Ciao Roma!

Wow! It's hard to believe our trip is already coming to an end. 

We are all packing up and heading to bed now--our bus is picking us up at 4:00 am to take us to the airport.

Here are the highlights from the past 2 days in San Gimignano and Rome:

The group in front of the Tuscan countryside (San Gimignano).

Tour of the Vatican Museums...

We present: Raphael's famous "School of Athens"

In front of St. Peter's Basilica

Last night in Rome: Trevi Fountain!

Firenze

Although we are now in Rome, this post is an update on our activities in Florence from yesterday...

(Clearly all the gelato eating and leather shopping has set us back on the blog!)

We started of the morning with a wonderful walking tour of Florence. We saw the Medici palace, the church of San Lorenzo, the magnificent Duomo (cathedral) and Baptistery (with the famous bronze doors known as 'The Gates of Paradise'), Piazza della Signoria with Palazzo Vecchio and a replica of Michelangelo's David, the beautiful church of Santa Croce, and more! It is amazing how rich in history and amazing art Florence is! Florence also happens to be a great place to shop...

We spent the afternoon at the famous San Lorenzo leather market where we learned to barter and scored some great bargains! Leather jackets, purses, wallets, belts, scarves--you name it, we got it!

Here are some pics:

Group shot in front of the Duomo.

Touring through Florence...

Doing some damage in the leather market!

New jacket. New ride?

La Vita Bella...

Ciao from Italia!

We said au revoir to France this morning as we departed from Nice and headed for Italy.
On our way to Florence we stopped in Pisa, where we got some great pictures with the leaning tower. When we got to Florence we took a stroll through the San Lorenzo leather market, which we will be spending more time at tomorrow. We had the most amazing dinner tonight (photo evidence below). We went to an authentic Italian pizzeria and enjoyed all-you-can-eat freshly made pizza!!! Of course we finished off our first night in Italy with a delicious gelato.

Take a look at our photos:

Classic Pisa shot!

Everyone pitching in to hold up the leaning tower!

Pizza Princesses!

Buon Appetito!

YUM!!!!

Monaco!

Bonjour!

We had a great day in Monaco today. We visited the Monte Carlo Casino, the Oceanographic Museum, and even got to see the excitement of the Grand Prix preparations!!

Here are some pictures from today:

Tour of the Palace.

Train tour of Monaco.

The beautiful view from the gardens!

In front of the Palace.

Au revoir Paris, Bonjour Nice!

Hello Hello!

We are now in the south of France! We left Paris is morning (after we did some last minute shopping at the Galeries Lafayette) and flew to Nice. It has been raining since we arrived here, but it is still beautiful! Tomorrow we have a full day excursion to Monaco!!!

For now we will leave you with some pictures of us from yesterday...

(Sorry we weren't able to post them until now!)

Group shot at the Jardin du Luxembourg!

A few of the guys in front of the palace.

...and a couple of the girls.

Strolling the streets of Paris!

Bubble in front of Fontaine Saint-Michel.

Seconds before we climbed the Eiffel Tower!!!

We made it to Paris!

Hi Mom & Dad!!!

We just wanted to let you know that we have arrived in Paris safe & sound!

We went straight from the airport to a guided bus tour of some of the most famous sites in Paris. From there we grabbed a bite to eat for lunch, then checked into out hotel. We spent the afternoon at the amazing Louvre museum where we saw the infamous Mona Lisa among other incredible masterpieces. We just enjoyed a delicious dinner at a near by restaurant and are now back a the hotel for the night. We are pretty exhausted, but after a good night's rest we will be ready for another full day tomorrow! Here are a few snapshots taken today for you to enjoy:

LOOK! It's us in front of the Eiffel Tower!!!

Photo op!

The glass pyramids outside the Louvre

Can you see who's back there on the wall behind us???

Dinner time! Bon Appétit!

Ready, Set, Departure!!!

Are your bags packed and are you all ready??  Because tomorrow we depart Toronto for an amazing journey through France and Italy! As we travel along, this blog will be updated on a regular basis for all those at home to watch our progress.  See you at the airport tomorrow!

Bon Voyage!