Gettysburg ’09
Thursday, July 16th, 2009
After we left Charles Town and our awesome visit with Frank Buckles, Bob and I made the only decision of the entire trip that I regret. We had thought that this trip might have a John Brown theme much as our Virginia trip had had somewhat of a Stonewall Jackson theme, so an obvious choice of locations to visit was Harpers Ferry – most noted for the federal arsenal raid by abolitionist John Brown in 1859. However since we were a little behind schedule after just one day’s worth of travel, we decided to skip it. Only later did we realize that we probably would have been okay on time. Read the rest of this entry »
Chris had been to Siena, Italy before, but the last time he had taken a train from Florence. For our adventure destination on Thursday, May 14, this time he suggested that we might take the bus. Much cheaper, and actually would deliver us there faster. Siena was a much more ‘traditional’ Tuscan town, nestled in the hilltops about 75 kilometers south of Florence. The first bus out that morning wasn’t until 9:40am, so we didn’t have to get up too ungodly early. We set out on foot at about 8:50 and walked to the bus station, where I had a clandestine meeting with a salame toscano.
I wasn’t quite as slow to stir on the morning of Wednesday, May 13, 2009, but I still wasn’t breaking any records. I awoke a little before 8am, got on Facebook for a bit, and ate that bag of bacon chips that had been calling my name. Sarah got up not long after, we got ready for the day, and headed out for next day’s walking tour and adventures in Florence just a little before 10am. Fifteen minutes later we were arriving at the Bargello National Museum. Sarah had a student pass that got her into all the museums for free – but for the average tourist the cost was 7 Euros. Florence knew that tourists would basically have to pay whatever they charged.