Deaf Elephants...

No longer sleepless in Italy...it is a beautiful thing. Last night was officially the first night we did not wake up in the middle of the night. I was so proud of Chris for staying asleep because that meant I got to sleep! Before I continue, I realize Chris has left out some major details about the culture in Italy. This info is important to fully understand what life is like here. Okay first people do not drive cars here (news to me) they drive mopeds and ride bicycles (bicycles at night with a headlight is quite humorus!) So you have to keep looking forward because you could get ran over by a bicyclist flying down a hill that is not going to move for you. Second thing if people do drive a car here they absolutely love to use their horn. There is a constant honking sound in the distance, it is quite funny. I would think they have to replace their horn every few weeks or so. Last but certainly not least...most people here walk around with a trail of smoke following them. Yes that is cigarette smoke, I have never seen anything like it, I am sure to have a few cigarette burns by the end of this trip. Okay on to the good stuff...
We woke up today full of enerergy and ready to experience our first train ride to another city. We trucked to the train station around 7am. We were early, so we were strolling around, trying to avoid the clouds of smoke, when we see our train. We are feeling pretty good, all is going smooth. We hop on our train, never looking closely at our train ticket. We see this cozy area to sit in when we hear a lady say she thinks we are in her seats. Who knew there we assigned seating on the train. We then look at our tickets to discover we are supposed to be on cart #154 and currently we are on like 170something. We look at our watch and realized if we hop off this train we just might not make it back on b/c this thing is pulling away any second. So we did what anyone else would do....we ran for it. Yes backpacks and all (thanks Chunk and Matt)...sprinted down what seemed like a mile to make it on just as the doors closed. SHEEWWW!
So we made it to Florence...found our hostel got checked in and dropped off our backpacks then decided we wanted to go to Pisa today. So back to the train station we go. We find our train and sit down. The next thing we know there is this kid passing out calendars. He gave one to Chris and I briefly looked at it...I will repeat briefly. The only part of the back I read was "I am deaf" I knew the front had a picture of an elephant (the calendar part). So I quickly put 2 and 2 together. Awee this poor elephant is deaf, and he is trying to raise money to support these animals. Once I said this outloud to Chris I realized that was not right. He busted a gut laughing and just kept repeating "Ohh I wish Matt Reagan was here!" So apparently the elephant was not deaf, but the boy was...I dont know. All I know is Sarah Reagan would have agreed with me right!?
We arrive in Pisa. A quaint town. We walked to the leaning tower of Pisa...soo stinkin cool. It is so funny to see a tall building leaning while all the other ones around are straight. Chris and I had a ton of fun here at the tower taking funny pictures. About 30 pictures later we walked over to this grassy area and here Chris decided to take a mini photo shoot of me in this grassy area. Okay I love photo shoots and all, but right now I have greasy hair & the same clothes I have been in all week....not ready for a photo shoot. But we laughed about it later! The wall that used to be around Pisa is still partially there. The wall was very ancient looking...many tall archs...and holes. There was not that much more to see here except a few cathedral that cost euros and we are running out fast! We figured we saw St. Peters Cathedral yesterday...were good!
We hike back to the train station and make our way back to Florence. We headed to our hostel to drop some things off and then head to dinner. When we got to our hostel there were like 8 girls staying in the other room there. We started chatting with them. A few of them were from Cali so we chatted with them about our upcoming adventure. They told us about this cool place to go...they told us the name, but all we remember is beaches! We are going to go there but we are not sure when. We chatted with them for about 45 mintues or so and then headed to dinner. Chris always asks me what I am in the mood for dinner...I never really know how to respond to that questions because they only have pasta, pizza and bread here. So...we ended up at a buffet imagine that. There was this place that had a happy hour buffet and a drink were only 6 euros. WOW! We marched right in there and tried to find the catch, but thankfully there was not one. We ate a little pasta..a little bit of pizza..peanuts...this mix of something I am not really sure what is was but we see people eating it before a meal, sandwiches (they only contained tomatoes and mozarella cheese...I think one had a meat)...and the best part the dessert. They have these cresents that are amazing...they taste like a cresent with icing and a little hint of butter...some are filled with vanilla others with jam. Ohh so good!
So that brings you up to now. Currently Chris and I are sitting well...I am not sure where. Dont worry mom it is not a dark alley there are some street lights! We are typing....breathing in the fresh smell of smoke...and listening to the sounds of mopeds and foreign languages...its GREAT!! No really it is so cool. Yes we did find WIFI which means we have pictures posted on facebook. If you are not sure what facebook is ask someone...the younger crowd will know!
Ohh...Chris is taking after my showering technique (which is about every other day). He has not showered since Saturday morning. I am so proud!!! Like husband like wife.
We are not sure if we are staying in Florence tomorrow night or heading somewhere else. We will let you know. We love you all so much and we are very excited to come back and share pictures and stories with you. We absolutely love reading your comments, keep them coming!
Much love
Chris and Lynz :)