3-4 April 2010: Rome, Italy

Hello from Italy. Now, I will summarize and report upon what has been happening with our trip so far. After saying good-bye to Florence yesterday morning, we got to Rome and checked into our hotel. We zoomed to the Vatican City where the Pope lives. We had to rush to get there because we were almost out of time. We wanted to see the Sistine Chapel and were shocked to see how many people were there. People pushed each other and we were pushed from the back causing us to push people in front of us. We nearly felt claustrophobic. We finally got into the Chapel and we were in awe to see many beauitful paintings and the Final Judgement painting by Michelangelo. After that, we went to the Spanish Steps where people tend to hang out, chat, and generally have fun. We ate dinner then went back to the hotel.

This morning, we were disappointed to find it raining and cold. However, we would not let the rain ruin our trip. We saw the Pantheon, old ruins (Circus Maximus) where there used to be chariot races. Hmm, I'm trying to remember what else we saw. The rain has clouded my thoughts... We also saw a nice plaza (Navona) where people hang out and chat. However, this time, there weren't many people there. An added reason for the lack of people was the fact that today is Easter Sunday and people were probably spending time with their families. (We also saw the Jewish Ghetto where Jews were placed during WWII and a hospital on an "island" in the middle of the Tiber river. We shopped at the train station which had some nice stores.) We decided to get back to the hotel a little early to get some rest.

2 April 2010: Florence

The group discussing Michelangelo's David

Bonjour, everyone. This morning, we ate breakfast and went to a place called "Bargello." It used to be a prison but is now a museum for various statues. We looked around and its a beautiful museum and we saw different things. I was impressed with Donatello's David. It's a smaller statue and we found it interesting. After we left the museum, we went to Florence' famous cathedral, the Duomo. It's a beautiful place and really really big. It's famous for its arc (the dome). We looked around and saw different things. When we left the Duomo, we had a little bit of free time to look around and shop as today is our last day in Florence. We shopped, ate lunch, and did different stuff. We met up at the hotel at 1 pm and went to a museum called the Galleria del Accademia. The museum is famous and has a lot of good art inside. We got to my favorite part of the museum that holds what is known as the world's finest statue: Michelangelo's David. It's a big statue that stands 17 feet tall. I was fascinated and we studied it from different angles. It's truly a fascinating statue. After we enjoyed that museum, we went to one of the homes of the Medici family nearby. It's a big home and I think it was somewhere between three to five stories tall. We just looked at it from the outside and did not enter. Florence has been rainy, but we continued to look around and shop and get to know the town.

I also need to note that our story from yesterday about Paige's falling out of the leaning tower of Pisa: Paige never really fell and hurt herself. She's just fine and we were just "April Fool"ing you. Did we really get you? (note: click on the link provided in the April 1st blog). Have a good day.

1 April 2010: Florence-Pisa

The leaning tower of Pisa... really leans!

You can see how curvy and precarious the steps were!

Can you see us?

Poor Paige!

Ponte Vecchio- Find us!!

Today, we took the train and arrived Pisa and walked to see the Leaning Tower. We were lucky to be able to reserve a time slot to go up the tower. Right at the beginning, somehow Paige lost her balance because the Tower was pretty crooked and the steps also and she fell out a doorway ( a few feet from the ground). We all went back out to see if she was ok (and there was quite a little crowd out there also!). She was fine and some of us went ahead and went up the tower. Later that day, Paige felt her shoulder was bothering her. We brought her to a clinic (error stated in vlog says hospital- it was a little clinic). They checked on her and said it was just a little sprain. (Paige: Hi- it kind of hurt a little but I'm fine now). When we got back, we went to Ponte Vecchio bridge. We looked around a little and it was interesting. Then we went to see the Medici family's home. We just saw the outside but it was a really big castle. We wanted to see the gardens but found out it was closed. It only opens during June, July and August. We ate dinner and shopped a little bit. That's it!

Side note: We just learned that Paige's little fall actually made it to the local news in Pisa and found the link (it's in Italian but use google translate)- click here.