Make Time: Florence by way of Iran, Vietnam, and Wake Forest

Woke up and walked over to the train station to grab my tickets to Venice. Wanted to get this out of the way so I'm set for Thursday. Walking back I stopped at a grocery and grabbed some breakfast and lunch/dinner things to save money, then came back and met up with Houman - the Iranian guy who I met last night here where I'm staying. He's from a small town in the north of Iran, but he's lived in Canada for a few years and is finishing up his electrical engineering degree at a school in Winnipeg. Good guy. Honest. Laughs a lot. Great company. We walk up to this church called San Miniato al Monte, which is perched on a hilltop overlooking Florence. The views are beautiful. Clouds are laid out over the city in great patterns. As we walk into the church we hear monks chanting as they finish up mass. Very intense. They finish up and then we walk around and then head out and sit on the steps of the church and look over the city. A great way to start the day. We talk about Iran, religion, the US, and all the stereotypes and realities of our worlds. It's great to get an inside perspective on Iran, and after today I've decided I'm going to visit Iran on my Middle Eastern portion of this trip (in the winter). Houman said that everyday Iranians LOVE Americans, which will be fun to witness. We walk down from the church and stop at the Piazale Michelangelo, which has another nice viewing area of the city. Ironically and comically there is a ferrari on exhibit just in front of the statue. So Italian. We see a very beautiful dome from this plaza and decide to walk over towards it. Ends up this is the dome of the Great Synagogue of Florence, but as we get there they try to make us pay to enter. No thanks. As we are walking back towards the city I notice a kosher vegetarian restaurant called Ruth's. Normally this wouldn't matter, but my gramma's name is Ruth, and she turns 100 in a week and a half. I'm actually flying home to be with her for this day, so it's a good reminder of how special she is and how excited I am to see her. We walk back towards the city and then grab kebab's and then take a siesta. I grab some wine after my nap and then make some pasta for myself for dinner. Me and Houman planned to go to this English pub we saw earlier for some of the world cup games. As I go up to the kitchen to start cooking an asian girl comes in at the exact same time and starts using the only frying pan in the kitchen. Of course. She doesn't seem that friendly, but I let her cook and instead start chopping up my veggies and just hang there and talk with Houman for a few minutes. After he leaves and the asian girl finishes up cooking, I thank her for cleaning the dishes and then I use the pan to cook. I ask the girl where she's from and she says Vietnam. She's here in Italy for the year working for the Italian Red Cross, where she also worked in Vietnam. I forgot her name, but she ends up being a very smart and interesting person. She's definitely a bit closed off, but she has great opinions about the world and about what it means to be happy. I really enjoyed speaking with her while I was cooking, and we ended up eating our dinner together and talking about Vietnam, India, relationships, love, happiness, and traveling. It was great to get her perspective on things, and I really valued my time with her. My interaction with her reminded me that even though people seem closed off, many times they are actually ready to talk and open up. You just need to give them a chance and start the conversation yourself. After dinner we head out to this English pub to watch Brazil vs Mexico in the world cup, and as we're walking over there my stomach starts to talk to me - "Hey man, you're not gonna make it to that pub. And even if you do, you're not going to want to go in that bathroom and do what we gotta do". We get close to the pub and I tell Houman I need to harken back to the days of WWII and drop some American bombs in Italy. I see a very nice restaurant to my left and I walk directly in, past the concierge, and walk downstairs where I assume the bathroom is located. I find it, and with it I find a slice of heaven. With that over and done we head to the bar and enjoy a fantastic match between Mexico and Brazil. This pub is incredibly American. The most American place I've been since being here in Europe. Tons of 20-something packs of girls and guys coming in and out, all looking for a fun night. Me and Houman laugh at the scenes, including one where a pack of girls was even more aggressive with the Italian guys than they usually were with the US girls. Classic. As the night is ending Houman starts talking to two kids next to him who end up being from Wake Forest University. They had just graduated and are doing a few months in Europe. Very nice guys. Both want to get into advertising, which is what I've been doing for the last 14 years, so I talk to them about the industry and offer to make some introductions if they need them. Good to meet some mature and cool younger kids coming out into the workforce. Restores my faith in the next generation (unlike the aggressive girls from earlier). We head out around 1am and I'm passed out soon after. Definitely a great day in Florence. Very worldly and very fun.

Today is my last full day in Florence, and I'm going to walk around with Houman and check out one of the big markets here, as well as a very famous library which everyone talks about. Other than that I'm not planning to get too crazy - just enjoy the city and relax. Tomorrow I have a 12:30pm train to Venice, where I'm meeting Reka - my boy who I met in Rio at Carnival, and then we hung again in Norway for their independence Day on May 17. It's going to be a party when I get back together with him, so a relaxed day today is definitely in order.