Hey,

So, day two, Ange and i first wandered the city, crossed the Ponte Vecchio (one of the few bridges across the Arno river that survived the war), and did a bit of shopping - all before lunch. Bought a really great italian leather purse and wallet.

This is the bridge that i mentioned. Kinda different as it does have buildings hanging off it.

That afternoon we explored the Uffizi Gallery - fantastic!!! Here is Ange and i outside the gallery with Donatello.

The Uffizi is the home of: Leonardo da Vinci's "The Annunciation"

Botticelli's "Spring"

and most famous of all Botticelli's "Birth of Venus"

They were all very impressive, and these pictures do not do them justice. The gallery had so many great pieces. I just loved it.

After that we went to the Piazzia della Signoria to see the fountain, and enjoyed an espresso (my first and it was not to bad at all).

Of course you can't go to Florence without spending time with "the man" - Michelangelo's "David" - it is at the Academic Gallery. It is really cool - and huge, i mean HUGE!!! I kinda took a picture and you're not really allowed to - the lady yelled at me! Oh well got to do what you have got to do!!!!

Now of course we could not forget that this was Valentines Day, so Ange and i went out for a nice Italian Dinner, drank some red wine, and looked around us at all the couples. All we needed was two cute italian men (and Florence seems to be full of them!) to finish the night off. Too bad they were all out with their girlfriends! Oh well, the wine was good!

Next day we did some shopping in the markets (bought two italian silk scarfs, and two cool leather bracelets). Went to the Pitti Palace - the Medici Palace. It was really ornate (to say the least). Then off a hiking we go. Found this

This was a great day. We hiked up out of the city, found some old streets and basically wandered around. We got a great view of the city.

To end this great holiday in Italy i went to mass at the Sanata Maria Novella Chapel. It was in Italian and really quite beautful.

We caught the bus later that night (10:30 pm) back to the Pisa Airport. We arrived at the airport at 1:00 am - acually 5 minutes past. I know this because the airport closes its doors at one in the morning. So we had to sit outside in the cold (it dropped in the temp - we could see our breath) for THREE hours!!! Thank you Salina for the flanal PJ's becasue i think that they saved me from getting a very nasty cold. I wraped my body in them - i did not bring any real winter clothes to Italy as i was not anticipating having to sit outside in the cold. Finally got inside at 4:00 am. When we entred we saw all the people sleeping in te chairs - they were smarters as they arrived before one in the morning so they got to stay INSIDE!!!

Anyway, caught the flight back to London (and the rain). Got back to Birmingham at 2:00pm. I must say i was kinda tired as i had been up for 34 hours. Crashed last night. Had a great time and would recommend Florence to everyone.

Hope all is well, miss and love ya all,

M.

Hello All!!!

So in the last post i mentioned that i was taking off to Florence, Italy for a few days. What a fantastic city!!!

Our flight was rather early (6:30 am - Tuesday morning) so Ange and I took the train up to London on Monday. We met up with Hollie (mentioned her before - Emily's old roomate) and we went to a taping of...oddly enough The Hour (yes the Canadian show) which was taping in London because George S. was also covering the BritAwards. It was rather interesting. Had a chance to catch up on the news back home (when did Toronto get a Football team? - and by that i mean a soccer team)

The show aired on Wed. Feb. 14th so if you caught that show you would have seen me in the croud. The guests were Kelly Osbourne (did not get to see her because her interview was taped the day after) and the CNN reporter Christiane Amampour - she was really interesting and a very smart woman.

Here is a photo of Hollie and one of her friend that we went with:

So after that we caught the train out toward the airport - had 4 hours sleep and then caught out our flight arriving in Pisa, Italy at 9:00 am. We caught a bus to Florence and checked into our hotel by 10:30 so we still had plenty of time to explore!

First we went to the Sante Maria Novella (Church, Museum and Cloiser). They had some of the most beautiful wall and ceiling fescos that i have ever seen. Check it out:

In the museum we got to see lots of religious relics - that would be bits of sones from dead saints - kina odd especially as they are normally displayed in these extrodinarily ornate gold and silver display thingy's.

Next off to Piazza Santa Duomo where the famous Santa Maria del Foire Cathedral is. Yes it is huge and Ange and i climbed all 500 steps (thats 10 flights) to reach the top!!! It was so worth it check out the view.

Also went to to see the Baptistery of San Giovanni - which is where some rather famous Florinties have been iniciated into the Catholic faith. That would include Dante. It is octagonal in shape, which symbolizes the "eighth day" the time of the Risen Christ and the Christian belief of the resurrection after death. Sorry for all that techniqual stuff, but i thought it rather interesting myself. This building was constructed in the 11th centry, built with marble. In the 14th and 16th centries the three brass doors and the mosaic ceiling were added. The three doors (kinda famous ans very beautiful) depict events from the Old Testement (Michelangelo called this set of doors the Gates of Paradise), the life of Jesus, and the life of John the Baptist.

So at the end of day one we were a bit tuckered out to say the least. Hope all is well. Will finish Florence in next blog. TTYL, M.

Hello All,

So, it has been a while. Not much is new really. If you have been listening to the news you may have heard that we have had some snow...yes i said SNOW!!! Thursday we had a snow day where all schools in Birmingham were closed. There was less than 3 inches. To be fair, it did snow all day Thursday and Friday. As of last night (Friday) we had about 5 inches. It looks fantastic - so ... clean.

It was fun introducing the Aussies to this new experience (they have never seen snow before). We went to the park, made snow angels, snow balls, rolled very large snow balls to make a very large snowman, and basically had a good time. Both Jac and Ange had fun i think.

Here are a few pictures of what my street looked like. These were taken on Thursday so there is not much in the way of snow that this point.

Here is Aussie Jac experiencing her first real snow. She fell flat on her ass!!!

Here is Rachel, (Can) and Dan (New Zealand and one of my Flatmates) in the park.


On Monday i am heading to London for the night - hopfully we are able to get tickets for The Hour with Goerge Stropolopogus (sp?) which is filming an episode in London. Have not hear yet if there are any leftover tickets - so here is hoping.

Tuesday morning bright and early (6:30 am) Ange and i are catching a flight to Florence Italy for a few days (back on Friday). We just booked it yesterday as a last minute trip. Super cheap deal so we just could not pass it by. Should be fun!!!

This weekend in Good'ol Gan the Tedford's Annual Classic (Hockey Tourny) is going on. Just talking to Molly and her first Game was a 8:30 am. Hopefully everyone has a great time.

Not much else is new...looking forward to the family coming over for the April break.

Got to Run

Hope all is well...Miss and Love,
M.

Hey again,

Just thought i would give you an update since new years,

Went to London to visit Hollie (Emily's roomate from school - and she was also an occupent at 606). Went to the British Museum which is just stunning. Saw the Egypian and Assyrian sections, then made our way to the Canada store - yes it sells things that are Canadian and i got Kraft peanut butter!!!! The peanut butter here is just...not the same.

Here is the famous Reading Room in the Museum. Members of the Reading Room have included...Karl Marx, Darwin, Virginia Wolfe, Dickens, and so many more. It is a stuning building.



Then we headed to go see the new Bond film at Leicester Square (theatre and show district). Around the square there are 4 LARGE movie theatres, which i thought was odd but i am told that they are all busy especially since if there is ever a movie premier in London this square is were it happens.

Then off to Hollie's. Next day we went to Camden Gardens Market - really good and busy. Had some fantastic mexican food.

Then back to Birmingham after a very long and delayed train ride. (left at 3:20 arrived at 7:00pm - it is normally just over two hours).

Anyway...here is me in Amsterdam down the street from our hotel. It was a fantastic location as it was in the fashion and museum district.




Hope all is well and that you take care. Miss and Love you all,
M.

P.S. Mom andDad have booked the tickets for April!!!! Can't wait to see the family!!!!

Now, after Rabat and Sale we headed off to Casablanca by train.

Got to see a bit of the city. It was very metropolitain and a lot more relaxed than other cities in Morocco. The mosque in Casa (as it is called) is the third larges in the world and very impressive. It is on the coast.

This is in the olive market. And it was very impressive - lots of olives!!!

The souques (Jac and Ange)

Then off to Agadir and the famous 9 hour bus ride. Here are a few pictures of the beach - my first real proper beach.

This is Youness (mentioned him before i believe - he was soooo helpful), Ange, and Jac)

The two Auzies enjoying the beach!!!

Me and my freckles enjoying the beach.

No this is one of the most beautiful things i have ever seen... the sun setting over the atlantic ocean - fantastic.

Oh, ya ... by the way...

The three girls heading to the airport and Amsterdam for New Years... in a cab with 3 moroccan men...and a sheep...

K...next installment...europe.

Hey there ya all,

So it am sitting on my bed at the moment e-mailing you from my new laptop. It arrived today and i am so excited!!!! I will be able to keep in contact as i never have been able to before.

Right, so the last blog left off in...Rabat. Now Rabat if you recall is the beginning of the ...end...so to speak.

Great city, as it is the capital of the country. Got to see the mosulium for King Mohammed and King Hossain. It was a rather stunning area. This is a picture of the ceiling and it is made of 24 K gold.

Sale is Rabat's twin city and it is across the river. I love this picture. The fishermen take their catch and sell in the local soques (markets).

Sale is one of my favourite places in Morocco. You can just tell that the people that live there have not seen many tourists...or white people for that matter. They were very nice, and very interested in the three girls wandering around. The soques were genuine as the locals do not have fridges to keep things they would shop everyday for meat and veg. The animals (beef/ chicken/ lamb/ fish) are all very fresh...to the sound of clucking as the chickens were in walking around in pen areas and... "prepared" as they were ordered. It is not unusual to see women and children walking around with a live chicken under their arm, or a lamb on a string. Very different than what we see everyday. This boy and his father are selling sheep to a locals that require one for an upcomming festival.

Then we checked out some local buildings, the mosque, library, school, military museum. It was kinda cool. We had aquired a guide and got to see and do some amazing things. We had to bribe a military guard to let us have axcess to one part of the museum. We got to walk across the top of a wall in order to get a great view of the city.

Check this out:

In the Islamic faith there are three sacred materials used in the construction of buildings (mosques, city halls, rich peoples houses, libraries, etc.) and they are 1) cedar, 2) mosaics, and 3) a special grass.

Here is Ange crossing across the wall. I know it does not look that hight...but it WAS, and i made it across twice.

K, More to come. TTYL M.