Middle School Information

 

CBMS Middle School
Trip to Italy
March 6-16, 2008

 

Departure
We left school and drove to the airport at lunchtime. We made our way through the airport, and eventually boarded our plane to Frankfurt, Germany. We arrived in Germany after an nine hour flight, and then went on another plane to Rome, Italy. After two more hours on a plane, we arrived in Rome, Italy. There, we met our bus driver, Luciano, and our tour director, Angelo.

Assisi
Then, we drove to a town called Assisi. On the way, it started snowing! When we got to Assisi, it was getting late. We ate dinner and spent the night in a hotel. In the morning, we went to the Basilica of St. Francis and the Basilica of St. Claire, and then drove to Florence. On the way to Florence, we stopped in a ceramics factory in Umbria. There, we saw some beautiful pottery.

Florence
When we got to Florence, we went to the Acadamia, and saw the David, a sculpture created by Michelangelo. We went to the Piazza della Signoria, which is a plaza with numerous copies of famous statues and sculptures that cover the area. One the night tour that we took, we walked up to the Ponte Vecchio, which is a famous bridge that has shops all along the length of the bridge. We also saw the Duomo, a renowned church in that area. In front of the Doumo, we saw the Gates of Paradise.  Angelo took us to a leather shop, where we learned how they treated the animal hide and turned it into jackets and boots.
One the way to Rome, we stopped at Angelo’s uncle’s house in Orvieto. We ate dinner, and then continued on our path to Rome.

Rome
In Rome, we visited many basilicas, such as the Basilica di St. Pietro, Basilica di St. Paolo, and we went into the Sistine Chapel as well. We went to the Vatican as well. The Vatican is a very small country inside of Italy, where many of the monasteries are, and also where the pope lives. In the Vatican, there was a museum that we went to, where we saw religious statues and paintings. In Rome, we went to the Colosseum, the Pantheon,  the Trevi Fountain, and the Spanish Steps. We saw the Victor Emmanuel Monument, which looks like a giant wedding cake. We also saw the ruins  the Roman Forum, Circus Maximus, Piazza Nuovo, and Trejan’s Column.
We went to an opera in Rome at the Theatro Nazionale. After that, we went to the catcombs in Rome. Angelo took us to a special place in another monastary. There, we looked through the keyhole of the Knights of Malta, and we could see the Basilica di St. Pietro perfectly lined up through the hole, miles away.

Pompeii
On  the way to Pompeii, we went to a cameo shop, where we learned how they worked with the coral to create the finished product. We walked around the section of ruined city.

Sorrento and the Island of Capri
We stayed in a hotel, and then went to the port in the morning to catch the cruise ship that took us to the Island of Capri. In Capri, we walked around the island and went shopping and sightseeing. We also went on a boat tour, which took us around the island and the cliffs in the water. We got back on the cruise ship that took us back to Sorrento. We went back to Rome, and stayed the night in a hotel.

The Airport (again)
At 3:00 in the morning, we woke up and went to the airport to catch our flight to Zurich, Switzerland. We boarded our flight and then went on an eight-hour flight to the Dulles airport in Washington, D.C., where we had to wait five hours till our next flight arrived. Finally, we boarded our final flight to Atlanta.