Roaming around Rome & a taste of Florence!

We started off our Fourth of July with a trip to the beautiful Vatican City. Here we enjoyed a guided tour through both the Sistine Chapel and St. Peter's Basillica. The whole group was simply mesmerized by the amount of sheer beauty, detail, and history behind all of this ancient architecture.

We spent the remainder of the afternoon walking ("sprinting") around the rest of the city, taking in sites such as the Pantheon, Trevi Fountain, Spanish steps, and completing group challenges at these locations. We topped off our trip with a visit to one of the best gelato places in the city, a refreshing treat after the 95 degree weather! 

For dinner we unleashed our inner Italian chefs at a hotel, where we met up with other EF groups for a cooking class. Here we worked to prepare pesto pasta, veal, salad, and a delicious cake. We didn't forget about the American holiday, though! 

The following day we continued to immerse ourselves in Ancient Roman culture in our visit to the Colosseum and the Roman Forum. We were continually impressed with how sophisticated Roman systems and ways of life were, in order to establish such a large and successful society. 

From here, we began our travel to Florence. On the way, we stopped by an Olive Press to get a taste of country culture (and some olive oil too!) We arrived in Florence a few hours later and enjoyed a dinner of vegetable pasta and pot roast style meat after a long day. 

We ended the day with a group reflection of our time here so far, dishing out appreciation for this unique group of people we have all grown to love so much in just this short amount of time. 

Can't wait to explore more of Florence tomorrow!!