Cinque Terre

I'm pretty pleased that I left Florence early. I've only been in Cinque Terre for a couple of hours and already I think it's an awesome place. I'm planning on being here for the next 3 or 4 nights, so there's plenty of time for my mind to change. But I think I'll enjoy it here.

Florence

Florence has the opposite effect on me from Rome. It's a cool city and in some ways may be more of what you might imagine Italy to be, but there's something about it that doesn't impress me; I almost want to say I don't like the city.



There's a lot of artwork (it's the birthplace of the Renaissance I'm told), but I don't know. I'm just not feeling the atmosphere. This was true when I came here with my family a couple weeks ago. I don't really know why I came back. Maybe it's one of the cities I'd rather be at with people I know. Anyhow, I decided to cut my time here short so I'm only here for tonight. Tomorrow I'll be heading to Cinque Terre. Hopefully that'll be fun.

Rome(ing)

Just an interesting tidbit: There's this Aussie guy who I may be hanging out with later but has also been on some of the Rome(ing) Tours (that's the company name) I've been on. He decided to call me Jezza (sounds like Jizza) because "every Jeremy he's known has been nicknamed Jezza". Haha. Crazy Aussies.

Vatican City

So it's almost 4PM and I'm pooped. I was hanging out with JP2 (you might know him as Pope John Paul II) and took a tour of his city and pad. But I didn't have the pimpmobile that he does so I couldn't get around as quickly and he sort of left me behind. He said whatsup to the folks from back home in the United States, so I'll be sure to show you guys the video. It's funny because he gets rock star status here when he goes through a crowd. You know, where the women faint and throw him their panties. They also call him Big Poppa. Haha.



I'm not in Vatican City anymore (back in Rome, now) but yes, I was there earlier. Every Wednesday the Pope comes out and greets the public. Haha. I don't know that women actually fainted but I did see one set of panties flying in the air (just kidding). They do yell out "Papa", though, which I think is how they refer to him as in Italy. It was pretty cool. I was maybe 10 feet away from him and his popemobile. It would've been cooler if I could find a wind-up popemobile toy, but I don't know that they exist. Supposedly, there's a bottle opener (beer or wine, I'm not sure) with his holiness on it. Haha. I should look for that one.

Rome, Again

Whoa! What's that I hear? Tagalog!? Could a Filipino restaurant be nearby?



For those of you who know, I've had a craving for good ol' Filipino food for the past couple of weeks. I'm in an Internet cafe right now and behind me there are international phone booths. There was an old Filipino lady talking in there but unfortunately, I was shy and kept to myself at this computer. It was weird, though, because when she went to go pay she started talking in Italian.



I'm in Rome again and I don't know what it is but there's something about being here that's cool to me. Maybe it's the history, the art, the food, or whatever - Rome, despite some of the dirtiness that's here, is a cool place.

Munich II

I've eaten well here. I just had me one of the best rotisserie chickens I've ever had. Yesterday and the day before, I had me the best pizza I've tried in Europe. I had some really good pasta and had a hot dog with saurkraut. I don't know if it was really only satisfying because I was drunk, but I think everything really is that good. The Bavarians/Germans really know how to live. I don't know how authentic the Italian food is, but that's ok. It's good eating after I really haven't been eating as well as I could be in other countries. I'd definitely like to come back to Munich at some point.

Munich

Ok. Call me a woman. Call me weak. Call me pathetic. I am perfectly aware that I cannot hang. Four liters of beer is my limit. Anything beyond that is asking for trouble. But with that said...



OKTOBERFEST IS F***ING AWESOME!



It's totally not what I expected. I still had a ton of fun and, with it being the last weekend for it, I wasn't even able to get into one of the beer tents. Next time I'm around Europe and it's Oktoberfest time, I am definitely coming back and aiming to be in one of the beer tents.



I'm rather drunk right now. In fact, I left my German friends who were telling me to drink some more. Rather than embarrass my country and vomit, I told them I'd be back because I was going to look for my other friends. I have no idea what I'm gonna do now. I just wanna sleep. Haha.