| Jul 7, 2006 - Rome
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 | St. Peters Basilica, Vatican
| | inside of St. Peters
| | painted ceiling in Vatican museum
| | The whole gang
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 | | | | Trip route
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| | It's been a crazy last few days. I can't believe the tour is over already. We said goodbye to our vila in Tuscany yesterday morning, driving 5 hours to Rome. Matt, our driver dropped us off at our hotel and we said goodbye as he then headed back to Paris to start anohter tour. It's amazing how he was able to maneuver that bus in the narrow, traffic choked streets of Florence and Rome. After checking into our hotel, we immediately went to the Coliseum to meet Francesca, a local Italian guide for a tour of the Coliseum, Roman Forum and Pantheon. She was amazing and totally captivated the entire group. Unfortunetly, in the rush I forgot my camera, so I didn't get any pictures of the ancient Roman sites. It was in the 90's, very hot and crowded and everyone was beat, but Francesca was still able to enchant us all. We split up for dinner around 7:00 and then had a walking tour of the Trevi Fountain, Spanish steps and Pantheon. We got back to the hotel around midnight, totally exhausted, then got up at the crack of dawn this morning to go stand in line for the Vatican museum, Sistine Chapel and St. Peters Basilica. I had pretty much reached my whits end by the time we got to St. Peters, it was just waaaay too crowded and hot for me. I was happy to have the afternoon free so I could relax a bit. After a long nap, we all met for our farewell tour dinner, which ended very nicely. We ate at a great restuarant near our hotel and everyone was in great spirits, well rested, excited to go home and sad to say goodbye. Everyone got up and described their most memorable event on the tour. It was very touching to see how in 2 weeks time, all these strangers had come together and become a group of friends. It was a happy and sad event all at the same time, although I felt a bit removed from it, being an assistant guide and not being one of the tour members. I leave for Irealnd tomorrow morning where I will meet Bob, Tammy and Candi to start the Ireland tour. It will be interesting to see the differences in the 2 differant tours. |
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