Vatican Museum and St. Peter's Basilica

Micah, Daniel, and Mark in Vatican Museum

We discovered that the Saturday before Easter is not the best day to tour the Vatican Museum and St. Peter's Basilica. These are closed on Easter Sunday and the museum is closed every Monday. But it was our only day to go there over Easter weekend so we joined the hoards of tourists. We had a 10 am tour and were there in plenty of time. Eli was not feeling great and by the time we got close to the entrance he and Marta had decided that he needed to head back to my apartment. I guess the bug that Mark had the day before was a bit of the flu and now it was Eli's turn. Mark, Daniel, Micah and I continued with our tour. It was very crowded even though in some of the picture it doesn't look like that. Looking up is always good advice for visiting museums in Rome. 

One of the ceilings in the Vatican Museum

Nero's Red Marble Bath Tub

Daniel, Mark, Micah in front of St. Peter's Basilica. You can see preparations for the Easter Mass.

Nancy, Daniel, Micah in St. Peter's Basilica

Main aisle in St. Peter's Basilica

Micah, Daniel, Mark n St. Peter's Square

No pictures can be taken in the Sistine Chapel but pictures are allowed in St. Peter's Basilica. One plus of our tour was that they were handing out tickets to the Easter Mass the next day in St. Peter's Square with the Pope. We took six so we could go if it was not raining and everyone was feeling OK. - Nancy

Ethiopia Woodwards Arrrvie in Rome

In the the American Overseas School Library

My spring break started on Good Friday, March 30. Mark, Marta and the family arrived on an overnight flight from Mekele, Ethiopia at 6 am. I had arranged for a taxi to meet them at the airport and bring them to my apartment. The beds were ready and after a breakfast snack they all took a morning nap. Then we headed over to see the school and to find a box to mail all of Daniel and Eli"s school work to the USA. We got all the work ready to send DHL and set off to fine the DHL office in Rome and then explore take a walking tour. Unfortunately Mark was not feeling well so he stayed in my apartment and slept. It was a fun afternoon with Marta and the boys. Of course we had to get gelato before heading back to my apartment. It was indeed very delicious.  Dinner was at a local place near my house. - Nancy

At the Trevi Fountain

In the Pantheon

At the Spanish Steps

First gelato in Italy

Day 5 Salt and back home to Rome

We got all the students packed up and onto the bus to head back to Rome by 8 am. We had a stop scheduled at La riserva naturale Salina di Margherita di Savoia which is the second largest salt reserve in the world.  The largest one is in Bolivia. We had a tour of the salt flats and saw the mountains of salt. The guide said 90 million tons of salt is collected each month. I hope this figure was not lost n translation but that is what I heard. The salt is held in large "ponds" and then harvested. Next it is sent to locations around the world.

From the salt reserves we headed to lunch and then the long drive back to Rome. We arrived back at AOSR at 8 pm and I walked home. I had gotten to see many locations in Italy where I probably would not have gone except for this school trip. I got to spend time with high energy 7th graders. Sometimes I wondered if I was too old for this assignment but there were 3 great teaching colleagues with me who were great with the students.

We said goodbye to our fantastic bus driver and then I spent the weekend trying to recover and get a normal night's sleep. This was my last school trip and it was a memorable one. -Nancy

Day 4 Alberbello and Beach

Thursday morning we drove to the town of Alberobello which means "beautiful tree". It is a small town that has 10735 inhabitants and is famous for its unique trullo buildings. The trulli (plural of trullo) of Alberobello have been designated as a UNESCO World Heritage site since 1996. A guide gave us lots of information about the trulli houses. They are quite valuable now. It costs about 12,000 euros just to replace a stone roof. The walls are so thick because there is an inner and outer wall and a space between these walls that allows for rain water to collect in a cistern below the house. I found the town to be quite lovely. The students liked it because they had free rime for shopping and exploring on their own.

On the way to and from Alberobello we saw lots of olive groves. After lunch at our hotel the students had some free time. Our final formal activity of the day was a presentation by a marine biologist by the patio of our hotel. A common theme was how global warming is effecting the sea life in the area.

That night the hotel had a disco for our students and for a larger group of students from an Italian school that was also staying at the same hotel. I took the first shift so I could go to bed before midnight.  Fortunately my room was at the end of a hallway on the opposite side for the hotel from the disco. - Nancy

Day 3 Caves and Ropes Course

Wednesday morning we headed out to visit the Grotte di Castellana which is a large cave. The caves were discovered in 1938. We took an hour long tour of the cave. We descended over 230 steps into the cave but fortunately there was an elevator to the exit.

That afternoon the students and two of the younger more adventurous teacher chaperones did a ropes
course challenge. There were 4 areas and the last one was the highest and hardest. No pictures of me on the ropes course. I took lots of pictures of the students and stayed safely on ground level. Some of the students were amazing and so agile and confident. -Nancy

Day 2 Matera

Our second day included a drive to Matera. It is one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world, having been inhabited since the 10th millennium BC. Its historical center "Sassi", along with the Park of the Rupestrian Churches, is considered a World Heritage Site by UNESCO since 1993. Matera preserves a large and diverse collection of buildings related to the Christian faith, including a large number of rupestrian churches carved from the soft volcanic rock of the region.

 It was wonderful to have a sunny day and enjoy the bright blue sky after the fog and mist of Vesuvius. After lunch in Matera we drove to the town of Monopoli which is on the Adriatic sea. We stayed 3 nights at the same hotel. That was great because it meant we didn't have to supervise packing up each morning.  -Nancy

Going on a trip with 34 7th graders

AOSR has one week long middle school trips for each grade level. I was asked to be a chaperone on the grade 7 trip. We had 34 students go on this trip. I was assigned a group of 8 to keep track of for the week. We left school at 6:45 am on Monday March 12. Our first surprise was our bus. It was the bus used for the All Blacks New Zealand Rugby team any time they are anywhere in Europe. It was very new and very comfortable.

Our first stop was Mt. Vesuvius. I had been there with Doug and his family in January and the weather was not good. This time it was way worse. It was so foggy that we could hardly see, the wind was blowing very hard, and it was so wet due to heavy mist and light rain that our clothes got wet no matter how water proof they were supposed to be. See our non-view on the right.

We stopped for lunch about on our way to Pompeii. We ate some great food on the trip.

 It did not rain in Pompeii but one tour guide for our large group was not a good idea. It was hard to hear. I was glad I had gone in January with Doug and his famiiy.

After Pompeii it was back to the bus and we ended up at the Amalfii coast for some quick views and then off to our hotel for the night.

 Dinner was yummy pizza which we got to see the chefs make. Then they surprised our students with a tasty welcome cake. -Nancy