August 13, 2000, Day 7

(Group from St. Peter the Apostle in Maryland, who have teamed up with us)

Diary entry for Sean Madigan

We started today rather chaotic.  Let me tell you, sleeping on a flat train bed while changing altitude and then being quickly awakened and having to jump off the train is not fun.  We had three minutes once we got to the stop to evacuate all 50 people.   We managed to pull that off, and then got on our new bus, and we went to Pisa.   If you like those cheesy pictures of people "holding up" the leaning tower of Pisa, then you should check out some of the pictures we got.  Seriously, it's almost scary how many people actually do that.  Us crazy American tourists.   We went to a mass at the Cathedral there, and while I'm sure it was a good service, it was in Italian, and it was kind of hard to understand.  The homily was really long too.  I enjoyed myself in Pisa though, and am glad I got to stop there. 

We then went to Florence, where we ate our first real Italian meal (Yummy!) and then walked around for a bit.  I especially enjoyed it because I had visited there last year and there was a lot of stuff that was under construction when I first visited.   Lots of other people enjoyed it as well, Florence is just a really cool place and its hard to resist enjoying yourself.  You could tell we're getting closer to Rome because of the big crowds we had.  The next few days are going to be nuts.

After we visited Florence and grabbed some gelato (Double yummy!), we drove on to Assisi.  On the way we found an abandoned kitten at a rest stop, and we named her "Jubileo".  So now we've managed to pick up another traveler that will stay withy us until we go back to France.  The bus driver is going to take care of her.

Anyway, we got to Assisi, went to the coolest place ever for dinner (It was called Il La ghetto...Well, at least Laghetto), had some of that great Italian food (Triple yum...I LOVE Italian food), and here we are at the hotel.  Good morning, afternoon, night, whatever...I just really don't know at this point anymore.  Ciao!

Video of Sean saying hi (456 kB)

Travel log

After getting off the train at 7 am, we headed towards our new bus and bus driver, Salvatori, a true Italian.  We drove to the Tower of Pisa and had breakfast in a nearby restaurant, consisting of two pastries.  After breakfast we attended Mass in the Basilica (right next to the Tower of Pisa), which was in Italian.  Although, Italian is similar to Spanish so some people could follow along a little bit.  At the end of the Mass, the priest said to the congregation, "we have a group of American young people in the back, so thanks for being patient with them" because we kind of messed up their Mass with the responses.  After taking lots of pictures we headed to Florence.  The drive took two hours through the beautiful Italian countryside.   In Florence we received a tour of the city from a local guide.  We toured the Palazzo Vecchio and the area around it, which included a memorial for Michaelangelo (including a replica of David) and the Cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore (the "Duomo" - biggest church in the city), which is the third largest church in Europe, and a leather shop.   The area in Florence was surrounded with three story houses and lots of merchants.  It has been the most beautiful place we've visited yet - even the guys said they would love to live here.  After all stopping for Gelato, we got on the bus and headed for the hotel, which is near Assisi.  The hotel is actually an old apartment building and is the nicest place we've stayed at so far.

More Pictures

The Basilica in Florence
The Cathedral in Florence
Group of people by the bus
Caitlyn and Therese
The Campbells by the Tower of Pisa
Caroline by the Basilica and Tower in Pisa
Damien and friends
Replica of David
Duomo (Florence Cathedral)
Franciscan Church
Group by breakfast restaurant and merchants
Jaime by the Tower of Pisa
Jessica Roll pushing over the Tower of Pisa
Jimmy and Matt fighting over the Tower of Pisa
Joe praying for the cupid to bring him better luck with the ladies
Katie Vargo and Dawn Miller
At the leather shop
Bad picture taken at leather shop
Lucy, from the West side
Lunch group
Lunch group (2)
Lunch group (3)
Lunch group (4)
Matt, Jessica R. and Eric not ready for the picture
Andrew and Tim at lunch
Matt L. hanging with the Tower of Pisa
Matt L, Tom, and Ryan
Michelle and friends in Florence courtyard
Group among Pisa merchants
Sean and Jimmy with the Tower of Pisa
Sidewalk group
Bunch of people from St. Francis
Some more people from St. Francis
St. Peter group
Tower of Cathedral in Florence
Tower of Pisa by itself

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