Last day!

St. Peter's Square!

Top of Cupola!

It has finally come. It is a very bittersweet feeling! Today was the last day in Italy! When we wake up in the morning, we head to the airport! I am really excited so so America! Today, we ventured out and I climbed the Cupola! It was 551 steps! I was super proud of myself and the view I was rewarded with! I loved to view of St. Peter's Square from above! After the Cupola, I met back up with the girls and headed to do some shopping! I decided to go ahead and spend all the money I had left in Euros! I was able to pick up a few last minute gifts! Afterwards, We headed to the Trevi Fountain! Sadly, it was under repair and we could not throw a coin in! When we left, we did some more shopping and headed back to the hotel to pack for the night! See you tomorrow, America!

Rome day 3!

The morning turned out a little rough for me! I didn't feel the best, so I slept in a little. Due to this, I missed the Pope! Luckily, I was able to hear about it from my friends that went. Afterwards, I met up with my friends at the Colosseum! It was huge and amazing! I could just get a sense of crazy feelings as I walked through it and imagined how it was many years ago! We walked all around the bottom and top floors and took many pictures! We walked out around the Colosseum onto the hills to get more views of it! Unfortunately, the rain cut our trip short! We headed back to the hotel to prepare for the last dinner as a group! I feel like the dinner went very well and we were able to enjoy ourselves as a group one last time here in Italy!

Pompeii! 6-6-15

A street in Pompeii!

The volcano!

Today has been the day I have been waiting for! We finally got to go to Pompeii! I had a sense of different emotions as we were arriving to Pompeii! We could see the volcano that cause all the destruction it did so many years ago! When we arrived, we were met by our tour guide. He was a funny man and chop full of information! We walked through the ruins and could only use our imaginations to picture what the life was like here before the destruction. We walked inside homes that were still preserved good enough to get information about the culture of the people from way back then. The tour showed us many different things that the people of Pompeii did in their spare time. You could just imagine what rich people would do in their spare time! After the tour, we stuck around to eat lunch in Pompeii. It was a bit pricey but looking at the location, I understand why. When we got back to Rome, the girls and I headed out to dinner at The Hard Rock Cafe. It was a blast and the food was great. One more taste of home before I actually head home!

Rome! 5-5-15

Ciao! Today we made it to Rome! This city is crazy! When we arrived, we dropped our bags off and headed for a quick lunch. We didn't take a long break before meeting up with a tour guide! We went throughout the city gaining huge amounts of information.

Roman ruins!

We could see the ancient pillars that some how were still standing! My favorite part of the day was being able to visit the Vatican City! The cultural aspects of Rome are amazing and the Vatican contributes to a huge part of the culture! We went through different museums and experienced amazing art work. The Italian culture thrives through its amazing art works created from all over the country.

Pillars!

During this visit, we went to the Sistine Chapel. The Sistine Chapel is the residence of the Pope! Michelangelo painted the amazing ceiling inside the chapel. After we left the chapel, we went outside into St. Peters Square to view the beautiful scene. There are pillar in the square that are four rows deep. However, you can stand at four different spots, north, south, west and east like on a compass, and the pillars all line up. Then they appear to only be one pillar instead of four. We left St. Peters Square and headed back to or hotel for the night.

Siena! 5-3 and 5-4-15

Ciao! Siena is a very beautiful city! Unfortunately, we only spent two days here! The city offers so much history to be learned! When we first arrived in the city, we separated to eat lunch! When we all joined back up, we went for a tour of the city with Dr. Marciano and Ray. She was able to give us a quick overview of the city and some really cool information. During this time, we got all of our tickets for the museums. Next came my favorite part of the day, the tower! We climbed another tower!

The tower!

The view at the top!

This one was only 378 steps but it gave us a beautiful view of the city! Afterwards, we went to dinner and back to our hotel for the nigh to prepare for the next day of adventures! When we woke the next morning, we headed out to visit the museums. Unfortunately, we were unable to take a bunch of pictures.
We were still able to grasp a little bit of information on the art work. The biggest highlight while being in Siena was learning about the Palio! The Palio di Siena is a horse race that is held twice a year. The dates are July 2 and August 16. There are 17 contrades in Siena but only ten of them are represented in the race. So, every race has 10 horses and 10 jockeys that are dressed in a color of the contrade they are representing. The event may only happen twice a year, but it is celebrated and prepared for all year round. After the race, there are huge celebrations that are done by people from all around the world that traveled down for the race. The race has thousands of spectators every year. The race is done on the Piazza del Campo, that has been covered in sand and saw dust and the walls covered with mattress type material. The race only last for three laps.
The jockey races on the horse without a saddle. If the jockey falls off, oh well! The horse can still finish the race without the jockey.

Art!

Selva contrade!

This has been done before. To learn more about this event, we went to one of the contrades private lounges to enjoy some history and food. This contrade was the Selva! Their symbol is the rhino at the base of an oak tree! The colors that represent them are green and orange! Their last race win was in the year 2010! I was able to get a good taste of how serious the Palio is to the people of Siena. It is a huge part of their culture. I even got to watch the race that happened in 2010 while eating. It is like the super bowl for Americans. Apart from the history and culture that was bestowed upon us, we were able to get a taste of cuisine also! They served us a four course meal and it was delicious! I walked away stuffed! It is a huge difference to see how the Italians eat compared to America. In America, we eat our food quickly, usually just one course, and we are done. I've noticed in Italy, or the places in Italy I have visited, eat slowly and have multiple courses! There is definitely a difference in the way Americans and Italians enjoy their food!

Republic Day!

Ciao! Today was interesting! Today was an Italian holiday! It was there Republic Day! It is the day that they voted to move away from the monarch and become a republic! I was able to watch part of the celebration! We didn't stay long! When we left, we walked around Florence for a while! We did some shopping and ate lunch at McDonalds! It was yummy! After lunch, we headed back to our hotel! We sat on our roof top for a few hours to enjoy the sun and watch the view of the city! For supper, we decided to cook one last time together since the next place will not have a stove! The day was mainly a rest day to prepare for us to set out for Sienna tomorrow!

The Climb! 6-1-15

Ciao! Today was fun! We went on climbing adventures! We started out our morning real early! The reason was very worth it! We headed out to climb the Duomo! The Duomo is huge! It was a 463 step climb! When we got about half way up, we were able to see down inside the church and take some pictures! After we made it to the top, the view was spectacular! We could see all over the city! We were able to take glorious pictures! We stayed on top of the dome for a little while and just observed the scenery! The decent down was crazy! We had to fight people going up! After our successful climb, we headed back to the hotel for a break! We cooked us some nachos for lunch and took a small break. Jordan and I decided to head back out early to do some more exploring! At this time, we got crazy and decided to climb the bell tower that is attached to the church and dome! It was a 414 step climb! It was broken down into different sections, so we were able to get different views of the city! We took a few pictures before heading down! It was extremely hot! We did some shopping at the market before heading back to the hotel! For the night, Schuyler and I decided to go back at watch the sunset at the Piazzale Michelangelo again! It was once again gorgeous! Afterwards, we headed back to the hotel for the night! 

Museums and More!

Ciao! Today we got a real good taste of the artistic culture in Florence! We visited the Uffizi museum!

The Birth of Venus!

Dishes!

The art works we have been seeing are amazing! It just blows my mind at the skills of these artist. Throughout the museum, my favorite work of art was the Birth of Venus by Botticelli! After the museum, we took a small break to go eat lunch. After lunch, we headed to the Medici house to go inside! It is called the Palazzo Pitti! The Medici bought the house in 1549! The house still contains many painting, jewelry, and dishes used by the family. It was once used by Napoleon as a base! It is now the largest museum in Florence!

sunset!

Afterwards, we were heading to a church but, I cut my trip short to head back to the hotel to pick Schuyler up! She stayed behind to rest! We put our teamwork skills together to figure out the difficult bus schedule! We took a bus up to the top of Piazzale Michelangelo! Here, we watched a gorgeous sunset! Afterwards, we went back to our hotel to enjoy our nightly view before heading off to bed!

Walking tour of Florence! 5-30-15

Ciao! Today was very informational! We started off our morning by meeting up with a tour guide. We went on a three hour walking tour!

Santa Croce church

Medici family crest

We started off at the church of Santa Croce! The church was beautiful! It opened up around the year 1442. The church really caught my interest for a few reasons. One being that it stills operates today as a church and as a tourist place to visit. The most interesting thing about it to me however was the burial monuments inside. Inside the church, some of the burials include Bartolini, Donte, Galileo, Machiavelli, Michelangelo, and many more. There was a place for Leonardo da Vinci but, they were not able to get his remains for the burial. We walked around many different places throughout the city that sparked interest. We learned a lot about the Medici family.

Medici home

Gates to Paradise

They were the founders of the banking system and were extremely wealthy. We took some strolls through parts where they lived and visited one of their homes that was huge. The art work they owned was beautiful. They brought da Vinci into their home to live. From they family came four popes. The last stop on our tour was the Gates to Paradise. There was a competition to see who would construct these gates. The winner and the man who constructed them was named Lorenzo Ghiberti. The gates were beautiful. After our walking tour, we headed out for lunch. We decided to all stay together and take a look at some museums. This really was cool because we got to go see the real David statue created by Michelangelo!

David

The night view!

I was so cool and extremely detailed. We even went back to the Santa Croce church to go inside and see the monuments. Afterwards, everyone was tired, so we headed back to the hotel. I didn't want to just sit around so, Jordan and I went for a walk again. We were able to see some pretty cool things we had not seen before and found some cool new places! We finished our walk and headed back to the hotel. Schuyler and I headed out for the Hard Rock Cafe for dinner! It was really good but we got extremely full! We were both full on appetizers before our actual food arrived. We finished our food and decided to spend the rest of our night before bed on top of the hotel and enjoying the night view!