KCHS Spanish

Finally, photos are here from my awesome trip to Italy with 32 students and 4 other great co-workers.  Our flight was pretty open on the way over… in fact, I had three seats to myself to sprawl out.

Most of the students and chaperones slept on the way over since it was an overnight flight.

Our flight brought us first to Milan where we saw Leonardo Divinci’s The Last Supper.  Sorry folks, no cameras allowed.  After seeing some of the sights in Milan, we headed off to Verona.  Anyone who knows there English literature knows that is where Romeo and Juliet were from.  The image below is on the wall of a passage-way leading into a courtyard where Juliet’s balcony is located.

From Verona we headed to our first night in a hotel in Venice.  So just to recap, we went from JFK to Milan to Verona to Venice… all in one day.

Cappuccino, por favore.  I was waiting for the best coffee I had ever tasted and I got it…  In Verona.

The gondolas were nice, but the waterways were packed… and it wasn’t even tourist season.

I enjoyed learning about the construction of the city of Venice.  And yes, I searched high and low for the buildings used in Casino Royal and the Italian Job to no avail.

We spent what seemed like days on boats, not that I minded.  I mean, what better place to be on a boat than Italy.

Seeing everyone riding bicycles everywhere got be excited for the warm weather so I can begin riding to work again.

We had the opportunity to stop into Siena to see the face of (literally) Saint Catherine and also where they have the crazy Palio di Siena Horse race that you might have seen a glimpse of in the beginning of Quantum of Solace.

The Palio di Siena is said to be more important and has more money gambled on than the Kentucky Derby.  The horses represent different parishes and are even brought into the church to receive Communion.

Our next major city was Florence, home to Michael Angelo’s David.

We stayed two nights in Montecatini, but didn’t actually experience any of the natural springs that are said to rejuvenate the soul.  Darn.  Our students did get to see what English boys do when Manchester United beats Chelsea during a late night excursion for gelato.

17 degrees.  That’s how much the Leaning Tower of Pisa actually leans which defies the laws of physics.   Sadly I heard this while in Pisa… {and I quote} ”I thought I would see a million pizza places in Pisa from all the pictures on the pizza boxes in the United States.  But there isn’t ONE!!!  That’s amazing”

Giorgio… Enough said.   Never have I met a man so happy to break every law known to make sure we had the best time in his home country.

Capri is one of my favorite places on the face of the Earth and certainly some place I look forward to heading back to with Diana.

While in Capri, half of our group took a trek to the top of Capri to see where Tiberius lived.  Along the way you see gorgeous homes like this one.

Sorrento was a quaint town.  Just don’t ask what hangs on the walls of some of the restaurants/bars.

After a tour of Pompeii, we ate some of the best pizza EVER!  The sauce was light, the crust was perfect… so perfect it didn’t need any cheese.

I have to say, although it was nice to see the Colosseum in Rome, it is hard to imagine what it looked like 2000 years ago.

Easter Mass at the Vatican was really interesting and Beautiful.  The ceremony was preformed in 16 different languages and over a million people attended… all of whom actually thought they were going to receive the Host.

Inside Saint Peters Basilica, there are stars on the floor with the names of famous churches written in Latin on the floor so you can compare their sizes.  Trust me, they can’t compare.

After 24 days away from my wife this year, I have had my quota for a while.

As if a 9 hour flight after a 2 hour delay wasn’t enough, we had to fly around JFK for another hour and a half before we could land due to high traffic.  Nice.

Stay tuned for more even images… maybe a video too.

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Safely in Italy… the earthquake hit 70 miles north of Venice where we are right now. Italian Internet is worse than Spanish Internet… no pictures can be posted just yet.

More updates to come!

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I’m off today to Italy with 4 of my favorite colleagues and 32 student for 9 days. Be sure to check in regularly to see where I am and what I have been up to.

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