When in Rome...we go back in time !

So we actually got to sleep in today..8am, it was exciting except for the sirens going off every five minutes cause apparently ambulances are needed that much. Anyways we had a great breakfast too..which did include coffee! After we were all nice and stuffed with croissants, we headed off to the Vatican to attend mass. Wow. The Vatican is unbelievable. It was probably the most breathtaking place I've seen to this day. St. Peter's basilica is unexplainable unless you've actually been inside, since the outside does not do it justice. Even though I didn't understand much of what the service consisted of, the French parts were exciting because some of us actually knew what the heck they were taking about! I'd also like to mention the fact that we did Catholic aerobics, which consists of sitting standing and kneeling constantly. I have to say that it's definitely a different atmosphere as soon as you walk into the Vatican..it's unexplainable. After that, we continued on to the Trevi fountain which was also breathtaking architecture. Then we made our way to the Pantheon. I have to say I didn't expect all these historic landmarks to be in such a central area in Rome, but I guess I didn't listen in history class that well. After we all got lunch we ventured to the great Coliseum. Now, if you've ever seen the movie Gladiator, you know what I'm talking about. I knew that a lot of what the Coliseum initially was was no longer there. I will say however, it was a bit saddening to see so much of it was destroyed. After learning all of the history of the Coliseum in history class I was very disappointed at the site only because of its state. It was very interesting though, and we learned quite a bit more about its history from our tour director. After we left the Coliseum we finally got to go shopping! The shops still have amazing objects from all over Italy, and the street performers are hilarious and extremely talented. I discovered that there is a gelato flavor called Viagra..which was extremely hilarious.Then it was time for supper. We had pasta, pork and potatoes which fruit for dessert. Dionysia also gave us some great news! Our bus driver Tony gets to come back! Everyone was so excited because we were extremely upset when we found out he was supposed to leave. So to conclude this essay about our wonderful adventures in Rome, I'd like to say it was a great day. Everyone thoroughly enjoyed it, and there is so much more to see!!
-This essay was written by Allison Green!


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Location:Rome, Italy

St Frances's Assisi to Rome

Toady we woke up early and ate a large breakfast ,by european standards.
We handed in our hotel keys and left the hotel and Padua, Italy to travel to Saint Francis's Assisi. Everyone slept on the bus because nobody was able to sleep the night before so it was quiet unlike normal days of bus touring. Assisi is a small village dating back hundreds of years, the church was built at the end of the town ending the small intertwining roads. We then followed Dionysia to the church where we met Brother Michael who gave us a insight of the church and the stories it held within its walls. We proceeded under the church and saw the carcaphucus. IT was supposed to be bring the feeling of serenity as you passed through the brightly painted walls and the gothic style roofs, it was always quiet because people were so caught in the tranquility of the beauty within the church. Brother Michael explained that each picture had meaning within itself, describing not only the scenario the depicted character was in but who they were altogether. After exiting the church we separated in groups to go back into the church to learn more of it and take in the beauty we hadn't yet seen while others wandered through the streets of Assisi eating lunch in small restaurants and street venders selling crescents and gilato. After wandering around for a few hours we met again in the square and met Dionysia by the bus to travel to rome. The ride was filled with laughs as the back seats played games and sang to all different songs. We entered Rome and the view was amazing as every other city we've seen has been. As we entered the city the bus buzzed with excitement as we pulled up to the pizzaria and ate italian pizza for the first time, well for most of us the first time. We ate every last bite to the fullest. We then traveled to our hotel and said goodbye to our bus driver Tony ( we would be getting someone new tommorow) and entered the hotel. We went in our rooms and washed our clothes as some girls wandered the hotels in desperate search for decent wifi, we finally settled for standing on the balcony and pointing our ipod


s in odd directions. We hung our clothes off balconys and are set our heads on finding sleep to prepare for Rome sightseeing tour tommorow. Goodnight from the beautiful city of Rome!
By: Kyla<3
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Location:Assisi , Rome Italy

The Adventures on the Sinking Island

Today we started the day the best way you can. A great breakfast! There was so much fruit, fresh juice, croissants, eggs and coffee! This will probably be the best we will ever get for breakfast on our trip since breakfast isn't that common here. We then loaded the bus, got onto a boat and headed off to Murano to watch the fabulous art of blowing glass. It started off as a clump of hot, melted glass and with only 3 tugs it became a horses head. He was able to make a whole horse in less than 2 minutes! After the gift shop, we reloaded the boat and started on our way to the sinking island. We met with one of the local tour guides, Carlos, who gave us a look around Venice. Afterwards we had 1 hour for lunch so we split us to get pizza and sandwiches. A little bit of shopping was done, then we met with Dionysia so she could take us to the streets of water to ride the gondolas. We then walked, and walked back to St. Mark's square to go into Doges Palace. We probably spent about 2 hours there, but it would have been an hour and a half if Yvonne didn't stop to read everything there. Then, we shopped on the streets, met up with some people selling fake Gucci, Parada, Coach and Louis Vuitton purses then begun our journey back to our hotel. We had supper, showered (I hope) and now I think we are all going to be ready for bed, even if we tried to sleep on the bus and we feel off the seat in the middle of a nap. (ME)
By: Jacquie



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Location:Venice, Italy

Verona to Venice

Today we travelled from Switzerland to Italy! WOO-HOO!! On our way here, we saw many grape vineyards, and the scenery change from rocky and sharp to green and soft. We stopped in Verona and visited Juliette's balcony. We took pictures holding her... Umm..."Shoulder". We all enjoyed gelato for a snack. We actually ate it before we melted! Good thing, BECAUSE IT WAS 38 FLIPPIN' DEGREES OUTSIDE!!!!!


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MOUNT PILATUS!

Today we went for a walk around the water where we ran into some cute boys (which Yvonne asked to take a picture with) Later we went to Mt. Pilatus for the majority of our day, but you know what they say "The joy is in the journey" and the journey to mt. Pilatus was no exception. We traveled by boat to the the cogwheel train station, then by cogwheel train up mt. Pilatus to the top. At the end of the day we travelled back down by air gondola. TODAY WE WERE CELEBRATING OUR POOPIES!!!!
By Caelan




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Day 3, Our Chalet and Swiss Folklore Festival

This morning we woke up nice and early at 6:00 and were out the door by 7:00 on our way to our chalet. We had a 2 hour bus ride from our hotel, hotel tell. Then a 5 minute walk. On our way back we stopped by the lion statue, and did some shopping. We got to climb the bell tower which was really cool though the steps were steep and there was alot of walking we made it. Such an amazing view from up there, it was worth the long hike up. After that we did more shopping/sight seeing. Then we were on our way to Stadtkeller for supper where we had Swiss cheese fondue, Pork steak with tomatoes, onions, and baked cheese, then we had something called Rosti which is grated and fried potatoes with spinach then for dessert we had Meringue with apple sauce and strawberry ice cream. During our meal there was a folklore festival with original swiss folk music, yodeling, alphornblowing and flagthrowing national costumes, and a typical swiss atmosphere it was a very fun day with lots of picture opportunities.


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July 1-2, 2012

Well, heres the first update for the blog while we are on our journey through Europe. The plane rides went good and we had no problems. When we landed we met our tour director Dionysia, she is very nice and very upbeat. We got on our tour bus which is kind of like a greyhound bus but less fancy. We drove here to Luzern. The first place she took us was a little shopping area with the most amazing swiss chocolate shop. We went on a little tour around it and we also went into a beautiful church. When we arrived back at the start of our tour Dionysia gave us 2 hours of free time. We got into little groups of 4 or more and we set off to explore. We went into a fancy little souvenir shop, the chocolate shop and other stores as well. I think we all bought at least one thing. When free time was over we got back on the tour bus and went up the mountain. The view was absolutely breathtakingly beautiful. We all took pictures going up the mountain. Some girls enjoyed the swerves and turns too. When we finally made it up we checked into our hotel. Some of us had to take our luggage up all the stairs but we all made it eventually. We settled in and went down for dinner, we had soup, pork, mashed potatoes, carrots, beans and ice cream. It was good. When we finished Yvonne told us to go and have showers and wash up before bed. We are now getting room checks and relaxing. Lights out is at ten or eleven. Well I guess thats it for now so bye.
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Location:Zurich to Luzern