On the second half of group travel we went to Italy. We left Athens on Monday the 28th and flew to Rome. We had a quick flight and once we made it to our hotel we headed out into Rome! Our hotel was on the outskirts so we had to take the metro into the historic part of the city. Riding the metro was an experience, let me tell you!! We were packed on that metro like a sardines! That was a wonderful welcome into Rome. :) The first things we saw were the Spanish Steps and the Trevi Fountain. I had always heard about these places so it was really neat getting to see them in person. When we were at the Trevi fountain, we saw two men stealing coins out of the fountain! They had these skinny pointers with a magnet on the end. They would walk all around the fountain staring in to the water. When they saw the coin they wanted, they would reach the pointer into the water and the coin would attach to the magnet. They had it down to a fine art! My group and I followed this one man around the fountain. At one point I stood next to him and pretended like I was looking for coins too. Lacie got a video of him stealing coins and Kelsie got pictures of him! It was so funny! Other people in our group also saw the man stealing and told the police. The police wanted to see the video that Lacie had made and the pictures Kelsie had. We were saving the world, one euro at a time! Best day of the whole trip!
On our second day we went to the Colosseum. That was so awesome to see! It was huge! We walked all through it. It was really neat trying to imagine people sitting there watching a performance or being one of the actors under the stage floor getting ready to perform. The Arc of Constantine is right next to the Colosseum. It was really pretty. All the arches throughout Rome have so much intricate detail on them. Very pretty! We then went to a massive white political building that they call the wedding cake. We were able to go to the top and look out over the city of Rome. Gorgeous view! Our last two stops were the Pantheon and this huge square with lots of shops. The Pantheon was really pretty inside, with lots of decor. The square had people set up selling paintings that were absolutely beautiful. Our day ended with shopping and a long trek back to the hotel in down-pouring rain.
On the third day we went to Pompeii. It was about a three hour bus ride to the sight. Pompeii was huge. I didn't realize how big it was until we had walked through it for about two hours and there was still more to see. It was really interesting getting to see all the buildings that were intact and the things that were preserved under the ash after the volcano erupted. After Pompeii we stopped for about 30 minutes in the city of Naples, Italy.
On the fourth day we went to Vatican City. We walked through the Vatican and it was absolutely beautiful. The artwork on the floors, walls, and ceilings were incredible. I think I walked with my mouth open in awe the whole time. We went to the Sistine Chapel. In humanities classes we had studied some of the paintings that were in the chapel, and it was great finally getting to see those paintings in person. After the chapel we went to St. Peter's Basilica. It was a massive church. However, it was very sad seeing these people worshipping these men and holding them in such high esteem. After the church, we went to the Catacombs. I had no idea what to except. We were below ground 10s of feet. These catacombs were where Christians would bury their dead. We got to go through some of their tunnels and see some of the graves. So interesting. Before we left the catacombs our tour guide let us sing. Mr. Cliff led "It Is Well With My Soul". It sounded beautiful in the catacombs.
On March 4th, we took a bus to Florence. Once we got to Florence, we found our hotel and got settled in. Our hotel was like a villa. It was so Italian! We only had time for a fast lunch, so we stopped at this restaurant and ordered pizzas. I ordered ham and mushroom. We were able to watch the man make the pizzas in the brick oven. The pizza was delicious. We sat on the curb and ate our pizza. All the people walking by stared and laughed. It was so fun! After our quick lunch we went to the Accademia to see the statue of David. The statue was a lot bigger in person than in pictures. After leaving the museum we went on a walking tour of Florence and got to see the Duomo. The outside of the Duomo was so beautiful. After our tour we had free time to do as we please...so we went shopping!!!
Our second day in Florence was a free day. We decided to go to Pisa and see the leaning tower. When we saw the leaning tower, we took the cheesy pictures that everyone takes of trying to hold up the tower. The tower wasn't as big as I thought it would be but it was really neat getting to see it. We eventually headed back to Florence and spent the day shopping and enjoying the Florence atmosphere.
That night we left Florence around 8:30 on a night train to head back to Verviers. That was my first time on a sleeper train. What an experience! The compartment that we were in was tiny and it housed six girls. One side of this tiny compartment had three beds and the other side had the other three beds. Sleeping was ok but we made frequent stops throughout the night. The next day our train stopped in Munich, Germany where we got breakfast and then caught another train to Aachen, Germany. Finally we made it home to Verviers and it felt great to be "home" again.
Thanks so much for reading! Our next group trip is a six day trip to Paris next week! I will update the blog when we return! Ciao!
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