Pictures!

A real Pyramid in Rome.

The geeks with a friend.

Kinsey doing her report on the Aqueducts

Gitaine with the Swiss Guards at Saint Peters Basilica. (We got yelled at for getting too close to them!)

An update

Christianson here. Sorry for the wait between updates, things have been pretty hectic around here. After Monday and Tuesday's adventures, we spent Wednesday touring the Villa Borghese (my favorite site yet!!!), the catacombs of Priscilla, and the Spanish steps. Thursday, we took it easy and spent the better part of the day shopping. On Friday, we went to the Vatican City, where we climbed the dome above St. Peter's square, toured the huge Vatican museum, and even stumbled across the Sistine chapel. That was one really awesome day. Today, we have been wandering up and down the Appian Way. We spotted the aqueducts but did not go close to them, instead we toured some more catacombs, saw the tomb of Cecilia Metella, and did a lot of walking. Who knows what tomorrows adventures will bring. Tonight I am sitting in my apartment listening to all the noise outside, as the Roman soccer team just beat Milan and the locals are quite happy about this. Cars are honking and people are shouting. Hope I can sleep tonight!

A day in the life of the geeks...

Gitaine here! Boy have we done a lot! We went to the Roman Forum and walked the streets the ancient romans did. Then we went to Trajan's Market and explored ancient shops. The next day we got up extra early (4:00am) and hopped a train to Pompeii! Unfortunaetly, one of our adults here slipped and fell on the stairs in the apartment. There is no need to worry!! He is fine, and is resting as we speak. Pompeii was great. We practically walked a whole city in 3 hours.The body casts were amazing! The picture you see is a body cast of a dog. Then we took a train to Naples, where we went to the Archaelogical museum and ate some original Napolina pizza. Yummy! Today we took it easy and went to the National Museum of Rome. Then we went to a church that once held the Diocletian baths. Afterwards we went to Capucchin Crypts. It was very spooky looking at the artwork made out of human bones. Well that was the last few days in a nutshell, you shall hear from us soon! Ciao!

Some photos of the apartments, and the geeks!

Geeks in Roma!

Today was the Flavian Amphitheater (aka ???)

Matt gave his report....

and it was spectacular!

Then Morgan told us all about the Arch of Constantine--and another stupendous job!

Tomorrow the forum...

The rest of the crew is here...

Chris here!!! At last, we have met up with the rest of the Latin Geeks. After a day touring Trevi fountain, the four of us took the subway to Termini, where we caught a train to Fuminici airport outside of Rome. There, we met the rest of the club, and had a fun trip home involving a traffic jam on the freeway. After quickly showing them their apartment, we ate pizza and gelatto before returning them to their apartment for a highly restful sleep. Tomorrow will be fun... Arrivederci!!!!

Viva la Roma!!!!!!

Gitaine and Chris here!!! We left Venice early this morning, taking a train and a boat to Venezia Mestre. After that, it was a four hour train ride to Rome, passing through Padua, Bologna, and Florence. As soon as we got to Rome we took a taxi through the crowded streets and checked out everyone's apartment. They are very cool!!! Everyone is going to love their stay. In the meantime, we toured the area surrounding our apartments and found a good pizza place, a grocery store, several bakeries, and had some really good gelatto. Gitaine would like everyone to know that she loved her mango gelatto. I had some tiramisu flavored gelatto that was pretty good. Now we're sitting in our new apartment decompressing and relaxing. Arrivederci, see ya later!!!!!!!!!!!!

Venice!!!!

We are completely worn out! We arrived in Venice last night, and after a gorgeous night ride through the Grand Canal, we almost literally fell into bed. We are staying in a sumptuous, typically Venetian hotel where we have a suite that my cousin arranged for us. It is furnished with antiques, and has a loft, and a jacuzzi tub.

This morning after a breakfast of cappuccino, brie, prosciutto, mortadella, fresh bread, pastries, jam, and nutella, we set out for Piazza San Marco (St. Mark's Square). We toured the complete square and the Basillica, using our handy-dandy Rick Steves Audio Guide. They are so cool! It works exactly perfectly--you are right at the object that he is talking about and it is very informative.

After the Basillica we had lunch in the typically Venetian style where you grab some sandwiches and/or pizza and walk around while you eat. While eating, we strolled to the Rialto bridge. Then it was on the Doge's Palace-which was more then we had anticipated. We crossed the Bridge of Sighs and spent some time in the cold, damp prison. Afterwards, we strolled through the streets of Venice and shopped and shopped some more. Oh yes, there were also 2 gelatto breaks somewhere in there. Gitaine and Christianson have sampled Nutella, Tiramisu, chocolate and strawberry gelatto so far.

Tomorrow morning we are leaving quite early for the train ride into Rome. We are looking forward to seeing everyone, and have learned quite a bit already about how we will be leading our group through Rome. We have already seen at least 10 churches, and that can get old pretty quickly. I will be adjusting the itinerary to provide for maximum "punch" per day.

Crossing the Alps from Graubunden to Ticino

A Train Trip to Venice

Gitaine here!! Yesterday was our last day in Switzerland :( We said our goodbyes to the Cramers (Sandy's cousins) and boarded the train. We had some minor issues with the train, one being our luggage was rather big. The other was that our train stopped too short of our destination. That was no problem, we bought some more train tickets at only 1 Euro each! when we finally got to the mainland in venice, we boarded a vaporetto (water taxi) and took a 45 minute trip to our hotel. We were sailing on the Grand Canal, so we were able to use our handy Rick Steve's Tour Guides on our Ipods. It made the experience a whole lot better. Venice sure is beautiful at night. When we arrived at our hotel after walking through the maze of alleys, we took off our shoes and relaxed. Thanks for reading, I hope to see you soon!

From North to South

Sorry for no posts. We moved from Liechtenstein to the apartment in the Ticino area of Switzerland. We packed up on Friday morning, said goodbye to the huge house in Vaduz, and drove south over the San Bernadino pass into the mild climate of the southern part of Switzerland. The actual pass is still closed, so we travelled through a very long tunnel through the Alps. After reaching the other side, it was completely necessary, in the name of education, for us to stop at a Swiss chocolate factory. We learned so much as we toured the factory sampling all the different kinds and styles of chocolate that are made there. Please know that we "fell on the sword" for the rest of you, being obligated to take the free samples, and will attempt to impart the information gleaned from this very enlightening side excursion.
We arrived in Ascona, had lunch on Lago Maggiore, and then continued on to Italy for a tour around the lake. Gitaine and Christianson were able to see almost immediate differences between the two countries. Because this part of Switzerland is so close to Ialy, Italian is mostly spoken here, but German and Swiss-German are spoken and understood also. Most Swiss understand and speak about 5 languages, German, Swiss-German, Italian, French, and English.
Entered back into Switzerland, and continued on to Lago Lugano. Had dinner in Melida and settled into the apartment in Marcote.
On Saturday, we went to Lugano and found out that a that a Whopper at Burger King costs between $11.00 and $13.00 here. Yes, that's dollars. And ketchup packets are 20 cents each. The prices are absolutely astronomical.
We walked up to an old church high above the lake and had some stunning views. Lunch in Lugano, and then toured a place call Swissminiatur. It is all of Switzerland in miniature. So Thomas was able to explain the different building styles, government houses, etc. Dinner in Melida, and it is now 3 a.m. here. We could not sleep, and need to pack anyway. Today we are leaving for Venice.
We will be travelling by train after lunch.

Our New Friends

My cousin is on the far left. The boy next to me is from Argentina. Everyone said "cheese" in their native language....

Yesterday Luzern and Vierwaldstatersee--Today Austria and St.Gallen

We were too tired to blog yesterday after going to Central Switzerland. We spent the day in Luzern and went around Vierwaldstatersee.

Today, we went to St. Gallen and we visited a very old Bibliotech where Latin was written in most of the books and on the paintings. Then we went and visited a Textile Museum where we learned about embroidery and textiles. We met a group of exchange students who come from Brazil, Argentina, Guatemala, Thailand, Malaysia, Japan, and New Zealand. We all took a picture together. They are learning German, and then they will study for their Senior Year in Europe.

It snowed all morning, and was quite beautiful.

One of the two trains up to the top of the mountain!

Cable car to the top of the alps

Chris Mills here!!! Spent Tuesday in the alps above Davos, 9350 feet altitude. Gitaine nearly fainted from the altitude sickness (don't tell her I said that!), and we were all bundled up but were still chilled by the temps: 3 degrees Fahrenheit, plus wind chill from 20 mph winds!!! Brrr!!!! Enjoyed hot chocolate and coffee in a restraunt at the top of the mountain (Parsenn). All in all, had fun.

Lunch on the lake in Switzerland

Jet Lag

After spending Friday night in San Francisco, we took a flight to Chicago, and from there took an international plane overnight to Zurich, Switzerland. There, my cousin picked us up at the airport, and it was a 1 1/2 hour drive to Vaduz, the capital of Liechtenstein. Authentic Swiss cuisine including Rosti and Kalbschnitzel for lunch. Now we're at the five story mansion, looking out over the Rhine into Switzerland. Its 1 AM and we are seriously suffering from jet lag. There are floor to ceilingwindows on this floor, and the alps are stunning.
The only pictures I have so far are from the airports in the U.S. Tomorrow we will be touring Vaduz and the surrounding area, and Austria, Germany, and more Switzerland are planned for later in the week.