ARRIVO!

I arrived in Florence after a grueling ten hour plane trip [including lay overs in Washing DC and Frankfurt, Germany] on a much-warmer-than-home, sunny Sunday. It was only 10am in Italy and the city was alive and exciting, despite my body still believing it was 4am and that it should be in bed. [ps. if you click on an image it blows it up to see it better.]







The plane trip over was fun and I made some new friends playing crazy 8's in Frankfurt, but other than that uneventful. Some things to remember when traveling to/around Europe... [Ive decided I'm going to use '+' to indicate fun facts as I learn them and pass them on to you. Keep and eye out!]...

+On international flights from the US to Europe they serve alcohol for free and often! You can have your selection of wines, beers, and cocktails all for free and as many as you want [just one at a time]. When flying into Germany, I opted for another beer rather than a shitty turkey airplane meal, the sexy German stewardess with a thick German accent and cute smile stated...

"In Germany, Seven beers make a meal!"

...I love Germany!

Speaking of BEER!! Along with my blogs of events, pictures, and experiences I am going to educate all of you on the subject of alcohol, more specifically beer [ or Birra here in Italy ]. Since it is my goal to try as many new types of "Birra" as possibly I will include one new type with every blog and my short critique of the beverage. So here we go...the first of many...

=Birra of the Blog=

This blog's beer is a semi-dark German beer known as Warsteiner. I had the good fortune to be sitting next to a Frenchmen with excellent taste on the flight into Germany who suggested this German Premium Verum. I couldn't tell you what "Verum" means, but "Premium" it is! It's alittle on the darker side [as I'm sure all German beers are...compared to the lite American piss-water I usually in enjoy back at school], but I really liked this beer...and the four more that followed! Hey, it was a long, long plane ride! [Be sure to come back and enjoy next blog's "Birra alla Blog"!]

Anyways... I've arrived in Florence and after a heart racing cab ride [not unlike the chase scene in The Bourne Ultimatum] I found my apartment building. To my pleasant surprise, my apartment [who I share with four other architecture guys] is a.)huge b.)beautiful c.)fully furnished and decorated and d.) pimp as fuck!











My first impression of Florence [being that I've only been here for a little over 36 hours] is an amazing collision. Its one thousand years of culture, history, and art colliding with the high speeds and excitement of the modern world [ie. fashion, politics, and human interaction]. Try to imagine New York or Chicago, but with ancient buildings and a shit-ton more history, then totally submerge that imagination in a brand new place and culture that you have never experienced.

That's the collision that I'm experiencing now...that and jet lag [yuck]. Keep in mind this is my first impression of the city, but there is much more experiences to come. Please come back for more stories and pictures of my adventures! See you next time! Ciao!