Day 4

The Vatican

   Overview: This was a day that was really fun and visually stunning. I could have taken a whole week to tour the Vatican. So much art and it's really phenomenal. If you get the chance to, go to the Vatican City.

Date 6-21-13 Day 4 of my journey

Starting destination Vatican Museum, St. Peter's Basilica

Ending destination St. Peter's Basilica

Activity/Site Vatican, Meet priest & Swiss Guard

What did you learn? Write facts about history, culture, and geography, and government you remember.

Breakfast: Cereal, Toast from a package w/ honey and jelly; short black coffee and cappuccino. Vatican Museum lots of beautiful tapestries, statues, and paintings. Form inside the museum we went to the Sistine Chapel. The art in there was amazing and I wish I had been able to take pictures. (someone bought the rights to all the artwork in the chapel.) Fun fact: in the last judgment there is a man in hell w/ a snake wrapped around his body. That man was a painter who criticized Michelangelo while the last judgment was unfinished. Michelangelo painted him him hell. The painter asked the Pope of the time to decommission the painting but he said (the Pope, and I might have paraphrased), “I cannot help you; if you were in purgatory I could but I have no power over hell.” Also one of the martyrs in the painting is holding his skin because his death was brutal; Michelangelo made his portrait in the skin. Next was lunch. → pasta & sauce and Panna Cotta w/ strawberries for dessert.

Vatican Rosary for Haley 6€

                         Vatican pin 2€

Fun Fact :The Vatican can only have 500 residents however there are many people with Vatican passports.

Next we met with the priest who gave a brief history of the Vatican and spoke about diplomacy and ambassadorship. In a nutshell he said that if we were to show a government group like P2P and that people can work together than we could live in a more peaceful world. Through ambassadors of peace. Then we met w/ the Swiss guard member. I couldn’t hear that well but I learned that w/o tax (like the Vatican citizens) gas is ½ price and cars are 40% cheaper. FF: W/ a Vatican passport you can get into any country w/o needing to go to the embassy to get a visa. [which should have said that they can get back to the Vatican without needing a visa, I believe]

    Antipasto - kentalope

Dinner: Risotto & Pork tenderloin

          Dessert - Apple-gelatin-pie-thing  ?

          Drink - Apricot Nectar

Back to the hotel sans 1 tablet :( !

     P.S. Lunch had Peache Tè

total = 14€

Pictures are Here!! ↓

https://plus.google.com/photos/115327889663964057324/albums/5916518070392049489?authkey=COSIlf_zp5-fYA

Day 3

Day 2 in Roma

Date 6-20-13 Day 3 of my journey

Starting destination Catacombs, Piazza Novonna, Fontana Di Trevi, Plaza Colosseo

Ending destination

Activity/Site

What did you learn? Write facts about history, culture, and geography, and government you remember.

Breakfast of sweet rolls, cereal, cappuccino, & blood orange juice w/ ham and swiss roll. Next the Christian catacombs which have been only partly explored. we saw about 2% of the total area. [very confusing to navigate] Saw empty tombs b/c the pope moved important bodies to the Vatican[popes and the like]. [Also] People were stealing from the graves. Beautiful structure with elegant fresco paintings on the cealings. Saw the tomb of the aforementioned pope [not really aforementioned but it was Pope San Caio Papa], along with others. It must have been a beautiful structure when it was first built; and for many centuries after [or decades, meh]. It's crazy to think that they were built by hand. Next to lunch at a pizzeria [La Montecarlo], I had pizza w/ ham, Malto Bene! [which I learned is wrong... whoops :P it should be molto buono I think] The Girls I was with were fawning over the waiter. Three grand Fountains adorned the plaza, the middle w/ a large obelisk. Then to the pantheon which was huge. The art inside the Pantheon was awesome the whole floor is curved away from the middle because there is a large hole in the middle in the roof. Religious services are held inside. [this is an observation from the alter and seating] The Trive Fountain was pretty neat. Beautifully carved marble and it is attached to a huge building [though in hind sight it could also have been because it is set down from the street level and the building] /w Latin or Greek written on it [Latin duh] I threw 1 euro over my shoulder into the fountain. (I shall return!) Then we went off the the Spanish steps after asking a few shopkeepers for directions. 138 steps to the top and a few more to the top of another building, with a great vantage point. I ran two by two up them and was asked twice [to buy a] for a "friendship bracelet"; someone else got one for 15 euro, woo! The steps were all marble and a little slick. Then we headed to the plaza colosseo was an obelisk in the middle of The road. (do farther research.) Then back to the Plaza Novana where we re-met with Alex for Gillatto I had  → mixed forest Berry and "Viagra"[which just tasted like blue]. Then we went shopping and I bought a "Roma" shot glass for 3€. Then to dinner where we had Mozzarella slices, tomato slices, and bread w/ olive oil drizzled for antipasti and thin sliced veal with prosciutto and I believe basil between w/ a gravy; finishing off with a chocolate cream puff covered in whipped cream and shaved chocolate. Then back to the hotel; but not before buying 20 postcards for 1€.

T= 6€


Pictures for day 3 are Here ↓ copy and paste the link If you have a Google account you can comment. Also, I recommend you turn off the detailed information on the pictures, it makes it less distracting. 
 https://plus.google.com/photos/115327889663964057324/albums/5912892346277984641?authkey=CO-Q8NmH54aD6wE

Day 2

[Untitled]

   Over View: Today was the first day in Italy and everyone was really groggy. This was also before I discovered that there were enough pages to do one day on each day line, fancy that. Also another thing of note, "()" are actually written in as they appear, and [ ] are my thoughts after words. Page breaks are going to be double entered as seen below.

Date 6-19-13 Day 2 of my journey

Starting destination

Ending destination

Activity/Site Colosseum: Flavina Amphitheater

What did you learn? Write facts about history, culture, and geography, and government you remember.

-Last time on my journey: On a plane to Roma. Landed In Roma went through Customs & Met our Delegation Manager Alex [Tod]. Then on the bus to our lunch destination Risotto and Tiramisu - Delicious! [though after the fact and after having it again in a different location I discovered the first one was not all that good.] learned how to flush European toilets :P. Then off to the Colosseum, my god It is huge! Had 5 peddlers of trinkets following us around (my group of four) [written up top: Eli, Sarah, Sarah, Me] the whole outside of the building. Knowledge - the whole thing used to be marble outside and colourful inside with marble and hundreds of statues. The main arena had an underground section where there were elevators to move animals and combatants. Advanced system of sewage to remove it from the upper three levels of the building. There are 80 arches for people to enter from however 4 of these are for VIP's of the Roman society AKA: Gladiators, The Ruler, and high standing officials. Thieves Robbed it of all the loose marble and precious items. NEXT: we headed to the Roman Forum Looking at all of the ruins that have made that place their home. It started as a valley between Capital hill and Palatine hill and the two villages one each respectively. Later it was turned into a market and gathering place, buildings erected and many fires and earthquakes devastated the area. Many temples were built and torn down over the course of it's life. Julius Caesar was the only person cremated on the Roman Forum using the tables and chairs of the senators who killed him. [to make a pire]

We went to dinner after that: black pasta, salad, chicken, and Ice cream. Now I'm In the hotel. Nice suite with 2 balconies, And 1 awesome shower.

Colosseum Post card 1€

Pictures for day 2 are up! Copy and paste the link ↓ to see the wonder.
https://plus.google.com/photos/115327889663964057324/albums/5912929408643327217

Day 1

AIRPLANES

       Overview: Day one is kinda disappointing and sad almost... It's a lot of airplanes and waiting around for stuff to happen. Without further ado...

Date 6-18-13 Day 1 of my journey

Starting destination Detroit International Airport
Ending destination Roma International Airport/Roma
Activity/Site Airplanes!!! (A330 Airbus)

What did you learn? Write facts about history, culture, and geography, and government you remember. 
Philadelphia Airport kinda sucks, two hr. delay coming into Phily. From philly. To Rome had a 45 min. wait for people to get into philly. and onto the plane. The flite had good music and lots of movies to choose from; watched Jack the Giant Killer. Tried to sleep... a lot but it kinda.... no really uncomfortable. slept when I wasn't trying to, missed drinks for b/fast but got my food.
        -To be continued.....


    Food:
       Lunch - Chinese; lo main, orange chicken, and burban chicken.
       Dinner - Airplane food; Chicken, sweet potato, Green beans, Salad, Roll, and a brownie.
              [arrow up]
            What's up with that ?!

That's all that I have for day one. No pictures for today, because airplanes.

Introduction

Some of the things in my Travel Journal are drawings and other visual things, which I may or may not be able to replicate. I am putting this picture in to show what the top of the book looks like, so maybe I can describe what it is I did. So you know: all the text in this photo will be in this COLOUR except the Travel Journal title.

Please note that all of my time/date stamps are off by a day and I believe eight or nine hours. I didn't know you could set the camera for different timezones for when you travel, without messing with the local time settings.