So, its been a busy couple days. yesterday Jamie, myself and a few of her friends were supposed to take a train out to the mountains to have lunch and wine but due to unexpected bank issues we were unable to go. that left me the afternoon to say goodbye to Roma and do some real itinerizing for the next portion of my trip. I spent two hours in piazza santa maria watching people and finishing my book. Later that night i went on a completely unreasonable trek to the pantheon to get orgasmic gelato as my final goodbye to roma. it was totally worth it. i got dark chocolate and bananna. and mango. and melone. jealous? you should be. i think i found the best gelato place in Roma. and by found i mean my aunt and her ex boyfriend told me about it two years ago and i didnt find it till now. but damn if its not the best gelato ive ever had in my life.

oh, BY THE WAY, im super happy to finally be out of my Roma hostel. It was a really nice place and the staff were wonderful but the people staying there were so AWFUL! They were mostly older italian ladies who had no interest in being respectful or even socializing with me. I even smiled at a few of them and rarely did i get a smile back. one lady (not italian, i think hispanic), after making ungodly amounts of noise at 7am, threw open the curtains at 8:30 flooding the room with light, despite the fact that i was still sleeping. it was as if i wasnt even there. anyways.

so there was an earthquake. as im sure you all know. It hit 60miles from Roma, a 6.3 on the richter scale, and i think it was a 4 or 5 when it hit Roma. having been heavily sleeping and never knowing the experience of an earthquake before, you can bet i was surprised when i woke up and realized my dream about levetating in my bed was actually real. the entire room was shaking, beds were coming off the floor and the walls sounded like water pipes were going to explode through the walls at any second. i guess it only lasted a minute but it took a while for the building to settle back down so it felt like a long time. then i went back to sleep because in my dazed state i thought there was something wrong with the building and was going to complain in the morning. (you can laugh, that parts funny).

anyways, my condolances are with those who lost their lives, homes or family members. right now the death toll is over 100 and an estimated 50,000 people are now homeless. it was the worst earthquake since the 80s in Italia.

Apart from that im in florence now at my very young, hip, filled with wonderfully nice people (THANK YOU VERY MUCH) hostel in Florence. Its called Archi Rossi and i stayed here two years ago and had a great time. my room is fantastic and ive already made friends, some of whom are also travelling to cinque terre next and hopefully we can hike together. unfourtunatly though i heard many of the hiking trails are closed due to weather conditions (landslides i think). hopefully there will be enough open when i get there to have a full experience, it would be very dissapointing not to be able to hike the coast.

I spent today wandering around Florence, getting lost, eating, sitting in piazzas, reading and doing laundry (hoorah for clean clothes!). its monday so all the museums are closed but the churches were open, although the only one i went in was the duomo. I lit a candle and said a prayer for my mom while i was there. while the colosseum is my favorite site in the world because i feel the air there is so powerful, the duomo (for me) is the most staggering place in the world, as far as man made structures are concerned. well, maybe not the world, but certainly of all the places ive seen. it is just the most massive building ive ever seen and the detail in it is well... staggering. i could probably spend an entire day examining just the outside and still miss 30 percent of the details, or more. i can think of a few activities that would be a fun thing to pair that mission with, actually. ;)

I did get lost a few times and eventually had to rest my wearly feet back at the hostel for a few hours before heading out again. Once i did go out i headed over the ponte vecchio bridge and discovered a wonderful piazza in front of a museum where i was able to take my shoes off, stretch out... and take a nap. i also walked really far down past the piazza to try and find the entrance to the Boboi gardens, which sound beautiful and like a wonderful place to relax and read a book. well. the front enterance was nowhere to be found so i walked really far up and back around the muesum, to the river and up quite a long, steep street to find the other entrance. needless to say.... when i got to the top.... guess what else i found out is closed in florence on mondays?? it was rough because i was very tired and sweaty by the time i got up there and had to turn right around and go back down. at least i met a couple fellow backpackers (one of whom is also going to croatia, but a week later than me) who were super nice. i walked all the way back down with this girl whose name i didnt catch but it was nice to have some company for a while. it really is so nice to finally meet other travellers and actually be able to converse with them. i was with jamie every day in Roma, which was great, but i didnt meet anyone at all and even dreaded going back to my hostel by the end of my stay. im much happier now with my accomodations and have learned my lesson in choosing ex-convent, female only hostels!

i have a few pictures but im wicked tired and am about to crash out for the night so ill post them another time. tomorrow morning im waking up around 7 to try and get a ticket to the uffizi before i hop the train to Siena so im hitting the sack early. Buonanotte!