Is it real?...It's a real purse!

I am now officially in Paris, getting ready to start Orientation. I can't believe that it's been almost one week since I was here, just waiting to take the train to Italy. I will try to update you on my travels and adventures since then...
One recommendation: do not take an overnight train across Europe. My experience actually ended up not being terrible but I could tell it could have been so much worse. 13 hours on a train is just too much, especially when everyone's luggage is scattered everywhere. They put you in compartments with 5 other people- luckily mine only had 3 Australian women and 1 French woman with her son. The tricky thing was that the French women spoke no English and the Australian women spoke no French. I had fun trying to translate bits and pieces of the conversation, but for the most part I just talked with the other women. When it was time to go to bed, the seats fold out into bunks. I ended up sleeping on the very top bunk, which swayed every time the train moved and had one leather strap to keep me from falling out. It was just a little terrifying. We finally arrived in Florence at a little after 8 in the morning on Wednesday, and all I wanted to do was make it to the hotel and take a shower. However, first I had to take a different train to the central train station and then I just caught a taxi instead of trying to use the public transportation on no sleep. When I got to the hotel, I felt like I was in a movie- I'm sure I looked like I had never been in any hotel other than a Holiday Inn. The hotel was so beautiful, and I'm sure they were all looking at me thinking I had gotten lost.
I loved being back in Florence- it's still one of my favorite cities. The bizarre part was that I was the tour guide since no one else had been there before. Before Uncle Kurt got there, I wandered around on my own- without a map- and a woman asked me about parking in French. I don't know what her odds were of asking someone in Florence in French and them understanding her, but it made me happy that I could answer her and she understood me. I met up with my uncle, who was flying his boss on vacation, Art- the other pilot and Ali- the flight attendant. We had so much fun, although we may have been close to getting kicked out of the country. We went to the Academia to see Michaelangelo's David- it's always impressive, even if you've seen it before. I swear that next time I am in Florence I am going to the Uffizi- I can't believe that I still haven't been there. Uncle Kurt and I climbed the to the top of the Duomo, 463 stairs, which gave us a beautiful view of Florence. Later that night, we all climbed to a church on the hills outside of Florence to look down at the city while the sun set. The view was perfect, but the food that night was a little dissappointing. 2 Notes on Italian food- be wary of ordering lasagna (it might come with stinky cheese) and they will look at you funny if you ask for chicken parmesan or eggplant parmesan. That's apparently just an American version. Also, I forgot about how many purses there are in Florence- and according to the Gucci knock-off vendors, they are all real purses.
I had planned on taking the train back to Paris from Florence, but my Uncle's boss offered to take me to Venice with them- in his private jet. So, I got to see my uncle fly the plane and went to Venice for the first time. I also got to touch the boss' girlfriend's python Gucci purse- I have to admit it, it was beautiful...and about $6,000. Venice is very pretty and romantic, but there's a million other places in Europe that I would go back to again first. The Piazza San Marco was impressive, but the swarms of pigeons kind of took away from the elegance of the buildings around it. Pigeons are gross- don't lay down and let them crawl on top of you! However, Venice is a very interesting place and I was lucky I got to see it in such style.
I then took the train Sunday afternoon from Venice to Milan and from Milan to Paris- the last ride was a painful 7 hours because the air conditioning didn't work. I finally got to my hotel at around 1 in the morning. The hotel is cute- the room is super small but the lobby is nice and last night they were so friendly. They made me a cup of tea while I was sitting down here checking my email. I'm not sure what parts of Paris I'm going to explore today- I'm waiting for Susan to get to the hotel from the airport- but I can't believe that Orientation starts tomorrow. That's going to make everything sink in, especially when I move into my house on Wednesday! I will post pictures as soon as I get a chance- my camera wasn't always working in Florence so we'll see what I end up with.