Home at last....

Well, I was able to stay in bed until 6:45 AM, Max had to be on the ice at 7:30, Mya at 9:00 and Max again in Evangeline at 11:30 and then I hope I can get some sleep. I know that you are all done reading the blog more than likely but I simply wanted to say thank you to each and every one of you. This group will be tough to compare to when we do this again because I really can't see it get any better. Even going across the Atlantic on the way home the stewardesses were commenting on how polite and respectful our students were. It may me proud to be a teacher at TOSH. Thanks to all of you parents who put your faith in us to take your children halfway around the world. That was a big responsibility to entrust us with and I am tankful for you taking that chance with us. Thanks to Kelly, Marilyn and Barb for being such great travel partners and I would do it again in a heartbeat. Take care and chat soon!!!
dc

Vatican and back home....

Vatican Vatican Vatican.....Another early morning, but the sun was shining on our last day in Italy. Sad to think about it, even though we al lmiss our families and the comforts of home, it is always very exciting to be travelling around the world. And from our point of view, when you have very little to worry about in the area of discipline, then it seems like a piece of cake. Group Health update...Kelly is vertical and looking more presentable to today and my little buddy Liam is still feeling a little queezy, not sure because of the food or because he thinks he may be entering the priesthood today while he is at the Vatican. He is fine Marsha just has a bit of an upset stomach, personally I think its because the Leafs just keep losing.....

Weaving through traffic in a bus is an art form, fittingly enough we are headed to the Vatican Museum for the morning. Thank gosh for Summerside because what is about 10 miles in total takes about 35-45 minutes because of traffic. Rome is home to the most cars per capita in Europe and is home to over 900,000 motor scooters. Far too many vehicles and they all drive by themselves...strange for a city that is so into conservation and re-use for the last 2000 years.

Upon arriving at the outer wall of the Vatican we prepared ourselves to cross the border, as you know the Vatican is the smallest country in the world somewhere in the range of ½ square kilometre. Very fascinating! The kids are ready for a morning of art, ho hum to many, but I really don’t think they realize just what and who has work in here. Hopefully when the guide mentions Michelangelo and Raphael they don’t have visions of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. For the most part, the Papacy inaugurated the museum to house many of its collected pieces throughout their history as well and open it up to new and aspiring artists to have their pieces displayed within their walls. None of the pieces are bought or sold, all donations or conquests of time.

Much of the early pieces are works from ancient Rome and Greece and are actually the pieces or styles of pieces where Michelangelo learned to sculpt. As we know, Michelangelo was not a painter by trade, but obviously became very well known for this talent. After traversing through centuries of sculptures and pieces of ancient art we moved onto the painted apartments of former Papas. Now these were impressive, especially when they begin to tell you that they are painted by likes of Raphael. Perfectly before our eyes were some of the most famous fresco depictions in the world...very wild!!!

The artwork is much to lengthy to describe, because in order to do it justice you would need to describe it piece by piece and I am no art critic. I can barely draw stick people on my board!!! In the last few hallways prior to the Sistine Chapel we were able to view more contemporary religious pieces of art, interesting but obviously nothing can compare to Michelangelo and the Sistine Chapel. Michelangelo painted the ceiling of the Chapel over a period of 4 years, many do not know that this was his first attempt at painting. If I may, he did ok for his first time!!!!! On the entering wall of the chapel is the “Last Judgement”. Speechless....what is so cool about these pieces are the symbolism and hidden pictures that you can find, and of course you can find out the reasoning behind the symbols you can see he had quite a sense of humour. If you look in the bottom right hand corner of the pci you have just googled, you will see a man entwined with a serpent and ram horns growing from his head. As we found out this morning originally the Vatican or “at least” the Vatican secretary did not like the fact Michelangelo painted nudes. The secretary ordered them covered and he said no. Well in true Vatican style, no was not an acceptable answer so they hired another painter to cover up the genitalia. Michelangelo went one step further as that figure I mentioned earlier in the bottom right hand corner is in fact the secretary and to boot Michelangelo has the serpent biting him you know where!!!

Time to leave the Chapel, which I could have stayed in for hours looking at all of the different characters and levels of it and mostly because I am not sure when I will ever see it again. I really hope I do see it again someday. Exiting into St. Peter’s Square just to the left we got our first glimpse of the Swiss guards, or as Liam said....”Is that those funny Japanese guards??” I have since told him the difference and we had a good laugh. St. Peter’s Square is amazing, the people are milling around and I could picture a mass given by the Papa and thousands of people standing in the square. This year’s Christmas ceremony live from the Vatican will certainly take one more meaning for me this year, now that I have been. Off to the Basilica....WOW WOW WOW!!!! If I thought the Basilica of St. Paul was large, I am not sure what this would be described as. The Latin inscription on the middle ring of the church has letters that are almost 7 feet tall. They look about 1 foot tall. We, the chaperones, all agreed that there is no point in trying to describe the Basilica because it is beyond description. None of us have ever seen anything like it and you need to go there to understand. I realize that this is a bit of a letdown if you were expecting a complete online tour, but I wouldn’t know where to start and I certainly couldn’t do it justice. In all areas it deceives your eyes, and in true Michelangelo style(he was the architect) you are amazed by all that you see, not just a couple of things, but everything you and you almost wondered if you died and went to...well you know.....especially for Catholics!!! The excitement for the mass was beginning to set in.

We soon headed off for some free time, lunch and of course more shopping. Jordanne continued he assault on her bank account, Liam was feeling better at this point but was the opposite of Jordanne as he was trying to escape Italy without dropping so much as a Lira, and Pat has begun to develop an interesting skill for bartering with the street vendors. Vanda and Steve watch out when he gets home and begins negotiating for an extended curfew or the family car. He is impressive!!! By the way, when we have free time everyone travels in groups of 3 minimum and other than today usually had a chaperone with them. They have become very confident and very wise travellers in a short time and besides we secretly follow them quite often as
they are easily picked out of a crowd.

Back to the Vatican after a 3 hours of free time for a large group photo with all of the other groups. Do you remember when once upon a time I told you that there were be a large number of students attending??? The last meeting I had heard about 800 students would be attending, not sure where the info came from but I was wrong. We were 1200 strong and another 200 parents and grandparents for a total of 1400 in St. Peter’s Square, and of course our students were the best behaved, best looking and the smartest....just like proud parents!!! We began to line-up for entrance to the Mass for the Fallen Canadian soldier attended by two Vatican priests and presided over by Father Gaby Legault of the CDN. Armed forces, no Papa but we knew that already.

The mass was held in the secondary altar, as no one other than the Papa holds mass on the main altar and it was truly a beautiful ending to a great week. Father Gaby talked about the pilgrimage they made to Ortona, the lives they remembered and the lives they would change by getting others involved in remembering the men and women who have sacrificed so that we could have “our today.” HE also talked about the need for peace in the world and how they were the leaders of tomorrow and they had the power to make that happen. Communion time and all were invited to take the host if Catholic or be blessed at the altar, many of our students chose one of the author. Liam was a little sceptical because of his queasiness all day but by the time communion rolled around he said he was doing fine, and I said good because your mother will kill me if I don’t get you to the front of the Basilica for communion at the most famous church on all the world.

End of the day arrived with everyone back on the bus and you can tell I am fading fast again....wake up time is at 3:15 and it is 11:15...I will leave you with one picture tonight as you call can see the Vatican when your kids get home.

The end of the journey leads back to where I wanted it to lead....connecting the past and the present through the eyes of our youth of today. Remembering those that have come and gone before us and the sacrifices they have all made so that we can live in a safe and peaceful country. Don’t ever forget what the veterans have done for us, because before too long all of those stories will be buried with them. Talk to a veteran, shake a veteran’s hand and don’t ever forget what they put on the line!!!! Enjoy Karen and Kenny.....

PS With us luck and thank you to all of you for reading the blog...see you all in a few hours....
dc

Back to Roma via Cassino

Back to Roma via Cassino....the morning started out the way yesterday began, rainy. No problem because we were going to be on the road for about 3 hours before we hit the Commonwealth Cemetery in Cassino. WE had taken on a couple of casualties throughout the night and Kelly was down and out and would rarely open her eyes for the next 13 hours or so and never leave the bus until we hit Cassino and my good buddy Liam was getting overtired and feeling a little queezy, but all is well right now.

Scenery, scenery, and more scenery. This section of mountains in the Appenines were slightly more breathtaking than 2 days ago. Truly amazing!!! You will see a couple of the pictures of the mountains and the beautiful towns below. TO be honest it kind of reminded of my favourite Christmas song about Snoopy and the Red Baron as they describe flying over the towns below. We were really above these towns but still well below the peaks of the mountains, in fact for quite a few miles Osvaldo, our excellent bus driver who at this point I am convinced could park a 747 in a single car garage without a scratch, has been driving straight downhill with his breaks on...pretty cool, but we do have a couple of nervous passengers up front. Thankfully none of ours! Note to the Macleans, you might want to tell Vance to look up Osvaldo for a bus tour sometime, unreal!!!

Cassino is a Commonwealth Cemetery where all of the nations of the Commonwealth have soldiers buried. The usual beautiful monument stands in the center of the cemetery amongst the thousand or so graves. Be proud parents because your kids were the best behaved of the 200-300 students in the cememtery. No one ran, no one raised their voice and no one leaned on any headstones or monuments unlike some other students from other provinces. Not dissing anyone, but I was miffed by some of the behaviour that took place and other teachers stood by and watched it, we didn’t!! Mary Ann Lewell, teacher from NB travelling with us, asked a few students to stop lying on a monument and they couldn’t understand teh big deal. Anyways, on to more positive things. By the time we reached Cassino the sun was shining and the day was beautiful, perfect weather for some grave rubbings!!!! WE began to locate some locals right off the bat and off we, not just I, went to work. It was a total team effort, Adam would hold the scroll of paper, Liam would tend to the charcoal chalk, and a combination of 3 students would hold the paper in place for me. Great help!!!
The first grave we located was a young man named G.H. Cameron I believe, Emily MacDonald was quite proud of her great uncle and we quickly pulled off a great grave rubbing. After a while we attracted quite a crowd as many other people didn’t know what we were doing, one even thought we were defacing a stone, not a real bright individual, but they all make the world go round!!! The lack of sleep must be setting in because that is two cranky comments I have made, oh well!

We were able to make up for a lack of time in Moro river, which still bothers me, by spending much time here. I was so proud of them as I watched, in between rubbings, them go through row upon row looking and searching for names and sayings that would strike them. WE did find a number of islanders and potential relatives so we were able to come up with a few more rubbings. Darrell Desroches from Kinkora High was able to find a veteran from Lennox Island, a Sark man. Darrell had told the people of Lennox Island he would find the grave and say “hello”, in fact he spread tobacco on his grave as it is a traditional gift and medicine. MR. Sark’s resting place was now complete!! We found an J.A. Gallant from Richmond , PEI and did a grave rubbing. Adam was quite fond of that one and wanted to know more about this individual. This was “MY” day!!! This was never about me and don’t get me wrong, I didn’t get to go from row to row like I had done in France and Belgium, I actually barely made it to the main sanctuary where the names of the soldiers with no known graves are listed, but it was truly my day!! I don’t mean to be selfish here, and I do know that Kelly, Marilyn and Barb were witness to the students’ eagerness to see and read all the names, but this has been a dream of mine ever since I returned in 2006. They were doing exactly what I did; I was seeing them just as I had hope to picture them, looking at the names and not just rushing by like so many others putting in time on the way back to Roma. They were processing in their minds the fears, the hopes, the dreams that these men had and they understood the courage it must have taken to give up your life to do this. One inscription read, “He gave up his tomorrow, so we all could have ours...” I could not have asked for more from these kids, strike that, these great young adults!! I truly hope my own children have role models like these guys. In the end, it was time to leave and I was able to go through a few rows and say my thanks, I hope I can come back some day and finish each and every row, the same thing I attempted to do in France and Belgium. I truly hope I do, maybe with my own family and maybe even some of yours again, god willing maybe even your grandkids. OK Chiz shut up, you are getting ahead of yourself, besides I’ll be retired by then!!!
I failed to describe a little building that sits upon a mountain top in the background of this beautiful cemetery. The monastery of St. Benedict at Monte Cassino.(Google it!!!) You will see some amazing pics of this Abbey when your kids return home. Unfortunately, I don’t think I have any downloaded so you will have to wait!!...update just found a couple of long distance shots and maybe one video...

I mentioned last night that we had planned to go to the catacombs of Rome. Some chose to go and some didn’t. Well things didn’t work out perfectly as we were only able to go down one level and the kids were disappointed, as was I. The reason being they were closing at 5 and we arrived at 4 and didn’t have time to go well below the city, we did it but it wasn’t as good as it could have been. The disappointment soon turned to amazement as we were able to visit the sacred church of St. Paul. Jeepers, if I thought the Church of St. John Lateran was impressive, I am not sure how to describe this one!!! We were even able to catch part of a mass in the main area. This church contains paintings of every Papa throughout history, even Benedict, who actually is the only one who has a light shining upon him. There are only 3 places left on the ring of Papas, I am wondering where they will go next???
This church also contains the famous holy door which is used only every 25 years by the Papa himself. Once every 25 years, the Papa will knock on the door with a hammer and the doors will open to him and him alone. The next anniversary year is 2025....mark it down and be there...a few said they would.
I am running out of steam as it is 12:41 and I need to be up at 6:15....this will not surprise Julie as she knows I am a night owl. But on the bright side, the 5-6 hours I am getting is better than I have average since September!!!! Tomorrow we are onto the Vatican. I will make sure Liam does not get swiped up by the locals and kept to be next in line for the Papal throne, well at least I will do my best Marsha!!! Tour in the AM, free time to shop after lunch(as if they need any more of that) and Mass at 5:00 PM. No Papa as he is only present in Vatican City on Wednesdays and Sundays I think.....don’t quote me on that one. I am glad to hear that you are enjoying my blogging, it has been tiring but fun and it is the least I could do for you, for allowing your children to accompany me on their experience of life!!! Ciao.....
DC

PS Disregard any grammatical errors as this often done at night without much brain power left!!!

Ceremony Day

Ceremony day- Well the day that we have all been waiting for has arrived. Twenty full busloads of kids from across Canada, from PEI to BC. Yes, the entire cemetery was pretty much full and very few headstones were left unattended. The weather cold and damp, quite symbolic I might add, but the kids stood still and silent through it all. Unfortunately with a system to bus all students in to the Moro River area, we ended up being one of the last buses in place and therefore did not get very much time to really appreciate the size and total loss of life present below our feet. Only a few of the grave rubbings were completed because of the schedule and the pending rain, but we decided we would begin a new quest. There is nothing like making a positive out of a negative. WE have decided that tomorrow at Cassino Cemetery we will find new soldiers, and start the process from what is usually the end of the journey, a grave rubbing. We’ll see how that goes as some great ideas grew out of the last minute thinking session that took place before the march back to Ortona.
One of my “WOW” moments for the day occurred the minute Olivia and I found ole Freddie Boychuk. Almost instantaneously Olivia bent down to touch the grave and began to cry. Giving her a minute to compose herself we attempted to do the grave rubbing, but to no avail as the ceremony was about to start. I promised her we would go back.
As the ceremony began we each stood in front of a soldiers grave as the stories of gratitude and old were told. With many people getting emotional around us the “WOW” moments continued to flow with the tears. Kelly and Daniel located William Oaks and stood in front of his grave. If you don't know the story, WillIam C. Oaks was in the same tank regiment and worked in the same tank as Kelly’s “grundaddy” Earle Colwill. More emotions, more great memories.
As the cold damp weather continued on around us your children stood in attention and listened and more importantly thought about what it must have been like to in that area 65 years ago. We each had PEI flags with us to lay at the graves and before we left, I gave a couple of kids the opportunity to write on their flags and leave a message for their soldier and whomever would happen upon the grave next. A lot of thank you’s were said by Olivia and Lucas and Daniel, and I simply wrote” Thank you from the bottom of my heart. Because of you my children grow up in a better world...” As with my trips before it seemed so insignificant, but that was all I had to give, but it was heartfelt.
After the ceremony the large flag was unfurled and the windy downhill, and eventually uphill trek to Ortona began. The flag was huge and beautiful and took countless students took carry it all the way to Ortona. It took maybe 30 minutes for all of the students to make it back and we treated to a nice lunch before going to the afternoon city portion of the ceremony began. Soon I was going to have be in the spotlight and I had just gotten the script in the morning, oh well I am king of “wingin’ it” at TOSH so it shouldn’t be a problem.
Just as we were about to leave for the outdoor ceremony at city centre it began to pour!!!!! We still had about a 10 minute walk to the new location, thankfully indoors at St. Tomaso Church. You may be asking why weren’t the students bussed??? Well the logistics of that would be a nightmare as the city streets are about the width of your driveways, and 20 buses do not fit all at once in many European streets. So we walked in the pouring rain and no one complained, I would travel anywhere with these kids...by the way they want to go on another excursion next year. I told them to relax and let’s finish this one.
As Co-Master of ceremonies in front of 1000 people or so it was very special to play a role in this great activity. There were more speeches from students, dignitaries and most importantly the people of Ortona. The Mayor spoke of his gratefulness to the people of Canada for saving their city, and if you remember that little Lasorda lady I mentioned earlier, she was also recognized for all of her years of dedication in keeping the memories of the Canadian soldiers alive. She was very grateful and full of hugs and kisses once again. Because the altar of the church was so crowded, each time someone new came to spoke I was forced to withdraw to the back and each time I ended up beside Francesca who would rub my hand and want to hug me constantly. I have never felt that much sincerity and gratefulness in all of my life. I did not fight to save her city, but my fellow Canadians did and she has said she will be forever grateful and part Canadian at heart....amazing stuff. Another neat story was told was another survivor Tomasso, and I can’t remember his last name. HE spoke of remembering the Canadian boys fighting in the streets and specifically of December 28th 1943 as he and his father made their way back to the city to see what was left of their city and their home. They came across a Canadian soldier working hard to stir a pot of food. HE continued to say that the soldier came over to them with one of the biggest smiles and greetings he had ever had. The soldier offered them some food, beans no less, and he and his father quickly ate the beans as they had not eaten in over two days. They began to work in the streets with the Canadians in order to try to clean debris whenever it was safe and has never forgotten the helpfulness and kindness of the Canadians and from that day vowed to never forget us and make sure that every time he met or found out a Canadian was in Ortona he would welcome them with open arms. Another amazing story.......
Once again it is late and the kids are in bed as we are preparing to leave for another cemetery tomorrow as previously mentioned. It looks as if we are going to take a bit of a side excursion when we arrive back in Roma as the opportunity has come up to take some students to the ancient catacombs. I will hopefully have no issues with internet tomorrow evening and post once more. Sorry but not many pics tonight and the kids are already in bed. Take care and chat later!!!
dc

On to Ortona

Sorry for the delay...not my fault and I felt pretty guilty las night. So here goes.....

On to Ortona......The day was certainly a day to remember. I realize that all of these days are like that but I will fill you in on the end of the day’s events a little later on. Wake up call was on time and the kids were up and ready for another busy day. Our first stop before we moved to Ortona was to one of the most famous churches in the world The Basilica of St. John Lateran. Another truly amazing structure!!! If the students underestimated the power and breadth that the Catholic Church has in Italy and around the world, they certainly got a taste of that today. The sheer size of the Cathedral itself was amazing as you will see by the entrance to the building, but also the ornate and intricate art work on the floors, walls, and golden ceilings was nothing short of awe inspiring. A few of us were also able to wander over to one of the most sacred of Catholic areas, the Sacred Steps where Kings, Queens, Cardinals, Bishops and of course Papas(Popes) of Roma have kneeled their way up these steps for centuries. The Catholic that I am I wondered what I was supposed to say on each step as I made my way up to the sacred sanctuary, and in my hesitation the steps were overtaken by some very cute, but very slow little old ladies who were making their way up the steps on their seemingly ancient knees. The “Wall of Little Ole Women” prevented this Catholic from making the trek because I would still be on step #27 I am sure, and of course I did not know if it was proper to pull out and pass on the “Scala Santa” ,sacred steps.
The laugh for the day, well there were many as usual, was on Marilyn today. Unfortunately I missed the whole thing, but Kelly erupted into a fit of laughter as Marilyn made a grand entrance into the main sanctuary from a side prayer sanctuary. According to Marilyn, it occurred because of her Protestant faith(she added that it was the Church’s way of politely saying “Get Out of Here!!!) that made her miss the last two steps of the exit from the sanctuary and proceed to fall and gracefully slide on her rear end into the main sanctuary. The hard but slippery marble floors allowed her to extend her fall from the “heavens” by a few feet and then after only a second or two of “Three Stooges” style physical comedy, Kelly said she propelled herself back to her feet and walked off as if nothing happened. They are still laughing about it now!
Off to Ortona, roughly about a 2 ½ hour drive through some of the most beautiful scenery these kids have ever seen. The way to Ortona is through the Apennine Mountains driving towards the Adriatic Sea. When I say through, I mean through!!! And with the trek we also encountered some of the highest bridges/mountain passes these kids have ever laid their eyes on. Upon arriving in Ortona we were greeted by a beautiful day on the coast and the most beautiful of quaint little seaside cities you will ever visit. After about 5 minutes in Ortona we had our first “WOW” moment. In teaching a “WOW” moment is when all of sudden “they” get it...unfortunately it doesn’t happen every day, but when it does it is the best feeling a teacher can have. Upon gathering in the main square all dressed in our Ortona coats, which went relatively unnoticed in Roma, two local ladies noticed the group and Pat Desrcohes just happened to be on the outside of the circle, I think he was secretly scoping out the gelatino shops in advance, asked if he was “Americano”. Pat replied, “No I am Canadian...”, well what happened from there was nothing short of “cute”(Pat will love me saying that!!!) The little lady proceeded to begin to rub and squeeze his cheeks and say “Canadiano, Canadiano...gratzie gratzie...” Pat’s face turned as red as his coat, but the kids were able to see just what these men had done for this little town. 65 years ago they had saved this lady’s life and probably many of her friends and family from the Germans and they are still very indebted for that. Just wait it gets better!!!! AS we wandered throughout the town we were constantly greeted with “Bon Journo” and “Ah Canadiano...gratzie”. The best “WOW” of the day came a little while after that. We were walking in a large group, when we happened upon a lady probably in her 80’s. This time we had our tour guide, Bruno with us, so we had the language barrier solved. Well, no Italian nor English was necessary because the language of love and gratitude spoke loud and clear. When the lady saw our jackets she quickly began to say “gratzie gratzie”. This was followed by an explanation of the thank you’s to Bruno and soon after the translation, her tears began to flow and so did ours. I quickly asked if we could have our picture taken with her and she obliged, little did she know that she would have to wait for about 10 pictures to be taken. As the tears of joy and gratitude continued to flow from her beautiful but worn face, Olivia remembered she had a Canadian pin on her hat and gave it to her. She began to cry again and I quickly had the urge to hug and kiss the little ole lady, so in true European style I gave her a hug and a peck on each cheek to show her that were very grateful for her long and full life. “SUP ERWOW” moment for sure and the kids have hardly stopped talking about it and we are preparing them for more of that tomorrow.

We really didn't know this at that point, but the pic of the other older lady in the red is one of the famous Lasorda sisters. One of the earliest info pieces I sent you months ago was the story of these very Lasorda sisters. Throughout the entirety of the Battle of Ortona, Francesca and Maria Lasorda would wash the clothes of our Canadian soldiers. To this very day, Francesca, Maria is not well and able to, places flowers on the Monument of Peace(pictured) above in recognition of the efforts and sacrifices of the young Canadian men. This would explain her immediate elation when we walked towards the monument and she immediately came out of her house and began to hug and kiss everyone in our group. She was the most beautiful and sweet little lady I have ever met. Once again a "WOW"!!!

These were the moments I wanted your kids to experience. No language was needed to express the sheer gratitude she had as she remembered the Canadian tanks and the soldiers at “work” in the streets of her childhood. Her eyes and her heart took care of that and at that moment your sons and daughters were very fluent in Italian!!! I really don’t know what else to say. It’s late again and you are probably not able to read this tonight because our new hotel is less internet accessible and much more costly for wireless. It is the middle of the night (I hope when I am able to send this back to Canada) and when you awake to read the newest entry, your sons and daughters are off to the experience of a lifetime. More tears will flow, more hearts will swell with love and gratitude, more hugs will be given and received and their memories and sheer appreciation for our veterans and our country will continue to grow as well. Signing off from just outside of Ortona with the Adriatic roaring in the background!!!
DC

Day 2...the fun has begun!!!

Day 2...Where to start?? We went back in time about 2000 years today and the kids saw some sights that , shall we say, they found rather impressive. It is very difficult for me to put many pictures up on the blog, so tomorrow, with a better internet connection, I will hopefully be able to upload a large number of pictures to a site called flickr.com. In the meantime I will do my best to show you a few.
First things first, some of the kids are having trouble with their phone cards. Everyone one is healthy and safe and want to call home but have had issues(Kathy and Neil, Katie is worried you are going to kill her for not calling....not her fault!!)
So I guess we begin by saying that everyone missed their 6:30 wake-up call. Mix up in the computer system they said wouldn’t happen again.....we’ll see. After rushing through brekkie and running to the bus we were off to the famous Roman Coliseum. Just on the way you see so many years of history its amazing. The Circus Maximus where the first chariot races took place and where Romans simply use as a jogging track today...was I ever jealous!!!
The early morning chill didn’t curb any enthusiasm(3-4 Celsius) and we were treated to a great tour of the famous Coliseum. If you don’t know anything about it, I encourage you to Google it and check it out. I teach a lot of this stuff in my HIS421 class and this is great PD for me for sure! From the Coliseum we travelled to the Roman forum, which is the oldest area of Rome, just about 2000 years old were the grounds we were walking on. We even got to see the actual last resting place of Julius Caesar and site of his cremation, truly amazing stuff. And in the words of Lucas...SWEET!!! I wish I had a Euro for every time he said that today!!! It was hilarious!
From the Forum we moved to the site new Roman history and the monument to the liberator of Itlay, King Victor Emmanuel. Another unbelievable monument!! From there we had some time to do some shopping, some of it was willingly and some of it not. The kids soon found out how pushy some of the vendors are, how shifty they are as well. But many also figured out how to barter!! A lost art in North America for sure. Jordanne was very proud of herself when she negotiated for a couple of art prints. Good stuff!
On to the Spanish Steps, all by foot by the way, and the kids never complained once. They are truly a pleasure to be with!!! From there we moved to one of the most beautiful fountains you will ever lay your eyes on, the Trevi Fountain. WOW!!!! Many coins were tossed in and wishes made by all. Interesting fact about most of the fountains in Roma, many are accessible for some of the cleanest drinking water in the world. The public fountains(running directly from the mountains) are smaller ones where you can actually drink from or fill up a water bottle and are encouraged to so...very cool and excellent water!
From Trevi we walked to another Roman forum, the one where Julius Casear was actually assassinated in fact. And from there we were off to the Pantheon, which is basically described as the largest and best preserved ancient building in the world. You really need to see the pictures of this baby, it is incredible!!!
I am starting to fade here after a long day so I going to wrap up. It is past midnight and I need to get up in 6 hours...take care all and for all of you Habs fans out there...anyone know if they beat the BRUINS last night!!!!!
On to Ortona tomorrow after a visit to the Cathedral of St. John, I think...oops really long day!! For all of the Catholics out there, hard to believe we were 1 mile from the Vatican and we skipped mass!! Oh well, myself Pat, Adam, and Liam had a little kneel down at the altar in the Pantheon and ripped off a few prayers to try to atone for our earlier sin!!! I actually wished for a Patriots win today and I think Liam wanted the Leafs to win one more game. I told him to save that one for the Mass at the Vatican, he would need some extra help!!! Good night from Roma!
dc

Viva Italia...Crisis Averted....

We all know the preflight warnings about "in the event of a disaster the oxygen bags will deploy....." well we had that experience shortly after boarding the plane in Charlottetown. IN fact you can all relax because the plane hadn't even moved yet when my good friend Patty "I like to push buttons on ceilings of airplanes" DesRoches decided he needed some extra oxygen for the long night ahead. HAHA!!

Yes we made it finally after roughly 24 hrs since we arrived at Charlottetown airport we have made it to the hotel. The kids are great and are tired for sure, but tomorrow will be a bigger and better day. Anyways, in all seriousness each own of your children are tucked in bed getting ready for their visits to the Colosseum, the Roman Forum, the Pantheon Trevi Fountain, etc. Tomorrow will be a late night again and I will blog or the kids will when we get home. Hope all is well with everyone and take care.

PS I will go into more detail about weather and other things once my brain rests a little!!

PSS The second pic is one Daniel took while we were just about to enter Italia air space and were crossing the Alps....beautiful for sure!!!
David