Italy...

Found a close-by internet cafe and have been in Italy since Saturday. Photos may follow later this week. So if France is all about "the bread and pastry", Italy is all about "the heat, the gelatto (ice cream), and the arts"; architecture, music in the streets, sculpture, and of course, paintings. Wandered yesterday without the camera - just feeling free to watch and observe the city, its inhabitants, and the large number of tourists. Florence will charm you with her heat, the scents of the food and perfumes, as well as the vibrancy of the Italian Spirit - which is seen in everything from a father interacting with his young daughter in public - to an Italian beauty on her bicycle arguing with an angry driver about who rules an intersection - to large numbers of elderly Italian women lining the benches along a pedestrian mall in Pisa; watching and talking about all they observe and know. The heat is everywhere - the people, the artworks, the sun shining on the facades of the ancient buildings, in the eyes of angry drivers - but the heat is easily cooled and mellowed with gelatto, which is where we are heading next. Chao!