Back to reality!

Well, we've been back in Adelaide for a week now and it already feels like our Italian adventure was months ago - tragic!

To finish off, we obviously made it out of Milan as originally planned, so of course the panic was all for nothing. Ah, the joys of hindsight! Our gorgeous hotel in Milan offered us the most extensive breakfast buffet of the whole trip - a sight which was rather exciting for the students (and Michelle since she could indulge her preference for cocktail sausages one more time), while I managed a visit to the local post office to divest myself of a package of dvds for school. They've since arrived in record time which just goes to show that you can assume nothing about Italian efficiency. Of course, in the same post office when I tried to buy some stamps for postcards, this caused much consternation...what, I expected to buy stamps in a post office, I hear you say? Naturally, this proved too difficult but a quick stop in a tabacchaio fixed that. Our mini buses arrived on time to ferry us out the 50kms to Malpensa, giving us our final experience of Italian driving - 145km/hr, whilst texting, and beeping at anyone who dared get in their way. This followed a gobsmacking experience of the night before where, in peak hour traffic, the lights at the intersection nearest to our hotel were flashing amber. In effect, this meant a free-for-all, which caused much amusement and head shaking from us. Still, as Sharon pointed out on our way to the airport, at least we were in Mercedes vans and she won't be travelling in anything less in future.

Once at the airport the challenge of checking in lay before us, and once again this passed smoothly. There were none of the queues of frustrated passengers that I had been expecting, and the SQ staff were all rather chirpy. Our shopaholics even managed to avoid paying excess luggage - this would be Rachel (28kgs), Sharon (27kgs - and that was without the sack she had for hand luggage) and Michelle (25kgs). One last look in the Duty Free shops, a last deliciously cheap Italian coffee, preceded by a final donut or fior di latte gelato, and all too soon, it was time to farewell Italy.

The flights passed quicker than expected, with most people managing to sleep at least part of the way. Dee-Arna gave her neighbour a bit of a fright coming in to Singapore when she accidently clutched his arm, but for the rest of us, it was all smooth. Singapore was its usual lush, green and tropically sticky self so we went for a short walk to ensure luck at the Fountain of Wealth before retiring back at the hotel for a sleep. Then it was time for dinner, the writing of postcards to eachother as a memento of the trip, and back out to the airport for one final shopping fling (mostly consisting of perfume, it must be said). Our final flight seemed to go ridiculously quickly. As a beautiful dawn broke, we cruised into Adelaide to be reunited with excited family and friends, with countless tales to tell.

So, here's a final summary of our trip:

Sharon, now known as the Hooch, the Crazy Ladle Lady, shopaholic and sleepwalker extraordinaire, particularly enjoyed being pursued by the persistent retailers in the Florentine markets. As the resident make-up artiste, she will also be remembered for her lessons in the specific use of different make-up brushes (remember Nick, there's a quiz coming up!), and for her ability to transform herself into a 'Bianca'. After the shopping spree with her sister in Florence, she also discovered her 'inner wog' with the purchase of the requisite Adidas tracksuit. Sharon declared that it was weird to have to pay to use toilets, since your money could be used for much more important things ie the purchase of another LV fake bag or wallet. She coined a new verb as well - squiggiare, as in squiggiamo (let's check it out). I'm expecting a call from Collins-Sansoni to have it added to their new dictionary asap.

Rebecca, aka Strawberry Shortcake, will be remembered for her renditions of Baciami ancora, which played many times on MTV. However, learning more than the chorus would be a good idea! Her favourite places were Venice because of the water, and Verona for its messages of love. Despite being the cleaner (along with Jen), Rebecca was mildly disturbed by the randomly flushing toilets she encountered throughout Italy, and was surprised by the number of smokers everywhere - cigarette in one hand, coffee in the other.

For Jen, Florence will always be a bit special because that's where she met 'Basil', her fiance. She's now addicted to both coffee and Kinder Cereal bars (will they by available in Australia?!?) but still thinks it's a bit strange that you have to order, pay and get your receipt first before you can get your food and drinks in bars. She isn't a fan of squat toilets, and thinks that all Italian drivers clearly are maniacs. Jennifer also wins the award for saying the most incorrect things, such as imagining that there was free pizza to be enjoyed in Venice, and asking if dentists can take out your appendix, because she thought that would be a bad idea. Hmmmm...

Rachel became quite a fan of Kinder Bueno bars but remains convinced that I sneakily tried to poison them with acqua frizzante. In typical Carpentieri fashion, she wins the award for the heaviest suitcase and most time spent on the phone ('I'm fine, and you?'). One of her favourite things were the bananas in Venice (not the canals, shops, monuments etc!!!) and she has realised that pizza back in Adelaide just won't taste the same. Rachel also managed to attract attention to herself by falling down the stairs (unlike Jen, who fell UP them), as well as tripping over bags and people in order to check out the snogging teenage couple in the train compartment on the way back from Venice. However, Rachel is still searching for her 'inner volume button' so that people in the next region cannot actually hear her.

Gloria, aka G'oria Josephine, discovered coffee and fior di latte gelato in a BIG way, and is well aware that these just won't be the same out of Italy. And she will miss her friends at the Bar Medioevo, along with her flirting instructor/gondoliere from Venice. GJ found it weird that you must don plastic gloves to handle fruit and vegetables at La Coop, and then weigh them yourself. Thus food shopping was an adventure. On the culinary side, she is a proud founding member of the International Food Inhalation Society (a Carnovale tradition). Finally, she is still recovering from my refusal to let her catch the night train to spend a day in Paris, especially once she found out that tickets could be purchased for 25 euros each way. Next time Gloria!!!

Big sister Dee-Arna was the guide for the students and the protector in classes with scary Ersilia. She soon settled back into life in 'good old Peroooge' , admiring the sexy Italian men who just smell so good. Florence and the Hotel Aprile emerged once again as her favourite locations for travels, but Milan's beautiful Duomo is a new love as well. A fellow coffee addict, Dee-Arna claims to be surprised at the amount she pizza she consumed, but she is a Carnovale of course! Known for her expressions such as "you're joking!", "That's amazing/weird/bizarre/funny!" and "Are you serious?", she is also now a connoiseur of FDS and VCS (that's Florence Drain Smell and Venetian Canal Smell). No doubt, she will be first in line to buy them when they are released as eau de parfum in the future! However, in a frenzy to avoid excess luggage, Dee-Arna did go overboard in ditching belongings, only to discover at the airport that her suitcase actually weighed LESS than when she left. Oh the shopping she could have done!!! On a positive note, she does feel that her butt (and its new 6 pack) is distinctly tighter after a month of trekking up hills.

Anastasia is yet another new convert to the joys of coffee. On the trip, she also discovered her 'inner girl' following a few shopping excursions with Gloria and Dee-Arna, and a make-over with Sharon. She liked Venice most of all, although she was very excited to rediscover both Bershka (a clothing store) and Yves Rocher (for beauty products - highly recommended, if they'd like to reward my plug on their behalf, I'll gratefully accept any products they'd like to give me). Due to remarks such as filling in 'Specific Hotel' instead of 'Grand PACIFIC Hotel' on peoples' Singapore Immigration cards, she was frequently heard to say "you're so mean to me!". However, underneath she knows the laughter she brought was affectionate. If she fulfils her desire to own a scooter, Anastasia will become a 'proper' Italian.

The highlight for Luke undoubtedly was the visit to San Siro. However, there were also numerous games of appartment volleyball which I'm not sure were enjoyed equally by their neighbours, and in fact his too close encounter with the corner of a table left a telling mark for a while there (Nick's request for 'little clouds' ie cotton balls to staunch the bleeding is yet another tale). Flying pears also caused some issues in Venice, as did his seeming ability to attract the attention of strange men. Perhaps the mental scarring of the time in Florence's Piazza della Signoria, with its array of statues, only added to this effect. Along with Nick, Luke kept the sales at Ferrari healthy for the month of April, and please pay attention to where you put your feet, in case they come into contact with his new shoes. Finally, Luke's enthusiasm for Italian sports cars (and others) only increased as the month wore on, along with his amusement whenever they came across American tourists.

Like Luke, Nick can't rate anything higher than San Siro and it was clearly very remiss of me not to plan more time in Milan. He is still recovering from the alcoholic digestive drink 'forced' on him during his lunch with Cousin Lino, but a few more mignon rum babas would probably help. Not known for his sparkling conversation skills first thing in the morning (it would be perhaps unkind to extend this until after 10am at least, but true), Nick also became known as 'the lost boy' when he failed to find his way up one road about 50 metres to find his apartment building. Besides Milan, Nick enjoyed his post-dinner passeggiate, and found dealing with 'the brothers' irresistible, meaning that he couldn't pass by a single street seller of African extraction without a chat and a quick perusal of the stock on offer. While cleaning remained a foreign concept and clothes washing was a challenge needing the girls' support, he did conquer making salad dressing, much to his surprise.

Michelle, aka the donut queen, seemed surprised to find her suitcase weighing 25kgs at the airport, given that she had only come back from Europe in January, having done 'all her shopping then'. Clearly this was not the case. Our hotel room in Venice failed to leave any lasting groove in her scalp as a memento of the ludicrously low beams in the ceiling although Nick's forehead may still bear the imprint of a pear that she ditched at him with sparkling precision. The fact that at the time she was aiming at Luke is entirely another matter. Michelle kept eveyone amused with her tales of classes with Marcella ie 'Loud and Louder' and her 'dad jokes'. These included treasures such as 'Why is the river in Florence called the Arno? Because there are no fish in it' and trying to get people to say 'Irish wrist watch' quickly. Her serious face when joking meant that Jennifer was fooled every time without fail, much to her annoyance, and even when she was the mischief-maker, I still got the blame! Hmmmm.....

As for me, I thought I should finally put in some photographic evidence that I actually was in Italy. I hope I really wasn't too scary even if my idea of a short walk translated into an arduous hike for you. Luckily for me, purple is seriously in vogue so I could add to my already considerable collection of clothing in dark hues. Of course, my new purple Benetton sneakers are a design statement all on their own. Clearly, you all now know that I have a well-formed addiction to coffee and enjoy the odd glass of wine with dinner - well, it's a duty to sample the local produce! I enjoyed sharing some of my favourite places in Italy with you all and hope this trip stays in your memories for a long time to come. Thanks in turn for your part in our Italian adventure!

The final words now go to our trip mascots. Unfortunately, Mojo appeared to spend a lot of his time in the animal quarantine of Rebecca's suitcase, especially when the lock broke and she couldn't open it. However, when let loose he did enjoy hanging out in the MiniMetro and in the stylish rooms of the Hotel Aprile. Little G, in contrast, certainly got around and enjoyed meeting the locals. After being threatened repeatedly with decapitation each time she was taken out of Gloria's bag, our final stop in Milan provided us with an emergency sewing kit. Of course, by then it was clear that she would survive. Finally, we hope that Uncle Gavin and his family enjoyed taking in the many breathtaking sights that Italy has to offer.

Our last week in Italy

Okay, so now it's really hard to believe that our time in Italy is drawing to an end. After the drama getting back from Venice because of the volcano, everyone had a bit of a sleep in on Monday morning, which meant no lesson for the kids with scary Ersilia and Michelle also opted to skip her 4-hour session with Marcella ie Loud and Louder. Priority number 1 for me was to get down to the station to sort out our tickets for Milan on Friday, which was much easier than I had thought it would be. Of course, few things here are absolutely straight-forward, so the sideshow in the station that morning involved various police officers with sniffer dogs arresting some undesirables. Not sure precisely what they had done, but obviously they'd been naughty.

Rebecca spent the day with her aunt and uncle who had driven up from the south (as had Rachel's cousins last week - more family reunions!) so, since the sun was out, we decided to go to Assisi for the afternoon. Well, all the girls decided to go but the boys missed the meeting time and ended up staying in Perugia instead. On the bus ride there, Rachel continued the proud Carpentieri tradition of suffering from motion sickness. Luckily though she came well prepared with a sick bag that she had collected from our flight to Italy, and her incident was without the explosive effect that Rocco (and Ramon) suffered. She quickly recovered when the state of her makeup distracted her, and as soon as we arrived in Assisi, she claimed to be hungry. Naturally then, after lunch in one of the little bars, we set off for a stroll around the quaint streets of this beautifully maintained town, visiting the churches of St Clare and St Francis and predictably, a number of shops for last minute purchases. Just as we were preparing to leave, a menacing thunder storm developed, leaving us shivering in phone boxes awaiting our bus back to PG.

By Tuesday the university routine was back in place, along with more visits to favourite cafes. As the number of days left in Perugia decreased, our round of farewell visits began in earnest. The following day, one of my friends from the last time I studied in Perugia arrived for a visit, causing much laughter with her stories, and on Thursday we squeezed in a visit to the Perugina factory. We were accompanied by a group of Italian school students on our tour who were so loud that they made Rachel seem quiet in comparison Since most of us had already begun packing, the luggage reality had already hit so purchases this time were relatively light. Upon our return back up the hill to Perugia via the MiniMetro, the 'last visits' continued, mostly to the internet cafe and various lookouts to savour the views one more time. Apparently there was even time for one last game of indoor volleyball for the boys in their appartment. Our final dinner in Perugia was in one of the traditional restaurants before the final packing up was completed.

Friday meant another very early start to get all of our luggage (and ourselves) to the station in a fleet of taxis ready for our 6:40am train to Milan. This meant only moving the luggage once since the InterCity train came directly here. The luggage piled up in the First Class corridor caused some problems when the food cart arrived, but otherwise it was relatively stress-free and after almost 6 hours, we had made it to Milan and were ready to find some lunch, after dropping off the luggage of course. Top of the list of Milan sites was a visit to San Siro to check out the third biggest soccer stadium in the world. It wouldn't be an exageration to point out that the boys were just a tad excited on the tour, especially when they saw the players' rooms. Nick was transformed into a ninja due to the height he reached leaping in front of the stadium, while Luke was overcome with excitement when he sat in the chair once occupied by David Beckham. More shopping completed our visit before we headed back to the Metro station, via McDonald's for a toilet stop and a snack as well as Tiramisu` milkshakes. The next place on our list of things to see was the famous Duomo with its striking gothic architecture and breathtaking stained glass windows, then it was time to window shop in the Galleria's very stylish shops before our return to the hotel. Dinner in a local pizzeria finished off our day, leaving last minute reorganising to do before our trip out to Malpensa in the morning. Next update hopefully will be Singapore!

Verona & Venezia

Our last weekend in Italy saw us getting up in the very early hours on Friday morning to be able to catch our 6:40am train to Verona via a stop in Bologna. Wake up calls made it obvious that some members of the group (ie Nick) really are not morning people due to his unintelligible grunting, and most people snoozed for at least part of the journey. This was despite it being a 'Harry Potter' train with compartments. However, Jennifer 'unleashed her inner gamer' and spent most of the journey in a virtual battle with Luke's PSP, complete with a subsequent headache. A short stop in Bologna gave us the chance to restock our caffeine levels before boarding our Freccia Argento high speed train to Verona.

Our visit to Verona gave us the chance to check out the elegant pink and white terrazzo-tiled streets around Piazza Bra' and the Arena, Verona's mini Colosseum, and of course, Juliet's balcony and statue. A stroll around Piazza delle Erbe meant opportunities to sample some snacks and gelati before we headed back to check out the market stalls in the main square. Michelle's weakness for ciambelle was again in evidence, so we walked it off with a visit to the crenellated Ponte Scaligeri before returning to the train station ready for our next stop, Venezia.

As we approached Venice, Anastasia was very happy to discover that we did not, in fact, have to swim with our luggage or that the train did not have to go inside a ferry to complete the last part of the journey. Since we were staying in two different hotels, Michelle and I, along with the boys, headed off to our hotel while the girls stayed and watched the world go by along the Grand Canal. The boys discovered that their hotel room had a terrace overlooking the Canareggio Canal, while Michelle and I had difficulty just finding our room. It ended up being in the attic, with the room number written in pencil in tiny numbers on the door jamb. Once inside, we could fully appreciate our 'Alice in Wonderland' room - or we could have, if we had been able to stand upright in it. A few close encounters with smacked heads on beams followed, and Michelle still has a bump after a particularly heavy hit. I'm sure that it will go away in a few days! Returning to the train station, we collected the girls and headed off to find somewhere to eat on the way to their hotel. It wasn't the best choice of eaterie in the end as they were expecting a big group in and hustled us out. Oh well, at least Sharon got hers for free - although that was simply because she didn't know that the cashiers were in fact there to collect the money. By this time everyone was more than a little tired so sleep was a fantastic idea.

Saturday meant a day of shopping for those whose list of things to buy hadn't quite been exhausted yet. We collected the girls and headed for San Marco, stopping to begin our negotiations for a gondola ride along the way. This worked perfectly as we haggled with two very entertaining gondolieri. As we floated along, Gloria discovered her 'inner flirt' using a range of whistles and eye contact as our gondoliere pointed out suitably cute candidates. Success or failure was indicated with a thumbs-up or thumbs-down, accompanied by a lot of laughing. Our next stop was a visit to la Basilica di San Marco with its leaning columns, wavy floor and beautiful mosaics. Back outside, it seems that the pigeons are too well fed in the warmer months to be willing to dive bomb people in quite the same way that they do in winter, so we let them to scavenge for crumbs and checked out the Bridge of Sighs instead. Shopping then began in earnest on the Rialto with many masks and glass jewellery being purchased, just to further complicate the luggage issues. We wound our way back to Canareggio to drop off our bags before getting lost in the tiny, winding calli on our way back to the girls' hotel, so that they could also drop off their purchases before dinner. In the light drizzle we headed back to the La Serenissima restaurant where Gloria was overjoyed to have pizza with corn on it and some of the girls indulged in some flirting with the locals at the next table. This time though, the speed-eating challenge came from the boys, who claimed they were starving. A final coffee at the little restaurant next to the girls' hotel rounded off the day, much to the merriment of the waiters as uncontrolled laughter broke out due to Anastasia's confusion over many things (Michelle pointed out that eventually she would realise that she was in Italy, as if this hadn't occurred to her before) and Jennifer's wishful thinking that there was free pizza on offer. No-one knows where that one came from though! When we finally left, the light drizzle was distinctly heavier so Luke 'invested' in a broken umbrella for 1.50. Well, you do get what you pay for!!!

Sunday meant preparations for our return to Perugia, which wasn't without its own dramas. Michelle headed off with the boys to meet the girls so that they could go up the bell tower for its fantastic views over Venice, while I spent a stressful two hours in a queue for train tickets. Due to the Icelandic volcano, people were coming off cruise ships and heading straight to the station to try and get tickets north for any time in the next week. The ridiculous queues from Saturday were even worse but everyone was upbeat - I was just happy to get tickets south, even though it meant a long journey on regional trains. A cruise on one of the many traghetti plying the Grand Canal gave everyone a different view of Venice when we all met up again and this was followed by a quick lunch. Before we knew it, it was time to collect our bags and stake out seats on the slow train to Bologna. This worked okay, but then our next train, an InterCity coming through from Milan, was much busier especially since they had just announced that all trains heading north were already fully booked until at least Friday. We stood up until Florence, with ourselves and our bags blocking the corridor, but then we claimed two compartments and it was all okay. We finally made it back to Perugia at about 11:30pm, just in time to pile into taxis and get back for a quick pasta dinner at midnight. After all, travelling makes you hungry!!!

Another quick update

Latest news is that Singapore Airlines has reinstated all flights so we'll be at the airport very early on Saturday!!! Fingers crossed it will all work out...I'm sure we'll all be fine!

A quick update

Time really is flying by now. It's hard to believe that we really have only a week left in Italy before we commence our long journey home.
At the moment the students are in the Language Lab for their last session for the week. I decided that we all needed a bit of culture so after lunch today we checked out the National Gallery of Umbria, which is bursting with amazing paintings by people like Fra' Angelico and Piero della Francesca. Michelle and I made a purchase for our new Language Centre - a picture of 'The Annunciation' by Fra'Angelico since our building will be named in honour of St Gabriel. From the sublime to the ridiculous, the students then rushed off to the laundromat to ensure clean clothes for our trip up to Venice tomorrow. Much to their shock, a 6am bus ride to the station awaits them, but then I think there might be a little bit of snoozing on the train. We're back on Sunday night, so no doubt I'll do a big update at the start of next week. Tonight we're dining out to have a typical Umbrian dish called 'torta al testo', perhaps followed by a crepe or two. Then it will be time for a quick passeggiata before a very early night. Venice, via Verona, beckons!

Little G does Tuscany

As you can see, Little Gloria enjoyed a spot of sightseeing!

Tripping around Tuscany

Ciao!

It's a sunny, yet rather fresh, Monday back in Perugia after our Tuscan adventure. We set off on Friday morning via Perugia's MiniMetro for the station to catch our regional train to Florence. The MiniMetro is easily the most convenient way to get from the centro storico to the bottom of the hill ie to the station - when it hasn't 'lost its memory', that is. More on that later. Anyway, for some members of the group, this was their first experience riding the little monorail, which starts off a bit like being on a roller coaster before you cruise over roads, passing apartment buildings and the like. It's very cute.

Anyway, we made it to the station with enough time to savour a coffee at the bar before we installed ourselves and our supposedly light luggage for the two hour train ride. Note to the boys - you really don't need to bring 3 different outfits in your hand luggage, thus leaving no room for your shampoo, or alternatively, any purchases that you would subsequently make! Our train ride past Lake Trasimeno (Italy's largest lake) was beautiful and relaxing, and almost before we knew it, we were pulling into Florence's main station. A short walk around the corner had us checking in at the amazing Hotel Aprile before demands for lunch drove us in search of food. A visit to a little osteria with an extremely helpful waiter luckily replenished our energy because by now the thoughts of Florence's shopping delights were calling, or maybe yelling. Our first stop was the Mercato Nuovo, otherwise known as the market with the bronze Porcellino. This was followed by a longer visit to the bigger San Lorenzo markets, where the first forays into bartering started. An hour later, and laden with shopping, we headed back to the Aprile to drop off our bags. Another coffee stop along with a ride on the carousel in Piazza della Repubblica preceded a spot of sightseeing this time - the Ponte Vecchio with its shops of impressive bling and Piazza della Signoria with its impressive statues. We took some time to observe the locals out for their passeggiate in the dusk, while Dee-Arna caught up with an old school friend, Cheylie, and some of the girls were chatted up by some brave local teenagers. One claimed to have his heart broken after Jennifer declined his own invitation to come to Australia and marry her. Mopping up the tears, it was clearly time to leave the piazza. Dinner at the restaurant just down from the hotel finished off the day, before a small group of us accompanied Cheylie back to her hostel, via another stroll past Piazza della Signoria so that the boys could enjoy the views once more.

Saturday dawned beautiful and sunny. Sharon nervously awaited the arrival of her long lost half-sister from the UK, along with her brother-in-law, niece and nephew. Once they met though, it was all smiles and Sharon was whisked off to spend the day with them. The rest of us jumped on a train to Pisa (according to Jennifer, it's 'just like pizza with an s') where, after some confusion regarding exactly which bus we needed and being adopted by a local nonna who pointed out the sights as we travelled, we made it to the Piazza dei Miracoli for the obligatory photos holding up the Tower. The students declined the opportunity to spend 15 euro to climb to the top, pottering instead in the many souvenir shops along the side of the campo. Then it was just a matter of catching the bus back to the station for a bit of lunch before our return to Florence. Because of the perfect weather, Michelle accompanied Gloria, Anastasia, Dee-Arna, Nick and Luke up the 414 steps to enjoy the view over the city from the Belltower, while Rachel had her caricature drawn. After the descent and subsequent recovery, as well as a visit inside the Cathedral, some bartering over 'real fake' sunglasses took place before we decided to take advantage of the perfect light by climbing to the top of Piazzale Michangelo. This gave us a breathtaking view over the city, and the chance for tired muscles to rest from all the walking before we headed back to the hotel and dinner at the same restaurant. While some people declined the chance to have a post-dinner passeggiata, others set off to savour the sights. This included observing the antics of the street sellers bundling up their wares in large white sheets and hiding behind lamp posts each time the police did a circuit. As this happened every few minutes, making purchases of bags or more sunglasses became a little fraught at times. However, it was highly amusing when they stalked us around corners after deals were interrupted in this way. One more look at the Ponte Vecchio and the lights reflected in the river and it was definitely time to return to the hotel for a well-earned snooze.

Unfortunately, Sunday brought rain and cold winds - a huge contrast to the preceding days when everyone had been out basking in the unexpectedly balmy weather. Sharon once again met up with her family so the rest of us took the opportunity for one last shopping splurge, an extended lunch at one of the pizzerie near the big markets (where Gloria astonished us all with the ability to devour her pizza in record time, although to be fair she was 'starving'!), and a visit to Santa Croce with its tombs and memorials to famous Tuscans such as Michelangelo, Gallileo and Leonardo. Michelle was especially thrilled to note the many statues of Dante to be found around Florence, and will undoubtedly be rushing off to buy a new copy of La Divina Commedia as I write this. By now it was time to return to the hotel to pick up our bags and collect Sharon for our train ride back to Perugia. The journey passed quietly as many people snoozed, although Sharon's impromptu beauty salon and make-over of Rebecca brought some entertainment. A ride back on the MiniMetro was scuppered by the strange sign indicating that the little train had lost its memory and was therefore not allowing anyone to actually ride the empty carriages, so we braved the eratic bus system instead. Finally arriving in Piazza Italia, the only things that remained for our weekend to be complete was a quick dinner and a relatively early night in order to prepare for another week of full on lessons. Ah, but it was fun!!!