Camp Champions Blog

After a week of relative calmness, it was time for us to return to “Baskin Mode” (Wiley’s name for our travel pace).  Baskin Mode is an effort to cram a bit more into a day than a real human would do.  These days are fun, but can be draining.

We left the Aix Hotel early and headed west.  Our plan was to see the oldest and best-preserved castles in Europe, and to then arrive in our evening destination.  We have a huge distance between Florence and Barcelona, so we decided to break it into 2 days.  The first night was at the Aix, but tonight was more special.  I will explain in a second.

OK, we found it.

Yesterday was a full day.  After a few relaxing days in Tuscany, we decided to cover a little ground.

Yesterday’s agenda was to visit Pisa and then head to the medieval city of Siena.  This plan was conceived in the mind of a Texan.  I can read a map and convert kilometers to miles.  I also know what an ambitious person can get done on the roads of Texas.

Today, we were lazy.  We wrote, we caught up on emails and we did a lot of nothing.

I made a few calls.  We went on another hike.

One of my favorite stories about Susie is here love affair with Florence.  It shows her playful side and her sense of adventure, two of the attributes I adore about her.

When she was in high school, she studied German and was an exchange student to Germany.

I have no idea what just happened.

This will be a shorter entry today.  Not because yesterday was uneventful, but because it was too eventful.  We woke early, walked almost 2 hours from our apartment near the Coliseum to Vatican City.  We were on our feet for 7 hours and than drove 4 to our next location.

Our stroll took us past a wide array of sites that helped exemplify the odd history of Rome.

After walking around Rome for a very full day, we have learned many things.

For the second evening in a row, we have shared a meal with friends from camp.  Last night, we saw lifelong Champion Laura Hill (and 3 time Senior Camper division leader).  Tonight, it was an equally delightful gathering of new friends.  The Troisi-Bonfils family (Amelie and Luca) hosted us with half of the De Angelis crew (campers Elettra and Edoardo, but Edoardo was under the weather) joined us as did Maddalina Ferrari and her 2 children.  Maddalina is a woman that helps European children find summer camp programs in the US.

The food was superb and the company even better!  Here are the CC kids: