Day 10: Pisa and Florence, Italy

Day 10 (July 10, 2004) Pisa and Florence Italy

The students had a chance to stay an extra half hour before leaving to try the pool, but nobody did. The bus took off around 9:30 and off we went to Italy. The country side was mountainous and beautiful as we mirrored the Mediterranean Sea for half the trip. We went through a lot of mountain tunnels, which made reading a book on the bus a chore.

We stopped to eat at a combination quick restaurant/truck stop. I had pasta salad and zucchini. It was another reminder that Italy was an agricultural country. On the bus, Gigi talked about the politics of Italy. You could tell that he was pleased to be back in his country of origin. He said that the country is split up into three regions, north, central, and south. The north is rich and think that the south doesn't work. There is a movement to split Italy up into two or more countries. I know that these views have been talked about for quite awhile.

We arrived in Pisa and took another bus to the town itself. It was allowing people to go to the top of the Leaning Tower, but Gigi said you had to get tickets in advance and pay a lot of money. We toured the Basilica and went up the duomo to get a nice view of the tower. You could get a different perspective on how it leans. At 5:00 we took off for Florence.

The leaning tower of Pisa from a different view

The chaperones Doug Abel, Brien Simpson, Terrie Abel, and Gigi Sorrentino posing

More posing by the chaperones

We got there little after 7:00 and the bus dropped us off so that we could walk in Florence to eat. We had sausage, lentil beans, and an apple. Afterwards, we walked back to our hotel and got our rooms.

Eleven of us decided to go to the disco. They were Lori, Laura H., Laura C, Lauren, Mike C, Adam, Megan, Mike L, Jessica, and Katie. We stayed until 2:00 a.m. The students had a great time being exposed to the European disco. They took getting hit on just fine. Our walk back to the hotel was uneventful. We crashed because the next day would come early.

		At the disco in Florence