After our intense sightseeing, we decided to reward ourselves with a nerdy touristy tour of Tuscany yesterday. It ended up actually being a lot of fun! First of all, Tuscany looks like all that you think Italy looks like...rolling hills, olive trees, grapes....just gorgeous. We stopped in this little midieval walled town that was so stereotypically Italian you wouldn't believe it. It had the world champion gelato, which I must admit was very good. I don't know if I can go back to ice cream in the states...

Also we had wine tasting lessons. Now I know how to really, truly taste wine. It's quite a complicated process, and not very pleasant in my opinion. You have to do this icky swishing thing that makes you gums numb. At the wine tasting, we sat across the table from the Canadian couple who were in the "wine business" and had been to countless wine tastings, apparently. Sharon I felt a little naive, but I suppose everyone has to start somewhere. I am on my way to becoming a wine connosieur! I'm really glad we got to get out of the city, though, and see some of the countryside. While the cities have all the great sights, they all look the same essentially no matter where you are, so it's nice to see what the country really looks like.

I haven't been able to keep up with my Starbucks project lately because there have been none in Nice or Florence, that I've seen, anyway. In Florence, however, there are lots and lots of Germans. It's funny because there were hardly any in France. Dad's hatred of the French seems to be shared by his fellow Germans.

The Italian language is lovely. It's so passionate and fiery. Especially when they speak with their hands, which is often. Italian men, however, are not so lovely. I learned from our tour guide the perfect response to Italian men, though. When they say "Ciao, bella" (hello beautiful), you say "Ciao, bruto" (goodbye ugly). Love it.