2nd to LAST. . .

A quick sum up of missing details, cities, and last minute adventures:

Cinque Terre is a place on the Italian Riviera comprised of 5 (cinque) towns (terre) all walking (at times hiking) distance from one another. It's far from tourists and big city lights, and it's on the coast of the Mediterranean. Wow, this hidden paradise is beautiful! We worked up a sweat hiking between the cities, ate pizza at a café on the water, and even suffered a temporary lapse of sanity when we went swimming in the Mediterranean (the locals even made their way to the sea wall to watch the madness..) haha. It was a beautiful day and I wish I could have spent more time there... aww, someday. :)

The Leaning Tower of Pisa was the only thing we spent time seeing there. We took a train to Pisa, walked a good mile or two to the tower, took a bunch of typical tourist pictures in front of it... you know - the ones of us leaning to the side, or positioning the camera so it looked like we were balancing the tower up with our hands.... ya, real clever - and then we got back on the train and went home. There was a beautiful Duomo - church... but we didnt go inside. I think we were all ready to be home (aka, hostel) that day... but we got the pictures we came for.

My first impression of Venice was no bueno. It was FLOODED! Literally, flooded... However, for the first time on the trip, my sandals proved to be the brightest idea!! Everyone else had to fork over €20 for rain boots or suffer through the "squish squash" of their wet, cold shoes all day long. But not me! ... I rolled up my jeans, took off my sandals, crossed my fingers, and prayed I wouldnt contract a water-born disease as I trampled through 12" of water. Saint Marco's square, the one with all the pigeons - or the place on that diamond commercial of the husband and wife where he's screaming "I love this woman!" - was an easy foot and a half deep. Planks were set up to walk on - and others bought the flashy plastic rainboots that went all the way up their legs as they treaded water. Christina and I were sad it wasn't at all how we pictured our first trip to Venice and retired to a little pizzeria where we sat and talked for a long while. But alas, when we emerged from lunch... it was dry! The tide had gone back down! HALLELUJAH! So we rushed back to Saint Marco's Square and fed the pigeons. :) We took some great pictures and footage of them climbing all over us... I know it must be time to cut my hair as the birds couldnt stay out of it - it seriously looked like a birds nest when they were done.... sick sick sick. Finally we took a water bus back to the train station... What an excellent day it turned out to be! I saved a Gondola ride for a more romantic visit when im not too cheap to cough up the €65 they wanted for it. Seriously, if you guys have never been or want to go back.. I advise making arrangements in the NEAR future as this place may not be around for long. The flooding gets worse and worse. They're doing what they can... but there's no guarantee they can preserve it. So sad.

Napoli was a scary city.... not too clean. But it's known for being the first place to serve pizza... so we found an old pizzeria, the 2nd one in Naples, and ate some delicious pizza. Which, by the way, pizza here is nothing like pizza in the states. Concept is the same, but the bread is super thin here and it tastes much different - still good, but different. I think Italians must die a thousand deaths when they order Dominoes in the US.

MTV European Music Awards 2004:ROMA - Oh ya, that's right.... Hoobastank, The Cure, and lots of other strange bands performed on stage, in front of the COLOSSEUM on Thursday night!!! I hope the footage gets played in the US. I, along with tens of thousands of other fans, gathered in the streets and joined in the insanity as we cheered them on. The Cure especially was Awesome! Except, I never realized how creepy looking the lead singer is... anyway..

Hostel via Roma: FREEZING! Let's just say it used to be used as military barracks... it's cold, cold, cold. Cold showers, cold rooms, and long, dark, cold hallways... my bed is sounding better and better. I was alone in the gigantic bathroom, when I had an epiphany. (Please keep reading... it's not as bad as it sounds.) I realized I had been balancing myself against the sink behind me, running my feet under luke warm water in the sink in front of me... for a good 10 MINUTES.....and it hit me, I was loving it! I started to worry about myself, so i turned off the water and went to bed... but I realize I've adapted to odd and unusual levels of cleanliness, hygeine, and natural highs... Scary.

When I get back - Jacuzzi, here I come!

On that note... I have to go finish packing my bags to leave for a HOTEL tonight.. where some of my closest friends on this trip plan to spend our last night - warm, happy, and extremely emotional - all together.

I have one more post coming....

Love, love, love,

Melody