This morning we woke up early & packed up - probably making way more noise than our roommates would have liked. Said goodbye to them & headed to the train station to go to Florence. Shortest train ride yet, too ... only 3 hours! .. oh wait ... the Eurostar from London to Paris was about that too I think. Anywhoo ... arrived at about 11:30 ... we had gone to all the trouble over the weekend of booking a hostel here b/c we'd heard it was busy right now & space was limited from another girl who had been trying. But talking to the Kiwi couple last nite, they suggested this camping site here in Florence (or Firenze as they say here). It sounded neat so we decided to just not show up to the hostel (we hadn't given any credit card # or anything) & check out the campsite they liked. Now we didn't bring any camping gear, but this site is great b/c we can rent a 2 person tent that's all set up w/ two cots in it & b/c we're staying 3 nites, we get a deal where it's only 10 Euros a nite each. Now we don't have all the ammenities of a hostel (no bathroom just across the hall or anything), but considering we're paying 10 Euros less a nite than usual I'm happy! It's w/in walking distance of the city & it's up on a hillside so that from their bar's patio, you can overlook the city! Orange rooftops for miles!!! Very cool. And this afternoon we've basically spent time walking around (we seem to do that in the afternoons each time we get into a city ... just to get our bearings & it's sorta' low-key in that there's no specific place or time to be anywhere) ... we walked along the river at the bottom of the hill & walked over Ponte Vecchio which is the oldest bridge in the city & it's lined w/ shops that at one point were butcher & leather shops. But some king or somebody important decided it was too noisy & the butchers,etc should be replaced w/ goldsmiths. So the whole bridge is covered w/ 50 something jewelery shops - every one of them side by side ... it's hilarious! Another one of my sweeping overall observations, Europe = Alcohol sold on the side of the road & you drink wherever you please. We stopped at a food stand today & Geo & I were thinking how we should be able to get beers at the chip stands at home & drink wherever. It's great - every panini, pizza, lunch stand (which are all over - kinda like our chip trucks) sells beer. Oooooh! And I bargained for the first time in my life today. My sunglasses finally broke ... the frame had a big crack in it for the last week. So I stopped by someguy's little temp. table that he had set up & was checking out the Foakleys (fake Oakleys for anyone not familiar w/ the term). But the guy wanted 20 Euros & there is no way I am paying over 30$CAD for some shades from a guy on the sidewalk ... so I bargained him down to 12 Euros ... I was so proud of myself ... I've never bargained before! He didn't really wanna let them go for 12 but he was eager to make the sell cuz I think a cop was coming cuz all the other guys selling were starting to fold up their racks of glasses & book it out of there! On the way back up the hill toward our campsite, we were strolling along when all of a sudden this guy wakled out from the bushes - a little, short, chubby guy - totally naked! We saw him out of the corner of our eyes & I whispered to Geo "He's naked right?" ... "Yup!!!" ... and all we could do was laugh b/c he didn't do anything, just stood there buck naked. Interesting ... I've never come across a flasher before. Bought a cheap bottle of wine (wine is like water over here - it's cheap & everywhere). Sat on the patio eating our dinner & drinking wine & playing cards. Met a guy from the US who joined us at our table & chatted w/ us & taught us to play Rhummy. 
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