Hotel Monte Del Re Bologna

... Harry Potter, and Italy, and Teaching, Travelling, music, movies. Home and Away. <br>Refresing girls and wonderful souls!<br>I have been so luck on this trip to have met so many wonderful people. People I hope to call friends for years to come!<br><br>Today I am in Ancona and arrived at my hostel to find that even though I e-mailed ahead of time to ask if I could arrive during their closed office hours, it seems ...

Short train ride from Florence after a hair raising trip trying to return the rental car in confusing, congested and traffic restrictied Florence (don't rent a car downtown go to the airport). Bologna is an university town (even Johns Hopkin has a campus). Very historical town with a great plaza area like most towns and a great antique market.

... the language. Gherardo was a willing wealth of knowledge, and taught me that if a man in Italy is wearing a bespoke suit, he unbuttons the last button on the cuff of his suit, to signify this. I started looking for it and saw it all over the place. <br><br>After dinner we rushed to catch our train back to the hotel, but we missed it. It was close to midnight, and no more trains. After haggling with ...

... never tried it..) and a jaccuzi tub in the bathroom AND there were two sinks - one was really low to the ground so we didnt use it :). We put our stuff away and went down to the desk to find out where was good to eat. I sheepishly asked what the deal was with our room and the lady just smiled and said there is no suppliment, they were overbooked. This place was probably 200 Euro a night and we were paying less than 40 ...

The last days where amazing! We are really lucky... In last entry you can read that we had difficulty to find a place to sleep in Venice. We almost decided to leave without visiting the old center... But at the las moment we got an sms from Nico, from Hospitality club, that he could host us right away! He and Cristina, his wife, have a beautiful home in the center of Mestre with a garden full of cactusses and fruits: kiwis ...

... I talk...<br><br>I am thankful that we did not have any bad situations on our trip. We had a long, safe journey and no real road bumps. The kids and I were healthy and energetic the whole time and that is another huge plus. I am also thankful that as a single woman traveling with two boys, that it all went just marvelously. People warned me of so many dangers, but we had not a one. We did not limit our journey based on our situation, and I ...

... he dressed. There was a lot of hype about the Doves American players going to Cal and one getting a shot in the league. And Reggie was still the best player on the field. He was kind of disgusted, saying if those guys got a shot in the league, he wondered what it was coming too. We talked about a number of things regarding the IFL, it was good to get his insights. On the bus Luca gave me a Budweiser. We stopped at a rest stop for food and I was ...

... at least 5 hours, reviewing the 6000 questions that were possibly to be on the exam. 6000 questions in English would have been a bear but in Italian it became daunting. I was fortunate to get the opportunity to volunteer at the Sala di Rianimazione del Reparto di Trapianto di Fegato (liver transplant intensive care unit) at the University Hospital called St. Orsola. What an experience! I worked for about 3-4 hours each morning, helping to give baths, change linens and simply talk ...

... talk about two things: baseball and politics. By the end of the night it was decided that the Venezuelans had the best baseball players and that the Statements staff was going to run the political campaign for one of the guys to become mayor of his city. Don't ask how we ended up there. Another great, and exhausting, day. It's 1:30am, so I've got to get to bed.

... so the top 10 meters were cut off to stabilize it. Both towers have many metal cabels on them to make sure they don't fall over, but we were assured that they are stable. The tour ended and we made our way back to our hotel room, where a group of 5 or 6 of us talked until dinner. Dinner was paid for by the program (which is always great) and the first course was fettucini with ragu (meat) sauce. It was very good and I ate it all, but ...