Lazy day

Okay, I'm back in London, and as cash is short, I won't be up to much for the next week. I thought I'd fill you in on current events and also recap some of the stuff I didn't have time to talk about before. So with almost no money, today will be spent on the internet, doing laundry and buying groceries. Hopefully that takes up most of the day, and whatever is left will be spend reading some books I suppose. Here at my hostel I am on the fourth floor, which here really means the fifth!!! It's like they don't count the first one or something. LOTS of stairs!! Just when I thought I had escaped so many stairs on my travels. Being on the top floor means that the hallways are weird, really weird. They wind, there are little sections that involve going up and down more stiars, there are random windows like skylights everywhere, and the bathrooms are in the most abstract places ever and the doors aren't labelled as such. Crazy Londoners and their "make absolutely no sense" designs. I think I got close to 10 hours of sleep last night, which is good considering I was averaging about five or less a night with Contiki. Lots more sleep for me tonight too.

I don't think I told you all enough about Florence, it was one of my favourite places and we were only there for a day. Even though I didn't get to go into the Duomo, I got to see it and take pics and climb the bell tower (the line was too long to climb the dome). The view from the top was more than worth the more than 400 steps I had to climb. Anyone else watch the movie Silence of the Lambs?? You know the drawing in his cell that Clarice comments on, wondering how he drew it all from memory and he replies that memory is all he has. The drawing is of the Duomo as seen from some Palaza or other, and I got a very similar view. It was so cool!! Anyways, before we got free time to do stuff like climb the bell tower and shop, we went on a small guided tour of the city. Our Florentine guide was very funny. He kept making jokes about the dangerous nature of Florentine women. They want money and gifts and are never satisfied and the like. There's this whole elabortate 1km long hallway going over one part of the city that was made entirely on the whim of one of the Medici family women who was above travelling such a distance in view of the common folk. Craziness! Apparently, when Florence was in a bad time, people starving and the like, the Florentine women used to lure men back to their homes and then proceeded to murder and eat them!! Our tour guide was seriously worried about the women there. He said that now, if men pick up Florentine women, they first take them out to a big dinner to make sure they are full, and even then remain wary. Lol, it was so great. With the tour we got to see an exact replica of the Statue of David (the real one had been moved and kept in a safer, more preserving place) in the place where it originally stood. Ever wondered why David's hands and head were so out of proportion with the rest of his body? It is because Michelangelo wanted to represent the strengh of the Florentines, which came from their abilities with thier hands and their abilities to use to their heads. David was made to look mature and capable to reflect the highest values of the people. Traditionaly, David was a child. So cool!! I never knew all that. I also got pics of the statues of Da Vinci, Rafael and Galileo (they are like portraits, so neat). There was much rivalry between Da Vinci and Rafael, Da Vinci lived to be 89 at a time when most people didn't live past their forties, and Rafael died in his 30's. The funny explanation for this is that Da Vinci didn't have any girlfriends and Rafael had too many! Our tour guide was really digging on the women in his tour, but it was funny.

Okay, more to come soon, but I'd better get out and buy some food and get change to do laundry. Miss you all, see you very soon!

Hugs, Mel
PS-the craziness of contiki has finally cought up to me. I'm a little sick. I have a cough as a result of my chest being so congested...pretty icky actually. Here's hoping I can rest up and be better before I come home.