Day 31 - Florence

Looking out from a hillside by Florence, it was probably the most beautiful sunset I have seen yet in Europe, although Salzburg was really close (especially from the vantage point of the fort). I went to church in the morning where I met Ellis and Davide. We spent the day going to churchs and walking about Florence. We stopped at Ellis;s place for some lunch (pasta, yum :) and Ellis and Davide taught me a little about leather, and I bought a friendship band to match Ellis;s. Eventually we took the 20 minute bus ride out of the city proper to the hill where we could see city meet country meet hill meet sky meet sun. After sunset we watched Venus appear followed by the stars, then took the bus back to the city where Ellis helped my find the convent where I was staying for the night. They lock the doors at 11:30 PM and there is no mercy so its best to be on time, either that or risk sleeping the night out on the streets. Don,t mess with the nuns.

Day 22 - Munich

When walking along the slim bit of concrete that seperated the grass from the gravel road, I was walking the line that had been between life and death itself. In the Dachau concentration camp, if you stepped off the gravel road, you were shot without warning. After visiting such a place, it definitly leaves me with more questions then answers. Not just how it could happen, which is a question I am sure millions have had to ask when they have learned of such atrocities regarding WWII, but also many others. Such as, did the lack of forgiveness of WWI lead, in some way, to conditions that created the second world war, and if so, what should we learn from this. Also, how do we keep a balance between yielding to authority which is a part of the social contract that allows us to maintain order and freedom, and when and how do we know when to disregard and work against authority. It seams to me that tyranny from WWII had its roots in a lot of people, ideas, and movements prior to WWII and that WWII was the culmination of years of ignorant, misinformed and bad decisions.

Day 20 - Wengen

Started the day right by getting my filling that had fallen out replaced. Yay dentists in Switzerland! Hiked up a little ways and ate lunch and just sat on a bench looking out over a vast valley. went back for a nap, then back up again after dinner time. Came back to the hotel and joined a surprise birthday party for Laura Peers. The folks at the hotel were awesome and let us use the dance room. We danced and then played games afterwards.

Day 16 - Bern, Switzerland

Toured a cheese factory today and after the tour ate cheese to my hearts content. They had some pretty good bread, but I also suplemented it with some bread I had swiped from the breakfast at the hotel. tete de moin was the type of cheese produced there, although they also had all the other Swiss classics.

Walked up part of a mountain with some farmers who were taking their cows to summer pastures. Ate a traditional Swiss type meal (so I was told) with meat, meat, pickles, meat, tomatoe, meat, onion, meat, bread and of course, meat. Toured the local green energy plants, (wind/Solar), and stopped by a chocolate store. Dinner was purchased at a local grocery store (Coop), which consisted of bread and meat, strawberries and nutella, berry pie, chocolate milk and some orangina knock off soda. Yum Yum Yum.

Day 12 - Amsterdam to Germany

The international place for trading flowers was immense. The warehouse went on for forever and there were day traders buying flowers on giant tv screens with a constant procession of flowers being diplayed to the respective buyers. after that i spent a little bit in cognac at a cathedral there and then there was shopping. We are supposed to stay in groups or else i could have cut out the shopping. oh, and i napped for like 5 hours today

Day 7 - Paris

As I looked at the clothes that used to be hanging in a fashion boutique, but were now secondhand, Salim inrroduced himself. he said he likes Americans. We chatted for a bit, and because I had time we went out to Coffee, or rather, I bought him some and did not have any myself. It was nice to learn about French fashion and life in Paris, and to have a new friend.

Hoppng onto the Metro to go back to the hotel, I saw Jason. He was a longboader and after a little bit of discussion he invited me to join him for some longboarding. It was too good to be true, I mean, just earlier that same day I had been day dreaming about having a board in Paris. We went down by the Eiffel tower and went longboarding for around three hours. His friends joined in as well and there were probably 15-20 boarders at its zenith. Tender mercy of the Lord.