Italy...Mamma Mia...

Ok, SO I realize I haven't posted in a week (is that really all? It feels like a month?) but I've got some really great excuses...bad computers, busy wanderings, etc...
But I've only got 14 minutes left on this computer, so I'll hurry up and tell you what I can.

Florence was incredible, it rained when I first got there, after the sketchiest night train ride in the long history of sketchy train rides, and I was angry and wet and lost. But then I went for a walk to the top of the Duomo there...Santa Maria? And when I got to the top (462 steps!). The skies had cleared and the sun had made it's triumphant return to the world of Michael. It was perhaps one of the most picturesque things I've ever seen. The buildings in Florence all have those red tile roofs, and it's a pretty small city situated in a valley surrounded by tall hills, a beautiful river, and in the distance, some incredible mountains. It was the beginning of my Italy experience.

Went to Rome the next day, but didn't arrive until nighttime so I still hadn't seen the Italian countryside. The hostel (Freestyle) was in the middle of the immigrant quarter, which is pretty shady if you don't have any idea where you are. But I found it, got some free pasta (awesome!) and went to sleep. Spent the next day exploring the city, and Rome is amazing. It doesn't have the small-city charm of Florence or Venice, but at some points where the hills are cut away you can see that the whole city is built on the foundations of previous generations. The Colloseum, while it IS a very imposing, impressive structure, is too surrounded now by wire and fencing and men dressed as gladiators to be really impressive. The Forum, however, and the gate beside it, are absolutely incredible -- truly amazing, considering they were built well over one thousand years ago. I also walked to the Vatican and did a runthrough of St. Pauls, which is the MOST overwhelming piece of architecture I've seen in Europe (and that's saying a lot!). But then again it IS intended express the power and wealth of the Catholic church.
That night I met a guy from Paris (Julian or "john" if you couldn't pronounce it correctly) and he told me he and his friends were going to go to the Vatican and check out the mass (it was Sunday the next day). Sounded cool, so around 9 we headed over. The walk to the top of the Cathedral was 5 hundred something steps, and at the very end of the walk there are spiral steps which can only be about a foot and a half across and which go up so steeply they have a rope hanging down to guide you so you don't fall. The top, from which you could see all of Rome plus the Vatican, was astounding (I got some great pics...you'll see them eventually...::sigh::). After that we wandered around for a bit, then went back to the Vatican at noon. We heard some guy speaking and realized that while we were gone the square had filled with literally thousands of people. And in this tiny little window, speaking in 5 different languages there was the pope.
And now I've run out of time, but I've got so much more to tell you, I'm going to buy more...