Day 8....The Leaning Tower

We left Cannes this morning after a decent breakfast at our hotel.  (By way, I'm editing yesterday's post because I completely forgot to mention our actual visit in Cannes.) We had a five-hour drive to Florence.  So, we made a few stops along the way!!

We went through more than 100 tunnels on our drive today!

And...we drove through the Alps.  Look at that...snow on the mountains!  We drove past Monaco but did not stop.  We learned that Monaco is the second smallest country - only to the Vatican, which is its own country!  Monaco has 30,000 residents and is only 1.64 square miles!  They do not have an army.  So, France is sworn to protect them in case of need.  They have the highest concentration of millionaires and billionaires in the world!  It is the sight of Monte Carlo, a huge casino, but residents are not allowed to gamble!?  

Monaco is a Principality, meaning it is ruled by a prince - Prince Albert II - who is the son of Prince Ranier and Grace Kelly!

They have the highest life expectancy of any country - 89 years!!  They are well known for Formula 1 racing, too!

Lastly, there is basically no crime in Monaco because there is a huge police force and cameras along around the country!!  Sounds like a good place to live, huh!?!

After a quick stop for lunch, we drove to Pisa, the capital of Tuscany.  Pisa was once a flourishing city. The builders of the tower realized there was a problem when they began the second floor of the building.  The tower was then closed for a few years while they figured out how to make it work.  It was completed in 1372.

The tower was closed in 1990 for fear that it would fall.  After reconstruction, it was reopened in 2008 and is currently stable for at least 200 years!

We always hear about the Leaning Tower, but it is actually part of a trio of buildings in the Piazza dei Miracoli, or the Plaza of Miracles.  The cathedral next to it, Duomo di Pisa, is gorgeous inside and out.  The colors on the inside are truly breathtaking!

And the tower itself is surreal.  It is really amazing to be able to see it in person!  Miriam, our tour guide, challenged us to a contest for the most creative, yet appropriate (hey, these are middle schoolers) picture with the tower.  We had some great pictures, but these girls won!  Our bus driver, Giovanni, was the final decision maker!

For the next two nights, we are staying in Florence.  I believe this is our 5th hotel.  Our bags are getting heavier, but we are still making it!  I am glad for an early night tonight because we have a long day discovering Florence tomorrow.  

Pisa, Italy

Hey guys!  I wrote this email 12 hours ago, but I haven't had a good enough connection to send it!  So, you should be receiving two from me today!

Day 6 email is late because we were just having too much fun!  We started the day with a 5 hour bus ride into Italy!  We celebrated two birthdays... One of our adults and a new teenager!  For their birthday, different people sang the birthday song in 8 different languages!  How special....as if going to Itsly wasn't enough!!

We had a three hour stop in Pisa. I cannot begin to explain how amazing it was!  We could not see anything as we were walking down the street because there was a stone wall separating us from the square, but when we turned the corner to walk through the gate, it was shocking. We were so close to the Leaning a Tower of Pisa.  I had no idea I would be in such awe.  Some in our group even cried!  The feeling of being so close to something so well-known is unreal!

One of the best parts of Pisa was the Pisa Cathedral and Baptistry which are on the same little square, called the Square of Miracles, as the tower.  We spent some time touring the buildings and then did a little shopping and enjoyed some Gelati.

We loved Pisa!  After loading the bus we drove to our hotel near Florence.  The hotel is on a hill surrounded by vineyards and olive trees with a strong scent of Jasmine!  We are staying in little apartments in little villas.  The view is absolutely breathtaking!

After unloading our bags, we had a fabulous Italian dinner in the hotel's ristorante.  We ended dinner with a birthday dessert for our two birthday girls!

After dinner, the kids ran out to the hill with a soccer all and makeshift volleyball. They had so much fun running around for over an hour.  They even had a funny conversation with some Italian kids wanting to join their futbol game!

After getting the kids in their rooms for the night, the adults spent some time by the pool.

We are loving Italy and looking forward to our tour of Florence and San Gimignano!

Nice & Eze, France and Monaco

We started our day by boarding our Mercedes Benz bus for Eze, France.  The drive in was beautiful as we drove up and around a mountain to the perfume factory-Fragonard.  We took a nice walk through the factory and learned much about perfumes, in general.  Then, we shopped!!  i spent most of my money today!    After shopping, we took a walk up the mountain to see a beautiful view of the Meditteranean Sea.  It was truly breathtaking!  They call this area "Côte d'Azur", which means Blue Coast.

Then, we hopped back on our bus and headed about 20 miles away to the smallest country in the world, the Principality of Monaco.  The television does not do it justice.  It was like being in a dream as we drove through Monte Carlo, which is in Monaco.  The buildings are colorful with quaint terraces and window gardens.  Every car was a Bentley, Porshe, Ferrari, etc.  of course, we fit right in with our Mercedes bus!

As we were driving, our tour guide, Jamil, taught us a little about the Gremaldi family which has ruled in Monaco for over 800 years.  He taught the students about the American movie star, Grace Kelly, who married the Prince of Monaco and became everyone's favorite princess.  We visited the Cathedral in which she married the Prince and where she is now buried.  We also saw the starting point of the Grand Prix which takes place in Monaco-Formula One.We did not have a lot of time in Monaco, but we do have several kids dreaming of how they can one day live there!

After lunch in Monaco, we loaded up again and headed into Nice.  While we were parking I became very confused as to why our tour director was speaking Italian to the lot attendant.  I even started questioning if I missed something major - like "Nice us in France, right?"  I spoke to Jamil who said that Nice (pronounced "niece") was once part of Italy.  Therefore the people speak Italian, and the city looks very Italian.  However, Nice was annexed by France in 1860 after Nice voted to become French.  So, it is a French city with an Italian culture.

Our amazing tour director was able to arrange a visit to the local chocolate factory, Confiserie Florian.  We were given samples of several different types of candy and chocolate and were able to see how it was made!  Then, of course, we shopped!  I love chocolate!!

After the chocolate break, we took a little walking tour of Nice and were released for 2 hours to shop or look around.  I was a little nervous about visiting the beach - the French Riviera - but I think there was some divine intervention, as the rain came pouring down just as the majority of us arrived!   We then had a ten minute walk to dinner.  It was pouring the entire walk, and by the time we arrived, we were drenched - well at least our shoes were.  We all had either a poncho or umbrella.

Dinner was a delicious tender beef with roast and a chocolate dessert.

We arrived back at the hotel by 8:30 and had the students in their rooms by 9:30.  We are looking forward to another fun-filled day tomorrow as we leave our second hotel for Pisa, Italy's!

Thank you all so much for making this trip possible for all of us.  It has been an amazing trip thus far - even with the unplanned events!

Have a wonderful evening.  It's time for me to go to sleep!