cinque terre

today we got to hike cinque terre, starting just before the first town and then hiking for about an hour and half to the second, an hour and a half again to the third, an hour to the fourth, and half hour to the last. every town was similar and near the beach and just had amazing views and water! the colors were amazing and after the hike we took the train back to the first town and hit the beach. tonight we are staying in la spezia, leave tomorrow for nice, stay a night and fly back to home! sad, very sad. so long italy!

Hi sis cozzi!

sis cozzie i saw this in florence and took a picture just for you :)

traveling traveling traveling

leaving venice we took the bus through the dolomite mountains and switchbacks and hairpins all over the place but through beautiful mountains and greenery. we stopped at a cable car and took it to the top and the panoramic is the view from the top. now we are in rovereto and leaving for milan tomorrow. i just dont want to think about how fast the rest will go...

more venice and murano

venice

on the way to venice we stopped at a town to see a museum but we also saw a man on the street juggling knives and fire and bowling pins and plungers! we made it to venice and it just did not seem real. it was so beautiful and old. it is one of the most touristy cities i have been it so part of the time it seemed like an amusement park where people come to play and buy the goodies and trash the place. because of that too it was hard to find good food (as evidence by our first night dinner) so we had a great break and had chinese food one night and hard rock cafe the next! it was way fun, gotta say :) we took a gondola ride and took a trip to murano, the glass island, and saw a factory and a little piece of what it is to make glass.

last days in florence and a trip to pisa

here we got a picture of the leaning tower again and in florence i went to a leather factory where you can watch people make leather bags and such. the sculpture is michelangelos last sculpture and the boats are a restaurant a few of us went to on the banks of the arno river for one of our last nights. it was a boating club house and the food was great! i had fish with eggplant and mozzarella cheese. so good :)

Italian beach

about ten of the students and i took a trip to a beach today! it was a really resorty area with private beaches right next to each other and lots of people out. it was perfect weather and the water was amazing. these are pictures of what the beach front looked like, the umbrellas (different colors were the different property owners), and a sailboat. other than too many guys in speedos, it was perfect and relaxing and warm! last week in florence this week tho :(