happy anne

italy!

called my parents collect at 3 am when i got to venice and realized that my bank card and calling card did not work in fair italy. i had two euros in my pocket but unfortunately my parents couldn't do much from san fran. the call was only 6 minutes and cost $57! luckily met anne that afternoon (miraculously without cell phones!) and my parents the next night. we were completely out of cash but got treated to a free dinner from a little old italian man named nino who could hash out some spanish with me! he got to meet my parents and hear my mom's amazing chinese italian! they are the best parents in the world. all of us- the picture of modernist family unit. looks like anne is my dad's child and i am my mom's child from another marriage. hah. venice was beautiful but i recommend no more than three days! after a while it starts to seem like a facade of a town- like some spooky preserved relic turned hollywood set. you realize that no italians live in venice, it is a transient town, a beautiful old brothel that people visit but do not inhabit.

afterwards florence! went bike riding with anne in tuscany and saw machiavelli's house. our hostel in florence was next to dostoevsky's apartment where he wrote the Idiot. firenze!