Hello from Florence! We just arrived in Florence this evening. I've been in Rome for the past few days and Naples before that but didn't have free internet at either hotel. So far, its been a really great trip, and I've had the chance to see a lot of things. We started out taking a train down to Naples all day on Saturday. Saturday was a little rough - we woke up at 5am, the track number for our train switched 3 times before we boarded in Genoa (which involved hauling luggage up and down multiple sets of stairs), and then a carriage of our train broke and needed to be replaced, which caused us to be delayed and miss our second train. We were relieved to finally get there and our hotel was definitely worth the stress. It was a four-star hotel and was decorated very trendy and chic, and the breakfast, which was included, was absolutely amazing. However, Naples is a city I never care to visit again. The streets were filthy, the people were scary, I didn't feel safe outside of our hotel, and it was difficult to find restaurants and things to do. The only redeeming characteristic of the city was the view from the ports. From Naples, we took a day trip to Pompeii, which was really interesting. I'd highly recommend visiting Pompeii to anyone, but its probably better to do it as a day trip from Rome than from Naples...Naples was just so horrible.

On Monday morning, we headed to Rome. Rome was great and incredibly busy. There are just so many things to see there. We were able to see almost everything in just three and a half days - the Colosseum, the Forum, the Pantheon, the Vatican Museum & St. Peter's, Ara Pacis, the Trevi foutain, the Spanish Steps, the Maxxi museum, Renzo Piano's auditorium, lots of Baroque churches...and more Fascist architecture than I ever care to see again. (We wasted a whole afternoon on that unfortunately.) But I've learned about so many of the buildings and artworks in my classes that it was really exciting to actually see them in person. After Naples, I was expecting to feel unsafe in Rome also, but I was pleasantly surprised by how clean and open and comfortable the city was. I also had the best gelato of my life there. If you are ever in Rome, go to a place called Della Palma near the Pantheon for gelato. They had at least 50 flavors - like Nutella, Chocolate with Strawberries, Irish Coffee, Chocolate with Cinnamon, Kit Kat, Kiwi, and Blackberry. (After eating six different flavors on just two occasions, I discovered that Black Forest was my favorite.) Rome is definitely a place that every person needs to visit at least once in their life. I hope to go back sometime. Tomorrow we are going on a tour of Florence, and then Saturday we have a free day! I am looking forward to shopping and enjoying the city. Touring around cities all day, every day is exhausting. I also forgot to mention that our hotel here is pretty small and simple but is literally 20 meters from the Duomo. It's getting late here and our tour starts at 8:45 tomorrow morning, so I guess I should head to bed. Stay tuned for details about Florence...