ok, some weird things about europe. you have to pay for everything. no, i mean, you have to pay for EVERYTHING. want some water while you're having dinner? that'll be about €4. what's that? tap water? nice try... oh, and you'd better ask for still water or else you're going to get the bubbly kind. which is fine if you're sitting down at a restaurant, but even the vending machines sell mostly sparkling water. it sucks when you're super thirsty and start chugging water that you think is flat... and it's not.

that's not all though. need to take a piss at the train station in rome? you better have 60 cents on you. need a plastic cup for that wine you're going to drink at the hostel? 20 cents. how about a packet of ketchup? 10 cents. i'm surprised they don't charge extra for napkins.

and now for something completely different... italy really needs to invest in toilet seats.

let's see, what else...

ah, yes, street names. silly me. when i got here i assumed that if you find a street, that if you go straight on that street, that you continue to BE on that street. of course, this is not true. in most places in europe, the street names change all the time. sometimes every block. sometimes they go away and come back. sometimes they turn without telling you. it gets a little frustrating, to say the least.

what about street numbers? right. again, i had this crazy idea that numbers would be sort of like at home. you know, odds on one side, evens on the other. not quite. some places have numbers go up on one side, and down on the other. ok. that's a little different, but at least it's a system. some places have numbers that change with every new street name. some have numbers that continue on, even though the street names change every block. one city, venice, has a lovely system of putting groups of numbers wherever the hell it feels like, so as to give you a false sense that you actually are starting to understand what the fuck is going on, only to shatter that hope upon the realization that the numbers just jumped from 2000 to 1400 for no apparent reason.

italian men wear red shoes....

if you come to europe for 2 months, you WILL be beaten into submission by the constant barrage of mcdonald's at least once. shortly thereafter, you will feel both comfortably satisfied, yet at the same time thoroughly disgusted.

when you're on a budget, it's amazing how cool the free things are, and how overpriced and unsatisfying the expensive sights are.

most of the time i have no idea what the date is or what day of the week it is.

lastly, toursits are really fucking annoying.

anyway, as for my trip... florence was awesome. it is really really beautiful, and i found some great cheap wine. gotta love tuscany. i saw the major piazzas and churches and all that kind of stuff, but i refused to pay €8 for the uffizzi gallery or €6 to walk around boboli gardens in october. instead, i walked up the hillside, behind the gardens, up a some super narrow back roads. it was the perfect day for a random walk. plus, no tourists. bonus. after a while i went over to fort belvedere to get a view of the city. i showed my youth card, and asked for a ticket. the woman looked at me and said, "i have special price for you -- free." i looked at her strange, and then decided to take my ticket quickly and quietly. so that worked out quite well...

on saturday i left florence and came to rome. which is where i am now until tomorrow (tuesday, i think...). rome is unlike anything i've seen. all the ruins and stuff is totally crazy. jesus christ, there are buildings that were around before people were able to swear by saying "jesus christ!" i'd tell you all about the pantheon, trevi fountain, etc., but i have pictures and you'll all see them. ultimately though, rome rocks. except the metro. it's definitely the most ghetto out of any metro i've been on.

so... time for me to go on a pub crawl. €15 for a bowl of spaghetti, 4 beers, and 4 shots at 4 different pubs in one hour. sweet. peace out.