Florence

Today we hopped on a train bound for Florence and ended up in a very Harry-Potter-looking kind of car. When a porter came by with a cart of snacks, I resisted the terrible urge to ask for a chocolate frog.

After switching trains, getting lunch (the pasta was not nearly as good as grandma's), and a long walk we ended up at the Galleria Dell Uffizi where we saw famous works such as the Primavera (pictured) and The Birth of Venus. Yet one can only look at so many depictions of the blessed Virgin Mary. (I think I'll be counting them in my sleep tonight.) To break the monotony, Sayre pulled out pages from Rick Steves' (or "Ricky" as we now affectionately call him) guide book and began reading aloud. Here's a brief excerpt from the part describing Primavera, "The Graces may be symbolic of the three form of love- love of beauty, love of people, and sexual love suggested by the raised intertwined fingers. (They forgot love of peanut-butter-on-toast.) " Ricky also took time to mock some of the earlier works, especially the experiments in perspective and some really awkward looking toes. After a quick gelato break, we went to La Academia Museo to see David. 'Nough said.

We spent some time shopping at a flea market and then I had a Big Mac for dinner. It was at this swankiest of McDonalds that I had one of my few positive interactions with an Italian person (meaning, they weren't yelling at me, hitting on me, pushing me, asking me for money, or looking at me like I'm crazy.)

Surprisingly enough, we managed to deftly navigate both the street signs and the train schedules for the majority of the day. ("We" meaning Sayre and Jaclyn.) I took it upon myself to be vigilant while they were looking at the map (the first rule of self defense, if I remember correctly from 6th grade.)

During the long train ride home we played Ghost, and there was some controversy over how to spell "villain", a clear indication of our exhaustion. By the time we got back to the house, we were tired, grimy, and ridiculously happy...