sunday, March 23, 2014

Sunday was our transition from Florence to Rome, the final leg of our CFE 2014 journey. Here is a run down of what we did on Sunday:

* After breakfast at the convent, we headed out to the Uffizi Gallery Museum. We were there for a few hours, but it would definitively take a day or more to really see everything in the museum. While at the Uffizi, Stephanie presented on two of Botticelli's famous paintings, Birth of Venus and Prima Vera. 

* Lunch in the city center, back to the convent to grab our luggage, and a walk to the train station to catch our train to Rome. While on the train, group members journaled, read, painted, played cards, watched the scenery out the window, and napped. 

* Soon after we arrived in Rome, we took the subway a few stops from the train station to the Spanish Steps where we could walk the rest of the way to the convent Fraterna Domus where we're staying. We realized that we had arrived at the end of the Roman Marathon - there were crowds in the train station and a few runners finishing the race outside of the train station. 

* We had a few minutes to relax at the convent before heading out to enjoy the very cool Castel St. Angelo. There we were able to view some of the rooms in the castle, enjoy the awesome view of Rome, and hang out together and have a cup of coffee or hot chocolate. 

* We walked back to Fraterna Domus for dinner in their basement level restaurant. Fun fact: the nuns have some of Mr. Stromberg's art work on the wall in their restaurant. Isn't that cool? Our dinner there was fantastic - the food was amazing... fresh pasta, turkey and chicken, salad, and fresh fruit. Everyone was very satisfied after dinner and ready for an evening stroll in town. 

* We walked to Piazza Navona and (surprise!) got some gelato for dessert. What will we do when we are no longer in Italy and can't have gelato every night? ;)

Here are some photos for our Sunday:

Stephanie presenting at the Uffizi on Botticelli's famous paintings, Birth of Venus and Prima Vera.

Stephanie and Isabel were loving the Uffizi!

Getting ready to leave the convent in Florence to walk to the train station... below are pictures of the front desk at the convent B&B and one of the sweet nuns.

Views from our walk from Fraterna Domus convent to Castel St. Angelo and at the castle...

St. Peter's Basilica 

Piazza Navona - Bernini's fountain called The Four Rivers

More to come on our Monday at the Vatican...!