12.

12 for the number of minutes left before my computer crashes. 12 for the number of minutes until my flight boards. 12 for the number of pounds I have gained here. 12 for the number of days I have been in Israel. 12 for the number of pounds my bags combined were overweight. 12 divided by 2 is the number of months I have been away. 12 +1 is the number of countries I have been in the past 6 months.

I fear for the world that I am about to enter, where automobiles and cellular devices rule the world. where chain resturants are the only thing the creatures know, and the idea of stress and impatience were born. I am not sure what to expect of this world I was once so familiar with. What I know now is a lot more than I knew then. What I know about myself, the world, the things I like, I desire, I smell, I eat. Although in 12 minutes my journey in the 12 divided by 2 month adventure will end, my thoughts, my feelings, my blog-enberg instincts will not. I must say good bye because my 12 minutes are ticking away. Goodbye Israel, Goodbye Europe, we shall meet again. I am the worlds luckiest person.

This is me now. 12 divided by 2 months later, 12 pounds heavier.

see woah see woah

post from the 20/21 first of June in the year 2008 in my holyland.

Cannes Is Pronounced like a Coke Can. Not Kahn.

We woke at 5 am, and by we I mean, my apartment decided and by my apartment I mean my roommate mother Camile decided that we should wake at 5 in order to be down stairs by 7. While yes some people need two our to prepare for an academy award, but not three average Americans, of intern quality needed to be that ready for breakfast. I can already tell, Camile is going to get on my nerves. She is "miss prepared" but "miss unprepared" when it comes to social interactions and appropriate behavior. Luckily I had plenty of time to get ready. We made it down stairs with our paper wear (technically it was supposed to be with glass wear in our kitchenette, because apparently the American Pavilion: the program I am interning with, is going green!) only to find out that our paper-ware (my roommate bought, "so we would not have to worry about breaking or doing the dishes") was not necessary at all because croissants and fruit do not require much ware weather dish or paper, at all. I am not allowing myself to eat any (not one) croissant, so it looks like I am sticking to fruit. After breakfast we met at the pool side to meet with our mentor groups. My mentor, blonde and peppy, Laina Rose from Austin Texas, was quite the interesting mentor. She seems really dumb but if she were really that dumb she wouldn't be here, so I must have some faith. She took us to the English University down the street where we met up with the rest of group in an auditorium for our "Welcome to Cannes" speech. This Wednesday starts the actual festival but until then we are having speakers, lectures and round tables. I sat in front of these extremely pompous student filmmakers ( in my same program), as they handed out their business cards, talking smart film talk. And their tactics for this and that. It made me so nervous, but shabang I could have busted out my business card, all 250 of them to be exact, if I really wanted to. I tried my very best not to fall asleep, while Water Harris, the student coordinator chatted our ears off with his feminine pizzaz. I found out that the Walter Harris, student program manager is a fashion photographer and a well known make-up artist. Who knew, I thought he was going to be a short fat brown haired danny devito but no he is a grey haired gay make up artist from Louisiana, who studied agriculture. After the meeting we met back up with our mentor groups for a tour of Cannes. We are staying a good thirty minute walk outside the actual festival, so by the time we got into town, we were all extremely hungry. This whole french bagget business is not helping my supposed Florentine detox session. In the afternoon we took a full walk around the facilities and become acquainted with the town and indeed we walked a lot. We met the group at the steps of the Debussy stairs to get our golden accreditation badges. Aka the badge to a happy life if lost, death is what one gets. We have to wear this badge where ever we go, basically we were told to sleep in it. First the first time I actually have a half decent picture on a photo identification badge. This afternoon amongst the sun and glisten waters we hopped aboard a ferry to a small monk island off the coast of Cannes, where surprise suprise Monks live in monasteries and make wine and honey. Who knew Monks lived on Islands in the south of France? As all first days of any program, it was a wee bit unorganized and due to girls needing to use the restroom on the main land, the group was spilt up and we ended up waiting for a good tour hours from them arrive. We finally climbed up an old castle to play the name game (naturally) We, all 131 of us had to say our names and something interesting about ourselves. Obviously I had to go 2nd and was totally unprepared with something witty and fancy like "I did this" or "I met that", so instead I told everyone my name pronounced backwards was Nosilla. LAME. I regret every moment of it. We went around the entire castle learning this and that about this person and that person but had to rush to leave or else we would be stranded on an island with monks for the night. Meh, that wouldn't be so bad now would it? We grabbed dinner at a stand. We being my friends from terminal 2. Yes, I get two marks on my panini counter for the day. We sat along a ledge over looking the beach and watched surfers and sipped wine and brew. I met a really interesting 17 year old French boy, that was recruited for the program because of one of his films he made. Truly inspiring. We walked home and then it was bed time for bonzo's, tomorrow lends itself to another very early.

may 11 in france, the southern part, in cannes to be exact.

Do the Can, Can, Cannes.

I hopped aboard the 7:51 train to Genova and fell right asleep. I arrived in Genova around 1:30 but my next train wasn't until 2:55. I sat outside in the sun to think and read. 30 minutes before my next departure, a lady her and her son frantically sat next to me and for some reason I decided to try to be helpful and listen to them. From what I could tell, this lady her and her son were trying to text someone in France. Obviously she spoke French and obviously I don't speak a drop of it. Instead of saying I am sorry I can't help you, I did what my father would be so proud of and offered my assistance (Jews call it a mitzvah) and told her I would send the text on my phone. They were so grateful and what was a few euro to me, at least I could help them. It wasn't an issue until I received 3 phones calls and 1 text message with two words that I could actually understand "call the police". Terrified I deleted the text message and hoped that they made it to France okay. I made it to Nice around 4:30 but needed to find an ATM. An hour later, with money in my wallet, I made it on the bus to the Nice Airport. It literally took me 10 people to communicate with to find 1 ATM. The program had arranged to meet me and the other students at the airport. I finally met the one and only Walter Harris that so graciously let me on the program, along with 15 other students whom I became extremely close with in a matter of minutes that eventually turned into hours. Apparently the group waiting at the airport had just missed the last shuttle into town and we were all going to have to wait until 7 for the next shuttle. We played the name game and bonded over waiting. We united as a team and became the Terminal 2 friends. Finally at 7:30 we made it on to bus only to find out that would have to wait another hour for the kids at terminal 1 to get on the bus. 5 hours later, we were on our way to Cannes. We lugged our luggage across the street to our apartments. I was assigned to Room 661, key code GAL. Exhausted and half terrified for what I had gotten myself into, I made it to my room to meet and greet my roommates. Although Walter had told me numerous times on the phone that the apartments did not have a maid service, he neglected to say that they were similar to cabins in a cruise ship for crew members. Obviously being the last to arrive, I was given the top bunk in the small narrow room. Tiffany, Stephanie and Camile (my new roomates) and I grabbed a bite to eat and headed to the beach for a walk with the moon and sea. The hotel is 35 minute walk outside the actual Cannes film festival but it's gloriously located right on the beach. From our patio, I can see the sea, I can smell the smell. I walked around the city with a group of people, met up with my new Terminal 2 friends but then realized that I had no interest in getting drunk and obnoxious on the first night. Not that I ever really have any interest in doing any of those things ever. It is sure going to be interesting coming here after living up the life in Florence, experiencing the European life style for quite sometime now. It was very apparent that a lot of the kids on the program were a. a lot younger than me b. thought it was amazing how they could just buy alcohol on the streets. I don't blame them, it was weird my first weekend but it was hard to have fun with those type of people. I headed back to the hotel, washed up and unpacked a little before going to bed. My roommate Camile is crazy. This is first time out of the country, out of her state, and she is completely and utterly OCD. She brought more drugs, more band-aids, more toilet paper and hand towels than one can ever imagine. Oh man this is going to be interesting. Good night ocean.

post from the 10th of may

Final Friday Feeling Fabulous in Florence.

My post from yesterday only made it until 10:30 in morning but wowza yesterday was quite a long day. I had a mini panic attack about leaving yesterday. I finally found a dress to wear on the red carpet with shoes in all. Last night we were going to go to our favorite mexican restaurant but were turned away and instead headed to a little Italian restaurant down the street. I took the night to relax while the girls went out. I woke up relatively early this morning to do a final load of laundry. For my program in Cannes, they recommended that we bring business cards with us. So last night I spent a majority of the evening designing my claim to fame. Luckily there was a print shop in town that could make my cards for me, but unfortunately the smallest quantity they could print was 250. So an hour after bringing in my file, I walked out with 250 business cards. Who wants a business card? I met the girls at the San Lorenzo market so I could introduce them to the worlds most delicious panino. You got it, Gusto Panino. GUUUSTTO PANNINNO (gorilla thats for you!) We took our panini's to Bobobli and baked in the bobobli. Its just gorgeous. We sat in a new spot that I had never been before, that over looks the entire city. I peaced out of the park around 4 to do some last minute shopping. I finally found the one and only Firenze shirt, I had been eyeing all semester (they just didn't have my size) I purchased my last few gifts, bought some fresh new undies. Because our reservation wasn't until later, my stomach was starting to rumble, I picked up appetizers at the Centro. Tomato, mozzarella, walnuts and pears was just what we need on this fine final friday in florence. We had reservations at 9:00 for one of my favorite restaurants in Flo Yo. El Gatto. It has the worlds best balsamic vinegar and bread. It was an easy choice for my last night here. We chitted and chatted the night away. I headed home to pack up and organize my life. The girls made their way out and I had spa night with a hot shower and a much needed mani and petti, I spent the remainder of my evening watching Sex and The City. Bed time for me. Goodnight Florence. Good night world.

post from the 9th of may in the last day me, the allison blogenberg will be blogging from florence in this year. i love you florence. will you marry me?

When In Rome.

In a mad panic, I woke up to Sara's alarm singing a sweet tune. I am so glad that I told Sara to also set her alarm because for some reason my phone was set for an hour earlier than it really was so when I went to set my alarm last night I a. forgot to change the time on my phone and b. set my alarm for 5:30. I managed to drag my over-weight, over packed, about to explode bags down two flights of stairs, through a rotating gate, into a cab in Florence, on to a train in Florence heading southbound toward Rome and then into another cab in Rome. This many not seem like that hard of a task considering I was a cab or train 90 percent of the time, but have you ever tried to carry not just one but two body bags (stuffed with multiple bodies) through the Rome train station. Thats what I thought. I was originally supposed to bring my luggage down to Rome tomorrow but I received an URGENT email from the lady who was helping me, that tomorrow there is going to be an "all transportation" strike through out Italy, which means no trains, no buses, no taxi's, no nothing. They even cancel school because the little Italian chillin can't get there. I successfully made it on my 6:40 train, arriving at the train station 30 minutes before departure. Now that the Gorilla is gone, I decided that I can not participate in Gorilla and sidekick adventures, like running to the train station 4 or 5 minutes for take off. Without the Gorilla, it is just not the same. I had to take a taxi from the train station in Rome to the JDC office. I always manage to choose the wrong cab, and by wrong I mean I always choose a cab driver that is extremely creepy. But now that I think about it, it isn't me, all Italian men are creepy. Paolo seemed like a nice guy. He asked me where I was from (all cab drivers love to do that) and then he asked me what my name is, I confessed. And then he asked if the place that I was going to was an apartment or hotel. I told him it was a business. For some reason he interpreted my response as me being a business person. I tried to tell him that I was a student studying in Florence but for reason he seemed to ignore that part of my story and kept asking me what kind of business I was in. I again dropped that I was a student studying art but then he asked how long I have been doing business and how long my meeting was today. I ended up caving into his questions and told him that I had been doing business for three years (hey, being a student is like being a full time business person, you just don't make any money) He then asked again how long my meeting was, I told him that I wasn't sure, probably an hour. I thought it would most likely take an hour for me to drag with sweat and pain my luggage up to the JDC office. He then proceeded to tell me that he was going to give me his cell phone number that I could call him after. I being the naive American girl, thought "oh, he wants to take me back to the train station, how nice" but no no no, but no, he told me that he wanted to take me to coffee and show the real side of Rome. All along he had this scheming plan. I threw up in my mouth and swallowed and didn't say anything until we arrived at the office. 22 euros later, I realized that I truly a. hate Italian men b. taxi's are ridiculous, we were only driving for 10 minutes. Not to mention, I think he ripped me off because he didn't have one of those typical meters, and I am pretty sure he just made up a number. I met with the two wonderful women that would be storing my bag and then headed back to the train station, however this time, the 1 euro underground ticket to the train station was a much better idea. No creeps. No damage to the bank account. I am not sitting on the train taking in the glorious country side. I just realized this is my last train ride in Italy. How how I love thee. I am sitting across from a man, 35,40 if had to guess from the grey hair, discolored, angled coffee teeth and dirty brown jacket. I thought he was American because his cell kept ringing and he was speaking English but the call would never connect. I again being the nice, naive American girl thought I might lend him my phone. I can only think of the number of times when I have desperately needed to borrow some ones cell phone because mine was dead or wasn't working. He declined but then with the decline came the questions. He is from Quiat, living in Rome. I haven't been able to figure him out yet but here are the following clues he has given me and I quote: "I was suspended from my job for 10 days so I have been taking it easy", and "I am so tired, I have been going out every night the past three nights. I am not used to the clubs" and "Have you met any Italian men?" and "You Americans are so different from Italians. We use text messaging like you use e-mail or instant messaging (whatever that means). A text message is a like a confession of love, it can get pretty intimate if you know what I mean." And just a second ago he just asked me if I didn't mind he put his head phones on. Maybe he thinks we are on a date. I still have an hour and a half to go. What to do, what to do. Yes, please put your head phones on and I will do the same. I am just going to continue typing, pretending that I am very into what ever I am doing on my computer. Blogging is pretty intense. The Gorilla calls me Allison Blogenberg. As for the rest of my day. I should be back in Florence around 11:30 and then I have a lot to do before heading to Cannes on Saturday. I finally found a "red carpet" dress. We were informed that we would possibly have the chance to attend one red carpet event, and I wouldn't want to be unprepared. I found a pretty cute dress at Zara for only 39.00 euro and I say only because for Florence, that ain't too shabby. I still need to do a couple of things around town, send out a million more emails, finish packing. Tomorrow I hope to enjoy my day, not stuck inside being an internet freak. Well I am off to take a nap. 5:30 wake equals 10:30 narco narco on the train. Ciao Ciao!

may 8, 2008. 8 8 8 8 8

Planning To Become a Greek Goddess.

I slept in until 11:00 today not knowing that I had slept in until 11. Last night was a quite an adventure and when you get stuck in a club until 4:30 am, it is only appropriate to sleep in. I headed straight to the art school to get all of my nitty gritty things done before my departure on Saturday. I had a "planned" my trip to Greece, I just hadn't booked it. I am not even sure if what I had planned is the right thing to plan but I guess you never know until you get there. So as of now (unless Quintin Tarintino decides that he needs to me stay on to be an intern for him for the summer and then maybe these plans will change) After Cannes, I will be heading to Paris for two nights before making my way to Greece to meet the Packster of all Packs (not the besty best but the next down the line in the Pack sibling lineage) Andrea and I will spend two days in Athens and then we will set sail to Mykonos for two days, and then we will hop on over to Santorini for three days. Now I just need to get a hold of Andrea to let her know of our plans. Surprises are always good. After I become a Greek Godness, I will come back to my motherland (well at least kinda close) to Rome for a day and alas, I will be in Israel with the family. I can't wait to be with everyone. I pretty much spent 90% of the day up at the art school figuring this stuff out. I will say it and I will say it. I WILL NEVER BE A TRAVEL AGENT. Check me off the list! I headed over to Paul and Jordan's to pack up my stuff that I am going to take to Rome because I found out that I am going to have to take my stuff to Rome tomorrow and not Friday. For dinner we were going to go to Tijawana for a night of Mexican delight but were turned town. No reservation means, no Mexican food. Italian was our only other option. Starving and cranky we went a restaurant that people have recommended but on a scale of one to delushusness. I would give it a so-so, meh-meh. I attempted to watch some of Love Actually with the girls tonight but had to call it quits because I could hardly keep my head and eyes up. Goodnight Moon.

May 7, 2008. on a wednesday. thats right.

Stuck. Literally.

I spent a majority of the day still in mourning for my lost Gorilla. I headed to the art school to do more Greek planning. I met up with Shelby and Erica for some after noon shopping. If was making my way to Cannes, to the one and only Cannes film festival, it was important to be dressed properly for the red carpet. Yes the red carpet baby. I walked out of Zara empty handed and headed back to the art school for more internet fun. It is hard to be in this city without my apartment, without my Gorilla, but man do I love it here. This is my city. Put your hands up for my city. I love this city. Tonight, for my semi final dinner, we all gathered at Il Latini for another night of stuffed stomachs and delicious laughs. Jordan and Paul joined, me, sara, jess and shelby for dinner of delight. I have become a master of eating at Il Latini, three times a charm, and I was successfully able to not eat to much that my stomach muffin toppled over my jeans. We headed back to the girls apartment to change and prepare for the game of the Grand Opening of Central Park's new summer patio. I never thought that I would allow myself to go back there after last times Nile River disaster, but Erica convinced me that the new patio would lead to no water, and no sketchy men. I believed her and followed her to the Central park fortress of wonder and doom. At 3:30, after way too much dancing, Erica and I were ready to go home. For some reason, Erica and Sara know every club promoter, so they called them prior to our arrival to ensure that we would be able to get in free. Well, their little friends must have forgotten in the 4 hours that we were there they had made this little deal because when we tried to leave they wouldn't let us exit until we had turned in our card. I am sure I have explained this whole "card" process before but just to remind you, the clubs in Florence give you cards when you enter and instead of paying for drinks on the spot, they punch your card and when you exit you pay the entrance fee, and your drink free. Well, when the club promoter escorted us in, he did not give us a card. I am weirdly very good at remembering to keep on to my card. I am normally not responsible for those kinds of things but I have special spot in my wallet that I place it so I won't lose it. My point is, that if I were given a card, I would have kept it but I was never given a card and the bouncers at the door did not seem to understand that. They pushed Erica and I away and would not let us leave. Almost an hour later, with 99 percent of the people gone, and the lights on, we ended up having to pay 50 euro total (25 each). Extremely pissed, and really far from home, Erica and I couldn't find a cab. At one point a man in a car pulled up and offered us a ride and we were going to take it but then saw that a cab was pulling up. Erica said at one point she was sitting in a car-seat. I am sure my mother is having a heart attack, but I only speak the truth. At a quarter to 5 we made it home safe and sound. Luckily there will be no more opportunities for central park madness. Good night world.

May 6th two thousand eats.

A Tribute To The Gorilla.

I call her a Gorilla because she is a Gorilla
She eats really fast cause she got a czecki bill ya.
Her arms make a clap clap, her feet smell like vinegar
She has explosive ass and she loves it when I pester her

She is aggressive and I am passive
She doesn't fit in her bed, the gorilla she is massive
She loves gummies, diet coke and crack balls
The kick back and face plant are her most infamous falls

She tells me I snore and refuses to admit that she love cheese
He favorite words: Anna's, peach tea, fragola and kiwi please.
I gave her her favorite scare and put the first mark on her shoes
She says she ain't religious but she loves all the jews.

She is my Gorilla and I am her sidekick.

The Most Depressing Day Ever.

Well maybe thats not true. I was pretty depressed when Heath Ledger died, but nothing could equal the pain and sorrow of the Gorilla departing from her beloved sidekick. Alas, the Gorilla and Sidekick stories ended to today. This blog will not be the same without her, Florence will not be the same without her. We woke up very earlier from a grimy beds in order to get our last minute important/must do Florentine favorites before the Gorilla departed. Number one on our list, Anna's. But because Anna's isn't open at 8:00 in the morning, we decided to move down to our number 2 item on the list- dried fruit. I tried dried peaches today and they were delightful. Then we headed to Anna's. For the record. This was the last time the Gorilla and I would be eating Anna's so we had to do what was necessary to for our taste buds and souls. I told the Gorilla that I couldn't go to Anna's with out her. It is our place and I wouldn't be caught dead with any other person there, so we ordered 3 sandwiches. One for each of us and then one to split. There have been way too many times where we have left Anna's wishing for another but we never actually did it and today we wanted to be so stuffed from Anna's that we would never want another (clearly we would always want another but the final memory of Anna's had to be one so gratifying and powerful) Indeed it was. We were too embarased to tell Anna that we were going to be eating them at 10:00 in the morning so we asked for them to saying that they "were for later". We rushed home so fast and down our Anna's. Our whole theory about getting 3 sandwiches was brilliant. The Gorilla called a cab for 10:15 and then we dragged her stuff down the stairs and with in a matter of minutes (or what seemed like seconds, even mili seconds) she was gone. Just like that. I was a mess and cried for a good 20 minutes by myself in Jordan and Pauls sick nasty apartment. Italy also cried for the loss of the Gorilla. It rained a good part of the day, so I decided to stay in and catch up on life aka become a blogging master. I am almost a month behind in posting (although I have all the entries, I have had to write them in my journal while I have been traveling, so it takes a lot longer) 5 hours went by, and before I knew it was 5:30. Erica and Sara returned from Croatia today, so I headed over to their clean and delightful apartment with all my stuff (well thats a lie, I only brought over the stuff I was going to be needing for the week because it would be too much of a hassle to bring everything) We went to Aqua Al Due for dinner and then I crashed on their couch watching mean girls.

post from may the 5th, the day the gorilla departed her sidekick. the day the world will never forget. in the year 2008.

The Gorilla's Last Day: Final Tales of Gorilla and Sidekick.

We didn't realize this but we some how managed to sleep in. Sleeping in until 10, is considered extremely late for the me and the Gorilla. I am still not sure how we even managed to sleep last night and that we are still alive this morning with out diseases.
Jordan and Paul's beds are disgusting. First off, Paul doesn't even sleep with a bottom or top sheet. From the Gorilla's morbid reactions, I don't think he has washed his pillow since he arrived in Florence 4 months ago. I lucked out that Jordan's bed actually had a bottom sheet but the feeling of the comforter reminded me of those awful days of sleeping in Disney sleeping bags, not being able to sleep because my toenails would get stuck in it. Imagine that feeling but with pimples on top. In the middle of the night, I ended up putting a towel on top of me and below me because I couldn't handle it anymore. I was so desperate, the towel was wet. Bottom line: Gross. Because it was Sunday, Anna's was not opened, so we decided to head to Gusto Panino and then to the Boboli for some final story time reading. Gusto was gusta-licious, as always! They were doing construction our favorite patch of grass in the Boboli, so we moved into a hidden fortress of flowers and weeds. For a while we were the only people in our secret nook. We laid out on the Gorilla's newly purchased Italian flag, with pride indeed. I read to the Gorilla while she made me a crown made of flowers and grass. Together, like princesses, we sat and laughed and watched two little Italian girls play a made up game while their grandmother chuckled on a bench. It was beautiful! Around five, the sun started to come down, and we were rather tired. We slowly made our way back to our neck of the woods. A final romantic dinner was in store for us tonight. We sat outside at Za's Za's and dipped our bread in oil and vinegar, sipped wine and reminisced about the best days of our lives. We headed back to the apartment after our dinner delight so the Gorilla could pack up her belongings and I attempted to clean the boys apartment. I just couldn't handle it anymore. It made me sick. I found the most interesting and disgusting things in their living room. We figured out how to work the internet, so the Gorilla and I sat, like we usually do when the sun goes down and she figured out her plans for tomorrow and I figured out mine for the future. For life. Before we knew it, it was bed time for bonzo's. The sidekick set her head on her pillow. The Gorilla followed. The sidekick giggled and the Gorilla followed. Together the children giggled in their grimy beds. But the children were happy. The children were happy together. The sidekick said goodnight to her Gorilla for the last time and the Gorilla gave her goodnight praises. The two children closed their eyes with a sad and happy smile up on their faces. Their dreams consisted of their finest memories they had shared together. They could have slept for years with all of the memories they had to remember. Goodnight Gorilla. Goodnight sidekick.

post from the fourth of may in saddest day of year, the departure of the gorilla eve, in the year 2008 in the best cittay ever.

The WEINY Ride.

I woke up to a screaming and shaking Gorilla. "Allison it is 6:00, Allison its 6:00" Our trains leaves in 30 minutes, We're not going to make it" I jumped out of my bed, didn't change my clothes, didn't brush my teeth, and if Alexander-Supertramp had woken up to see the madness, he would have seen the Gorilla completely naked. She literally Gorilla jumped out of her pj's into her clothes. I just stayed in pj's. We raced down stairs. The check out man could see we were in a hurry and jumped off his stool and said "oh well be better check you out as fast as we can" (in the cutest little austrian accent) We hailed a cab in the middle of street and made our way to the train station. What would a Gorilla and sidekick trip be with a good ol' run for our last adventure of the semester. This one was pretty good. We made the train and waited only 5 minutes to hear the captain inform us that the food cart was open. Dying of thirst with red eyes at 6:40 in the morning, we proudly ordered water, coca cola light, apple juice and a croissant. We thought we deserved the liquid treatment after our rush. On our last train ride we discovered how to make the chairs into beds, so ditched the Indiana dork with knitting lisps whom we were originally assigned to sit next to and found ourselves an empty cart. Pull and pull, sleep and sleep. Of course I had no problem going to sleep. With the room filed with feet and farts, I crashed and burned. My eyes literally burned. I went in and out of sleep for almost 4 hours. Around 11:30, I decided I couldn't sleep anymore and the Gorilla and I played gin. Whatever she may tell you, I am the master of gin. She may try to make you keep track in this half stupid (mostly stupid and illogical way). Make sure to tell her she is stupid and to bug off. Thank you come again. We finally made it to Venice around 1:30. We had to transfer in Venice and we were going to take the earlier train but realized that we didn't want to have to deal with the chance of getting kicked off again. Instead, we did what we, Gorilla and sidekick do best, and EAT. We had over an hour to kill, so we walked across the street to dine and literally whine for lunch. What restaurant remains open after they have run out of over 75% of the items on their menu. Well, the one across from the trains station in Meastre Venice seems to. If I was a food critic I would shut that place down. By the time we got our table we were starving so we immediately devoured the bread, not realizing that they didn't have anything on the menu that seemed remotely interesting or delicious. On the Gorilla's (second to last) day, pasta with red sauce was the last thing I wanted her and I to eat but it was too late to walk after the bread was gone. Disgusted with lunch we made our way back to the train station and the Gorilla read to me while we waited for our train to Firenze. Take me home tonight. It is going to be extremely weird going back to Florence and not being able to walk up three flights of stairs to the Animal House on Via Dei Ginori. Tonight we are staying at Paul and Jordan's. We left our luggage there last week and from the looks of the apartment last week, it hadn't been cleaned in 3 weeks. I sure hope they tried to clean it a little bit. We are going to head to Gusto Panino for dinner and then friends bar to use the internet. I am exhausted but so excited to be back in the motherland. Tomorrow lends itself to a big day of final Gorilla and sidekick adventures. After tomorrow, the tales of Gorilla and sidekick end. What will the sidekick be without her Gorilla?

post from the 3 of may in the year two thousand, somewhere between austria and italy.

The Hills Are Alive With The Sound of Music.

We woke up at 9 because we had to fit all of Vienna and its wonder and splendor into 1 day. We also had to bring our stuff back to the other hostel on the complete opposite side of town. I would say that we enjoyed our "included" breakfast at the Golden Squirrel but I am pretty sure that would be a lie. The musli and banana combo was a nice crunch for my mouth in the morning but the coffee was bitter and they served liver pate. I think that is enough said. And to top it off it was not included. Only two of our "included" breakfasts, were considered included because they let us sleep three people in a 2 person room. Hence two people were allowed to eat breakfast. We thought they wouldn't notice and we really couldn't play survivor island and choose who would get the boot, but who were we foolin. They caught us and we coughed up 6 euros for the not-so-good-unincluded -included breakfast. We made it back to the hostel only to find out that we couldn't check into our actual room until 2pm, so we had to put our stuff in storage. Carolyn and I decided that the Gorilla should be named "Map Queen" because on our way over the Nachmarket the Gorilla sensed with her Gorilla sensors that we were going the wrong way and indeed we were. Smoke-a-face led us in the right direction and in no time at all we were tasting free samples at the Nachmarket. We loved the wasabee covered peanuts so much that after 10 samplings we bought a 5 euro bag filled of them. Carolyn joined our eating disorder club and realized how easy it was to a. get hungry when surrounded by the worlds most delicious food b. to spend too much money when surrounded by the world's most delicious food. Stand after stand after stand of Austrian, Chinese, and German food. There were surprisingly a good number of Sushi stands and after nearly 5 months of deprivation, we ordered sushi. With a quarter of our day almost gone, we realized we better put our petal to the metal and we were off the Belvedere Palace to see the Belvedere Palace of course, but also to see the grand Gustav Klimt collection. The palace was for sure used in Atonement (or at least it looked just like it) Spitting sculptures, grand entrances lined with flowers and leaves. We were able to see Klimt's Kiss and his Judith as well as a few Van Gogh's and one Monet. It was spectacular. We couldn't leave without a few posters and post cards. After the museum we headed to the train station in order to buy our tickets back to Florence for tomorrow. 104 euro's later we rushed back to our hostel to change in to our nicest apparel. Jeans with a blacks shirt, and scarf, just had to do because tonight we decided to go to the opera for a Friday night spectacle. We waited in line after find the "back side of the building corner in the middle" (those were the directions we were given) For only 2 euro's we bought standing tickets for stage left of the opera. Now I am not sure how the next part of our opera adventure began but we decided that we were going to grab a drink at the super market across the street from the concert hall before the show. Because we bought standing tickets, we got there nearly an hour before the concert. On our way down the stairs we asked a guard if we could exit out this back door and we asked him how long we had until the concert began. SImple questions, I tell you. Within in a matter of seconds drinks were no longer a questions, and touring became our main objective. The guard proceeded to show us a hidden patio on the top of the concert hall that over looked the entire city. We could not have asked for a better evening: a blue sky, a few white puffy clouds and a shining sun. The guard then proceeded to show us the other patio on the other side of the opera house. Then minutes later, Frank (whom he later revealed) turned into our personal "behind the scenes" tour guide of Wiener Staatsoper, opera house. For some reason Frank really liked us and felt the need to show us the ends and outs of the entire building. He proceeded to take us behind the stage and show the upstairs, birds eye view (where the lights stand) of the stage. With the English he knew, he told us the dimensions of the stage and history of opera house. As if were not impressed by this, he then led us to the back alley to show us the elevator that was located inside the huge crystal chandelier. We were able to stand inside the actual chandelier. The elevator is only used to clean the crystals. It was incredible. I am still shocked as I am writing this. He also showed us the control where the director does all of the lighting for the productions and the ballet room where they practice before big shows.

Take Me to WEIN.

After a night in Mecca, we all decided that the sleeping in was vital to our 5 am bed time. Morning bagels from Bohemian satisfied our tummies. We climbed back into Emmy's oh so comfortable bed and watched hours of the OC, in order to jog back our memories to the good old days of high school and Mischa Barton. Literally exhausted from our travels we pretty much stayed in bed all day, relaxed and packed up our belongings before our 4 hour train to WEIN (some call it Vienna). Before our 5pm train we picked up another round of Bohemian and gave kisses goodbye and then it was off to Austria. The traveling fools must keep traveling! We were successfully and thankfully able to get our own cabin (or else some poor souls would have suffered explosions, funny talk and feet) We giggled, burped, ate, slept, carded and smiled the whole way there. We watched from our windows the mountains and neon patched grass. At one point we passed through a couple of towns that looked abandoned and haunted. The Gorilla insisted that we tell scary stories. Because I hate scary stories, she insisted that she tell them. She told two very terrifying ones that happened to her friend Juno. But now that I am writing this, I honestly question if Juno exists, and the Gorilla didn't just read them online or better yet make them up. I wouldn't be surprised at all. So if you want to know any scary stories, just ask the Gorilla, she knows a bunch. Snort, fart, laugh, talk, listen, watch, surprise, tell, smell, sleep. Four hours later, we finally made it to Wein. After we escaped the gas and vinegar filled cabin and we hopped aboard the train into town. From my directions, we were rather successful in finding the hostel. However, we were not successful in actually staying at the hostel. Apparently, if you don't check into a hostel before 4pm, even with a reservation, they give up your room and you remain homeless on the streets, or you go to places on the absolute other side of town called the Golden Squirrel. I tried my best to put on my "bitch" face and threaten them with farts but they didn't seem to care all too much. We couldn't hate them all that much because they were able to find us another place to stay (however, it was a two person room for three people) and we were able to regain our reservation for the following night. Like wondering cats in the mist of the night, the Gorilla, Carolyn (now named the Princess) and I trotted through the streets of Vienna looking for the Golden Squirrel. I am not even going to lie one bit, it was pretty sketchy and we truly had no clue where we were going but we finally found it at the end of street next to a train station, only to find out its name was the Golden Spine. I still can't decide which name for a hotel is creepier, the Golden Spine or the Golden Squirrel. Despite its real name, we collectively decided that we wanted to call it the Golden Squirrel because it sounded far more appealing than some golden spine. We climbed up the three flights of stairs to our room (taken straight out of a horror film. I am almost positive that part of the Shinning was shot here) and threw our luggage to the ground, exhausted from our mid night adventures. It was the most bizarre room and for some reason there was a not a toilet in our room. We spent a good 5 or 10 minutes looking for the bathroom in our not so big room, only to find out that it was actually in the hall way. Seriously, horror film material. And more seriously, what if someone had to go to the bathroom in the middle of the night, agh, they would have to creep into the hall way and turn on the timed light switch. I forgot to mention that the lights in the bathroom would only turn on for a short period of time because they were on a timer system. Even more terrifying. I went to the bathroom and prayed that I would not have to go until the morning. For the 4th night in a row, I was deemed crack baby. For the first time, I was actually pissed and tried to fight my way out of it. The Gorilla pulled this stupid "I am too tall, I am a Gorilla" b.s. and the princess sat on her butt like a princess and I slept in the crack. Finally after I was able to fall asleep, the Gorilla started freaky out saying that I was breathing too hard. Yes, I am human and I do breathe to stay alive. She insisted that she should sleep on the floor and turned into a midnight evil Gorilla, with fangs and claws. I turned into a passive crack baby and the Gorilla turned to an aggressive Gorilla. I tried my best but the Gorilla insisted on returning back to her natural habitat, the floor and I was able to get myself out of the crack. We all finally fell asleep, it just wasn't a good nights sleep, thats all.

post from May 1 2008 in the Austria.

The Adventures of Praha: Including Tales of Sweet Toilet Paper Rolls and Lost Gardens.

We woke up rather early because Emmy had class today and we needed her to guide us to the train station so we could buy our tickets to WEIN for tomorrow. We Bohemian bageled it up for breakfast and then off we went. Our main objective for the day was to make it to the top of the St. Vitus Cathedral castle, however we had a few detours a long the way. Emmy gave us a map, sticky noted with all of things we needed to see and how to get from one place to the next but clearly three artsy farts were not going to attack the city by a map, rather intuition was our guide. We made it to the center of town, took plenty of pictures at the Astronomical clock. There was a special Dali and Mucha exhibit at this small gallery right across from the clock. I love Dali and Mucha defined Bohemian, so it all made sense for us to go. I loved it. Oh how I love Dali. On our way to the castle we discovered a mysterious garden and peacocks. Who knew that mysterious gardens in the Czech Republic had wild peacocks. It was quite a paparazzi moment. After crossing the wrong bridge, followed by long upward alley climbs we made it to the top of the castle. It wouldn't have been a true adventure had we not gotten pictures with the guards and hotdogs in no-ending buns. And by no ending buns I mean they took a roll, dug out the inside, and then only opened on side to fit the weenie in. It was pretty gross but in a good way. We stayed up on the top of castle to people watch because the two evil twins, Gorilla and Carolyn refused to go into the doll museum with me. Instead the tortured me and themselves for hours watching people buy what we called "sweet toilet paper rolls". They had this stand where men in funny pants made hot rolls of dough covered in cinnamon and sugar from a hut. It reminded me of something you would buy at a Renaissance festival. For a while we just watched and made voice over impressions of what they people where saying as they ate their Sweet TP rolls. It came to the point that they wouldn't leave until they had one of the hot rolls in their mouth, however they refused to pay for one. I being the nice innocent friend, tried to see if the two men would give me one for free if they knew that it was a bet to see if I could get one. In the heat of the moment, I caved in a bought a sweet tp roll after they looked at me confused because they didn't know what the meaning of the word "bet" was. Completely unsatisfied, and definitely not worth two euro or the hype, we finally headed back down into town. In order to get my money back, I told the Gorilla that I was going to sell her kisses to earn my two euro back. I wasn't completely success nor was she willing to follow through with her promises, but have no fear I will get my money back. We made it home for naps and more laughs. I got deemed the crack baby for the week and by that I mean, Emmy's bed is two twin beds put together and the Gorilla and Carolyn are evil friends and told me I had to sleep in the crack. Thats why I am crack baby. They are truly evil people. We fell asleep to our high school friends, Misha Barton and Adam Brody, in their one hit wonder, the OC. We made it to a rather late dinner down the street before making our way over to one of Emmy's friends house for a little preparation before the game. Apparently we got in a fight with one of Emmy's friends the night before, even though we didn't know it was a fight. I think we might of come off rude after one her friends tried to pull another "oh, your from Kansas" joke and we all lashed out, but thats all I can think of. Any whoo, it was sufficiently awkward seeing her friends again but luckily we were only there for a short time before making our way out for the night. Tonight we made the Hajj to Mecca, literally. There is this club in Prague called Mecca and it was indeed incredible. There were two dance floors. One that played crazy techno drug music and another that played classic 80's music. Emmy and I danced the night away while the Gorilla and Carolyn pop locked and dropped it. It wasn't until 4:30 when Emmy and I called it quits and we rounded up the troops to go home. It took us nearly an hour to try to find a cab. It is a bizarre thing, this whole cab business. In the glorious city of Florence it is very rare to take a cab, but in Prague it's the way to go. However you can only take a cab if you call one. Emmy waited on the phone for 30 minutes only to find out that our cab was never ordered. We finally convinced a poor cab driver to take us home. Good night and good morning.

post comes from 30th of April in Prague, Czech Republic.

Pra-ha-ha.

We woke up early this morning to grab a bite to eat and walk around the city before heading to the land of wonder and bohemian madness, Pra-ha-Pra-ha. In the mix of eating a delicious breakfast, sipping coffee and reading the newspaper, we discovered that today was Ben and Jerry's free cone day. What more could three food crazy freaks want to do with their day. Obviously we had time to kill before our flight, so we did what every food hungry sweets craving travelin fool would have done and we walked quite a distance to find the one and only free cone day. It would be a lie to say that we didn't stand in line for nearly 45 minutes but what else were we going to do with our time? Play more gin? After a few rattle rattles and clink clinks the Ben and Jerry's free cone day trailer opened and out popped cups and cups of free ice cream. They technically lied because they served cups and not cones but I don't hate them for that, Fish Food Ben and Jerry's is on my list for top 100 foods I love. We waddled our fat butts back to the hostel, collected our bags and we were off to the airport. Our flight didn't leave until 4:10 but had to get there 2 hours in advance and the airport was a good 45 minutes away. We finally landed in Prague at 8:10 and with Emmy's grand directions, we hopped in a cab and made it over to her apartment in the Jewish Quarter. It was so nice to see Emmy again and it was even more exciting to be in Prague. I was debating whether to study in Prague or Florence and although I wouldn't change my decision ever, I was excited to see what this crazy country was all about. Emmy lives in this darling apartment, in a beautiful part of town. We were starving by the time we arrived, so we dropped our bags and headed to her favorite cafe, The Bohemian Bagel. How appropriate! Delicious indeed. It was actually one of the best and greenest things I have had in a while. We all showered up and hit up the bars for a night on the town in the city of Prague. Apparently Tuesday nights are what they call "chill" nights in Prague, so we headed to this bar hidden in the depths of a basement. I don't remember the name but it was exactly what I thought of a "chill" place. Weird isn't it? We sipped wine and talked up storm. There are surprisingly a lot of students from Michigan studying in Prague so we were able to catch up on life, as well as meet some of Emmy's new friends. The night was not complete without Prague's infamous street meat. It tastes just as terrible as it sounds. It is probably worse for you than it tastes. I doubt the Prague-ites call it "street meat" but that is what the Americans call it. Through out all of Prague there are these little stands that sell hot dogs, and friend chicken patties until the wee hours of the nights. I devoured my street meat for the pure purpose of the "experience" and nothing more. Do not judge me. We made it home with heart burn in all. Ciao Ciao!

Postness from the 29th of April in the Year 2008 in the country of the Czech Republic in the city of Prague.

Coffee Break.

We woke up rather late this afternoon, exhausted from our Blarney adventures. We went to this delicious breakfast place called the Elephant Castle on the main road. We attempted to walk around but were too tired to do much more touring, not to mention the rain put a little damper on our inner desire to seek out adventures. We hit up a cute little coffee shop to write, draw and read. Before we knew it it was already 5 oclock and we decided to head back, pick up a few beers along the way and go back to the hostel to play cards. The drink we had ordered the other night were almost 10 euro a pint and at the grocery store they were 6 beers for 6 euro. Embarrasing, I tell you. The card gaming didn't last very long because topics on life and living and deep thoughts filled the air. We talked and talked about issues big and small and rather deep if you ask me. Our thoughts and talks lasted longer than we expected and before we knew it, it was already 9 o'clock. We ran into the same problem as we had had the past few nights and no restaurants seemed to be open when we wanted them to be. We tried to go to the little Italian place again but ended up getting turned away. We secretly think they make up times as to when their restaurant is opened. Instead we went to another Italian restaurant down the street. Greens filled my stomach and it was delightful. We made it an early night. Luckily tonight we didn't have roommates and we were able to go to bed with out any distractions. Tomorrow we are off to Prague. The Eurotrip continues.

this post comes from a day in April, the 28th to be exact in the year of 2008 in the city of Dublin, in the country of Ireland.

No Balony In Blarney.

Last night we decided that we had had enough of the Dublin Drinkin delight and that we would venture out to Cork for the day. We had heard wonderful things about Cork and following the motto of my favorite gelato place "Perche No?", we thought "why not". We found out that there was a bus leaving at 8:10 from the central station for only 10 euro. 4 hours and a few naps later we arrived in the port city of Cork. Similar to the small town, happy go lucky feel of Dublin, the city is situated on a river, being over looked by hills filled with little houses. Unfortunately the raining man followed us to Cork, and all the sky had to offer us was rain and rain followed by more rain. With one umbrella we managed to survive.  We also did not do the best of planning because Sunday's in Europe are more like dead days, and everything is closed. With the rain in our face and the stores blocking us from fun (well not really, we didn't want to go shopping anyway) we decided to ask a local Cork-ite what we should do in Cork. One lady shrugged her shoulder and said nothing and another recommended to go to Blarney to see the Blarney stone. Without any hesitation we headed back to the bus and took an hour bus ride up to Blarney. The town of Blarney is like one of those lego towns my brother used to build when he was younger. Small local stores situated around an open field of grass. A few steps outside the circle stands the Blarney castle where the Blarney stone lives. At first there was no way in hell that I was going to pay 8 euros to inside some castle that was 90 percent closed due to the rain and the fact that it was Sunday, but the Gorilla and Carolyn raised a good point..what else should we do?. We climbed the castle, room by room and imagined what it would have been like back in the day. Arms linked together, we read every single posting they had up about the castle and apparently kissing the Blarney stone is on the list for one of the 100 things you should do before you die. Boo Yah, check that one off. We found this cave that was titled Military Hide Out and we forced the Gorilla, even though she threw a Gorilla pity party for her unfortunate height, into the cave only to find out after we had gotten down on our hands and knees, that it led to no where but a small little hole. It was pretty funny watching the Gorilla make her way out of the cave. We finally made it to the top of the castle to see and kiss the Blarney stone but when we got there we couldn't find it. Little did we know that the Blarney stone was located inside the actual wall of the castle and that it had to be kissed in a very special way. Upside down and backwards was the only way to do it. Look up above for better visuals. Kiss Kiss Kiss, the three little children kissed the Blarney stone. YEAH! We made our way back down the castle to a coffee shop for a quick game of cards and a dry off session before our we headed back on the bus to Cork. In Cork we managed to find the only restaurant open to sit and wait for our bus back to Dublin. Not that hungry and that thirsty we settled for some broiled sweets and spread with bread platter. The waiter looked us like we were crazy. We had no idea what ordering broiled sweets would be like, but lets just say they were life changing. We built an entire town out of broiled sweet and managed to tear apart our mouths with them. We played 8 or 9 games of gin, until the Gorilla ruined the fun with her stupid rules about adding 26 for this or that. Before we knew it was time to head back to the town of Dub Dub Dublin. We tried to go back to the Italian restaurant that we went to the first night because it was actually reasonably priced but they were closed. Chinese food from a freaky chinese lady is what we got. Exhausted from our day, we were more in the mood to watch a movie than to go out. The hostel had a tv room and computer room which was very fortunate, however the couches looked like they had been picked up on trash day and brought here. There was the couple in the room that would not stop talking and we named them the Sunday-Night Dead. We found out that they had also kissed the Blarney stone and we all secretly threw up in our mouths. Carolyn and I were given the responsibility to choose a movie for the night and when we chose "UK's funniest video (thats what the sheet said) "I Want To Be Famous" we realized that the VHS educational film was terrible. The Gorilla got to make the final pick. She is good for something. School of Rock rocked me to sleep on the couch and I schnoozed while the Gorilla and Carolyn watched away. Carolyn had a Canadian lover who sat next to her and tried to sit closer to her through out the entire film. It was funny. We finally made it back to our room ready for bed. But sleeping was not an option. Our new French roommates had arrived and they were also interested in a little Q and A session. They were staying in Dublin for a couple of days before moving to northern Ireland to work for a friend of a friends. I asked them if they were students but they replied, No, they were workers. One question lead to another and then finally one of their other friends made it back in the room and thats when it got freaky. He started asking us if we liked playing the "bottle game". At first we were a little confused because we didn't know what the butter game was but after a few different iterations and descriptions we figured out that they wanted to know if we wanted to play spin the bottle. Giggle and giggles followed by howls and howls. One guy asked us if we like giving messages. We interpreted that as "if we like getting messages". But little did we know the questions was "do we like giving massages". It was pretty funny. The best part about the whole thing was that the all of the boys were wearing this tiny spanky booty shorts. They had no shame at all walking around the room in their tight little boxers. After too many laughs and bizarre questions (not to mention it was now 4:30), my eyes gave up and my body went in to deep sleep. I now gave these boys the true award for being the biggest "freaky frenchies".

postness from the day of the 27th in the month of April in the year of two thousand and eight. 

delightful dublin.

I am not sure if I described our living situation detailed enough yesterday, so let me take the time to explain it so you can fully understand everything as the rest of our wonderful trip unfolds. The hostel is a co-ed dorm style, with co-ed bathrooms and co-ed rooms. 1 dorm sleeps 6: 3 bunks beds to be exact. The Gorilla and I share one and Carolyn is on the bottom bunk of another. the other three beds are open for other guests. Last night we had our first round of french fun but they checked out today. Okay, so just remember this if I describe any more scenes from our dorm room. Now on with our day, we woke up early this morning originally to make sure we could eat the included breakfast but by the time we all showered and made it down there, we realized it was about to close and that the food wasn't all to great. Black as death coffee and dry desert toast wasn't going to work for us. We asked the cheerful man at the front desk for suggestions for breakfast and he kindly walked us across the street to his favorite place. Dublin is known for their breakfasts and places everywhere claim they have the best breakfasts in town. It was nice to order a real cup of coffee and scrambled eggs. We sat in the front window to people watch and indeed we did some people watchin. We spotted a group of men following behind one man wearing a large poster sign around his neck, a dress-up police helmet and a back pack and a purse. He must of seen us laughing at him through the window because he came inside the coffee shop to talk to us. Apparently he had been kidnapped by his friends for his bachelors party and his friends told him that he had to go around and collect enough money to pay them back for his flight and that he was on a time crunch. If he didn't collect a portion of the money by a certain time, they would make him drink. At 9:30 in the morning it seemed he had already missed the deadline a few times. He asked us for money and Carolyn and I gave him a couple of worthless U.S dollars and coins and he made us sign his poster necklace. I took a picture of him with Carolyn (see above) and he wanted us to send it to him. Xbuthol@hotmail.com. His name was Xavier but we prefer and reference him as X-butthole. What an unfortunate name. X-butthole continued on with his quest and we enjoyed the rest of our breakfast. We toured the streets of Dublin, stopped at a designer market and a food market, bought jewelry and taste tested olives and spicy salsa. We headed to Top Shop (shop top, bop shop, tip top..meh who knows?) Dublin's fabulous stores, similar to H&M and Zara. The Gorilla got her Europants groove on. We all bought scarves at the stands on the street and we walked around St. Stephen's Green. It was just beautiful! We made it back to the market for lunch and sat on the steps right outside to enjoy our home-made mexican quesadillas. We then obviously had to purchase a delightful sweet. (look above for visuals) and we headed to the river for sitting and sweets. We walked up and down almost every street, stopping here and there to look into shops, snap pictures of interesting statues. It was just the perfect day to tour. Around 4:30 we decided to buy a deck of cards and head to a pub for drinks and games. We ended up chatting up a storm until 7. Both the Gorilla and Carolyn were stopped by a body guard at the front door of pub, questioning their age. The Gorilla proudly roared 21 and carolyn had to bust out her ID. It was the first and only time her 19 year old ID would work at a bar. Who knew that the side kicked looked older than her Gorilla. We headed back to the hostel to freshen up, relax, watch some "Friends" and email our friends. We cam back to our room to find a fresh set of french roommates snoozing in their bunks. In the words of John Isenberg, they were "Freaky and Frenchy". By the time we made it back out again it was already 9:00. We had the grand idea of going out to dinner. Indeed eating dinner was a good idea but finding a restaurant that was reasonable and open, was almost impossible. Restaurant after restaurant. Window menu after window menu, we decided to settle for street falful and save our money for drinks. We brought our dinner down to the river and sat beneath the stars and lamp posts and watched the river drift calmly down the stream. After dinner we headed back to the city center for a night on the town . We had read about a few pubs in the hand books at the hostel but ended up going back to the pub we went to earlier. The entire city center was packed with people and it felt like it was marti gras on Bourbon Street. Older women in flapper dress and men in matching shirts filled the streets. Playboy bunnies, devils and slutty old construction workers filled the bars. At first we tried to get in and the bouncer said it was full but then when we went to ask him where else we should go to listen to music, he felt bad and let us in. The bars was hopin' with old men and women and a man with his guitar brought the bar alive with his fine oldies tunes. We looked around the bar and realized we were definitely the youngest people there. After we had spent all of our money on drinks we were hoping to find some kind and sweet Irish men to buy us a round of drinks but rather we met fat Mick and Andy from Essex England who were for sure older than my father. They were visiting Dublin for the weekend to play golf. It was all fun and games until Mick crossed the line and asked us if we were looking for an old and rich husband. Some words also popped out about a three-some he wanted to have with us. I literally told Mick with hand motions in all that he had crossed the line. We as a group (the Gorilla, Carolyn and I) decided that after 30 full solid minutes of talking with these old chumps and with not a single offer to buy us a drink, that it was time to head home. Our new roommates were out and about, so we undressed freely and hopped right into bed. Ciao Ciao.

writing translated in a post came on the 27th of April in the year 2008 in the town of Dublin in the country of Ireland.

we be luggin' that luggage.

We woke up early (8:00 early) in order to get everything done before our 2:00 train to Pisa. Today we are leaving for our grand week trip to Dublin, Prague and finally Vienna.  Carolyn Wiedeman is joining the Gorilla and her side kick as we take on the jolly, jolly Irish in Ireland and harsh, harsh Europeans of the Eastside.  It took us over an hour to lug our luggage (hence, luggage is called luggage) down the street to Paul's apartment.  You should of seen us, we were a sight to see and it was pretty much a joke trying to roll four oversized duffel bags down the cobble stone streets of Florence.  The Gorilla and I switched suitcases because I needed a smaller bag for my travels but the Gorilla neglected to mention that the bag had a few issues. For instance, when you try to roll it, it wobbles and topples over.  We finally made it safely and sweatily up the stairs with are luggage.   We had our "last Anna's" sandwich. Well technically it is not our last but technically it was our last as students (on a daily basis last). We hit up the euro store for some traveling gummies, which only lasted as long as it took us to get to our apartment. So much for traveling gummies. We came back to grab the rest of our stuff that we would be taking on our trip and to say goodbye to the Via Dei Ginorites and the Via dei Ginori Palace. It has not hit me yet that when I return from my eurotrip next week that I will not be coming back home to the animals and our pig pin (a pretty pig pin indeed) We said our goodbyes, gave hugs and holler backs to every part of our apartment.  Its a bizarre concept, this whole meeting people, living with people, starting to learn and love people and then the minute you just start to really feel the most comfortable, it is time to go.  As much as I hated, complained, wined and bitched about my roommates, how gross our apartment was, I couldn't have asked for anything better.  At home often I find myself in quest for the perfect everything, in school, with people, and here I didn't have to do any searching for it.  It was just all there.  Before we knew it, we were walking  out the door.  We realized that by the time we said our goodbyes it was already 1:46 and we needed to catch the 1:57 train to Pisa in order to make our flight.  Like all Gorilla and sidekick adventures, we had to start our trip off with a mid afternoon game of dodge and sprint.  In no time at all (we really had no time at all) we made it to the train station, leaped on the train and we were off to Pisa.  I told myself the last time I flew Ryanair that it was going to be the last time I flew Ryanair but for some reason the Gorilla convinced that because Ryanair was based out of Dublin it would be a much more pleasant and an easier adventure.  Indeed it wasn't. We got to the airport with plenty of time to spare, only to find out that we had to check my bag (the same bag that I brought Barcelona on Ryanair and did NOT have to check) and pay 20 euro to do so.  We had to get out of line, go to the Ryanair office and pay for the ridiculous fee and then get back in line to get my actual ticket and then we would be able to board the plane.  In a fluster and sporting extremely sassy attitude I stood in line to pay the stupid luggage fee.  I think I must of scared the lady ringing us up because she handed me the receipt and for some reason, she only charged me 2 euro, instead of 22 euro. With a grin on my face, I shut my big mouth, signed the receipt and headed to the gate.  Serves them right I tell you!  So in the end, I decided that I could manage to pay the 2 extra euro and I didn't hate Ryanair so much (they can't help it that they are stupid)  However my hate-o-meter started to rise after a. the man sitting next to us on the plane would not stop staring at us in a creepy way.  It got to the point where it was so uncomfortable that I couldn't handle it.  I turned my head and looked him straight in the eyes with the most evil and devilish glare.  You would think that he would of gotten the drift after my look of death. Not to mention the Gorilla and I also did a cartoon drawing of him getting shot in the head by a super hero. So yeah thats one reason why I still hate Ryanair (for letting skeeze balls on their planes) the other, which I am sure you wouldn't blame me, we almost died and crashed.  I guess it would be that we almost crashed first and then died. But during the landing I have never grabbed the Gorilla's hand so hard. I squeezed Gorilla juice out of her. At last we made it to Dublin and thank the lord my bag was there.  We found out that we had to take a 45 min bus ride to the city center.  At this point we were already over an our late meeting our dear friend Miss Carolyn at the hostel.  She had been in Dublin since 6:00 am this morning just waiting for us.  We finally made it to the Kinlay House hostel at 9:45 pm only to find our little friend waiting for us and a room full (and my full I mean there were two) french boy roommates.  We set our stuff down and headed to the only restaurant that was still serving food.  Of course it had to be Italian.  We played the big game of catch over soups and salads.  We headed back to the hostel for bed because we wanted to be prepared for our grand Irish tour tomorrow.  We came into the room to find our two french roommates giggling over the movie "American Pie".  Not only where they wearing sweaters with embroidered dragons, but one of them was definitely wearing jean shorts. No offense to boys that wear jean shorts.  Next to their beds were remote controls and head scratchers. What a great combination.  We engaged in a Q & A session, mainly it was them supplying the Q's and we providing the A's.  Questions like "do you have cheerleaders or girls like we watch in our porno's in the states?" or "Do all American's drive racing cars?".  The Gorilla started to fall asleep and of the French freaks asked if she wanted to sleep and the other French freak giggled and giggled.  We couldn't figure out what he was laughing about until he told us that in French the word "sleep" means little boy or old mens underwear and I quote "not the sexy kind". Then they proceeded to ask Ada if she needed an extra pillow but instead of saying pillow he said "nipple". So it came out as "aada do you need an extra nipple?".  With in a matter of seconds his face turned red and he started to dig himself out of his big hole.  "I mean pillow". We all started to giggle and by that I mean, I died in my bed.  With a jolly smile on our faces, we decided we had had enough french fun for one night and we hit the sack.

postness from the 25 of april in the year of the 2008, a day of good byes to the best city in the world. oh flo flo yo yo. 

Show Show Fo Show Show.

e n d o f t h e y e a r a l l s t u d e n t a r t s h o w. 

My Last Thursday As A Student In Florence.

I am not even sure what happened to this day.  I was like I was conscious of how I was spending my last full day as a student here but at the same time it was like living in a dream world.  At 10:00 we met our book arts teacher at the Strozzi Campus to help set up for our big All Student Art Show tonight.  To be honest I was pretty worthless because I was more interested in figuring out my trip to Greece and knowing that I would have to come back up to school later, made me even more uninterested.  I have been on quest for two things since I got here. 1. leather boots, real leather boots, not 24 euro plastic boots from Lucca. 2. a leather purse. In the leather capitol of the world, you would that the simple task of finding such items like leather boots or leather jackets, would be rather easy but not for me.  I am the worlds pickiest person and if it doesn't feel 100% right, I won't buy it.  We scoped out the leather market before making are way to Anna's.  I was worried after yesterdays sandwich disaster but Anna pulled through and the sandwich was the juiciest and hottest it has ever been.  We had to meet the commi hippie at school at 2:30 to help set up for the show, again.  It was kids of a bummer that we were having to spend out last day, not to mention last and beautiful day inside but after going to the show tonight it was sure worth it.  I am not sure what maade our house think it was a good idea to go to the CEA dinner tonight.  I think it was the email titled "Included CEA Dinner @ Mediterranean Restaurant" that reeled us in.  Yes, indeed it was that. We literally have not seen most of the CEA kids who are not in the art school all semester (which is about 90%).  It has been a blessing because I have never met such awful, ungrateful, waste of space people in my life.  I left like I was at an awkward BBYO or one roommate said High School event where it is just painful because you don't want to talk to anyone but the people you know. For us it was the Art school CEA kids that actually showed up were the people from my house.  The food was fabulous but we peaced out early in order to get to our show.  Wine, food, friends, farewell.  I love my teachers, my friends that I have made.  We stayed until 11. The pictures above capture the atmosphere more than the words.  

Quote of the evening: "So Nick, what was it like to get hit by a car" -Pants

We packed up what remained and the Gorilla and her sidekick went to bed for the last night in their cozy cots.  They loved their room and did not want to leave.

see woah see woah

posted on the date of april 24th, on the day of thursday, in the only year that is now, 2008. 

My Last Wednesday As A Student In Florence.

The Gorilla and I woke up an extra hour early this morning because we thought it might be a good idea to study for at least an hour before and for our Art History exam.  We attempted to study last night but we both knew that getting into bed with our teeth brushed and fully dressed in pj's, was not the best way to study. Especially for a narco-narco like me.  I am rubbing off on the Gorilla and she is slowly moving to the dark side and by dark side I literally mean she can fall asleep in odd situations like with the lights on, music and or the radio.  The dark side = eyes closed. Peanut butter and crackers for breakfast are quite delicious. In attempts to ride our house of food, we decided that rommate stealing (I mean food) is completely acceptable.  After we "B+" (should be read as "b-plused") our Art History exam (I swear they only give out B+'s in this school, so I assume thats what I got my exam) we presented our oral exam.  Last night Trishowski, the Gorilla and I "free-translated" a short script for the big exam.  Watch our Ryan Secreast, the Gorilla might be taking over you show.  We wrote a short exert from an episode of Italian Idol.  The winner would receive the grand prize of a Ferrari and or a picture of one, same thing. Our teachers favorite car, and at the beginning of the semester she told us she would kill for one. The judge was our friend Camile. Her show names was Anni-Ani (translated at butthole year..remember from the beginning of the semester lesson). Trishowski and I were the singers.  We mad Trishowski-stage name, Nine-T-Nine Cent (the name of the euro store) The best part of the whole thing was that Trishowski got so nervous that she actually tried to sing the song for real, where as I made a fool of myself, partially because I am a fool and partially because I can't sing.  Our teacher loved it.  She took us all our for coffee after class and then off to Anna's. Let the count down begin. We have a very short amount of time left and it is imperative to eat Anna's every single day from here on out.  I wouldn't be opposed to eating it twice a day.  We didn't think it was possible and under such pressure and lack of time, Anna's just happen to only have one piece of our favorite kind of bread left. I sacrificed my sould and sucked it up and ate the sandwich on wheat bread but the sensation could not even compare to that of the flat bread.  I had my painting crit today and I promise to post pictures as soon as possible.  Kelsey and I brought snacks but we ended up being the only people to eat them.  I am tell ing you while the euro store has been a blessing because everything in the store is only a euro, it has also be a little devil. I blame the euro store for my florence 15.  The Gorilla and I headed over to Santa Spirito to eat our favorite panino.  We sat on the stairs enjoying the atmosphere and observing the most beautiful men.  It was incredible.  Of course at the end of the semester we discover the Mecca of nice, attractive-non-freaky licking men.  The home dogs and the Gorilla and I decided we should do a Via dei Ginori gelato outing as a family.  After Pants complained the entire way there, we all ordered the delicious gelato from Grom and we all thoroughly enjoyed it.  Pants said it tasted like spoiled milk but after she devoured her 3 euro, bigger than her face gelato, she realized she liked it.  She proceeded to criticize Emily and my gelato selection until mid sentence, Emily snapped but in the most calm voice she said "well, why don't you just shut up". I was dying.  Pants has been quite the chatty kathy lately (I guess you can count an entire semester as "lately") and I think everyone is starting to get annoyed with her.  We still  love her but at the same time we all want to kill her.  Tonight was pretty magical because it was the first time in a long time that we all went out together and I couldn't stop smiling. Just as much as it was magical, tonight was also quite depressing.  1. We had to take down our beloved motherland. Look above our room looks naked! Rather than doing anything remotely productive because my internet went out, the Gorilla and I decided to step back in our past and reminisce about the SMEaster days. One thing lead to the next one story sparked another and we proceeded to stalk the world.  I am terribly ashamed to admit this but I only speak the truth.  I did however figure out a majority of my greece plans and I did pack up life. It still hasn't truly hit me that this week is the last week I will be living in the Via Dei Ginori Palace with the Via dei Ginorites. 

My Last Tuesday As A Student In Florence.

In book arts, for our final crit, we had to sign up at different times to meet with the grand and wonderful Pat-The-Book-Arts-Genius.  Obviously the Gorilla and I are early risers and our names were first and second on the list.  Pat seemed to thoroughly enjoy my work, and I let Pat know (in a not so freaky way) that I was madly in love with her and her class and that I wanted to devote the rest of my studies and career to making books.  My life dedicated to books, for books, by books and in the name of books.  After our lover-affair crit, the Gorilla, Kelsey and I tried to hit up the antique markets we read about in the Florentine.  Each week a local newspaper is produced by a group of American students and it gives the ends and outs of places to go and people to see.  Unfortunately the Florentine forgot minor details like times because by the time we made it market, they were closing for lunch.  It was a good sign because I do not need to be spending any more money.  Luckily it was almost time for lunch, well it was actually still a little early but it was of the hour in which it was socially acceptable to eat a tuna, mozzarella and tomato sandwich.  I also had my final photog crit and for some reason (probably because this is my last week being a student here) I had ants in pants the entire crit and had a very difficult time focusing.  So instead, I decided to draw portraits of my class mates, including the commi hippie.  After our crit, our entire house, minus eeeeemiiillly (thats how she talks) met up for dinner.  The Greek place didn't open for take out until 7:30, so we decided that it would be a good idea to work on our oral presentation for tomorrow.  Trishowski (some call her Trisha..one of my many wild and crazy roommates), the Gorilla and I had to come up with a oral presentation for the teacher.  I could of been anything, but obviously we decided to make it over the top.  All of the Via Dei Ginorites gathered around the dining room table in the Via dei Ginori Palace and laughed our butts off while Pants chopped our ears off.  The entire dinner, I couldn't stop laughing because Shasta's smacking really got out of control and I couldn't hear the Gorilla even though she was sitting right across from me.  Depressing evening the house of the Ginorites, packing was our evening activity.

postness from the 23rd of april in the hours of wee ness (that being of late timing) on the last tuesday of the semester in the country of florence in the year 2008. 

My Last Monday As A Student In Florence.

I had my last day of Italian class. Sad Sad Sad. I took my final exam and at the end of it was worried that she had forgotten to attach a piece of paper to it because I literally finished it with in a half and hour. I couldn't believe it, it was easier than the quizzes that we had. Easier than the quizzes that I actually studied for. I looked over my notes last night for about 15 minutes and then decided that a. I didn't want to study anymore and b. I pretty much knew everything. I guess before I say too much, I should wait until Wednesday to find out how I really did. The weather this week again has been very strange. Rain, Shine, Rain and then some Shine. I finally finished my painting and I will be displaying them at the all student show at the end of this week. I am thinking I will post the pictures on Thursday because I will be able to have better quality images. I am sitting here typing this shocked because my head keeps reminding me that this is my last week of school and the last week of my semester abroad. I just can't believe it. It actually feels like yesterday when I was saying goodbye to my father with eyes full tears and his arms full of feminine products. Its just incredible, and I have had the best time in my entire life. Okay back to the last Monday of all Monday's abroad. After painting, I met the Gorilla back at home to start cleaning up our cage. One of our advisors is coming over tomorrow to check out our apartment and the Gorilla and I were bad Gorilla's and sidekicks and we decided to be inferior and tape everything and anything to the wall. We were told several times NOT to do so but there are very little things that will stop us from doing what we want. The only unfortunate part of not listening was that when we went to go remove the tape, big chucks of paint and wall came off. The Gorilla definitely hung more things on the wall than I did. We genius-ly decided to cover them up ourselves. The Gorilla attempted to use watercolor paint but thank goodness I was around to let her know that that was the worst idea ever. She can't help it that she has terrible ideas, she is a Gorilla. Instead of painting pretty white little pictures, we went down the street to the "WHAT?" store. I am not sure the name of it but literally you stand outside the door and all you can think of is "WHAT?". It is a small hole in the wall store filled with everything from trash bags, to candy, to paints to rain boots, and bird-cages plus barrels of beans. All you can ask yourself is What is this, What is that? And What is that smell. However the "WHAT?" store had exactly what we were looking for. A nice jar of white stucco for only a 1.50 euro! WHAT else could you want? I didn't trust the Gorilla to cover up the holes, so I took on that role while she did other things. Fact for the day: Did you know that gelato spoons can be used to cover up holes in the wall? Well, indeed they can. The Gorilla had an old gelato spoon and it was just the right shape to put the gunk on the wall. After playing repair-woman, I transformed into cleaning lady. After four months of never actually cleaning our apartment, the time was over due, I knew that no one else in the apartment besides the Gorilla was actually going to get down and dirty and scrub the filthy place. The Gorilla volunteered herself for the bathroom, maybe she felt some sort of connection to the seizure pooping palace but I was definitely going to touch the grim dwelling in that arena, so instead I offered my soul to the second most disgusting room, da da da...the Kitchen. One of my roommates is actually the most disgusting food hoarder and eater. First off, yesterday she left the tops of her already munched on strawberries sitting on the table. The trash can is literally two steps away, she is so close she could toss them in there and not have to be some famous star like Michael Jordan to make it. Next, through out the entire semester she some how manages to concoct the most disgusting left over residue from cooking. I am not saying the food she cooks is gross in the least bit, but for some reason she can not understand that right after you cook, you should clean your dishes because food sticks and gets REALLY NASTY. Finally, she seems to buy an ungodly about of produce each week and never ever ever is capable of eating it before it goes rotten and molds all over the place. I can not count the number of times I have had to throw out a moldy orange or dried up eggplant. Ahh. I feel much better. I just had to let it out because it took me over an hour and a half to get that kitchen spot less. I don't blame her completely but I would have to say that 85 percent of the grossness in the kitchen is due to her inability to leave the kitchen at least a half sanitary place to eat. The Gorilla finished a little after me, only to find that there was literally an entire head of hair stuck in the drain and that we were showering with other species the entire semester. Black mold hid in on the shower curtains and disguised itself into the wall. She looked like a mess after cleaning that bad boy. Tonight we had our farewell photography dinner. There are only 6 kids in my photography class and as a result of that, we have all become very very close. Out of all the kids in the Art school these people have become some of my very best friends and we all have become extremely comfortable with each other and our teacher. Unfortunately, only four of us, plus our teacher could make it. We went to this Indian Restaurant near the train station. Delightful indeed and a nice change in flavor! We played a game called "Tell your most crazy story from abroad". Max told some story about eating food on the street from a guy selling it in a cardboard box, the Gorilla and I shared our Venice weekend trip and Trisha giggled about her trip to Southern Italy. Since our professor has been living over here for 8 years now, we let her tell any life story. Some how we got on the topic of Catholic school which led us to talking about rules, which led her to sharing a story about how she used to have group bathroom time, like an assigned time to go to the bathroom during the day. They would all get up from their seats, line up on a red line and stand their until one by one, every girl had gone to the bathroom. My teacher told us this story of how she vividly remembers back in the first grade that she didn't have to go to the bathroom when the assigned time was, so after about an hour after they had gone to the bathroom as a class, Susana (my teachers name, yes, I revealed the commi hippi's name) told the teacher she had to go the bathroom. The nun (remember this is at a catholic school) yelled back at her, "No you don't, we just went". Susana yelled back but "Yes I do". The nun told her no again. Instead of listening to the nun (even though I am not sure how you can listen to some one else telling you that you don't have to go, when you really do) Susana walked to the back of the class room, lifted up her skirt and took a nice long pee in the back of the class room. The nun came running and screaming at her and just as she finished, she took off her sweater wiped herself and then threw it at the nun. Even at such a young, Susana, the commi-hippie was an aggressive one! Incredible story I tell you, I learn something insane about that one at least twice a week and I just love it. We didn't finished with dinner until 10 and made it home by 10:30. I spent the night trying to figure out my plans for after abroad. Greece ain't so easy to figure out.

FACT of the Day: (again) did you know that Jerry Springer was once the mayor of Cincinnati? And was compared to the Ohioan version of JFK? Thanks to Ira Glass, I can provide you with this information. Thislife.org baby check it out.

Sunday Is A Good Day To Do Nothing. Like Eat 2 Panini's

Katie and Emily hoped on the 6:30 train to the airport for Prague and Sam left for Paris around 12:00. We took her to our new found dinner place on the other side of the river, called GustaPannino. Our friend Kelsey introduced us to it and it has been the greatest discovery since Anna's sandwiches. We sat on the steps of Santa Spirito and watched families gather and little children giggle and play. We quickly walked through the organic market and then took Sam to the train station. The Gorilla and I ventured over to Santa Croce to see if the Antique market was this Sunday but instead it was the hand made market. This one lady had designed the cutest clothes and with a special kind of paint (it looked like watercolors on fabric) and created the most adorable creatures and faces. I wanted to get this shirt but it was too big on me. We decided to head to the Boboli gardens for possibly our last time. On the way over to the Pitti Palace, we stopped at this card store, where we bought personalized stamps used for making wax stamps. Since my new found passion is book arts, I thought this would be the perfect souvenir to bring back to the States. I also purchased a few (15 to be exact) post cards as well. We finally met our friend Kelsey at the gardens and we plopped on the open field in the sun. I fell right to sleep. Around 5, the sun started to go down and our stomachs started to growl. What I am about to reveal may sound crazy because as I am writing this out, it does sound just a tad bit ridiculous. Because we were on the other side of the river, and because it is our official last week here and because we needed to make up for the lost time, we decided to go back to GustaPanino.  The Gorilla was nervous that the waiter would recognize us, but I convinced her that it was worth it and that the guy wouldn't judge. Sure enough, we ordered our second panini of the day and the guy for sure remembered us. Meh, it's just a complement to him and his restaurant. He actually invited us to the grand opening of their new restaurant tomorrow night. Kelsey hadn't been to the Organic market, so we hit it up for the second time today, just much slower. Their ain't nothing wrong with doing something twice in a day. Like eating gelato for instance, I am pretty sure I would do very well at eating it twice a day. We headed back to our side of town and up to the art school to finish last minute touches to our books and photogs. Tomorrow starts and ends the last week of my program. Impossible to believe. No words to describe.

The "Item" at the Centro.

The Via dei Ginori house could be considered a hostel this weekend. Slumber party time. Kelsey took over the Gorilla's bed, the Gorilla and Sam snuggled on the Pillow Palace and I dominated my own bed. Exhausted from Central park. We slowly woke up and got ready and then sent the traveling fools to visit the most intriguing (aka touristy parts of Florence) While the visitors were off visiting, Kelsey, Ada and I couldn't resist an Anna's sandwich on this fine Saturday afternoon. We also couldn't resist something sweet to follow it. As we were checking out at the Centro (the grocery store) I was reaching into my bag to grab something (who knows what now) and all of the sudden I feel a man tapping on my shoulder. Sure enough he was tapping me on the shoulder to show me that I had dropped something. This time it wasn't some ones heart, it was actually a feminine product. Giggle-Mc-Grandpa, pointed to the item on the  ground to let me know I had dropped something on the floor. Half embarrassed, half "this is typical Allison", I picked it up and put it back in my purse. The whole incident would have been over, but Gossiping-Giggle-Mc-Grandpa, proceeded to tell everyone, in Italian (but I understood) that I had dropped my feminine product on the ground. That's when it got embarrassing. All of the check out ladies knew, and all of the people around chuckled. Typical Typical Me. Unfortunately, I had a ton of work to get done before next week because it was just the most gorgeous day. I finished photog and worked on a few books. We headed home around 6 but stopped at the Centro to pick up some cheese and crackers for an afternoon roof top delight. Because of the rain, we really have not had that much time to enjoy our large and in charge balcony, so tonight, with all of the visitors into town and the sun glistening, we put together an apertivo. We all took power naps and showered up. We made it over to Za Za's for dinner. Just fabulous. We were all so exhausted, and by the end of dinner, I was almost too tired to even talk. I felt bad that we were not going out tonight but it was almost 12 by the time we finished dinner and my body was going to collapse. We hiked straight up the Via Dei Ginori moutian into bed. Bella luna tonight! Goodnight moon!