The night is the Night

OKay My peoples,

We are on the train. We wake up, beautiful country side. Pictures, stuff happens, we arrive. Okay, Yeah we are there. I need the computer, and I have been there before and recall an internet cafe. We go, we sit, we are thankful. Then hunger kicks in. McDonalds, of course, in Milan. That's the place. We go we order, the man is rude to Camille, just rude. Then we sit and eat. yeah, food. Then this African man in a suit, whose role I am still confused about, chats with I and Camille in Italian on the way out. I mention he is African, cause after we have taken a few steps away she realizes she knows a few words in his tongue. It would have been very cool to say goodbye in his language. But alas, no help. So we go looking for an ATM for me. Cross the street, notice that it is completely empty, feel a little weird. WE sit and gab for a few moments about cross cultural issues, and enjoy a night in Milan. We find an ATM, then head back to the station. Guess what? Stations in Europe close, and they don't let you stay inside. So we go sit in front of the station. No worries, it's in a nice neighborhood, with lots of light, and there are other people out there, cause they are waiting too. Take some photos, have some odd people stop and ask us if we need help, then finally the doors open. Oh, forgot, we took a detour, didn't want to sit in the cold the whole time and needed a bathroom, searching for hotels that would let us sit, no for most, but we found one that said yes, a blessing. So on the train, sleep. Sleep. We arrive. Yeah, we are there. Take a bus, get off at the wrong stop. Ms. Camille, master of the maps brings us to our destination. yeah!! Too early to check in, but we can leave our stuff. And we find out breakfast included the next day. Yeah!! So on to tourist attractions. Michaelangelo's David. Wow!! yeah, So we go, and find out we have to wait in a line that wraps around a corner and down a street. Four Hours, people. Four. Maybe longer, I'm not sure. We had time to sign our names to the walls, meet a couple of americans, find out their life stories, and still complain that we hadn't gotten in the door yet. But it's worth it. This statue is like gimonougus!! It's like wow, how did he do this? I'm glad to say I've been. So starving at this point. Back to hotel, check in, ready to go again. Go eat. yeah, pasta in Italy. So nice. Everything you want to see in Florence is just kind of off of this main road so it's rather nice. Stop into Zara, yeah, buy some sweaters, yellow and green. Then off to the Ponte Vecchio: The Ponte Vecchio (IPA pronunciation: [ponte vɛkio]) (Italian for Old Bridge)[1] is a Medieval bridge over the Arno River, in Florence, Italy, noted for having shops (mainly jewellers) built along it. It is Europe's oldest wholly-stone, open-spandrel segmental arch bridge.[1]
Believed to have been first built in Roman times[2], it was originally made of wood. After being destroyed by a flood in 1333[2] it was rebuilt in 1345[3], this time in stone. Most of the design is attributed to Taddeo Gaddi.[4] The bridge consists of three segmental arches, the main arch has a span of 30 meters (98 feet) the two side arches each span 27 meters (88 feet). The rise of the arches is between 3.5 and 4.4 meters (11½ to 14½ feet), and the span-to-rise ratio 5:1.[5]
It has always hosted shops and merchants (legend says this was originally due to a tax exemption), which displayed their goods on tables after authorisation of the Bargello (a sort of a lord mayor, a magistrate and a police authority).
It is said that the economic concept of bankruptcy originated here: when a merchant could not pay his debts, the table on which he sold his wares (the "banco") was physically broken ("rotto") by soldiers, and this practice was called "bancorotto" (broken table; possibly it can come from "banca rotta" which means "broken bank"). Not having a table anymore, the merchant was not able to sell anything. Wikipedia

So pictures, quite nice. Then the best part of the day the Boboli gardens. gorgeous and a great view of the city. Just nice place to hang out if you are a native of Florence. Then home, tired after a long day, but more than satisfied. :)