Bayley-Ellard High School
Bell' Italia -- Italy trip 1998
Day 6 --
In the morning we leave Florence. It feels like leaving home. Spending that much time walking around the little city, I think many of us leave with regret. Of course when we discuss this topic at least two students tell me that they are really a little homesick, and miss their home, friends and family. Most of the others want to stay in Italy , however. I want to read email to those people who got letters, and especially the many emails addressed to "everyone", but the kids are all, 100% of them, dead asleep. For hours.
We had heard that a terrible earthquake had hit Assisi. It was a particularly bad time for an earthquake, since we were having this amazingly cold weather. Assisi had snow. Then there was another earthquake the next day. Apparently they are without power, heat, and homes. They don't really want to deal with tourists talking pictures of the disaster area. Our hearts go out to the unfortunate residents of Assisi, and we are of course disappointed.
We diverted to the scenic city of Orvieto. Now I know I keep saying things are beautiful and old here. But in Orvieto they are really beautiful and really old. Orvieto is a walled city on a mountain. We had to take an "incline" to get up the mountain. The vehicle is sorta like a tram in function, and sorta like a squished train car in form. It's Europe, so the tram is, of course, red. The huge cathedral in the center is somewhat unusual and gets mixed reviews from our troupe. Most positive, but some find it too plain. You have to understand that they just came from Florence! There is a device on the floor that seems to be a solar calendar. Before we can figure this out or see the relic of the blood stained chalice cloth (from a bleeding host in 1263), we are thrown out. Many Italian churches close early. We were lucky to have even gotten in. We then explore the rest of this craftsman's city. I took many too many pictures, and the students, who had become camera shy, are actually posing, since the backdrops are so scenic. The word scenic sounds so bland. Imagine the beauty of an ancient Medieval Italian town, intermixed with a fortress and church, and put it on top of a mountain overlooking a valley of little fields separated by hedges (like in Ireland), accented by little hills . We keep hearing Capri is the most beautiful place in Italy, and we're going there soon. Okay, we'll be happy to be judges for that particular competition. For lunch a group of us find a little pizza place that collects visitors's
contributitions to the walls. A marker is left for posterity. Gifts of local wine are purchased and some kids call home. You wouldn't believe how tricky it is for Americans to use the phones here. We descend down the mountain and are off to Roma. (We hear that Assisi was hit by another earthquake at 5pm, just as we were approacing Rome, we were probably at a discount gift-shop stop where many bought grappa and chocolate gifts. We didn't even feel it. We got a lot of email about it, though) The kids go unconscious again. We get up early, and walk constantly. Even teen energy can be worn down by touring. But Jessie Wintle does get a few minutes with them to read all the email, and they're happy to get it.
We arrive in a suburb of Roma called Aerullo at 6. We are staying at the Hotel Aerulius. The rooms are once again interesting, some have balconies, all have TVs and phones. We quickly learn -- the hard way -- to remove the toilet paper from the bathroom before taking a shower. We are very excited to finally solve the mystery of the pull cord in the showers. Every bathroom has had one. Some thought it worked the drain, some thought it was an obsolete water control, some thought it flushed the toilet. Everyone pulled it, no one could figure it out, and no one thought to ask Ignazio. Well, our shower in Rome is labeled, "To use only in case of danger." Like if a lion attacks or something I suppose, since if you fell in the shower you couldn't reach it anyway. At 8pm we leave for our night tour of Rome. This means I can't write up my Florence notes for day 5. Oh, well.
We start our night tour by getting a taste of Roman traffic. You have to see it to believe it. It makes New Yorkers look orderly. Lanes merge three at a time. Two of them technically non-existent I suppose. What lanes? Our bus driver artfully maneuvers amongst cars the size of telephone booths and herds of wild scooters and mopeds. The grating sound of them buzzing by is constant. I suppose the driver sees them more as clouds of gnats. We go through a park "where lovers who have no other place to go park their cars." We don't actually see much. From this hill we get our first look down at the great city of Rome. The monuments and ancient buildings are lit up like in Washington DC. The comparison is inevitable, since the style is occasionally similar. However it's obvious who copied who. (okay they both copied the Greeks). We follow the walls of Vatican City (a separate country) and can see the dome of St. Peters, but that's for tomorrow. We stop at a hill behind the beautiful Piazza Venizia, overlooking the lighted ruins of the Roman Forum. Bathed in light at night, they are stunning. We then go through the city itself and drive by too many ancient buildings (and copies) to
keep track of. The thing that gets the most interest from the students, however, is the Planet Hollywood. A Hard Rock Cafe is under construction. There is a costume display from Man in the Iron Mask, and the girls from Kansas coo about Leonardo DiCaprio. We pass a "crazy guy" who shakes his flute and shouts at our bus. We are told he is here every night from 4pm to 10pm. Sure enough when we pass through this
spot again at 10:15 he is gone. He must have a day job. Those are tough hours in any event. I am personally very interested to learn that Italians take lunch from 1:30 to 4pm every day. I like this idea a lot. Lastly we stop by the Trevi Fountain. This fountain was made famous by the American movie and song "Three Coins in the Fountain". It's huge and spectacular. And we've seen a lot of fountains by now. We all throw three coins into it over our shoulder to ensure that we will someday return to Rome. Next we go to a cafe that has special memories for Miss Guinee as the best tartufo ever. We all have one. We return to the hotel at 11:30. My room phone will not dial out, so I can neither get email nor upload trip notes and pictures. On the positive side, this means I can sleep.
End of day 6.
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.