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