Day 11...Rome, Vatican, Rome

Sorry for not posting yesterday!  It was a really long day!! Our constant movement is beginning to catch up with us and is making it more difficult to get up in the mornings, but we have still been punctual to everything!




We started our day at the Colosseum in Rome.  Our guide is an archaeology student who has done some of her own excavations.  So, you can imagine how excited she was to tell us about the history of the Colosseum and the Roman Ruins!  She taught us quite a bit about the history of the Colosseum.  It was built by two different emperors almost 2000 years ago.  It was originally covered in shining white marble, but during the time that it was not in use, most of the marble was removed and used to build other buildings.  It was closed during the 4th century when Constantine converted people to Christianity and said there were to be more fights, closing the Colosseum.  We also discovered that the Colosseum was built with the ruins from Solomon's temple in Jerusalem after the Romans destroyed it!  



(Our friends from Indiana)

Next, we walked out of the Colosseum to the Roman Ruins.  It is unreal how much of the old city has been excavated and preserved!  




We had lunch just outside of the Vatican walls and started our tour at 3:30 p.m. with 12,000 steps already taken!!  The tour begins with a very fast-paced walk through the Vatican museum.  We saw frescoes (paintings done while the plaster on the wall is drying), statues, oil paintings, tapestries, and more.  Unfortunately, it was so fast, we were unable to really process what we were seeing.  The number of people in the museum at one time is literally breath-taking.  There is no way they would pass an American fire code!




We finally made it to the Sistine Chapel and St. Peter's Basillica!  Wow!  It was unreal.  We saw more art yesterday than our brains could really process!  Our guide had given us a little lesson on Michaelangelo's work in the Sistine Chapel before we went in. So, we were able to somewhat appreciate the Fresco masterpiece he created in on the ceiling of the Chapel.  It took him 4.5 years!  



We did not see the Pope, but we did see the window that we usually see on tv from which he blesses people.


Next, we walked into St. Peter's Basilica!  There are no words to describe it.  We have been to A LOT of cathedrals on this trip, but this one doesn't look like the others.  It is massive!  We saw Michaelangelo's Pieta first.  Then, our guide told us about the Papal altar, the dimensions of the church, etc.  We were also able to see several former Popes who are in crypts inside the Basilica.  This, of course, was fascinating to us all.  However, it was the third church in which we had seen a crypt with a body in it.  

(Pieta by Michaelangelo)

We ate dinner not too far from the Vatican, and then Miriam led us on a pretty long tour of the city- by foot. The city was alive, and even though we were tired, we enjoyed the music, dancing and conversations all around us!  We made wishes to return to Italy in the Trevi fountain.  We visited the Pantheon, which has been standing completely in tact for 2000 years, and we had "the best gelato in Rome". When we got back on our bus, we had over 26,000 steps for the day.  It was a long day, but it was amazing!




We said goodbye to Miriam and our friends from Indiana, and we met Simone, our tour guide for the remainder of the trip. Then, we went to bed!!

Versailles and the Eiffel Tower

We are getting in bed...hopefully, everyone else is already asleep, actually!  It has been a very busy day!  The students dos a fantastic job getting up and ready this morning!  After breakfast at the hotel, which was an experience in itself, we boarded the bus and picked up our first local guide.

Francois gave us a beautiful guided tour of the city.  We drove for about an hour and a half as she pointed out important buildings, famous cafes, and more.

On the tour, we saw the Pantheon where many famous people are buried, including Marie Curee, Alexandre Dumas (author of The Three Musketeers and The Count of Monte Cristo), and Victor Hugo (author of les Miserables).  We passed the Dome Church - the burial site of Napoleon and the Vendome Hotel, aka the Texas consulate building, which was in operation for only one year during the days of The Republic of Texas!

We've seen much of the Seine river which runs through Paris.  However, it is very high due to much flooding last week!  It just makes us feel at home! :)

We saw the tunnel where Princess Diana died and the flame statue over it which was a gift from the US in 1989 as a thank you for the restoration project three years earlier in the Statue of Liberty.

We saw the Opera House, where the famed "Phantom" of the Opera was born.  We also passed the Arc de Triomphe which was built by Napoleon to commemorate his military victories.  And guess where it is... The Champs-Élysées!!

We ended our driving tour at the palace of Versailles.  We ate lunch across the street at a little cafe.  By the way,  many of the kids have decided they like Croque Monsuier.  You can ask them about it later!  After lunch we divided into groups to take turns on a guided tour of the palace with Francois and a walk in the beautiful gardens!

Many of the students have been surprised at the amount of money spent by royalty!  The palace was once the hunting "cabin" of the kings until Louis XIV, the Sun King, made it his home.  The rooms are incredibly ornate.  We saw some interesting art with great stories, but we all loved the Hall of Mirrors.  It is gorgeous, but it is also the location of the signing of the Treaty of Versailles which ended World War 1.

After Versailles, we had dinner and then went to the Eiffel Tower!  It was not super busy, and we were able to get tickets to go to the top!  31 of our 43 went all the way up, but most everyone else went at least to the 2nd floor.  It was amazing.  The air felt great, and we enjoyed trying to find the places we'd seen throughout the day!

Lastly, we rode the metro and tram back to the hotel.  We are experts at the Metro now.  People know to watch out for us because we rush to get on and off to be sure we are all together!

Tomorrow, we go to the Louvre for a short visit and then we're off to Nice.  Unfortunately, the train operators are on strike tomorrow.  (There is always someone on strike here!). So, we are not going to ride the train.  Our great Tour Guide has arranged a bus to drive us to our destination.  So, we are looking forward to the rest as we travel!

I hope you are enjoying the pictures!  Have a wonderful day/night!

Jacqueline Hughes