France

Part Deux of my adventure has begun! Alec and I took the train from Rome day before yesterday, and arrived in Cannes late Wednesday night. We slept for 11 hours! We met up with my sister Lisa and we walked down to the waterfront and the famous waterfront. We passed shops such as Gerramo, Loius Vuitton, Gucci, Dolce et Gabbana, etc. Within minutes of arriving on the promenade Alec was having his picture taken with Chewie and Austin Powers- the cardboard cutouts that is! The beach is stunning. Further out was the huge cruise ships, then there were the glittering yachts, the sailboats, the motorboats, and the tubing and paragliding rides. We settled for an hour on a paddle boat! It had a slide on it, so Lisa and I paddled and Alec went in and out of the water. I had ALL my stuff with me since the robberies in Italy, so here I was, in a paddle boat, slightly off the coast of Cannes, with a bag containing my iPad, my Canon, all our train tickets and passports, and wallet/money! I got a bit nervous when the waves started coming off the motorboats that were pulling the tubers!

We finished that up and went searching for restaurants that didn't cost a small fortune. Cannes really is the playground of the rich and famous! We had a lovely dinner then walked back to the hotel. We are excited about watching the World Cup final in Paris on Sunday!

Meanwhile we are on the train to Avignon. If you ever learned French you may remember the old Childrens nursery rhyme "sur le pont, d'Avignon, on y danse, on y danse". Weeellll....I can't wait to dancing on the old bridge! It's actually HALF a bridge now, haha, but it's still danceable!

The papacy also moved to Avignon in the 1200's, for about 70 years, before St. Catherine brought it back to Italy. The Italians aren't very happy with her for that. I was surprised at how resentful they are of the Vatican. So we may see the Palais du Papes, the Palace of the Popes. This region also attracted many artists, from Cezanne to Chagall and Matisse. There are mountains that go right to the sea, and beautiful cypress trees. For some reason I am inspired to buy a lemon tree for our back deck when I get back. I love the Mediterranean colors.

A bientot my friends, until the next update!

Sara


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Location:On a train in the south......

Home Sweet Home

Welcome home to all of the travellers! I am glad you made it home ok. I have noticed that it is funny how a single second can change everything, just like the world cup commercials say. We had some unfortunate robberies take place at our last hotel in Rome. I noticed today that I too had some jewelry stolen. I left my iPhone on the bus that took us to the airport yesterday. Luckily the bus driver returned it, but I did not know this until I ran into someone that was with us on our tour at the train station. As horrible as all of this was, I am so very thankful that everyone made it home safely and no one was hurt on our trip!

I want to thank all of the parents and travellers, and especially Kim, for helping out!

Alec and I spent yesterday on the trains from Rome to Cannes. We are at our hotel now waiting to see my sister Lisa! I'm looking forward to seeing the world cup final in Paris on Sunday!

Please feel free to email me at saragant@aol.com!

Take care,

Alec and I miss the group already!

Sara

Roma!

We had a great day in Roma today! We went to the coliseum, went to the Vatican and then found our way to the restaurant by the river. On the way home we were treated to a wonderful impromptu concert by the NC crowd! What great fun! The best part of the day according to Morgan- Alec acting like Radio.....Austin- dinner, no, Sistine chapel!! Brittany- the amazing architecture of St. Peters Square!! John- exploring the Vatican! Aubrey- drinking cold water out of a communal Roman water fountain! Layne- I don't know!! Hmmm!! I really liked dinner! Tori- feeding pigeons in front of the largest cathedral in the world. Michelle- the Colisseum!

We had a fantastic day! The last day is tomorrow and we leave for Pompeii at 7:30am!

Sent from my iPhone
S. Gant

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At the Roman Colisseum before our long day in Rome!


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Location:Rome

Siena

This is the famous Campo, or square, of the medieval town of Siena. We had an amazing day today in this town, and ended up back in Florence in time for some people to watch Germany trounce Argentina and others of us to run to the Uffizi to see Botticellis Birth of Venus!

Let me tell you a bit about Siena. There has been a horse race run in this square for hundreds of years-almost a thousand! It's called the Palio and is an amazing race. The kids can tell you all about it- or you can google it. We missed it by ONE day!! We got there today and they were cleaning up, and lamenting the loss or celebrating the victory, depending on where they were from. We saw the white horse being paraded around and the procession of people from the winning contrada- or area! We then went to the Cathedral where everyone was literally stunned with amazement at the gorgeous artwork. Poor Brittany has been suffering from a cold and after giving her some Dayquil this morning I was so glad she perked up enough to keep telling me how glad she was she got to experience this!

I am going to ask my husband to call each parent of a student that is with me and ask you a question for me. I am so very proud of these kids, they have all bonded in such a fun way and there is no us/them division between the kids and adults. We all hang out together a lot of the time. I heard Layne say tonight as we were all walking back to the bus after dinner that she just loved everyone in our group! She was VERY excited that Germany won..she is wearing a Germany jersey now!

Tomorrow it is off to Assisi, which is still in Tuscany. We have been enjoying the views from the bus. I have tons of photos of cypress trees!
We will then drive to Rome and perhaps have a Rome by night tour. Then the next day is a jam-packed day in Rome and around the Vatican. Then the next day will be our last in Pompeii. They have already been saying that they don't want to go home and that they want to come back and live here one day, which is GREAT!

I have to go- I could write a lot more but I am in a smoky internet cafe and feeling ill!

Thanks, parents, for entrusting me with your delightful child...I am loving sharing their grand adventure with them!

More tomorrow from Roma, I am PRAYING for WIFI in the new hotel so I can use my ipad finally!

Ciao, Sara

Grand Canal, Venice

I was taking more photos with my good camera but need my iPhone to upload these photos. I'm charging the iPhone on the 4 hour drive to Florence tomorrow (me and Claudio are good buddies now!!)

I think everyone got to go on the Grand Canal today. What a fantastic history lesson, art lesson, cultural experience and sooo much more these wonderful kids are getting!! I love them, we are becoming a little family.

Murano Glass

Checking out the amazing glass!