Wednesday of our Italy trip we drove to Florence. Along the way we stopped at a little town outside of Rome to see an outdoor sculpture garden. Apparently, this is where the guy that finished the Vatican practiced his sculpture art. A lot of crazy animals and monsters.
Thursday was Florence. This was probably the hardest day. Except for maybe Venice. We walked around a lot and saw a lot of art. The Uffizi museum, the Academia (home of David), plus various churches. One had a lot of tombs, one had a lot of frescoes. The worst part was Ellie falling on some steps and busting her lip. Even though we said not to, they called an ambulance. Just blood and a bump. Soon after, they went to sleep and we carried them forever. A very long day with little fun for the kids save the carousel ride at the end.
Friday we drove through Pisa on our way to Pavia for my conference. Not much in Pisa but that tower.
Pavia is a small little town with tiny streets and real cobblestones. The conference ran three days for about 12-14 hours a day. Andi did some shopping. The only beers I had were both Guinness. They must like the Irish here. We did tour a winery and distillery, home of grappa. That stuff is awful. They let the leftowver wine stalks and hsks rot in a pile then distill it to this awful stuff.
Tuesday we got up, went to Milan to see the Last Supper and drove through Zurich to get home. Busy week.
Wednesday, my group had an outing to wander around the local area. We hiked a good bit, enough to make me sore for a couple of days. We stopped for a brewery tour. This guy went on for about 2 hours in German that I could not follow. But ultimately, the beer was good. The Schwanen in Esslingen. I think they only brew for the restaurant, but the wheat beer was tasty.
Our big excitement came from finding a lady that would take us onto the base. We stocked up on American things finally. Pam. Pop-tarts. Maple syrup. Baked beans. Mac and cheese. Dr. Pepper. Cookie dough. Molasses. Popcorn. Cool-whip. Some of this you can get here but it may cost 5x as much. We also got a Taco Bell delivery, since the only Taco Bell for hours and hours is on base. Tasty!
