Day 20 Monday July 25th

This morning we got to sleep in and then had class at 3.  Chloe did her presentation on Sopra Minerva and afterwards we traveled through Campo de Fiori. 

Our final stop was at Saint Peter's Basilica. The stroll up Via della Conciliazione to Saint Peter's Square was a magnificent site! 

The square itself is aligned with columns and banners depicting the former Pope, John Paul II. 

After making out way through security we climbed the Dome of Saint Peters, which was 551 stairs. 

The view from the top was really beautiful but so crowded we could barely move.

After making our way downstairs we got an opportunity to enter the Basilica. There were so many works of art to see inside but of course the most exciting was Michelanglo's Pieta. Made in 1499, this sculpture depicts the Madonna holding her son in her arms; I have always found this scuplture to be very moving. I also thought it was cool to see the tomb of John Paul II. Before leaving the Basilica I decided to go to confession at the Vatican which was a really exciting experience!

After leaving the Basilica we headed to the delicious pizza place on Moroni that my teacher recommended. Afterwards we hung around in the Trastevere area for a while and then made our way to the Jewish Ghetto where we tried the infamous fried artichoke.

Day 19 Sunday July 24

After getting home late from the nigh club and feasting on pesto and bread leftovers from dinner we finally went to bed. Forty five minutes later we had to get up and head to the train station where we were supposed to meet our Bus2Alps tour guide. After a bus ride and two trains later we finally arrived at Cinque Terre. On Route to our destination we got to walk the beautiful "Via Del Amore" or "Walk of Love." The path on the side of the mountain had a beautiful view overlooking the ocean. Along the way there were thousands of locks attached to the fence, which I'm still not quite sure the significance of.

Waiting for out LATE tour guide

The beach at Cinque Terre was absolutely packed but was the nicest beach I've been too thus far. The water was clear and blue and the waves were gigantic. A relaxing day on the beach was just what we needed to recover from this tiring weekend. We also stopped for a seafood feast at one of the restaurants right along the shore. We devoured Risotto with mussels and oysters, pasta with shrimp, bread with balsamic and mixed salads. It was one of the best meals I've had on the trip. Afterwards we poked around the local shops and then took 2 trains and a bus back to the train station to head home to Rome. But of course what can go wrong will go wrong, and it ended up being a 6 hour train ride (rather than an 1 hour and 40 minutes) due to a Fire at the Rome train station.

Day 18 Saturday July 23

This morning we woke up and had a delicious breakfast provided by our hotel. Afterwards we headed into town to do some site seeing and shopping. The first place we stopped at was the Basilica di Santa Maria de Fiore or the Duomo. It was begun in 1296, in the Gothic Style to the design of Arnolfo di Cambio. It was completed structurally in 1436 with the dome engineered by Flippo Brunellsechi. The exterior is faced with marble panels in various shades of green and pink bordered by white. 

Hermes Knock offs!

Surrounding the church were lots of cafes, gift carts and artists. I decided to get my portrait drawn. It wasn't spot on but it was a valiant effort and I had a good time sitting and talking with the artist. Afterwards we headed to a cafe where I had a prosciutto and mozzarella panini along with pesto pasta salad. After lunch we did some shopping and bought some groceries for dinner.

Saturday night we all headed downtown and went to a nigh club called Twice. We had a really good time dancing to all the American popular songs they played!