Happy Easter!

Good morning and Happy Easter!  It's a very early morning for us.  We got in late from Florence and weren't done with dinner until after 10:30.  Our wake-up call was 6am, in order for us to have breakfast and be on the buses by 8 for a one-hour drive to Pisa where we'll attend mass.  What's more, Italy changes to Daylight Saving Time today, so we lost yet another hour of sleep.  So even the best of us only got about six hours.  It's a much shorter day for us than yesterday was however.  After Pisa we travel to Lucca (a "hidden gem" says one of our guides) and then back to the hotel by 5pm for some rare downtime.  Dinner will be at 7, and then we pack for the second leg of the trip.

Before we leave for the day, here are a few more shots of yesterday's Florence trip, courtesy of Mr. Potchen.  You'll notice how things have gotten completely out of hand when the photographers start taking pictures of each other.

 

Firenze

That's Florence to the rest of you.  Here's a VERY abbreviated rundown of what happened, followed by lots of pictures.  Firenze is less than an hour's drive from our hotel.  Since our buses can't navigate the narrow streets in the city, we were dropped off several blocks away and had to walk to the center of town.  After the students deposited their choir uniforms at the church where we'd be performing later in the day, we all took a nearly two hour guided tour of the area.  Following the guided tour, groups separated for lunch, which for some was as simple as grabbing a slice of pizza and for others was a sit-down steak dinner.

After lunch, many of us climbed some four hundred narrow, winding steps up to the top of the bell tower (the 'Campanile') of The Duomo, the magnificent cathedral of Florence.  It was an exhausting climb (especially for some of us older travelers) but it offered spectacular views of the city.  There was also the opportunity for museum tours, more sightseeing, and shopping.  Since this was probably going to be our best opportunity for shopping, a lot of us chose that option.

The final event of the evening was our first concert, performed in a decommissioned church just a block off one of the main shopping streets.  Our tour guide told us that we shouldn't expect more than thirty or so visitors, but he dramatically underestimated the drawing power of the Okemos High School Choirs.   With the doors to the church open, shoppers, sightseers and other vacationers could easily hear our music, and before we were done performing, more than 150 people had come to see where that amazing sound was coming from!  So now not only do we have amazing memories to take home with us, but dozens of complete strangers who were on their OWN vacations will tell stories about this great choir from America they heard performing in Florence.

Now pictures.

Off the buses, ready for our day in Firenze

 Walking into town, braving a light rain, carrying our choir clothes so they wouldn't get dirty.  Wet, yes, but not dirty.

Inside the church where we'd perform later

 Fearless Leader

 We did mention the rain, right?

 The woman in the center is one of three experts (one for each bus group) who gave us a Tuscany history lesson as well as a guided tour of the area.  The man behind her is one of the three tour guides who travel with us on the bus for our entire stay.

 By the time we're done, we'll probably have between us several million pictures.

 

Mr. Potchen will be responsible for about a million of them all by himself.

It's a bell tower.  That's the bell.

Mr. Potchen, Mr. and Mrs. Hood at the top of the Bell Tower

(Mrs. Schafer is taking their picture) 

 

We finished the day with a concert that drew vacationers into the church to see where that great music was coming from!

Tomorrow - Pisa and Lucca!

 

Florence Pictures Soon!

We are just back from a long, exhausting, soggy but unforgettable day in Florence.  Off to a late dinner (it's almost 9pm here) and an early start tomorrow, but we'll have more info and LOTS of pictures later today!  Meanwhile, here are a few more pictures of yesterday at Porto Venere, courtesy of Mr. Potchen:

One more thing...

Go Green and Go Blue tonight back home.  UM tips off just before 1am out here, and the MSU game probably won't start until after three in the morning,  When you're a continent away, it's a lot easier to root for both rivals to do well.  We'll learn the scores in the morning.

Living Quarters

After Porto Venere, we were back in the busses for a 90 minute drive to our hotel.  We're staying in the quite lovely and modern Hotel Tamerici, located in a busy downtown area of Montecatini Terme.  And I believe that "terme" means "area", so I might have just been redundant.  Anyway, the only activity the rest of the day was our first meal as a group in the hotel.  After going around and around with the hotel clerks, we were finally able to establish a WiFi connection, so at the very least, we should be able to bring you updates at the end of each day's adventures, at least for the three nights we stay here.

Tomorrow, we travel to Florence (Firenze over here) for more sightseeing and our first performance.  Well, "our" first performance is a little generous.  The students will be singing beautifully.  I'll be doing something like this:

Porto Venere

Porto Venere is a fishing and tourism community located on a small peninsula on the west coast of Northern Italy, on the arm of the Mediterranean known as the Ligurian Sea.  We arrived there around 1pm, with two and a half hours for lunch on our own, and self-guided tours of the area.

Here we're looking across the harbor to the downtown area.  Along the water's edge are plenty of seafood restaurants and pizzerias.  We were told that fishermen would paint their houses in vibrant colors so they would be easier to see through the mist at sea.

 

Some of our group choosing a restaurant downtown.  Only Emily appears to be aware there is a camera present.

 

 

 

Among the stunning ancient buildings in Porto Venere are two old churches.  A long path of stone steps leads to the Church of St Lawrence, built around 1100 by the Genoese at the tip of the peninsula, overlooking the sea below.  It is no longer active as a church, but couples have their weddings at the small altar inside.

 

 

The Church of St Peter further inland and up the hill, was consecrated around 1200 and is still active.  In fact, a Good Friday service was going on as we arrived.

 

The remains of the Doria Castle surround the entire historic area, and often frames some absolutely stunning natural formations.  Sea walls, inlets and grottos, breathtaking at every turn.

 

Waiting for the busses to take us to our hotel, we had the first real opportunity for a group shot.  Just about everybody, aside from a handful of us with our cameras, posed (more or less) near the shore.  Mrs.McB is front and almost center.