Ben Murrell

I got up at 10 and went to an internet cafe where I booked 2 hostels in florence (Florence Youth Hostel & Plus Florence) then I checked into Florence Youth Hostel and left my bag there. I headed out to the Duomo and went in (free) but didn’t climb the dome (8 euros!). AFter that, I had some gelato and headed to the Accademia Gallery where Michelangelo’s David is at. I had to wait in line for about 30 minutes, but I talked with two Canadian girls in front of me and we went through the museum together. They were sketcher types (busted out sketch books and started drawing stuff). After the museum I tried to pull cash from an ATM and it denied me so I thought my card was locked out. I went back to the hostel, met a guy there and made dinner plans, then went out to call my bank. They collect call was denied on the number I was supposed to call collect, so I went to an internet cafe that had phones for 0.10 euro / minute and I called only to find out that there wasn’t a hold and it was just the machine. Then I called home, but only Nick was home (my mom wanted me to call for a while). We talked for about 10 minutes, then I headed back to the hostel (free internet) and checked my email/facebook. One of my fellow bridgejumpers is in Florence staying with some of the girls we met in Venice that are studying in Florence. We are going to meet at a pub tonight.

After facebooking, we started getting a group together for dinner – there were 7 of us: Joe (Virginia), Rocky Chanana and Chetan (Berkeley, CA), Allen (Australia), and two girls from Canada. We went to dinner at Ciro & Sons and had a real Tuscany 4 course meal with wine. First, a cheese platter, then lasagna, then Florentine steak, then espresso (for me). We split the steak 3 ways – it was 4 pounds. The total for me was 50 euros, holy shit. And we were there from 9:30 – 12:00. It was good, and Allen taught us wine stuff. I won’t be eating like that for the rest of the trip though. Afterwards, Rocky and I tried to a club called Central Park. Three hours later, we had walked a ton and never found it. Not a good time. There are supposed to be 2000-3000 people there – instead we found a shady snack shop with 6 guys offering us “free rides”. Turns out (according to the people running the hostel) that where we went is where you go to buy drugs – not a good time.