Spanish Class 2015 trip to Italy and Spain
Nineteen students from teacher Sharon Nehls' Spanish classes along with Nehls and six chaperones experienced Italy and Spain during a 10-day trip to Europe this summer. The trip includes Rome, the Vatican, Assisi, Florence, Lucca, and Pisa in Italy and Barcelona and Madrid in Spain. Nehls captured this trip in this slideshow.
Nehls describes the trip:
Day 1-2 Rome. It was amazing. We visited the Colosseum and the Vatican. The Colosseum was incredible. It was hard to believe that they had massive chambers below the floor where they kept the animals. The animals would appear from below in various locations. The gladiators never knew where the animals were going show up. Element of surprise. What was gross was they had people that were designated to spray the sand to mask the odor of the blood that was spilt. The ground was sand so that they could get rid of the blood fairly quickly. Yuck!
The Vatican was expecting 40,000 visitors that day. We walked approximately 4 miles in the Vatican to the Sistine Chapel. Unbelievable.
Day 3 Assisi. This was probably our favorite part of Italy, very tranquil and beautiful. We visited the Basilica of St. Francis. St. Francis was born to a wealthy family but wanted to demonstrate his devotion to the church. He wanted to be as poor as Jesus and he lived a very short, but humble life. He died in his mid 1940s.
Day 4-5 Florence, Lucca, and Pisa. We spent a little time in all of these places. The kids loved Lucca, which is a walled city in Italy for its small town charm and Pisa, of course for the Leaning Tower. The kids got lots of pictures either showing them pushing the tower down or holding it up. Lots of fun that day!
Day 6 Night Ferry. This was probably their least favorite due to the rocking of the boat. The Mediterranean was rough that day and most of the students had to take motion sickness medicine to prevent being sick.
Day 7-8 Barcelona. We had a free day and were able to go to the beach and the Barcelona "futbol" museum. Those who went to the museum were in awe of such greatness. It was neat to seat in the stadium and stand down by the field. The authentic jerseys you could purchase were enough to break the bank at over $100! As for the beach, it was a beautiful, sunny day. It was in walking distance from our hotel. The kids swam, played volleyball and soccer. On "Las Ramblas", the kids had fun with the human statues, especially the one of "Christopher Columbus". Even I got in on the fun!
Day 9-10 Ave Train and Madrid. The Ave Train was exactly what it was chalked up to be...fast and smooth. It only took us a little less than 3 hours to get to Madrid. If we had gone to by bus, it would have been a whole day. I think most slept due to exhaustion.
In Madrid, we visited the Prado and Reina Sofia Galleries and got to see the most famous work of Picasso: Guernica. Our guide was amazing. She also took us to the "Plaza Mayor" and "Puerta del Sol" where you can stand at the 0 kilometer. That is the very center of Spain itself. We finished our trip eating "Churros con Chocolate" in the famed street of "San Gines". The restaurant is over 100 years old. Students also got to do some shopping at the "Corte Ingles" and other stores.