Firenzi

Hello from Tuscany!

I am already halfway through my stint in Italy, and three weeks into my trip! How time flies when you're having astoundingly large amounts of fun.

I finished my blog post on Saturday, where I found out that it is against Italian cyberlaw to upload pictures from an Internet Cafe (guess that makes me a criminal for the post before that), and thus I'm afraid you cannot look forward to pictures in this post either. Oh well, maybe I'll do a huge picpost when I get to Austria.

Upon return to the Hostel, I packed my bag and went downstairs to the bar, which is the main community area for The Yellow, since they don't have a lounge or anything. There I met some Australians and Canadians, who I talked with for quite a few hours. They had been to tons of places and had a lot of advice for me. I got some dinner at a pizzeria nearby, where I bought a whole selection of pizza, from Potato to Anchovy. It was delicious and I can now boast of eating pizza in Italy. I guess I really enjoy these little boasting privileges that I get from drinking Bordeaux in Bordeaux and pizza in Italy. Haha

During my discussions with the Australians, I heard some panic-inducing news: There was going to be a strike by the railroad conductors and the bus drivers of Italy the next day, rendering me stranded in Rome, wanting to get to Florence! Fortunately, I talked to the receptionist at the hostel and after looking into it, he said that the strike was to begin on Sunday night or Monday morning, thus keeping me in the clear. With this new information, I could relax.

The next day I hopped on my 3 hour train to Florence. I had called the family friends that I am staying with, and they met me at the station. They live in the most incredible ancient Tuscan villa in the hills outside Florence. It is seriously the most gorgeous estate I have ever seen. Luckily for me, we spent all of yesterday ("we" being the extended family of my hosts and their other guests, a couple from NY) at the pool relaxing and having home-made Italian food for both lunch and dinner. It was downright heavenly. It's good to have a day or two of relaxing on this whirlwind tour. Yesterday did the trick.

This morning, we all got in the car to drive into town. My hosts own some stores in Florence, the oldest and most important of which is a leather goods store. We stopped at a cafe on the way, and then we all dispersed upon arrival at the store. The products in there are amazing! The quality of leather is incredible, and it's all so stylishly and attractively done.

I then started my usual meandering around the city, which was quite limited since the big important museums like the Uffizi and the Accadamia were closed since it is Monday. I did find three museums/churches to visit, and all were interesting and held beautiful art. I'm finding, however, that I am getting tired of art! It's something I'm dreading, since there is so much more to see over the next month, but I've been seeing so much that it's all running together. Hopefully I can continually refresh myself before entering another museum.

Tonight and tomorrow night I'm staying with my hosts, and then I'm off to Venice, where I will spent one night in a hostel, and then spend the next night on an overnight train to Vienna (which actually exists, unlike Nice's alleged night trains). Two days after that, I'm on my way to Jerusalem! I'm getting so excited for Israel!

Until next time, Stay Classy Reader.