Why post when you're in Italy?

yeah...the internet cafe we're at is the first place ive encountered in my travels that won't allow me to update pics or videos, how weird is that? in Rome? well, i guess a short message to my readers will have to do. Italy has been wonderful; we spent 3 days in Florence which is a beautiful city in the valley of Tuscany. We saw the David statue, the Birth of Venus, and many other famous pieces of art. we also got to go along the Corridor bridge (a private passage from the government buildings to the royals' palace; our tour was the only one going through this corridor). there were many famous paintings alone the corridor, many were self-portraits .

***this is betsy signing in as rachel and i changed computers since i could not figure out some things on the one i was using. if you are wondering why we do not capatilize or use other forms of proper english, it is because the keyboards are all different. who ever thought of the qwerty keyboard should have made a pretty penny.****

thanks for that mom. anyways, the food has been great, and the people like us much better than they did in France, which is nice. we came in by train to Rome yesterday, got to our hotel, had lunch, saw the Colosseum, and then crashed that evening. this morning, we went by to see the Pope; but unfortunately couldn't get a glimpse. However, we toured the Vatican city and saw the Sistine Chapel which only took Michaelanglo four years to complete! and, he did it standing up; he didn't lie on his back like I thought.

well, we are off to see the Spanish Steps and have gelato for dinner since we felt we've been eating too many meals lately (and gelato isn't considered a meal). we are flying out to Prague tomorrow afternoon. ill be showing mom around my city before i say goodbye to her on monday (then its four months without family or friends from the US) and hello to teaching in Prague. I am actually very excited! love yall and shout out to rachel miller and caroline mcgill (yall rock and i havent shouted out to you yet, so hi!)