France

So, we intended to get to Florence on Saturday when we were leaving Marseille. We've found, however, that we are pretty lazy travelers and don't like spending long amounts of time on the train. So we stopped for a day in Nice and now Milan. Thank goodness it has nothing to do with Milan the person, for those of you who know the Rome 2008 story. Anyway, we plan to relax for a few days in Florence, starting tomorrow and then I think Jeff may head to Rome and I might go to Greece for a few days.

The girl we couch surfed with in Marseille was a much better host... She had lots of space for us and was really friendly. Bastille Day was one of only a couple major to-dos on our travel itinerary, so we were surprised to find out that they mostly just look at it as an extra day off work. The city shot off some fireworks, but nothing overly spectacular... definitely not any better than the Oak Hills show on the Fourth. I was talking about all this with a Scottish guy on the train yesterday and he said, "what do you guys do on the 4th of July anyway, sit around and watch that Will Smith movie?" He was, of course, referring to Independence Day... and I thought that was quite hilarious.

The French girl also took us to this little hidden pond in the trees by her house... it was run off of some sort that accumulated into a pool of water in a shady glen. We were the only ones there and it was very relaxing.