11:00 AM Saturday, March 31 ... a few moments for a group photo! You can’t see that there was a large group of parents taking pictures and bidding us farewell.
90 minutes later...arrival at Newark International Airport. And the first of many luggage moves. What looks like chaos was actually hassle free. I can tell this is a good group.
Katie and Ali trying desperately to be European.
Gate 42...Northwest Airlines. We’re two hours early. Everyone’s relaxing.
Corey, Steve, Ali, Katie and Dan with the first group shot after successfully navigation through airport security.
Ms Cortez and Mrs. Kuebler snacking at the gate as we wait for our 4:20 PM departure.
Mr. and Mrs. Blasser are on their second trip to Italy. They were here in 2004.
This was taken from the airplane, high above NJ/NY. You can see the Statue of Liberty near the center
The plane had individual “entertainment” screens. This is a picture of my reflection.
After the world’s worst transfer in Amsterdam, we finally arrived!
A pretty nice place. We stayed here for three nights. There was internet access...but it was VERY slow. That is why we couldn’t upload any photos.
Once we checked in, we traveled down a very “European” pathway to our rooms.
I was scoping out the neighborhood and thought this would make a nice picture.
Getting around...especially with a big bus...was pretty time consuming.
Shortly after we arrived we visited the Piazza Navona...lots of shops, cafes and gelati places!
The weather was perfect on our first day in the Piazza Navona.
Rome is filled with many interesting fountains.
We strolled over to the Pantheon. This building has been around since 50 BC. Hard to believe....
Mr. Blasser and Mrs. Nestor were intrigued by the many street artists in the Piazza Navona.
As our bus rounded a corner on our way back to the hotel, one of Italy’s “Smartcars” was preventing the bus from making a full turn. Our tour guide, Ron, rounded up some of the men in the choir to bounce and lift the car so that the bus could turn the corner.
