Day Three: When it Reigns in Rome, it's History Making!

 

Our group, with the Vatican in the background, and Kent in the foreground.

As the night closes in Rome, I checked my steps.  I've hit just over 41,000 steps. That is the equivalent of about 19 miles.  It is without a doubt my #Eurotrip record! Admittedly, not all of the kids are going to have nearly as many steps, but we all walked a lot today and it was worth it.  If you can't tell from my puny title, we had a bit of rain today.  It wasn't a bad storm, but we got caught in it and got wet.  We are all dry now and preparing for lights out in fifteen minutes.  

Let's rewind a bit and go back to this morning's breakfast.  The Ibis chain has always had a pretty good breakfast and today excelled.  I was very pleased except for one glaring complaint.  You see, I don't typically sleep well. It helps on these trips because I can go, go, go for a while and not crash too hard.  It also allows me to do late night room checks, etc.  Well, the downside is that after about 5 hours, I am ready to go...so when I woke up at 4am local time, I knew I was not falling back asleep.  I showered and headed to the lobby at 5am.  I knew breakfast wouldn't be ready, but I anticipated that the coffee machine would be operational. I was wrong!  The polite, young, man working the front desk apologized and also let me know it was way too early for any nearby cafe to be open too.  Alas, I went back to the room and waited for 7...it took FOREVER!!!

Finally, 7am arrived and about fifteen Spanish tour goers were ahead of me in line for their wake-up juice...sadly, when I was two people away from happiness, someone broke the machine.  This does not happen at Dunkin Donuts, lol.  I changed direction, got some juice and grabbed my breakfast.

What a medley...beans, franks, eggs, roasted tomatoes, chickpea hash, and a croissant!

Round two...a sandwich and some Kiwi!

A couple of kids enjoying their breakfasts as well.

When breakfast was finished, we boarded our bus and headed into the city.  Our morning was filled with a walking tour of most of Rome's major attractions.  One of the drawbacks of a multi-city (three or more) tour is that you need to go quickly through the sites to see them all. It's also a positive, however, because you still see everything...but you see more in four/five locations!

I will add some photos of our stops and comment between each one...hopefully capturing the day!

Outside of the Piazza Navona, this is an ancient entryway to Rome's first sports arena

A candid shot of Kent explaining the details of Piazza Navona. I told some of the kids I was taking a selfie.

My selfie

This photo is from the base of the Fountain of Four Rivers. This perspective showcases the rivalry between two Italian artists as a statue on the building, and one on the fountain, are shielding their eyes from the work off the other artist.

A different angle of the statute focusing on the Egyptian references.

The Church of St. Louis. It is actually considered to be French soil inside.

Bienvenue aux France!

There are several Caravaggio's inside!

More Caravaggio!

The Pantheon. The largest unsupported concrete dome in the world. It rocks!

Inside the Pantheon looking up at the sky through the Oculus.

The tomb of Rafael, a Ninja Turtle!

I really botched this selfie!

The Trevi Fountain.  Most of the kids threw a stone or two into the water...they will return!

The Spanish Steps.  They add flowers at this time of year, but they hadn't quite bloomed yet.

These sites were wonderfully narrated by Kent. We were provided whisper headsets which allows him to speak at a normal voice and transmits the dialogue to our ears. They worked well today and all of us were able to learn a lot about the Eternal City of Rome.  That nickname really works for Rome, too.  We often think of history as one thing...the past, but Rome is blessed with many pasts.  To put it in perspective, Kent did some Saugus research before we arrived and whenever a site's date connected to our town's past, he made reference to that.  I've used this tactic in class many times. I was happy to see it in Rome too.  He also made sure to distinguish the ancient stuff, the Renaissance stuff, and the more modern stuff too. The many pasts of Rome help bring it it's charm, but there is one site in Rome that stands taller than most of the rest...the Colosseum.

Our local guide at the Colosseum was Maxine. She is an archaeologist, by trade, and I am pretty sure she was with us in the Vatican last year. She was great. She was able to express her love of the past to the kids fairly quickly and they even started asking questions later on the tour...kids sometimes shy away from asking the guides questions and usually send them to the Chaperons or to Kent.  She took us to several different levels explained who sat where and what actually happened inside.  I really enjoy visiting the same location multiple times because you can see the changes and your guide can provide new insight with each visit. Even some of the kids who traveled here last year felt the same way.  I love when that happens.

After the Colosseum, we made our way to the um, um, um...um, oh yeah, the Forum.  (I really hope that joke landed...it kind of went over the kids' heads today.

The Forum are the remains of the ancient city of Rome. Much of it is gone...taken over time to build other parts of the past or as mementos from tourists of years gone by, but from what is left, you can draw a solid reference to the size and strength of the Roman Empire and Republic.

The Arch of Victory and entryway into the Forum.

Sometimes incorrectly identified as the tomb of Caesar, this is where he was cremated.

The impression you see on this rock is from an ancient form of Mancala played by the Romans

The opposite end of the Forum...you may notice the rain gear has come out.

After the Forum visit wrapped up, we tried avoiding raindrops as we walked to dinner. We stopped at a few more sites and Kent explained a bit more history...I must say, I dropped the ball a bit. I forgot to get some action shots of us trying Gelato. My apologies!!!

The Statue of Marcus Aurelius.

Kent explained that Marcus Aurelius (The Good Emperor from Gladiator) was his favorite of the Emperors. He went to list some of his accolades and briefly explained the philosophy espoused by the ancient Roman leader. He was a stoic and Kent explained that, during our determined walk through the storm, we were practicing stoicism. The mentality of getting the job done because the job needed to get done. I liked the analogy.

The ceiling of this church is unique...the white art are sculptures. The rest is paintings. It was hard to discern this with the naked eye.

Finally, it was dinner time. We went into a little restaurant and began to warm up with some delicious food.  It was a little more local tonight. 

Our main course, Pasta Amatriciana!

A beautifully dressed salad

 

This chocolate cake was stylized after a traditionally Viennese cake, but our kids thought it tasted funny...I enjoyed it.

After dinner, we went to a smaller Piazza and while I didn't capture any pictures, I really enjoyed the stop.  It wasn't breathtaking.  It was actually kind of nondescript, but that wasn't what I was looking at...or for. Instead, I was able to watch a few of our kids interact with kids from other places. There was a school group from the Netherlands there and the kids were enjoying each other's company.  A similar thing happened outside of the Pantheon earlier that day too.  I love watching the shells breaking, if you will, and seeing our kids do things that might be outside of their comfort zone.  Interacting with folks from other places is a wonderful thing to see and it was a great way to end the night.

Castle San Angelo

Tomorrow, we will be going to the Vatican. Our tour should last a few hours and then we will board our bus to the Hotel Piccadilly near Florence. We leave the familiar and head towards the new.  We will have amazing adventures, rain or shine, and continue to grow and make history. Thanks for your wonderful comments thus far...I enjoyed reading them. I'm not sure if they are intentionally left anonymous or if I've set that as a default, but it is heartwarming to see many of you take time to drop me a message. Good night.

Mr. Lavoie, currently shocked we walked 19 miles in the rain (only for about three of them) and didn't hear a single complaint...like Ancient Rome, these kids rock!!!