Day 6: Rome, Assisi, and Florence

Everyone got up in time and we made it out of Rome in good shape, going toward Assisi.

Annika and the Italian countryside

After the first rest stop, a woman from the other group left her purse there, losing some money and a credit card. She was able to get it canceled thanks to Alexandra’s mobile phone card.

As we got to Assisi, I remembered that I had left the airline tickets in the safe at the Hotel Touring. It had completely slipped my mind. After discussion, it was decided that I would take the train from Assisi to Rome, get the tickets, and meet the group at the restaurant in Florence. I was bummed.

Before the group started their Assisi tour, I was dropped off at the train station and with Alexandra’s help, I bought my tickets.

I managed to sleep some on the trip back and made the connection to Orte. From there, it was a quick ride to Rome. I got the tickets at the hotel (which was two blocks away) and I called Alessandra. I noticed an earlier train leaving for Florence at 4:30 and had no trouble getting on it.

I did puzzles for the hour and a half ride, also thinking of some characteristics of Italy I would put down here. They are:

1.There seems to be many people with mobile phones.

2.Looking at the countryside, it seems that agriculture is a big industry here. The food has always been fresh; Irrigation is used quite a bit in the fields.

3.All the cars are really small and fuel-efficient. There are a lot of bikes and mopeds around the city. I am sure that is because of the expensive gas prices.

4.The streets are narrow and usually one-way. You just cannot knock down historic buildings and widen the streets.

The rest of the group saw the basilica of St. Francis. They saw St. Francis' garden. St. Francis' monastery was also visited. The group got to visit the tomb of St. Francis. After getting some ice cream and refreshments, they headed to Florence.

I got to Florence quickly and took a cab to the restaurant, which was my rendezvous with the group. I was early, and so I bought a postcard and wrote home while I was waiting. The group was a half hour late, somewhat disgusted at Alexandra’s lack of organization (which she blamed on Ernesto, our bus driver). Instead of pasta, we had chicken with cheese and ham between them. Some students were still not happy.

We walked back to the hotel and the girls wanted to shop. Everyone did their own thing from shopping to sitting on the side of the street-watching people (which is what I did). I saw members of the group come back, street merchants that grabbed their stuff and left when they saw the police (only to return seconds later), and a guy from the third floor of the next building use a laser pointer to confuse tourist.

At 11:30, I took Annika and Heidi, along with Donna and her daughter Lee Ann to the discotheque, with help from Alessandra. We stayed until 1:15. The girls talked nonstop about their adventure at the dance for the entire ten-minute walk back to the hotel. They had a ball.

Tonight’s bedtime: 1:45 a.m.