Aug. 16, 2001

By Andre Williams, Senior

On Thursday, the 16th day of August, the Cleveland State Viking family awoke to the smell of a traditional American breakfast. The Hotel Palazzo in Basel, Switzerland had a great way to start our day--scrambled eggs, hash browns, bacon, toast, juice and cereal--and every plate was cleaned and much enjoyed by the Viking tribe. Everyone had his or her bags packed and ready to depart the Palazzo (our second hotel of the trip) for the 8-hour bus ride to Florence, Italy. We stopped numerous times to get snacks and drinks. Many individuals took extensive naps to catch up on lost sleep or just to rejuvenate their bodies from our victory.

After a few hours on the road traveling back through Switzerland, we arrived at the Hotel Excelsior in Lugano. We stopped there to retrieve my keys, which I had left in my room there the day before. We also had a chance to exchange our Swiss francs into Italian lira at a local bank. This really didn't affect our travel because we had to drop off our host, Stefano Lips, in Lugano on our way to Italy. On the way south, we stopped more than usual due to individuals unable to control their bodily fluids. As our bus driver Roberto motored along closer to our 8th hour on the road, many were asleep. However, if you weren't, you had a chance to see the mountains, rivers and lakes as we headed towards the Tuscany region of Italy--all of which really accented the trip through Switzerland and Italy.

We arrived at the Jolly Hotel in Florence at 19:31 and it looked very impressive. You had to use a special card with a chip in it to turn on the lights in your hotel room. But best of all, this was the first hotel so far with an air conditioning system. (That was pretty important because it was over 90 degrees again today.) After settling in, we had to walk a pretty long way to find some dinner. Jamaal, Theo, Jermaine and I eventually decided on pizza. I had a cheese and sausage (pepperoni) pizza with had a thin crust that was very tasty. While walking within the city, we noticed a lot of people selling various goods, such as (fake) designer Gucci watches, glasses and other accessories. Most of the sellers, we learned, were Africans from Senegal. Each of us bought something to take back home as souvenirs or gifts. We eventually made our way back to the hotel, joking about the salespeople along the way. Back at the hotel, we met up with others in the Viking family and talked about their dinner and entertainment experiences. Then we called it a night and waited to see what Italy had in store for us on Friday.