We had the same bus driver and tour guide every day. They took us to many cities and explained about the various old buildings and customs of each place. We saw many beautiful gardens, ancient buildings, paintings and had professional teachers who gave us lectures on the particular garden or place we visited. We were treated to a special celebration in Siena, called "PALIO".

It is a two to three day event that ends with a horse race. I had never seen such a race before because it isn't conducted like the races here in the USA. We were priviledged to eat a celebration banquet with the people in that community. There were many speeches by the local dignitaries, but unfortunately we could not understand them. It was a great time.

While in Italy we visited Florence, Pienza, Perugia, Siena, which were the largest cities. There were other villages as well. The area in which we traveled was called Tuscany and it is in the central part of Italy. The villages all had walled areas with many towers around each of their cities and villages which was to protect them from enemies during the ancient times. We saw walls built during the 14th, 15th, 16th, 17th and 18th century. We also saw parts of walls that were built in 44 BC.

I cannot begin to tell you everything that I experienced. It was so wonderful. I saw people from all over the world that had come to Italy. There were groups of tourists staying at the same hotel as I was, from Germany, France, Australia, New Zealand, Taiwan, Japan, Canada and England. When we left Italy, we had to go to Florence to catch our plan for the United States. We were told that the day before, there were 800 buses that brought tourists to visit Florence and other cities in Italy.

And now my friends, I worried about you and the earthquakes that happened in Japan. Did they happen near you?

I will close for now, as I have much correspondence that came while I was away, but I wanted so very much to communicate with you right away so you would know that I am still interested in continuing this program.

Your friend,

Bernie Brown