FLORENCE.

im sitting here in my florence hotel room listening to a thunder and rain storm outside. the wind is blowing through the window, making the orange curtains dance, and the rainfall is so heavy i can hear it over jack johnson's melodious voice :) 

florence has been so full of exploring, l o n g walks and too many scoops of gelato to keep track of. weve been here now since tuesday and everyday has held new art, new streets, and new discoveries.  weve seen some amazing and famous art..including the birth of venus, the sixteen foot statue of david, and some of the most gorgeous and powerful architecture i have ever seen. one afternoon we walked up to a hill with a cathedral and a view of all of florence. no words can explain how beautiful it was. you could see all the cathedrals, the dome, the canal and bridges, and all the streets and alleys in between.  we sat and read some poetry for our literature class.. including Up at the Villa- Down in the City by Browning, it talked all about the city and the villas to our left. we listened as we looked out and saw first hand what the poet so beautifully put into words. weve been talking about the power of a word verse the power of an image and it was a really cool experience reading something and at the same time seeing what inspired the words. 

this past saturday was a free day so we decided to use one of our free travel passes and go to cingue terre! but instead of sticking to the plan of leaving early in the morning..me kristin sean and scott spontaneously decided to leave friday night and get the most use out of our euro pass..we ran to the train station, picked a random town called pistoia, hopped on the train and hoped for the best.  it was pretty sketch at first but we found a huge local hangout hidden in the back streets of the town..we hung-out for a while then found this perfect empty square with a bell tower and cathedral. we sat on the steps for hours, talking, listening to scott play guitar, watching locals pass by, and dozing off a little.  eventually by the early morning we took the train and made it to cinque -terre, which proved to be the most beautiful city in italy. its a group of five little cities along the west coast of italy.  theres a hiking trail along the cost that takes you from city to city.  it was so beautiful. the best view ive seen in europe yet.  the ocean was SO blue and the cities looked like they were out of a story book.  everything was just so serene and natural.  we stopped at the second city after about an hour and a half of hiking and we got into the chilled blue water and found some huge rocks to jump off of! it was perfect. me and kristin were hiking buddies and we ended up going about five miles and then took the train the rest of the way..and finally made it back to florence and crashed..i slept a good twelve hours..definitely the longest night of sleep so far in europe.

florence has been a perfect place to wander..the next morning, on sunday, i left the hotel and wandered on my own for hours..it was the perfect time to reflect on the past couple of days, get some coffee and a croissant,  have some devotion time, sit and sketch, and just be independent and spontaneous. i got kinda lost a couple of times but i found my way back eventually.

tonight is the last night here and then were off to rome tomorrow. im excited to see and explore rome although im starting to realize i may not be cut out for this type of traveling. its hard to just start feeling settled somewhere and then be up-rooted again and onto a new place.  but i am so thankful and blessed to be able to do this and im trying to take in everyday and be flexible and open to constant change! and paris will be all the better when we get to settle for two months! 

well were going to have to see what the wifi situation is in rome but ill be updating soon im sure. miss you all very much! ciao.