July 6

Today we are headed to Florence. We took our first train ride together as a group. This is us excited to get to Florence!

When we arrived our hotel moved us to another location (a sister hotel). We did some backtracking and found our hotel. It really wasn't a hotel but it was. Here's the group in the lobby waiting to get room assignments and keys. Our room keys were big old keys that you think would go to castle doors. The hotel had us leave the keys with them when we left the hotel and we would pick them up at the desk when we came back in. I've never come across a system like it.

I've mentioned before that we had airloom bedding. There it is. Don't worry as soon as this picture was taken I threw that bad boy in the armoire!

Our tour guide in Florence is pretty impressive. Here she is talking to us about something. I'm amazed that she never uses filler words. She can go on and on about something that I think would take me five seconds to cover! You go girl!

We walked around the city. Our typical first tour to get acclimated to our new surroundings.

This building's surface becomes flatter and smoother as it works its way up. You'll have to take my word for it. You can't really tell in this picture.

MGR!

"you can stand under my umbrella ella ella, eh eh eh.."

After the tour she told us where to get the best gelato and the best pizza! So you can probably guess where we went for dinner and dessert!

July 5

Today a group of us attempted to go to the beach...

Three hours later.

So, instead we did this...

Saw The President of China!

Visit the Colliseum.

July 4

Rome day 3. Today is a big day. Antonella (our tour guide) is taking us to the Vatican City.

But first, Happy 4^th of July! I Heart the USA!

We started at the Vatican Museum continued on the the Sistine Chapel and St. Peter's Basilica. The museum had what felt like miles of tapestry woven in real silver and gold thread. The Sistine Chapel was incredible. I don't know how Michaelangelo could paint around the clock on his back for 3o years. I felt almost humbled sitting there taking it all in. Unfortunately it was quite loud and I thought it a bit sad that everyone was taking pictures with their flashes as workers would constantly say, "PLEASE, no pictures".

In this picture and in real life the figures look 3D but when you look up close its just paint! Pretty amazing.

After the Sistine Chapel we headed to St. Peter's basilica, the largest Catholic church in the world!

It took over 100 years to build.

After the tour a bunch of us decided to climb to the top of the dome. We paid around 7 euros to take the elevator part of the way up and hiked another 300 or so steps to the top of St. Peter's dome.
On our way up we arrived first at the base of the dome that overlooks the cathedral. The dome walls are all made up of tiny mosaic pieces. It's hard to fathime all of the work that was put in to create something so beautiful! A few more stairs and we made it to the top. The most beautiful view of Rome.

We did finally make it back down to the bottom. Did a quick sketch of a fountain outside of St. Peter's and made our way to the Panthon

I'm falling for Rome!

July 3

Day 2. Definitely more rested than yesterday. Slept like a baby.  We took the tube to the Borghese gallery. It’s a really nice walk from where we got off the subway to the actual gallery itself.  The Borghese gallery is a villa with beautiful artwork and sculptures housed inside. As soon as we got inside we checked our bags, cameras included. So unfortunately I don’t have any pictures inside. A lot of Bernini’s work is featured here. My two favorite pieces from the Borghese are Bernini’s Apollo and Daphne and Houdon’s sculpture of Christ. There are also quite a few of Caravaggio’s paintings that I recognized from my art history class that I took a few semesters ago. I’m guessing the class will come in handy after all. Definitely a good feeling when I am able to recognize a piece of art; pick out interesting things In the painting and know a little bit about the artists background. There was an exhibit set up in a small garden house off of the gardens. This was a small collection of very modern black and white prints. The combination of these two different styles and time periods was unique and refreshing!

(St. Clemente)

 (special doors)

We took a walking tour of Rome with our sweet Antoinette (our peppy tour guide). Love her. She gets right to the point and gives you just the right amount of information.  First stop, St. Clemente church. Like the city In California (thought of you Jill).  Second stop, St. Mary’s church. Dedicated to none other than the Virgin Mary.  This is the only church where you would see Mary depicted at the same size as Christ.  There is a set of holy doors that are only opened for the Jubilee every 25 years. The famous Michelangelo’s sculpture of Moses is here and Bernini is buried in this church. The last church is apparently the church of fire in the movie, Angel’s and Demons.

 Last stop, Trevi Fountain. Wow, what a sight! We got there when it was swarming with people. It’s an impressive fountain. Maybe the most unique I’ve seen. It actually inspired my own little fountain… what do you think?! News just in… I guess there is a legend that if you throw a coin over your right shoulder you’ll come back to Rome. If you throw in two coins you’ll meet a nice Italian and if you throw in three, he’ll ask you to marry him.

 We had dinner at this great little restaurant nearby. Day 2. Check.

July 2

First, a little birthday shout-out is in order. Happy Birthday Jeff! I’m so glad we got to celebrate you before I left. You are amazing and you make my heart go pitter-patter! Thanks for getting me to Park City, Midway, and the airport! MYC! xoxo

After 30 + hours we arrived in Rome and made our way to the hotel, to our beds, barely to the shower, and off to the Coliseum. A few random thoughts… Italian public restrooms smell different (and not in a good way), cars are extremely small and I fear for their lives (crazy drivers) and mine, and if you love sandwiches, well you are in the right place! See, I’ve already been educated and within only hours of being here.  Educational is what this trip is!

Off to the Coliseum! As soon as we jumped off the metro and walked up and out of the station… BAM… there it was! Right in front of our eyes. This is where everything started to set in.  I’m in Europe.  We got some pictures just before the storm.  A literal storm. The kind with big clouds, lots of liquid, and hail the size of small pebbles! The rain came down and an hour later the sun came up. We all laughed as we got drenched and started to get to know each other as we huddled up next to one another for cover. An umbrella salesman came by and of course I was like, “yes! How much?” and it broke within seconds of owning it. Really a blessing in disguise because the nice Italian saw my plight and gave me another umbrella. A rainbow one! Woo woo.

We regrouped and hiked up a small hill to get to the Museum Capitallini. We were able to take a self-guided tour as the sun started to fall. There are breathtaking views of Rome from the windows of this museum of sculptures. What a great first day. Couldn’t have been better!

Ate dinner at none other than the Hard Rock café. Our server had quite the personality and definitely kept us entertained. There are a lot of neat people on this trip… can’t wait to get to know everyone and soak in as much as I can in the next five weeks!

Rome bound

Right now I'm sitting in the Denver airport waiting for a flight to Detroit. From Detroit, I'll get on a plane to Rome. Makes me think of the old movie Roman Holiday.