Firenza and Venezia

I woke up this morning to shouts and whistles blowing outside. I ran over the the window and looked out over the grand canal here in venice, where I saw countless boats full of protesters. I don't know Italian, so I'm not sure what they are protesting, but I think it could have something to do with the train strike that has been going on for the last few days. We were lucky yesterday to have gotten tickets on a european railway that wasn't on strike. We met a family who had been stranded in Florence for days because the train they were supposed to have caught was refusing to run. Ann and I waited in line last night at the train station to reserve a ticket to Geneva, so we should be good to go to Switzerland today. We've been so greatly blessed on this trip and we are sure that the hand of God has been in our travels. There have been so many wonderful people who we have met along the way. During ride from the London temple to the Stansted airport, our cab driver had a lot of great questions to ask about the LDS church. He had been driving members to and from the airport and temple for years and no one had ever said a thing. We did our best to answer his questions and at the end of the drive we gave him one of my travel Book of Mormons and he promised us he would read it. He was so excited to hear that families could be together forever. We'll follow up on his progress for sure. We also met this great German man yesterday who is is Venice for teacher training. He teaches people how to increase their conficence, self esteem, and self awareness. He was telling us that the structures of our faces and body are reflective of our personality traits. He read my personality dead on. It was pretty neat.
Florence was so beautiful. We stayed at a camping site just 45 minutes outside of the city. It was probably the most posh camping site I've ever seen. All the beds were inside very spacious and clean dorms, there was a market with fresh fruit, bread, and cheese, and their was the cleanest pool I've ever had the priveledge to swim in. I, of course, got fried and I now look like a human sized lobster-doh! I have the lyrics of that song resonating in my head, "and remember, to always wear sunscreen." In Florence we went to the Ufizzi museum which had some AMAZING art-Boteccelli, Da Vinci-you name it, it was there. We also had the delight of eating mounds of gelato, which has become a daily ritual.
Venice is insane. There are so many tourists here. It's annoying, but I am one of them, so I guess I shouldn't complain. There are shops on every corner, all full of glass blown items and masks. The streets are so windy, it becomes easy to get lost. Yesterday we were lost for a good four hours, but we enjoyed the shops and gilato while we were at it. If you're going to get lost anywhere in the world, do it in Italy.
Well, it's my birthday. I had a dream last night that Rachel had her baby on my birthday-which I hope is an omen of truth. How sweet would that be? But then I also had a dream that McKenzie almost drowned, so hopefully all my dreams won't come true. McKenzie, please swim safely. I ate cake for breakfast, and Ann's going to treat me to some gilato (surprise). It's crazy to be twenty-one. Now it's time for all the questions to start...meh.
Anywho, I hope all is well at home. Lindsey, Happy Birthday! I'm so glad we share such a sweet day together. Rachel, get crackin' on that baby!
I send you all my love from Italia!
Love,
Ev

ROMA!

We've had a crazy trip to europe so far...what with flight delays, overbooked hostels, and exploding conditioner, but at the end of the day, we've seen the pantheon, colosseum (i could almost see maximus rising from the dust), the trevi fountain, and bundles of other amazing sites and ruins...bundles! Rome is incredible-spectacles on every street corner. i fell in love with london, but that was just puppy love. i think this is the real thing. !Roma, ti amo! Andrea, all those hours studying for humanities paid off...well, at least for me...even if we had to put up with jon...i mean, al. hehe. Tomorrow we're headed to the vattican city, and it's so big, we'll probably spend the whole day there.
I wanted to draw everyone's attention to the pictures in the previous post. i hope you all noticed the corn ice cream...martha stewart would be proud!

hope all is well at home!
much love,
ev

Pictures! Come see me and be jealous!

Laundry calling

Hello my little pretties!
I'm in London and, man alive, is it a circus down here. There is so much to do, and so much to see, and so many people and tourist traps and cigarettes. It smells like the Fourth of July everyday here! (Ok, that may not make sense. The Fourth of July reminds me of the Logan car show...which smells like beer and cigarette smoke.) We've seen so much, I hope I can remember it all. Tuesday night a small group of us went to Wicked. We had gotten up super early that morning to wait in line so we got front row seats! That's right ladies, Fiero's spit was gracing my face! So cool.
Some more sweet highlights include Westminster Abbey (where everyone who is anyone is buried...so mostly royalty and poets.), the National Gallery, Big Ben, the Tower of London, and a whole lot of the tube.
Last night we went to a play at the royal theatre called "A Matter of Life and Death", which I would recommend to anyone who finds themselves in London while it's still showing. I liked it better than Wicked, which is saying a lot because, man, have you seen Fiero? :) After the play was over I sobbed for a good twenty minutes; the play's message was so powerful. And after the tears were over Ann and I walked along the Thames and enjoyed some live music that was floating up from one of the boats on the river. I fell in love with London last night...and with Almond Magnum Bars.
London is great, but our hostel is hostile. Seriously, this place is the pits. You remember the soup nazi from Seinfield? Yeah! they hired his cousin to work here. There was a bit of a commotion at breakfast this morning when a member of our group went back for an apple. The hostel nazi saw her and sneered, "You! I saw you take an apple already! You put that apple back!" So much for breakfast buffets-eh? In addition to the crazy apple lady, there are a whole lot of other difficulties we've run into...and I am wondering if a lot of it has to do with our nationality. Generally Americans aren't well liked outside of the US (in case you haven't picked up on that) and it's been a really humbling experience to be ridiculed for my nationality. It's something I'll surely remember and try to take with me when I come back to the US.
Anywho, I'm off to do some laundry before I see Les Miserables. Hope all is well at home!
Much love,
Ev

this is a blog title

so the adventure continues. I'm in bath for the next three nights and then it is on to london. wahoo. Stone henge was everything i expected and more. this really has been such an incredible trip, i don't know if i'll ever be able to write about all of it. mmm...euro fanta is so much better.
Cheryl's pony had a baby? what the? that's crazy, it seems these days everyone's having babies. andrea, don't get any ideas!
We saw pirates of the carribean in waymouth, after spending the entire day on the beach. I really dug that flick, and i really'd like to see it again, someday, when i have money.
Anywho...the chocolate pounds are coming along just fine.
much love-will write later gator.
ev