Tours
S O L D O U T
ITALY SPRING BREAK FOR ADULTS AND STUDENTS 2010
APRIL 2-11 $3985 from New Orleans
NOT FOR THE FAINT OF HEART!
FLORENCE via Bomarzo Park (Park of the Monsters)
ROME via the Umbrian hill town of Orvieto
Pompei and climb to top of Mt. Vesuvius
Spain 2009 was a huge success and limiting our numbers made the trip so, so easy. Our 2010 trip will be to what we consider,the most user friendly country in Europe: ITALY! We will keep our numbers limited so if you are interested, it is NOT too early to put down your deposit.
Not only is the Italian landscape stunningly beautiful but the architecture is remarkable and the art inside is spectacular. The food is delicious, the waiters are delicious, and the gelato is worth the price of the tour. Shopping, cappuccinos, pizza, pasta and people-watching have become an art form in Italy.
Our trips are carefully planned with both students and adults in mind, this is not your "typical" student trip!
We will fly into Rome and travel by private coach to FLORENCE via Il PARCO DEI MOSTRI DI BOMARZO (The Park of the Monsters), the perfect place to "get out in it" after a long plane ride. This is not your average park. Built as a spoof on Renaissance formal gardens, these gardens were built by Count Orsini to pay homage to his dearly departed wife. A favorite of Salvador Dali, tells us that it is an odd ball place. This is a perfect introduction to Italy, where we can buy our first cappuccino and some tacky souvenirs.
Buona Pasqua, happy Easter, Florentine style! FLORENCE is incredible every day of the year, but to be in Florence for the annual Scoppio del carro (exploding of the cart) is almost too good to be true. This three hundred year old tradition takes place Easter day between the Duomo (Cathedral) and the Baptistery. A three story high cart, pulled by garland festooned oxen and Italian men in medieval costumes, is exploded by a dove shaped rocket lit by the Archbishop. The fireworks that follow will remind us we are not in Kansas. We will visit Michelangelo's David and see why he's the bomb. We will visit the Uffizi Museum, one the most famous in the world, and see the art we have been studying in art history. Works include: Botticelli's Birth of Venus, Titian's, Venus of Urbino and works by Giotto, Michelangelo, Caravaggio, Durer, Rembrandt and many more. Florence is a medieval and Renaissance open-air museum. Works by Donatello, Brunelleschi and Ghiberti decorate this city. Shopping ranges from outdoor "flea markets," (credit cards accepted by all vendors) to Gucci and Prada.
From Florence we will travel to ROME via the medieval hill town of ORVIETO, known for its amazing cathedral, inside and out. The picturesque hill town is accessible by funicular - we are talking major hill town built on volcanic rock. Underneath the city are Etruscan cave and an amazing system of wells.
Ah, ROME, we love it more every time we visit. This city as ruins grand-mammy! Where else can we walk through the Roman forum on our way to shop or pass the Colosseum on our way to dinner? Where else can we sit in a sidewalk cafe sipping a cappuccino or eating gelato while looking at the Pantheon or Bernini's statues in Piazza Navona? We literally walk on top of layers of history. It's not unusual for an Early Christina church to be built on top of a Roman house or bakery; in fact it's pretty common. Take away the ancient Roman architecture remains and we still have an amazing city of Medieval, Renaissance and Baroque architecture. Caravaggio's paintings done specifically for churches are still in these churches. This is the city of Dan Brown's Angles an Demons and there is plenty to keep us occupied from the Vatican Museums and St. Peter's Basilica to the Spanish Steps and Trevi Fountain, And just when we think it can't get any better it does when we take a day trip south to the Bay of Naples and visit Pompei buried by Mt. Vesuvius on August 24, 79. Vesuvius is still an active volcano and we will and climb the mountain and walk around the rim. Can you stand it? History-Smishtory until we get to Pompei, which is life frozen in time, from the plaster casts of the actual people who lived and died in Pompei to the everyday houses, streets, take-out shops, and temples. This is most "alive" ghost town we've ever seen it is very moving and exciting.
TOUR PRICE INCLUDES:
- Round-trip airfare from New Orleans to Rome
- Private coach for all of our traveling
- Centrally located hotels (3 and 4 star) with breakfasts
- Rooms are based on mostly 3 to a room but there will be some quad, double and single available
- Entrance fees for Bomarzo Park
- Entrance fees and reservations for the Uffizi, Academia and Pitti Palace Museums in Florence
- Entrance fees and guides for the Baptistery, Cathedral and Santa Croce church in Florence
- Round-trip funicular into Orvieto
- Half-day tour of Rome with local guide
- Reservations, entrance and local guide for Vatican Museums
- Pompei entrance fees and guide and fees for Mt. Vesuvius
- Jet-Setter newsletter made specifically for this trip with information on packing, money, dining, language, and lot's of helpful information
- A guide booklet (with color photos) specifically for this trip including information the cities and sites we will be visiting.
Fine print: The $3985 tour price is the discounted price for those not using a credit card. The non-discounted price of $4085 applies to those paying by credit card. Not included in the tour price is the international airline tax imposed by the FAA will be billed separately depending on the amount of tax at the time of final billing. See the back of the tour application for all the tour conditions.
A $500 deposit (made out to Euro-American Tours) is due with the application to secure your spot. Deposits may be given to any of the chaperones below or mailed to:
Francie Rich/John Hodge, 211 S. Jackson St. Covington, LA 70433
This tour is not sponsored by any school or organization.
3-Hours of college credit is also available to students who have taken Fine Arts Survey and have not taken it for credit previously. Tuition is not included in the tour price.
Our chaperones include:
Cool as a cucumber, MRS. BRIDGETTE BYRD O'CONNOR, who chaperoned the Spain trip and first went with us as a 14 year old SSA student. She has been traveling ever since! 985.590.9452
The suave MR. DAVID ARBO and his affable wife, ANNE who have chaperoned several of our tours. darbo@ssacad.com
The zany tri-lingual CATHERINE MACKIN, a seasoned European traveler who will be comic relief. 504. 975.5373
The illustrious MISS FRANCIE RICH who can actually speak some Italian words but not in complete sentences and her hunka-hunka burning potter husband MR. JOHN "I am not lost, I just don't like going the same way twice" HODGE. This will be their 30th year planning, organizing and leading European tours. 985.892.5108
We are artists, historians, one language expert, a science guy, and all avid travelers. Our joint aim is to make this a trip of a life time for all tour participants.
Happy girls and really nice teeth Kera and Aubrey!
Who's a lucky girl? All of us! Miss Bonnie, Miss Rich, Miss O'Connor
Jayne, Jill and Julia guarding their Jenuvias in Segovia!
A nip in the air
We're smokin' (not really!) in Pompei
Merritt and Shauntel: "we'll always have Barcelona"
Hillary and Alina resting after seeing what they learned in class and helping the Spanish economy
Emilia and Victoria, mother and daughter tag-team shoppers
Melissa and Courtney: Jet lag never looked so good
I married a short woman
Cool is cool no matter what language, as long as the cigarettes are fake
I wonder why Francie and John don't want to see the Blue Grotto again?
We are transformed when we travel with John and Francie
"I would go to a garbage dump with Francie and John, that's how much I trust them and how much fun I have with them."
Ms. Paige Holtgreve, Chaperone
Once, to get into a church in Paris, Francie Rich and John Hodge had to pretend to be my parents. If they actually were, this little blurb would probably be a lot weirder and more interesting. Still, their faux-parental attitudes were only part of the amazing experience that is a trip to Europe in their presence (yes, Miss Rich is paying me a lot to write well of her). In the two trips and three countries we visited, I had some of the best times of my life, and my advice to anyone considering a trip is to get a job, beg and plead, sell your soul, whatever you need to finance it, because it is totally and completely worth it. Not only are the cities visited more incredible than I ever imagined, the company really wasn't so bad, either! Erin "Punkin" Jordan
As president of Euro-American Tours, I am proud to celebrate 27 years of working with Francie Rich and John Hodge. When I first met Francie and John they referred to themselves as "battered travelers." They wanted to work with a company whose goal was to cater to the needs of the tour participants, not the financial needs of the company for which they previously worked. They were not interested in generic tours offered by most student tour companies; the cheap tour price with hidden costs, hotels outside the historic district or even the city limits, 24 hours of free time, reversing itineraries at the last minute, changing flight days, and the bottom line of trying to fill a 55-seater bus regardless of interests and goals of the travelers.
They were our first clients to offer fewer countries and cities, rather than the "if this is Tuesday, it must be Belgium." They can validate every choice they make regarding itineraries, why they offer what they do and include what they do.
I personally traveled with Francie and John on their first few trips and they were astounded by the ease of travel and the quality of the hotels. That was the beginning of a long and still growing relationship. After a few years, they realized it was not a "bait and switch" situation and they decided that they were in a position to continue to work with my company and lead the tours on their own. They know they have access to me personally, day or night, no matter where I am, or they are, in the world.
I respect their passion for travel and their integrity at refusing to compromise on excellence when it comes to their groups. It has paid off for them. Year after year they continue to astound me with the number of repeat travelers on their tours. I value their input and creativity to such an extent that I often use them as liaisons with other tour directors and groups.
It never ceases to amaze me at the personal commitment that Francie and John devote to planning and implementing their tours. This is seen from the beginning of the process when they design their tour, write their brochure and create the educational based booklets that are received by each tour participant.
I cannot overstate how I value our relationship. Francie Rich, John Hodge and Euro-American Tours have introduced hundreds of people to travel not just for travels sake, but with a cultural and educational component not ordinarily present in most travel programs.
Thomas E. Barnette, President, Euro-American Tours, Brooksville, Florida
Having traveled with my daughter, Emily Ward, SSA '94, on a Paris, London, Wengen (Switzerland) trip, I became a regular adult traveler with John and Francie. Here I am, with my own kind, having a gay old time. Emily, now an assistant professor of art at the University of Tennessee, caught the travel bug early on and now travels extensively. We were able to enjoy another Rich-Hodge trip together to Istanbul. I look forward to more travel with or without Emily.
Nancy Mullen, Repeat Traveler and Offender (far left of photo)