Bella Italia, Part Two

Want to see more of our trip? Great! Here's the second installment of photos from bella Italia.

Okay, so we're still in Rome. After our visit to the Vatican, we spent some time around the Trevi Fountain and had more shopping time (another pair of shoes for me). One of our chaperones actually lost his wallet at the Trevi Fountain - he was pick-pocketed! I would have been traumatized but he was so positive about it and just looked upon the experience as a lesson learned.

 

 We also went to the Spanish Steps.

 

Later on, we attended cooking school where we learned to make fettuccine, ravioli, two kinds of sauces, and rice balls.

 

The girl in the red coat is our tour director, Claudia. She was such a sweetheart. She didn't cook, but she helped with "quality control".

 

Our culinary creations were being judged by the hotel staff, including the chef!

 

And, believe it or not, my team won!

 

Upon return to the hotel that night, we discovered that one of the hotel rooms had been broken into and items were stolen from two of the girls. It could have been a very negative turning point for the trip, but we had such a great group of students (not to mention our wonderful tour director). The girls whose items were stolen were very upset at first, but soon decided not to spoil the rest of their trip with worry over the situation and they put their best faces forward to enjoy the remaining days. It was amazing to see how everyone stuck together and did their best to comfort the girls.

Here's our Claudia the next day, pretending to drive the bus. She can't drive at all...luckily our bus driver was excellent.

 

Our students attended a painting class.

 

I briefly considered participating in the class but I'm not so good with a paintbrush so we chose instead to take advantage of the hotel's WiFi (free with purchase of cappuccino!) and I spent a couple of hours on Skype with the OnlyChild.

 

Our next excursion was to Pompeii, which is an awesome place.

Group photo in the theatre!

 

And then an impromptu performance of a song from The Evil Dead by a couple of our very talented students.

 

Tres amici (three friends).

 

Frozen in time (teeth intact).

 

And then on to Sorrento (another of my favourite places). The scenery is so gorgeous!

 

We went down to the beach by our hotel. Yes, our hotel was right on the beach!

 

Sunset over the Bay of Naples.

 

And I'll finish off today's installation with supper.

Pasta e fagioli (pasta and beans).

 

Eggplant - delicious!

 

We ordered something special too - a plate (or two) of seafood. Heavenly!

 

There are a few more...but I'll wait until tomorrow to post. Ciao!