Italy Road Trip Itinerary

So, we've decided on when/where we are going. Where we are staying and when we are staying there. Here's our itinerary:

Here's a link to the map of where we are going and when.

Simplified Version:

Friday February 12 - Aix-en-Provence --> Bonassola
Saturday February 13 - Day trip to Cinque Terra
Sunday February 14 - Bonassola --> Pisa --> Florence
Monday February 15 - Florence
Tuesday February 16 - Florence --> Rome
Wednesday February 17 - Rome
Thursday February 18- Rome [Optional Tivoli daytrip]
Friday February 19 - Rome --> San Gimignano --> Albenga
Saturday February 20 - Albenga --> Aix-en-Provence

Detailed Itinerary (thanks to Melissa!!!):

Friday February 12 -
Depart Aix-en-Provence, France at 12:00
Drive 4 hours 53 minutes to Bonassola, Italy
Check into La Francesca 4-room house

Saturday February 13 -
Hop on the train to Cinque Terre, five gorgeous coastal cities connected by a 12km walking path
Return to Bonassola, Italy to stay in the same house

Sunday February 14 -
Happy Valentines day!
Depart Bonassola, Italy: 9:00
Drive 1 hour 30 minutes to Pisa, Italy
Depart Pisa, Italy: 13:00
Drive 1 hours 20 minutes to Florence, Italy
Check into Hostel Greci: for 2 nights in a private 7-bed room

Monday February 15 -
Free day in Florence, Italy
Stay in same hostel

Tuesday February 16 -
Depart Florence, Italy 12:00
Drive 2 hours 49 minutes to Rome, Italy
Check into Hostel Alessandro Downtown: 3 nights in an 8-bed mixed dorm

Wednesday February 17 -
Free day in Rome, Italy
Stay in same hostel

Thursday February 19 -
Free day in Rome, Italy
[optional 3 euro train to daytrip to Tivoli, Italy]
Stay in same hostel

Friday February 20 -
Depart Rome, Italy 8:30
Drive 3 hours and 18 minutes to San Gimignano, Italy
Enjoy a sweet Medieval walled city
Depart San Gimignano, Italy 14:30
Drive 3 hours 57 minutes to Albenga, Italy
Check into Hotel Residence Sole:
4 bed room and 3 bed room

Saturday February 21 -
Depart Albenga, Italy by 9:00
Drive 2 hours and 49 minutes to Aix-en-Provence, France
Return Car in Aix-en-Provence, France by 12:00

This is all thanks to Melissa Jennings who wrote all of this up and I just got lazy and copy and pasted it.

So, I know that I haven't written on my blog for almost two weeks so I figured I would write a nice long blog post to update everyone as to what I've been up to for the last few weeks!

Classes started last week and I think I have finally finalized my class schedule. It's going to look something like:

Monday: Anthropology of France from 10h-13h

Writing class 15h-17h

Tuesday: Language, Culture, and Society 9h-12h

Wednesday: Morphology and Syntax 9h-12h

Mythology class 14h30-17h30

Thursday: Oral Expression class 17h15-19h15

Friday: No class

So, 16 hours of class each week. It's going to be a tough week but it means that I get to have most of my Thursday off and all of Friday. This morning I went to the market for the first time. It was so interesting and I'm so glad I finally got to go. I didn't buy anything too big because I figure it's open every single day! Even Sundays, which is a huge deal in this town considering nothing is open on Sundays.

Two weekends ago we ended up going to Avignon which is where there's the Palace of Popes which is the picture on the left. It was amazing to see. I've never in my life seen larger rooms! Although like one of my travel books says "the interior is strangely empty after the devastation wreaked during the Revolution, where it was used as a prison and barracks...". Yes, I am reading all of my travel books so thank you! I also used Rick Steves to do a walking tour which some people made fun of my for and other people thought was great. So thanks again for those books they really are coming in handy.

We also went to the Pont St-Benezet; which was honestly just a broken bridge that you walk to the end and then back to the beginning. Walk downstairs and then walk back upstairs. Honestly, not the most interesting sight to see...but it's better than nothing! Plus, we paid to see both the palace and the bridge so I figured we should go. Although, we did get lost trying to make our way from the palace to the bridge LUCKILY I have Rick to show us the way.

Other than that it seems like we are going to be going on a road trip through Italy. We will be going as much of Italy as possible. This is the trip itinerary so far and we will be trying to keep it as cheap as possible:

Friday February 13 - Aix-en-Provence --> Bassanoa

Saturday February 14 - Day trip to Cinque Terra
Sunday February 14 - Bassanoa --> Pisa --> Florence
Monday February 16 - Florence
Tuesday February 17 - Florence --> Rome
Wednesday February 18 - Rome
Thursday February 19 - Rome [Optional Tivoli daytrip]
Friday February 20 - Rome --> San Gimignano --> Albegna
Saturday February 21 - Albegna --> Aix-en-Provence

So, I will keep you updated on everything that's going on once we finalize our plans and where I go next. We have a trip to Antibe this weekend which will be fun because it's with the entire study abroad group.

Hope everything is going well at home!