"you owe your existence to Florence"

me and the hofburg palace. it was actually kind of hot and sunny, and we'd just biked for about three hours. that's the only explanation for my harried state.
see above, but now in Cafe Central, where Lenin, Trotsky, and Freud would frequent.
Venice, in one picture: people, pigeons
Florence: the duomo, bell tower, and baptistry.
Tuscany!
San G. (and michael) is so cute!
antennas as far as the eye could see
this is for mom and grammy
siena duomo. It looks like the window is clear to the sky.
Trevi Fountain! so pretty!


Last day in Vienna: bike tour, famous cafe, lousy overnight train.

Italy's been a bit of a whirlwind. Venice kind of sucked. I mean, I liked the visuals of the canals, but it was so hot and humid. The weather was generally oppressive, especially walking half an hour to our one-star hotel with 40 pounds on our backs. We did the touristy stuff, but, holy god!, everyone and their mother was in San Marco's square! We couldn't handle it for long. So Venice was a bit of a bust, and I know this because I only took one picture the whole 24 hours we were there. and it was from the train station before we left.

Florence was much nicer. We met Dr. Ciuffo and Michael when we got in and went around with them all day, saw Michaelangelo's "David," and saw the sights. That evening, Dr. Ciuffo drove us all to Lucca, a cool medieval city where, to our surprise, Elton John was giving a concert. We tried and failed to get a view of him, and ended up eating at a little cafe outside where we could hear him as we ate. We got back to Florence late, and the next day, we went to the uffizi, then left Florence headed to Rome with two pit stops.

Our first stop was in San Gimiagnino (?), another medieval walled city, but way cuter and up on a hill in Tuscany. It rained, but we found a cafe to eat a delicious meal and wait out the storm. Then we walked up to the top of the city and took in the absolutely beautiful vistas (and a funny one of all the antennae). We made our way to Siena as well, which I found vaguely familiar and pretty. Turns out that I had been to both cities with Mom and Dad way back when I was five.

Got into Rome late, again, late dinner (like 23:00). In Rome the next day, again, we did all the major sights with the Ciuffos: Churches, Colosseum, Forum, Trajan's column, St. Peter's (where I couldn't go because I was wearing a sleeveless shirt).

Now, we're in a small beach town outside of Naples at Anna's step-step-grandfather's condo. I can see the Mediterranean from where I'm sitting, and there's a whole contingent of friends and family staying at this fantastic home. We're blowing off Barcelona and Valencia and spending a few nights here then flying from Naples to Madrid on the 17th. Then Madrid for four nights, overnight train to Lisbon, two nights in Lisbon, and flying home.

It's so lovely here. Such a nice change of pace, break from extreme travelling, and I'm looking forward to beaching it in the coming days.

Love to you all!

(also, the quote is from my mom, regarding the fact that without florence she wouldn't have a job . . . I guess) (love you, mom <3)