Editor’s note: Pictures coming later.
Day Seven: Transfer to French Riviera via Avignon and Pont du Gard
Another busy day of travel, BUT there happened to be a miracle that almost made my day. The milk was slightly chilled that morning! Not quite like they had been meant to be that way, more like the nasty milk had once been cold but it had been left out and had began to get warm. We rode for a while, and visited Avignon. It was pretty cool; we got to see the Popes Palace, which was this pretty nifty castle place. But we had to leave early because the town was shutting down all of the shops and tourist attractions for a bike race that was going on (if you want to know about that, talk to my dad, he is obsessed or something with these sort of things). Then we were back on the road again, my butt fell asleep on this ride, I remember how uncomfortable it was in Nice.
Well, once we arrived at Nice, we walked around, saw the sights, visited shops, and saw the Mediterranean. This was my favorite stop so far. We were able to visit the coast that day; it was our first time being able to actually SWIM in the ocean the entire trip. The water was so amazingly awesome!! I loved it.
We had barely been swimming for about an our when a boy from the tour (I’m not going to say names because the guy was a royal idiot the entire trip) swam to me and my friend Rachel (the “wild tiger”) and starting laughing at Rachel because some guy just stole her bag. We thought he was joking and didn’t pay any attention to him, personally I thought he was trying to get close enough to us to dunk us under and make us pass out (I’m not exaggerating when I say the guy was a sick moron and honestly would have loved this). But then we looked over at the beach and saw Michelle crying and screaming, the chick was having hysterics or something. Turns out Michelle and Rachel both had their bags stolen. For Michelle it was more serious, her passport and her money were both stolen while Rachel’s passport had been at the hotel.
Rachel’s money and camera were in her bag too, but she didn’t react quite the same as Michelle. I was standing right next to her when she found out, and I doubt I would have heard it any other way. Under her breath I could barely make out, “CRAP, my new lip gloss was in that!” I thought it was hilarious. I was also rooming with her that night. At about 1:00 a.m. I could her yelling out the window, “—– YOU — SON OF A —– FRENCHIES!!!” (She had found out her ipod was stolen too.)
Day 8: Transfer to Florence via Pisa
That day was the same as usual, except I noticed people were holding on to their bags a bit more securely. We drove to Pisa, and along the way were able to see some of the white marble high up in the mountains, from far away it looked like snow. We arrived at about midday, it was extremely hot and I didn’t enjoy the B.O. some of the people were leaving in the air.
The tower was cool, very… off balance. It didn’t quite meet up with my expectations though. It was big, yes, but not as big as they make it seem. After more time on the road we arrived at Florence. It was so beautiful, everything just seemed so amazing. We went to see the main square that night. There were street performers, dancers, singers, street venders, there was EVERYTHING. I couldn’t get enough of it. I loved hearing the beautiful music played float through the air, the gorgeous art that stood before us, and the large crowds babbling on like it was nothing. I LOVED IT.
I was able to walk into Chanel and feel totally lost in my surroundings, taste my first Italian ice cream (very delicious), haggle among the street vendors for some jewelry; it was just an amazing experience. By far, my favorite day of the trip. Period. Of course, the walk back to our hotel wasn’t half as charming as the walk to the square. There were no surprises that time, everyone was worn out, it was a pity to have to leave while we were having so much fun, and our feet were quite sore. The sleep that night was, as always, very welcome.
Day 9: Guided Sightseeing Florence
We got to enjoy another awesome day of Florence, YAY! We walked to the main part of the city, saw the famous bridge, visited a leather factory (yeah, not so cool. They pretty much just told us how it was made and encouraged us to buy their products.), and heard history about the city. But it wasn’t the same as it had been the night before. Don’t get me wrong, it was still really cool, but the street performers, the vendors, the music, the excitement was gone.
We got to see the David, it was very cool and I found out that his pupils are shaped like hearts!
In no time at all, it was dinner. But there was a small problem. The idiot (I believe I mentioned him in day eight) was lost. We couldn’t find him. This kid had always been getting distracted and almost getting separated from the group at every stop. He couldn’t ever remember the meeting place, always tried to find us in the stupidest ways, and the kid wasn’t even doing it to e funny or anything, the guy was a genuine idiot.
A girl in our group, Jessica, had been using the phone booth when she saw him walking down a deserted alley looking for us. He wasn’t doing it because he wanted to see what was down there; he honestly thought we might be seeing something cool. Jessica had to argue with him for a few minutes to convince him that we were waiting by the replica of the statue of David, which we had been using as a meeting place all day. After that he tried to ditch her to find us (stupid boy!).
But Jessica’s not a total moron like him and ended up catching him and dragging him back, he had dirt all over him when she finally got him back to us. After that he had to have a teacher with him at all times, it didn’t help much, he kept turning around thinking we left him.
That's how we roll 