Once again, we stayed in a campground just outside the city. Pretty much the same set up as the one in Venice, except that there were a lot more families and they didn't give us sheets to use. And of course, the night before in Venice, Becky decided carrying her own sheet around was pointless and threw it out. lol But that's how it goes, I guess.

We wandered around for a bit and I had my first experience with bartering. I bought a pair of green beaded earrings at a small market near the river. We finally found the Duomo but it was closed. We took pictures of the outside, and of the golden doors.

We went back to the campground to do laundry, but the washers were full. So then we went to a restaurant to eat, and it took so long. After the waiter cleared our table, he went to the bar and had a beer! I actually had to get up and walk over there and ask him for our bill. After about five minutes, he brought it over to us and then went back to the bar. So ridiculous.

We headed back into the city after that. We were planning on meeting up with some people we met earlier, but because of the restaurant fiasco, we were too late and they weren't there anymore. Becky and I decided to stop at a bar before heading home. We sat down outside and ended up talking to a group of Italian locals. It was pretty fun. This guy Marcus was very entertaining. We hung out until the bar closed and then said our goodbyes.

On our way home, however, something bizarre happened. We were on this road and there were a few cars but no people. All of a sudden, a small white brick rolled out of the bushes. We were a little freaked, but there was no one around. So we pick up the pace, but five minutes later, I saw something white out of the corner of my eye bounce up from the ground and it hit Becky in the leg. It left a huge welt! We pretty much both had a heart attack at this point, so I grabbed her arm and we took off running. I kept looking behind us, but I never saw anything besides sidewalk and bushes.

15 minutes later, we reach the gates to our campground. We rand the bell and the night watchman came up. He didn't seem to speak very good English. We showed him our camping passes and he was like "Yes? What do you want?" This is how the conversation went:

Us: We want to come in.

Him: Why?

Us: Our tent is in there. We're camping here tonight.

Him: No, you can't.

Us: But we have the pass to get back in.

Him: No, that's to go out, only.

Us: We have a receipt. See? We paid to stay here.

Him: What is that?

Us: It's a reciept.

Him: So?

Us: You have to let us in!

So at this point a Scottish guy and girl came up and showed him their passes. He said the same thing to them. The conversation continued:

Scots: No, you see, we have a pass to get in. You have to let us in.

Him: Pass? Where are you from?

Scots: Scotland.

Us: America.

Him: Scotland? I love Scotland! You can all come in!

We were in utter disbelief. This 40-something Italian security guard had just punk'd us. lol He was unbelievable. We were on the verge of tears!

So we went to bed and got up- early the next morning to go to the Ufizzi Gallery. I picked up my towel and found a slug crawling on it! So gross! When we got to the Ufizzi Gallery and ended up waiting in line for two hours. It was pretty good, but I think we missed a big portion of it. The part with all the Boticelli and Michelangelo paintings ... so that really sucked. We ran into the two guys from Michigan that we had met in Venice again.

After that, we went back to the campground to check out. We checked our bags at the train station and headed over to the Galleria dell Academia. I have just one thing to say about that: I love David. It's the most amazing statue I've ever seen. He is so beautiful. Becky and I stood there in awe, practically drooling.

We tried to go to the Duomo again,but it was closed again! We ran into the friends we were supposed to meet up with the night before and walked around with them for a bit before heading to the train station.

What I learned from Florence:

-Even museums can be confusing. Flollow the given instructions.

-David is a beautiful statue.

-Italian boys follow the stereotype to a T.

-Don't walk in a strange town by yourself at night. (Sounds obvious, I know. But I never really bought into all that before).

-Bricks just might fall from the ground.

-The Duomo closes early.

-Always go by the time on the ticket. The destination is not always the same, but the time is generally right.

-All you need to know in Italian is "gratzi" and "no capesko" and "bella."

-The radio in my head gets more intense the longer I'm away ... and the songs get more random.

-The old man hat is totally hot.

-Campgrounds are kind of gross. Slugs, mud, cold mornings, washers that don't work ...

-Beware of the guard from Punk'd!