Grosvenor In View Magazine 2025

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Visiting the Colosseum, in the heart of Rome

the crowds and into the Vatican Museum, where we were able to see iconic statues of the ancient Roman Emperors that Miss Philpot had taught my class about throughout the year. We were even fortunate enough to visit the Sistine Chapel that Michelangelo painted in the early sixteenth century! For lunch the teachers gave us some independence to find our own food and so a couple of us students went to a small restaurant near the walls of the Vatican and enjoyed all sorts of ribs, burgers, pasta and bruschetta. After lunch, we visited St. Peter’s Basilica (armed by the Swiss Guard) and took in its grandeur by forcing Miss Stephens and Mr Arnold to walk all 551 steps to the very top of its dome. Seeing all the giant statues, plaques and views at St. Peter’s was extraordinary and everyone enjoyed learning more about the history of the places we visited. We finished this day by eating at another local restaurant where we clapped and cheered on a group of visiting singers until our tummies hurt from laughing. Day 3 Our third day began by a visit to the Santa Maria Maggiore chapel where the late Pope Francis is buried. The chapel was brimming with people and services were going on as we walked through. The late Pope’s simple grave was guarded by only two men and so we saw the grave that many of us R.S. students had written about in our most recent exams. As the day went on, we visited the Trevi fountain, the Spanish Steps, the Piazza and lastly the baths of Caracalla. Throughout the day there were necessary gelato pit-stops and shopping sprees to keep us going in the warm weather. One of

my favourite moments of that day was when a few of us were filling up our water bottles at the baths and suddenly a band began to play ‘2001: A Space Odyssey’, obviously practising for their concert. It felt surreal as the modern theme echoed through the ancient Roman walls. The day ended with a late four-course dinner which left everybody full of pasta, tiramisu and giggles. Day 4 The final day was quite sad as we all packed our suitcases and got ready to go home. I had my final cappuccino and one last game of Uno before we all left the hotel. After the flight home and Air-coach back to Belfast we were all exhausted but couldn’t stop talking about all the fun adventures we had been on. Overall, this school trip taught me so much more about Italian culture and the history of how the Church developed in Rome, which is something I have been learning about in my R.S. course. Miss Stephens, Miss Philpot and Mr Arnold kept us organised and were also able to give us a little bit of independence to explore all the different places we visited. My favourite memory is hard to choose, but it was probably on the third day when we visited the Santa Maria Maggiore chapel and got to see all the grand architecture and listen to people singing hymns over the organ. I would do this trip over and over again if I could and so I hope future pupils are able to do something similar. Thank you to all the teachers that made this possible! Rachel Lamont 13 TG4

GROSVENOR IN VIEW > 2024/25