Loving life in Italy

Hello again. Sorry it has taken me so long to post again... We have had some fabulous but exhausting days. Our time at the turtle sanctuary was amazing. The students got to see some of the injured turtles, water some plants, and adopt some of them. I think we broke a record for most turtles adopted that day for all the People to People groups. From there we went to lunch at a Greek woman's apartment in the middle of Athens. It was wonderful. She squeezed us into her place and set up tables on her balcony, living room, dining room, and den. She is a teacher in her 60s and was a fabulous host. After this we headed to a beautiful ancient theater where the students got to see how you could literally hear a coin drop on the stage alllllll the way in back seats. It was off to our new beautiful hotel from there. It was right on the beach, so the students had a chance to take a quick dip in the salt water pool before dinner. The next day we headed to Olympia and had an hour long tour. I know I learned a lot about the original games, so I hope the students did as well. They got to run some races on the original Olympic field, which was so cool for them. They also got to see where the Olympic touch is lit for every Olympic games. It was pretty hot, but they handled things really well. I know I was really shocked at how little was left and the. The ones that were standing were ones that were put back together by the excavators. From Olympia we departed for our overnight Ferry ride. It was a pretty decent sized boat... Almost like being on a mini cruise. They had a helipad on the top floor so the kids were able to run around, dance, do whatever... Basically blow off some energy. :-) When they woke up... We were in ITALY!!!!! :-) we headed to have a late lunch in Pompeii and then had a personal tour of the excavated city of Pompeii. Our hotel was RIGHT NEXT TO the excavation site. So cool!!!! Today we were off to Mt. Vesuvius!!!! A-MAZING!!! Everyone seemed to really love it and some even said it was their favorite part of the trip. They got to go all the way to the top and walk around the crater... I know a lot of them go some great pictures. We made a quick stop in Naples to see a beautiful church and are now at another beautiful hotel in Rome. We are off to the Vatican tomorrow... I think the kids will be in awe of what they are about to see. The students keep misplacing a losing things from time to time so I am trying to limit them on what they bring with them day to day to avoid losing anything further. :-) I'm going to go try to upload some more photos tonight and tomorrow. Till then....