A Home Away from Home

For both of us, staying with Jamie and her family was a relief, not only for me for the company of a fellow Buffalonian, but also for John, for the company of the Irish descent. Also, having pancakes and other American breakfast foods helped!

While my parents were dying to talk to me, I found out only moments later that who they really wanted to talk to was Jamie, and that was why they were so keen to skype us all the time (something they didn't do for most of the trip! haha jk mom and dad...sort of).

Fortunately for Roberto, the presence of John and I apparently spurred his wife's cooking abilities more so than they had experienced in a long time. Every night he would look at the food on the table with shock and awe, exclaiming that this was more food than he had seen in a week! Now, we both understood that this was heavy sarcasm, but I doubt many people would have, since no one in the family denied these claims.

When we went into the city of Firenze (Florence) we were able to, between two days, make it to see the Duomo, the Medici exhibit, a Da Vinci exhibit and the Uffizi and Academia museums (the Academia holds Michelangelo's statue of David). All of these places were beautiful, as well as interesting.

Funny story: we bumped into our friends from the Barcelona hostel! No, it wasn't in a museum, or on a busy street. We bumped into them in a tiny off-street corner of a market, and only by John's good vision did we spot them at all! We tried to work out the odds but all we can say is that it was very strange indeed and that the odds are astronomical!

We took an excursion to Pisa, which is a lot like Segovia. There are three things to see. Only difference is, the three things are right next to each other in Pisa. No no, not like a two minute walk, not even a 30 second walk. They are about a 5 second walk from each other and you can fit all three into one picture.

We spent our 3 year anniversary in Siena, a beautiful little area which surprisingly was lacking in the typical tourist groups and street vendors trying to sell you anything from jewelery to bouncy balls. It was a relief from the normal cities we were used to!