Ciao Bella! Dove e Krafty Kansans? Firenze! (Florence Italy for the confused souls!) Absolutely beautiful!! Just as you would picture tuscany to be. We arrived here last night but as always let me back it up before I go forward. We spent our second day in Prague just wandering around as always, seeing the sights and soaking in the culutre. It was a very beautiful city. At our hostel we made a friend, Dave from Mexico City. Yes, we actually can make friends from other countries who wont judge us just for being American. All but Tom of course. HA! jk. So we knew dave was cool right away when we asked him what he was doing tonight and he said, "I dont know what im doing in 20 minutes!" Then later on after a couple of bottles of wine, he said, "What are you guys doing tomorrow?" We said going to Venice, and he says, Im comming with you!! So that he did. We are still hanging out today and he will most likely join us in Rome. He is also a graphic designer, so it has been refreshing to share similar interests with someone from another culture. Since spanish and italian are fairly similar he has also been a huge help in getting us around town. So Thursday night we took our first overnight train to Venice. It was quite the experience. We left Prague around 5 (Liz Jessy Dave and I wandered around the Castle and St. Vincents Cathedral in the afternoon, while Tom and Phil explored the Jewish Quarter.) We took a train to a small town in the Czech Rep. and then had to jump on a bus for a 20 min ride to the station we needed to be at for the night train. Dont ask how we knew to do that, I think it was pure luck really. So we get to the night train about 830, hadnt eaten since lunch, and were expecting to get some dinner on the train. well we were wrong, sort of. Everyone was expecting the sxame we had and the lady that worked the train we were sleeping in was very crabby and spoke little english. and by little i mean, she knew BREAKFAST! TICKET? Coffee or Tea!?!? she yelled each of those three words, and god forbit you ask for any mini frittas, because she ran out very quickly. So the night train was an experince, we all survived and quickly forgot that it wasnt the greatest once we arrived in Venice around 9 am. We were blown away. Just started wandering and quickly figured out that we should walk to the San Marco Cathedral. Well there isnt really one straight road in venice to get there so we winded through about 2 hours of different little canals until we finally found the gondelas. As phil has been saying the whole trip... When in Rome... so we took advantage, or should I say got taken advantage of. Of course it wasnt until after venice that I read the Europe guide book we have about how much stuff should cost in Italy, we wound up paying 150 euro for about a half hour gondela ride when supposedly it should have been 75-100 euro for 50 mins. Anyway we still viewed the experience as priceless, so we werent too upset about it all. You will also be glad to know I took away some facts from the ride. I am not always 100% acurate with my facts so i could be off a little, but i tried to remember what he was saying. Here is what we learned: Andre was our guide, he lived there all his life. There are 450 gondelas in Venice all owned by the same company. There are about 70,000 people that live in the city. The smaller canals are about a meter deep, while the main ones range anywhere from 10-15 meters and the largest one at about 30 meters deep, and thats all i think i can remember. So after the boat ride we finally found the main square and the main canal, i will hopefully be able to post some pics. Then around 4 took the train to Florence (Firenze as they call it here). Last week while booking places to stay we stumbled upon a campsite in the heart of the City called Camp Michelangelo. We got there around 9 and it is fab!! Overlooks the city, and its a great social hangout place. In fact we love it so much we decided to camp in Rome as well. Its very nice tents with cots and clean sheets for only 15 euro per person per night. (two people to a tent). After finally hitting up the showers last night (badly needed after the night train and walking around venice all day) We headed to the social area which is surrounded completely by flowers (most beautiful aroma) and great hangout to meet other travelers. Since we were in Prague the night before we had brought with us a bottle of Absenth. Needless to say we were the hit of the party and it turned out to be a very fun night!! Tonight Italy plays USA in the World Cup so its me, david and the entire country versus the rest of the group. Tom, who is an extremely competitive person, and has put his $5 on USA already has accepted his defeat as of yesterday. While at lunch he said, "We (the US) will probably get our ass kicked". I was surprised that he had said that, but know that is ultimately the fate of the team, especially if they make a showing like they did vs. the Czech republic. Anyway it will be really fun to see italy play while here. Everyone is SOOO into futbol its really fun to see all the fan support. more than anything ive ever seen in America. Tomorrow we leave for Rome, ive heard its only a 2 hour train ride there so that should be nice. The trip really is blowing by very very quickly, before we know it we will be in Barcelona, I could spend an entire month in this country alone, I feel very at home and am surprised at how well the pronunciation comes to me while reading different signs, and knowing how to talk to people and get around. (Dave has also been a big help). We all had a lot of fun last night talking with people from our campsite, each from a different country, Jessy practiced her French with a little less hesitation than when she was in Paris, Phil butchered his German to a guy named Garrett from Berlin, and Liz pretended to know Spanish while talking with David and Manuel from Madrid. (jk liz-- she actually does know quite a bit of spanish, and it is much easier to learn when your in an enviroment like ours hanging out and just kicking back! Well i think that about does it for the updates today. I am going to upload some photos and they will most likely backtrack to Germany since last time we only uploaded pics from Jessys camera. The photos arent as organized as I would like, however with all the time restrictions and various internet speeds, its not the easiest thing in the world to accomplish so I am sure you all understand. Ultimately I know you all just want to see our ugly mugs, so mission accomplished. Love you all and talk to you real soon!! Maria