We have arrived! It was a long journey--nearly 24 hours of travel, thanks to the Air France strike. Luckily our outstanding team at Concert and Study Tours (Yay Naomi and Patt!), who facilitated all our Italian adventures, were on it, and got us home! Our final wet, rainy day in Rome was punctuated with a jovial group dinner at Trattoria Polese near the Piazza Navona. After hours of slugging through the downpour, we opted to arrive in style by several taxis. After dinner w

Our last day in Italy started with a free morning in Rome. Our free morning was over shadowed by a torrential downpour and wind. Most people chose to catch up on some sleep but a few ventured out into the heavy rain and wind. After our free morning we met in the hotel lobby at 12:30 and once again went into the rain that had not lightened up. We caught the metro and went to the Spanish Steps to wait for our tour guide. We had a bit of a wait so some shopped while others had a

Today, we had our first whole day in Rome! We visited amazing places such as the Coloseum and Palatine Hill. To get there, we had to ride the subway, just one stop ahead. But, because of a marathon that was going on, we had to wait until the next stop to get off. Once we were there, we tried hard to avoid all the crowds and distractions, so we could get to the Coloseum quickly. But, it was impossible not to stop and gaze in awe at the magnificent architecture from the outer w

Student voices will be back tomorrow, I promise! It has been a couple long days, and late nights at the theater, which has cut into our blog and journal time. Today began bright and early with a visit to the Uffizi...here you see our own three graces who could easily have been the models for Botticelli. Then, no leather markets were left unturned as there was scouting for jackets, purses, wallets, belts, gloves, and gelato...gelato? Yes, several visits to our new favorite ge

It has been an amazing and busy day! We began with a wonderful breakfast in our hotel--all grateful to see eggs again! Then we marched through Florence, enjoying the bright spring sunshine. We paused on the Ponte Vecchio to admire gold, and break into a rousing rendition of O Mio Babbino Caro, to honor our location. The surrounding crowds cheered and shouted "Do it again! Do it again!" Never ones to leave a crowd hungry, they did. Next off to the Pitti Palace to enter the wo

On this trip, I've really learned the virtue of early rising. By getting up so early we got to see Venice wake up as we went down the canal for the last time to get to the train station. While the train station may have been like any other one in Italy, it was special to me because it was where my mum took the train over 20 years ago when she traveled through Europe. I loved that purely by happenstance I got to be where she was when she was a young woman, and follow in her fo

The Palazzo Ducale/Doge's Palace, a gargantuan structure full of some of the most beautiful gold leaf ceilings and perspective paint. This was the first stop on day four around Venezia. Every room opened to an even grander one each with its own story. We questioned how one man, even one of importance, could need such a sizeable home. Our voices echoed off the beautiful desolate walls and bounced back with tremendous sound. After getting lost in the maze of solitary confinemen

Today we went to THE most beautiful opera house in the world, La Fenice. It was a pastel blue, pink, and white theme. And had lots of gold ornamentation, and very ornate colorful paintings. It had all of the most important composers on the walls, and a whole floor dedicated to Maria Callas. And it had a huge stage, as well as a large orchestra pit. We all went our separate ways in groups. And then my group went onto a Gondola ride. And we sang our opera arias as we were going

After a long day and evening of travel we arrived, safe and sound, at Marco Polo Airport and were whisked off to Venice by two water taxis. The sea air and brilliant sunshine rejuvenated us, and off we went to the Monastery which is our home base for the next couple days. Showers, exploring the neighborhood, and gelato ensued. We had a jovial group dinner at a local pizzeria, and then lights out...on to La Fenice in the morning!

It's about twenty minutes before we board the plane. I'm very excited, since this is going to be my first time out of the country, and I'm going to take a wild guess that Italy is a great first place overseas to visit! We're finishing our lunches right now, and after I write this I'm going to download as much music as I can on Spotify for the upcoming plane ride (lots of opera, but also some other genres to mix it up since there will be opera in Italy). I'm looking forward to