So I went on the train to Venice yesterday. WOW!!!! Something to add to my list of the hardest things I've had to in my life: leaving Venice. That city was actually magical. I felt like I was in a dream world all day long. I think if I were to do anything different if I were to go back to venice, I would choose to go at a much less touristy time of year. That's all. And yes, I rode a gondola!!! The public transit is a system of all boats. I've never seen anything like it in my life. I feel like I don't even have adequate thoughts to put towards the whole experience, it's just beyond human comprehension, and yet people live there. Our gondola driver was born and raised in Venice. Can you imagine?

I stayed in a beautiful hostel there on an island. I arrived at night, and it was a beatiful walk through the city to our transit boat to get to the island. I woke up really early with my roomate Farah and we went with a few others up a church tower, took our time walking along the street, enjoying the smell of the sea, and the waves crashing on the buildings. We walked to the market, and wandered around. Then we made our way to a local restaraunt to try a famous Venice sandwhich that the man at our hostel check-in recoomended. It was like a deep fried pasrty thing (actually like a salty elephant ear) with mozarella and anchovies inside. and yup... I ate it. And it was really good!!!

We walked around some more, took some pictures, and then we went on a Gondola ride. It was so beautiful.

At the end of the day some people got on a train to Milan, and three of us (including me) went to Florence. (I'm not so interested in over priced goods, and I don't feel the need to see Milan this time around) Now I'm sitting in my Hostel in Florence. Its an amazing HI hostel just outside of the city in the midst of a beautiful forest. You can choose to camp here or get a room. Its in an old Villa, and it has some beautiful old architecture, statues and ceiling paintings. I'm so happy to be here.

I can't stop thinking about my mom. I think about her all the time. I know she would love to see everything here. She really has a love to travelling, specifically in Europe. I would love nothing more than to show her all of these things that I have seen.

I know the last posts have been brief. I will go into more detail when I get back to Siena and I have more time. Right now I'm just travelling and it gets a bit rushed when I'm trying to see a whole city in one day and then running to catch a train to see another city the next day.

Love you all.