Day 1-2
We had to be at the Jackson, MS airport at about 8:00 for our 11:00 flight...yes 3 hours early. We sat around for a very long time with our group. We had 8 students and 3 adults. I hadn't met any of them except for my sister-in-law, of course. Everyone seemed very nice and I was optomistic that this trip was going to go very well. Saying "goodbye" to my husband was tough but it had to happen. The flight from Jackson to Atlanta went smoothly and everyone was very excited to get on the next plane, which was to Rome!
We were ver excited once we got on the plane to Rome! The plan was to sleep on the plane since we would arrive to Rome at 7am and hit the ground running with our tour guide once we got there. After 3 movies, 1 attempt at watching a foreign film to induce somnolence, 3 attempts at listening to "sleep inducing" radio station, and later and no sleep... we arrived in Roma!! We met our tour guide Franchesca and hit the ground running! The two other schools had not made it to Rome yet so we got a private day in Rome to explore! It was wonderful!! We saw the Pantheon, Trevi Fountain and had galato! Can't get much better than that!
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| Trevi Fountain |
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| me with 24+ hours of no sleep |
We had a wonderful day in Rome and met up with the other two schools (from Houston and Pheonix) that evening at the aiport. We then went to the hotel for dinner. The next day we went to the Vatican!
Day 3- Vatican
We got up early and went for a day at Vatican City. We were there at an interesting time because there was no Pope (Because Pope Benadict resigned) and the city/country was getting ready for the conclave to elect another pope in the next couple of days. Because of the up coming conclave, we were not allowed to go to the Sistine Chapel = (. We did go through the Vatican Museum and went into St. Peter's Bacillica! It was absolutly beautiful and every piece of artwork was done in mosaic, not paint!
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| Vatican City |
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| St. Peter's Bacillica |
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| Swiss Guards |
We spent all morning and mid afternoon at the Vatican, we bought some rosaries and got them blessed by the clergy at the Vatican. Then, a few of us went for a mid-afternoon trip to the Roman Catacombs. Miles and miles of catacombs stretch across the earth under Rome. It was really neat. We then went the St. Paul's Bacillica where we saw the mosaic portrais of all of the Pope's. A light is always shining on the current pope and once a new pope is elected then the light goes out. The light was shining on Pope Benadict even though he stepped down. We had a frustrating time here with the other members of the other schools. Even after spending all day at the Vatican, some students thought it would be funny to take time out of our tour guide's schedule to ask what the Pope actually did, if he can get married or have sex, etc. Even though the guide explained everything about the Pope earlier. They also asked questions like "Isn't Latin what Indians speak?" I had to pass that special one on to my hubby when I talk to him that night. We then spent an "evening in Rome". We had free time and the bus picked us back up at 10:30 from the Trevi Fountain. it was amazing to see the sights at night!
Day 4- Colosseum, Roman Forum and off to Florence
We got up early and went to the Colosseum! I was so amazing to see it after growing up seeing it only in post cards and pictures! It is so big!! And if I ever doubted that I was in Rome...well I believed it after seeing the Colosseum! Then we walked in the rain to the Roman Forum I can't really say what is in the forum because it was raining and we were all running around like we would melt. But, Hey! It was Rome rain! Then after lunch we got on the bus and drove to Florence, Italy!!
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| I asked Grace to take a picture of me infront of the Colosseum...infront of scafolding infront of the Colosseum haha! |
We spent a long rainy day in Florence next. Florence was probably my favorite place, even though it was cold a rainy. I loved that it was a small tuscan city and had cobblestone everywhere. Plus we saw the hunk that is the statue of David!!! Can I saw hubba hubba?!? But searously...it was just amazing! There was a remake of David infront of a church in the middle of town and it just paled in comparison with the real/original one. I wish we could have taken pictures. At the train station this evening we found out the new pope had been elected! Pope Francis! Then we went on the night train to Paris!
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| Umbrella Tent! |
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| Our group |
Day 6-7 Paris
We made it into Paris the next afternoon where we went to the hotel to clean up. We had very little time to eat lunch before we were off to Paris city center, so we ate at McDonalds...I know, I know! We thought long and hard and it was McDonalds or nothing..I had never felt more American! I did get something that we don't have at our McDonalds though, so that made me feel a little better! We took the Paris subway (this is hard with 46 people who don't speak french) in to Paris to go to the Louvre! We only had 1 hour in the Louvre. Usualy people set aside like 3 days to see the Louvre...we had 1 hour. We did see the high lights like the Mona Lisa, Venus, Nike...It was probably good for me because I don't know much about art so it all looks good to me and I get overwhelmed. Once statue really struck me, I ended up getting a print of it--Cupid. That evening we had dinner and took the subway back to the Hotel. The next day we took a bus tour that made me car sick. It was a lot of "on the left, now on the right, no look on the left!!". Plus, they only gave us 15 minutes at the Eiffel Tower, which is rediculous! We finily said "well, they won't leave us" so we stayed there 30 minutes : ). After the tour we went to visit the Palace of Versailles. It was very nice but cold. It was cool to see the gardens convered in snow. Then we had dinner and went back to the hotel. Well, first we back to McDonals for free WiFi.
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| Cupid |
The next day we got up real early and took a bus to Normandy to see the D-Day monuments and museum. It was amazing and overwhelming to actually be at a place where D-Day occured and so many people lost their lives. I learned all about WWII in school but to actually be on the soil that it occured...it was amazing. We went to the American Cemetary and then a museum. I started feeling quite sick when we got to Normandy, with a cold. My energy was very low and I hadn't slept well. I hated feeling so bad on this trip, but knowing that I couldn't just go a sleep for fear of missing something I may not ever get a chance to see again. After spending the night in Normandy, we went back to Paris for an evening so we could leave for London the next day. Once in Paris we had dinner and took a boat ride down the river to see the sights at night. The Eiffel Tower at night is AMAZING!!
Day 10-12
The next day we took a train London! It was really neating taking a train through the Chunnel...starting in France and then coming out in England. The first day we dropped our stuff off at the Hotel and then took the subway to Picadilly Circus so we could eat lunch and go to the National Museum. It was raining and cold but we had a good time. We saw a lot of Van Gough and Monet paintings. It's pretty surreal to see all of those famous paintings in person. Our Mississippi group's tour director was an art teacher so I went around with him so he could help me appreciate the art a little more. It think it worked. We only had 1.5 hours in there so we had to be quick! Then we went to a pub and had fish and chips! It took everyone a while to get used to being able to understand those around us and realizing that they can understand what you are saying as well. Many of us had to start sensoring ourselves because people could now understand what we were saying. The next day we toured the Tour of London, took a walking tour of London and saw the musical Wicked! It was such a great musical!! The whole day and time we spent in London was great. It was my second time to be in London so I had seen some of the sights before, but it was great seeing it again! We left very early the next day for our plane ride home!!
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| good advice for the London subway |
Over all I had a wonderful trip!! Going on a vacation in a tour group is definilty not my cup of tea but there is no way we could have seen everything we saw in a short ammount of time if we weren't in a tour. I would love to go back to these places one day. I can say this though...I am proud to be from the USA! We may not see it but we are SPOILED!!! Especially in our restaurants and hotels. Glad to be Home!!!
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