Steve Reed/Special to the Daily Mail-- The sun sets behind St. Peter's Basilica on Saturday evening.

Editor's note: Cottey College students have returned from a trip to Italy, where educational modules, sight seeing and immersion in the culture offered a unique learning opportunity for second-year students. Cottey public information directer Steve Reed has kept folks at home posted on the happenings of the trip, in the form of letters to Mama. This is the final letter.

---

Buon giorno, Mama!

I can't believe this is the last day; the week has gone so quickly. Today we are all going to the Vatican. We'll get to see parts of the Vatican museums, the gardens, the Sistine Chapel, St. Peter's Basilica and St. Peter's Square. I don't think we'll get to see the Pope, but I'm keeping an eye peeled, just in case.

The Vatican is only a few blocks from our hotel, so we're all walking there. Technically speaking, we are visiting another country today, but we won't have to show our passports or go through immigration. (We will stand in long lines, however.) The Vatican is the smallest country in the world and we'll tour most of it in three to four hours.

One thing that was surprised me was how many people there were early on a Saturday morning to visit the Vatican. Of course, it is the day before Palm Sunday, so I'm sure that has something to do with it, but it's still amazing this many people can crowd inside. Our tour guides tell us that the week before Easter sees even more people coming through. I can't imagine how they get them all in here.

The Vatican museums are impressive. It's incredible how much art work and antiquities the Vatican owns. The garden has a giant bronze pine cone that is an ancient Roman fountain from the first century, and lots of other Roman statuary. There's even more stuff inside, and we didn't get to see all of it. One of our students was disappointed we didn't get to see the Egyptian collection, but we saw so much other stuff -- like 1,000 year-old tapestries depicting scenes from the New Testament. The tapestries were hanging from the walls and are about 10 feet tall by 25 feet long. I can't imagine how long it would take to make even one of those and there were dozens hanging in one long hallway.

We got to see the Sistine Chapel, which is really cool, by the way. I was impressed at how much closer the art work appeared to be from photos in books. The Last Judgment on the front wall (also by Michelangelo) is awesome as well. I didn't know this, but Michelangelo originally painted all the saints without clothing. Yep, a bunch of naked saints up on the wall of the chapel. The higher-ups in the church really didn't like it, but they had so much respect for Michelangelo they waited until after his death to commission another artist to paint clothing on them. That artist's name was Daniele da Volterra, and because of this retouching work, he became known as the breeches (underwear) painter. What a thing to be famous for doing!

(Advertisement)

Next we went to St. Peter's basilica. We saw the place were St. Peter is buried, and the giant bronze canopy overhead was designed by Bernini. Much of the brass from the Pantheon was taken out to be reused by the church -- a lot of it is in this canopy.

We also got to see Michelangelo's Pieta, which is as beautiful as I imagined. Today folks are kept back from the statue by a glass partition that was erected after a crazy man with a hammer attacked the statue about 30 years ago. Even from a distance it is still a remarkable piece of art. I took several pictures to show you.

After walking around the square and visiting the gift shop, those of us who had tickets for the Coliseum took off to see the stadium before it closed for the evening. They close the gates at 4 p.m., and we weren't able to get in the day before, so we really wanted to make it before our last day was done.

We got to the Coliseum and there was a huge line of people waiting to get in. We were concerned that if the line moved slowly, we might not make it. A quick check of our Rick Steve's guide told us that if we already had our tickets, to go through the group admittance line and right up to the turnstile. We pulled our tickets out of our pockets, passed the long line of people, and boldly marched on in. Hooray! Inside with lots of time to spare!

The Coliseum is impressive. Imagine something the size of Kauffman stadium built by hand out of bricks. This place could seat 50,000 when it was open for business. (Kind of like Kauffman, except the Royals can't draw 50,000 anymore!) It was easy to fill the Coliseum to capacity, because the emperor granted free admission and free food and wine to the citizens of Rome. The Chiefs might want to consider something like that to get the fans to come back next year if they can't put a better team on the field.

After wandering about the Coliseum, I found Margaret Haverstic again, and she led a small group of us to a church called Santa Maria Maggiore (mah-jor-ay). There are two things there worth seeing besides mummified Popes. First, the altarpiece supposedly contains a fragment of the manager in which Jesus was born, and second, the tomb of Gian Lorenzo Bernini is there.

Afterward, feeling both tired and adventurous, we decided to ride the Roman bus system again.

Not nearly as crowded on a Saturday night, and still a fun way to see the city. I thought we were pretty adventurous riding the bus until I talked to Sarah Patterson, one of our students, that evening. She and a couple of her friends decided the day before that they really wanted to see Pisa, so they made their way to the train station, figured out how to get a roundtrip ticket to Pisa, and went off on their own to see the leaning tower.

I tell you, Mama, I am always impressed with the self-confidence of Cottey students on these trips. I'm not sure I would have been that bold at their age.

We got off the bus and walked across the Pont Sant'Angelo to the Castle Sant'Angelo which was a fortress in early Roman times. It was a perfect evening with the sun just beginning to set behind St. Peter's. I took a dozen photos of the evening light on the bridges and statuary around there.

That night was our farewell to Italy dinner for all the Cottey participants. It was at Centrale Ristotheatre, a restaurant with a variety show. It was singing and dancing and very fun. It would have been nice to understand Italian, but I still liked the show. Tell Alfred and March I have a great idea for a CCPA production. Minimal costumes and sets, but we'll all have to learn to sing in Italian.

One of the highlights of the show was when an attractive young woman came off of the stage to sing and flirt with Michael Denison, one of our theater professors.

She asked him if he liked the show, and he said yes. She then asked, "Do you like-a mee, Michael?" When he answered yes again, she dragged him up on stage to dance with her. The students loved it and went crazy cheering and taking photos of Michael dancing with her. He had a great sense of humor about it and a good time was had by all.

Too soon we were back on the buses to the hotel to say goodbye and pack for the return trip. The week went so quickly and I have learned and experienced so much. I could have used a bit more pizza, pasta, and gelato, but confess to missing my own bed. It was an incredible week, but I will have to come back again someday.

Of course I will; I tossed a coin in the Trevi Fountain, so it's only a matter of time before I'm back. For now though, it's arreviderci, Roma, and I'll see you soon, Mama.

Alla prossima, Your loving son,

Steve