Tomorrow we are off to Venice....andiamo!!

Today has already been a great day and it's still early! (For those of you back home, it's about 3:30am...for me 10:30am). I got to sleep in a bit this morning...no excursions. I did a little laundry in my sink (Woolite packets are fabulous), showered, headed out for a cup of Italian coffee and brought it back up to my balcony to enjoy! Then, I headed over to the computer lab at Jen's school for a little web time. Now I am just enjoying the cool morning air before the 90's come back in full force around noon.....

Looking back, yesterday was a pretty cool day. We went to the Palazzo Vecchio (not to be confused with the Ponte Vecchio) and toured the museum. We got up close and personal with Michelangelo's Pieta. It was the last sculpture he did that was intended to be on his tombstone (crypt). There's an interesting story behind that piece.....he was taking a lot of time sculpting it because the marble he was using wasn't good. The piece is a visual of him holding Jesus (after his death) from behind and Mary Magdeline and Jesus's mother Mary on either side. The piece is very powerful....even in its unfinished state. Apparently, the story goes, that his housekeeper kept asking him when he was going to finish (because he was making such a mess everyday). The pressure he was getting from the housekeeper was the same as from the Pope when he did the Sistine Chapel. He got so fed up with the question that one day he grabbed a hammer and started smashing the sculpture. After a while, he threw the hammer down and said "Now I am done". End of story...the piece was never on his tomb but rather ended up in this museum....kind of sad but makes for an interesting story.

After that, we went to the Duomo Museo. We also saw the room of Relics. Now, for those of you who aren't exactly sure what that means (like me), I was shocked when I found out. A relic is something that people used to keep from those famous people who died. So, yesterday, we actually saw John the Baptist's finger bone. CRAZY. On one hand (no pun intended) it was kind of cool but on the other hand it was very weird. I guess that just goes to show how times have changed! For those of you reading this....if something happens to me you are NOT ALLOWED to keep any "physical relics". =o)

After that, we grabbed a quick nap and then it was off to a little pizza joint that Jen's professor recommended. The pizza here is so fresh.....prosciutto, mushrooms, fresh mozzarella...YUM-O! After dinner we grabbed a Gelato and then decided to wrap things up....karaoke will wait until another night.

Oh yah...and I have been meaning to mention a few random things I have noticed over the past week: it is actually cheaper here to order a bottle of l'acqua (water) or a glass of vino (wine) or berra (beer) then it is a can of Coke or Coke Light (as the locals call it). Its about 3 Euros for a can of Coke (which equals about $4) if you buy it in a shop. Unbelievable! Not good for soda lovers like me! Also, our hotel didn't have the A/C on until yesterday (they don't normally turn it on until 6/1) so we have had our windows open all week. Remember the other day I said there are no screens so bugs and birds are free to come and go as they please. Well, Jen and one of her classmates, Lauren, have been getting welts on their arms from some sort of bug bite. So, Lauren finally went to the Farmacia the other day (because we all thought it might be bed bug bites) and it turns out they have some killer mosquitoes here! Nothing a little coritsone won't take care of....but there is a plug in unit in our rooms that we all found in a drawer but didn't know what it was. Well, it's like a mosquitoe zapper....that would have been good to know a few days ago! Anyway, we came back to the room yesterday and here the cleaning service turned on our A/C, plugged in our mosquitoe zapper and made it quite lovely!!!! I've also found that there isn't a great deal of consistency in accomodations in our hotel. For instance, Jen and I got a huge room, with a huge bathroom, huge shower, huge deck, huge everything! Laurens deck is smaller and her bathroom is the size of a phone booth. We call her shower a "shoilette" because the shower stall is only wide enough for one tiny person and you can hardly move in there. There is only a half way separating the shower from the rest of the bathroom and she can sit on the toilet while she showers. It has to be one of the funniest things I have ever seen. Also, Jen and I got a nice, normal hairdryer in our bathroom. Luaren got something that resembles more of a Flo-B than anything...it's like a vacuum cleaner on the wall. Again...HILARIOUS! Let's see, one of the last things I noticed that I want to tell you about today is the size of the elevatore (elevator) here. Back home we are used to big elevators that fit 10-20 people. In both our hotels, the elevators can only fit two people with very little luggage. It's about the size of a double phone booth...not cool for those of us who don't like being in small spaces. Overall though, I have found everything to be quite charming and it's so nice to experience something totally different!

Anyway, enough rambling on and on and if you're still with me, thanks! Today we are catching a few more museums and then it will be an early tonight because tomorrow morning Jen and I are off to Venice!! We are taking the 8:30am high speed train and should arrive in Venice about 11am. We have the whole day to explore, get lost and have fun. We are going alone so this should be interesting. Our train back will leave later tomorrow evening so I probably won't post again until Sunday. I will upload new pictures then!

Yesterday's lesson learned: I am very good at getting what I want at the price I want! I hit a big score in the Mercato Centrale (Central Market) yesterday and was very proud of myself.

Until next time, I hope you are all doing well and we miss you! Ciao!