I'll teach you history if you just behave......

Buena sera and good evening from Roma, Italia.

'Tis my last night in this beautiful continent and I can only tell you that I am now a walking history book on Roman and Renaissance history.

I nearly overdosed on Renaissance art in Florence with the various Michelangelo's and Ghiberrti's lying around that magical city. Aside from seeing Galileo's grave and the famous Buonaroti (aka Michelangelo) lying place, the "David" is a majestic piece of sculpture if I do say so myself. I even managed to sneak a photo of the 17ft tall man.

After a literal 10 minute visit to the Leaning Tower of Pisa (and no, I did not take the typical tourist photo of attempting to correct the position of the Tower), Evan and I enjoyed a comfy 3 hour train ride to the "Eternal City" of Rome.

Talk about the cradle of Western European civilization! Ruins are scattered around the city. We have had various loitering sessions atop marble columns only to realize that our gluttius maximus was touching history.

We toured the Colosseo and heard about how Romans were quite entertained with watching men slaughter each other. Experts estimate that 700,000 to 1 million people were killed for entertainment purposes in the arena. We also received very informative tour of the Palentine Hill, which contains the oldest ruins of the Roman Empire. Romulous is believed to have begun Rome from this very site. Talk about getting your fancy on! These emperors built dining halls larger than the main building at Stevenson, only to have it demolished to build a larger one with the reign of a new emperor.

My history senses were tingling at the sheer fact that I have walked across the same mosaic floor as Titian, Comedius, and Nero. Needless to say I was touching every ruin I could.

No trip to Rome would be complete with a tour of the Vatican, the second smallest independent country in the world (right behind another Italian state, San Marino). Now this may have been my second time seeing the Sistine Chapel, but it was breathtaking nonetheless. I sat and observed for 40 minutes in a 86 degree room with no AC, just taking in all the lifelike images from the Bible. My neck was sore afterward.

After losing my cousin in St. Peter's Square, we devoured our pasta and made plans the following day for the beach. Nothing beats swimming and tanning in the Mediterranean Sea to escape temperatures of 90+ with no AC. Did I mention that nighttime temperatures were essentially the same, but with no breeze? Yeah, it was that hot, people.

Well, tomorrow morning, my European backpacking tour ends with a flight to New York, followed the next day to LA. Thank you all for reading these adventures and be on the lookout for pictures (once I find a Costco not busy enough to unpack over 600 pictures).

love,
KM

P.S. My students are gonna have an amazing time studying world history with pictures from the actual sites. Holler!