Vatican, Pisa, Florence

September 30, 2007
Today was so great! We walked to the Vatican Museums/Sistine Chapel this morning. There were tons of people there and it took us an hour and 1/2 just to get in. But it was neat to have to experience of seeing the Pieta and Michelangelo’s painting on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel.

Then we had free time for the rest of the day. We found more Italian pizza and it was GOOD this time! We also got some gelato (mango and strawberry)!

We basically just wandered, trying to find a park (NOT easy to find in Rome). But we did find a grassy area that was out of the touristy/super busy part of the city. Then we came across a flea market. Mitch tried on a ring and it got stuck on his finger! We tried to get it off for several minutes, but finally the street vendor helped us out with some soap and water! (Yeah, we are those "stupid Americans!" Haha)

We had sandwiches for dinner and found a yummy pastry shop too! I got a croissant looking pastry filled with nutella. (How embarrassing - half of this entry is about FOOD.)

We had sacrament meeting with the group at the convent.


October 1, 2007
Today we had more croissants for breakfast and then checked out. We had a 5 hour drive to Pisa - I slept most of the way. So then we saw the Leaning Tower. It was pretty cool and I think everyone got some fun pictures. Christine got separated from the group, so we got a little off schedule...and a lecture. But we made it to Florence.

First we went to Michelangelo’s Hill which has a fabulous view of all of Florence. Then our bus driver, Peder, took us to an area near our hotel. It was crazy! He dropped us off in the middle of a busy street. We had to walk like 30 minutes to our hotel. (The bus couldn’t drop us off any closer because of the width of some of the streets in Italy, buses just don’t fit.)

Luckily there is an elevator in this hotel cause I am on the top floor again. There are four of us in our room - me, Hilary, Adria and Holly. It’s a nice room, small beds, but WARM shower!! Tonight we walked to the Duomo and had more pizza for dinner.