We Lost the Internet!

There have been no updates over the last day or two because there was a problem with our satellite internet connection. It was restored last night, and hopefully there will be no repetition of the problem.

Monday and Tuesday were class days here at the hotel. The dust has begun to settle from all of the dropping and adding of classes, but I had students making their first appearance in my classes Tuesday, so there will be a period of catching up for them.

Monday afternoon, many of the students went into Monterchi to play soccer with Jonathan in the afternoon. They came back with jerseys and everything; I have no idea where they got them! They had such a good time that they went back again after supper in the evening to play a group of Italians. We heard later that the Americans won the match, 12-11. Some of the students had never played soccer before, so I don't know exactly how this outcome was possible . . .

On Tuesday, many of the students made their first trip into Arezzo in the afternoon. Jonathan took them to the bottom of the hill in the van, and they caught the bus into town. I think it is about a 25-minute ride. Jonathan gave each student three round-trip tickets at the beginning of the term so they could go independently on days like this. They are required to stay in groups of at least two whenever they leave Citerna.

I took the family to Anghiari (where this photo was taken) Tuesday afternoon. It is about seven miles from Citerna and was the site of a major battle between Florence and Milan in the 1440s—the Florentines won. I'd estimate the population of the town at between 10,000 and 20,000 based on the suburbs we drove through, but the medieval section is small and traffic-free. We encountered no English speakers there and had a great time wandering the sloping streets. We had called ahead to reserve a time to see the Museo della Misericordia, which is open only by appointment; it is a museum run by the organization of nuns that started Tuscany's ambulance service. It was small but quite interesting. There were 19^th-century horse-drawn ambulances and the like. Edward kept saying it was "very interesting."

We also went into the Palazzo Tedeschi, which is now a free museum containing art donated by one of the town's most influential citizens. It had everything from Roman columns to an Andrea della Robbia "Adoration" to 19^th- and 20^th-century dolls, along with many artifacts of early modern life. Finally, we were able to enter three churches of varying size with artwork from different periods. We managed to do all this in less than two hours and made it back to Citerna with plenty of time to spare before dinner.

On Wednesday we made a group excursion to the hill towns of Siena and San Gimignano. I hope to post some information about that trip later today.