Rome, 12:30pm

Good morning everyone.  I guess technically it's afternoon here but most of you in North America are still in bed as I write this, I'm sure.  We have had a great morning here.  Bought our passes for the colosseum yesterday so we didn't have to wait in line today.  There was a line around half the perimeter to get in yesterday afternoon so we thought we would just get up early and see it first thing today.  It's a pretty amazing place when you see it inside.  They estimate that 750 000 lives have been sacrificed there.  3/4 of the floor has been removed too so you can see all the passage ways and holding cells where they kept animals and prisoners,etc.  And to think it was originally covered in marble.  We heard that the Vatican took 90 % of it to build their city...talk about power and control!

We also walked around the ruins of Palatino, where the original forum and state buildings were.  I can't get over it- everywhere you turn there is a massive piece of history staring you in the face!  Just grabbed a quick bit at a little cafeteria near our hostel- I had salad and fruit- my body was craving something healthy after all the pizza and bread we have been eating these past couple of days.  Stephen found the "best pizza" in Rome right across from my salad spot.  I'm sure we will have many more opportunities to sample some more...

So today we are off to Vada, which is on the West coast of Tuscana, just south of Livorno, where we will be living for most of July. ( A 3 hour train ride from Rome).   It's a small town that is supposed to be very peaceful and beautiful, right on the beach.  We will be sharing an apartment with two ladies from Edmonton named Charmaine and Sharon who seem very nice and are very excited to hear that Stephen loves to cook.  Classes start at the beginning of next week I believe.  This is a program run by a Canadian woman who is a dancer and has been doing this workshop for a few years now, but I hear this is the first year she has added the vocal program.  It's basically 3 different programs integrated into one, music dance and singing.  Each one of us is here to focus on one of the 3 and will train with various instructors accordingly.  Then we all get together and put on a final showcase at the end.  Amongst all that there will be trips to Florence and Pisa and a few other towns that have music festivals as well as some jam nights.  It's basically study and tourism all wrapped into one.   It's going to be a great month, I feel it.

Gotta run but we will be in touch as soon as we get hooked up again...

Ciao for now,

Andrea & Stephen