London and Dublin

Spent a wonderful 10 days with Carolyn and Kimmie in London and Dublin! We left Florence around 6pm on Thursday, October 14th bound for the Pisa airport by bus. We caught our plane for London but ended up getting in about an hour late. By the time we reached London it was already about 1am. We had pre-booked our bus into the city but the late arrival of our plane not only made us miss our bus, but we also missed the last bus until 7am the next morning.

We looked at each other thinking we would have to spend the night in the airport. But then the bus company announced that they had specially ordered another bus to take us into the city! YEAH!

We ended up reaching London around 3am. As the bus snaked its way through the city we got a moonlit tour of all the major attractions including Big Ben, Parliament, The Thames, The London Eye, Trafalgar Square, etc. It was so beautiful at night with most of the streets empty. We made our way to the hostel. We knew that we would be getting into London really late and I booked our accommodations accordingly but you never know what you are going to find when you arrive especially how the neighborhood will be, etc. We lucked out! We were staying in the Westminster neighborhood near Buckingham Palace and the street the hostel is on is so nice. We checked in with no problems and climbed the stairs to our room. We had a 6 person room with a bathroom in the hallway. We got our pj's out of our bags in the hallway and changed in the bathrooms before going in because it was so late. From our window we had a view of the London Eye and Parliament! We crawled into our super comfy bunk beds and passed out.

The next morning we got up and dressed for a windy day of sight-seeing. During her morning stretch, Kimmie grabbed onto the top bunk and arched her back proclaiming, "I learned this from my cat!". She was completely serious and I almost died laughing. I knew it was going to be a good day. I decided to bring my winter coat at the last minute and I am soooo glad I did. In the mornings it was below freezing. The hostel was cozy and warm which was totally deceiving. Every time we tripped out the door we were met by a cold blast of air from the Thames. We did get a day or two that was a little warmer (sweater weather) but I wore leggings under my jeans on most days. We were really lucky though and didn't get much rain for most of the trip. Each morning the hostel provided breakfast (cereal, tea, toast, and oatmeal) which was really nice. It also offered an opportunity to stare at everyone else staying there which was probably the best part. For the most part, most everyone staying in the hostel was European and you hear every language imaginable while eating your cereal. There were also a lot of Chinese and Japanese tourists. I was kind of surprised to see how much luggage most people had though. I was expecting more backpackers and it turned out to be mostly people with large rolling bags like the one I used to move to Italy. Anyway, everyone was really nice. We had three roommates during our stay - two Chinese and one French. None spoke English but they all understood American pop music and facebook.

Our first stop upon leaving the hostel was the PHARMACY!!! BOOT'S PHARMACY!!! Ever since I got sick a month ago I have been dreaming of Boot's. I had been telling Kimmie and Carolyn about it and we found one right near the hostel. The second we entered, all three of us let out little gasps of wonder. You have never seen 3 girls so excited over vitamins, hair products, and over-the-counter medications. Italy has a lot to offer, but there is no benadryl, no multi-vitamins, and certainly not my favorite English hair pomade that I can't even get in the States!!! Anyway, they also have food which is really good and really cheap. We ate there about 10 times.

Over the next 5 days we hit every major historical site and museum in town. I am blessed with two girls that love museums and walking around as much as I do and we hit the National Gallery, National Portrait Gallery, British Museum, the Tate Modern, and the Victoria & Albert Museum. Got to see the Rosetta Stone again as well as countless master works by artists like Van Gogh, Picasso, Monet, Vermeer, and also this which I find so striking. It is a portrait of the artist's wife. I saw it the first time I visited the National Gallery and hoped to see it again. I found it and stared for awhile -- one of my favorite things to do. In person, the fabric of her dress and the hairs on the back of her neck are absolutely mesmerizing. We also visited the Tower of London and saw the site of the beheading of Anne Boleyn and countless others as well as the crown jewels. We visited Buckingham Palace, St. Paul's Cathedral, and Trafalgar Square and also the FSU London Study Center where I lived while in London last year. We spent a couple of hours at Westminster Abbey gawking at Queen Elizabeth's tomb and the burial sites of Kipling, Newton, and memorials to Shakespeare and Jane Austen among others. So much amazing history!

We also spent some time in pubs eating bacon, pot pies and POTATOES! We don't ever really get potatoes in Florence and apparently I've missed them. One night we went out for a night on the town and ended up in Soho at a club called On Anon. It was fun and packed and we danced and had really expensive drinks. Met many strange people from all over the world and the occasional Brit. Very fun.

I absolutely love London. It strikes me as a place I could easily make my home. The people are all so polite and ready to offer directions or help. Love the Tube and the culture. It was a great five days.

Then we headed to Dublin on the 19th. We hopped on the city bus to get from the airport to the hostel. About 10 minutes into the trip we realized that even though we knew which stop to get off, none of the stops were labeled or announced. Another passenger overheard us talking about it and offered to tell us where to get off. A few minutes later when we were wondering around trying to find the actual hostel another man offered to lead us there! We didn't even have to ask for help. Throughout my stay in the UK, I was continually impressed by the politeness and helpfulness of both the Irish and the Brits.

The Dublin hostel wasn't as cute as the London hostel but we had a private room and bathroom. It was located off a busy shopping district, a few minutes from most of the major sites of Dublin. We got some tips from the staff at the London hostel about what to see in Dublin and we hit the streets right away to do some shopping. We found a store called Penney's that sells cheap clothes and bought a couple of things. Then we walked over to the Grafton Shopping District and tried to find the Trinity College campus passing the former parliament house. We looked everywhere and couldn't find it. The next day a passerby overheard us talking about it and pointed to a building and said "there it is!". It was totally unmarked but we walked through the front door to find that the whole campus laid just behind it. The campus library houses the Book of Kells and an impressive rare book collection. We paid an entrance fee and I was in librarian heaven for the next hour. Look at this. Totally cool! I really wish I had spent the time to look into a little Irish history before the trip. I know that I must have seen some really impressive things at the library I just didn't have any frame of reference. Goes to show that it always pays to do your homework.

After that, we went to the Irish National Gallery. The collection was small but really impressive. The had a sizable Irish artist collection that I really loved including a painting that I can't remember the name of and I can't find on the internet despite an exhaustive search. Anyway, it was great and also free. I love Europe's free museums! Tomorrow, all of the museums are open free to the public from 7pm-11pm and I can't wait. Hopefully, I will finally make it in to see the David or Michelangelo's stairs at the Laurentian Library. Besides the fact that it's free, I'm also hoping that the lateness of the hour will mean that it won't be packed. I love museums the most when they are almost empty. The gallery in Dublin was almost empty and it made the experience so wonderful.

Back to the story... Over the next two days we walked around the city, which is smaller than I was expecting, and visited St. Patrick's Cathedral, Christ Church Cathedral and Dublin Castle. We found a local library with another rare book exhibit which was wonderful. St. Patrick's was really interesting -- Jonathan Swift is buried there. Also, thought of Grammie K the whole time! We also shopped a lot and spent some time in pubs meeting the locals. The pubs are crammed with men mostly and very few women. I wasn't sure if that meant that women weren't supposed to be there or not but the local guys were happy to see Kimmie and Carolyn. Every pub we visited had live Irish music with a little Johnny Cash mixed in. Everyone really does sing along and do Irish jigs in between shots of whiskey and pints of Guinness. It was really fun and nice to be out of the cold. It was freezing! We all had about 5 layers on and I bought a hat and sweater.

Our last day in Dublin, we booked a bus tour that took us up to Northern Ireland. Everyone we talked to in Dublin said that we hadn't seen Ireland if we didn't leave Dublin and all had advice on where to visit. In the end we chose the Giant's Causeway and Belfast. We spent a lot of time on the bus but got to see endless hours of beautiful Irish countryside along the way. Unfortunately, the weather was terrible but we chocked it up to a REAL Irish experience. It was about around 40 degrees accompanied by wind and driving (sometimes freezing!) rain.

First stop was Belfast, capital of Northern Ireland (which, by the way, uses pounds rather than euros like the rest of Ireland - so I had to switch currency - and exchange rates - for the day). As we pulled into the city the tour guide regaled us with tales of "the Troubles" between Great Britain (Protestants) and Ireland (Catholics). It is all very confusing to me as it has both political and religious implications that are hard to sort out. I had brought up the topic of the British to an Irish guy in a pub a few days before and I asked him if the Irish are still anti-Great Britain. He said, "Yeah, we all hate the English!" without mincing words. Very interesting. Anyway, there were tons of bombings between the late 60's and early 90's ending with the Good Friday Agreement in 1998. Apparently, about two weeks ago the IRA bombed a store which is now surrounded with chainlink fence and barbed wire, the windows shattered by shrapnel and a lovely blast hole in the ground. Sorry folks, no pictures. Suffice to say that it made us all a little uneasy, but the city really is beautiful and I'm sorry that we didn't get to spend more time there, bombs or not.

Leaving Belfast, we visited this rope bridge (which I failed to take actual pictures of). It was so beautiful but we got totally soaked! I was worried that the rain would ruin my camera or the wind would knock it out of my hand, hence the lack of pictures. We scurried up the path to the bridge (about 15 minute walk) then across the bridge as fast a we could. The cliffs were really stunning, I wish that we could have stayed out there longer but the weather was really bad. This was totally worth braving the rain:



From there we headed to the Giant's Causeway - a volcanic rock formation that looks like honeycomb. By then the rain had stopped and we messed around in the tide pools and scrambled over boulders for an hour or so. It was so fun! We had a lovely lunch at a nearby hotel (bacon cheddar burgers with english mustard and chips!) then loaded back on the bus to Derry (or Londonderry depending on who you ask). We were still soaked from messing around outside and absolutely freezing. They let us off the bus for an hour in Derry. The only thing close to the bus stop was a mall and we all ran inside and bought new shoes and socks. I got galoshes for only 12 euro! That's 10 euro cheaper than any that I've seen in Florence!!! Yeah! I totally needed them anyway. In fact, last night we had a crazy, deafeningly loud lightening storm. I had no idea it rains like that here! I don't know what made the lightening so loud. Maybe the lack of greenspace and the channels created by the buildings but it kept me up forever even though I was exhausted. I grew up in the lightening capital of the world, and this storm definitely impressed me! So anyway, it was still raining hard this morning and off and on all day so I got to wear my new rain boots! Hooray!

So from there, we drove up the coast a ways, past farms and A LOT of sheep. We rounded a bend and stopped at this amazing ruin of a medieval castle perched on a cliff right above the sea. So cool.

We headed home the next day, VERY early in the morning. Our plan left at 6am and we were safely back in Firenze by 4pm. When we arrived all the Italians were out for their evening stroll around the piazzas and it was easily 20 degrees warmer than anywhere we had been for the past 10 days. My backpack and I headed home past the Duomo, past Santa Croce, up 5 flights of stairs and onto the couch. I was exhausted. I gathered all of my laundry, threw it in the washing machine and went to the grocery store. Bought some salad, salami, focaccia, mozzarella, and two tomatoes. Went home to battle with my gas stove so I could toast a sandwich which I then covered with dressed salad and ate in about 10 minutes. I sat on the couch for about 10 more minutes before I got completely bored and went for a walk. Did my usual circuit through Santa Croce, past the Duomo, turned toward the Bargello then up through Piazza Signoria then back to Santa Croce. Then broke down and got a gelato, even though I promised myself that I would STOP EATING GELATO! Seriously, it's turned into a daily habit -- sometimes twice a day. It's just so good! Got back to my house around 8 and passed out by 9. Thank you again Mom and Dad for my down comforter! It is saving me from my freezing apartment. Last night it was 54 degrees inside -- colder than it was outside.

So, fast forward to today, Tuesday. Tonight I have a date with Kimmie to eat pasta then go to museums. They are open for free from 7-11pm tonight and the last Tuesdays for the next two months! I'm totally excited to finally see the David and visit the Palazzo Pitti.

Paris and Versailles

Found some amazingly cheap (70 Euro roundtrip!) train tickets to Paris, so Kimmie and Carolyn and another student named Karen all headed to France for the weekend. We booked this trip only about a week into the semester, so at the time we had no idea what we were in for. I'll start this story by saying that I really did have a great time in Paris with the girls and would not trade the experience for anything. I know I will laugh about some of the things that happened along the way for the rest of my life! Having said that, here's how I spent my weekend:

The trip started normally enough. I had made most of the travel arrangements and done most of the planning, so prior to the start of the trip I announced that as compensation for my hard work, I was entitled to the largest bed on the overnight train to Paris. This was my first time spending the night on a train so I really had no idea what to expect. I looked at a few pictures on the internet that showed the little cabins (called cuccettes) had bunkbeds. No biggie. The travel agent told us that we had been booked into a 4 person cabin so we would have it all to ourselves. Upon boarding the train, we found that they had stuck two other people into our small cabin, a man and a women both traveling alone. Thankfully, it worked out that they both were very nice, but I had read in the past that they usually don't mix sexes in the cabins if they are not all in the same traveling party. Apparently, I have been misinformed. Regardless, it ended up being fine because the man (from Spain) was very nice and seemed to be able to put up with us.

Because the cabin is so small, we hurried to put our things away and settle into our seats. Two beds (the largest) are at the top of the cabin. The seating converts into the other 4 beds. Karen jumped up into one of the top bunks right away. I didn't really think anything of it because it was only about 8pm and we would travel for a while before we hit the sheets. Let's just say that this girl Karen is not someone Kimmie, Caro or I would consider a friend. Actually, she is sort of an outcast in the group because she is really aggressive, difficult to talk to, and for a lack of a better word, weird. Of course we didn't know any of this when she decided to book the trip with us over a month ago.

The train pulls out from the station and we are all talking and looking out the windows. Karen produces a bottle of wine from her bag and starts chugging it and singing out loud to her Ipod. Then she takes off her shoes (mind you this is the bed that I am supposedly sleeping on later). Then from HER BRA, she produces a pocket knife which she flicks open and starts hacking away at a callous/blister on the sole of her foot letting the little skin bits fall to the floor. Kimmie, Carolyn and I stare at each other for a moment with huge eyes before simultaneously yelling at her to stop. She initially refuses but eventually concedes. She then returns to her wine-swilling and then lifts her leg and audibly passes gas. Needless to say, we were all horrified. This was about 30 minutes into the trip and already I am at my limit with this girl. There were more incidents throughout the train trip, most of which I will spare you, dear reader.

Ok, so then it's time for bed. Karen has taken up residence in my bed and fallen asleep. We are all so relieved that she has stopped embarrassing us/disturbing the entire cabin that I give up the dream of the good bed and opt for one of the lower berths. At the time, we weren't really clear whose bed was whose, so we let the other two people have the center berths and Caro and I took the bottom two. I figured they were all the same. Well, I has horribly wrong. The bottom berth is about 1/3 smaller than the other 2. The head rests from the seats that convert into the bed intrude on the sleeping space, making it much smaller. The bottom part that you lie on is tilted up so there is no flat surface to sleep on. I aborted my first attempt to get into the berth because I got totally closterfobic! I had to leave the cabin and walk around for a few minutes. Thankfully, one of the girls had tylenol PM. I popped a couple of those, squeezed myself in there laying flat on my back. I got my book out and attempted to read but it was so small that I couldn't the book far enough from my face to read! I found the only position that was remotely comfortable and stared out into the small open space between the berths trying not to think about how cramped and honestly scared I was being in there. I'm not kidding -- it was like being in a coffin. I caught a few snatches of sleep but it was a restless night.

In the morning, I waited for everyone else to wake up. The train was slated to arrive around 9 am but was running about 1 hour late. We all got up, dismantled the beds, passed around the salami, crackers and cheese we had brought for breakfast and stared out the window at the beautiful French countryside. Karen insisted on changing in the cabin (getting completely topless at one point) even though we told her repeatedly that it was completely inappropriate. We finally arrived at the station and headed to the hotel.

We hopped on the metro and arrived quickly and easily. I love the metro! Paris is such a huge contrast to Florence! It seems so… civilized is the only word that comes to mind. It is so metropolitan and the phones work. You can actually get a taxi on the street and they have public transportation! Everything is on a much larger scale and they have sidewalks! Vehicles follow traffic signals and there are crosswalks! Incredible! I hadn’t really been missing any of these luxuries until getting to Paris and realizing that I was living an impoverished existence without them. Don’t misunderstand me, Florence and Italian culture in general have my whole heart, but visiting Paris gave me a little taste of the modern world that I had conveniently forgotten. We checked into our hotel then headed to lunch. We found a great little bistro and we had quiche, croque monsieur, and french onion soup. Oh la la!

We spent the rest of the day walking around the city visiting the Tuileries Gardens then walking along the Seine Past the Musee D'Orsay toward Place de la Concorde. We took pictures of the obelisk then crossed the street. As soon as we crossed the street we were swarmed by a bunch of kids ranging in age from about 8 to 15. It was really chaotic and 2 of them kept shoving these folders with a petition or something that looked like one right in my face. Then an older boy did the same thing. I instinctively reached down for my purse and when I looked down I saw that he was trying to reach inside it. GYPSIES!!! I pushed the kid's hand away and said "arret!" He started making kissing noises at me to get my attention back up to his face but I just moved away from him. Then all of the sudden all the kids started running away. We all got our bearings and checked our purses, luckily nothing was gone. Karen, of course, was enraged and borderline hysterical. We came across the kids again a few minutes later and, I couldn't make this up if I tried, she got out her pocket knife and brandished it at the kids while shouting obscenities in English. Of course, I yelled at her because you can't just threaten people on the street with knives. Duh. This was apparently a new concept for her.

Anyway, we walked from there up the Champs Elysees toward the Arc de Triomphe. After some pictures, we hopped on the metro bound for the Eiffel Tower. Then we headed to the hotel to get ready for dinner.

We found a really cute bistro right near the hotel which was about a five minute walk from the Louvre and had a lovely meal. I had steak au poivre with the best potato gratin ever made. Karen had the roasted chicken which she proceeded to eat with her hands like an animal. She asked, rather she demanded, a taste of my food and when I cut a piece and handed it to her on my fork, she reached across the table and took it off my fork with her hands. Her hands! Again, Kimmie, Caro and I spent the rest of the evening horrified by her behavior. Of course we tried to correct her repeatedly or suggest that she not use her hands to eat but she always shrugged it off saying that she didn’t care what people think. Apparently, consideration for other people and common table manners are also new concepts.

After dinner, we went back to the hotel and collapsed into bed. At about 4am I woke to the most delicious smell in the entire universe. I remembered seeing a bakery downstairs and figured that they were preparing the next day’s items. When we headed out the next morning (Saturday) we stopped by the bakery for breakfast and discovered that in fact that glorious smell was jambon et fromage croissants! So amazing!

From there, Caro, Kimmie and I boarded a regional train for Versailles. Thankfully Karen decided not to join us. We spent the entire day roaming the palace and gardens and the Grand and Petite Trianon as well as visiting Marie Antoinette’s hamlet. The grounds were absolutely beautiful and it was amazing to think that we were walking in the footsteps of royals as well as all the major historical events that occurred there. We were there for a full 7 hours and only left because the palace was closing for the day. It was a great experience.

We took the train home and met Karen for dinner. We walked toward Notre Dame and the lively Latin Quarter. We browsed the menus at some of the bistros and settled on one that offered a prix fixe for 13 Euro. When we sat down and looked over the menu, Karen asked if they had any side items. I explained that prix fixe menus include different courses to which she countered that she only had 8 euro to spend on dinner. 8 euro! You can’t get a coke in Paris for 8 euro. I had heard stories about her borrowing money from other people in the program and not paying them back so I told her that if she didn’t think she could afford to eat there then we could leave and find somewhere else to eat and that I couldn’t cover her meal. She said no that she had the money and that she wanted to eat. So we ordered. I had French onion soup and when Karen asked for a taste she complained that the bite I gave her didn’t have any cheese on it. When the bill came Caro, Kimmie and I all anted up but Karen just sat there putting on lipstick. When I asked her for her share of the bill (18 euro) she said, “I’ll just pay you later.” I almost exploded. Rather than making a scene in the restaurant, I paid her share. Needless to say, I was angry but I was exhausted and didn’t have the energy to fight with her. When we got home she decided to strip down to her thong and carve at the bottom of her feet in front of a window where she was clearly visible to other people staying at the hotel. All of us pleaded with her to get dressed and stop picking at her feet with a pocket knife but she refused. She left a pile of skin next to the bed. Eventually she put on pajamas but when we woke up in the morning she was buck naked again. I swear I am not making any of this up.

The next day (Sunday), we had breakfast – lovely potato, ham, and swiss omelet and the most expensive cup of Earl Grey known to man – and then Kimmie, Caro and I visited the Louvre for a little bit. Kimmie and I split off and visited Sainte Chapelle (the nave was being restored which kind of ruined it L) and Notre Dame. I also had a crepe with nutella at some point. We met back at the hotel at 4 then went to the train station to catch the train. We had dinner nearby – ham and cheese on baguette (Jessica’s favorite!). The train ride home was mostly uneventful. The lovely Italian couple who got stuck traveling in our cabin with us helped us with our Italian pronunciation. It was so fun! Later, Karen came on to one of the conductors, promising to meet him later for some kind of tryst then reneged. The conductor continued to bother us all night long in an attempt to get Karen to come out of the cabin. It was totally embarrassing. I slept pretty well and woke up back in Florence around 7am. Karen got topless in the cabin once again. Horrifying.

Kimmie and I walked past the Duomo on the way to my house. The piazza was almost empty and the sun was just coming up. What a nice way to end a crazy trip! As much as the lights and bustle of Paris seemed wonderful at the time, it was so nice to return to sleepy, Ocre-colored Florence. I had just enough time to drop off my stuff at home, get cleaned up, and head to work for the day. Trust me there are plenty of Karen anecdotes that I left out of this post due to their explicit nature. Every moment we spent with her was like a complete freak show. Regardless, I had a great time with Kimmie and Carolyn.

On Thursday, the girls and I are heading to London for 5 days, then Dublin for another 5! Must pack tonight because we leave right after work tomorrow. I am so excited to see London again. Love that city. Hopefully I will make it to Piccadilly Circus, the National Portrait Gallery and Buckingham Palace this time! The weather should be chilly (high of 55 degrees) so I am nervous about what to pack. Coat or no coat? Also, excited for free museums! Ciao!

Venezia and International Festival

Venezia!!! Had a wonderful weekend in one of the most beautiful cities in the world! Took the Eurostar from Firenze to Venezia and arrived in just 2 hours. I love train travel. Luckily, the train strike that was to take place last weekend never materialized. We stayed in a little hotel just outside of Venezia and I had my own little room with a twin bed. It was positively tiny but the perfect size for a single traveler. The day was a little gray and it rained for a short time while we were at the hotel.

We headed to Venezia (about a 10 minute train ride away) in the afternoon and emerged from the train station to see our private water taxi waiting for us, complete with drop dead gorgeous skipper. He took each one of our hands and helped us on to the boat. Needless to say, we all swooned. The short boat ride took us to a dock near Piazza San Marco. We disembarked (with a hand from the skipper- yeah!) and walked a short distance to the square passing the Bridge of Sighs along the way. Venezia is constantly undergoing preservation and restoration. Currently, they have scaffolding etc covering every inch of brick and mortar around the Bridge of Sighs so the bridge seems to float in mid air. Sort of disappointing. There is also a ton on work going on around the Campanile in Piazza San Marco which mars the view. But NOTHING could damage the overall aesthetic of the exquisite square.

Snapped some quick pictures and then we hustled into the Basilica to look around before it closed. The wealth of mosaics and marble was absolutely staggering. We climbed the steep steps to the balcony to view the Greek horse statues and get a little closer to the mosaics. Pictures were forbidden but I stole a couple here and there. We stepped out onto the exterior balcony and snapped some more pictures of the beautiful view.

After exiting the basilica we had a couple of hours to ourselves to sight-see, and Kate, Justyn and I wandered off into Venezia. We browsed the narrow passageways between buildings and watched gondolas glide past. We did a little shopping and eventually found the Ponte di Rialto. Justyn talked a gondolier into letting us walk out onto his little dock to take pictures. Then we headed back to meet the group at Piazza San Marco.

From there we walked for about 40 minutes, snaking our way through the streets and past the canals of Venezia, to a restaurant for a group dinner. Venezia is much larger that I expected! The group meal was great: mushroom risotto and pasta duo, stewed pork with roasted potatoes, salad, wine and molten chocolate cake for dessert. I'm not sure how Venetian it was but it was certainly good.

For all of you who are wondering if I got on a gondola -- the answer is no. They were (surprise) insanely expensive -- about 60 euro for 20 minutes -- and I could not stomach the cost. I am doing a lot of traveling in the next couple of weeks and have been doing a little too much shopping and the costs are piling up! I would rather spend a day a Versailles this weekend for half the cost of the gondola. Decisions, decisions.

After dinner we walked for another 4o minutes back to the train station, waited around for a ticketing crisis to be sorted out and headed home. I sat up half the night coughing my head off and was grateful that I didn't have any roommates to annoy with my hacking. But I had CNN so it was nice to catch up on the news.

The next morning had a continental breakfast at the hotel then took the train back into Venezia. The group broke up and I headed to the Museo dell'Accademia with a small group and a guide. Most of the kids wanted to explore the streets and I have to say I wanted to as well, but I can never pass up a museum. I wasn't disappointed. The collection was amazing.

From there, the guide took us over to the Basilica di Santa Maria Gloriosa dei Frari, which houses a few important works by Titian as well as tombs and relics. It had an absolutely massive reliquary case housing 6 or 8 whole hands and various bones. So interesting! No pictures though. They never let you take pictures of the really weird stuff. The church also houses a statue of St John the Baptist by Donatello. Loved, loved, loved this church and its amazing funerary monuments to a few doge's and other Venetian notables, including Titian himself.

We grabbed a quick pizza and gelato lunch. I finally got my hands on spicy chocolate gelato. I guess it had cayenne powder in it or something and it was so good! Headed to Peggy Guggenheim Collection next. I quickly browsed the collection of Modern/contemporary art which includes Dali's, Picasso's, Kandinsky's, etc and spent the rest of the time standing on the patio overlooking the canal behind the villa. The view was absolutely exquisite. Took more pictures, shopped a little more, then started the long walk to the train station. I don't know how any one finds their way in Venezia! There are so few landmarks and the little alleys prevent you from getting a lay of the land. Thank goodness for our guides because I never had any idea where I was. Hopped back on the Eurostar for a lovely trip back to Firenze. It was a great weekend but I really feel like I needed WAY more time. The good news is that I will be traveling to Venezia next semester as well. I want more time to explore the city.

When I got back to town, I headed back to my house and stumbled upon yet another awesome fair in Piazza di Santa Croce! It was an international food fair! I browsed the stalls of French, German, Spanish, Polish, Greek, etc stalls all offering food and products for sale. There was lavender from Provence, paella from Spain, Crepes, pretzels, wool products, jewelry, etc, etc, etc. I finally settled on a bratwurst and ate it as I walked around. I debated about having a crepe but then remembered that I will be in Paris on Friday and will wait until then. Finally, headed upstairs and collapsed into bed.

The next morning, Kate came over and we looked around the international fair some more. I bought a ridiculous hat and we ate some German sausages and shared a weird pretzel. We shopped around my neighborhood a little more then headed to the San Lorenzo market to um... shop some more. Tried on a million pairs of shoes --nothing fits my giant American feet -- bought a little belt, scarf, and fun Firenze tourist crap. Then we headed to work for the afternoon. Ate dinner at lovely corner bistro where I had tartufo (truffles) once again. This dish was soooo truffle -y that I probably won't eat truffles again for a very long time. It was good but I think I've tired my tastebuds out. Went back to Santa Croce to people watch and talk then finally headed to bed.

Here I am today finishing up my work day. Finally booked the hostel for my trip to Dublin and tickets to Versailles for Saturday. I am really excited about Versailles and hoping that it won't be overrun with people. Yeah, Paris!