This is a PAINTING on the ceiling in the Vatican Museum. 
Swiss Guards discuss the weather and keep us from seeing the Pope. If we ever have school uniforms at Fundy, I think this is the way to go.
On the Spanish Steps.
Rome is a grand city. Everywhere you look, you see something like this.
The Roman Empire at it's height. Reminding the Romans of their past glory.
Real Romans. Unfortunate hair and glasses.
Michelangelo's Pieta in St. Peter's. The face of Mary here looks very similar to her face on his Madonna that we saw in Bruges.
Outside the Pantheon.
An early first century AD statue of Laocoön and His Sons in the Vatican Museum.
Outside the Coliseum with the crowds.
Neil is hypnotized by our guide in Rome.
Hercules in bronze in the Vatican museum.
No matter which way you look in Rome, there is something to see.
Gloria and Linda, our excellent, helpful, friendly and relaxed guides.
Inside the Coliseum.
At the Trevi Fountain.
Gladiators of Rome.
In the Roman Forum.
The girls want to return to the Eternal City.
The Arch of Constantine has major significance to anyone who is a Christian.
The Forum and Coloseum behind us.
The drive to Rome from Levanto was a long one. We had to make a couple of rest stops on the way in, and it seemed the closer we got to Rome, the worse the toilets got. I’m sure you wanted to know that. The group this year hardly used the bus toilet at all – very strong bladders! But on the way into Rome it got more use than on the rest of the trip I think. Enough about toilets.
Rens got us into Rome and manoeuvred through the streets to bring us to the Coliseum, giving us a bit of a guided tour as we drove. He’s the only one in the group who has ever been here before. James asked him what his favourite place is in Rome, and he said the road out. At the Arch of Constantine, we looked for our contact guy, Tony. He was supposed to meet us in the back of a blue van, but apparently couldn’t get parking nearby, so we were just walking around yelling out TONY! A lot of guys answered, surprisingly. Actually, I just called Roberto, my other contact, and he told me to get the group to jump up and down together. Immediately, a very slick looking Tony showed up, with our tour guides Linda and her lovely daughter Gloria in tow. After passing a large amount of cash to Tony right there in the crowded square, Gloria took me through a huge line up (she said it was about a 1.5 hour line) to get our tickets immediately. With a couple of unexpected extra fees paid, we were in the Coliseum ahead of the big line, and Linda took us around, explaining the history and architecture. I`ve got the group well trained now – when Linda wanted to take us up to the higher level, she said the kids could go up the stairs and she would take the adults on the elevator. Everyone opted for the stairs, so our guide took the stairs too! I don`t think she usually does. The Coliseum is a wonder not for it`s beauty, but for it`s age and history. After the Coliseum, she took us down to the Forum area. The Forum has a plethora of different Roman ruins, and one toilet. Sorry, but that`s just ridiculous. There are thousands of people visiting every day. Anyway, the lack of facilities didn`t take away from the beauty and history of the place. And we had wonderful weather again, as we have throughout this trip. Our last stop was the Pantheon – the most intact building from the ancient world. The Pantheon was dedicated to all (pan) of the gods (theos) of the Roman religion, and has survived to present time because it was changed to a church when Constantine enforced Christianity as the state religion on the empire. Most of the other pagan temples were razed and churches or cathedrals were built in their place. The kids and the parents were tired and ready for a great Italian dinner and a great Italian youth hostel by the end of the tour, so we were off to the Ostello di Roma. This youth hostel must be the greatest one in all of Europe – great food, great service, great rooms. We all really enjoyed staying there.
And now for the truth. Worst hostel ever. Worse than any place I have ever stayed in Bruges. A dump. One of the things I do as a tour organizer is get all the rooms assigned before arrival, to make checking in 53 people quick and efficient. Here, they completely rearranged the rooms with no advance warning – they didn`t even email or call me on my Europe cell phone to let me know changes had been made. So then I have to figure out where to put everyone, and the only option is to have parents staying in kids`rooms (which typically does not happen on the trip). I let the guy know I was not happy with the situation, but he said there was nothing he could do to change it since they had a lot of groups staying there. I`m sure I was the first one to book our group though, back in June!
We got our dinner passes and went downstairs for our so-called traditional Italian dinner, featuring uncooked pasta, greasy mystery meat patties and vegetables so old they were starting to compost. After we were done eating or throwing out our food I went up to the front desk to cancel our dinner set for the next night. Luckily I hadn`t prepaid for it. After an HOUR of arguing with the guy, we ended up with all our food at the hostel cancelled (2 breakfasts, one packed lunch, and one more dinner). I guess they thought that was punishment for us complaining about the dinner, but I was glad we weren`t going to have to eat any food from this place again. Rens took James, Neil M and I out on a hunt for breakfast for everyone at 6:30 AM the next morning, and we found a just-opened bakery with two completely non-English speaking men running it. We loaded up on some fresh savoury pastries, yogurt, and juice or milk, and the group had a great breakfast – one of the best we`ve had since entering Italy. Before setting out for our full day in Rome, we had scalding showers (the guys did anyway) in the huge prison like bathroom facility. The shower was literally a straight stream of water (like out of a small hose) that felt like it was being poured from a boiling kettle. Another great feature of Ostello di Roma.
We met Linda and Gloria at the entrance to the Vatican Museum, and they skilfully guided us through the ticket lines again. At one point, Peter Luongo`s doppelganger (that means a guy who looks exactly the same as him) was refusing to accept our school group letter, written in Italian on school letterhead and signed by Mr. Rempel, because it didn`t have an official seal on it. This was going to put our entrance to the museum way over budget. But Gloria sweet talked him, and he eventually took it. Linda and Gloria spent about 3.5 hours with us, taking us through the Vatican museum, the Sistine Chapel, and one of the hugest, most ornate churches in the world, St. Peter`s Basilica. It`s so huge that a couple of moms lost their sons! The sculptures and tapestries of the museum, combined with Michelangelo`s paintings in the Sistine Chapel, and the grand domes, mosaics, and sculptures in St. Peter`s made for an overwhelming morning. I think my wife Lisa summed it up best when she said that they joy of seeing the Vatican was worth the suffering of staying in Ostello di Roma.
After saying goodbye to our guides, we were off to the Trevi Fountain for a real Italian lunch, some shopping, a visit to the Spanish Steps, a real Italian dinner, some more shopping, and our last gelato. Everyone who had won an extra scoop ticket and hadn`t used it yet got to the front of the line and had their triple; the rest of us enjoyed our double. According to legend, if a visitor throws a coin into the Trevi fountain (back to the fountain, over the shoulder), it ensures a return visit to the Eternal City, Rome. One of the kids had apparently heard part of this before I told the whole group about it, and decided to throw his coin from street level. It narrowly missed some Japanese tourists standing beside the fountain, landing on the walkway. I guess he thought he could be guaranteed a return trip to Rome by getting a summons to appear in court. Most of the kids went down to the fountain and added their coin to the 120 000 Euros worth collected from the basin every year.
Our final day touring in Europe over, our bellies full, our legs tired, our minds worn out, we boarded the bus back to the hostel to pack for our travel day.
Rens got us into Rome and manoeuvred through the streets to bring us to the Coliseum, giving us a bit of a guided tour as we drove. He’s the only one in the group who has ever been here before. James asked him what his favourite place is in Rome, and he said the road out. At the Arch of Constantine, we looked for our contact guy, Tony. He was supposed to meet us in the back of a blue van, but apparently couldn’t get parking nearby, so we were just walking around yelling out TONY! A lot of guys answered, surprisingly. Actually, I just called Roberto, my other contact, and he told me to get the group to jump up and down together. Immediately, a very slick looking Tony showed up, with our tour guides Linda and her lovely daughter Gloria in tow. After passing a large amount of cash to Tony right there in the crowded square, Gloria took me through a huge line up (she said it was about a 1.5 hour line) to get our tickets immediately. With a couple of unexpected extra fees paid, we were in the Coliseum ahead of the big line, and Linda took us around, explaining the history and architecture. I`ve got the group well trained now – when Linda wanted to take us up to the higher level, she said the kids could go up the stairs and she would take the adults on the elevator. Everyone opted for the stairs, so our guide took the stairs too! I don`t think she usually does. The Coliseum is a wonder not for it`s beauty, but for it`s age and history. After the Coliseum, she took us down to the Forum area. The Forum has a plethora of different Roman ruins, and one toilet. Sorry, but that`s just ridiculous. There are thousands of people visiting every day. Anyway, the lack of facilities didn`t take away from the beauty and history of the place. And we had wonderful weather again, as we have throughout this trip. Our last stop was the Pantheon – the most intact building from the ancient world. The Pantheon was dedicated to all (pan) of the gods (theos) of the Roman religion, and has survived to present time because it was changed to a church when Constantine enforced Christianity as the state religion on the empire. Most of the other pagan temples were razed and churches or cathedrals were built in their place. The kids and the parents were tired and ready for a great Italian dinner and a great Italian youth hostel by the end of the tour, so we were off to the Ostello di Roma. This youth hostel must be the greatest one in all of Europe – great food, great service, great rooms. We all really enjoyed staying there.
And now for the truth. Worst hostel ever. Worse than any place I have ever stayed in Bruges. A dump. One of the things I do as a tour organizer is get all the rooms assigned before arrival, to make checking in 53 people quick and efficient. Here, they completely rearranged the rooms with no advance warning – they didn`t even email or call me on my Europe cell phone to let me know changes had been made. So then I have to figure out where to put everyone, and the only option is to have parents staying in kids`rooms (which typically does not happen on the trip). I let the guy know I was not happy with the situation, but he said there was nothing he could do to change it since they had a lot of groups staying there. I`m sure I was the first one to book our group though, back in June!
We got our dinner passes and went downstairs for our so-called traditional Italian dinner, featuring uncooked pasta, greasy mystery meat patties and vegetables so old they were starting to compost. After we were done eating or throwing out our food I went up to the front desk to cancel our dinner set for the next night. Luckily I hadn`t prepaid for it. After an HOUR of arguing with the guy, we ended up with all our food at the hostel cancelled (2 breakfasts, one packed lunch, and one more dinner). I guess they thought that was punishment for us complaining about the dinner, but I was glad we weren`t going to have to eat any food from this place again. Rens took James, Neil M and I out on a hunt for breakfast for everyone at 6:30 AM the next morning, and we found a just-opened bakery with two completely non-English speaking men running it. We loaded up on some fresh savoury pastries, yogurt, and juice or milk, and the group had a great breakfast – one of the best we`ve had since entering Italy. Before setting out for our full day in Rome, we had scalding showers (the guys did anyway) in the huge prison like bathroom facility. The shower was literally a straight stream of water (like out of a small hose) that felt like it was being poured from a boiling kettle. Another great feature of Ostello di Roma.
We met Linda and Gloria at the entrance to the Vatican Museum, and they skilfully guided us through the ticket lines again. At one point, Peter Luongo`s doppelganger (that means a guy who looks exactly the same as him) was refusing to accept our school group letter, written in Italian on school letterhead and signed by Mr. Rempel, because it didn`t have an official seal on it. This was going to put our entrance to the museum way over budget. But Gloria sweet talked him, and he eventually took it. Linda and Gloria spent about 3.5 hours with us, taking us through the Vatican museum, the Sistine Chapel, and one of the hugest, most ornate churches in the world, St. Peter`s Basilica. It`s so huge that a couple of moms lost their sons! The sculptures and tapestries of the museum, combined with Michelangelo`s paintings in the Sistine Chapel, and the grand domes, mosaics, and sculptures in St. Peter`s made for an overwhelming morning. I think my wife Lisa summed it up best when she said that they joy of seeing the Vatican was worth the suffering of staying in Ostello di Roma.
After saying goodbye to our guides, we were off to the Trevi Fountain for a real Italian lunch, some shopping, a visit to the Spanish Steps, a real Italian dinner, some more shopping, and our last gelato. Everyone who had won an extra scoop ticket and hadn`t used it yet got to the front of the line and had their triple; the rest of us enjoyed our double. According to legend, if a visitor throws a coin into the Trevi fountain (back to the fountain, over the shoulder), it ensures a return visit to the Eternal City, Rome. One of the kids had apparently heard part of this before I told the whole group about it, and decided to throw his coin from street level. It narrowly missed some Japanese tourists standing beside the fountain, landing on the walkway. I guess he thought he could be guaranteed a return trip to Rome by getting a summons to appear in court. Most of the kids went down to the fountain and added their coin to the 120 000 Euros worth collected from the basin every year.
Our final day touring in Europe over, our bellies full, our legs tired, our minds worn out, we boarded the bus back to the hostel to pack for our travel day.
If I remember correctly - Rens said the same thing about London! As for the hostel - makes you long for Charlie Rockets! But, on the upside, you were able to enjoy Rome and all it has to offer.
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