Salvete omnes! Today whence we awoke, we began the day with the breakfast at the Hotel President. Everyone seems to enjoy their wide varities of food, having breakfast items both from the states and Europe. A lot of us love the coffee!
Our first stop once we got going was Hadrian's Villa. It was absolutely amazing to see how many ruins are left from the time it was buit. In American dollars, the villa would have cost $15-$20 million dollars to make. Our tour guide, Valentina, encouraged us to use our imaginations to appreciate how the villa would have looked when Hadrian lived there. It contained colorful mosaics, paintings, statues, and other artifacts. We also got to look at the baths, bedrooms, and pools of the villa. It was nice to be outside of the city and enjoy the greenery and fresh air.
After that, we stopped at a pizza place everyone was raving about. It was a small place, but the pizza was fantastic. It was located near the villa. There were all different kinds of pizza, one with blue cheese, another with zucchini, and also with potatoes. We think everyone ate with zeal and enjoyed lunch! We finished with fresh clementines Ms. Green bought for everyone, which tasted so different than American store bought oranges.
Our next stop was the Villa D'Este. This is a renaissance villa, and the artwork within was astounding. The gardens were also of note. They were huge and full of colorful plants as well as tons of fountains. It was beautiful to walk around in! There was even a kitty, the second one we saw for the day.
After seeing the villas, we returned back to Rome. We visited the Pantheon, which is now a Basilica. The dome was the first ever created in the world. The proportions are amazing and the way they used different materials to build the dome so it could support itself was so smart. There is a lot of geometry in architecture (Shoutout to Ms. Joseph's ninth period geometry class. I miss all of you!).
Also within the Pantheon was Raphael...well his dead body. We learned all about him yesterday when we saw some of his artwork at the Vatican. It was fun to see his style change over the years.
Lastly, we ate dinner. We had lasagna with pesto sauce; Italian lasagna is vastly different from American, as it has no cheese between the noodles, and ricotta cheese is NEVER used. Our second course was pork for the meateaters and eggplant parmesan for the vegetarians, both with green beans. Dessert was a kind of pudding thing. It was yummy!
Now we are off to bed, as many of us fell asleep on the bus. But before we go, shoutout to:
Mater Angelinae: I miss you a lot! I hope you are all having fun though. Tell Kela I say hello too. And all of the animals; I really miss the dogs and Wilbue (Schwilbadiah). Te amo!
Pater Angelinae: I miss you guys too! I hope you are having a wonderful time as well. Have a fun week of school. Te amo.
Ms. Petrof: I have so many pictures of Winnie and Zelda. I miss all of you. The only phrase I know in Italian is,"Can I pet your dog?" I cannot wait to see you all again, and write on your board. Tell your nieces I say hello too. I hope you have a good last week in school, and an even more enjoyable Winter Vacation.
Ms. Gilroy: Tell seventh period I really miss them and hope they have a wonderful break. I cannot wait to be back in the class with all of you.
Ms. Joseph: I miss starting my morning in your room, and ending my day with ninth period. I miss all of you, but luckily I have some wonderful memories of my last day. The bridges were so fun to watch. And I have great books to read in my absence. Oh, I also have not grabbed any strangers recently.
Ms. Georgantas: I hope your ninth period is going well too! I will keep my eyes peeled for spoons!
Ms. Gutstein: I cannot wait to talk about our travels with you. Also, I have seen so many dogs like yours here. I miss them!
Chamberlain Clan: I am thinking of you all during our adventures in Italy. Natalie, you would love the food and clothes. Mom, the beautiful green gardens of Villa D'Este remind me of you. Lauren, on our way through Munic, Budapest came up on the map of nearby cities! Jake, lots of guys have long hair and I keep thinking I see you around here. Grandma, Grandpa, and the Alaska crew, miss you all! Uncle James! I can so picture you in Rome, and remember our conversations about Italia.
Sister Perry: I kept imagining you here as we toured the Vatican and learned a lot of art history :)
James Something from Tivoli: I know you won't be reading this, but for everyone else, I met this random guy in Tivoli who was a reporter who worked with Marilyn Monroe and now with the CIA! Crazy!
Also, shoutout to all other readers of the blog and families of Latin students.
Ciao,
Hannah Hediadys and Angelina Anaphora
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