Cooling off with wine and gelato

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I seriously meant to update this before my last night in Florence, but, alas, have not had time, which is probably a good thing. I got in on Wednesday, the air strikes did not cancel my flight but instead caused me to land in Bologna instead of Bergamo, which was actually a much shorter train ride into Florence! It was great to get to a city that I really feel that I know. Even though I had only been here a week before, I already had my bearings (navigate by the McDonald's, seriously). I managed to get to my hostel without getting mugged (refer to 2005 Florence post). The hostel is really nice, one of the nicest I've been in, with a really awesome free breakfast and big rooms. Immediatley after arriving, I went to locate some gelato, because it was (and still is) amazingly hot here. Wandered around for the rest of the evening, had dinner (and wine! I love Italy, 4 euro for a half liter!) and went to bed early since I was still pretty tired from Turkey. Yesterday I got up and went to stand in the line for the Uffizi, which I didn't do last time. I got in in about 2 hours, which wasn't to bad. I pretty much felt like I did about most art museums, impressed by the overwhelmingness of it all, but not amazingly inspired. I think I enjoyed seeing the David more last time. I spent the rest of the afternoon wandering and doing some souvenier shopping, then came back to the hostel for a rest. I met 2 other girls in my room who are both traveling alone and both from Australia. We went out to dinner and then to this huge fair-party thing our hostel guy had told us about. It was so cool! Very local, with loads of food, drinks, booths and music, and all free!
Today I decided to get out of the heat and head to Monterossa to go to the beach. The ride there takes a while, but it was definitely worth it. The water was perfect, and it was just as beautiful as I remembered it. I don't think I noticed the pine trees last time I was there, it smells like a combination of the beach and camping, 2 of my favorite things! When I got back I went back to the fair thing for dinner and to wander. I hadn't got myself anything in Florence, and really wanted to find a cool Fleur de Lys, since it is there symbol too, like New Orleans! I hadn't seen anything that wasn't too touristy yet, until I found a really pretty necklace at one of the booths, and for only 5 euro! Perfect!
Tomorrow I leave for Llublijana, which is in Slovenia. I'm staying there a night on my way to Croatia, hopefully the weather will be a bit more bearable.

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