Whew, it's been a while! well, I'm now in Nice, France, and my last post was from my first day in Florence. Since then I have seen all of Florence, San Giugliano, Pisa, Cinque Terre and most of Nice, all connected by some beautiful train rides in between!

For starters, my mom and I toured through Florence, and for me the highlights were definitely Michelangelo's David, Brunelleshi's Il Duomo, the beautiful streets of Florence, and the food, which was fantastic. Florence was the birthplace of gelato and some pretty important people, but more importantly, gelato. My mom and I tried it all, and were even lucky enough to eat at the world's best gelateria. It and the other Florentine gastro offerings were great, and we navigated the restaurant scene like locals, thanks to Rick Steves!

Day trips to San Giugliano and Pisa were great, giving us a taste of Tuscany and a chance to see the leaning tower of Pisa. The lkeaning tower, well it really leans, I mean, stare at it too long and get dizzy kind of leaning. I expected a slight tilt, no no no, we are talking 12 foot difference at the base.

But, I think our favorite part of my mom's visit had to be the Cinque Terre, more specifically Monterrosso. Thanks to my dad we had a sweet hotel room with a million dollar view, looking out over the town and the Mediterranean. Our first night we ate at a restaurant on the water, and were excited to get some seafood. We had a sampler of all kinds of grilled seafood, and got some fresh pesto pasta, which was first made along those shores. The next day we went on a hike to Vernazza which ran right along the coast, with some elevation gains. it was beautiful, with the surrounding land either left natural or used as vineyards and lemon orchards. We actually made a slight detour to get some fresh squeezed lemonade, fresh as in she was picking them from her tree (at least I hope they were her trees). The hike was beautiful, and pictures hopefully will get posted soon. Vernazza was a typical Italian coastal town, situated on its own small harbor. after catching the train back we explored Monterrosso and had yet another great dinner. The next day though, was the crowning glory in terms of weather, 70 and sunny, my mom and I took a short hike up to an old church and cemetary with great views, and then laid out on benches by the beach. Our final meal was possibly the best thing I have ever tasted, a pesto sauce with tomatoes and broccoli, and a heart helping of frsh mussels! It was amazing, and I hope to try making it once up at school.

My mom and I split up in Genoa, and I headed on to Nice, making it to my hostel right before check in closed. The hostel is great though, giving a tour of the old town this morning for free, after which I wandered around, getting some great views of the Cote du Azul.

Well that has been my life in a nutshell, definitely won't go that long without a post again, sorry this one got so lengthy! I hope everyone is doing well, on to Marseilles tomorrow for a few days!