...and we are almost ready to go home!!!

while in venice last week, i learned that it was the "settimana culturale" which meant that all the state run museums in italy are free this week. of course that probably also means long lines. but we did go to the accademia in venice, and it was free. i went back the next day and started at the final rooms and got to look at a lot of old pictures. i even sketched a couple. one was adam and eve with the fateful apple, i think by titian or tintoretto, not sure. i drew him, and her, and the apple.
adam from the back.

in our touring of venice, we got long term tickets for the vaporetto so we could have unlimited rides for the duration of the ticket. it was lots of fun, and melda liked going for late nite rides around the canals. so one day, we took it out to the lido, which is sort of like newport beach, out on the seaside edge of the lagoon.
out there i was sketching, and dudes in bright colored bikinis hove into view at the cafe we were hanging out in. good thing i had practiced the day before on adam's back!! so the purple bikini dude is in the same book as adam. i also sketched on the late nite vaporetto, a guy on his cell phone. and the houses almost touching and the windows with the flamboyant gothic arches. i have also been trying to draw motorbikes, because they are all over. (speaking of motorbikes, a guy we met last nite who travels all over on one has a website: www.calltofire.com, which is worth checking out--this esp to peter hoyt)

when we got to florence we found our way to a hostel i had heard about. the young people running it are very idealistic and socially conscious, quite wonderful in fact. it is in an old convent and the bathrooms were way downstairs from the beds. that was not easy for me when needing to pee in the middle of the nite. apparently in the old days if you arrived in a town and had nowhere to stay, you went and got a bed in a convent.

we tried to go to the art museums, but the wait was long, the hordes of tourists everywhere, and the streets full of speeding cars and fumes. like venice, the only bathrooms were for pay, or buy something in the bar so you can use it, and very few places to just sit down. i was almost ready to bolt after 1/2 a day. in venice one late nite i went into a very fancy bar and had an 8 euro cup of mint tea, just to use the bathroom.

we did find some handmade paper, and i met up with a guy i had contacted thru couchsurfing.com, and he strolled his city w/ me for an hour or so, and showed me some insider views. i would like to visit florence again when i am not in this mood of too much travelling. we even found an organic restaurant where the people were very nice.

yesterday we took the trains over to the coast, to monterosso in the cinqueterre.
it is very mellow over here. also geared for tourists, but in a friendly way. many people come here for some serious hiking. there are 5 towns to see, by walking, or by train. today i am occupied with my laundry and resting up a bit.

shortly after arriving at cinqueterre, we met an american guy who introduced us to a friend of his, a nice brasilian lady (from salvador) who has a apartment she rents out. we have 2 nice beds and a kitchen, and a real bathroom, all for 70 euros per nite. very comfortable, plus she is nice. her italian hubby has a little bar downstairs and i sat there
for hours last nite talking to some people--the italian neighbor, who is a regular, an american who travels all over on his
bmw (website above), and a young polish lady who builds musical instruments and plays them too. all in english/italian
and some french.--and drinking wine. i think i had too much.
melda and i even cooked ourselves dinner last nite. our eating patterns are all wacky. sort of been on snacking mode,
but w/ this kitchen we can make ourselves good stuff, and got some fresh things at the local growers market today.

there are wild capers here, and they pickle them. i still have not seen the actual plants. they have them on santorini too, but i found out after we left.
i am getting pretty good at shopping in italian, and the vendors try to tell me interesting things, some of which i understand. i have the best conversations when people can speak a little spanish or french, or english, so i can fill in my gaps of italian. then i try to slip in some linguistic questions to get them to give me little language lessons. some people are more amenable to this than others.

we had a thunderstorm here today, so the air is fresh, and the sun is out. i need to walk up the way and take care of more biz.