A third day of charm.

Once I saw with my own eyes just how busy Florence is in June, I started looking for day trip options. After a quick Google search, I decided to spend the last day of the “Farewell to *Student’s Name*” tour in Lucca.

Lucca is an easy train ride from Florence (about an hour) and the station is located just outside the historic center of the city. Compared to Florence, Lucca was sleepy. It was the perfect little getaway within a getaway!

One of the main highlights in Lucca is the city walls. The historic center of the city is enclosed by some of the best preserved walls in Italy. Once meant to protect the city, today the top of the walls are a public park and walking path. My first order of business was to walk the circumference of the city while peeking down into the buildings and courtyards below.

The only traditional “attraction” I visited while in Lucca was the Palazzo Pfanner, a gorgeous old manor and garden. The original building dates back to the 1660s, although it’s been greatly expanded over the years. At one point, the manor even housed a brewery! In 1845, the Duke of Lucca issued a decree requesting a “German brewer” for the town. In 1846, Austrian born Felix Pfanner arrived to take on the task and set up shop in the cellars. Eventually, Pfanner became so successful that he bought the estate. His family still owns it today. Thankfully, they’ve opened up some of the property for visitors and events.

This staircase is the kind that makes you wish you were wearing a ball gown. It is also kind of a big deal. It’s been featured in a few movies, such as The Portrait of a Lady.

The gardens at Palazzo Pfanner are particularly lovely. I especially loved the wide range of color in their hydrangeas.

After one more lap around the city walls, I headed back for my last night in Florence (which was uneventful except for a quite elderly Italian man who was telling me all about the best places to buy fresh fish in Marrakech and do I have a boyfriend??).  The next morning I headed back to Pisa to catch my flight. It was a rough one (though nowhere near as crazy as this flight). We were delayed a few hours on the tarmac and my fellow passengers had little interest in remaining seated. At one point the flight attendant yelled some much needed threats into the PA system. Finally, everyone returned to their seats and we were able to take off.

The “Farewell to *Student’s Name*” tour had come to a close.

xo, jill

An exercise in relaxation.

The second day of my “Farewell to *Student’s Name*” tour I hopped on a train and zipped over to Florence.

Despite being a classic travel destination, I didn’t have much on my itinerary. Ok, I didn’t really have anything in mind other than finding my hostel and figuring it all out later. Depending on your perspective, this was either a great plan or a terrible one. I could have planned out my every move and whipped around the city trying to hit all the museums. Instead, I wandered around the streets and sympathized with all the tourists standing in line. Seriously. The lines. Every museum or attraction had a line out the door and around the block. In some places the line for people with scheduled advanced tickets was even longer than the regular walk up line. At that point, I felt pretty good about my decision to not plan and thus not stand in line. Most of those people didn’t look very happy.

So, no, I did not see David. I did not visit the Uffizi Gallery. I didn’t even go inside the Duomo at Santa Maria del Fiore Cathedral.

Replica David

However, I did stroll down the streets and over bridges. I sat on fountains and drank cool lemon drinks. I walked up to Piazzale Michelangelo and enjoyed looking out over the city. I ate fresh sandwiches and crazy expensive gelato. Perhaps most importantly, I relaxed. After all, relaxation was what the “Farewell to *Student’s Name*” tour was all about.

xo, jill

The healing power of travel.

As much as I loved my time in Morocco, there was one big challenge that nearly sullied my experience. I suppose every teacher eventually comes across their nemesis. I met mine in Marrakech. If you know me personally, you’ve already heard the stories. In the interest of painting a picture for those who don’t already know but still remaining professional, I’ll just toss out a few snippets: pushing over a teacher (not me), standing/jumping on desks, drawing blood from classmates, and peeing on a classmate’s personal property. So… yeah. It was a rough year in the teaching department. Finally, in the spring when it became apparent that the school was not willing to make any real changes that would improve the situation, I decided to do the only thing I could think of to maintain my mental health. I booked a trip to Italy.

I dubbed the trip my “Farewell to *Student’s Name*” tour and tried to focus on my big reward during every stressful interaction, meeting, or student meltdown. It really helped. I felt like if no one (my amazing colleagues aside) was going to recognize my Oscar worthy performance with this kid, I might as well congratulate myself.

A few days after school let out, I hopped a flight to Pisa. I arrived in late afternoon and walked over to the tower from my hostel. If you are in town just to check out the tower, Hostel Pisa Tower is a great location at a nice price point. I approached  the tower at golden hour, the perfect time to see it aglow. The leaning tower is such an iconic landmark that half of the fun is watching other visitors pose for and snap their photos. Everyone is smiling and feeling silly.

After getting my fill of the tower, I walked down through town to the train station to book a morning train to Florence. Unfortunately, I also used a sketchy ATM that skimmed my card number*. Super not fun to find out your debit card is being canceled while you’re (alone) overseas.

And thus begins the “Farewell to *Student’s Name*” tour.

xo, jill

*At least I think this is where it happened. It also could have been at the train station kiosk buying tickets there.

The final countdown.

The final day of a trip can be funny. Sometimes I’m anxious because I’m ready to be settled. Sometimes I’m sad because I’m not ready to go back. This time… I was not ready. It’s not easy to leave the beauty and charm of Europe. Especially when you know what’s waiting for you in Abu Dhabi: HEAT!

We did our best to enjoy our last day and not let thoughts of the school year creep into our minds. It’s a good thing Venice provides so many beautiful buildings to look at.

We headed back to the piazza with some bread because as gross as it is, you can’t leave Venice without a pigeon photo.

We also stopped into a church that had a modern art installation inside and this mosaic displayed outside. Each piece is a painted egg.

There’s something about clotheslines, isn’t there? They look pretty everywhere you go (but much less so in your own backyard.)

Levi’s print ad?

The sunset was lovely that night. After dark we sat on a bench and watched a lightning storm over the Laguna.

photo by Mike

The next morning we were headed to Abu Dhabi via Istanbul. All good things must end.

xo, jill