In which Troy is a twit

[9:18:52 AM] Katie Symington: yo wassup
[9:19:45 AM] Troy Symington: Laying on my bed listening to my iPod and reading Harry Potter. You?
[9:22:43 AM] Troy Symington: Yo! You there?
[9:22:52 AM] Troy Symington: Helloooooooooooooo?
[9:23:16 AM] Troy Symington: Ms. Katrina Ann Symington you talk to me this instant!
[9:26:42 AM] Troy Symington: Fine! See what I care!
[9:27:32 AM] Troy Symington: I'm just sitting here... all alone in Italy... out in the big world with no one to give me guidance... whatever shall I do?
[9:28:06 AM] Troy Symington: I didn't want to talk to you anyways!
[9:28:24 AM] Troy Symington: Nyeeeeaaaahhhh!
[12:35:09 PM] Katie Symington: Hi!!!
[12:35:42 PM] Katie Symington: ...ello?
[12:36:02 PM] Katie Symington: I saw that pencil moving! you can't fool me! I know you're there!!!
[12:36:32 PM] Katie Symington: Hey!
[12:36:37 PM] Katie Symington: Talk to meeeeeee!
[12:36:51 PM] Troy Symington: I'm ignoring you the way you ignored me!!!
[12:37:07 PM] Katie Symington: lol I'm sorry, I had to go to school and I left my computer open!
[12:37:28 PM] Troy Symington: Then why did you message me???
[12:37:45 PM] Katie Symington: I was on for like five minutes!
[12:37:52 PM] Katie Symington: And to say hi!
[12:37:55 PM] Katie Symington: So, hi!
[12:38:18 PM] Troy Symington: Rawr... I will never forgive you.
[12:38:24 PM] Katie Symington: *sobs*
[12:38:29 PM] Katie Symington: *cries*
[12:38:31 PM] Katie Symington: *snots*
[12:38:41 PM] Katie Symington: *flings self onto floor in miserable heap*
[12:38:51 PM] Katie Symington: "Woe!
[12:39:03 PM] Troy Symington: Muhahahahahaha!
[12:39:03 PM] Katie Symington: Woe is me!"
[12:39:13 PM] Katie Symington: Ahem.
[12:39:47 PM] Katie Symington: So, I have about twenty minutes before I need to get ready to leave for my next class. Last I read you were reading Harry Potter and listening to music. What did you do in between that stuff?
[12:41:26 PM] Troy Symington: Ate dinner, read more, listened to more music, and now I'm sitting around a table with friends and ATTEMPTING to do homework... but there's no way I could ever do homework around friends... so now I'm just procrastinating.
[12:41:57 PM] Katie Symington: I do that a lot. Which is why I was up till midnight doing hw that was due this morning. ;)
[12:42:09 PM] Katie Symington: Tell me something amazing that happened today.
[12:42:19 PM] Troy Symington: Hrrrrmmmm
[12:43:43 PM] Katie Symington: There must be something.
[12:43:49 PM] Troy Symington: ... I didn't do too much today. It's kinda been a day to relax, we're going out tomorrow.
[12:45:50 PM] Troy Symington: Tomorrow we're going to the Duomo in our Soc Sci class! We're totally going to the top and I'm so excited!
[12:46:19 PM] Katie Symington: Awesomeness! I didn't even know that was possible until Nick asked if you'd gone to the top. Apparently they talk about the Duomo a lot in his architecture design class.
[12:46:30 PM] Katie Symington: Take looots o' pictures!
[12:46:36 PM] Katie Symington: Have you put any on photobucket yet?
[12:46:46 PM] Katie Symington: *ominous knuckle-cracking and glaring*
[12:48:30 PM] Katie Symington: ...this long pause better mean you're loading them right now.
[12:49:04 PM] Troy Symington: ...no. But yeah, the Duomo was a revelutionary architectural feat! It went unfinished for years because they didn't have a way to create a dome that big until Brunelleschi came along and was all like "I'm a genius and I'm gonna try these new architectural ideas and hopefully it won't cave in!"
[12:49:51 PM] Katie Symington: ....yeah, whatever. PICTURES, BOY!
[12:50:08 PM] Katie Symington: (Also kind of funny, hoping it works. Good thing it did!)
[12:50:42 PM] Troy Symington: I know, right?
[12:51:12 PM] Troy Symington: And look! I'm changing the subject to something other than uploading pictures... inconspicuously...
[12:54:09 PM] Katie Symington: not so inconspicuously, dude. Your blog is like weeks behind! I'm not going to be able to catch it up!
[12:54:38 PM] Troy Symington: Not. My. Problem.
[12:54:46 PM] Troy Symington: ;)
[12:56:22 PM] Katie Symington: Ignoring you now.
[12:56:42 PM] Troy Symington: Wait! Don't ignore me!
[12:56:47 PM] Troy Symington: NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!
[12:57:08 PM] Troy Symington: Fine!
[12:57:10 PM] Katie Symington: (It is TOO your problem. How are you going to remember things from Italy if I don't write them down? It's a nice way for mom and dad and I to see what you are up to all in one place and I am very upset that you haven't simply uploaded the photos to photobucket already. It would take just a few minutes and isn't hard!)
[12:59:36 PM] Troy Symington: Errrrrgghhh! It's annoying enough uploading them to FB!
[12:59:53 PM] Katie Symington: DOOOOOOOOOOOO IT.
[1:00:13 PM] Troy Symington: Noooooooooooo!
[1:00:25 PM] Katie Symington: Plug in your usb/flashdisk/whatever and load them up!!!
[1:01:54 PM] Troy Symington: No, because I should definitely upload them to picassa (so that I have a backup of all of them), plus, I don't like to upload ALL of the pictures. People don't need to see them.
[1:02:37 PM] Katie Symington: Well they won't unless they go to photobucket. And the 8 photos here and there that you upload . . . we have to look through Alec's 100
[1:02:45 PM] Katie Symington: 's of photos to get a better idea!
[1:02:52 PM] Katie Symington: So yes, you need to show them to us!
[1:04:47 PM] Troy Symington: No one except for you and maybe mom actually wants to look though that many photos!
[1:05:12 PM] Troy Symington: Okay, I really need to go and do my homework.
[1:05:31 PM] Katie Symington: EXACTLY. If you upload them to photobucket I will choose a few to put on the blog.
[1:05:48 PM] Katie Symington: But that was mom and I can see what you are up to! So GODDAMN IT TROY ALAN, PUT THEM UP TONIGHT!
[1:06:41 PM] Troy Symington: I HAAATE THAT IDEA! Besides, I'm busy and really need to stop talking to you so I can get homework done!
[1:07:30 PM] Katie Symington: NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOo put them online! You are really starting to get on my nerves with refusing to do this, Troy! You promised you would take lots of photos and you aren't showing them to us!
[1:07:40 PM] Katie Symington: You got a ton of presents at Xmas, remember, that you didn't expect!
[1:08:02 PM] Katie Symington: And that coat! I PICKED IT OUT. THE COAT YOU ARE WEARING IS BECAUSE YOUR SISTER BOUGHT IT FOR YOU AND YOU OWE ME AND THAT COAT PICTURES.
[1:08:13 PM] Troy Symington: GOOD. BYE.
[1:08:18 PM] Troy Symington: LOVE. YOU.
[1:08:31 PM] Katie Symington: TWIT.
[1:08:32 PM] Katie Symington: LOVE YOU TOO.

In Which Pisa Leans and Picassa Sucks

[9:41:39 AM] Katie Symington: hello!

[9:42:33 AM] Troy Symington: Ciao bella!

[9:42:44 AM] Katie Symington: Aww

[9:42:48 AM] Katie Symington: How are you?

[9:43:27 AM] Troy Symington: Good! We just got back from Pisa, and now we're making dinner and I'm going to do lots of homework right after we're done eating.

[9:43:57 AM] Katie Symington: Ah, do you have a minute to tell me about how Pisa was?

[9:54:38 AM] Katie Symington: TROY!

[10:13:22 AM] Katie Symington: DUDE.

[10:13:48 AM] Katie Symington: Generally people say "brb" or even "gotta go" before they disappear

[10:24:56 AM] Troy Symington: I'm soooooorrrrryyyyyy!

[10:24:57 AM] Katie Symington: YO

[10:25:14 AM] Troy Symington: We just finished making dinner and now we just sat down to eat!

[10:25:41 AM] Katie Symington: Next time would it kill ya to SAY SO forty minutes ago???

[10:26:10 AM] Troy Symington: ...yes. I"m seriously sorry, but I got caught up in making dinner.

[10:26:28 AM] Katie Symington: You go eat, I'm watching the long Sense and Sensibility. When you come back to do hw I expect to hear about Pisa, k?

[10:26:48 AM] Troy Symington: Okay, bye!

[11:13:16 AM] Katie Symington: hiiiiiiiiiiiii!

[11:13:36 AM] Troy Symington: Yoooooo!

[11:13:52 AM] Katie Symington: pisa?

[11:15:15 AM] Troy Symington: Such. A. Tourist town. We didn't even go up into the tower because it was SO FREAKING EXPENSIVE!

[11:18:35 AM] Katie Symington: how much?

[11:20:32 AM] Troy Symington: 20 euro! It's ridonculous. We did pay 6 euro to go to the babtistery and the cemetery which were pretty cool, but probably should have cost a bit less. The coolest thing was the cathedral! (which was free).

[11:21:07 AM] Katie Symington: lol sounds awesome! tell me more about your weekend.

[11:24:02 AM] Troy Symington: We went to Fiesole on Saturday. Which is a tiny town on a hill above florence. We saw some roman ruins there and a pretty cool church and the veiw of florence is amazing! Then on Sunday we went to Lucca which was really cool! It's the only Medeival town with a fully intact wall that goes all the way around it! We went to a bunch of really cool churches and their Duomo was awesome! Then we went to the top of a tower (that had trees on the top) and veiwed the city. Then we saw the house where Puccini (the opera composer) was born and we walked all the way around the city on the wall!

[11:24:45 AM] Katie Symington: wow, amazing!!! I did homework. ;)

[11:25:02 AM] Katie Symington: And went to a drive in movie theater, it was awesome. Be jealous.

[11:25:28 AM] Katie Symington: waait they have another Duomo? What is the Duomo?

[11:25:56 AM] Troy Symington: I've been to a drive in before! What movie did you see?

[11:26:14 AM] Troy Symington: A Duomo is.... a cathedral with a dome on it.

[11:26:29 AM] Troy Symington: The one in Florence is the most famous.

[11:26:46 AM] Troy Symington: But we've seen 3 so far and they've all been fantastic.

[11:27:16 AM] Katie Symington: Wow!!! I didn't know that.

[11:28:02 AM] Katie Symington: We saw I am Number Four and Tron. They were fantastic, and it was very very fun. You get to see two movies for 7 a person, so we paid 14 bucks for like four hours of entertainment. Awesome!

[11:34:22 AM] Troy Symington: That's awesome! There are actually movies in english over here (or with subtitles) but I've been told that they suck.

[11:34:49 AM] Katie Symington: boo

[11:34:55 AM] Katie Symington: So what hw you doing?

[11:36:13 AM] Troy Symington: Soc Sci. We're writing journals about the museums we've seen so far. Nothing too difficult, it's just time consuming.

[11:36:46 AM] Katie Symington: fun!

[11:37:40 AM] Troy Symington: Yup, I'm gonna need to go to work on them soon. I'm uploading photos from Pisa right now though!

[11:46:15 AM] Katie Symington: YAY! onto photobucket???

[11:47:51 AM] Troy Symington: Ummmmm... no. Freaking stupid Piccasa won't let me drag photos into a folder unless it's a folder in Picassa! It's ridonculous!

[11:48:10 AM] Katie Symington: yes it is.

[11:48:24 AM] Katie Symington: I hate picasa

[11:48:42 AM] Troy Symington: Didn't you tell me to use it instead of iPhoto?

[11:48:43 AM] Katie Symington: I think on picasa you can select upload at the bottom though...right?

[11:48:49 AM] Katie Symington: Yeah, sorry.

[11:48:53 AM] Katie Symington: I LIED

[11:48:58 AM] Katie Symington: On accident

[11:49:27 AM] Troy Symington: Where on the bottom?

[11:49:54 AM] Katie Symington: one of the buttons

[11:51:08 AM] Katie Symington: ...nevermind, I just looked at Picasa and couldn't figure it out. Freaking picasa.

[11:51:18 AM] Troy Symington: Freaking Picasa...

[11:51:23 AM] Katie Symington: Can you open up the camera on your computer and just select the photos there?

[11:52:20 AM] Troy Symington: No, you need picassa to get them from the camera. Wait, maybe. I just realized I brought a usb drive that you can plug sim cards into.

[11:52:31 AM] Katie Symington: yes! try that!

[11:53:51 AM] Troy Symington: Next time. I just uploaded some pics onto FB so my work here is DONE!

[12:10:47 PM] Katie Symington: pbbbbt

[12:11:20 PM] Troy Symington: Nyeeeaaaaahhhh!

Pisa and Pizza

[10:40:37 AM] Katie Symington: trooooy

[10:43:55 AM] Troy Symington: Myeeeees?

[10:44:11 AM] Katie Symington: Yes yoooooooooooooooooooooooooes!

[10:44:13 AM] Katie Symington: Hi!

[10:44:17 AM] Katie Symington: Did you go to Siena?

[10:44:33 AM] Troy Symington: No, we never were this weekend.

[10:44:41 AM] Troy Symington: But tomorrow we're going to Fiesole

[10:44:48 AM] Troy Symington: And the day after we're going to Lucca

[10:44:55 AM] Katie Symington: Hmm. Have you been to Siena then, because Anna posted pics of it!

[10:44:59 AM] Troy Symington: And the day after that we're going to Pisa

[10:45:11 AM] Katie Symington: Leaning tower of Pizza!

[10:45:18 AM] Katie Symington: mmmmm. Have a slice for me!

[10:45:35 AM] Troy Symington: We're actually making pizza right now!

[10:45:42 AM] Katie Symington: It sounds like you will be very busy for the next few days. Don't forget to take tons of pics and upload them with captions.

[10:45:48 AM] Katie Symington: Pizza? Like you making the crust too?

[10:45:55 AM] Troy Symington: But of course!

[10:45:59 AM] Katie Symington: :P

[10:46:06 AM] Troy Symington: We bought some instant mix.

[10:46:15 AM] Katie Symington: Oooooh. Awesome! What are you putting on the pizza?

[10:46:39 AM] Troy Symington: Ummmm... I'm not sure.

[10:46:52 AM] Katie Symington: Mushrooms!

[10:46:55 AM] Katie Symington: ;)

[10:47:05 AM] Troy Symington: Howzabout NOOOOOOOOOOOO!

[10:47:15 AM] Katie Symington: Poor mushroom hating boy.

[10:47:19 AM] Katie Symington: So HAVE you been to Siena?

[10:47:24 AM] Troy Symington: No.

[10:47:28 AM] Katie Symington: Oh. But Anna has?

[10:47:37 AM] Troy Symington: They went on the group trip today.

[10:47:59 AM] Katie Symington: Oh. So when you say "we" are going to Pisa and the other trips, do you mean you and Alec or you and Accent or you and the boys and the girls?

[10:48:55 AM] Katie Symington: Why didn't you go on the group trip? Did you have to pay for it?

[10:49:00 AM] Troy Symington: Me, Alec, Nathan, and whoever else wants to go! We've made quite a few friends so it could end up being a lot of people depending on what people are doing.

[10:49:14 AM] Troy Symington: Yeah, you had to pay a lot for it.

[10:49:23 AM] Katie Symington: Oooh. Well will you end up going on your own to Siena?

[10:49:28 AM] Katie Symington: eventually?

[10:49:39 AM] Troy Symington: Of course! Don't know when yet.

[10:49:48 AM] Katie Symington: Awesomeness! And yay for making lots of friends!

[10:49:54 AM] Katie Symington: How to you travel to Fiesole?

[10:49:58 AM] Katie Symington: *do

[10:51:20 AM] Troy Symington: By bus. It's just a tiny town on a hill above Florence and you're supposed to be able to see Florence on clear days. Lucca and Pisa are both about 1-1.5 hours on train.

[10:52:05 AM] Katie Symington: How do you find the trains and the bus? Are they crowded and dirty, or nice and businessmen and women use them?

[11:03:32 AM] Katie Symington: Um....hello? Are you eating pizza?

[11:10:46 AM] Troy Symington: I'm so sorry! You there?

[11:11:31 AM] Troy Symington: We had some complications with the pizza dough so instead of baking it, I decided to thow it in some oil and fry up some little batter fritter things!

[11:11:48 AM] Troy Symington: But I need to go back and cook now! Love ya, bye!

[11:13:03 AM] Katie Symington: Ooooh.

[11:13:05 AM] Katie Symington: Bye!

Message Between the Whole Family on Facebook

Katie: Hey ya'll!

Troy, this way you can talk to all three of us at once without repeating yourself (too much.)

Kindly update us about your days on here.

I will start: I am falling asleep and it just not yet 10. That is what a day of hyper kids and crying 2nd graders will do to you. Tomorrow is the first day of the week I don't have something going on in the morning! I am going to enjoy sleeping in!

Love you!

Troy: Hey guys! Weeeell... I had a very american evening with lots of the people from Accent. We all went to a club called Twice which was ridiculously crowded but fun (Alec stayed home to get some sleep). I slept in today and I plan on going to the Chocolate Festival soon! The Chocolate Festival is down next to the Santa Croce church past the Ponte Vecchio, and Santa Croce is supposed to be where all the night life is in Florence.

Lisa: Save some chocolate for me so I can see the difference between italian chocolate and american chocolate :)

Gary: Did someone say chocolate?

Katie: I want chocolate! What kind of music did the club play? What's for dinner/breakfast? How was your first week of classes? What will you be doing this weekend?

Lisa: Katie, I thought I asked the questions? Now you're taking over, LOL!

Katie: ;) well I had to get it from somebody!

Lisa: I bought our air tickets after much trouble and will send e-mails with details but the gist of it is:
Dad and I arrive Venice March 4th. Stay 2 nights at Pensione Gerrauto then train to Florence Sunday afternoon. Expect to stay until Thursday at Hotel Montreal (not yet booked) (Opera one night I hope) and then train to Roma Thursday with Troy (?and Alec?). Let me know SOON whether to book a triple or quad room, Troy.
Dad flies home from Rome Sunday morning. Boys train home Sunday afternoon. Lisa probably returns with boys but is currently undecided. Lisa is leaning towards couple days at Cinque Terre. Then ?back to Florence a few days? Probably couple of days near Lake Como. ?Dolomites? Lisa flies home from Milan Sunday morning the 20th.

Lisa: I booked Hotel Montreal in Florence March 6-10. Have been searching for quad rooms in Rome (cheaper than 2 doubles) and am waiting to hear from one of my first choices before booking another place online.

Lisa: I received a reply from my first choice hotel (Hotel Oceania) in Rome and it is booked for a quad room. Troy, the quad cost about 20 euro more than the triple. If Alex can pay the difference, that would be great. Although, maybe we should pay him to stay with us. Now, Troy, we just have to find an opera!

Lisa: Katie, please house sit for us from Thursday morning thru Sunday evening, March 3 through March 10th when your father comes home. If you want to or are able to pick up or drop off at the airport you could help us save some $ for parking. You could even pick up the car later in the day when you are free.

Troy: I'm going to interrupt this conversation to tell you about my last couple of days because I haven't had time to talk to all of you!
On tuesday we went on a class field trip to La Specola museum (which I already told Katie all about so the rest of you just need to talk to her for details)! Then, later that night we went to the Accent sponsored apertivo! An apertivo is a place where you order an overpriced drink and then get free food for the rest of the night, and although there's not supposed to be any drinking in the Accent program... we all totally had a drink with our teachers (and you guys can't tell ANYONE or they'll get in trouble). But the food was awesome and it was really fun!
The next day (Wednesday) I didn't have Anthropology because our visit to La Specola counted as class time, so all I had was Italian at 2:00! Afterwards, we took the train to the soccer game (and due to a mix up with taking the light rail instead of the actual train, we barely got there in time)! The game was Fiorentina vs Inter Milan and although we played pretty well the first half Inter Milan is one of the best teams and kinda rocked Fiorentina.
Today, after History class the Soc Sci class took us to the Accademia where we saw the David, The Prisoners, and lots of awesome statues and religious paintings! They also had Il Museo degli Strumenti Musicali! The entire museum was pretty small and only took a couple hours for us to see everything.
Now we're at home and my roommates and I are all starting to cook a group dinner thingy! We don't have any solid plans for the weekend but we're planning on going to Pisa on Monday! (we don't have school monday because of presidents day).
So now that I just wrote a frikken novel, you all need to tell me what you all are up to! Love ya guys!

Katie: Sounds awesome bud! And that was totally not a novel, just a page from a novel! :)

Lisa: Are you not going to Sienna with the Accent group tomorrow? or to any place special this weekend? the leaning tower of Pisa? the beach? You must travel!!

Troy: The deadline for paying for the group trips passed a week and a half ago without us realizing it.
And did you even read my freakishly long message? It says right there that we're planning on going to Pisa on monday! And since writing this we also decided on also going to Fiesole and Lucca this weekend! They're all day trips and they all cost 5 euros or less to get there!

La Bella Figura

[2/17/2011 8:24:36 AM] Katie Symington: brrrrr

[2/17/2011 8:25:20 AM] Troy Symington: Brrrrrr?

[2/17/2011 8:26:54 AM] Troy Symington: Hello?

[2/17/2011 8:26:58 AM] Troy Symington: You there?

[2/17/2011 8:30:26 AM] Katie Symington: Hi!

[2/17/2011 8:30:26 AM] Katie Symington: Sorry

[2/17/2011 8:30:41 AM] Troy Symington: Ha, whatcha doing?

[2/17/2011 8:30:54 AM] Katie Symington: It is 64 degrees inside and I'm leaving soon for work, so I can't turn on the heat. I'm making breakfast and delaying getting ready. :)

[2/17/2011 8:30:55 AM] Katie Symington: What you doin?

[2/17/2011 8:32:36 AM] Troy Symington: Sitting at home and about to start making dinner with my room mates! You should definitely check Facebook because I just wrote a novel to you guys about what I've been doing the last couple of days.

[2/17/2011 8:32:54 AM] Katie Symington: Just read it!

[2/17/2011 8:32:59 AM] Katie Symington: Totally not a novel. Write more!

[2/17/2011 8:33:23 AM] Troy Symington: Are you kidding me? That took like 10 minutes!

[2/17/2011 8:33:44 AM] Katie Symington: I have been super busy with work and school the last few days. I am also getting a cold based on my being tired even though I got lots of sleep, and the ouchiness of my throat.

[2/17/2011 8:34:18 AM] Katie Symington: Oh! My friend had a baby! I tagged a picture of her with me holding her so you should check out my pics, the baby is Kylie Anne. She is super cute! I held her when she was 12 hours old!

[2/17/2011 8:34:59 AM] Troy Symington: You get sick to often, stop it! Do I know who this friend is?

[2/17/2011 8:35:45 AM] Katie Symington: my friend Christa, she and I had high school together.

[2/17/2011 8:36:00 AM] Katie Symington: you probably don't know her.

[2/17/2011 8:36:14 AM] Katie Symington: I haven't been sick in ages! This is a random cold. A stupid random cold.

[2/17/2011 8:36:23 AM] Katie Symington: Also, I don't have time to be sick, so it needs to knock it off.

[2/17/2011 8:36:34 AM] Katie Symington: It sounds like you have been havin a lot of fun in Italy! Any parts not so fun?

[2/17/2011 8:36:53 AM] Troy Symington: The name actually sounds familiar... but it's probably from you talking about her.

[2/17/2011 8:37:06 AM] Troy Symington: Not really, so far I'm having a great time!

[2/17/2011 8:37:40 AM] Troy Symington: The language barrier thing is annoying sometimes... but it's part of the experience.

[2/17/2011 8:38:06 AM] Troy Symington: Oh! One thing I hate is how Italian girls NEVER go for americans.

[2/17/2011 8:38:22 AM] Troy Symington: But the guys are all over the girls in a very creepy kinda way.

[2/17/2011 8:38:38 AM] Katie Symington: Er . . . what? I thought Italian girls would go gaga for american guys!

[2/17/2011 8:40:33 AM] Troy Symington: Nope... Italian girls are very proper and all about La Bella Figura (the beautiful figure). It means they always carry themselves with pride and whatnot. And because the Italian girls are like this, the Italian guys always go for Americans becuase they're, well... easier.

[2/17/2011 8:41:03 AM] Katie Symington: lol omg.

[2/17/2011 8:41:21 AM] Katie Symington: pooor boy.

[2/17/2011 8:42:32 AM] Troy Symington: I know, right? I've only ever been hit on by one Italian girl! What the heck?!

[2/17/2011 8:42:59 AM] Katie Symington: that you noticed, maybe there are more!

[2/17/2011 8:43:35 AM] Troy Symington: Maybe... but I gotta go! They're just finishing making dinner and I hardly helped! Oh no!

[2/17/2011 8:43:42 AM] Troy Symington: Love ya!

[2/17/2011 8:43:49 AM] Katie Symington: Love you too! Have fun!

I'm so tired I can't even remember what we talked about this morning, but I know it made me smile!

[8:43:04 AM] Katie Symington: Hey bud!

[8:43:06 AM] Katie Symington: Good morning!

[8:43:13 AM] Katie Symington: ....evening.:)

[8:44:18 AM] Troy Symington: Hey! I've been relaxing for the past hour or so and I was watching How i met your mother!

[8:44:36 AM] Katie Symington: oh, I watched the most recent one last night and it was soooo funny!

[8:45:01 AM] Troy Symington: Yup, I just finished it!

[8:45:15 AM] Katie Symington: Barney as Predator . . . I was laughing so hard.

[8:45:34 AM] Katie Symington: So what's up?

[8:47:30 AM] Troy Symington: Wait... what? There must be one more! OMG!

[8:48:05 AM] Katie Symington: lol the one last night is called Desperation Day and it's about
Valentine's Day and the day before. Go to cbs . com and click on How I Met Your Mother then
scroll down for the video.

[8:48:24 AM] Katie Symington: It's on the left, click on the one that is 21 minutes long cuz others
are previews.

[8:49:33 AM] Troy Symington: Ha, thanks, I'll do that. So... how was your Valentines day?

[8:49:49 AM] Katie Symington: Bueno! Nick made me caramel apples!

[8:50:03 AM] Katie Symington: They are deeelicious.

[8:50:08 AM] Katie Symington: How was yours?

[8:51:02 AM] Troy Symington: Oooooo. You should send me some via mail. I didn't do much. A few of us actually went to a bar, but we didn't stay long because of the whole waking up early for school thing.

[8:51:27 AM] Katie Symington: How is school going?

[8:54:32 AM] Troy Symington: Molto bene! We went to La Specola on a field trip today! It had a ridiculous amount of stuffed animals and then there was an anatomy exhibit that had wax figures of people with their muscles/organs exposed (much like the Body exhibit we saw a long time ago). The figures are supposed to be representations of people that they actually disected during the bubonic plague.

[8:55:05 AM] Katie Symington: ....eew.

[8:55:17 AM] Katie Symington: And kind of cool.

[8:56:14 AM] Troy Symington: I know, right? Oh! I'm starting to really like my Italian class
now!

[8:56:35 AM] Troy Symington: The teacher is very entertaining and I'm starting to get the hang
of it.

[8:57:22 AM] Katie Symington: Yaaaaay!

[8:57:42 AM] Katie Symington: Do you understand what she says and what Italians say? Tell
me something interesting you learned!

[9:00:12 AM] Troy Symington: I dunno, today we were learning how to use pronouns in the past
tense... not exactly exciting to write about. Oh, but in about 10 minutes we're going to leave to go
to a dinner thing put on by Accent. We're going to an apertivo which is usually a place where you buy one overpriced drink and then get free food the rest of the night, but since Accent isn't allowed to sponser alcohol it's just going to be a cheap all you can eat bufet.

[9:00:30 AM] Katie Symington: sweeeet!

[9:00:49 AM] Katie Symington: Did you see Tiffany from TKD is pregnant?

[9:01:27 AM] Troy Symington: I did! That's awesome! I haven't seen them in so long, though.

[9:01:49 AM] Katie Symington: same here. :)

[9:02:12 AM] Katie Symington: Who are all the girls in the photos? I only know Anna and sort of
Allison.

[9:03:48 AM] Troy Symington: Just people from the program that we've met! But I need to go
now, sorry. I'll talk to ya soon! Love ya!

[9:05:24 AM] Katie Symington: Love you too! Bye!

You Figure Out Who is Who, I Have Homework To Do (RHYME!)

Troy troy troy!


Katie Katie Katie


Hi!
We went to Romeo and Juliet last night it was so awesome, I wish you'd been here!


Oh! Tell me about it!


Well we dropped mom and nanny off at the theater where we did the nutcracker, and then nick and dad and I went and drove around for 15 minutes and parked the car and ran to the theater, got there with 3 minutes to spare and went up to the second tier box. It was like 3 stories up and we had the first row in the middle, perfect seats! We brought binoculars to see them up close too.
There was pre-recorded music instead of an orchestra, kind of a bummer, but it was beautiful. The Juliet was so graceful and flowy, and the dances were beautiful. We laughed quite a few times too, because Mercutio was a total jokester and danced to make fun of the serious other dancers!


Very nice! Mercutio was always my favorite! Did you hear? We wound up in the middle of carnivale today! Expect pictures tomorrow.


There were 2 intermissions, we got a water. Nanny stayed seated the whole time because it was a bit of a walk up and down. After the Q and A session was kind of quick and vague, but it was still cool to see the dancers up close.
I just saw your post about carnivale! I am so excited to see pics. Tell me about it!
Mom wants to know if Alec wants to go to Rome with you and her. Please ask him.


I talked to him today and he definitely seems to want to go!


So should I tell her for sure? Is he there for you to ask?
I think she has to book hotels/stuff so she needs to know in a yes or no kind of way.


Ask her which weekend it is again.


march 10-13. Leave thursday after school, train to rome. fri-sat site-see. gary leaves sunday


He says sure!


OK, I told mom. Sounds like fun!
Tell me 1 cool thing about Carnivale.


So. much. confetti. It was kind of a kids thing and it ended around 7:30 but the Dj's were really entertaining and they played lots of Italian techno music.


awesome!


And... I need to go to sleep because I have school early tomorrow. I'll talk to ya soon!


Wait!
Please let Alec know that mom would like for him to pay the difference between the triple and the quad rooms--about 20 euros
Is he okay with that?


I'm sure he would be, I'll ask. P.S. Go look at the pictures Alec just posted.


And have a wonderful day at school! I am doing hw right now--decoding a transcribed 2.5 year old's zoo talk phonetically.

Love you! I'll check out those photos. Good to talk to you buddy.


Interesting... lova ya!

1:59pm
bye!

Day at the Ufuzi and Multitasking

Good morning!
[2/10/11 7:23:01 AM] Lisa Symington: Today was your Uffizi day. Did you like it? Was it crowded?

[2/10/11 7:24:09 AM] Troy Symington: Fairly crowded. But it was still FLIPPING AWESOME! Unfortunately there were no pictures allowed so the only picture is of the outside.

[2/10/11 7:24:45 AM] Troy Symington: We didn't have enough time to really look at everything because we had Italian class at 2, so we were going to go back sometime.

[2/10/11 7:25:03 AM] Troy Symington: We can get in for free anytime with our museum pass.

[2/10/11 7:25:20 AM] Lisa Symington: I'm surprised it was crowded in February. Crowded with Italians or tourists. Great about your pass.

[2/10/11 7:26:01 AM] Lisa Symington: That's a question mark after tourists....

[2/10/11 7:26:24 AM] Lisa Symington: And what was good in the museum?

[2/10/11 7:26:35 AM] Troy Symington: A little bit of both. And it wasn't exactly CROWDED. But there was still a healhy amount of people and tour groups to get around.

[2/10/11 7:27:23 AM] Lisa Symington: What was in the museum?

[2/10/11 7:28:09 AM] Troy Symington: I think my favorite part was the building itself. The ceilings and walls and furniture are so ridiculously elaborate! It's hard to believe that it was made to be an office building for Lorenzo the Magnificent (one of the Medici)!

[2/10/11 7:28:45 AM] Lisa Symington:
\\\\\\\]9999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999992

[2/10/11 7:29:02 AM] Lisa Symington: Oz sent you the above message :)

[2/10/11 7:29:39 AM] Lisa Symington: I guess there was a lot of power and money in that family!

[2/10/11 7:30:06 AM] Troy Symington: There were tons and tons of greek and roman statues and busts. As well as a ridiculous amount of religious paintings and portraits of Lorenzo's family and friends, ect.

[2/10/11 7:30:11 AM] Troy Symington: Tell Oz I say hi!

[2/10/11 7:30:43 AM] Lisa Symington: I'll give him a hug from you when I can. I sent his away for now...Tell

[2/10/11 7:31:10 AM] Troy Symington: I... did?

[2/10/11 7:31:59 AM] Lisa Symington: Tell me about the differences between Italy and home. When you went to the grocery store and the mercado what was it like?

[2/10/11 7:34:42 AM] Troy Symington: The supermarket is acually kind of fun, because you don't always know exactly what it is your buying! The main difference is the kinds of foods. There's a lot more in the way of unprepared meat and you can just grab some octopus or calamari or other whole animal from the freezer section!

[2/10/11 7:35:08 AM] Lisa Symington: WHOLE octopus?

[2/10/11 7:35:59 AM] Lisa Symington: So they don't have already prepared salads and chinese food? How about all the pastries and cakes and donuts?

[2/10/11 7:37:03 AM] Lisa Symington: Are you guys making your own coffee or just buying it? Does one buy coffee in the grocery store like we do?

[2/10/11 7:37:53 AM] Troy Symington: There's not very much in the way of already prepared foods... but the thing is we keep going to the giant supermarket when most people go to specialty shops for everything.

[2/10/11 7:38:44 AM] Lisa Symington: Aren't the specialty shops more expensive? How do regular people afford that?

[2/10/11 7:39:01 AM] Troy Symington: There was some coffee already here when we moved in as a housewarming gift thingy but we haven't used it yet. We've just been going to caffe's (but not very often).

[2/10/11 7:39:34 AM] Lisa Symington: What did you do for dinner last night?

[2/10/11 7:39:57 AM] Troy Symington: That's the culture! The store we've been going to is about the size of holiday and it is one of the biggest if not THE biggest in the city! People just go to specialty shops here!

[2/10/11 7:41:23 AM] Lisa Symington: Tonight is the start of your first 3 day weekend. You and Alec going to San Giamarmanno? Are the girls going with you? Any other good plans?

[2/10/11 7:41:30 AM] Troy Symington: Last night Nathan made us all spaghetti. He threw some ground beef in tomato sauce and added basil, garlic, and onion. We supplied the bread and wine and it was really good!

[2/10/11 7:41:48 AM] Lisa Symington: How expensive is wine?

[2/10/11 7:42:49 AM] Troy Symington: Stop asking me questions so quickly! I can't answer them all and then you're going to complain about how I never tell you anything! I haven't even gotten to the other 2 conversations I'm having on facebook! Which questions do you want me to answer!!!!???!

[2/10/11 7:43:22 AM] Lisa Symington: ALL OF THEM! You're young, you can multitask!!

[2/10/11 7:45:24 AM] Troy Symington: We're going to spend a day in San Gimingano on either sat or sun. We don't know who all is going yet.

[2/10/11 7:45:31 AM] Troy Symington: The wine was about 3 euro.

[2/10/11 7:45:38 AM] Troy Symington: And it wasn't bad!

[2/10/11 7:47:05 AM] Lisa Symington: OK. love. I'll let you go. I'm Expediaing flights now. I think I have one for your Dad and I'm looking for mine now.

[2/10/11 7:50:02 AM] Troy Symington: Okay! Sound good! Love ya!

[2/10/11 7:50:39 AM] Lisa Symington: Love you, too!

Troy Updated! New photos! Wheee!

Cathedral, perhaps? Troy may have updated but that doesn't mean he will caption the pictures! I'll take what I can get.


Someplace quite pretty.


Very pretty.


Something impressive.


Alec's head and the Duomo.

Palazza Vecchio

Gallaria degli Uffizi

I . . . have no idea. Whatsoever.


Dinner time! I'll bet it's pasta. ^_^

Pictures of Statues, Friends, and Bread

These pictures are courtesy of Troy's friend Anna, who is apparently the only person who uploads photos, TROY. (Get on it, dude. This is me smacking the back of your head. Take pictures! Put them up! I mean jeez, it's not like you're doing anything interesting, like exploring a new country. No excuse.)

Troy, Anna, Alec, Allison at the girl's apartment.


The statue outside the girl's apartment. I like it a lot.


An archway by the Ufizi.


Pretty.


Anna called this photo "goobers". I think it fits.


Not goobers.


Apparently this is on the Ponte Vecchio. A fence borders a statue and couples buy locks, engrave their names on them, and chain the lock to the fence. Very cute!


Shopping at the market. It looks so colorful!


Dude. Your mouth. Use it to make a smile. Yes, that looks is cute, but not when it is in every single photo. SMILE. (You look happy. Good.)


Big, tall, foreboding building. AKA the Duomo.


I think there is something wrong with this picture.


Hog statue. BACON. If you rub the nose you have safe travels back to Florence. And if you are in Florence you call it Firenze, which just looks way more awesome.

Santa Maria Novella Plaza (musician playing music for the crowd)

Huge Duomo!


Duomo again!


Bell tower!


Behind the Santa Maria Novella. Very pretty!


This all looks so very awesome.

He is Master of the Short Chats!

[12:00:14 AM] Katie Symington: My bruddah!

[12:00:59 AM] Troy Symington: My sistah! I can't really talk because I leave for school in 5 minutes!

[12:01:19 AM] Katie Symington: Oh noes!

[12:01:23 AM] Katie Symington: Quick, tell me what's new!

[12:02:44 AM] Troy Symington: Actually not too much. I had my first day of World history and Italian Life, Culture, and Politics yesterday! They both seem like fun classes and they're taught by the same teacher who is really entertaining!

[12:03:04 AM] Katie Symington: excellent. What after that did you do?

[12:03:45 AM] Troy Symington: Went grocery shopping again with Alec and Nathan, then wen't home, ate, and did homework.

[12:04:09 AM] Katie Symington: Sounds like fun. I am muy tired.

[12:04:29 AM] Katie Symington: I taught computers, came home, went to class, came home, picked Nick up from class, came home, sat.

[12:04:43 AM] Katie Symington: Tell me something awesome about Italy.

[12:04:48 AM] Troy Symington: I like the "sat" part.

[12:04:59 AM] Troy Symington: It's frikken Italy!

[12:05:00 AM] Katie Symington: Me tambien.

[12:05:10 AM] Katie Symington: BUT I'VE NEVER BEEN! TELL ME SOMETHING.

[12:05:59 AM] Troy Symington: All of the people here are very concerned with how other people veiw them. They all dress very nicely and have good posture and in the mornings you can see all the shop keepers cleaning windows and sweeping their sidewalks.

[12:06:12 AM] Troy Symington: I gotta go! Love ya!

[12:06:18 AM] Katie Symington: Have a great day! Love you too!

[12:06:21 AM] Katie Symington: Post more pics!

[12:06:22 AM] Katie Symington: Bye

[12:06:24 AM] Katie Symington: !

Don't Blink!

Good morning, son.

[2/8/11 7:44:17 AM] Troy Symington: Hi ma!

[2/8/11 7:44:34 AM] Lisa Symington: How's italy today?

[2/8/11 7:45:25 AM] Troy Symington: Cold and overcast. Today was my first day of my History and Social Science classes!

[2/8/11 7:45:40 AM] Lisa Symington: How did those classes go?

[2/8/11 7:46:23 AM] Troy Symington: Molto bene! When we meat for Soc Sci on thursday we're going to the Uffizi!

[2/8/11 7:46:35 AM] Troy Symington: Oh, I'm sorry but I need to go mom!

[2/8/11 7:46:38 AM] Lisa Symington: Yea!

[2/8/11 7:46:44 AM] Lisa Symington: Me too, love ya

[2/8/11 7:46:54 AM] Troy Symington: We're going to the super market to get groceries. Bye, love ya!

[2/8/11 7:47:00 AM] Lisa Symington: bye

IM Chatting with Florence

[8:51:51 AM] Katie Symington: Hey boy, you online?

[8:51:53 AM] Katie Symington: ?

[8:56:44 AM] Katie Symington: Have a wonderful day! :)

[8:57:16 AM] Troy Symington: Hey Katie!

[8:58:54 AM] Katie Symington: whoa, what is this, you come online just when I go to shower?

[8:58:57 AM] Katie Symington: Hi!

[8:59:01 AM] Katie Symington: How are you buddy?

[8:59:18 AM] Troy Symington: Tired!

[8:59:37 AM] Katie Symington: How was school? Tell me aaallll about it! And everything else!

[9:00:55 AM] Troy Symington: Blaaarg... well, I woke up early and walked to the Accent center with 3 of my roommates (after getting a cappucino of course) where we had physical anthropology.

[9:01:27 AM] Troy Symington: We didn't do much in that class today but it seems like it'll be fun!

[9:01:56 AM] Katie Symington: Ooooh capuccino! Yummy! Is the coffee there better?

[9:02:44 AM] Troy Symington: It's REALLY GOOD! All I've had so far are cappucinos and expressos, but they've all been awesome!


[9:03:10 AM] Katie Symington: YUM! I want some! Kindly mail some capuccino to California.
[9:03:23 AM] Troy Symington: The sandwiches and pastries that they have in caffes are all
really good and pretty cheap!

[9:04:21 AM] Troy Symington: I will definately mail you a cappucino!

[9:04:28 AM] Katie Symington: Awesome! What have you been eating for breakfast, food you cook or do you go out?

[9:04:35 AM] Katie Symington: ;) Thanks buddy.

[9:05:54 AM] Troy Symington: It varies, I've had a couple of croissants for breakfast but for the last two days I had either bread and cheese or bread and butter that we bought at the supermarket.

[9:06:09 AM] Katie Symington: Yum!

[9:06:19 AM] Katie Symington: So did you have more than anthropology today?

[9:07:32 AM] Troy Symington: Yup! We had Italian 2 which is 8 of us sitting in a really, really tiny classroom with a teacher who doesn't speak all that much english and we're not allowed to speak english in the classroom!

[9:07:39 AM] Katie Symington: Uh-oh!

[9:07:52 AM] Katie Symington: Well, that would make you learn it pretty quickly.

[9:08:13 AM] Katie Symington: When you are on the street and in the cafe's, do the Italians speak English to you or do you try to speak Italian?

[9:08:53 AM] Troy Symington: I try to, but I obviously don't speak very well yet. Most of the time they just end up speaking english to us.

[9:09:40 AM] Katie Symington: Well I think it's great that you're trying, keep it up! I'm sure they appreciate you trying to speak it.

[9:09:50 AM] Katie Symington: Any other classes?

[9:10:29 AM] Katie Symington: OK, wait. I have to go into the shower reeeeaaally quickly, so kindly tell me all about the rest of your classes, what you did for the rest of the day, and how your apartment is. I'll be back in 5, okay?

[9:10:50 AM] Troy Symington: Not today, but tomorrow I have History, Italian Life, Culture, & Politics, and another round of Italian 2.

[9:12:00 AM] Katie Symington: gack.

[9:12:14 AM] Katie Symington: Look up and answer the rest of my questions! Be right back!

[9:12:16 AM] Katie Symington: :)

[9:15:25 AM] Katie Symington: Back. Where are my answers? Hey! How do you like the blog? ;)

[9:18:39 AM] Troy Symington: Oh, for some reason I didn't see that text! Well... I finally got the stuff with my cell phone figured out so once I get a text telling me my phone is activated I'll have a workable phone. Then we went back to the apartment and Alec is taking a nap and I think I'll go to bed soon once I have some dinner.

[9:19:16 AM] Katie Symington: Great! What is for dinner?

[9:20:17 AM] Troy Symington: Not a clue! We don't have much that we can cook up ourselves yet so I'll probably walk to the caffe beneath our apartment and get a snack for 1 or 2 euros.

[9:21:30 AM] Katie Symington: Nice. Okay buddy, I'd better scram. Keep uploading photos, I love to look at them, and I'm having fun with your blog. I also love that you are in a lot of the photos! Keep that up! Remember you next to a building is better than just a building. :)

[9:22:32 AM] Troy Symington: Yup yup! Bye, love ya!

[9:22:56 AM] Katie Symington: love you too! bye!

In Which Troy Is At the Computer with . . . Flour?

First Days in Florence

Croissants and Caffe

Hey Guys! It's about 11 p.m. on sunday and I just woke up from a nap. I guess I'm still pretty jet lagged and I've been trying to make up for lost sleep. The last two days have pretty much been spent trying to get things ready in the apartment. Yesterday we met up with Anna and Allison and got some breakfast (a croissant and caffe for me) and explored some more. Then Alec, our roommate Nathan and I went to the really big supermarket across the river from us, The Esselunga (literally: Long S). We got things like bread and cheese, OJ, a few snack items, and necessities for the apartment like fabric softener, toilette paper, ect. For dinner we met back up with Allison and Anna and went to a restaurant just across the Ponte Vecchio which consisted of very well priced pesto, the house wine, and we shared a cheese plate for dessert.

Today Alec and I just had some cheese, bread and OJ that we bought for breakfast and then went with Anna and Allison to Ikea which we had to take a taxi to get to. Once we got back to the main section of Firenze we ate lunch at an american place and went to a 99 cent store. After that we went home and I went to sleep. We start classes tomorrow, and apart from the waking up early part I'm actually kinda excited!

Love you guys!

Friends in Florence

Alec, Troy, Allison, and Anna in Italy. Wine! Wine, and they aren't 21! What's up with that, Italy?

Tiramisu, Gelato, and Ramen via Skype

A transcript of Skype between Mom and Troy today!

[2/4/11 9:49:20 AM] Lisa Symington: It was a nice surprise skyping you. I hope you'll continue to skype us often. It helps :)
[2/4/11 9:49:28 AM] Lisa Symington: (h)
[2/4/11 10:12:35 AM] Troy Symington: I'll certainly try! The problems are; A: I might not always have internet access or time.
[2/4/11 10:13:51 AM] Troy Symington: and B: I always have to explain things a bazzillion different times to you, katie, dad, friends, ect! It's ridonculous!
[2/4/11 10:27:09 AM] Lisa Symington: Copy and paste
[2/4/11 10:28:25 AM] Lisa Symington: I was just looking at Alec's 189 photos of Shauna's birthday. I'm not done looking. Nanny is in the back room alone for the "stress" part of the test. It's done with medicine, not a treadmill
[2/4/11 10:29:21 AM] Troy Symington: Interesting for a stress test...
[2/4/11 10:29:47 AM] Troy Symington: yeah, Alec told me you were tagging people in his pictures, you snoop you!
[2/4/11 10:29:59 AM] Lisa Symington: You say may not always have internet access. Isn't your wifi good in your apartment?
[2/4/11 10:30:06 AM] Lisa Symington: I only tagged you!
[2/4/11 10:31:55 AM] Troy Symington: Yup, seems consistent and fairly speedy so far! I just mean when I'm busy or away on trips.
[2/4/11 10:33:38 AM] Lisa Symington: Understandable. I hope not to be so anxiously awaiting news from you as the days go by and I know how you are doing :) I hope for news often this first weekend when your first impressions about the city and the people are new
[2/4/11 10:34:04 AM] Troy Symington: Most definitely!
[2/4/11 10:34:33 AM] Troy Symington: I'm actually going to be going out to dinner with Alec, Anna, and Allison soon. Not sure where yet.
[2/4/11 10:34:34 AM] Lisa Symington: what flavor gelato did you have?
[2/4/11 10:34:58 AM] Lisa Symington: What, not cooking top ramen?
[2/4/11 10:35:37 AM] Lisa Symington: (h)
[2/4/11 10:37:52 AM] Troy Symington: Tiramisu! But apparently there are 2 kinds of gelato. The fluffy really delicious looking kind that was made from a powder packet and the actually delicious kind that was made right there in the shop and doesn't look that great because it was just mixed. We unknowingly went to the former.
[2/4/11 10:38:01 AM] Troy Symington: And there's nothing wrong with top ramen!
[2/4/11 10:38:43 AM] Lisa Symington: I expect you to know all the good gelato shops by the time I get there.
[2/4/11 10:39:06 AM] Troy Symington: M'kay!
[2/4/11 10:39:43 AM] Lisa Symington: Love you, go on off to sleep now, I'm keeping you up. Gotta go to nanny
[2/4/11 10:40:02 AM] Troy Symington: Send everyone my love!

First Look at Italy Through the Eyes of My Brother

The first days exploring in Italy! These were uploaded to Troy's facebook page and then transferred here. (Painstakingly. Dude, you need a flickr account.)

Alec and Troy waiting for their flight. This is the last time they will be in America for four months! They look just heartbroken, don't you think?


Troy and Mom getting a last hug in. (Four months. I've never been this long without my buddy!)


And all of a sudden, we are in Italy! Troy's apartment in Florence. He is sharing this room with Alec, and there are two other roommates in the other two bedrooms.


Alec ironing in the living room. Troy is totally missing the 50" LCD TV he used to have.


Exploring Italy! I love how tiny the cars are . . . but how the hell do they manage to drive away when they are squished together so? Also, Troy is a ham.


Sideways pic of some gorgeous building they discovered. Correction: The Duomo, because I am an ignoramus. HAPPY, Troy?!


In the Piazza di St. Maria Novella eating gelato with Anna and Allison and Alec.


Mmmm, gelato. Still exploring on Day 2.


What a view to have outside your kitchen window!