International Art Excursion: Rome So Far!

Departure Day:

On Sunday, June 6rd, the Frank Ski Kids Foundation departed with six Atlanta area school students on our International Art Excursion to Rome, Italy. The flight from Atlanta was nine hours long, but I believe the kids enjoyed it, despite the turbulence. Lol!

We arrived at our hotel in Rome Monday morning around 11am. We are staying at the Hotel Pace Helvezia, on Via Quattro Novembre 104, in the historic center.

Day #1:

Monday June 7th - The weather was great! Temps in the 80's & clear blue skies. After checking into the hotel we ate lunch. Around 1pm, our guide arrived at the hotel. Her name was Francesca and she is a local artist. She took us on a walking tour of “Imperial Rome”. We toured Campidoglio, The Forum, The Colosseum and The Pantheon. We learned about the history of Rome and the various periods of architecture. The kids really enjoyed sitting outside The Colosseum and drawing it!

On any Frank Ski Kids Foundation excurson, our #1 rule is to always stop for ice cream. In Italy it is called gelato. It was definitely a big hit!

Our first day ended in the Lago Argentina area, where the kids attended an art course at the Porta Blu Art School and Gallery taught by Alberto Parress. Alberto is a wonderful teacher, the kids really connected to the lesson and to him. He taught them to draw with feeling, without actually looking at the canvas. You can learn more about him by logging on to www.laportablu.it and www.albertoparres.it.

Needless to say, after class we were all exhausted, so we had a quick dinner near the hotel.



Day #2:

Sorprendente! That's sums up our experiences on day 2 here in Rome.

After an early breakfast, we left the hotel on foot and walked along the Via Corso Vittorio Emanuele to the Vatican. It was an awe-inspiring 20 minute walk.
,br/> You've seen it in movies, but nothing can prepare you for the size of Vatican City. Thank goodness we arrived early enough to avoid the long wait to get through security. Even though we spent nearly 2 hours in the Basilica, our tour was too short. Needless to say, all the kids wanted to stay longer but, we had VIP tickets to get into the Sistine Chapel at a specified time.

With our guide, we walked around The Vatican to the Museum and Sistine Chapel. Having prepaid VIP tickets was a blessing. The line to get into the Sistine Chapel was 2 city blocks long! I've visited the Getty Museum in L.A. and the Louvre Museum in Paris. Nothing compares to this. Touring the many rooms of the museum, viewing famous ancient history sculptures, seeing modern and antique paintings up-close was awesome. But entering the world famous Sistine Chapel, to view Michelangelo murals took our breath away. Words cannot explain the beauty of it all. Hopefully our pictures will give some idea of what we experienced.

After lunch at Sicilian Bocca, it was back to the Porta Blu Art School for another 2 hours of instruction.

For dinner, we rebelled and ate Chinese. It was quite amusing to see them search the menu for PF Chang-like dishes. Sorry kids...not at a an authentic Chinese restaurant!



DAY #3: Una Bella Giornata - A Beautiful Day In Italy!

I'm a sucker for beauty, art & nature and today really represented those three things.

After breakfast we jumped in 2 cabs for a trip to the world famous Borghese Museum & Gardens to meet our favorite art historian from our excursion to Florence last year, Margherita Abbozzo.

Margherita took a 2-hour train ride from Florence just to meet us in Rome! Not only is Margherita an artist, she also studied art history in Italy and the United States. She is a native Florentine still residing in Florence. Her passion is Italy and its richly beautiful art history. Touring the most famous art collection in Italy with her was a real treat!

Our tour of The Borghese Gardens & Museum began at 11am. Two hours is the maximum amount of time tourists have and absolutely no photos are permitted of the extremely rare artworks. Lucky for us though, Margherita is well-respected and known so a few photos by our photographer, Ben Rose were permitted. They are a rare treat. Enjoy them!

The museum tour was followed with lunch in the garden. I believe the highlight was drawing and riding bicycles in the private Borghese Gardens. Beautiful is an understatement!

Afterwards, Margherita guided us on foot to the famous Spanish Steps where the kids had another opportunity to capture Italian art history on the sketch pads.

I hope these pictures illustrate a very special day in Rome with the Frank Ski Kids Foundation.

To see all of the photos from our amazing excursion, please log on to www.frankskikids.org

Arrivederci
Frank Ski



DAY #4: Avventuroso – ADVENTUROUS is what we were today.

After breakfast we walked to Campo di Fiori and Piazza Navona to draw and enjoy the famous tartuffo ice cream and the local artists exhibiting their work. We returned to the hotel @ 1:30pm for the bus pick-up and off to gladiator school we went. Yep, you read correctly, I said gladiator school.

Gladiators are a very important part of Roman history. Training to be a gladiator is intensely physical and FUN! At the conclusion of our training, we were presented with diplomas from the school.

In the words of Russell Crowe as Maximus in the movie in Gladiator: “Are you not entertained? Are you not entertained? Is this not why you are here?"

Please log on to www.frankskikids.org to view all of the great pictures from our excursion.

Arrivederci
Frank Ski



Day #5: Storico – What a 'Historic' day we had today!

We traveled 1 hour by motor coach to visit the ancient ruins of Ostia. During ancient times, Ostia was an important Roman port. Bigger than Pompeii, the only difference between Ostia and Pompeii is that Pompeii was destroyed by the volcanic explosion, Ostia was abandoned.

This was the best history lesson we’ve ever been taught. The advanced technology and economics of Ostia was mind blowing.

Arrivederci
Frank Ski



Day #6: Saturday was our free day for shopping. Who knew kids would take so much time to shop, lol!. It was enjoyable to see them negotiate with shop owners and say “what’s the euro exchange rate again?”



Saturday evening the kids got dress up to hit the town. We found a nice restaurant with a great patio and TV to watch the US vs England World Cup game. We had such a good time and what a great way to culminate such amazing experiences in Rome. On to the next...Atlanta, Georgia...we're coming home.



On behalf of our 2010 Frank Ski Kids Foundation International Art Excursion Students:

-Naomi Niwano | Age 14 | Duluth Middle School
-Romelo Goss | Age 14 | North Clayton Middle School
-Zhaavier' Reeves-EL | Age 13 | Uplift Humanity Homeschool
-Devin Boykins | Age 15 | Collins Hill High School
-Julia O'Gara | Age 14 | The Westminster Schools
-Charles Evola | Age 15 | Riverdale High School

We would like to thank our sponsors State Farm Insurance, Nike, Mist Premium Spring Water, Pace Academy, United Front Media, Tara Murphy/Michelle Marron - 360 Media & V103/CBS Radio.

Ciao, Ciao!
Frank Ski
See You Back In Atlanta!

20.05.2010. 07:46