Terri's Travels: Thursday: Class, Tour of the Fortress (part 1)

A few uneventful days were made up for it today.. Wowzers.

First, I taught class and the Wifi guy came.. so IT people can be IT people in any language.. He was totally dismissive of me, until I showed him that of 18 students only 8 could connect in either room at once.. HA! It was a good opportunity to talk about networking with my students and problem solving but pretty disruptive to class.

After class, I stopped at bar Stefano and ordered my own salad.. the waiter would not let Bridgette help! .. which was good i had miste ensalada tonno y mozzarella. It was delicious with fresh fennel and cucumbers and great olives.

Then we were supposed to meet for the tour of the Medici Fortress.

This was a little comedy of errors. First, so many of my students were leaving for the long weekend, that this became optional.. and so only 6 of us showed up. We were supposed to meet Luccho at 2:30 and walk over, but then Bridgette was assigned to do it instead.

At 3 when we were supposed to meet our guide, he did not show up. There was some sort of mix up, and he did not arrive until almost 4. When he did arrive, he did not speak English and he spoke crazy fast Italian. Bridgette tried really hard to explain what he was saying, but it was very difficult. Eventually she called the office and Charlotte came over to help.

It was interesting but a one hour tour at 3:00 did not end until 5:30

So the basics .. this Fortress sat on the highest point in Arezzo over by Proti Park. It was built by the Medici when they took over parts of Tuscany to show their power. it was damaged in many revolts in the early 1500's.. and also was partially taken apart by the French in the 1800's.