When in Rome...

Italy keeps getting more and more amazing by the day. After leaving Florence, we stopped to spend part of the day in a small town called San Gimignano. One word to describe it: beautiful! The medieval town is built high up in the mountains and if you climb up to the highest point you get the most gorgeous view of the Tuscany region (see picture). I honestly couldn`t get enough of the scenery! After taking it all in, James and I found a cute wine cellar where we tested some local wine before coming back down for some awesome prosciutto sandwichesJ. I think this place is a must see en route to Rome!

We arrived at our hotel in Rome around dinner time on Monday...traffic is crazy and the streets are packed! After dinner, we walked the students to the Spanish Steps and then to the Trevi Fountain. The Trevi Fountain is the largest and most famous fountain in Rome. The water that runs through this fountain and every other fountain in Rome for that matter comes from the Roman Aqueducts and is quite good. The whole square around the fountain is incredible, thousands of people sitting around admiring this piece of art... Apparently they collect between 8000$ and 9000$ in coins every day!

Monday night, Nat and I roamed around and visited the Piazza Navona...this beautiful square with tons of cute cafés and trattorias, live music and tons of local artists selling paintings. The artwork is gorgeous...I bought a couple of pieces for my house J it’s so fun to just walk around with nowhere to go!

Tuesday we went for a guided tour of the Forum and the Colosseum....it was over 40 degrees and our tour guide wasn`t very engaging so we ended going off on our own...things aren`t really marked out at the Forum so hard to follow but the Colosseum was really impressive.

I also had the chance to tour Vatican City...visited St-Peter’s Basilica-it’s incredible and almost overwhelming because there are so many details to see. I also toured the great Vatican Museum...I think I could have stared up at the Sistine Chapel for hours...the detailing and the story it tells is fascinating. Our guide was really informative so it made the whole experience quite memorable.

Rome is different from any other big city I`ve ever visited...every building is rich and full of details. There are no skyscrapers as no building can be higher than St-Peter's . The bridges and fountains are all so different. I don`t think any picture could show its true beauty. At least once a day, I head to the rooftop of my hotel to drink a glass of wine and enjoy the scenery and the weather.

I had the day off today so I decided to take the subway across the city and walk back down. I did some shopping, visited some Piazzas and then met up with my dear friend Natalie for an afternoon Mohito which then turned into several afternoon mohitos in extreme heat. Needless to say, we were left with perma smiles and massive headaches as we rushed to get back to the hotel to have dinner with the students. Haha!

I`m off to my final destination tomorrow: Sperlonga!!! I will be spending 6 nights in this beautiful beach town on the Mediterranean coast....I CAN`T WAIT! I plan on doing lots of Pilates with the students and catching up on some reading while soaking in some sun J

Hope everyone is enjoying their summer...I`m looking forward to some northern Ontario camping and BBQs with family and friends in August :)

Ciao for now!

Franny xxx