Day 12 - Where For Art Thou

This morning all the students came down to breakfast looking pretty snazzy all dressed up for our visit to Vatican City.  We started our day there with a guided tour through the Vatican Museum.  We had the opportunity to see a lot of different important religious artifacts including statues, paintings, tapestries, mosaic tiles, and fresco ceilings.  We learned about Michelangelo's technique for painting the Sistine Chapel and how he worked it into the ceiling instead of just painting it.  We spent some time in St. Peter's Square and got to see where the Pope comes out on Sundays to speak to the crowds.  Quite an interesting tour and beautiful artwork!  

From the Vatican, we made our way to lunch for pizza and mussels.  They all thought this was a strange combination, but the pigeons liked the scraps that fell on the ground as they flew in and out of the open air restaurant. 

After lunch we made our way to the Metro Station to catch the train to City Center of Rome for our City Quest, scavenger hunt to find some iconic landmarks throughout a small area of town.  Among the stops – where each team needed to complete a challenge – were the Spanish Steps, Trevi Fountain (which unfortunately is under restoration), The Pantheon, Obelisk and Piazza Navare.  Amazing photos were taken.  All 6 teams found all five major highlights and were treated to gelato.  Team Sara (Sara, Sierra, Becca, Blake, Zayne and Kylie) answered the most questions correctly.  The students were told to use whatever means possible to answer their questions with the exception of using the cell phones or other electronic devices.  It was fun to listen to their stories of trying to talk to the locals and get directions and/or answer questions. 

Then it was off to dinner and back to our hotel for a good night’s rest before last day in Roma and off to Assisi tomorrow afternoon.