Italia

How incredibly wonderful it is to be exploring such a beautiful place with my best buddy at last! To begin at the beginning, though, the last night I spent in a hostel was probably my most uncomfortable one yet. I arrived to Romes central train-bus station at about 11 pm after a long day of transit to darkness and rain. I've heard so many bad things about Italian men in particular that I was very hesitant to stop and ask for directions, and besides this, the vast majority of people you meet dont speak any English at all. I wandered around a while and after an hour or so of walking in the rain I arrived at my hostel to find out that they had overbooked the rooms and so I sat in the "lobby" (a couple of gross old couches next to the two beds that the Indian dudes who run the place sleep in at night, seperated from the rest of the hostel by only a couple of shower curtains) while they juggled people around to find me a spot. They eventually solved the problem and I got my bed and took a shower after I realized that the 24 people to a shower ratio would lead to a long line in the morning if I were to wait. The guy running the hostel spent over an hour standing in the big window of the room I was in, arguing with his girlfriend and keeping everyone awake. Oi vey. I eventually fell asleep, thinking that the next two weeks would be so far from this sort of reality and that comfort was around the corner. The next morning I made my way to the hotel where I was to meet mom and checked in and was completly elated to see her not long after my arrival. It's so wonderful to be able to share this experience with her! We spent the first two days exploring Rome, which is just as lucious as a city could be. The air itself feels thick and juicy... the huge palm trees and enormous old houses and of course the ancient center with the Pantheon, Colloseum, etc, etc... just amazing. We walked till we could walk no more and ate good food and drank fantastic coffee... wonderful. After our two days in Rome we took a train ride north to Florence where we rented a car and got ridiculously lost trying to find our way into Tuscany, where we have been the last two days. The scenery here is exactly what I had imagined it to be, with huge old vineyards and tall cyprus trees and winding roads. We're pleasantly suprised, as well, to see that there are almost no chains of any kind here. No huge hotels or McDonalds or anything of the sort. The beauty is in what this place is and also what it is not. We've been staying in San Giminiano, a walled midevial city atop a tall hill, with incredible panoramic views and perfectly preserved historical buildings. There are really too many details to even write about, so I'll just say that the trip has been a dream come true thus far and it's more beautiful than I ever imagined it could be. It's great to have a travel companion and it's great to be getting out into the far out places that having a car allows one to see. Fantastically wonderfully beautifully grand. That's it in a nut shell. I'll leave it at that.