At 8:15 we eat yet another Continental Breakfast. Requests for bacon, eggs, and steak fall on deaf ears. However we now have full self-serve access to the water bottles. At 9am we climb aboard our bus and are off to Bologna, or as some insist on calling it -- "Baloney." We travel through endless kilometers of irrigated fields and countless vineyards (white wine here, red wine farther South, Ignazio informs us). Every old building is completely picturesque. The mood is markedly friendly and happy. We're done being overexcited, worn out or otherwise distracted. We're now just really enjoying each other's company. Everyone is awake and chatting.
You are so bad at this!
I can't help the fact that i got lousy cards!
This is the third hand, you have to at least give me some kind of challenge.
Who's that on your ring Dana?
My Grandfather.
Really? Cool!
Anyone know how to load film?!
Yeah, even on a 486, '95 is much better than 3.1
... the door on the houseboat only locked from the outside, so I was sleepwalking and opened the door ...
In Italy it is not like in the US, where if you want something, Boom, you have it.
We stop at the Italian equivalent of a truck-stop. Here we are reminded by a blaring pop-radio station, that even leaving the North American continent cannot bring you escape from the love-theme from Titanic. Bottled water, junk food, and browsing through an incomprehensible news-stand prepares us for the second leg of our trip to Bologna.
We disembark in Bologna into a large piazza. We're pretty much getting used to these. They're a nice place to gather, look around or just sit, and an excellent method of dealing with the sometimes huge crowds of people, but the wind really can kick up in them sometimes. After some fun pictures by a really odd statue of Neptune, we view the huge church and then split up. Some groups are off to wander, some hit the department stores, some eat at a nice restaurant or cafe, and some at a cafeteria. Many scale the very tall tower in the center of town. It's about 1200 stairs up a little tower. At the top the view is amazing. We really have very little time here, however, and we're off again towards Florence.
We travel a very short distance South and we see snow in the mountains. Not just the high peaks, all of them. We wind through the Apinies and the snow becomes very heavy, and the accumulation is very deep. The valley we follow is gorgeous. There are many small collections of buildings, and Aspen trees. This is the first snow most of us have seen since November. Ignazio is also surprised and explains what a very mild, even warm, Winter they've been having. So NJ had their blizzard and we had ours too. A few people sleep right through the whole thing. Just before we arrive in Florence the snow stops, however, and clear skies are finally seen.
We drive right into the center of the city. Miss Guinee has a particular fondness for Florence, and she is unable to actually sit as we drive in. At the sight of the Duomo (the huge, elaborately decorated church in the center of the city) she cries out. The bus parks and we unload quickly. We have to drag our suitcases a block to our hotel. We collect in a little alley below a neon sign that reads Hotel Chiarri. We are completely blocking a alley store, and they seem none too pleased with us. But they say nothing as we wait in a pile of luggage and teenagers. It looks like the scene from Animal House where the band marches into a dead-end. But after our insisted-upon quad room is secured, we are allowed up the many, many steps to our rooms.
Any hopes of complaining about anything are completely dashed when the room doors are opened. Almost everyone has a complete sweeping view of the Duomo right in their face. The only way to be closer to the center of Florence would be to camp in the dome. If you know the movie "Room With a View" is based on Florence, then you can appreciate the coincidence. Everyone's room has their European quirks to be sure. Miss Guinee's shower is actually in her room. If her bed were to catch fire she could merely reach over and grab the showerhead and aim it at the burning bedcovers. A few baths have whirlpools (ours does, but it doesn't work). The telephones dial out, have touch-tone, and have US-style connectors. I am a happy computer nerd!
As soon as we arrive, however we have to go out before it gets dark. We walk through town to the Ponte Vecchio. The view off the bridge is so Bell' Italia. There are beautiful shops on the bridge itself (they hang out over the edge). On the way there and back we pass so many attractions that I can't even describe them all. There is a porch (the Loggia dei Lanzi) full of enormous and famous statues in front of the Palazzo
Vecchio, which originally had the statue David out front, and now has a scale copy. Next door is the Uffizi, full of masterpieces. I had no idea that much of what I studied in art history is actually located at this one intersection. An elevated walkway for the Medici horses runs from the 3rd floor (!) of this building over the Ponte Veccio bridge to the other side. Cool.
We go to a nice restaurant and have a full and proper meal of a quarter of a chicken. Kelly and I are vegetarians, and have actually been accommodated very well so far. Plus we usually get served first. However tonight for us dinner is lettuce and a wedge of cheese.
Back to the hotel to change and then off to the disco! At first only our traveling companions, the 8th graders from Maize, Kansas, are willing to dance. However after some friendly goading from Ignazio, just about everyone makes the plunge. I stay at the hotel to take advantage of the ability to finally upload our web page, and to download email for the students and chaperones. We are caught up on school events and get mail from a few parents, friends, and Sister Claire!
End of day 4.
To email us in Italy send email to mewintle@aol.com
and be sure to include the word "Italy" somewhere in the tile. I will forward your message to the appropriate person or the whole group as you wish.