Firenze

Ciao all. Thanks for your comments! For your information, we are staying very sunscreened and mostly unburned, especially amy. And for proof, I actually decided to take a picture of her coating it on. It looks like war paint! Bob, last night I had dark chocolate gelato, and it was amazing! So backtracking a little bit...we went to the beach in Sabaudia about an hour away by train from Rome. We told you how hot it was in Rome, so of course when we got to the beach it was cold and windy. We mostly huddled under our towels all day, but it was still very relaxing to sit and not walk or carry our packs. (I am sure you will hear a lot about those packs from both of us. The advice of "pack everything you think you'll need and get rid of half" is great, follow it if you ever travel!) There were a couple of sunbreaks and I swam. And we also built a sand-castle and a sand-fish with shells for scales so we could stay warm. Yesterday afternoon while we waited for the train, I drug Amy around Rome and made her look at the Collesseum and Trevi fountain. Then we took the train from Rome to Florence and enjoyed the beautiful Italian countryside. When we got to Florence we found our very awesome guesthouse just a block from the Duomo. The girl who runs it is named Falina and is a perfectly cute little italian girl of course! Our room is bright and sunny (or it was yesterday before it was raining at least) and looks over one building to the duomo. And there are two terraces for the house that have panoramic views to the whole city. There is cool artwork all over the walls. and a street performer played violin all evening on the corner downstairs. I love it! After we got settled in we walked down to a piazza for dinner where Falina recommended. It is kind of out of the way and sheltered from the main touristy areas. Our cute blonde waitress spoke perfect English with an American accent so when we went in to pay our bill I had to ask how she ended up working at a restraunt in Italy. It turns out that she went to Europe last year on vacation. She was in Florence for two days and went to the restraunt for dinner where she now works. The owner asked her out on a date. And another one. Then after her trip to Europe was over she went back to Florence, and seven weeks later he proposed. So she went back to San Diego, sold her house and her cars and moved to Florence. Hehe, don't let that worry you though. I will make sure to bring Amy home with me! On our way back from dinner we stopped in a million shops, amy bought a purse to make up for the historical monuments I made her look at, and we stopped for gelato. We are soo predictable! This morning we got up and had coffee and croissants at the cafe across the street which was bustling with italians, strange for florence. More to follow...Love you all!