A little more from Pompeii and Capri...

 In the main forum of Pompeii. The temple priestesses get a break from temple work and help propping up the ancient columns. Too soon, these ones (girls - not columns) will be off on other adventures beyond the MCSS campus.

Ever wonder what the infamous Captain Schettino is doing these days. We think we had a sighting and he was on our boat touring Capri - in disguise, of course.

 From the gardens of Capri looking down the limestone cliffs to the sea. The whole island is quite scenic.

The marina, just a little walk from the main port of Capri. (Capra is the Greek word for goat; at one time, this island was home to a large goat population - hence the name - Capri.) Not sure if the pants actually originated here, too.

Most of the girls have passed along their favourite pictures, so we can post some of these on the blog in the next little while. Some of the girls have also promised to write a fe words to post to, about their reflections on the trip. (consider this a reminder, ladies)

Pompei

 Hanging out in Pompeii before lunch and our tour of the excavated ruins. Yep - sunglasses weather yet again. A modern town has been built around the ruins.

 One of the entrances to the ancient city of Pompeii. In 79AD, iIt was buried by ash and pumice from an eruption of nearby volcano Mount Vesuvius. The city was completely covered and forgotten for centuries as was the neighboring town of Herculaneum. Thousands of people died in the two locations.  Now, about 3/5 of the city has been excavated. Some buildings have been remarkably preserved. While many of the ruins in Rome were pillaged as a source of building materials over the centuries, this did not happen to Pompeii as the site was protected from the time it was "discovered."

 The amphitheatre in Pompeii and the eager MCSS audience awaiting the performance.

Look! We found a Madonna flag in the Pompeii forum. Flag = photo op. Once again.

The Last Day in Rome - Say it ain't so....

 C.O., Mr. L., and Mrs.P. on the bridge across the Tiber River leading to Castel Sant Angelo. Shadows and sunglasses - another lovely weather day. (Sir, can we take a taxi back?)

 The Castel Sant Angelo. The earlier photo of the Victor Emmanuel monument was taken from the level just at the feet of the highest angel on the castle. This building began as the tomb of Roman Emperor Hadrian, and later was turned into an operational fort. The paseto was a protected passage that runs from the left side of the castle to the Vatican and if Rome were to be attacked, the Pope would be taken quickly along the paseto to the protection of the fort. Now the castle is a museum and gallery.

 The MCSS folks - flag in hand - at the foot of the Spanish Steps in Rome.

Looking along the Tiber River towards the Vatican and St. Peter's Basilica at night.

Wandering Around Rome

Piazza Navona - this lovely square seemed to be a crossroads for us. We were there often.

With some of the Carabinieri Police. They were in full dress uniform with their sabres at hand. Likely, they are around as much for photos with visitors as for police work. This photo is just at the bottom of the Spanish Steps. Another day with sunglasses weather.

From the terrazzo atop Castel Sant Angelo. This loft provided a wonderful 360 degree panorama of the city of Rome. Here is the monument to Victor Emanual, the first king of a united Italy. The low wall to the left of the monument is part of the Colosseum.

This is the Pantheon, the oldest Christian church in the world, dating back to 69AD. It was originally built as a pagan temple and then converted to a Christian church when Emperor Constantine made Christianity the official religion of the Roman Empire. The Pantheon has a remarkable domed roof with a hole, the Occulus, in the centre for light.

Ths church was the original burial location for the artist Raphael, until he was moved to his present location. Those who watched  'Angels and Demons' or read this novel, will recall that the Pantheon, Castel Sant Angelo and the Paseto, and Piazza Navona were all featured prominently, as was the Sistine Chapel and the Vatican.

Cooking Class in Rome

 The legendary founders of Rome, Romulus and Remus, having a meal - so let's go to cooking class.

 Lots going on all at once. Laura's was assigned to supervise the rice cooking for her team.

 Somehow, Mr. Lio wound up on Brittany's team. She's obviously worried about the weak link.

Major  multi-tasking - pasta from scratch, Italian rice balls, ravioli stuffing - and this is a holiday? At least we see a few smiles.

 And then Macbeth said to Lady Macbeth.... oh, wait....this is the pasta sauce recipe.

Everyone is smiling. Could it be because they just found out real chefs will be will actually be cooking our dinner? Everyone enjoyed getting their hands on the real food. Some of the girls have a real talent.

More from the Vatican

 This is the large, bronze statue of St. Peter, probably created in the 13th century. His right foot is worn smooth from centuries of visitors touching it as a long standing tradition.

 Looking up at the dome of St. Peter's Basilica, right above the main altar. It's quite hard to comprehend how this could have been built so many centuries ago, with no electricity, and only person power. Really quite impressive.

And finally, the crew from MCSS in front of St. Peter's Basilica after leaving the church. Earlier in our visit, we drove by at night while the Pope was in his bedroom. Mary, our tour guide pointed out the two windows, on the top floor of the building, far right, with the lights on. His windows are just outside the frame of this photo. Once again, beautiful weather helped keep everyone smiling.

Visiting the Vatican (part 2)

 On our way from the Vatican Museums to St. Peter's Basilica and looking toward the main entrance to St. Peter's Square from the portico of the Basilica. Vatican City is a separate country completed contained within Italy. One other country is also completed surrounded by Italy, that being San Marino. (so on this trip, we visited - technically - four countries - Germany and England (flight stopovers), Italy, and Vatican City.

 On entering St. Peter's Basilica - one of the largest Catholic churches in the world, and looking toward the dome, above the main altar, which is situated over the grave of St. Peter. The Basilica has the largest interior of any christian church in the world. Construction of the Basilica was completed in 1626.

Turning right, just after entering the Basilica, one comes to The Pieta, perhaps Michaelangelo's best sculpture. After the attack on the statue in the '70's, it is now behind bullet-proof glass.

Rome - the Triumphant Return

 After Florence, we returned to Rome for a few days. It will take several days to post a selection of photos from Rome and the sights and activities of the group. Above is a photo of the Circus Maximus, which was the site of the chariot races held in ancient Rome. The building in the background (slightly left of centre) is the ruins of the Imperial Palace, home to the Roman Emperors (on the Palatine Hill). The trees in the picture are Mediterranean pines, very typical of the region.

 In the Vatican Museums - halls and halls of artworks through the ages. Here are Lisa and Laura admiring some of the historical works of art. You can see that Laura is practicing to become an ear, NOSE, and throat doctor. We are hoping that she'll learn to use gloves in her practice.

 In the Vatican Museums again - sculptures along each side and painting covering the vaulted ceilings. After a couple hours here, we only saw a fraction of the collections of the Museums.

 This gallery is called The Map Room, The wall paintings are all maps of various sections of Italy.

 Mr. Lio, posing in front of the old map of his ancestral homeland, Calabria, a region in southern Italy. He says not, but we all believe Mr. Lio planned out his wardrobe for the day so he could match this map painting.

A different version of The Last Supper in the Vatican Museums. Notice, only eleven apostles appear around the table. Jesus has his arms resting on the head of one who is in front of him. This is quite a different image than Da Vinci's famous painting. But very much like Da Vinci's version, there is no cup or chalice in front of Jesus - so another piece of evidence that maybe The Holy Grail does not refer to the drinking cup Jesus used at The Last Supper. Also, the fellow in the bottom, front has no halo and neither does person whose head is reclined on the table. (Is one of them Judas?) Did the artist run out of room? Of was he working from a different version of the story?

Check back tomorrow for more from Rome...

Ciao a tutti.

Ahhh! Florence.

   The first night in Florence - what else - ride the carousel! in Piazza della Repubblica.

 Il Ponte Vecchio (The Old Bridge) which is the only one across the Arno River that was not destroyed by the Germans as they retreated from Italy. The bridge is full of gold and jewellry shops. Piazza dela Signoria, Piazza dela Repubblica, the Academia gallery, Il Duomo church, and the Porcellino and San Lorenzo markets are all on the right side of the river. Several of the girls went on a bike tour to the opposite side of the Arno River; those who stayed on the right side - shopped.

     The bell/lookout tower at Piazza dela Signoria framed by one of the many narrow streets in Florence.

    In Piazza della Signoria, is a huge broze statue of Cosimo de Medici on a horse. Today, he had a visitor.

Once again, in Piazza dela Signoria, which was one of our most frequently used meeting places, some of the students listening (or not) to our tour guide. Another sunny day - setting up nicely for a gelato later. Most, if not all the girls, said Florence was their favourite part of the trip. It is a lovely city - not inexpensive - but lovely and probably worth a return visit.

Visiting the town of Assisi

 Assisi, on the way to Florence, is a very old town and home to St. Francis, founder of the Fransican order of priests. Much of the town dates back to medieval times.

 Brother Michael gave us a very interesting class on the life of St. Francis and the building of the three churches, one on top of the other. The first one built was the middle one, on top of the grave of St. Francis. Then the crypt chapel was built by excavating under the church and around the grave of the Saint. Finally, the large basilica was built above the other two churches. A few years ago, an earthquake in the area damaged many of the frescoes in the basilica.

                                   Some of the quaint architecture in the town of Assisi.

Have MCSS Flag - Will Photograph. The Madonna group in the main piazza of Assisi. Once again, another perfect weather day. Not a drop of rain fell during our entire trip.

Some more photos - starting in Rome

                            

 Inside the Roman Colosseum - named for a statue of a Colossus that formerly stood outside the walls.

 The Colosseum - or more accurately, the Flavian Amphitheatre - as it was built by the Emperors of the Flavius family. Much of building was destroyed by people taking the stone for building materials. That was also the fate of many of the structures in the Roman forum.

                 At the Gladiator school. Preparing to defend Rome against the barbarian hordes. They'd be no match against the Madonna girls.

 Piazza Navona in downtown Rome - the site of some excellent gelato stands and roasted chestnuts. On the right is the church of St. Agnes. One of the chapels displays the skull of the saint.

Back at Home after a very long travel day

For the non-parents, we are back in Toronto and many of the travellers should be tucked into bed by now. Some may even be on the MCSS campus tomorrow. We had three flights, all pretty much on time and all pretty much full. Air Canada managed to get all 17 of us and our luggage from London Heathrow to Pearson all at the same time, despite the ongoing issues. Thanks, AC.

 Here's the group in Rome - at 4AM this morning, with our tour director for the last few days, Marianna. Still a few smiles despite the lack of sleep and the 3:30 AM departure from the hotel.

... and at Heathrow... after the shopping and before boarding. Quite a few Harrod's bags made it back to Canada. Our flight home was long and fully booked, but we were all seated in the same section of the plane. The flight home was fairly smooth, ableit a bit long at 8 hours. Except for a couple little epsodes of turbulence, the flight was quite smooth. The airport was exceptionally busy and we had quite a wait to get through customs and immigration. That meant we had a very short weight for luggage, which we checkin in Rome at about 4:15AM.

We'll probably keep the blog going for a while to share a few more photos and also to give the girls a chance to post. (Ladies, you can either post a comment, or see me during the week so we can arrange for you to post your thoughts, stories, and ideas.) Check back every once in a while.



Thanks to all of you who followed the blog and posted comments. We had over 2000 site visits by the time we got home. Wow! We never realized so many of you would be interested in our little adventure.

Ciao and have a good week.

Good day from London Heathrow

We have just arrived at Heathrow airport. Well, we arrived a while ago, but we had to change terminals by bus, then go through a couple security checkpoints. I just left some of the girls at Harrods before finding a computer to post a short note.

The flights this morning were fine and on time. Our final flight home is showing as on time, so far. If we have a significant delay, I will try to send another post. Otherwise, for those of you coming to collect a weary traveller at Pearson, perhaps check the arrivals page by going to the GTAA website to see if we are on time. We hear rumors about slowdowns with baggage at Pearson, we we could be a while before appearing.

Hoping to see everyone soon.

From here, Cheerio and TTFN, is more appropriate than ciao!

Some special messages...

Hey, Dante... here's dad in front of Dante's home in Florence. We have some more 'Dante' related pics, but you'll have to wait till we get home to see them. Ciao

Alex... thanks for the notes... yep, there will be stories to tell. There are probably enough to last for the rest of the semester.

Mrs. Totino - Thanks for all the comments and wishes. We think you win the prize for the most frequent commentator. Grazie

Mrs.Bellissimo... not withstanding the note to Alex above, you are reminded of the axiom of the US Army - "Don't ask - Don't tell." Va bene?

and Mr. Trabona... thanks for your notes, too. Just a warning... you'll have to return to MCSS to cook on next Pancake Tuesday with some Italian attire that will be coming back with us.

Happy St. Patrick's Day to everyone. Just remember March 19th. (BTW - we had zeppole in Pompei. Mmmm!)