Day 4: Sunday and Still Jet-Lagged!

Ciao di Firenze! 

We have arrived at our hotel in Florence (Certo di Malta) - a place with a much stronger WiFi connection than in Lido! Please let us know if you have not heard from your child and you would like them to reach out through the WiFi connection or with a phone card. The hotel is a few blocks from the Duomo, with spacious rooms and a seating area in the lobby looking out to an outdoor pool. While it is still too chilly to swim, the weather in Florence right now is warm enough for a t-shirt and pants! Some students are staying in quads that have a lofted area with a balcony and a second bathroom to share!

Our day began early on a ferry ride to Venice (our bus and many cars were on the ferry, as Lido is the only island where you are allowed to have a car!) and a two and a half hour bus ride to Ravenna. Ravenna has three different layers contained within the city: the Roman era, the Ostrogoth era, and the Justinian Byzantine era. We visited a church to see a 6th-century mosaic and a mausoleum that goes back to Roman times (Mausoleum of Galla Placidiaha). We saw a second church which Emperor Justinian changed from the original church created by Theodoric of the Ostrogoths. During free time, we enjoyed eating piadana - a flatbread sandwich with prosciutto or vegetables inside and baked goods while sipping soda, espresso, or hot chocolate. A lot of us ended the excursion with gelato! 

After another two and a half hours on the bus together, which consisted of lots of sleeping, music, chatter, and FLAPPY BIRD, we made it to Firenze. (By the way, there has been A TON of Flappy Bird on this trip. For example, since we began traveling, Scott Purdy's score has improved by 160 points!) Off the bus, all the the jackets came off in the warm weather and we headed to see "the most handsome man in all of Florence" - Michaelangelo's David.

The next stop was a Tuscan cooking class, definitely a highlight of the trip so far! Students cooked a full dinner from scratch: tagliatelle, salsa di pomodoro, polpettone in umido, schiacciata alla fiorentina! (egg tagliatelle, tomato sauce, stewed meatloaf, and a traditional Florentine cake) Each student was given an apron to take home and a recipe guide to cook the same meal at home! 

We ended the evening with some students walking one block away to a discotheque where they danced to American pop music before the chaperones led them back to the hotel for sleep.

As a side note, I wanted to mention that throughout the trip Mr. Doyle has been filming bits and pieces so that he can create a video travel log when we return! Look forward to that in the next few weeks!

-Ms. Sullivan