looking up!

Two nights of sleep, two days of sun, and a couple gelatos later...I can say that things are definitely going better for now! I am so so excited to be able to enjoy Firenze (Florence). Yesterday was a major milestone: the first tearless day in Europe! The weather here is absolutely beautiful, and I love listening to all the Italian, and just wandering the streets to see what will reveal itself around the next corner. Sometimes it is spectacular, like Il Duomo, other times just part of "normal" life here that is so different from home (like windows full of fresh fruit and decadent gelato stacked to gravity-defying heights). Hopefully I will be able to post some pictures next week, when I can use my own computer. I love that Florence has a river running down the middle of it (Arno). Rivers, for some reason, like Sprites and American shampoo, are familiar and somewhat comforting. I suppose that's one good thing about Paris that I hadn't appreciated yet (nor have I seen)--the Seine. Oh, man, I hope I like Paris when we go back...maybe the sun will be out...and Amy and I have decided that it will be a very different experience once we have seen the nicer parts of the city...have places to settle down, and just experience more of Parisian life than the smelly metro and the two blocks surrounding the Gare du Nord.

Well, for now I suppose that will have to be all--I'm using the computer at Saci, the Art school where Amy's friends are studying, and am hoping to go explore for a while on my own, since it is broad, beautiful daylight in the morning, and I am beginning to be able to find my way around!

Ciao!

A replica of the David, in Piazza...well, I don't remeber which Piazza. It was up on a hill. Beautiful, no?

Dinner table one night, in Fiesole. That's a little town on a hill just outside of florence. Your typical stereotypical Italian meal. Mmm...tiramisù...

Well, that's all the pictures for now. I suppose that's all I have to say about them, as well. So...until my next picture-posting!