A Good First Impression of Florence

---

Tonight I am in a campsite near Florence, Italy. The cabins here are like big motorhomes. There are 2 bedrooms, a real bathroom, and inbetween is a seating area. Very nice!

So we left Venice this morning. Breakfast was good. They make awesome sandwhiches here with melted cheese and ham on baguettes. So good! I think I will miss them. The bread like this always seems so dry at home.

It was so warm this morning. It was great getting on the bus- I mean coach! Air conditioning...ahhh. 😊

You can hear everyone singing Summer of 69 at the bar right now! It's up on the hill from here. I kinda wish that I was up there right now but thought I'd save myself for tomorrow night.

Anyways, it was a shorter bus ride today. We stopped at Pisa to check out the leaning tower. It was the creepiest place so far. It was raining by then and as soon as we stepped off of the coach there were guys trying to sell us umbrellas. The whole walk into town there were guys trying to sell us bags, watches, and umbrellas. They are quite pushy too. In the one street a lady with 2 babies was begging for money. Also a four year old boy was begging by himself. We have seen beggers everywhere! Something I never see at home.

The leaning tower isn't too big. It's definately leaning. There were tonnes of places to buy souveneirs. Mecha had a competition for bottles of wine- one to the person who could take the most creative photo and one for whoever bought the cheesiest souveneir. Karen bought boxer shorts and she won.

We got to the campsite around 4:00 I think. Supper wasn't until 6 so we chilled out in the cabin. It sucks when the rooming list starts at the back of the coach because I get stuck with whoever is left! (sidenote: Simon told us this morning that his pet name for the coach is Delilah).

Supper was great, as usual. Lasagna, bread, salad, and ice cream. We didn't leave for town until 8:00. So again, Karen and I came to the cabin and chilled out. We drove into Florence and went to an American pub called the Red Garter. It was so fun! It turned out to be kareoke night. Sweet! Karen, Ali and I shared a pitcher of long island iced tea. They have us HUGE straws. People were all taking pictures of each other tonight. Karen and Ali sang Summer of 69 and I will Survive. Danced a bit. We had to leave at 10:30.

It was so gorgeous out tonight, but I was sweating buckets! Florence is really beautiful already, and we've hardly seen any of it. The coach ride back was great too- played our day song, lots of singing and dancing. Pappy sang Folsom Prison by Johnny Cash. Some people were really drunk. The guys had been drinking these really big beer drinks called The Tower. Most of those people are up at the bar now. Time for me to sleep.

Busy day ahead in Florence!! Ciao 😊

---

Photos

Pisa
I squish the tower...

Red Garter
time for a party!