Venerdi, 21 Aprile (Friday)
A glorious day in Florence. After breakfast, we visited a museum dedicated to Leonardo da Vinci and his imagined inventions.
Then we had some free time to explore this amazing and historic city.
We transferred by motor coach to Lucca, birthplace of the famous composer Giacomo Puccini. We had free time to see the city on foot (and, in some cases, bicycle).
Led by our new friend Claudia, the coach then took us to the village of Camigliano. We shared a concert with the Puccini choir, followed by dinner and a LATE return to our hotel in Florence.
It's been a wonderful day today here in the neighborhood. We sang Leonardo in a museum dedicated to him and his flying machines. We also walked the streets of Florence again but the best part was the afternoon. We went to Lucca. 'Now what's special about that, Sumner?' Well! It turns out that Lucca is the same exact town that my grandfather Strickland served in during WWII. According to my uncle I'm 'practically from Lucca' even though I have no Italian blood. And so we set off on the Lewis Family Tour. Our mission: grab postcards for the family, take a picture with the wall around the city, walk the same roads my grandfather walked over 70 years ago, and see if we could find anyone related to me. Sadly, we could only accomplish the first 3 tasks but wandering the city was the best part. We walked on top of the wall, through sketchy alleyways, and across squares with no proper destination in mind. It just so happened that we stumbled upon this little restaurant that we decided to try. Lo and behold, a whole bunch of Lyrics people show up! Apparently it was the exact restaurant that our guides told us to try and Dany and I just happened upon it! Our good luck soon ran out when we tried to get back to the meeting spot. Thankfully, you can never get lost within a walled city. We actually ended up retracing our steps perfectly! Fast forward and we sang for these amazing Italians. They loved us and we loved them. It was one big, lively party. I could even understand some of the Italian they were speaking. They fed us after the concert too. We're heading back to our hotel now and I really don't want to. Italy is so much fun! I never want to leave. But there's one good thing to look forward to with the passing of the days... TOMORROW IS MY BIRTHDAY WOOOOOOOOOOOO
SUMNER OUT :)
Hi meadow fam and friends! I am here with Jacob and today was AMAZING. We had free time in Florence, ate incredible pasta, went to a museum, traveled to Lucia and Camigliano, and sang a lot. The highlight of the day was definitely the concert with the Puccini choir in Camigliano. They were so enthusiastic and friendly. We were all so into the music and I was bursting with happiness after we sang Walk Together Children. Everyone is so full of love for each other, and now we are singing show tunes and playing games on the bus. -Emily
Emily is now 18 years old, like me! We are adults!!!
It is Cal. Today was very amazing and very emotional. I also biked in a town called Lucca and that was very amazing. I also got pizza in Florence. It tasted pretty mediocre but it was still a good experience. I also got gelato and a pizza from Lucca later on. I'm pretty sure it was frozen pizza but I was still content with it. The gelato also had a weird texture but it tasted pretty good. Also I got very invested in my singing at the concert and got very into the music. After singing everybody got sad because people are leaving, but that's ok because we'll always have this amazing experience. I will still miss a lot of people leaving though. It's really late right now, and there's a lot more I'd like to write but I want to sleep. Goodnight.
Hello America! It's Josh. Today was an amazing day. We went to a town called Lucca which is like a smaller, less congested version of Florence. I walked to the top of an old tower that overlooked all of the town and its surrounding landscape. The view was breathtaking. Afterwords, we took a bus to a small village church. The concert we performed was the most meaningful performance I've ever been a part of. The locals loved every piece of our repertoire and they cheered after every song. It was so meaningful to perform for a group of people who weren't there because they were our parents or our friends or because they had to be. Everyone present was there to share their love of music despite not being able to understand the majority of the words we sang. Today's performances moved me in a way no other performance ever has and I will never forget it.
This is Max. Today I went on a bike ride through Lucca. It was pretty sick because we biked past this group of about 100 people who just wildly cheered us. Also one weird thing is that in the streets of Italy I have met two different groups of people who have seen my Longmeadow XC shirts and lived near Longmeadow. In Venice we met a group of people from South Hadley and in Florence I met this random Holyoke cross country runner. The performance today was probably the coolest of my life.
For breakfast on day six we tried to find the cereal they call trix.
After a late wakeup, we had some free time in Florence, during which Tanner saw the cool bridge with houses on it. Later in the day, the group departed for the city of Lucca. Sydney witnessed Carl's magnificent promposal. Tanner rented a bike and had a great time riding around the city. Then he dropped his phone and shattered it which was a bit of a bummer but it's kinda neat that it happened in Italy (no mom and dad I didn't break it on purpose). Then Sydney realized she might have a shopping addiction. We then travelled to sing with a choir comprised of a bunch of cute, elderly Italians. It was a whirlwind of emotions and one of the greatest performances either of us have ever been a part of. We then had some delicious pasta prepared by the Italians. It is now 12:53 Italy time and we are on the bus back to Florence. Ciao for today!
Love Tanner and Sydney <3
P.S. For all you Top Gear/Grand Tour fans out there one of the men in the Italian chorus was James May's doppelganger and that was pretty neat.
