5.24.07 Wrap up - Florence

It's around three in the afternoon, and I've been logging these details down so rapidly that I most likely won't be able to read anything once I need to transcribe it somewhere else. No worries. This hostel is extravagant compared to the past few places we've been. The window is slowly closing, but I'm fine with that now. I ate the last of my granola about an hour ago with warm milk out of a flimsy plate. Anything for cereal. It's time to put the pen down for a bit, so I can have more to write about soon. From here we're headed to Venice, Salzburg, and Munich tentatively, but there's no really no telling where we'll be in a few days.

5.25.07 Early morning entry:
New day, next day. In a dream a kid named Brian helped me get home from a drunken frenzy of faces. He let me use his phone to call a drunken old lady who, five minutes later, screeched up to the curb. A permed blue shock of hair was the only thing visible over the steering wheel. She raced back to my house in Las Vegas where my family was up at 2 A.M. playing Nintendo. They told me to suit up. My beard started dripping on the carpet, and I had to clean it up.

Strange ambulance wails, diesel fumes, and bits of Italian are ripping through my head. Green tinted slashes of light sting my face, performing an interrogation on my unconscious. My head might have been prodded, experimented on, and sewn up last night by two mischievous, and exceptionally well-dressed Italians while I slept. I'll have to make sure and close the window tonight.

Later:
Exploring Florence has been relaxing. Our first chance for a rest since we left Chicago. I wouldn't have it any other way. We wandered and drifted and saw the replica David, which was good enough for both Derek and I. After lunch we made our way up to The Dome. 400+ steps later on the top we enjoyed a full 360 degree view of the city, and I remember thinking that every city should have a spot like this where it can be fully appreciated, and looked upon.

We were only scheduled for one night in Florence, but we made arrangements to stay an extra day. There was something magical about the city. We took our time soaking in the evening out on the back porch of the hostel, staring at the Dome in the distance against a darkening sky. In the morning we were off to Venice.