Before I give a recount of our Italy trip, I want to make mention of the photographs in this blog. As you will see, many of them are very wide photos that were shot as a panoramic sequence. I use this method when a single image can't capture the size and scope of a scene, and the process involves photographing multiple images in a row along the horizon, or vertically, and stitching them together. These wide images seem small in a blog like this, so to appreciate them fully you need to click on the image, which will show it full size. Hit the "Back" Button in your web browser to return to the blog after viewing a large photo. Thanks!
What a grand adventure, taking 15 high school and 3 college students on a tour of Italy! Shauna found a travel agency that specializes in low-cost travelling for students and we decided to take our son Andrew to Europe and let him see some of the world. A few of his friends were interested, so we opened it up to students at Pleasant Grove High School, where Shauna works as a math teacher.We got 12 girls and 3 boys from the high school, and three young adult girls from the single adult church group where I serve. I'm not sure how it is that we got interest mostly from girls, perhaps they're just more adventurous, or perhaps the boys are saving to go on missions in a few years. We had one parent and one of my coworkers, Mike, come along; their help was invaluable.
Day 1 - Flight from Salt Lake City, Utah to Nice, France. A Day and a Night of Pain!
Traveling to a foreign country can fill you with anxiety and apprehension. We tried hard to prepare as best we could, hoping to avoid many of the pitfalls. First, we made sure everybody had enough Euros to survive the trip before we even got on the plane. Second, we made copies of passports in case of loss or theft. Third, we made sure everybody knew how to keep their valuables safe. We had contingencies & plans, but during the long and boring flight from Salt Lake, the one thing that worried us, and the one big thing we had no control over, was our tour director. Would he be fun? Would he be able to handle any problems that arose? Well, we were very happy to find Gregory from EF tours waiting for us at the airport in France when we arrived, with a ready smile and an organized plan for our tour. Not only was Gregory well informed and courteous, he was patient with the group and eager to help us have a great time - at all costs!And he liked to whistle. Whenever we had group freetime and people split off in groups to explore the various towns we were in, Gregory would wander around whistling leisurely. I have very few pictures of him when he's NOT whistling, so I figured it would be appropriate to include one here. (Notice Shauna in the background).
Day 2 - FRANCE. While we call it a trip to Italy, in fact we spent the first day in the French Mediterranean city of Nice (pronounced niece, like a young female relative). It was a great day to be there because it was the festival honoring their patron saint. We got to watch the processional and peak in at the church service, which was really interesting. Then we wandered around in amazement of all the wonderful pastry and gelato shops, quickly dosing up on sweets.The open markets that you see in Europe always amaze me. Tons of fresh produce and stuff we just don't see in the US, things like amazing salt, cheese, and olive selections. The one thing that we really missed seeing was a variety of food choices, in restaurants that is. We saw one Thai restaurant the entire trip (in Nice), and after that, it was basic Italian food every day. We knew that would be the case, but it's still a shock to the system when you're used to having Chinese one day, Japanese the next, Mexican, Greek, Thai, and American. By the end of the trip, everybody was ready for some variety.
Since Nice used to be part of Italy, the Italian architecture, heritage and culture were still present, even though the language is French. It was a blast running around and talking to shop owners, since I rarely get to speak French in the states and have lost contact with most of the people I knew when I served in French Canada 20 years ago. Fortunately, our 18th wedding anniversary to Paris this August got me warmed up and ready to rub shoulders with the locals again. And there were a few nods of "impressive" by the students who heard me order get directions, or order some of the pastries and gelatos in the native language. I had more students tagging around me in Nice than during the rest of the trip (when they realized I didn't speak Italian enough to be of use.) Not that it was a big issue, most Italians speak English very well, but the same cannot be said in France.
My favorite part of Nice was the huge cemetary we found when wandering up to the hill to get a good view of the city. There were two actually, a Jewish cemetary and an "Everybody Else" cemetary. The family crypts, statuesque tombs, and hilltop setting were quite impressive. The panorama here of Nice was taken from the cemetary. After dinner, we wandered around town a bit more to see the sites and then crashed in our little Hotel, which was a real eye opener to the students. The rooms were very small, like dorm rooms, and the bathrooms were even smaller, like true water closets. When wandering around European towns the bathrooms are labeled "WC", short for Water Closet... and these truly were closets with water. With the exception of a few students, who maybe weren't mentally prepared for European style hotel accomodations (even though we did try to prepare people in our orientation meetings), the group was exhausted from the long trip and happy to have a place to sleep.
Day 3 - Monaco
The following morning we hopped on the bus and drove to Monte Carlo, also called Monaco. Our bus driver, Antonio, didn't speak a lick of English, but he was social and entertaining nonetheless. He could make that giant tour bus do things you just wouldn't think possible, navigating around tiny streets and very narrow, winding switchback roads, up and down hillsides and could park it in places I'd be afraid to get our minivan into. He'd whistle and hum while the rest of us were grasping our seats with white knuckles and wide eyes, staring down shear cliffs not inches from the wheels. Over time, we grew to respect and admire his skills and the whole group would occasionally shout out "Antonio!!!!" in unison when he'd make a particularly difficult maneuver with ease and grace. He'd just smile from ear to ear and boogie right along, pump his fist in victory occasionally, singing along to the Italian radio occasionally, and sometimes even start the "Antonio" cheer himself when he was particularly impressed by his own daring-do. The group couldn't help but laugh and cheer him on even more.Monaco was something to behold. That little city-state is one of the most charming places I've seen in Europe, and they had a killer Aquarium. (I know, I know, why go to an aquarium when you're in Europe?! Well the diver in me had to go check it out, and I was not disappointed). We only had a few hours there, but most of the group got to check out their beautiful cathedral, see the changing of the guard, load up on gelato and pastries, and walk through their well kept gardens. After a bit of shopping we hit the road again, this time headed for Italy's Mediterranean coastal towns.
Day 4 - Italy's Cinque Terre
Day 5 - Pisa & Florence
Day 6 - Florence
Day 7 - Verona & Venice
Day 8 - Venice
Day 9 - Lake Como
