Day 9: Our ferry arrived in Igoumenitsa, Greece on time. We immediately boarded the bus and transferred to the Meteora Region. I didn't realize the Meteora Monasteries had a strict dress code. Most places expect us to cover our knees and shoulders, but it turns out women have to wear skirts in the monasteries. Luckily, they provide wrap around skirts for those who are not following the dress code. Meteora means "suspended in the air" and is an absolutely amazin...

Day 1: We landed in Milan, Italy at approximately 8:45 am. Both flights were on time and great, but we didn't get much sleep, which is to be expected. It was cloudy and rainy, so we felt like we were still in Colorado when we landed. It really has been a rainy Colorado summer. We were all very excited when we landed, but after sitting at the airport for about 3 hours, my students started to topple over, literally. Our Tour Director, Photis, then took us to Merona...

Day 16: We woke up super early, so we could meet our new Tour Director and then made our way to the Eurostar train, which took us to Paris. Our timing was perfect, so we didn't have to wait very long before getting on the train. The seats were very comfortable, and I believe everyone got some sleep during the ride, which was awesome. The Eurostar does indeed go under water, but besides some major pressure changes, I didn't notice. There were probably three diffe...

Day 11: We woke up, said goodbye to Scotland, and then transferred to York. Once we arrived, we explored York Minster, which "is a beautiful and imposing Gothic cathedral. . . . The first church on the site was a wooden structure built in 627. Moves toward a more substantial stone building began in the 630s. . . . In 741, York Minster was destroyed in a fire. It was rebuilt as a more impressive structure, containing 30 altars. The church and the entire area then...

Day 8: We had a gorgeous drive to Scotland and made a few stops on the way. Even though our first two stops were technically in England, I am going to blog about the entire day here in my Scotland entry. Besides, the two places we stopped at are located close to the border between Scotland and England. Our first stop was at Lanercost Priory, which "can only be dated definitely between 1165 and 1174 based on the evidence of charters and . . . is dedicated to St. ...