florence

life on the road just jumped up a spot here in florence. given the numbers of our group right now, we had the opportunity to pop for a hotel room. im talking a shower here folks, a private shower. after 2 and some odd weeks of sleeping with 12 other people in the same room, a single communal bathroom and shower for all... well you get the point. this little one star we are staying in feels like the flipping palmer house in chicago.

still chugging along though. i think the decision has been made to stay in florence for three days until the 6 january and then climb up to venice to fly out on 8 for belgium.

just a funny story for you, i cannot guarantee the appropriatness of this given the breadth of audience here. for dinner last night we went to get a kebab (surprise) and while eating this man with his giant dogg came in. and as a side note, something i notice here in europe is that very rarely do the owners of these dogs get their pets fixed. well, fido in the kebab shop certainly hadnt had the snip snap work yet. this dog had the biggest balls i have ever seen on 4 legged creature. we all noticed it as we were swallowing our kebabs and couldnt help but really give a good laugh, a loud obnoxious one that perhaps everyone heard... and well it continued, the jokes, the laughing, etc etc. the real kicker comes when we were standing outside, finishing up and fido and his owner walk out after finishing. the guy stands in the middle of our 6 person crowd and says to all of us, his hands out shaking around "yes... ahhh, i know my dogga hasa biga ballsa" and just scurried off. we were all now about ready to spit those kebabs back up, he had totally understood our crude reference. so much for the language barrier... ohhh man, it was incredibly funny.

so now that i have probably grossed you all out, and p[erhaps made you spit up your kebab, im taking off. florence sends its regards to all.