Week 18? Really? That is just so strange to me. I've been living in Dubai for more than 4 months. Since Gwen left, life has returned to some sense of normalcy. I went back to work Sunday morning and thus a difficult week at work was begun. The week before, I'd received a terrific package from my parents, which contained sunscreen, a few movies I'd ordered, my new kindle cover, and (most importantly) two large bags of pretzels! (The pretzels didn't last very long and Sam literally ate the every last morselly bit). There were also a few items of my Grandmother's, who passed away August 13th, that my parents gave to me, including some of her jewelry. I do miss her. I think I actually had a (small) glass of wine every night last week ... read more

We woke up early friday morning to being a very busy, but very fun day. I had made reservations at the Burj Khalifa for 10:30am. If you make reservations, you pay 100AED each, as opposed to 400AED if you buy there. We took a taxi to Dubai Mall and I showed her around the biggest mall in the morning as much as I could without getting lost. We saw the indoor aquarium and the new Cheesecake Factory, which is apparently its first international restaurant. We then made our way to "At the Top" which is on the lowest floor of the mall. We were close enough to our time that they let us through, so we wandered around the exhibit in the foyer before they sent our group through security. Then there is a moving platform ... read more

I freaked out a little, hoping that no major issues would come up today on my way to catch my flight in Milan at 4pm. So, I woke up super early and caught the 5:46am train from Riomaggiore that would take me to Genova. I had studied the train schedule we had take a picture of in La Spezia until I felt comfortable with my plan. However, because it was so early, the ticket station was not open and a couple of Austrailian guys waiting across the tracks told me how to get over there. When I got on the almost empty train, I chose my window seat and waited to explain to the conductor. A conductor never appeared. Cool! Unfortunately, because it was such an early hour, I didn't get to see all the incredible ... read more

Thursday morning we woke up to say goodbye to Florence and begin our last adventure: Cinque Terre. Continuing our learning experience from the run to the Rome station, we left at a decent hour. We walked along the streets of Florence to the agency to drop off the key and head to the train station: Santa Maria Novella. Gwosh had got the train tickets the previous evening, so we were all set. Along the way, we walked behind a woman walking her West Highland Terrier (Westie). I started laughing as did Gwen. The previous day during our vespa tour, there was a Westie at the first stop and Josh didn't like it - "Those things are viscious!" Well, my parents have one and she is by far the sweetest dog in the entire world as is ... read more

So, today was our first day with no plans and we planned to sleep in. For me, that meant I was up at 8am. I watched TV, read a book, took a nice long shower in the world's tiniest shower. And waited for Gwosh to wake up. I thought about going for a walk, but my usual luck is that they would have woken while I was gone. As it was, they got up at noon and we eventually made our way outside. After some food which I can't remember we made our way to the Museum where Gwen was dying to see David. We paid a little extra for a tour which bypassed the longer line and after about 20 minutes of waiting in the hot sun, we were inside. Our tour was quick but ... read more