1. Today was my birthday!
2. We woke up, had a private pow-wow in which I outright praised the kids for their awesome behavior so far (they really have been wonderful – on time, not the stereo-typical “loud Americans,” courteous, patient, I’ve been so proud!), loaded our gear on the bus, grabbed breakfast, and hit the road
3. Europe did daylights savings today…so…needless to say we napped on the bus on the way to Florence
4. We enjoyed lunch in the piazza of Santa Croce - we finally found enough time to have a nice sit down pasta filled meal – yum!
5. After that we saw a quick leather works demonstration – not as cool as the glass factory but we did learn how to see if something was real leather or not – we’ll teach you when you get home! (but you may now be disappointed about something you own – I was very pleased to discover that my leather jacket really is real)!
6. In our free time I enjoyed AMAZING gelato at a shop called Vivolu – it renowned as the best gelato in Europe…
7. We enjoyed a walking tour of Florence – and all jaws dropped as we rounded a corner and found ourselves staring at the truly amazing and humbling Duomo, the Santa Maria del Fiore…it was even more magnificent than I had remembered! We also enjoyed view from and of the Ponte Vecchio and in the Piazza del Signorio as well.
8. We managed to squeeze in a visit to the Uffizi - the world’s largest Renaissance art gallery – our favorite? The Boticelli gallery – it was truly awesome!
9. After that we headed to our new hotel – which the students really like, enjoyed a nice dinner, and spent the evening finding delicious gelato and hanging out before finally crashing. They also surprised me at dinner – I had fifty people sing happy birthday to me and was given a plate of little cakes with candles! So sweet!
Today (the free day) was also a complete success –the Sienna group and the Florence group all had an AWESOME time! but more about all of that later!) We didn’t have internet at this hotel – we found an internet café for the students tonight. We will have to see what we have in Rome.
Gilatto, Murano Glass, and Panini's - does it get any more Italian than that?
ReplyDeleteI'm so glad you are all having such a good time.
Way to go Ms. Hals - keep those shop keepers in line!
Gipetto would be proud and I am very much appreciative of you sharing your travel savy ways with the group.
Oh yes - Happy Birthday Ms. Hals : )
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