Stepping back in time...

Rome and Florence were two great cities to see what ancient Italy was like. Especially Florence. Florence felt like a movie set for a Renaissance film. The streets were extremely old and most were just huge stones put together like a puzzle. The river that runs through Florence has these old bridges from Renaissance times that seem like they are falling apart but have been around forever, so they probably will never. Honestly, Florence was cool but Josh and I agreed that it didnt really feel like all the amazingness that it was cracked up to be. Everyone says that Florence is one of the top places to go in Italy, but I would go to the Cinque Terre or Venice before Florence. Maybe it was not as exciting because we had really crappy weather for one of the 2 days, and also coming from Rome, we were dead as dogs. So we kind of wandered around aimlessly. We did see all the great sites such as the Duomo and the Uffizi Gallery (which has one of the best or may be even the best collection of Renaissance and Florence art). Not gonna lie, the hostel was probably one of the best parts about Florence. It was the BEST hostel we have stayed in thus far- it was basically a hotel. The room was really spacious and we had our own terrace. Each bed had its own light and outlet. There was even a pool, sauna, turkish bath, restaurant, bar, terrace bar, and pool/ping pong tables area! It was definitly awesome, and we wish we could have stayed there longer! We met these sweet Aussie's that we hung out with all night and played some pool. It was cool to exchange cultural differences. So I guess the rumor is wrong- Kangaroos arent just running around like crazy through everyone's backyards. Yesterday we took an afternoon train from Florence, and we arrived in Venice around 5:30. Venice was impressive from the very first view of the train window. It is as beautiful and wonderful as everyone says it is supposed to be. If you can get over the smell from the canals, and the flocks of tourists everywhere, it definitly is a beautiful place to be. There are canals everywhere you look, and more bridges than I have seen in my life! We were so wiped yesterday that we did not do much in Venice last night (except get gelatto :) ), but after we get ready this morning, we are going to explore Venice for the day. We have a night train to Salzburg in which we will get there at 4 tomorrow morning. We are really proud of ourselves because we went to the grocery store and bought food for 6 meals and it only costed us 11 euros!! It is so nice when the hostels have kitchens because we just cook our meals. Last night we had pasta and corn and the total of the whole meal for josh and I together came to 2.60 euros! Crazy..right? Well Josh and I are going to walk around the canals so ttyl!
-k