Uffish Thoughts from an Alice

I fell in love...

2008-03-21T17:34:00.000-07:00

...with Venice. No, no, the dapper young man in the photograph is not, as a passing priest mistook him, my new husband. No, no, I did not go to Europe and get married. But I did discover one of the most beautiful and, perhaps, the most unique city in the world. (And, of course, Rowan, the dapper young man in the photograph, made the trip all the better!)

Rowan, I will be finishing this post for you, m'dear. Do not fear...I will finish it!

Last Day!

2008-03-20T22:36:00.001-07:00

Sorry this has taken way too long to post, but life has been crazier than I could have ever imagined. Now that it is a good 7 or so months since the trip, I feel like I should bring it to a close. Granted, a Venice post is to come as well as a trip round up and posted pictures. But it will happen. I promise.

So where was I...ah, yes, I left David and Amsterdam for a quick day in Brussels after I realized I had missed all the good Art Nouveau architecture and could not leave Europe without making a pilgrimage to the Victor Horta house. I took an early train to Brussels and made my first attempt at trying to communicate with the locals. At first, I thought the confusion of finding my way to the bus was due to lack of signage or rude train station workers. However after the next series of events, I realized it is due to French language being...well...snotty and inherently rude.

I first ask a bus driver which bus will take me to the stop I want. Without answering verbally, he points in a direction that if followed would have led me up a wall to a beam on the ceiling. After kindly asking again if he was pointing to a bus in a different direction, he nodded and walked away. OK. I get on said bus and check with the driver if it goes to the stop I want, and abruptly he gives me the look of death and grunts, "Yes." OK. So I silently sit towards the back where an older woman is scolding a angsty teenager in French about his manners and his dress. He starts screaming at her, flips her off, and gets off the bus. Nice. She turns to me and starts asking me for what I think is my approval of her actions, but in French. When I kindly tell her that I do not speak French, she gives me the look of death, gets up in a huff, and moves to the front of the bus. OK. Finally my stop comes and I figure that instead of wandering to find the museum, I would call them for directions. The conversation goes something like this:

"Bonjour. Where exactly is your museum?"
"Well, I can't really explain it."
"Well, I'm at the intersection where your website told me to take the bus to. How do I walk from there?"
"I don't know."
"OK. Can you tell me what street your museum is on?"
"No. "
"You are the Victor Horta museum, yes?"
Sounding like she is pained by my very existence, "Yes we are! Just ask anyone around you on the street. They'll know." Click.

OK. So I stop a few passerbyers and ask, in the best/worst French I can conjure up, where the Victor Horta museum is. One of them says to me, "You clearly don't speak French. So no, I don't know where it is. Why would I know that?" OK. The next guy smiles and points me in a direction. I thank him and start walking towards an area that, well, doesn't look all that great. After some long blocks, I decide to turn around and walk into a bookstore to ask for directions. Again, in my best/worst French, I ask if they speak English, to which they say yes, and ask where the museum is. The point in the direction I had come from in the first place, told me the street name, and then looked at each other and laughed. "You really don't speak French, do you?" Um, no. Clearly, my French is horrendous...but honestly, I'm not even trying to speak all that much French. And you speak English. Help me out. I'm trying to be nice. That's all. I'm bringing your country money in tourism. I have a smile on my face. Problem? Conclusion: countries that aren't France who say that their first language is French should be avoided unless you want to be humilated and degraded. I mean, you aren't France. You aren't nearly as cool as France. Get over yourselves. Yes, that means you, too, Luxembourg! Anyway....just before getting to the museum, I see the guy who pointed me in the wrong direction sitting at a cafe. He nudges his friend and tells him, in English, that he pointed the stupid tourist in the wrong direction. They both laughed at me. If I had known where to find amnesty at the US Embassy, I would have pummeled the guy right there. But since he probably could have outrun me, I gave him a huge grin, waved, and moved on.

The museum, despite the journey to find it, is fabulous. Each nook, cranny, piece of furniture, and light fixture had the signature Horta style. The staircase is a photographic gem. It was really neat to see how every detail came together into a whole artistic composition. Two thumbs up. I bought a map of walking routes around the area to see Art Noveau facades and headed to see as much I could before having to get on the last train out to my hotel. The first stop was the Hotel Hannon, designed by Jules Brunfaut, known for its beautiful frescoed staircase by Paul Albert Boudouin. Gorgeous. Then I just wanted the streets for hours. There would be five or six art nouveau facades on a street amidst generic rowhouses. As amazing as I could have thought. Definitely worth the day trip.

Of course, I couldn't leave without seeing the famous square named the "Grand-Place." Anything that names itself "The Grand Place" has to to be worth checking out in my book, so, after more frustrating bus and walking attempts, I arrive in a hidden gem of an area which, very true to its name, was grand in every way. Pretty amazing, actually, to take it all in. Another two thumbs up approval. While I'm there, I indulge in a last Belgian waffle (oh, how I miss thee!) and stock up on some Belgian chocolate for the plane ride.

Finally, after a train, a bus, and a taxi, I arrive at my hotel near the Charleroi airport...thanks Ryanair for flying into the most random of places...and try to ruminate on my last three months in the European continent. Wow. Talk about an amazing trip. Well...full review to come later...but I am pretty overjoyed and pleased with how this all came out. Definitely would suggest this trip to anyone. Hey, they didn't call it the Grand Tour in centuries past for nothing, right?

Flew from Charleroi to Dublin, Dublin to Boston without a hitch. Well, I suppose when I told customs that I wasn't bringing in any dairy products, I "forgot" the wheel of cheese I had in my backpack. Hey...who wouldn't for good gouda.

Adios, Europa!

Canals, Concerts, and the Concertgebouw

2007-11-10T14:27:00.000-08:00

Oh, I apologize for not finishing my travels, as it is long overdue. I'll try to finish up the posts from Europe in the next few days and then illustrate them with pictures. (In about a week, be sure to go back to the beginning posts to get the link for pictures from that city!)

OK, where I left off...I was sleeping in late, eating lots of cheese, and playing with the cat, Mrs. Morris...right. Ah, and my journal tells me that I have hit the first of August! (Just for some temporal context.) David had tickets for us for the next two nights at the Concertgebow, one of the top three music halls in the world for acoustics. (Boston Symphony Hall being one of the others! We are so spoiled.) So included in my usual travels to churches and museums in the two days, much time will be spent on the glorious concerts we saw and the glorious music that we heard.

I started off my lesiurely day with the Theater Museum, another beautiful canal house whose gem, I thought, was a giant 18th century toy theater that one man insisted on having built in his home so he could display his love for theaters and his knowledge of technical mechanisms. He employed two scenic artists to build thousands of pieces for his theater, and the museum displays them all beautifully. I believe everyone should have a toy theater to play with. From there I tried to see the Nieuwe Kerk, but it was under construction, so instead I watched the warm up for some international high jumping challenge. Thinking I would try my luck at the Oude Kerk, which is smack dab in the middle of the red light district, I walked through the distinctive, and to me, very sad haze of neon glow (which is all I will say about the red light district) to the nice and spacious Oude Kerk, and then quickly out again. My next church stop was a true gem, the Amstelkring Museum, or Our Lord in the Attic Chapel When the Protestants were in the majority, they prevented the Catholics from having churches that were well pronounced out in the open. To get around this law, Catholic congregations started meeting in large rooms of canal houses (which are never very big) in secret. But this one congregation raised the money to buy two side by side canal houses and converted the top few floors into a proper Catholic church. While one winds up the narrow staircases, one expects a simple room with pews and maybe an elaborate pulpit. But one would be terribly wrong. I mean, when have the Catholics done anything "simple" when it comes the display of their churches? (I point you back to Chartres and the Vatican.) After climbing the stairs, one enters a huge long room with a gorgeously decorated interior, large gleaming chandeliers, and an intricately carved altar complete with retracting pulpit nesting in the wall. One looks up beyond the lights to a second floor (!) complete with benches and a gorgeous organ. Then one remembers that one is in the top floor of a tiny canal house. Amazing. Practicing in secret, I think not.

On David's suggestions, I walked down to the Damraacht for a canal boat tour. I love boats and canals, and it was a gorgeous day. The landscape is so different from the water. We drove through most of the canal network to all the different neighborhoods. On my way back, I couldn't resist stopping at the Kaas Kamer, the cheese shop David always went to. I was in Heaven. Of course, the local stuff is Dutch Gouda (which I love), so I asked one of the guys what he would suggest, and we picked out a good cheese for a preconcert snack. I then...and I had to do it...bought a wheel of cheese. Granted, it is small. I couldn't figure out how to get one of those massive wheels home...but if I could have, you know I would have. So a small wheel of gouda from Amsterdam will have to do. Hopefully I can keep it long enough for it to make it to a special cheese party later in the year. Mmm...cheese.

OK, concert time! The concertgebow is a GORGEOUS concert hall. Absolutely gorgeous. And we had prime seats on the balcony on house left overlooking the celli. Perfect. Tonight's program was brought to us by the Scottish Chamber Orchestra who performed as a chamber orchestra, I think, should...standing (save the celli!) and sans conductor. It was amazing how they interacted and moved together. Mozart, Haydn, and Beethoven. Just amazing! And they had a piano soloist who was good that he had to an encore. Luckily we get to come back tomorrow!

Before the second concert, I decided to take a day trip outside the city to Haarlem. Had I come earlier in the year, the town would be overrun by visitors for the tulip season, but luckily for me, it was quite quiet and charming, much like Brugge. I started off at the Frans Hall Museum (I am still in love with Dutch painting) and rushed over to the Cathedral for an organ concert. The organ might be beautiful, but the playing was atrocious. Maybe it was the pieces he chose...maybe the thing is out of tune...but oh my gosh, what terrible music. There was an imbalance of his hands, so it sounded like a CLOMP, stomp, CLOMP, stomp on the keys that gave everyone a dissonant sea sickness. After perusing the grave stones underfoot and admiring the cathedral, I shopped around the town for some more good cheese and a gift for David. (Remember Chevre d'Or for aforementioned cheese party.) Made my train connections back and munched on cheese before heading out to the Concertgebeow.

This time, the program was the Australian Youth Orchestra. At first, David and I were a little skeptical, but after they started playing, we were, along with everyone else in the hall, totally blown away! They were absolutely amazing! It was a such a huge sound that filled the hall; I really could get a sense of the fantastic acoustics. They started off with a Ravel and ended with a Bartok, both of which completely entranced the audience. They also had a pianist, only this time, he was 21, had played all over the world, and was really one of the best musicians I have ever been in the presence of. After the Rachmoninov, he had to do two encores to appease the applause, one with the orchestra, and the other solo. My jaw dropped to the ground. I never really like piano pieces, but this was stunning. After the incredible momentum build of the Bartok, the orchestra was cheered onto doing two full piece encores, and kept up the energy beautifully. I couldn't believe it. I wish I had done an orchestra like that in high school. Wow.

Of coures, when you are all hyped up from a concert or play, you can't just go home. So David and I went across the street to a wonderful restaurant and got the chef's special series of small entrees that you see on TV, but never actually find a restaurant that does it. It was great! (And suprisingly filling!) I leave tomorrow for Brussels, as David has gotten me really excited to see it before I leave. So here I will say a huge thank you to David! You are one of the most hospitable, fun, and amazing people I've ever met! Thank you for taking me in, cooking for me, and showing me around your beautiful city! I can't wait to come back! And if you are ever in my part of the world, please let me know!

And with that, goodnight Amsterdam!

More museums...and definitely some more cheese, please!

2007-09-04T10:10:00.000-07:00

After waking up from a leisurely night's sleep (a bad habit to get into when you are on vacation, believe it or not), I decided to hit a handful of the city's greatest museums. When going to Amsterdam, or anywhere in the Netherlands, it is worth it to get their Museum Kaart. It's a card that gives you great discounts at most of the museums in the country, and it's good for a whole year! To get older cards, you needed a separate passport photo, which I was stupid enough not to bring on the trip. (Bring passport photos with you!) So I first backtracked to the train station to the photo booth (very Amelie-esque) and sat for my photo, only I didn't read the directions and forgot about a second flash...so I got two terrible black and white photographs of me and two blurry pictures of my shoulder exiting the booth. How mysterious if I should have left those behind...

Boarded a tram to the gorgeous Rijksmuseum. They are rennovating most of the building, so they've condensed the best of the best into one section, which is truly an amazing way to see a museum. What is best of the best? I'm sure some of the neglected portraits are screaming in storage and sunny landscapes have clouded over, but it was a good way to see the collection without closing the entire museum. And honestly, it was the perfect size for a person's attention span for a day. I found out that I love Flemish portrait painting, especially when the artist shows an entire guild and each person has a meticulous portrait done doing something interesting. It's a whole narrative that I feel other portrait painting just doesn't have. Thumbs up for the museum. Will have to come back when the whole thing opens (also because it's a gorgeous building).

From there I walked down to the Van Gogh Museum. (Note...you do not actually need a photograph to get the Museum Kaart anymore. But still...worth every penny!) I never considered myself a huge Van Gogh fan, but this was pretty spectacular. Weaving through high college students commenting on how beautiful the blurs were, I was stunned at how beautiful his technique is and how his work developed over time. That's the great thing about bringing a collection of one artist's work together. You really get a sense of time in the works and how moments in the artist's life changed the eye. (Another short example is Monet's series of the Cathedral at Rouen showing the artist going blind.) I never knew that Van Gogh was so inspired by Japanese culture, nor that he was so close to his brother Theo, or that he was so obsessed with Gaugin who, in turn, treated Van Gogh like an abused puppy. It's a great museum. They also had an exhibit on Max Beckman. I'm not a fan of Beckman, but it was a nice exhibit. Ran over to the Concertobouw to pick up our tickets to the concerts for the next two nights (thanks, David!) and decided to walk through Vondelpark before dinner. Lovely spot, but it got gold, so I trammed it back. David made great cod and veggies. And to top it all off, cheese. Yum.

Decided to hit some smaller museums today which David mentioned were in beautiful canal row houses. Got caught up in a beautiful flower market by a canal (I will have to come back for tulip season sometime!) on my way to the Willet-Holthusen, which I still can't pronounce, which has a nice collection of paintings and silver. The museum is set up as the house was supposedly kept a century ago with a lovely garden out back. Rushed over for a tour of the Tuschinki Movie Theater, the first one of it's kind in the Netherlands and a stunning example of the combination of art deco, jugenstil, and the Amsterdam school styles. Was one of two English speakers, so the guide had to give the tour in two languages, which irked the Dutchmen, especially since the other English speaker was one of the "those tourists" who video tapes everything and lags behind to take pictures. The Dutch weren't even taking pictures, so I think I snapped a few, but I tried to be as subtle as possible. If you go to Amsterdam, take this tour! The building is absolutely beautiful, and the story behind Tuschinki and the movie house is a good one! I always love hearing about the stories behind details, like the fabric caterpillar lamps that climb up the ceiling to cocoon sconces and inside to butterfly fixtures inside the big theater. What a great place to see a movie! The movie going experience is just not the same as it used to be. Ran over to the Portuguese Synagogue before it closed. Reminded me of a Georgian church. Not much to see there, but it is an interesting story behind a section of Amsterdam's population. Ran over to the Rembrant house before it closed to see a wonderful collection of paintings and Rembrant etchings. Durer might still be my favorite, but Rembrant's stuff is quite nice.

Got in line for one of the most popular tourist attractions potentially in all of Europe, the Anne Frank House. I wil say that they've done a really nice job with organizing the museum, explaining the history, and tracking the publication of the book. It was very interesting to go behind the bookcase, up the stairs, and see where the families hid...because, it's not one room, but a huge complex of rooms up there. Granted, with as many people as that cramped in for so long under such fear, it must have been just horrible. But I remember, when reading the book, it as almost a one room crawl space, but it's a whole house up there. Quite amazing how they organized it so they could all live. Of course, coming down from the rooms to the rest of the museum is quite sad, but the museum has done a nice job to educate the visitors beyond what the book tells.

Walked around a bit more before heading back to David's for great chicken teriyaki. And of course, more cheese.

Arriving in Amsterdam!

2007-09-02T07:10:00.000-07:00

Arriving in Amsterdam meant finally meeting my cousin David. He's actually my grandmother's first cousin, but I'm not quite sure what that makes us, so "cousin" will have to do. I had been hearing about this David for years, but we had never met. Relatives are always going to visit him (he moved to Amsterdam many years ago), and they told me that he loves to travel, especially to see art, architecture, and culture. Sounds up my alley! I went to visit this cousin David and indeed he is probably one of the coolest people I have ever met! He and I got along from our first conversation, and he was so nice to take me around his city, bring me to concerts, direct me to places of interest, and cook me many amazing home cooked meals.

One such meal led to our first late night conversation. After my train ride and about my 2 months of eating out, David assumed, and quite rightly, that I would want a home cooked meal. But this was no baked chicken or burger. We started with stuffed zucchini and moved onto duck breast. He cooked me duck! And of course, we ended with a cheese plate. I think I have met my match when it comes to cheese. He knows way more about cheeses than I, which was very beneficial to my palate. I mean, I am in the land of gouda, but we tried all sorts of regional and French cheeses from De Kaaskamar, or the cheeseshop. And I met Mrs. Mavis Morris, the very cute, very intelligent, and very elusive cat who decided that she liked me one minute and then couldn't give a care less the next. But I enjoyed her company even if she didn't enjoy mine.

David has this amazing work schedule for which he doesn't actually have to wake up until 11AM every morning...so, having travelled for as long as I had, I took advantage of such luxury and slept late, almost every day. I think I needed it as much as it was luxurious. After a bunch that lasted well into the afternoon, David took me around his gorgeous city, pointing out all the architectural gems and the details of Amsterdam's rowhouses. First of all, they have a great system of moving furniture to upper floors. There's a hook at the top of every house. Using pulleys, they lift furniture up and down and bring it in through the windows. Probably they were first used for moving goods, but I approve of the invention. Second of all, there are so many kinds of gables. I love them all. Third of all, they all slant in towards the street. It's definitely intentional and not accidently sinkage of the city. David liked the theory that it's to keep rain off the lower floors and bring shade. I'll buy it for now. Saw the green copper NEMO boat hull which is interesting, and then David pointed to an amazing building, now rennovated into a hotel. It was the headquarters of the steamboat companies and it's done in an amazing combination of Jugenstil style and the Amsterdam school style. Acing cool and avoiding noisy check in staff, we made our way to the upper floors and through the gorgeous atrium which has glass maps of the world and the original ticket counter windows. Everything was a nautical theme, down to the door handles, and it's definitely worth a trip in if you are in Amsterdam! Unfortunately, I can't remember the name of the church he took me to, but we walked into a gorgeously colorful church and a cellist was playing. We went into trances for awhile enjoying the beauty of it all, and headed to a different neighborhood to look at quaint courtyards. Ate at a great Italian restaurant, but had to head back for, of course, cheese. We decided that I must go for a day to Brussels and maybe to Haarlem, but not to Alkmaar, where the famous cheese auction happens every Friday. I thought it would be hilarious, but David said that Brussels would be a better choice. Oh the cheese auction, you will have to wait.

"Make an old woman happy!" Irma and Beautiful Brugge

2007-08-26T08:36:00.000-07:00

On the enthusiastic recommendations of my friends Lily and Nikki, I chose to spend two days in Brugge, Belgium, a gorgeous town of gabled rooftops, meandering canals, chocolate pralines, and lace. Also home of one of the nicest populations of people I met on the trip...or maybe it was just in comparison to Paris. Anyway, I was dropped off by a medieval gate by a bus driver and a bus load of people giving me recommendations on where to go, what to see, and how to get to my hostel, which was right down the street. As soon as the bus pulled away, I saw 4 windmills lined up along the river bank! Windmills! How quaint and amazing! Was a bit tired, so I walked around only a bit, ate overlooking the Markt, and planned my walking extravaganza the next day. (And where I was going to get waffles!) Got into a long conversation with people from Chile, Quebec, and PEI in the room.

Walking day! I took all the walking tour routes printed in the tourist guide and pasted them all together. Headed first to a windmill! I don't know why I was so excited about windmills, but I was! The gears were turning, but the miller wasn't milling. Needed two millers to be safe, and the other one was still sleeping. Ah. Had a good time, regardless. Strolled my way through the city looking at every church and facade until I got to the boat rides at the canal and decided, why not! Lovely boat ride with a trilingual tour as the world floated by. Got off and saw a man making WAFFLES in the window and had to get one, right away! Mmmm, Belgian waffles...so good. Not like the stuff they sell in the frozen grocery section, mind you. Real Belgian waffles with chunks of sugar in them, glazed, with ice cream and chocolate on top. Definitely worth the trip to Belgium in itself! Walked to the Burg, or the city center, and into the Church of the Holy Blood. Clearly, the relic is a vile of Christ's blood from the crucifixion, and it is on display every Friday from 10-12, unbeknownst to be when I walked in. Then I saw the line of people going up to kiss something on the altar...decided to keep my distance and look, instead, at the beautiful wall paintings and stained glass telling the story of the king who brought back the vile and donated it to this church. How nice of him. He probably could have sold it on ebay for pile of gold. Then they prosessed with it all over the place and through a little door at the back. Theatrical? I think so. Went into the gorgeous rooms of the City Museum where the councils would meet. One was a Gothic room with a beautifully carved fireplace. The other was a large hall with paintings of scenes of life in Brugge along with major political, historical, and legendary figures of the city. It used to be a huge trading post, though I believe most of the trade has gone elsewhere and now tourism rakes in the dough. Headed down to the ugly modern concert hall and odd fountain statue over to the Church of Our Lady which houses a famous Mother and Child by Michelangelo. The details are very similar to the Vatican Pieta, and it draws quite a crowd. Walked through the grounds of an old hospital to the Lake of Love with swans abound and over to the nuns' complex where all the trees oddly lean towards the church.

Made my way back to the Markt to buy some lace. Here is where I met Irma, or at least I think she's Irma. The store is named Irma and I would like to think that this little old woman was her. She must have been in her nineties, and she sits outside in a rocking chair making lace...which looks so difficult to do! As I'm watching her, she turns to me and says, "Buy lace here! Make an old woman happy!" Yes, Irma! Amused, I walk into the store where her family, or just other workers, tell me that they are proud of their lace because it is made here, by them, in Brugge. "Not like that garbage from overseas!" Apparently, 90% of the lace in Brugge is from China because of cheap labor. Thus tourists buy the cheap lace from the touristy shops rather than the Belgian lace from the original stores. Well, to make an old woman happy, I bought some lace from Irma's. It's always nice to support the local artisans.

The next morning, I had a bit of time to waste before my train, so I joined up with the group from PEI in search for some cheap Belgian chocolate. You can't leave Belgium without buying Belgian chocolate. I had stocked up on some cheaper bars of chocolate from the grocery store, which was indeed amazing chocolate, but wanted to find some of the boxed pralines. We were all very picky, but we found what we were looking for. Decided to go into the belltower (but not up it!) to see a Dali exhibit, which was very interesting. Finally time for the train! But I give a two thumbs up to Brugge. Beautiful and relaxing, it does sweep you off your feet.

The Versailles Let Down and the St. Chapelle Gem

2007-08-24T14:32:00.000-07:00

One of the biggest let down of Paris sight seeing is Versailles, the megamansion of the Louis XIV-XVI and their Maries: Marie-Therese, Marie Leszczyska, and Marie-Antoinette. I understand that the purpose of Versailles was to house and entertain the entire French court and then some, BUT the number of tourists packed into Versailles was ridiculous. You couldn't even get a sense of what it was really like because of all the shabbily dressed, camera weilding people who don't resemble anyone, even a pauper, from the French court. After 3.5 hours in line, I was able to pack my way into the royal apartments in which I moved with the other sardines through the nice rooms, and was glad to be spat out the exit. Met up with Courtney and her classmates who covered about one room of the palace in their class. We meandered through the garden a bit, which is very flat. The whole thing is flat. I'll post a picture to explain. 1/2 of the picture is sky. 1/4 is ground. The last 1/4 is the mansion and all the greenery. Not very beautiful to look at. So I walked to Marie-Antoinette's estate which she built as a retreat (I don't blame her!) with two gigantic "small" triaons, or day houses, expansive fields with creeks, bridges, and grottoes, and a play village. This quaint village was used by MA and her ladies when they wanted to "play peasant." It's a lovely lake with swans and a mill, a farm with horses, a lookout tower, and peasant houses. It all looked very fantastical to me. I would gladly live in any of those buildings. It was really nice to be out there because not many of the tourists make the trek, or pay to make the trek, out there. Made my way back through the crowds to, where else, the St. Severin area to meet Courtney for a great dinner.

I couldn't get train tickets to Belgium for today, so I needed a place to stay for a night. I got into a pointless fight with the witch down at the desk who told me that there weren't, all of a sudden, any beds when every room I had been in had at least one empty bed in it, and that their other branch in the Latin Quarter, didn't have any either. Walking away to get my bag, I decided to call the number of the hostel. The witch picked up the phone, and very nicely told me that this branch didn't have any beds, but that the other one did and that she would transfer me to that number. How nice. Merci. Moved my stuff over to the Latin Quarter where I met Crystal in the bag room. (Character: Crystal, a music teacher who had just come from singing in an international choral festival at Canterbury Cathedral.) Crystal and I teamed up for the day and headed first to the St. Chappelle, a small chapel across from Notre Dame known for its expanse of stained glass windows and light. Wow, what a gem! My mouth literally dropped to the floor. I had seen pictures, but nothing compares to experiencing the space. First of all, there is so much glass. When you hear about Gothic cathedrals being light and airy, St. Chappelle is the best example. The light was streaming in an array of colors, as if one is walking through a kaleidoscope. Second of all, every inch of the stonework is painted, like Gothic cathedrals used to be. It's one thing to walk through the gray and looming cathedrals of stone, but it's a completely different thing to walk through one that is brightly colored with painted tapestries and designs on the walls. They're not frescoes, but more trompe l'oeil gemstones and marbles decorating the interior walls. Originally also, I believe, many of them were painted on the exterior as well, just like the Parthenon in Athens, believe it or not. The pictures just do not do this building justice...so go there and see it for yourself!

Crystal and I decided to go see what Montmartre is all about. Climb to the top of the hill to the Sacre Coeur, a huge, out of place looking church with gorgeous mosaics inside. Ambled down the winding streets in search of our truth, beauty, freedom, and love and instead found a few churches, some steep streets, and some amazing boulangeries! Ate to our heart's content and walked over to the Moulin Rouge to see what that was all about. Took a picture and one look at the surrounding area and decided to make our way out of that district and into one a little safer looking. Walked down to the Tuilleries to finish our stashes of olive bread and pan au chocolat (Paris does it better than anywhere else!).

Courtney met us at the Orangerie, a very small, but wonderful museum in the Tuilleries that is most famous for Claude Monet's Water Lilies painted on gigantic curved canvases for two oval rooms. One depicts the lake at daylight and the other at dusk and night. Beautiful. Courtney drooled over them and decided that she would, one day, paint them in her dining room and living room respectively. Good idea. I think I have a strange appreciate for Monet in that when you get up close to his painting, the paint looks like huge haphazard brush strokes, but when stand back, it's a perfect picture. I have a similar appreciate for Seurat, but more for Monet.

While Courtney was at class at the Louvre, Crystal and I walked down to the Pont Alexandre Trois (what a great name to say!) and admired all the gold pasted onto the bridge (if it wasn't grandiose enough...). Walked around the P and G Palais and the Champs Elysees before meeting up with Courtney and Renee for dinner. (Character: Renee, a friend of my from Harvard who is an actress and aspiring director, perhaps in film, as that was her program for the summer. She had been going crazy editing her first film and couldn't come out of the studio until now.) Went back to our favorite place, yet again, for another wonderful dinner! Went to a great gelatto place where they make you a huge flower out of all the flavors you want in your cone! It's really neat! Said my goodbyes to my wonderful guide and headed back to the hostel, only to stay up for many more hours laughing with my boisterous Austrian roommates.

Au revoir, Paris!

Cathedrals, Churches, and Corpses

2007-08-24T12:16:00.000-07:00

What does a nice little Jewish girl do on a Sunday morning in Paris? Go to Mass at Notre Dame, of course. Mass was not very exciting, crowded, and full of tourists who got to walk around the in the cathedral while Mass was going on. Thus, going to Mass was definitely not worth it. Also, exterior of Notre Dame = amazing. Interior, not so much. I have seen more glorious, as I will get to in a future post. However, I met Claudia (it was her last day in Paris) in a very long line to climb up to the top to be, as my friend Nikki likes to say, Quasimodo. That was definitely worth it. The gargoyles are so neat and varied, and the big bell, not the one we all know from the book, but a big bell was on display. Good times had by all, including the gargoyle sticking his tongue out at the world. Said adios to Claudia and meandered through the St. Severin area into numerous churches, taking hundreds of pictures of buttressing. (You know you want to be that person to see all my pictures, right?)

Decided to walk up to the Pantheon, but first came across the gorgeous St. Genevieve. (Yes, she is there.) Really neat spiral staircases inside. Was tricked into going up into the Dome of the Pantheon, which I really had no desire to do. I thought you had to go on the tour to get to the tombs, but apparently I got a view, another view, of Paris instead. Lovely. Saw the Pendulum...clearly the Earth rotates. And saw lots of tombs in the basement of Marie Curie, Zola, Dumas, Rousseau, etc. Said my bonjours and met Courtney by the book carts on the Siene. Ate dinner again in our favorite area (truly, it's a great few streets!) and decided to conquer the Eiffel Tower!

OK, so we got in the first line at around 8:20 or so. It's a beautiful structure, especially when the sky is that saturated blue tinged with sunset pinks and oranges. The silouhettes are amazing. (See pictures...which will go up for sure!) We decided that even though I have prided myself in climbing up large monuments, the 1500 stairs to the top was a little much. We waited in the first line for tickets. Then we waited for the first elevator. By the time we got to the second balcony, the lines went all the way around the viewing platform in two directions. OK, we chose one and stood there for quite a long time, finally getting to the second elevator to the top. By this time, it was well after 11PM. Courtney then turns to me and says, "The Metro closes at midnight...we might not make it...and taxis are too expensive." What? "Yeah, we might not make it down on time to get home...so we'd have to walk." Um...what? OK, whatever, good, happy thoughts. So we ascend to the top and have a wonderful time overlooking Paris in a glittering tower of iron.

Getting down can't be much of a hassle, right? Wrong! The chaotic masses, with no rhyme or reason to a line, was crushing up against walls and elevators to get down...which I took, when Courtney kept saying that we wouldn't make the metro, to mean that everyone was trying to get to a stop before it closed. About 11:57PM, we are spat out of the last elevator and we start running to a station. The first station is closed for construction. I don't know why I was freaking out at this point...but I was. It didn't make sense that the last trains should leave at midnight, when in Boston they leave at 12:30, which everyone thinks it very early. Well, there is absolute chaos trying to get tickets and get down into the station. Courtney was going one way with one connection, I another with two. All the people, the crowds, the craziness...I assumed that yes, the Paris metro must close at 12. As we barrel past my first stop (again, closed for construction), I start to panic when I realize that my next route requires three changes, two of which are no where near my hostel. Great. Just as long as I don't get locked into a station...hopefully?

I get off at the first station and realize that the connection is in fact at the next station which is connected by at least a one mile tunnel underground. Other people are started to run. Never a good sign. So I start to run...faster...and faster...until I'm at full speed darting around other people and breathing pretty hard. I might be in better shape than I was at the beginning of the trip, but certainly not enough for a mile run at sprinting speed. I make my first connection...lucky I thought...and got to my second, only to find that that was another few miles away underground to a connecting station. So I run! At this point, I am bright red, sweating, and wheezing, not to mention exhausted from the day, so I think I was wheezing aloud, "Don't leave me behind!" I was getting some strange looks, but I chocked that up to my looking stupid running full speed. Just as I get to the second connection, I bump into someone who says, in English, "Slow down! The Metro doesn't close until 1!" Why I screamed back this, I don't know. "No! You're wrong! It closes at midnight! I have to keep running!" I make my second connection and see that in fact there are two more trains at least coming after mine. It was 12:30. Hmmm. I get to my third connection, another long jog, and when I get there, there are at least two more trains coming after mine. Still red and sweaty, I arrive at the hostel and ask the guy at the desk, "When does the Metro close?" "1AM or 2." It was 12:40...

Needless to say, I slept well and started off a bit late on a day trip out of Paris to Chartres. Unfortunately, it was raining, but all the better to set the mood for a dark stoned, looming cathedral. Chartres Cathedral is amazing, inside and out. I had studied it in a Gothic Cathedrals class and I remembered studying each stained glass window and the statuary programs. After circumventing the cathedral in the rain, I decided to head back to Paris to another cathedral, St. Denis, the burying ground for almost all the kings and queens of France. Another amazing cathedral in itself, but monumental tombs galore. All the Louis, Catherine d'Medici, Marie Antoinette, and my favorite...Dagobert! He is there! Amazing. I found it really interesting that many of the couples had themselves portrayed naked in marble laying down, and then again, clothed in bronze above. Courtney tells me this is to show their rich and pious souls separating from their earthly bodies and rising to Heaven with all of their glory. Intense.

Left the cathedrals for the day to go to a museum, the Pompidou Center. Built by Renzo Piano and Richard Rogers in 1977, this hugely controversial museum of modern art sports its color coded "guts," or pipes and airducts, on the outside along with a five storey glass escalator for views at the top. I agree...the building not only doesn't fit the skyscape in any way, even a modern way, and it isn't...nice. Yeah, that's all I'll say about it. Also, modern art...not my thing, as we all know. So when I came across 4 white canvii on a wall, I died laughing. Thank goodness it was closing time and the guards ushered me out for other reasons than insanity. I did see, Josh, your favorite room with all the padding and the piano. Apparently the gimmick with this piece is that the room is supposed to be so silent that it hurts. The piano symbolizes the potential for sound, but there should be no sound except for a painful buzzing in the ears. Apparently, also, no one told the curator that, so they now have an exhibit in the room outside with a TV that plays clips of ambulances and a surround sound system blaring emergency sirens. Painful, yes. What the silent piece's artist had in mind, no.

Meandered back to the St. Severin area and ate at a lovely bistro. Didn't talk to the other person who was alone next to me until dessert when she realized that I didn't speak French. We were both under the assumption that the other spoke French and didn't want to say anything. Had a great conversation with her about world travel, and then parted to go back to the hostel. I am still not sick of cathedrals...bring 'em on!

More Paris, S.V.P...

2007-08-23T14:25:00.000-07:00

Then I conquered the Louvre. And I when I say conquered, I mean visited every room that was open for viewing, seeing every painting there was to see in those rooms, stopping and observing the ones I liked, having Courtney explain the history of many of the paintings (as her class takes place at the Louvre...what a great program), and body checking tour groups to get to the overrated stars of the show like the Mona Lisa and the Venus de Milo. Started out early with my new hostel friend, Claudia (character: Claudia, from Argentina, who also liked to have packed days of activity), and beat the crowds into the museum (what line?), got our audio guides, and headed out to get the Mona Lisa over and done with. Walked up the stairs and there, standing gloriously, was the Winged Victory, which rates in my top 5 favorite sculptures of all time. I didn't think much of it in pictures, but it is actually a beautiful and moving sculpture...and it's on a boat. Something that I think is integral to its composition, but is always edited out in every picture I had ever seen of it. We turn the corner and rush through galleries of masterpieces, pulling each other along as we gawk in awe, because we really just wanted to get to her before all the tour groups got there. Well...I have never seen such ridiculousness and chaos. It's on its own wall, is set under glass (I really hope the rumors that it's a fake is false), and is larger than I thought it was going to be, but she still doesn't warrant the kind of attention that she gets. She might be nice, has a pretty smile, and potentially is pregnant, but, she's just a girl in a frame, much like the other girls in frames. I don't know, I just didn't get why it was SO big. (Oh wait...DAMN DAN BROWN and his books. Did you know that you can get a specific Da Vinci Code audio guide that will just take you to all the pieces that are featured in the book? WHY?! This is tourism gone wrong.) Also, if you walk up to her (which is actually a difficult task) and then turn around, you see the most beautiful, intricate painting that takes up the entire wall! Much more worth it...and no one is giving it the time of day. Le sigh. I guess the biggies are introductions into the art world for most people and hopefully they will find the glory of other art forms...I don't know. Mona Lisa, you are a diva with an ego.

Everywhere you turned in the Louvre, there was some masterpiece to point and shout, "WHOA! That's HERE!" It truly does trump every other museum in the world. I guess that is what comes of emperors saying, "I want that in my museum" and then taking it. But this place is mind blowing. Room after room. My jaw was tired from dragging on the floor. And a cool thing is the old castle keep in the basement...go down and check it out. Courtney's favorite room, which, when she met up with me, she ran me to, is the Room of the Ego of Catherine d'Medici, aka a room with twenty or so life sized potraits of Catherine in all of her glory. I think Courtney wants a similar gallery some day.

Because it was the late night, the museum was open until 10PM. I arrived somewhere around 9:30AM and around 9:30PM I found myself at the Venus de Milo, officially finished with every room in the Louvre. And they said it can't be done! (And for all you nay-sayers out there, shaking your heads and denying that I saw anything, I took my time, and in the last hour, I realized that I might in fact be able to see everything, so I walked a little quicker through Mesopotamia to get to the ancient Greek and Roman statues.)

After Courtney's class, we went back to the St. Severin/St. Michael's area for dinner, and then met up with Courtney's program mates in the gigantic line at W.H. Smith for our copies of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows! I know I posted about this already...the doors opened at 1:01AM, taking into account the hour difference between us and London and giving the British a one minute head start. Courtney couldn't wait to read it, and I think they lot of them started reading it in the taxi after they walked me home. I tried to read some, but one of the roommates complained about my tiny flashlight, so I crashed instead after page 63. Besides...my mind was quite full for the day...

Before meeting up with Courtney for our reading picnic in the park (apparently she stayed up until 5AM, so she is way ahead of me!), I walked over to the Opera Garnier, aka the Phantom of the Opera Opera House. Got my ticket for the English tour and found a great internet cafe to crash in for an hour since the internet cubicle at the hostel ate 2 euro and they wouldn't give me the money back. If you are going to see the opera house, don't go on the tour. It isn't necessary. You can go to any of the places yourself, and they only spoil the details in the book(/musical). Apparently there isn't a lake. Way back there used to be a creek of some sort, but by the time of the book's publication, there was a large water tank which might have been an inspiration. (?) The story the tour tells of Box #5 is that the directors were sitting in their box during a terrible performance of a sick soprano when they heard from a patron in the next box, or Box #5, say "That woman croaks like a frog!" The chandelier never fell, but one of the counterweights did when they were lowering it after cleaning. It crashed through the ceiling and killed a woman in the seats below. Or so the stories go... But the rest of the building is absolutely stunning! Marble and gold everywhere. And Garnier, the architect, put himself...and his wife...everywhere from busts to mosaics. Apparently one of the halls for the audience during intermission is mirrored on the other side of the building with all the gold and marble, but is strictly for the performers' warm ups. Wow. That's inspiring.

Was in a church when Courtney called and said to meet her at the Jardin Luxembourg. She had procured cheeses, nutella, fruit, and pan. With our picnic of food, our small patch of green grass to actually sit on (which is a rare comodity in Paris), and our great piece of literature, we lounged for the rest of the day, reading furiously until Courtney got almost to the end and said, "You must go home! If I reach the end, I know my reactions and hysterical crying will give it away!" So I fled back to the hostel and read in the lobby. At around 1AM, Courtney called to say that she had finished it, so I knew I had to keep going. Finally, at 4AM, I triumphantly and exhaustedly finished the book, which I hail as the best one in the series. J.K., you are truly a genius. Thank you for your wonderful masterpieces of British literature. Give it 50 years and excepts will most certainly be in the Norton Anthology of British Literature. It's a sure bet.

Enough of me tonight. Bon nuit!

Bonjour, Paris!

2007-08-20T14:01:00.000-07:00

OK, sorry for the lack of posts. Yes, I am home and not stuck in Luxembourg, as some readers may have believed, and were rightfully concerned. Anyway, I will be finishing up the travel section in the next few days and then illustrating this verbosity with pictures! But first, conquering the French...

You always hear about the rudeness or excessive pride, as I would like to call it, of the Parisians, and the frustration one encounters trying to speak to a Frenchman. If you don't speak French, he does not want to give you the time of day. If you try to speak French, he will be offended that you have just botched his language and will probably challenge you to a verbal duel parrying with flourishes of his beauteous sounds and tricking you with his oh so quiet killer, the silent suffix. But, of the places where French is the native language, Paris is probably the only one that is justified in its excessive pride. Not that other parts of the world are not fabulously French, but in order to match the level of reputation that proceeds it, Paris indeed knocked me off my feet. Every city can be described in a word, and Paris's word is "grandiose." When one searches the thesaurus, grandiose encompasses all other words one might use to describe Paris: grand, big, theatrical, ostentatious, imposing, extravagant, indulgent, ceremonious, impressive, monumental, majestic, overwhelming, and most certainly, glorious. So yes, grandiose it is, grandiose to the power of 10 really. I also must give a shout out and a huge thank you to my guide, Courtney, who ushered me around to the most fabulous places, "duelled" with fussy French waiters, impressed me with her knowledge of the history of painting, art conservation, museum curation, and Catherine de Medici, and, most importantly, reserved my copy of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. (Character: Courtney, a rising junior at Harvard in the psychology department, a brilliant set designer and oil painter, a lover of rapid verbosity and good cheese, and an amazing friend who had never been out of the north east of the US before and has courageously expanded her horizons. I am very proud of you, grasshopper.)

I started by schleping to my hostel, which turned out to be literally next to the Louvre. I couldn't have asked for a better location, and I got it for 7 nights only 2 days before showing up. Remarkable. I started by Paris tour at sunset, meeting Courtney at the pyramids of the Louvre (which I actually really love) and walking along the Siene to the Eiffel Tower, watched it light up and blink for awhile, and then ate dinner at a lovely cafe. I had a great feeling about this city.

I decided to be like Napoleon and conquer Paris in a day...well, not exactly, but today was a day that would have broke an odometer. I started off going to a periphery monument way the end of the metro line at La Defense. Built on an axis with the Louvre, Concord, the Champs-Elysees, and the Arc d'Triomphe, La Defense is the "modern" business district of Paris. I guess it was a good thing that they banished all the ugly skyscrapers to one section on the outskirts of Paris proper so to prevent any of them from ruining the landscape, skyscape, and scale of the city. (Though the Eiffel Tower is pretty imposing and was considered, at its time, an eyesore...maybe give La Defense 50 years...or not.) To echo the Arc d'Triomphe, the Grand Arch, a gigantic white square, was built at the very end of the axis. After walking from the Grand Arch to the other end of La Defense, I decided that it was enough ugliness for a day and took the metro back to the Arc d'Triomphe, which I love. It is the epitome of grandiosity in Paris! Started a loop to the Parc Monceau, a lovely park in the middle of a nice neighborhood, and to St. Augustin church. (I decided that in order to see Paris correctly, I needed to see a park, a church, a monument, and a museum every day. 3 checks!) Walked to the Grand Palais and the Petit Palais (what original names!) which are these amazingly monumental structures by the Siene. While checking out the beautiful gates of the Petit P., a guard told me that there was a museum inside that was free. (4th check!) Anyone know if the Petit P. Museum is the Beaux-Art museum, or just another museum of Beaux-Art? Anyway, it was a great museum in a beautiful building. Finished the loop by going up the Champs-Elysees back to the Arc d'Triomphe. On my walk up this famous, touristy, and overpriced street of high end shops, I decided to walk into one of them just to see how ridiculous it really was. Decided on the Louis Vuitton store, because if I was ever going to walk into this store, it might as well be on the Champs-Elysees in Paris, and was immediately clung onto by my own personal shopper. Shocked and appalled by the price tags, I was horrified when the woman showed me a keychain ("just a small trinket to remind you of Paris") that was a plastic cube with a fake gold metal square that had "Louis Vuitton Paris" stamped into it. I'm thinking maybe $35...$50 even. No...170 euro...that's about $240! "It's plastic!" I screamed. "Yes, but it says Louis Vuitton..." remarked the woman. Au revoir! And the sad thing, people all around me were pulling out their credit cards to buy.
Continued my march from the Arc to the Trocadero, I think it's a complex of buildings celebrating some battle victory...as is everything here, and put my feet in the pool overlooking the Eiffel Tower for the second time. Still love the tower, but the lines are still way too long, so I walked under it to the Invalides to Napoleon's tomb. Why a guy! Insanely grand, with twelve larger than life sized angel around him, encased in six stacking coffins perhaps including one or two of lead, Napoleon rests in the center of the universe, it seems, under a gorgeous dome. It is so grand for such a little man. Quickly passed through the military museum to get to the Rodin Museum before it closed. Two thumbs up for the Rodin Museum! First of all, his stuff is fantastic. Second of the all, the way all of it presented is fantastic, including many pieces on rotating tables so you can see all the sides. Third of all, the garden is gorgeous. I am going to vote that The Thinker, the small one inside which was first presented in a salon, is my favorite. Though his Hand of G-d and the Gates of Hell are also amazing. Think I'm done? Heck no. I met up with Courtney to go to the late night hours of the Museum D'Orsay. The D'Orsay is the dumping ground for all the "rejects" of the Louvre for one reason or another. Rejects is really selling this place short...it's amazing. I should start to find synonyms for that, but truly the museum is fantastic. Ate dinner in the St. Severin area (great area for cheap entree, plat, dessert menus!) and called it a good day clocking in with 2 churches, 4 museums, 1.5 parks (if you count the green around Eiffel), and 4 or 5 monuments.

OK, that was a big block of text. I shall post for now and move on to a different post.

The best thing about Luxembourg...

2007-07-27T12:57:00.000-07:00

is to say that you were in Luxembourg. Honestly, not that interesting. Perhaps parts of the countryside are beautiful, but Luxembourg City is not that...happening. I arrived and tried to get a ticket out for the next morning to go to Paris, but each train only has a certain number of tickets available to Eurail passengers, which turns out to be very few on some trains. She could only get me on a 5PM train. I haven't had a problem before this, so I suppose I am very lucky, and fortunate to be getting out the same day anyway...but it was about 7 hours too long.

Got to the hostel which is a very new building located in the valley (ok walking down with your bags, but try walking up!), and dealt with some of the most stuck up people I had met on my trip so far. And this was the case with the ticket lady and the tourist information lady as well. Perhaps the Luxians want to be the Parisians, so they adopt the same pretentious air and pretend only to speak and understand French, or Luxembourgish (no joke); however, Parisians have a reason to be that way because their city is great. Luxembourg, not so much...get over yourselves. This is probably a gross generalization, so I apologize to Luxembourg for that small rant. But along the same lines...Luxembourg is 2007's European Center of Culture. Wow, the EU must be really running out of countries...

OK, enough of the rant and more about what Luxembourg City is actually like. The "thing" about Luxembourg is that it was a fortified stronghold for anyone who conquered it, the French, the Spanish, etc. Each ruling power kept building up the casements, so much so that the city expanded all the way to the valley into the cliffsides with underground tunnels and rooms to house thousands of soldiers for weeks with kitchens and storerooms, etc. It would be a great defensive location. During WWI, when Luxembourg declared neutrality, they tore most of the casements down so whatever power took it over wouldn't be able to use the city as a stronghold. A few casements still exist, and I was able to visit the Bock Casements near my hostel. It is neat to walk through the tunnels in the cliff, and perhaps in a larger group I would have had more fun because it isn't so impressive, necessarily, to see. Then I walked all over town, which I am going to call sterile architecture. Everything is beige, stucco, and plain, especially the government buildings (which are all in one tiny, TINY square). The big cathedral is nice, but sterile as well. The most decorated building is the Ducal Palace...and the people LOVE their Grand Duke. Pictures of the Ducal family are everywhere! Decided to just walk around the edge of town where the fortifications used to be and just overlook the valley, which is lovely. On the other edge of town is a series of parks that lead up to some very ugly (very ugly) UN buildings, which I didn't make it up to. Headed back for an early night (and some laundry) and met some great people at the hostel! (Characters: Emilie from Guernsey Island, ten points to anyone who knows where that is!, who is studying at Cambridge and has an internship in Lux for the summer and Jeremy from the US who is also travelling around Europe) We talked all through dinner and into the night about everything from education to international politics to the Tour de France (which I hope I don't hit when I am in Paris) to linguistics (they are both into linguistics!) Jeremy suggested the Luxembourg City Museum...perhaps a good thing for tomorrow to figure out what this town was all about and how it got to be what it is.

Headed to that museum in the morning, and to tell you the truth, it was very insightful. Interesting story about why the city was built there about a king and his mermaid wife. He married this woman he met in the forest, but she asked him that one night a week or month, she would be left completely alone. He got jealous and spied on her one of these days and she was sitting in the bath with a mermaid tail. He was so shocked, he made a noise (as all these tales go) and she disappeared into thin air. He never found her, but he built a city right there in case she came back. Then the museum explained the different expansions and fortifications of the city and the current state of politics, culture, and city works. Perhaps a trip into the Lux countryside would have been nice, but one must move on. And I to Paris!

Ben and Bonn, Cologne and Kirches

2007-07-27T12:38:00.000-07:00

Headed to Western Germany to meet up with Mr. Ben Morris. (Character: Ben, a fellow G&S Board member, a dual citizen of CA and Germany, and an all around amazing and hilarious guy.) Well, at first, Ben was on a class trip-he is studying in Bonn for the summer-and then they went wine tasting, so I spent the day in Cologne which is the home of a fabulous cathedral. Saw a bride and her father pull up in one of those bike taxis, and when she tried to just walk down the side to get to the smaller chapel, the crowd forced her into the center aisle taking pictures and she walked down that aisle, heralded by a trumpeter. I guess if you are going to get married in Cologne cathedral, that is how you would want to do it. Headed through town to the Lindt Chocolate Museum where there are actually little old ladies sitting at the machines making enough chocolate to sell in the gift shop every day. Stopped at the river where there was a huge crowd, on both sides of the river, seeming like they were waiting for something. When Ben called and said that they were all coming into Cologne and to stay there, I wondered...what are they celebrating? Ben still thinks it is an annual fireworks display on a summer Saturday that happened to coincide, but I think they were celebrating good old Bastille Day! Met up with Ben and broke through a barrier with a crowd to a great spot to watch the amazing fireworks display. Made up for not being in Boston for the 4th. And all the fireworks were red, white, and blue (or rather blue, white, and red to the French!) choreographed to a great soundtrack. Everyone was singing and celebrating. Got back very late to Bonn and just crashed, but it is so good to see Ben!

Next day, Ben took me all around Bonn, treating me to the nicest, and longest lunch where I convinced him that he must do Cox and Box for Arts First next year. He convinced me that Apfelschorle, a sparkling apple juice much like Martinelli's, but better, is the best beverage on earth. After about 3 hours, we decided that we should get to the three churches in town we wanted to see before they closed. Went to one way up north of town which had nice frescoes, then down to the Munster in the center of town, and then up the hill for a beautiful Rococo church. We treated ourselves to huge ice creams and apfelschorles because it was so hot and we just did three churches on opposite sides of town in about an hour and a half. Met up with Ben's friends from the program at one of their apartments and spend the rest of the night just chatting away.

While Ben was in class, I took a day trip to the very interesting and ancient town of Trier. It houses plenty of Roman ruins like the Porta Negra, an amphitheater (which is just eh), and the awesome Roman baths. Worth the trip just to run around the underground labyrinth at the baths! Also great was a museum that houses the pieces of a frescoes ceiling from Helena's (Constantine's mother's) house that existed underneath one of the big churches. It looks like a mosaic, but that is just because it was put back together from thousands of tiny fragments! Beautiful frescoes and portraits, and it is amazing that they could put it back together like that! And they didn't even restore the color, but the pigments are all perfectly preserved! Back in Bonn, Ben and I hung out with the summer group talking about everything from baseball teams to travelling to Harvard to art to science jargon to movies...you name it. Ben is a very knowledgable person on all said subjects.

Thank you to all the awesome people who met me and showed me around Germany! I had a great time!

"That it's all just a little bit of history repeating..."

2007-07-27T11:03:00.000-07:00

There is something poignant about sitting in a Dunkies across from the infamous Brandenburg Gate and listening to Shirley Bassey's lyrics of this song. Oh Berlin.

Oh Berlin is right. What a juxtaposition of a city. I found myself staying and spending 97% of my time (aka, not when I was jumping over the cobblestone line denoting where the wall used to be and going back and forth) in East Berlin because it is just that much more interesting than the West. And so many stories, both tragic and comedic. I always felt torn in the city, but probably not as torn as the population who lived on either side of the wall. And that all happened in my lifetime.

(Brandenburg Gate for those who have no clue what I am talking about...a huge gate in Pariserplatz that every major political power must march through when conquering the city...Napoleon, Hitler...you know. Has a statue of Victory on top in a chariot drawn by four horses. Napoleon wanted it for the Louvre, so he had some poor guys go up, take it down, and move it to Paris. After the Franco-Prussian War, Germany took it back, reinstated it on the top of the gate, and had it angled so that Victory now looks down upon and points at the very ugly French Embassy, warning them never to try it again!)

Anyway, I met up with Katie and Bryce (from the Prague Quadrennial) and Amy and Malte! (Characters: Amy, friend from Harvard who did lots of theater and wants to continue directing. She won a Fullbright to study theater and intern at theaters in Berlin for a year. Amazing. Malte is her awesome and amazing German boyfriend who is a very successful dramaturg and seems to know everyone in the Berlin theater and music scene. I love them both.) Well, first I went on a free tour of Berlin, just to get a sense of all the layers of history. If you go to Berlin, you MUST take one of the free tours. Go to the Brandenburg gate and look for the really energetic people in the red shirts. If there is an Aussie named Annabelle, take her tour. She is amazing! She is such a Berlin geek that she moved here and reads her whole day long to gather more stories for her tours. She went for 5 hours (one hour over) and none of us knew because we were so engaged and having such a great time! I think my favorite story is how the wall came down...one of the biggest blunders of international press conference history. I won't retell the story for all those who already know it, but if you don't know it...look it up. Also, the Pope's Revenge is quite amusing. I will tell that one. So one of the East Berlin leaders during the communist days wanted to show the world that East Berlin was as technologically advanced as the western world. He had a TV Tower built that could be seen from all over Berlin; however, East Berlin didn't actually have the technology to figure out how to build it, so he flew in some international engineers to finish the project. I should inject that this leader also had all the crosses taken off of churches because communism didn't need the church or religion. A huge metal ball, kind of like the one in Times Square for New Year's only bigger, tops off the tower, and was made in such a way that it reflects light on a sunny day in the biggest cross you have ever seen. It's hilarious. And they call it the Pope's Revenge. Anyway, Annabelle showed us all over the city, so we hit all the sights of mostly East Berlin. I think the most moving is the Holocaust Memorial, but I will get back to the that. Ended on Museum Isle and jumped into the Berliner Dom before it closed. Huge place. Didn't know that I would end up walking up to the top, but found myself with a great view of Berlin. Looked at the time and went on a hunch that Katie and Bryce would be at an opera house (there are 3 in town) at a certain time. Chose the one, the Komische Oper, that was actually having a performance, Die Fledermaus, and happened upon Bryce buying a preztel the size of his head from an outside vendor. Talk about a shot in the dark. I've never seen Die Fledermaus before, but I should probably see it again, as there were no subtitles. It was, however, a cool design (lots of stairs...on a rake...that rotated...and you guys think I'm crazy!), and costumes were all eye candy for Katie. Oh yeah, and it was all centered around a working glass elevator. Ha...ha. Finally got the phone thing settled so I didn't have to use Amy as an operator to reach Katie, and set off on my merry way back to my hostel. (If you are staying in Berlin and need a hostel, St. Christopher's is a great place. Wombats is also opening right next to it, thus making it a great intersection of cheap beds!)

Started off the next grey day at the Jewish Museum. I must say that I hated it, both architecturally and as a Jewish Museum. I thought that the parts that were most moving were the empty "spaces" dedicated to the Holocaust, but they were more of a "look what Libeskind, the architect, can do!" rather than experiencing the space, the events. Not much to say about it because it was terrible. But I follwed that up with an AMAZING space, the Reichstag! Worth the wait in line, the glass dome on top of the Reichstag is such a great structure! And it's not about the view, which is good, or even the view below of the parliament chambers so the politicians never forget that they are being watched by the people. It's just a great space to move about in. It's a double helix of ramps going up to a top platform open to the sky, but it has a heated floor (important on this cold, rainy day). In the middle is a huge mirrored pillar that can only be described as the center structure of the breeding ground in the movie, "The Matrix." Pictures coming soon...hopefully. Ran back with K&B for a quick dinner and then met up with Amy and Malte for a very odd show at the Volksbruhne, which turned out to be the big scaffolded building that flashed across from my hostel. (Some guy swore it was a club.) As soon as I met Malte, I knew the two of us were on the same page. (If you meet him, don't mention the boat. OK?) OK. Well, we were seeing a show with these huge German actors in it directed by a guy Amy is going to work with in the next year. It was hilarious, and I didn't understand one word of what was going on. I am sure it would have been even more hilarious if I understood the text. And it was very German. I now understand when Mike Donahue came back from Berlin and said in his production meeting, "I am a new man." I get it now, Mike. I get it. Went with Amy to say good-bye to Nick O'Donovan, a Harvard grad who was doing his PhD in Berlin for the last year. Never met Nick before, even though we travelled in the same theater and Signet circles, but he is great.

Planned to go to museums, but it turned out to be, finally, a nice day, so I headed into West Berlin to the Tiergarten, a huge park, instead. Quite nice. Saw the golden Victoria on a stick and many other statues. Ended up at the zoo, and for whatever reason, was possessed to pay to get in and see the "cute" polar bear, Knut. That had to be a low point of the day. Waiting in a HUGE crowd for a bear to come out of a hole. What to people do on ground hog day?! He bounded out for 5 seconds, enough time for most people to catch a photo, I wouldn't dare aim my camera at a hole, and then ran right back in. Problem is...he isn't a cute cub anymore. He isn't a cub at all. In fact he looks like all the rest of the polar bears who are seperated onto the other side of the habitat and don't have any fans. Sigh. Meandered through the birds, giraffes, and elephants for a bit until running up to Potsdamer Platz to meet Amy at the Sony Center. Potsdamer Platz is one of those places completely torn by the Wall. It used to be the busiest intersection in Europe before the war, so much so that it got the first European traffic light. Then the Wall went up right in the middle of it. The boundry wall on the Eastern side, making the no go zone or shoot to kill zone, cleared out most of the rest of it making it no man's land for years. Only now it is becoming the commercial center again, or rather a fantasty land of glass and steel for huge companies like Sony and Deutsche Bahn. Amy showed me around more of town until we got a Bat signal from Malte saying that he had just spent 3 hours of his life trying to copy one article that may or may not be helpful in the production he is working on. He stationed himself at a chocolate and ice cream store, brooding over the lost hours of his life, so we showered him in hugs. Amy took him home for a nap while I met up with K&B to go the Ampelman store. Ampelman is the pedestrian traffic guy in East Berlin, designed by a cartoonist to get pedestrians to notice the signal more often. After integration, he went away, replaced by the western traffic little guys, but people demanded Ampelman. He's made a comeback on smaller streets and on plenty of merchandise. Keep a look out for him!

Started my day at the German History Museum, which I award with a gold star. It is one of the most fabulous history museums I have been to. Took me hours to go through and covered every decade from the earliest times of the Germanic tribes to after integration. It is amazing. It is a must go see when you are in Berlin. Then I got a call from Amy saying to go to the Komische Oper because Malte, who used to work there, was going to get us into a dress rehearsal of a farewell gala concert for this up and coming amazing conductor. Apparently he is leaving the opera orchestra to go free lance. They were playing a Sibelius, a flute concerto, and Rochmoninov's "The Bells." It was a fabulous concert and the conductor reminds me of Seiji...love it. And it was great to hear what he worked on. Missed Cello a lot...must bring him to NYC. Had a late dinner with friends from the hostels at a sushi restaurant. Very random, but a great day!

Lucky Friday the 13th was spend stressing over getting a room in Paris. Finally got the guts to call places and deal with the French. Made reservations for a place next to the Louvre for 7 nights...why would a hostel NEXT TO THE LOUVRE have rooms only a few days in advance. I am skeptical, but hopeful. Headed to the Pergamon, which has a fabulous collection of massive ancient art and architecture, like the gates of Istor (Babylon) and the Egyptian Museum which has the famous bust of Nefertiti. Both museums are fabulous, but they are free if you go on Thursday nights. However, then you have to pay for the audio guides, but the guides are worth it. Walked into the Radisson hotel to find a bathroom, but rather found a massive fish/shark tank in the middle of the lobby which had an elevator going through the middle of it! (Turns out to be part of an aquarium experience, but definitely worth the free peek!) Met up with K&B to say good bye (they were saving a lot of money, something like 5 billion dollars, by going on a night bus...yes bus...to London from Berlin) and then went to sushi with A&M to say good bye to them, as they were leaving for the weekend. You all must come visit me in NYC next year! Got a peek at the Gehry structure inside the DZ Bank building in Pariserplatz which is very interesting. Wandered through the Holocaust Memorial. Again, best Holocaust Memorial I have ever experience, and I think a big part of that is because it is all the experience. You start out on street level overlooking a field of concrete pillars that are all the same width and length. However, they vary in height as you descend an uneven, hilly network of paths into the grid of pillars that become much taller than you. The architect never wanted to say exactly what it all meant, he wanted it to be a unique experience for everyone, and I think it works in an incredible way. It is actually a very scary place to walk through, as you never know when someone is going to pop around the corner, or when a voice will come in and then disappear as people are running or walking through this landscape. If you are talking to someone, and they suddenly turn a corner, you lose them. Other times, you bump into someone walking perpendicular to you. I thought it was a very good memorial to the times and the escalating fear and confusion felt as people were moved out of their homes to the camps. It also reminded me of a deserted neighborhood (actually very much like the streets of Pompeii), like the moment everyone had been evacuated. Very creepy, but very moving. Go, experience it.

Decided to spend my last night at the movies. The Sony Center was advertising Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix in 3-D! 3-D! How awesome was that going to be! (Is it in 3-D in the States?) I got up to the ticket counter and the lady wouldn't sell me the ticket. "It's in German." Are there 3-D subtitles. "No...dubbed, poorly...in German. You don't want to go. Go see the normal one in English. Nicer voices. Nicer movie. And you don't have to pay the extra 12 euro for the 3-D part." But it's 3-D. Well, she was right. The English version is the best, and what a fabulous movie! My favorite of the 5 so far, by far. This director knows what he is doing, and the kids are getting to be better actors. Totally made my night. Can't wait for Book 7 to come out...I will be in Paris. Courtney promises a launch party. I hope so.

Well, in conclusion to that long post, I loved Berlin and would definitely go back. There was so much to see. So much to experience. So much to learn. So much to remember. A living memorial might be a good word, but also a city picking up the pieces and moving forward. Definitely an interesting place to visit.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

2007-07-21T01:53:00.000-07:00

Oh, so much to post! More Munich, Berlin, Cologne, Bonn, Trier, Luxembourg, and now Paris! However, I must run off to a tour of the Opera Garnier, the phantom of the opera opera house. However, I just wanted to say two things.

One: Like Napoleon, I came, saw, and conquered the Louvre. Those who doubt that it can be done in a day...and done well...are just wrong. On Friday nights they are open until 10, so if one gets there at, say, 9:30, one can do the Louvre, every open room, in 12 hours. Melissa one, Louvre...well...it just trumps everything anyway, so it wins. So, Melissa one, Mona Lisa, 0. What an overrated piece of art. It is bigger than I thought... And do not forget...Napoleon was also short.

Two: I know that I posted the first page of Book 6 as soon as I got it in London, 6 hours before most of you. I apologize for not rubbing it in again and posting it this morning...internet at my hostel is bad. Hmmm...sorry...but I still got it before most of you. Not that many of you care, but for those who do, you know who you are. I got it at 1:50AM...line was long at WH Smith. We could get it at 1:01 here because Britain had to release it first. (One hour time difference, and a one minute start.) Coutrney (character: Courtney is an amazing set designer and artist at Harvard, and she is studying here for the summer. More on her in the Paris posts.) and I are going to sit in a park, eat lots of bread, cheese, and chocolate, and read the book today. My feet need a tiny break after yesterday anyway.

Also, French keyboards have to be the worst! Fingers very tired from the single finger pecking.

Opera, Opulence, and Ozzie (More Munich)

2007-07-11T10:39:00.001-07:00

While Rowan was in class (he is currently studying German so to be able to translate the few medieval documents he will need for his PhD), I was instructed to go to the Alte Pinacothek, or the old museum of art. A hearty thumbs up for this museum. I liked that they didn't have descriptions or tags next to the art; every frame had just a title and the artist's name. But, with your ticket, you get a free audio guide, and almost every painting had a very thorough description. It was a very user-friendly, easy way to move through the museum. I came to the conclusion, after wandering their huge Rubens collection, that I don't like Rubens. Pity. But I did like the rest of the collections. Met up with Rowan and went to the amazingly opulent Scholss Nymphanburg. Gawked at every room in the palace, and then strolled arm in arm through the gardens to all the "small" palaces that either of us would easily take as a home. Went into the chapel where you had to put on these silly slippers so not to ruin the floor. A rechoreographed version of the Ice Capades was necessary. Had wonderful conversations about Rowan's amazing life (Rowan is truly amazing, if you haven't been able to tell yet) and how he has met QE II, the person, not the ship, twice. Wow. I fully declare to the world that Rowan is wonderful and that we all must watch him, because he will be very famous one day. Even if it is in the tiny community of medieval trade history. As long as I can build your house...yes?

Got back into town and Rowan had this deep desire to try to get scalped tickets to the one night performance of "Roberto Deveraux" at the opera house starring the amazing Edita Gruberova. I am not up to snuff on opera as I should be, so Rowan told me that this role, Elizabeth I, could only be played by such a diva soprano as she and that people were making pilgrimages to see this. After seeing the people in tuxes and formal gowns pulling day luggage behind them, clearly having just arrived from the train station, I said, well, let's try to get tickets...and we did! Wonderful tickets in the front row of the top balcony. Perfect for seeing and hearing the performance. I will admit...I am now a believer in this Edita Gruberova. From the minute she walked onstage, she had the presence of a diva, and the voice...well, it was amazing! The die hard fans, aka us and a few others, stayed to give her numerous curtain calls. What a fabulous night!

Rowan went away for the rest of my time in Munich, which was a very sad parting. Rowan's notes guided me through Italy day by day (hour by hour), but having the real Rowan was quite a treat! However, while being led around, gawking at facades, one does not really get a sense of the city's layout. So I decided to take a free tour given by another amazing guy names Ozzie. He is worth going to Wombats in Munich and taking this tour. You will know him when you see him. He exudes fabulousness. To give you an idea, he started the tour outside the train station and screamed, "Hey! I'm a big, tall, black guy screaming the words Hitler and Nazi all the time. I've never had a problem! Munich must be safe." Wow. He gave us a great history of Munich from the very beginnings up to the Nazi regime, which started in Munich, by the way. You would never know because the city has tried to wash over everything to do with WWII...only a few hints on the ground. You wouldn't necessarily know that it was even bombed to smitherins, because they rebuilt everything in the older style of architecture. We had a good debate on whether that was a healthy or unhealthy way for the city to progress. Pros and cons to both sides. After giving Ozzie a huge hug (and a good tip), I headed to the Residenz, the city palace of the monarchs that was rebuilt in most of its glory after WWII. Headed over to the English Gardens, apparently the biggest park in Europe (ever city seems to claim this!), and wandered for a few hours there.

The next day was Disney princess day! I think I have now covered all of them, making me extremely happy. Of course, I am talking about a day trip to Fussen to see King Ludwig's fantasty castle, Neuschwanstein, used by Disney for the Sleeping Beauty castle in a few parks. First of all, Neuschwanstein, and it's older sibling, Hohenswangau, are located in the most beautiful setting in all of Germany. Second of all, Ludwig and Max, his father, were crazy, but the kind of crazy I would like as an architect. For example, the ceiling of their bedroom in Hohenswangau couldn't just be painted with a night sky and stars. Their stars had to be translucent with lights on the floor above so they would twinkle as the king fell asleep. They also had a hole cut above the bed, and a disc would slide around to mimick the correct phases of the moon. In Neuschwanstein, Ludwig had a bed made that looks somewhat like a carved wooden wedding cake that took four carvers four years to complete. The entire castle is decorated with allustions to all of Wagner's operas, Ludwig was a huge fan, so he hired a scenic designer to design the castle and the interiors for him. I tell you, scenic design is where the true creativity is at.

The next morning was spent at the outdated Deutches Museum, or science and technology museum. I have an issue with science museums because they are never updated fast enough to be interesting or useful. The computer section still was displaying a huge box from 1989 calling it the most recent of computer design. Hmmm. Some items don't change, like the history of musical instruments or a timeline of breakthroughs in chemistry before 1950, but I felt like I was reading an introductory history of science book (in German) from 1980. Don't waste your time.

But go to Munich for opera, opulence, and of course, Ozzie. And be sure to look at the ground, because that is where you will find the only marks of WWII.

"If you want so sit alone, the church is across the street!"

2007-07-11T09:53:00.000-07:00

Got off the train in Munich, and for the first time in a long time, someone was there to meet me! And someone wonderful in fact...Rowan! (character: Rowan, I believe he may have been introduced before, but he is a good friend from Harvard, a genius in the academic area of medieval trading in the Adriatic, and was an amazing Chesire Cat in my version of Alice in Wonderland. He is studying German in Munich for some weeks in order to translate medieval German texts for his PhD program.) Anyway, Rowan met me with a huge huge, a big smile, a great chocolate croissant, and a Munich map...all very much needed. He then wisks me away through town to many a beautiful church, including one which I never really caught the name of, but can be described, at best, as Rococo on steroids. Found out that the famous glockenspiel is being rennovated for its hundredth anniversary next year, thus it doesn't play. After a whirlwind tour and lunch at the market, we decided to run back to our respective homes, change for a night at the opera, and get in line for standing room tickets to a Korean opera of "Alice in Wonderland" with puppets. (That would probably be JD's worst nightmare.) Anyway, we get to the opera house two hours early in the freezing cold, stake out our place, despite some nudgy old women, and get inside to find out that the student rush line is our only hope. We stand there until the last call bell, and then the ticket manager says, "Bad news, students. No tickets." It's an opera, by a Korean composer, about Alice in Wonderland, with PUPPETS...it got terrible reviews...and people are still flocking to see it?! Well, we are dressed up with nowhere to go in particular, but we decide that we are famished, and craving Bavarian cuisine. We find the Weisshaus, a popular touristy restaurant, and get sat at a big table with two other couples. At first, we are all hestitantly smiling at each other, talking amongst ourselves and looking at a menu which sports cow's lung, pork knuckles, and boiled calf's heart. Yum. Well, I choose cheese spatzle, which I have been craving, and Rowan goes for the weinerschnitzel. The waitress comes by and the woman to my right orders a combination platter of the aforementioned "delicacies" of lung, knuckles, heart, liver I think, and something else. Our waitress, whom we fondly refer to as Hildegard because it would just fit her perfectly, gives her the strangest look and gasps, "You LIKE that?!?!" When the woman says that she is being adventurous, Hildegard responds, "No, no. You don't want that. No. Lung? Heart? They're cooked! I don't like them cooked!" (Oh, so you like raw heart and lung, Hildegard...I wouldn't want to mess with this woman.) "No, it is not good. You want this." Scared and taken aback that the waitress would talk her out of her choice, the woman orders what Hildegard suggests. Once H leaves, we all just burst out laughing! And that was the beginning of a great meal! Both couples were school teachers, Rowan is probably going to be a professor, and I have a great respect for school teachers, so we all talked about school and education, travel and languages, studying Latin and meat farming in the US. One couple was older, and the husband had just retired as a PE teacher in Wisconsin, so he know raises cattle on a farm. His wife, a middle school science teacher, grew up on a cattle farm and has cooked aforementioned delicacies, but she really liked what Hildegard suggested. The younger couple were new teachers taking a group of language students on a field trip to Munich. We talked for hours! At the end of the meal, Hildegard comes up and bellows, "See! See! You come in alone and now you are all chatting away as friends! This is what happens in Bavaria! I say, if you want to sit alone, the church is across the street!" That may be the best quote I have ever heard in my entire life, especially coming from a huge Bavarian woman. Oh Hildegard!

Drum roll please...

2007-07-09T00:48:00.000-07:00

And your New Seven Wonders of the World are:

Chichen Itza, Mexico
The Great Wall of China
Petra, Jordan
Colosseum, Rome
Taj Mahal, India
Machu Picchu, Peru

and my friend Nikki's personal favorite

The Christ Redeemer, Brazil

Thanks to all those who voted...I know I did.

Switzerland...good cheese, good chocolate (milk), good views, and American country music?

2007-07-06T10:40:00.001-07:00

OK, I actually don't like Swiss cheese (meaning the ones with the holes), but they have some nice other cheeses. And Heidi chocolate milk is the best chocolate milk on the planet. But I digress...

The train was a bit longer than I had expected, thus leaving me in Bern, the capital of Switzerland, exhausted and probably vitamin deficient. Tip: Eat plenty of fruits and vegggies, and protein when travelling. OK, so the first night was a bit of bust because my body went into shock from unhealthy eating, but there was an American band playing country rock outside our window, and the huge crowd was going nuts! It's amazing to see what makes it out of the US and becomes popular in other countries. Country rock, for example. Beverly Hills 90210...another example. Anyway, I was explaining how I felt to one of my roommates, Lucky (yes, that is her name), and I said, "I feel like I've been hit by a truck." She responded, "I was hit by a truck, and that ended my professional dancing career in New York." O...K... You never know when an innocent cliche is going to offend someone. But, since her accident, she learned so much about anatomy that she has become an anatomy and physiology professor at Arizona State, but she really wants to move to Boston to choreograph. After she gave me an Vitamin C pill so that I could at least get up and put my stuff away, we talked all night about theater. Good times.

The next day, I fulfilled one of my life dreams...to travel on a glass train! I had only heard of these train cars with huge windows all over in Canada, but it turns out that they have the Golden Pass Panoramic train through the Alps, and it is gorgeous! I went on a train to Speitz to Zwimmerman? to get on the panoramic train and travelled down to Montreax, which is a town up the lake from Geneva. It was a beautiful day and the lake with the Alps all around it is just breathtaking. Took a ferry up the lake to the Chateau de Chillon, which Lord Byron made famous and is a very neat little castle on the lake. From the Chateau, I caught a boat that took me up the lake an hour and a half to Lausanne. Caught a train home, and I call that a really nice day trip! Bravo to the book Europe by Eurail which suggested this itinerary. Probably the most gorgeous scenery day I have been on. If you go to Switaerland, go to the Golden Pass. Beautiful

On the suggestion of my aunt Sandy, I took the next day trip to Lake Lucerne, intending to continue a tradition of taking a picture at the top of Mt. Pilatus. Sandy, I tried! Honestly! But it was raining. The weather report said that it was going to clear in the afternoon and be bad in the morning, which was true, but the mountain gets cloudy in the afternoon regardless, so they wouldn't even sell me a ticket. Sounded like a really neat trip by boat, then by the steepest cogwheel funicular on a 40 minute ride up the mountain, then down by a sky lift. I was so excited...I guess another time. But, Luzern, the town, is lovely, even in rain. I started out on their famous covered bridges with beautiful paintings under the eaves. Walked up on the ramparts to some of the old watch towers on the edge of the city, and then down through the old town. All the platzes (can that be made plural?) are surrounded by buildings with huge facade frescoes making colorful panoramas all over the city. Walked up in the rain to the Dying Lion, the "most moving piece of rock in the world." Maybe true. It was very moving. To all those people who worked in the Ag, this was the random poster that was on the wall for so long that we couldn't figure out what it was! Saw an old 19th century panorama painting of the French troops coming into Switzerland for their internment from the Franco-Prussian War, and then headed back to the info center in hopes that the mountain had cleared a little bit. Nope, no luck. So I hopped on a train back to Bern and convinced some girls in the common room that they needed to watch Drop Dead Gorgeous, a terrible, but somewhat hilarious movie. Good way to relax for the night.

Next morning, got up, went to my favorite grocery store in town and then walked the streets, up to the bear pits (which are very sad...two brown bears are just sitting at the bottom of this pit while tweens through food and other things at them and annoying tourists take pictures of them...they looked so sad and lost) and around to the glockenspiel (another let down) and to the Einstein house. The house where E=mc² was born had a great movie about Einstein's life and a very small, but thorough exhibit. Very enjoyable. Off to the train station to go to Zurich!

That night in Zurich...it rained...it poured. But I still made the trek to the two main churches, which are quite stark compared to others I have been to, but one had Marc Chagall's famous stained glass windows. I will admit, they were different and worth seeing. However, there was nothing else in the city worth seeing that day at least. I went over to the Design Museum to see an interesting exhibit called "On Time" about the history of time keeping and Swiss watches. I think the curator was showing some friends around, so he was watching me for my reactions.

I think overall, I liked Austria more than Switzerland, but I would come back with a car to drive through the Alps.

The Hills Are Alive!

2007-06-29T12:49:00.000-07:00

When in Salzburg, one must do two things: make a tribute to Mozart and go on the original Sound of Music tour. I, proudly, have done both. I booked my seat on the Sound of Music tour, despite the warnings that it was going to be very kitchy, and started to get excited. I put my hair in pigtails and sang some of the songs in the shower (to myself of course). Got downstairs and onto the bus, trying to not look too excited in case everyone else was just doing it because they should, but immediately I met the three girls around me (Character: Caroline and Isabelle from Australia and Julia from CA) who were so excited, and Caroline the most so. She had been on the tour and couldn't wait to do it again a few years later! She knew all the words to the soundtrack (yes, they play the soundtrack on the bus while you are driving through the countryside) and knew all the scenes. I'm so glad I met them because we just well full out into the tour and it was so much fun! We were singing, we were taking pictures in poses, and all that jazz. We first stopped at the what was the back of the Von Trapp house in the movie with the lake scenes. So beautiful. The mountains are in the background, and on the other side of the lake were the trees the kids dangle from. (By the way, Harvard owns this building and it's the Salzburg Institute? Anyone heard of it?) Then we drove by another mansion which served as the front of the house in the Confidence song and the attempted escape scene. Then we went to a beautiful palace that had the glass gazebo reconstructed in its park for the public to see. Then, it was on to the hills! Basically, they took us around the Lake District, which is just gorgeous! If I had another day, I would take a tour just of this area. You just don't get views like that anywhere else in the world. Unbelievable. Wow. I can't wait for Switzerland! Then they took us to the church where Maria and the Captain got married in the movie, and they directed us to a cafe for apple strudel. Then back to the Mirabel Gardens where the Do a Dear song was filmed around the fountains. Many more things were pointed out to us, but I was just so entranced by the beauty of the area! Definitely worth it!

C, I, J, and I went to a great place for schnitzel (more Favorite Things of both mine and Maria) and then I headed off for a whirlwind sightseeing journey of Old Town. I definitely suggest going to the Fortress, which has loomed over the city for over 1000 years. Perfectly intact and has some of the best views I've ever seen. Stunning! (I know, lots of things in my blog are stunning, beautiful, gorgeous, etc...but it's all true. I shall try to use more pretentious synonyms in the future.) Came down on the steep, STEEP funicular (something like 45 degrees or more...) and walked into one church for mass, another church for mass, yet another church, a cemetary, probably another church, and heard the bells from the glockenspiel. What a lovely town! And then I went to Mozart's Birthplace, which has an odd museum inside. Instead of trying to recreate rooms or give an extensive biography of Mozart, they gave the rooms to Robert Wilson, a very famous artist who has done very odd installations in Boston...aka Fritz for those who know him from the Ag, to design. He designed installations for each room that play on a trait of Mozart's life and character. Weird, but I enjoyed it more than most. Something different that I didn't expect. Walked around with a giant pretzel seeing all the church goers in their traditional dress. I have never seen so many men so proud of their leiderhosen. (Well, maybe the Scots and their kilts...) Anyway, the whole day can be summed up as beautiful. From the mountains to the buildings to the people to the food...this area is wonderful. I really like Austria and wish I had more time. I will definitely come back, and maybe try to get a car and drive through the countryside. Anyone with me?

Off to Switzerland tomorrow!

Austria, ja!

2007-06-27T15:23:00.000-07:00

Arrived in Vienna, Austria on the Gregor Mendel train! (When they announced that, I burst out laughing. My friend Tom and I, and someone else, did a whole game show video tape based on Gregor Mendel and his plant studies for 6th grade science. Hilarious.) Anyway, didn't know exactly where to go, so I started at the most famous place I could think of...the Vienna Opera House. Took a wonderful tour by a huge Austrian guy with a very think accent. He told me afterwards to get in line for standing room tickets for tonight's opera as it would only be a 3 hour show rather than Wagner's extravaganza the next day that would last about 5.5 hours. I can do tonight. Walked a bit more to Stephansplatz to St. Stephan's cathedral, which is beautiful. Don't walk up the 343 stairs to the tower though. Not worth it. But the crypt is! Took an interesting tour where I got to see some mass graves from the Black Plague and the collection of innards of the Austrian rulers. Weird, but interesting. Went back to the opera house to get in line and got my amazingly cheap 3.50 euro ticket to stand at the back of the orchestra level with great sightlines of the stage. The show was Massanet's "Wurther", and ok opera, but a fantastic set! We've tried to do trees. We usually fail. (Courtney being an exception.) But this tree was amazing! I was really impressed! And beautiful leaves. Just a stunning stage picture!

Woke up the next morning and there was a girl in the bathroom. Really had to go and was thinking...when is she going to get out. Was about to get down from the bunk and knock on the door when she came out...and guess who it was...KARA KAUFMAN! Ultimate shock happened. (Character: Kara...stage manager from Harvard. Very good friend. Didn't expect her to be in Vienna!) She was sleeping below me the entire night! It totally made my day to see her! She decided to take some stress free time and go to Europe, but didn't tell me! What are the chances of this happening? Wow. We had breakfast downstairs and caught up a bit, but she and her friend were taking off on a train to Budapest. Had I known, I would have gone to Budapest, but I was staying in Vienna for another day and a half and then off to Salzburg. Well, I will see her when I get back in NYC for sure. Hilarious.

After we both ended screaming and hugging and they left, the other girl in our room was wide awake. I felt bad because I had woken her up the night before coming in, but we banded together for the day to travel around the town. (Character: Sara from Japan who just graduated from Brown in biochem and is staying in Providence another year to work in a lab) We started off walking around the Hofburg Palace and all the platzes around there. Went into the library/Imperial State Room which was just overwhelmingly gorgeous. Our mouths hit the ground. They were having an exhibit on gifts of books that Franz Josef had received during his reign. The books may only of had congratulations in them, but the bindings and covers were just stunning works of art. I wish I knew how to do binding and book art. Another art to learn when I get back! Felt like Disney Princess Belle in the Beast's castle. (Have I hit all the Disney Princesses yet? Almost.) Definitely a must go see when in Vienna. Then we walked around to the Burg Theatre, the Votiv Church (which wasn't open, but had beautiful Gothic details), the Rathaus (which is gorgeous!), and Parliament. Decided that we were going to go to see Midsummer Night's Dream at the Burg later, so Sara went back to switch to another hostel while I took the subway out to the middle of who knows where in town to the Hunterwasser apartment building. Hunterwasser wasn't an architect, but he built a number of buildings without straight lines. Every layer and piece is painted a different color. Very Gaudi-esque, but not as refined. Lots of tourists in the area, so I fled back to Stephansplatz and walked along Graben St., as my guidebook told me to, to Peterplatz to view some interesting architectural "gems," including Adolf Loos's bathroom complex...they were all just ok. But St. Stephan's church is beautiful inside! Walked over to the Staatsoper Museum, which is just ok, and then had to meet Sara back at the Burg to get in line for standing room tickets. No one was there when we got in, so we got some of the first places in the front of the standing room section, which is in the back of the orchestra section, like the Staatsoper. And the show just felt like coming home. It reminded me very much of the A.R.T. (American Rep Theatre) in the design and the director's calls, which were just genius! So the play was in German, which is very interesting to pick up on the rhyme scheme and the attempt at iambic pentameter in German. The set started off with techies and these little old ladies setting up hundreds of tables for the wedding. Puck comes on as the wedding planner, and after the first scene, she takes off her big coat (revealing a school girl's outfit, which I didn't understand) and signals a HUGE STORM onstage. What was the roof over the tables, collapsing some of them, to create a forest landscape that the actors then walked on! (And you thought my ideas were crazy!) Then, for about 5 minutes straight, it snowed white cork making a thick layer of ground for the actors to trudge around in and throw each other to the ground on. I could't figure out what it was until intermission when I went up and stole a piece. Genius. (Is cork fire retardent?) Another genius call was to make the little old lady maids into Titania's fairies and have them sing during the performance. Hilarious. The acting, despite not totally understanding what they were saying, was fabulous. The players were really funny, and Puck was genius. They ended the play with Puck screaming at the audience in German, which was for some reason really funny, and then singing "Will You Love Me Tomorrow?" in English. Actually a great ending! I loved it! Vienna has great theater, hands down.

Party in Prague!

2007-06-27T14:22:00.000-07:00

Again, skipping over Venice to get to Prague, but I will start with my train horror story from the overnight from Venice to Prague. Got on and realized there were no locks on the doors. Not good. Had heard from a girl that she was actually gassed in one of the overnight cars so that the robbers could come in and unclip money belts. More not good. Anna (character: Anna from JMU who is working as a housekeeper to a professor at his villa on the Italian island of Elba) gets on a few stops later and we are told that we are the only two people supposed to be in the car. Great. We fall asleep, but I take great precautions with my stuff, locking it with a bike cable to the bed and put my messenger bag under my head around me under my shirt and the whole bit. At around 3AM I wake up. Not sure why, but I'm just lying there when I two guys open the door and pop their heads in. I'm just watching them thinking, "Oh, they must be lost." One of the guys sees me and gestures to the other guy to shut the door as they say sorry. Think more to myself...no, they saw two girls alone in the car. There are only supposed to be two of us in there. They are trying to rob us. I run out of the car and start asking them why they are in this car and what they are doing. In my sleepy mind, I was ready to beat up two train robbers... Anyway, they flee to another car, but I knew, for some reason, that they would be back. I lay back in bed thinking of all the James Bond ways to kick them in the face (I thank Kayt for this state of mind...) and thinking that I should get out my pocket knife, when all of a sudden I hear Anna screaming, "My wallet's gone!" What? I was awake the whole time! Nope...I had fallen asleep and the guys came back. She woke up to the bald one breathing heavily on her face, but she thought that they were just trying to climb up the ladder to the top bunk. When they saw her awake, they fled. Apparently, he reached over her, unzipped her purse, took out her wallet, took out the euros on one side, the dollars on the other, and put the wallet back in a different compartment, thankfully leaving the passport, the iPod, the camera, and the credit cards. But we were more freaked out that they could get that close to us and neither of us noticed!!! She decided to stay up the rest of the night, and the conductor had her and 3 other people get off for a few minutes at Salzburg to file a police report. We were the only ones with a description. Very scary. We put the ladder against the door in case anyone else tried to get in. Talked and snacked for a bit as we just sat in shock. They didn't take anything of mine, but if they were that close to her, they were that close to me. Avoiding night trains from now on...or, I'll take my bike cable and put it around the door handle and lock it shut. Surreal.

Anyway, Prague is great! Turns out I went from knowing no one on my travels to knowing 7 other people(and really another, but Kara didn't tell me she was there...more on that coming...), so it was really a party in Prague! Crashed in the hostel for a bit since I didn't sleep so well on the train and then went off to the Mucha Museum, which is great! If you like Art Noveau, if you like poster design, if you like art, go to the Mucha Museum. Walked along the river for a bit and then went back to meet up with Eric! (Character: Eric, my cousin who just graduated from the Air Force Academy and is going to Africa to climb mountains. He's awesome.) Had dinner in Old Town Square and then walked around town for a bit. Then both of us decided to crash. Planned to meet up with Eric, Katie, and Bryce (Characters: Katie Stebbins, a costume design student at CMU and the awesome sister of Amy Stebbins! and Bryce, Katie's awesome boyfriend who is now a lover of the theater) to do Prague Castle. Eric and I looked around Tyn Church (it has beautiful spires!) and St. Nicholas's Church and then met up with K&B for Castle time! Made the long trek up, but it was worth it. St. Vitus's cathedral alone is worth it. It's a beautiful church with gorgeous stained glass windows, of which one is by Mucha. Climbed up the trecherous spiral staircase to the top of the tower for great views. Had a wonderful "traditional" lunch of fried cheese (any culture that emphasizes its fried cheese is good with me!), meat (something I didn't have in all of Italy), and knedkly (dumplings). Got caught in a downpour on the Charles Bridge and split off to go to an internet cafe, but got rerouted by the sight and sounds of a military parade in the Old Town Square in memory of a 1621 massacre in the Old Town Square. (Thank you, Dan, for filling me in on that! All the speeches were in Czech and the soldiers were marching with big smiles on their faces...maybe it's beacuse they have to march like awkward toy soldiers from the Nutcracker ballet...) Spent the whole night in anticipation for the Prague Quadrennial (the PQ!) which Katie and Bryce were participating in.

Oh my gosh, the PQ is so wonderful and fun! OK, the PQ is an international festival of scenography and theater architecture that happens every four years in Prague. This sounded not only up my alley, but was my alley. It was so cool! There were exhibits by every country by both students and professionals. Some of these exhibits were good, some not so good, but all were very interesting. I started off by perusing the theme exhibit which was given to student designers to create anything they wanted. The theme this year was Aristophanes's "The Birds." The costumers had a field day! I saw some amazing stuff in this exhibit from puppets to set models to amazing costume sketches to video art. Then attended a lecture on how acting exercises could influence or affect drawing and design. Mostly for costumers, the lecture discussed the extensions of the planes of the body that actors must work with in order to inform their movements. All I could think of was Bo in his Caterpillar costume for Alice. It was a great lecture because many times designers don't think about how their design will affect the actors acting. We think, "The actor will deal. It is what they do." But really the designers AND the actors have to be on the same page. Not that I'm giving up raked stages, people, I'm just saying that I will be more aware of a raked stage's implications on the acting when I design a floor that is above 15 degrees with water... Then I toured the professional pavillions. They ranged from extensive overviews of what is happening in that country's theater scene (the USA, Ireland, and the Sushi Bar of Japan--amazing concept! you sat at a plate with a set model on it and the description in the menu on your placemat) to random drawings, still photographs, or slide shows (Germany and Poland--whose pavillion was the outline of Poland extruded 20' in the air and built out of bright magenta plastic), to installations and interactive spaces (Hungary's customs booth which rejected everyone and the Czech Republic's Carnival). I think I prefer the extensive overviews, especially the one from the US. Maybe that's because I recognized many of the designers. Everything from Eugene Lee's set model for "Wicked" to pictures of the Theatre de la June Lune's "The Miser" and "Amerika" was there. Poland, however, does win for the best caramel candies. I also looked upstairs at the inspiring architecture exhibit. So much is being done in theater architecture in the world. I only hope I can get into that stuff. Decided that I need to go to USITT next year. Anyone up for it? Ended with an interesting lecture on designing with smoke machines and fog. Blase and Tom, this workshop was for you! Then I met up with Xin Wei! (Character: Xin Wei, a good friend from Harvard who was on the Board of Directors for the Gilbert and Sullivan Players with me and is on her way home to Singapore after graduation) She's travelling with two friends and we met up with Eric and went to a really good dinner with more meat and more fried cheese. Went out with them and a girl we met at the hostel to a jazz bar to listen to music and just relax and chat. Great day!

The next day was cousin quality time at Karlstejn Castle. If you want to feel like a Disney Princess in Prague, go to Karlstejn. It's up on a hill and you go through a medieval town to get to it. Very Renaissance Faire in a way, but that is due to the tourists. I've decided that castles are more beautiful from the outside than the inside, and palaces are vice versa. But it was still great to go! If you go, book in advance for the long tour that takes you to the chapel and the great tower. We couldn't get in, but the pictures were beautiful! The castle was built by Emperor Charles IV of the Holy Roman Empire for his treasures. He collected relics and one of them is the head of a crocodile, which he believed, because they didn't have crocodiles in the area often, was the head of the dragon in the St. Michael story. Hilarious. The castle was also occupied by Wencelas IV, and it had a very Ruddigore-esque picture gallery. (No, no stained glass, Courtney.) Had a great time at the castle, and got back in time for dinner with Xin Wei's party and a show at the black light theater. Black light theater is very beautiful for production stills, but not necessarily wonderful after the first effect wears off. There were a few mimes that did some funny bits though. Spent the rest of the night at a jazz bar listening to a great trio that wasn't playing jazz. (I hate jazz.)

Went with Xin Wei and friends and K&B to the PQ for its last day! Katie showed me around the student exhibits, which are really creative I thought. Again, a whole range, but there was the USA extensive overview booth, which was just well done. Each master's program represented had its own closet in this big mirrored box. They could design their closets, so some had shelves with portfolios and pictures, some had models, puppets, props, and UNC? had the most creative...you pulled open a drawer and the top looked like a puzzle. When you pulled up each piece, you saw a tube with show pictures, descriptions, and props. Very neat. Austria or Australia (can't remember which) had a neat pavillion too...you were Alice falling down the rabbit hole...or rather sliding down a big slide with the tea party table upside-down all around you, all made out of paper. Not sure if it showed anything about student theater in the country, but it was fun! Sat for a long time in the uber-awesome cafe structure. Another theme of the PQ was construction, so they made a three-tiered cafe/seating area out of scaffolding and covered everything in foam, bubble wrap, and thick brown bags blown up and sectioned off to make very comfortable lounges and sofas. I must find some in the States and make furniture for my apartment (if I ever get one...) next year. Xin Wei and I sat there for at least an hour just chatting. It was so good to see her again before she gets stuck on her island that lacks the presence of cows. Have fun in Singapore! Then Katie tells me that she and Bryce bought several bags of bird seed with the intention of having a happening. Katie wanted to have a whole flock of pigeons following her around Old Town Square, so we head off with a trash bag full of bird seed. (We stop at the Jewish Museum which is made up of five synagogues and the cemetery which Rabbi Lowe, of the Golem story, is buried. The Spanish Synagogue was beautiful, but the whole thing was very expensive. Not sure the way they set it up was the best way either, but it was interesting.) We get to the Square and there is only one pigeon. Bryce runs after it with a box and gives it a whole pile. After being confused for awhile, it starts pecking. Then another pigeon comes. Then another. We look up and there are hundreds of birds coming in for a landing! We make a line of piles, so the birds started at one end, and when they were finished with that pile, they moved to the next one. Thus, we had hundreds of birds zig zagging through the Square! Finally Katie puts lots of piles around her feet. The birds gets closer and closer as they other piles disappear. After about 20 minutes, they are ready to go to her feet, but all of a sudden, a tiny child runs into the picture and scatters all the birds away! They are so full from the rest of the food that they don't come back! It was hilarious! A wonderful performance that came full circle. People actually were watching. One group clapped I think. Ta da! After that K&B were leaving town, but I will see them again in Berlin! Can't wait! They are great! Met up with XW and friends for one last dinner and then hung out with Eric and friends (he met up with some buddies from the Academy and some girls from Switzerland) at a neat place that was basically a maze of underground caverns with some bars. Reminded me of the big theater party in Edinburgh that the Underbelly Theatre held in the bank vaults underneath the city. Ate a really good fried cheese sandwich walking back to the hostel. Eric, I hope you had a great time in Prague!

Eric and I chatted by the river a bit before he had to leave on the plane. It was good seeing him! I'm glad he came to visit! He directed me towards Frank Gehry's Dancing House, aka Fred and Ginger. I really loved it! I'm not sure it fits its surroundings, but it did look like two figures dancing. I like it. Walked around for a long time and then Dan Wenger (character: Dan, friend from Harvard who is an actor and is studying in Prague for six weeks) called! We didn't know if we'd meet up, but we did and chatted at a cafe for a long time. Helped him through buying train tickets at the station (I'm a pro!) and then met up with one of his friends for a delicious dinner by the river. Great ending to a great city! Thank you to everyone who met up with me!

Firenze, the city of Duomos and Davids, gelatto and gold

2007-06-23T09:21:00.000-07:00

Getting to Florence (and my birthday day trip to Siena) was a great breather from the craziness of the cities. Well, I first had to deal with a slight train nightmare involving a briefcase. A man put a briefcase down next to me as he was settling he and his travelmates into their seats ahead of me, and he shouldn't have left it out of his sight, but being a decent person, I felt the responsibility to at least make sure that it is not stolen. Well, it is crowded on the train from Roma to Firenze and people are crunching into every free bit of space while people put their bags up on the racks and get seated, etc. This woman and her daughter saddle up next to my seat and I tell them that I have a reservation and that there is no room here for two. She gestures that she knows, but she can't get out to move yet. Then she starts playing with the buttons on the briefcase, and I say, "It's not mine, but it is his...not yours." She gestures that she is with him, which I knew definitely not to be true. So I take the bag and hold it up and tell the guy, "Your briefcase is here! Take it!" He says in English, "I know, just leave it there." Stupidly, I put it back down on the seat. For some reason, unclear to me, she puts the briefcase on the floor and her daughter sits in the chair. I'm watching her carefully because it isn't her bag and now it's out of my sightline. The guy who is supposed to sit next to me comes, and the girl gets up and he sits. The mother and the daughter start to move out and the mother "trips" over the bag...so I turned to the guy whose bag it is and says, "Your bag is on the floor and you need to take it now before someone gets hurt." He is still bustling around crazy and just gives me a thumbs up. I turn to get the bag and the woman, her daughter, and the bag are gone. Sigh. I turn back to the man and say, "Your bag is gone. She just took it." He doesn't get it and finally he asks for his bag and I explain to him, but I can't get through to chase her down. He bumbles around thinking that she just put it up on the rack, but I'm telling him to go after her because she stole it! We pull away from the station, and after a search of the train, the conductor deduces that she got off before the train pulled away. All their passports, documents, etc. were in the briefcase. Yes, he was stupid. But it was RIGHT next to me...sigh.

Anyway, when I arrive in Florence and the beautiful churches take my mind off things. I start with S. Maria Novella, a beautiful church whose facade is under renovation, and then I get to the Duomo. Wow. You just come around the corner and THERE IT IS! It's shiny white with a huge dome, a bell tower, and a baptistry...all to die for. Do it all if you go, which you should. I started with the baptistry, well, with the famous Doors of Paradise, which are copies by the way. Don't be fooled like all the tourist groups. Still, they are beautiful, bright gold, and just stunning in every way. But they are just a suggestion of what is to come when you go inside. My mouth dropped to the floor upon entering the baptistry. The dome is covered in gold mosaics and rings of angels, prophets and other bible stories with a huge Jesus Christ on one side. Unbelievable. Definitely work the pain in my neck and the dizziness from turning in circles to see it all! The inside of the Duomo nave, however, was a bit more austere than I had expected, but then you walk to the end and see its dome. Just as amazing as the baptistry, just in frescoes, and with a very detailed scene of devils eating the damned. This place wins for best ceilings in Europe so far. I decided that I was going to climb the dome, so I walked out one door and came first to the campanella, or Giotto's belltower. You can climb that as well. So I said, why not and started up the 441 steps. Wonderful views, but when I got to the top, I said, "Now I have to do the duomo dome too." Took a quick break at the museum which has the real gold panels of the Doors of Paradise. (Why save them in Nitrogen? Why can't we view them in the glory that they were supposed to be viewed in. Also, does anyone know if the Mona Lisa at the Louvre is a copy and the real one is in storage? This I heard and don't believe. I have some issues with conservation at the moment...but I digress. Oh also, the museum only has 7 of the 8 panels on display. When I asked where the 7th was, the lady said, "These are the panels." Yes, but where is the eighth. "Oh, these are all of them." There are only 7. "Um, these are the panels!" OK. The 8th is MIA.) Once my face turned its normal color from bright red, I decided to start up the Duomo dome, another 463 steps. 904 steps in total in one day! YES! I wonder how far up that is. 904x8inches or so...ok, you do the math. Well the views are absolutely stunning! If you do only one, which you should be smart and do, do the Duomo. This country is SO gorgeous!

Celebrated my birthday at midnight with my silent post.

But never fear, I did not spend my entire birthday alone! Thank you to all who sent birthday wishes! Sierra, the girl from Brandeis who is studying in Siena, invited me down to Siena to show me around and accompany me on my birthday! So off to beautiful Siena I went. We started off walking through a huge market to St. Catherine's cathedral that is famous for having the relic of St. Catherine's head, and they did a good job of embalming it too. In fact, it is such a good job that it looks like a woman's head with eyes and skin and everything...as if she was just sticking her head out of a box. I think I have deemed relics freakish. We scampered away to the grocery store for proscuitto, cheese, bread, and apples, basically ingredients for the ideal picnic at the Palazzo del Popolo. We come into the palazzo and I scream, "THIS IS IT!" During my Renaissance in Florence class, I think I was dozing off (the professor is terribly boring) and a slide popped up of Siena's Palazzo del Popolo. I remember it because I thought it was a well designed gathering area with a raked curved brick area for people to sit surrounded by beautiful buildings. For some reason I got it in my head that it was the Duomo in Milan. Got to Milan and it wasn't there. OK, Florence maybe. Nope. OK, where is this place? Siena! Had a wonderful birthday picnic while Sierra told me all about the Palio, the huge horse race around the Palazzo every July (getting excited, Sierra?), the history of Siena, and her amazing Italian love story with a Sicilian boy who is going to move to the US for her. (Wow. Way to go Sierra!) Anyway, we went inside and saw gorgeous frescoes devoted to the Siena Council of Nine, or the governing body. Meandered through the winding streets to come out at the Duomo, an amazing jewel box of a building that I like to call the Zebra or Referee Church. Everything is layered white on black stone, so all the columns and the walls are striped. Apparently Siena's flag is a black and white stripe, so the whole building screams the city. And the floors! Oh my, the floors! Beautiful marble inlay of biblical scenes covered the entire floor plane. And it is all under a ceiling of stars in a dark blue sky. Just stunning. Also, Raphael was "discovered" for his talents in a fresco in the library. Ended the day by overlooking the Siena countryside in the Medici fortress, eating birthday gelatto from the best gelatto store in the world, La Kopa Kabana. Tops anything you've ever had, and they give you your money's worth. I was going to splurge for a large, but Sierra said wait to see her medium. It was huge. Biggest medium I have ever seen. I can't even imagine what the large was, but I decided not to get it because I didn't feel like eating a Vermonster's worth of ice cream for a third time. Bacci, chocolate fondant (Nikki, we need to learn how to make this flavor!), and nutella. Unbelievable. Great birthday! Thank you, Sierra!

The next day was Melissa's treat day. Started off by seeing my favorite David, Varecchio's David, at the Bargello. Mom told me it was a must see and she is right, as always. It's a clothed David, and he is only about 2.5 feet tall, but he is exactly what I would picture a David to be. Absolutely beautiful. Almost got kicked out for taking pictures of it, but anything for you, Mom! Donatello's David was about to be cleaned, so it was down on its side in a cradle. You could see it, but it just wasn't the same. But I give a big thumbs up to the Bargello because it is a fabulous museum of sculpture. Best museum in Florence. Before splurging on my birthday gift, I saw some churches: the Orsan Michelle (wedding was going on...), the Badia (which has a beautiful carved wooden ceiling), and the Santa Croche (which is marvellous, even if the apse is being renovated). It houses the beautiful tombs of Gallileo, Dante, and Michelangelo (even though he isn't buried there, I think). Funerary statues are just so beautiful. OK, then it was shopping on the Ponte Vecchio time. So in junior year of high school, Mrs. Cosgrove, my English teacher, told us, "You WILL go to Florence. And you WILL go to the Pontevecchio. And you WILL buy gold." What she didn't tell us was HOW we WILL pay for said gold. My oh my. I said to myself, "Why not?!" and went into every store and tried on very, very expensive gold jewelry that I could never afford. It was really fun, actually. I walked away for a bit to digest what I had seen to rush to my reservation at the Academia, which was not worth it. Michelangelo's David is the UGLIEST statue I've ever seen! It's too big. It's too ugly. And it's too imposing. And it is too bad that it gets all the attention. Don't waste your money. See the fake one outside the Palazzo Vecchio and move on. To get rid of my hatred, I decided to go back and buy something beautiful and ended up with a gorgeous gold rose charm of yellow and pink gold. Happy birthday to me! (Family, thank you very much!) Ate dinner at a place near Santo Spirito and was put at a table with another single traveller, a woman from Germany. Had a great discussion about art and opera and called it a night.

Sorry, these posts are getting longer and longer. One more day in Florence, and I started out at the Uffizi. It's an amazing museum (make reservations way in advance), and there I solidified my love for Botticelli. An entire room of just his paintings, including the Birth of Venus, and they are all just beautiful. Quickly visited the Palazzo Vecchio and then spent way too much money to get into the Pitti Palace. It's a RIP OFF. To get into both the museum and the Boboli gardens, you have to buy both kinds of tickets, thus adding up to 20.50 euro. $30. Definitely not enough there to make it worth it. Luckily for me, there was a special exhibit on set and costume design which was really fabulous. Pictures of models to prove it coming later. Went to dinner near my hostel with Donna, a 64 year old woman from Wisconsin who was staying in the same room as me. When I first met her, she didn't have her teeth in and she said, "Hi! I'm a hick from WI." Yeah, no kidding. But she turned out to be one of the nicest people I've ever met. She had never been out of the country before, but she saved up all her money to do a 3.5 month trip all around the Mediterranean. Wow.

Overall, loved Florence.

Going to skip over my Venice travels until I get load pictures...but I loved it all well! Many more stories to come!

Long time, no post...

2007-06-21T10:25:00.000-07:00

Hello all,

Sorry for the lack of posts in the last week or so, as I have been packing my schedule with things to see and not with hours at internet cafes. But, as it is pouring out, I shall try to catch up as much a possible in a few posts...so here we go...

Last time I left off, I had completed 3 full intinerary days in Rome, so I decided to take a day trip to Pompeii to get out of the city. I fully expected to start off alone, see some ruins, and then come back alone...but this was not to be the case. In fact, I met many interesting people alone the way, including some stone people...but we shall get to that in a second. While I was trying to figure out what train to get on and dealing with unhelpful information people, I meet two sisters who are also going to Pompeii, so we bonded together to figure it all out. After getting on the train and talking to them for awhile, I realize that they have a very different view of how to travel. Beaches and shopping. They were in Rome for about 24 hours and decided that they were bored (they went only to the Campo di Fiori and met some guys there who wanted them to met them in Naples or Sorrento later that day...I was quite confused with their train of thought...but they were done with seeing Rome...), so they wanted to go to Pompeii of all places in Italy for a day before jetting off to Nice and Cannes. No museums...no ancient city...no Vatican...but Pompeii is on their list. Fine, at least they remember 7th grade history class. Anyway, the older one said that they had to cut their travels short because she had to do a photo shoot at a farm in Normandy. OK. She said that she was living in Paris until Fashion Week, when she hoped to find work, and then live in Barcelona. I asked what she did. She models. Oh. Got it. In fact, it became a very interesting and intriguing discussion about the modelling world and the pressures and joys that go along with it. I still don't completely understand it, nor fully appreciate it, but I found out some very interesting things about the life of an aspiring top model. Again, travelling bonds together people who probably would never cross paths in real life.

Anyway, we met 4 guys on the train from MD and join up with them to find the ruins, as there are no signs when one gets off the train in Pompeii to direct one to that part of the city. In fact, when we got off the train, there was no one around and nothing was open. Basically, it was like walking into a ghost town. Did Vesuvius go off again and no one told us? We meander and find our way to the ruins, which are actually really cool. Trying to understand the Forum and the Colisseum might be a stretch of the imagination, but Pompeii is a snapshot of a past time. You walk down streets lined with buildings that still retain their mosaics, frescoes, fountains, structures, and in some cases, their people. I really enjoyed seeing Pompeii, and I would recommend it as a day trip for anyone who ever studied Pompeii back in the day. (Again, pictures are coming, but there seems to be an issue with hooking up the card reader to the computer...eventually they will be posted.) So without pictures, I will retain more comment on the place, but you should go to Pompeii when in Rome.

As we get out of the Forum there, we see fireworks, randomly going off in the middle of the day. When we get out of the ruins, there is traffic everywhere! Horns are honking. Flags are waving. Drunk people are falling out of car windows and off mopeds. Completely insanity! Where'd they all come from. From the flags, we figured out that potentially Napoli had won a football (soccer) match, but this was more intense than when the Red Sox won the pendant! We cheer right along with the crowd all the way back to the train station where we are serenaded by soccer fans singing every Napoli song they know. (Don't worry, Fran, the British still have the best sports chants! Oh, who did eat all the pies?) We finally find out that Napoli had just beat Genoa, a huge rival whom they haven't beaten in years, and thus, they moved from B Class to A Class. Ah ha! So everyone who follows Napoli, which is everyone in the area, was out in the streets in full force cheering and celebrating. Really fun if you ask me! We find out this information from two middle-aged navy guys who start chatting with us. They had just been to the ruins to after being docked at the base in Naples before going home. One of them turned out to be...in their words...the ship's clown. All of a sudden he turns to me and asks, "Do you like teddy bears?" Um, yes... And he pulls out balloons and starts twisting them into a teddy bear with a heart and gives it to me! So random! He then started making them for everyone in the station. His philosophy...the bag of balloons costs me next to nothing, and it keeps me from being bored! The Navy...bringing smiles all over the world one balloon at a time. Amazing.

Unfortunately, when we get on the train in Naples to go to Rome, we have to stand because it is overbooked...kind of annoying, but we met Francesco, Francesco, and Ivan, three random guys who start asking us what we Americans think of Italy, sports, and Italian food. They laughed at us when we said that we've only eaten pasta and pizza the entire time. Ivan was translating between the two groups, and we all ended up laughing the whole way back. So overall, a great day. Met lots of new friends and had a great time!

OK, and for my last trick in Rome...I wandered all over the city to catch all the churches I hadn't seen in the first few days. Started with S. Maria Maggiore, which was just beautiful. Headed down south for S. Giovanni the Lateran...also gorgeous. It was funny because they were setting up for a papal visit that night, so this guy is taping down microphone and video cords to the nice marble and mosaic floor with duct tape... So in this silent church all you can here is the sounds of duct tape being unrolled with a priest looking on questioningly about whether or not the duct tape will ruin the floor. It was really amusing to watch. Duct tape? I guess so. Decided to just relax and walk around some more. Found myself at the Trevi fountain again and sat there for a long time watching the flow of tourists taking pictures, eating gelatto, and throwing money into the fountain (not hitting people in the process...not one hit person). Decided that the fountain was a good way to end my trip to Rome and headed back to the hostel. Hung out with my roommates a bit...two girls from New Orleans (one girl was the sister of a guy from Mather who graduated in 04...anyone know Chadwell Potts, on the sailing team?) and a girl from Australia. Rome is very big and very neat. I highly recommend it...but I also highly recommend getting out of the big cities to the smaller ones...which I will talk about in the next post.

Ciao!

and...

2007-06-12T15:05:00.000-07:00

Happy birthday to me!
Happy birthday to me!
Happy birthday to Melissa!
Happy birthday to me!

Sorry, when one celebrates by oneself, one feels the need to tell the world...or whomever is reading this...

and it says that I posted on the 12th...but it's the 13th here!

When in Rome...

2007-06-11T13:48:00.000-07:00

you do lots of walking...

Oh, Roma! Big city...and I've walked a lot of it. Again, this is going to seem like a list of things because I saw so much in a day. I do have to give a huge thanks to Rowan Dorin for making this part of the trip possible, as it was he who sat me down with pen and paper and told me to dictate his daily intineraries of Rome. Rowan, you never...well, almost never...led me astray. (PS...to get to the Campidoglio from the Capitoline Museums, you don't go back down the stairs and around...you go through the square to the left and down a tiny side street...it's ok, small 20 minute detour...)

OK, so I started my trip in Rome, after getting a good night's sleep from the previous day's train craziness, in the ancient city (might as well go chronologically, right?). Hit the Forum at 9AM when NO tour groups were around, and had the rocks to myself. It amazed me that a civilization such as Rome could be so eternal, and yet temporal at the same time. Standing in the middle of the Forum--THE place to be in ancient Rome--I was looking at complete destruction. You can't even start to imagine what it looked like, I felt. Bunch of overgrown rocks with a few standing columns...and arches...I couldn't picture it the way it must have been. And the same with the Pallatine Hill (though the ruins are a little bigger and more intact), which I went to afterwards. HINT: If you want to go to the Pallatine Hill and the Colosseo, buy your ticket at the booth in the Forum. Do not go to the Pallatine Hill street entrance or the Colosseo line...no need. No lines for me and I went right in to both. After wandering through the Pallatine Hill for a bit, went over to the Colosseo to see what it was all about. Well, not much. I mean, it's huge. (And yes, Dad, traffic is a bit crazy over in that area...) But again, ruins. No seats left. No floor. I took a tour and learned that the whole place was basically pillaged/recycled by the popes to make churches. The reason the travertine walls look like swiss cheese is that they took out the metal pieces holding the marble to the travertine to melt down and make guns and church bells. Interesting. Found out the hard way that the Domus Aurea, what is left of Nero's gigantic mansion complex, is closed for renovation. Backtracked to the Circus Maximus...not worth walking to. There is nothing there. I mean, nothing...just grass. But S. Maria in Cosmedin, a beautiful little church has gorgeous tiled floors, mosaics, and the Bocca della Verita, the Mouth of Truth. It's a huge stone face that you stick your hand in, and supposedly, if you are a liar, you get your hand bit off. Happy to say, I am still two handed. Walked back up to the Capitoline Museums, but I was so tired that I couldn't really register anything there. Saw some cool, probably important statues of Augustus, I think... Ended the rock part of the day with Trajan's Column and Market. All very impressive, just tough to visualize it all. Decided to pep up a bit with some gelatto that both Let's Go and the NY Times raved about, the gelatto of San Crispino. It is very good. Took a trip to the Trevi fountain. (Now I understand, Mom.) It's AMAZING! I love it! So powerful. Decided to splurge on a restaurant near the Trevi for some good pasta and bruchetta. Good stuff. Saw the Fountain of Triton and the 4 Fountains. The day of rocks and water. Overall, a good day.

Next day, I woke up at the crack of dawn to get to the Vatican Museums. Rowan advised me to be there at 7AM, and I clocked in at 7:03. 90 or more people had clocked in even before me! You know what...you can't win against those people. As I was naively in line, thinking I would be getting in close to 9, someone said...oh no, we get in at 10. The tour groups get in at 8. What? Yeah...3 HOURS in line waiting for it to open. Granted, even by 8 the line was so far down the street that the people were probably IN the Vatican's piazza, but it was just so long. Passed the time talking to a couple from south of London and a lady from South Africa. Once the doors opened, we got right in, but I chose not to rush through and try to get to the Sistine Chapel first. You know what, nothing was crowded. Tourists go straight for the big pieces, and for la Sistina, but the rest of the museum was wide open for me to peruse. Saw some amazing stuff. The big gems are also very cool as well. But the Raffael Rooms and La Sistina were the best. The School of Athens is just amazing. And well, the Sistine Chapel ceiling...worth every minute in line. It was amazing! So breathtaking that they insure that silence is kept. I like that. Shut the tour guides up for a bit, I say. Anyway, left the museum and laughed at the people still in line as I went to St. Peter's Basilica. WOW. It's just so big and great. Too bad an axe wielding fiend cut off Mary's nose and Christ's hand so now the Pieta is behind glass. It is really beautiful. And what I liked most about it all was the chair and surrounding statue. Bernini really did it right. One would think that the Vatican would have a 30' gilded gold crucifix, perhaps with neon lights saying, WE ARE THE VATICAN. But no. There is no cross in the entire statue. Just the dove...a strong symbol nonetheless, but much less hitting you over the head than a cross, to me at least. It was quite glorious I would say. Another must when at the Vatican is walking up all 551 steps to the top of the dome. (I didn't have enough cash on me to take the lift...but it's better to walk anyway.) Beautiful views from up there! A short storm was coming in, and you could just see the clouds rolling in over Rome. Decided to try to get out of the rain by going to Castel Sant'Angelo, Hadrian's fortress, which is very interesting, but not nearly as cool as the Vatican. Trekked quite a long way to get to a place Let's Go recommended, but it had really good pasta. Well worth the walk.

The third day was supposed to be Big Church Day, but instead I spent most of the day going up and down the river. Started at the Piazza del Poppolo...saw the chapels and the church and the set up of the anti-war protest (did I mention that Bush is in town...). Decided to quickly move to the beautiful Borghese park to stroll amongst the trees, a copy of the Globe Theater, and the Galleria Borghese, a must-see, says all the guide books, but a can't see unless you get your tickets 4 days in advance. Be warned. Walked over to the Spanish Steps...yep, they are there...don't walk up them, no need, and then down to the ruins of the Mausoleo of Augustus and a new glass building by Richard Meier to house the ancient Ara Pacis, a large altar that I did my 7th grade Latin project on. It was really weird to walk up to it and remember all the research I did for that project. I drew up plans of each facade and everything. I think that might have been one of my middle school all nighters even. Oh, good times back at South... Anyway, recharged with gelatto at the Piazza Navona and sat with my feet in a fountain. Walked passed Campo de Fiore and over the bridge to Trastevere, a wonderful area to walk around. Stopped first at S. Maria in Trastevere, a gorgeous church with mosaics, and then walked down to San Francisco dell Ripa, another beautiful church, but not on the regular map. So the friars were going about their regular business and conducting a dress rehearsal for first communion. The little kids were just staring at me as I walked around. Saw a beautiful Bernini statue, checked the clock, and ran back to the Pantheon to make 5PM Mass. OK, so you are wondering, why would the Jew want to catch Mass, ever? Again, a brilliant Rowan tip! Go see a church during Mass! Firstly, you get to see the space as it is intended to be used. Secondly, they clear out all the tour groups who can't get enough of their tour guides annoying voice. Thirdly, you sit there and they sing to you in pretty languages. How can you go wrong? I got there as they were clearing everyone out and closing the doors. I ran up to some guy and said I wanted to go to Mass and he ushered me right in with a smile. Just had to stand and sit when I was told...no kneeling in this Mass oddly enough...and smile and shake hands with people who I think were saying, "Peace be with you." Not sure completely of what happens in a Mass, but I know a lot of it. Anyway, the priest was a very energetic guy. Couldn't understand a single word, but he was very emphatic on whatever topic he was talking about. Then another priest sang in a gorgeous voice. All the while, I'm just staring around the Pantheon, watching the circle of light get higher across the dome, and thinking, "Does anyone get bird pooped on through the hole in the ceiling?" I do wonder. And the building itself is wonderous...how did they do that ceiling? Amazing. I will say that the church doesn't really fit into the original structure, but who am I to judge such things? Ate overlooking the Pantheon in a lovely outdoor cafe and called it a day.

And I'm going to call this a post and get off the computer. I do promise to post more pics as soon as I can get to a place that allows me to plug in my camera card.

PS

2007-06-07T12:57:00.000-07:00

Mazel Tov to all the Harvard grads and all of the classes of 2007! I just know that Harvard seems to be the latest graduation, so I would cover all my bases at once.

Welcome to the real world! Well, I can't say that I spent the last year in the real world, but from the little bit I saw, it's great! Enjoy!

All Roads Lead to Rome...Right???

2007-06-07T12:35:00.000-07:00

Well yesterday was a blast and a half. In case you believe in the above statement that all roads lead to Rome...you would be somewhat wrong. There are 2 train lines that go to Rome. One along the coast through Pisa, and one on the interior of the country that goes through Florence.

I started out the day with the lofty intentions of going to Pisa for a few hours, just to see if the tower really leans, and then head on to Rome. Got up early to catch my first leg of the trip to Genova at 9AM, where I would change for the train to Rome. Well, the set of tickets I had had me getting into Genova 15 minutes before my train to Pisa. With Italian trains, this is never a good thing. We were 30 minutes late, so I missed the train to Pisa. Got in line...got another ticket. Fine, whatever, two more hours, same route, just instead of 4 hours in Pisa, I had 2. Fine, how long does it really take to prove that it leans, right?

Waiting for the train at 12:52...12:52 comes along and they say the train is sopresso. I had no clue what that meant, and some women were trying to get across a concept, but I had no clue. I thought it meant delayed. It doesn't. It means cancelled. I get back in line...fine, get a ticket for 2:52 to Pisa, take the one later train to Rome (it's the same train line, so I would just be catching the next train coming through)...1:30 comes along...sopresso. Again?! OK, 4th attempt to get where I need to go...getting a little concerned as I would like to get to Rome. Get up to the ticket window, again, and they said...no ticket because we don't know when the train is coming, if it is coming. What. There was an accident. An accident. Yeah, in a place where there are only 2 lines. There are only 2 lines for one of the most major pathways from northern to southern Italy? Two trains collided and both lines are shut down. Oh really... People are getting angry now. Meet Chris (character: Chris, a master's grad student in International Relations, works on the Hill for a senator, is from Miami, has been on a train for 6 hours already coming from Nice) who is ripped about the situation, but we decide that with our powers combined, we could find a way to Rome...even if he had to drive.

Anyway, we are on the platform waiting for the next train, hoping it will come in 2 hours, and I'm just trying to be patient and naively think that the train will come and all will be well. Chris is getting pretty angry and eventually says, "I'm impatient...we are getting on the train to Milan and taking the other route to Rome." Back to Milan? Well, it was my only choice at the moment, and he was going to drag me onto the train, so we seek out a train conductor, ask if that is a viable option, and he says, get on this train to Milan, but get off in Voghera. Voghera...what? Where?

Apparently, they made announcements saying for people on the sopresso train to Rome should go to Voghera and there would be a train waiting for us at Voghera. Fine. But apparently no one told the train in Voghera this and it left before we got there. OK, so now we are stuck in Voghera, Italy. Again, where? Luckily, there were enough Italians screaming at a station officer that we figured this was the group we should join. We approached the angry crowd, having no clue what they were saying, and met Alessandra, who Chris dubbed "Mom" for the night. She spoke fluent English and she said, "Follow me. We will get to Rome." Great. After the train system tells us there is nothing they can do for us, they advise us to get on a train to Milan and go from there... The group, now livid (I have no clue, so I just keep on smiling) gets on the next train to Milan and we arrived at 6PM, 9 hours later than when I left, back in Milano Centrale. OK.

Next hurdle, getting on the train to Rome without reservations. Chris is freaking out because apparently in Spain, he and some other guys were left off in the middle of nowhere for not having the correct reservations with their eurail passes and had to walk over 20 miles they found out to a town. Um, ok. And if this train to Rome goes well, we get in late to Termini, not the best station in the world to walk around. Not good odds, but I thought...just get me to Rome.

The group fights with a train officer in Italian...Chris and I hover near the back and listen to the fighting. It's not looking good, when all of a sudden Mom tells us to just get on the train...they can't kick us all off. Reassuring, Mom. But we get on a train, supposedly to Rome, getting in at a somewhat decent hour...we are happy.

After some really good discussion about state versus nation, the term democracy, and the intricacies of Italian and American politics, along with some chats about children's literature and education, we make it to Rome. Now, the train hasn't stopped for long periods of time or anything, but we are 35 minutes late...now after 11PM at night. (I got to hostel just fine...there were lots of people around.)

But 9AM-11PM trying to get to a city that all roads supposedly lead to...oi vey.

Milano!

2007-06-05T11:24:00.001-07:00

So again, with train schedules, I had two nights in Milan, and one full day. With tips from Gloria, my friend and TF from school who is from Milan, and Rowan, another friend from school who has spent lots of time in and studying Italy, I had a very full day planned. This is going to seem like a list of things, because it is. I walked for a good 12-13 hours straight today...my feet are definitely feeling it...and so it my brain. Lots to absorb.

Started off bright and early at the Brera, a museum Gloria absolutely loves, and has some real gems in the collection. I figured out what they were from a Chinese tourist group who was ushered from one gem to the next with no time to look around in between. Funny how tour groups work. Can't imagine just travelling on a tour. I can understand a day tour, so you get context and history, but then having time to go back and really study what you want to see. Didn't seem like that kind of tour. Maybe that's why John Harvard is so popular...how did it get on all those tour lists...like Plimouth Rock. Anyway...that's a completely different can of worms...

Then went down the street to the Teatro alla Scala, the famous opera house, which is also gorgeous! Every theater I have visited, the techies have been working...I miss tech already. I'll have to definitely keep in touch with it...either design, or even just a crew for awhile, moving stuff around. I wouldn't mind. OK, without getting too nostalgic and back on track, saw the museum there which was really cool, too. From there, walked through the 3 storey arcade of the Galleria Emannuele II to the Duomo. Wow. I didn't know what to expect, and then there it is! They are doing work on the lower front, but walking around it, it was gorgeous! All white and decorated. Beautiful. Went inside...gigantic! Walked around for a long time, and then tried to take the stairs up to the roof...but the stairs were "closed," so I had to take the lift. I felt like I was cheating the system, but I guess now my feet are thanking me for it. The roof is really designed for people to walk around it. It's a very cool space to be in. Great views of the city too! Walked down the stairs because they were now open...not the same...but will have to do. Went to the Pinacoteca Ambrosiana, which has the prep drawings for Raphael's School of Athens...again, HUGE. Can't wait to see the real thing. Had an interesting half English half Italian discussion with a guard about art...a little difficult you can imagine. Heading up to the Castello Sforzesco, another MASSIVE building that houses 10 museums. Hit about 3 of them and decided to move on to the Basilica di Sant'Ambrogio, a favorite of both Rowan and Gloria. And it is gorgeous! (I know, it's a favorite word...along with huge...but that seems to be the trend in the places I'm going.) Anyway, Rowan, I saw your red haired Jesus. I even risked taking a picture. I'll post it for you at some point. From there, Gloria instructed me to walk down to the Navigli, a district of old canals and cheap eats. Had some pizza (glad to get Italian food!) and a cannoli.

Spending the night relaxing in the internet cafe across from my hotel to post pics, finally, and update the blog, hence the 3 posts in a few hours. Headed off tomorrow for Pisa for a few hours and then on to Rome! Ciao!

Bonjour and au revoir!

2007-06-05T11:02:00.000-07:00

Decided to stay one night in Southern France, so I chose the town of Avignon. Got into the city at 4PM or so, so I had about 6 hours before I had to go to bed to catch an early train to Milan. I get off the train, and the directions tell me to go through the ramparts...yes, ramparts. I get out of the station, and sure enough, there are HUGE ramparts surrounding this town. So medieval. I love it.

Wait first...train stories. At the last minute, I realized I hadn't sent some postcards, and I needed to send them while the stamps were still good in Spain...ran off the train and down the platform to find a mailbox. Couldn't find one, but found two other women running around crazy trying to find the same thing! We ran outside, down the street, found a box, ran back, and caught the train, just as the doors were closing. Close call...might have been left in Barcelona with my bags going to Avignon...

Ok, back to Avignon. Went straight from the hotel to the Popes' Palace, the really only attraction in Avignon. Built in the 14th century, the Palace was home to many popes before Rome became the huge Papal residence that we know of it today. The Palace in Avignon is empty for the most part, due to the move to Rome and also many fires. But it was really cool to see such a building empty because you can really appreciate just how big and cavernous the structure is. I mean, it's massive. Gawking my way through, I made it to the ramparts on top for GORGEOUS views of the countryside. You could see other castles and towers dotting the forest. Exactly what I imagined medieval Europe to look like. So cool. (My medievalist friends will probably find something wrong with this statement...I apologize, Rowan.)

They had to usher me out at closing, and then I wandered through a nice garden with more great views for awhile. Checked my Let's Go book on what else to do in Avignon and they said that the town is famous for its bridge. Apparently there is a famous children's song about the Avignon bridge...I don't it. Anyone? I got a postcard with the song on it, but I have never heard of it before. Well, saw the bridge, or what is left of it, and wandered around the streets for awhile, checking out more ramparts and such until I got back to the carousel (it was a two-tiered carousel...I was tempted to go on it, but I feared people would think of me as sketchy), so I went to a restaurant right out on the main drag and ate a GREAT meal outside. Sat for awhile over my chocolate mousse to take it all in. I'll have to come back and spend more time in Southern France. I think I will be hitting Lyon and Dijon at the end of the trip for sure, but I don't know if I'll make it this far down again on this journey. Au revoir!

(Oh yeah, I don't speak French. I know about 10 words, and the waiter spoke to me only in French because he was convinced I was French, even though I asked him if he spoke English and he did. Of the ten words I know in French, three of them are for one, two, three...helpful for taking tourist's pictures. I just can't understand a language that can have 12 letters in one word, and the word is a single syllable.)

"Where ya goin?" "Barcelona."

2007-06-05T10:10:00.000-07:00

Took the overnight train to my first architectural mecca, Barcelona. (Let me tell you that the night train was no fun, as I was sitting in a very small seat that did not recline for 12 hours. I slept regardless, but if you are thinking about it...maybe not.) Anyway, in my exhausted daze, I could not for the life of me figure out why I could not understand the people speaking in Barcelona or the signs around. Later I was reminded that they speak Catalan in Barcelona...very much like French I was told because that area of Spain was under Charlemagne way back in the day. Ah well, close enough.
For the first day, I wandered up Las Ramblas to the info center to book a walking tour and then stumbled back to a metro stop to meet up with Laurel, one of the girls from Granada, and we decided to do a non-thinking trip to Mont Juc, a nearby hill, called the Mountain of the Jews, which was considered a place of political and military power over the years. Franco used the fort at the top as a questioning and holding place. Took the funicular and air tram to the top (nice views of the city and the beach!) and wandered our way down to the Olympic stadium and museum. If you are into the Olympics, this museum is awesome, and no one knows about it. It was designed in a great way, leading you through a timeline of the Olympics and its sports to a main area where you could see movies, peruse pictures, and do all sorts of interactives games. The stadium looked very tiny, but it held the 1992 Olympic Games, so it must be huge. I vaguely remember this games, but I know it most from the opening ceremonies when the archer took a flaming arrow and lit the torch a few hundred feet above him. Saw the torch tower...an amazing feat. Wandered to a huge castle looking thing which we found out was the Museum of Catalan Art...also amazing! It was a very comprehensive look at Catalan art and traditions through the years. Hidden jewels, I tell you. Ate at the Hard Rock Cafe...again, a situation where they keep the same number for their prices, just not the same monetary sign.

Got up the next day early for a tour of the Barri Gotic, the Gothic district, and oldest distric in Barcelona. It was a great tour of the area with a lot of history from when the Romans were around and all the different monarch families. Our tour guide ended at a shop and told us to order orxata, which I had never heard of. It's a drink from a nut from around the Barcelona area...kind of like a coconut, I would guess. It's a milky drink that tastes SO good. If you are ever in the area, or see it in an international food store, try it! I'm hooked. Met up with Laurel again, who had seen the Picasso Museum (I don't like Picasso, so I didn't go...) to start on my Gaudi pilgrimage. Started off with the Casa Batllo (yes, pictures are coming), and discovered another house, next to it, designed by one of Gaudi's contemporaries, Lluis Domenech i Montaner, who seemed like a guy I should know. Turns out he designed what is now my favorite building in the world...read on to find out what! La Casa Batllo is just stunning! I love what Gaudi did with the living spaces and the glass and the curves. Headed on to the Casa Mila, or the Pedrera, which is an apartment complex. Very good museum on the top floor of Gaudi's work. Then we walked over to the Sagrada Familia, Gaudi's "crowning" work. Laurel didn't want to pay to go in, but I decided to, so we parted ways, and I went to discover what this building, which is STILL in construction, is really all about. It was really interesting to see it in construction, because you usually only get to see buildings and masterpieces finished. To see it in progress was a great experience because some of it is totally done and other parts are still open to the sky. It's massive and filled to the brim with decoration. Not quite sure what I think of it yet...maybe a little too much...but I think I would like to go back when it's done for a final judgement. Walked around its towers for a bit and then decided to head back to work out some future travel things.
The next day was a packed day of sight seeing, started at a beautiful cathedral, the Cathedral of Santa Maria del Mar, which is in the Barri Gotic, but not as famous as the main Cathedral. Of course, I then visited the Cathedral, which is gorgeous inside, but is being renovated on the outside. Decided that I would spend the day walking around Gaudi's Park Guell, which I am going to say is a huge disappointment. There isn't much there...the main patio area with the famous park bench is of dirt with nothing around. The cave-like walkways are cool, but they only lead a very short way. The lizard, which is like an icon of Gaudi, is tiny, and the museum is not that great. All in all...got out very early, so I decided to go by the Casa Vincens, another of Gaudi's works, and the Dragon gate, another icon that everyone knows. I couldn't get into the Casa V, but I took the metro out to the middle of nowhere to get to the Dragon Gate, which is in front of Palau Guell. No one was around. I didn't see one tourist or even one person recognize that the gate was there, and it's AWESOME! So the Dragon and I became friends for 15 minutes...we took pictures together...growled together...you know, best friend things. I think it was my favorite Gaudi piece in all of Barcelona. Ended my day there.
The next day is what I call "theater" day. Started off with a tour of the Theater Liceu, the second largest opera house in Europe next to the one in Paris. It's absolutely gorgeous. The auditorium has been plagued with fires, so nothing is original, but it is still beautiful. And the stage...it's huge. I mean...huge. I would love to design for a theater like that...On the tour, they took us into the Circle Club, which is a very private club off the Hall of Mirrors, which has the most gorgeous paintings I've ever seen. Very Toulouse Lautrec, but not him. I'll have to figure out the name. And the modernissme detailing of the rooms were beautiful. Headed to my next theater, the Palau de la Musica Catalana...this is my new favorite building in the world. Designed by Lluis from before, it's a garden of music with flower details everywhere, pink glass to filter the light, ceramic muses of music rising out of their mosaic skirts wall behind the stage, the most breath-taking procsenium arch with pastoral, classical, and modern music depicted in a forest scene, Beethoven's head between columns, and the ride of the Valkaries, and to top it all off, a stained glass sun with angels at the top. Sounds over-done, and many people think so, but it's just so breath-taking that I fell in love with it straight away. Decided to go back that night for a concert to see how the accoustics are...they are great. It was a concert of a Weber piece, Schumann's Cello Conerto with a great soloist!, and Brahams 4. Beautiful concert, beautiful concert hall. If you go to Barcelona...GO HERE! If you couldn't tell by now, I'm a lover of art noveau, called in Barcelona, the modernissme movement. Everything I saw from this movement in Barcelona was gorgeous...I will have to research it much more. Yeah.
The Palau was my last thing in Barcelona, and what an ending it was!

Heading off to France...for a night...

¡Hola a todos! Sevilla and Granada

2007-06-01T15:52:00.000-07:00

If you ever come to Spain, skip Madrid and come straight to Sevilla. Maybe I´m just a smaller town girl (who is moving to NYC...), but Sevilla had all the spice and color of Spanish culture. From the minute I started getting lost in its streets, Sevilla had me hooked! Walking around felt so comfortable and calm, I just wanted to absorb it all in. The architecture is a true mix of all sorts of cultures, from the days when the Jews, the Muslims, and the Christians all lived together in peace. And palm trees everywhere. (Yes, pictures coming later...hostel computers don´t like you to hook up cameras to them, so I have to wait for internet cafes.) Headed straight for the Alcazár, the palace, which has been my favorite thing I have seen on the trip thus far. It´s absolutely beautiful. My pictures certainly don´t do the detailing justice (the light was pretty bad), but such meticulous work went into tiling and carving every surface and ceiling. And the gardens are just breath-taking. I felt like a mix between Jasmine in her palace and Alice in Wonderland. Lemon, lime, and orange trees abound. I journeyed through mazes, rose gardens, flocks of peacocks, fountains...it was all just so beautiful. There are no words. I felt again like I should have been in a big dress, strolling the grounds with friends. Go to Sevilla to the Alcazár. Took in more of the night life by sitting at a cafe and watching the world go by...in the only day of rain that Sevilla sees per year. Sigh. Can´t always be perfect.

The next day, however, was perfect for seeing more gardens and parks. Started at the Casa de los Pilatos, a beautiful mansion with similar detailing as the Alcazár, and then worked my way through the maze of streets to the series of parks and structures just north of the Alcazár. Just a word of warning...if a lady approaches you trying to give you a sprig of greenery, run away. At the Plaza de España, one of these ladies approached me, and as usual, I said no gracias and tried to walk away, but she grabbed me by the arm and told me to take it...so I did. I tried to get away, but she started reading both my palms, saying all of this generic positive stuff. When she finished, she demanded 5€ per hand. I said I didn´t have any money, but she started pawing at my bag, so I took out the first two coins and ran away. Unfortunately, I think she made off with 1,50€, but I learned my lesson. After that ordeal, I visited the Cathedral, which is just amazing. The walk up to the top of the turret is a series of 36 ramps...and all you actors can´t complain, because these rakes were way steeper than anything I´ve ever built, and it´s code... Anyway, at the top there were beautiful views of the city and a short bell concert. Another highlight of the Cathedral is the tomb of Christopher Columbus. He´s in a marble coffin held by twice life sized marble pallbearers. It´s stunning. Walked around a bit more, and then it was adios a Sevilla!

Arrived at the Funky Backpacker´s Hostel in Granada and wasn´t sure what to expect. Decided the day would be best spent seeing everything other than the Alhambra, so I set out to see the Cathedral and the Royal Chapel (both ok), and walked around steep and narrow paths of the Moorish Albacin, or the Moorish quarter to get great views of the Alhambra and the Sierra Nevada. My first views of snow topped mountains! A woman at the hostel said she was trekking up there and the snow was knee deep. But the real fun started when I got back to the hostel and met the greatest group of people at our roof-top lounge. (Cast of characters, some of whom will show up later: Sierra (a student at Brandeis studying at Sienna for a year), Jake (from California, a roommate and a linguistics grad student), Dagan (a windsurfer who spent the last 6 months in Tarifa enjoying sea and wind), Jackson (an artist and student studying in France), Jon (a seasoned traveller from the Peace Corps), and Laurel and Rachel (from Vancouver)). Dagan led the way to a great tapas place where we stuffed ourselves full of jamón, manchego cheese, chicken croquettes, and other wonderful food items for very, very cheap. Bonded with Sierra over the fact that we are both theater nerds. I suggested meeting up early for the queuing at the Alhambra in the morning for tickets (they sell out MONTHS in advance, but release 2,000 tickets every morning, so just go early). Met another Jake (Virginia Jake) at the computers and recruited him for the morning meeting as well.

Woke up at the crack of dawn, ate nutella on bread (the Europeans really know how to do breakfast), and ushered our group out of the hostel and up a steep hill (I don´t know if I´ll forgive you guys for that one!) to our line. Got into the Nazrid Palaces right away (which is the main living quarters of the Nazrid kings) and revealed in the beauty that is the Alhambra. The pools, the fountains, the detailing...amazing. No wonder this place is up for the new 7 wonders of the world. (Check out this website...www.new7wonders.com. There´s voting for a new 7 wonders of the world. Not sure which 7 I´ll vote for. It´s comparing apples and oranges it seems...) Wandered around more gardens, the fortresses, the palace of Charles V, the generalife gardens, and much more. It just keeps going! Definitely worth the trip to Granada! And stunning 360 views of the countryside. (There was an Australian photographer at our hostel that was setting up for hours for the perfect shot of the Sierra Nevadas. Apparently he spent two full days at Stonehenge waiting for tourists to clear or go behind stones before he could get his shot...I feel like such an amateur.)

Went with the group to tapas again. It´s a great system...order a drink, get free food with it...even if you only order a Coca-Cola Lite! And who walks in...but Sinhead from Madrid! I had been trying to reach her, but she didn´t have credit on her phone. Found out that she was on the same coach as me on my overnight train to Barcelona. Was going to upload pics at an internet cafe, but the Jakes convinced me to come back to the hostel until my train. It was nice to just sit and talk for hours, eating paella and enjoying our gorgeous views. Siesta is definitely a genius idea. I was sad to leave the group, but Laurel, two other guys, and Sinhead were all on the train, and VA Jake was soon to follow us. I think I like this hostelling thing. Meeting random people is really a great way to travel!

PS-Overnight trains in seats are not comfortable. I probably won´t learn, and I´ll do it again, but perhaps I should pay for the bed...

Sevilla

Granada (not finished, can't find a good connection yet)

Pictures!

2007-05-27T10:30:00.001-07:00

So I realized that I´ve been loading the pictures to the site in the order that I wanted them to be viewed, which is the opposite order of how they are viewed. So, to follow the narratives, begin at the end and go on to the beginning. (Then stop. Half of you should be able to name where that sort of comes from.)

Also, I´ve realized that I take lots of pictures of details, doorways, tiled floors, building facades, decorative ceilings, and stone work. And there will be only be more where that comes from.

¡Abrazos!

London

Madrid (all up!)

¡Hola! España 1

2007-05-27T10:30:00.000-07:00

¡Hola a todos!

Estoy en Sevilla, España ahora y mañana, iré a Granada para ver la Alhambra. OK, so my Spanish, I have learned, is passable (I can ask questions, order at restaurants, and have broken conversations), but it is not what it should be. ¡Lo siento a mis professores! I really should have brushed up my Spanish before I left, but I do what I can. So I flew from London Gatwick to Madrid and made my way to my hostel, a converted 18th century mansion. Quite nice...again, pictures coming soon. Using my survival skills, I immediately befriended some people in the room and went along for dinner. That´s right, when food is involved, do all you can. Anyway, they were very nice and we had a very nice tapas dinner.

The next day was the art day. Woke up and the girl sleeping in the bunk below me said that she´d like to come along to the art museums (character: Sinead, a nurse from Australia who is travelling for a few months in Europe before settling down in Cork, Ireland). We headed first to the Prado, a huge museum that had a great collection of 15th-18th century paintings with plenty of Goya, El Greco, and all of the Spanish giants. In the middle of it all was a great exhibit on Tintoretto. And Sinead discovered her love of late 15th century Flemish painting. Interesting love to find, but good that she found it all the same. I found that I already tire of Madonna and Child...but I guess I´m in that for the long haul. After using my limited Spanish to buy lunch, we headed back into art at the Thyssen-Bornomesza Museum, a private collection across from the Prado, and in my mind, better. I was suprised that it was so comprehensive with many of the huge names from all eras of art, just not the most famous pieces. Found some amazing Whistlers, Homers, Lautrecs, and others whom I love. It´s always great to the turn the corner and discover a piece right in front of you that you´ve seen only in books. When we looked at the time, we found that we had been trekking through art museums for about nine and a half hours, so we decided to call it quits on the day and head back to the hostel. There, we met a new roommate, Emily (character: Emily, student at University of Washington who just finished a semester studying in Sevilla) whom we convinced to come out with us, even in the cold rain, to the Plaza Mayor. I really wanted to sit outside and people watch, but people don´t tend to go out in the rain, nor do they go out before midnight. So, we ate churros and chocolate alone, but chatted a lot about travel and where we´ve all come from. We called it an "early" night...for Madrid at least...

Having had the inclination of doing all three art museums in one day, I had to go to the last of the three, the Reina Sofia, the next morning. Emily, who successfully did all three in less than a full day, decided to start her art tour with me. We bonded over the fact that we hate bad knock-offs of Picasso and blank canvases; both were quite in abundance at this museum. Back story...I´ve been known to scream at pieces such as "Duct Tape on Floor #2" and "Blue Canvas, the Smaller" and other garbage that masks itself as brilliant art of the 20th and 21st century. Anyways, Blue Canvas is a piece by Ives Klein at the Tate Modern in London. The Tate said in its description of the piece that it was so grateful to be able to obtain such a work since Klein only did 36 objects dipped in his special blue paint. Well, Tate Modern, the Reina Sofia was lucky enough to have not only one Blue Canvas, but 3 pieces from this blue collection! THREE! They have Blue Canvas, probably the Bigger, a curved piece of concrete, and my personal favorite, a fuzzy, velvetly, small Winged Victory which I think used to be one of those penny banks you can buy at the Dollar Store. AND...wait, there´s more...they have a PINK canvas...AND a MUSTARD YELLOW canvas. This is a Klein lover´s mecca! And my hell. Anyway, the museum does have it´s high points such as some important Dalis which I love and Picasso´s "Guernica." I don´t tend to like Picasso, but "Guernica" is very impressive. It´s huge! After ranting about contemporary art for awhile, we parted and I headed to the Palacio Real (the Royal Palace) in the pouring rain. As I walked along the side of the Palace to get to the entrance, a guard inside was laughing at me...there was no one around...I had no umbrella...and the streets were flooding. Regardless, the Palace is a must see if you are in Madrid! It´s gorgeous. The outside looks nice and all, but when touring inside, you go through one jaw-droppingly gorgeous room to a more jaw-droppingly gorgeous room. Every surface is covered in either an opulent tapestry, silk fabric, intricate stucco designs, or Tribaldi fresco masterpieces. You start in a smaller ballroom, go into a stunning throne room, through a breakfast room (which was the nicest room in a mansion I´ve ever seen) to passing rooms that would be gems if by themselves to a huge ballroom that is just to die for...to the cherry on top...the chapel. I´ve never seen a more beautiful place. Everyone gasped. I stayed behind to sketch a bit and take it all in again because it was just so beautiful.

Just one word of advice and warning...don´t be that American tourist. I was on an English tour with 10 other Americans who were angry that the woman didn´t speak perfect English. They made her repeat herself 3 or 4 times, and after every room said to each other, "Can you understand her? I can´t understand a word. Why can´t these people speak English?" Oh, I don´t know...because you are in SPAIN and they speak SPANISH in SPAIN. Sigh. Just don´t be that tourist.

OK, moving on. Ran over in the rain to the Cathedral next door...it was ok...and then took advantage of a lull in the weather to visit the gardens, also ok, and Sol, the city center. It´s just a city center. No big deal. Had a wonderful tapas dinner with Sinead and Emily at a funky and crowded tapas bar.

Sinead was moving on the next morning to Granada, and Emily wanted to go to El Escorial, the palace-monestary about an hour outside of Madrid. I decided to take the day trip, since the weather was finally decent. It was really nice to get out of the city for a bit and see the countryside. El Escorial is huge, and the monarchy doesn´t hold back on anything...even the religious and austere Felipe II. The grounds and the views were a stunning background to a beautiful palace. Came back to Madrid, still in good weather, and strolled through the Buen Retiro, the really big park. I love parks...they are so relaxing. You walk along paths and come to big clearings with huge fountains or monuments every once and awhile. Quite nice. The highlight of the Buen Retiro is the Crystal Palace, a large empty structure made of glass. Absolutely beautiful. (Again, pictures coming.) Got back to the hostel to a new room with new roommates who were great (Jordan, from MN, Kristy and Sarah from New Zealand). Hung out in the cave/common area/internet cafe/bar downstairs in the hostel for a Flamenco show. The dancer was great when she finally started, but before that it was just the guitar players and the singer, who literally sounded like a dying cat. Everyone agreed.

Overall, a great time in Madrid, but I will say that now that I have something to compare it to, I would skip Madrid and come straight to Sevilla...but that will have to wait until a next chapter.

Cheers! London.

2007-05-23T14:27:00.000-07:00

Hello to all!

I apologize for all of you readers who have been just dying waiting for my next chapter! And I apologize that pictures do not accompany this part, as I can't plug my camera into the hostel's computer to load pictures...so they will come later.

When I left off, I was going to London to visit my good friend, Sammi (main character of this part of the trip...fellow Gilbert and Sullivan Board member), who was studying this past semester as the University College of London. Turns out, when we walked to her dorm and it was Astor College, where I had stayed only a few summers ago when I was thesis researching! I also lived on the 3rd floor, just a few doors down. Sadly I found out that I was ripped off when I was there, as all the rooms are big singles, except for two rooms on the floor...mine being one of them. Sigh, ah well. Sammi's was very nice and I crashed upon arrival.

The next day we made a list of things we both wanted to do and see, and a big to-do was tea. I love high tea, and Sammi suggested The Orangery, a gorgeous place adjacent to Kensington Palace in Hyde Park. First, a must stop for lunch was Pret. (I miss Pret...and the one in NYC is just not the same.) Then we met up with Katie and Kim, her friends from UCL, and headed to the Park. It was so gorgeous and relaxing, meandering through the trees and such. We acted very touristy at Albert's memorial, but who couldn't resist taking pictures of it! (I know, I'm tempting you all with pictures that do exist.) Tea at The Orangery, if anyone is in London, is a must. It was so good (and fairly cheap for tea)...a huge spread of goodies met us at the door. Tea consisted of a pot of tea, cucumber and cream cheese sandwiches, a huge scone with clotted cream, tea cakes, and a huge slice of citrus cake. Way too good. And way British...or tourity British. I toured Kensington Palace to walk it all off, and I will say I was a bit disappointed. After Princess Margaret died, the royal family cleared the mansion, so most of the rooms are empty. However, the trompe loeil painting on the ceilings and walls were amazing! I gazed upward the whole time. It was designed by William Kent, an artist I must research further. Also interesting was how the royal family was portrayed. All the information about them is so...censored, I guess is the term. Go to the royal family's website. You'll get the idea. Later, we went to Covent Garden to meet up with her friend for food and hot chocolate.

Next day we decided to hit up the Globe, since I really wanted to go back and Sammi had never been. If you´ve never been, go! It´s such a unique way to see Shakespeare, and I think the most interesting. And if you go, stand in the Yard. Be a Groundling. Don´t pay the money to sit. The actors interact with the Groundlings and thus, the show is so much more enjoyable. I mean they fight right over you...spit on you...enter through the crowd, fly over you, etc. It´s just amazing. We saw "Othello," and the acting was just spectacular. It was great getting back to the Globe again. (When I studied in London two summers ago, I went a lot to see shows.) And because I have my Groundling routine down, I made Sammi get there an hour early to queue up for the doors to the doors of the Globe to open. At 45 minutes out, they open said doors and you run and queue at the theater doors. At 30 minutes out or so, they open the doors and it´s like the Filene´s Basement wedding dress sale. You run...trip people if you have to...and stampede your way front and center. That´s the way to properly do the Globe. Thank you, Sammi, for putting up with me! But I think it was worth it. All of the intense scenes were played right over us. It was so cool. The best part was when a pigeon flew in between Iago and Othello during a really intense dialogue, started strutting the stage, and cooing. Iago got to the line, "that cuckold lives in bliss," and everyone just started laughing hysterically. He bowed to the pigeon and it flew cooed and flew away. After being in awe of the Globe for awhile, we headed back to Astor to cook for a potluck dinner with some of Sammi´s friends. It was really fun to meet everyone, and I threw together a quick chocolate trifle using Swiss cake rolls, custard, and Cadbury Crunchies...chocolate covered honeycombs...turned out well. It translates to every culture.

The next day, Sammi headed to the Tower while I took a tour of the Tower Bridge (nice views) and the Design Museum. The Design Museum is much smaller than the Cooper Hewitt in New York, but they had some interesting exhibits on Colani and Sottsass. But the highlight was going back to the Globe. I think it´s my favorite place to visit in London...I bought myself a ticket to "In Extremis," a new play about the struggles of love and religion of Peter Abelard and his student, Heloise. Sammi and I saw the exhibition (which is fabulous if you are visiting London) and took a tour. We dined at the oh-so-elegant Pizza Express, and I rushed back to the Globe to get on queue. Usually I arrive an hour before so I can be at least one of the first 15 in line for the Yard...but today, I got there 45 minutes early. The steward pointed me in the direction of the door and said, "You´ll see the cue." I´m thinking, "Oh no. 45 minutes isn´t early enough. I´ll be in the back!" (I kind of have to stand in front or else I can´t see over people...) I get around the corner and I see two stewards talking to a guy who turns and screams, "I´m number one and you´re number two!" Two? Wow. I had my pick of where I wanted to stand for sure! In line, I started talking to said man, a violist, and two students behind me and we sauntered in first, getting the spots front and center! Awesome. And the show was excellent. Definitely extreme, but fantastic acting...I mean, as always at the Globe. You can´t get better entertainment for 5 pounds. Went to dinner with Denise and her friend (the students behind me in line) and headed to Astor to repack my bag for my flight to Madrid the next morning.

Madrid chapter to come later. Technically, I´m leaving Madrid tomorrow morning for Sevilla, but hostel computers can only be occupied for so long. Cheers!

Ireland, a land of smiles, stone walls, and sheep (and Sol LeWitt...)

2007-05-18T15:29:00.000-07:00

I've covered a lot of ground in the last few days. Granted, it was only a fraction of the whole country of Ireland, but I made it to both coasts and a small island. Again, posts will partly be for me to remember, part fun stories...so read on and absorb what you will. (There's a lot of pressure to make sure this is interesting.) "The apostles were a motley crew too!" So I arrived in Galway, bright eyed and bushy tailed, at the wrong door. Woke up some random guy who curtly asked, "what are you all about?" As he shut the door, he pointed in a direction, and by following addresses on trash cans, I made it to Aoife and Emma's house. (Characters to know: Aoife, a director who did theater with me in college and is doing a masters and PhD at the university in Galway, and Emma, her house mate and founding partner of their theater company.) Immediately crashed and woke up to meet two other house mates, Conal (a fiddle player from Philly) and Tristan (a fellow traveler from MI). We went into the town and visited the cathedral (where above quote was found on a poster for joining the priesthood), which has beautiful stained glass windows depicting, of all things, water and flames. After following A to a rehearsal, E, C, T, and I went to a comedy show at De Burgos and then to the Crane, an amazing pub that I would never have found if I were only a tourist. (More thoughts on tourism below.) It was definitely a local place, where even if you didn't know anyone, you fit in. Some musicians played away in the corner, a few people danced every few songs, and just it was one of the most comfortable and welcoming atmospheres I've ever been in. We sat next to all the musicians, since C had played with many of them, and it was a very lively and wonderful time. We stayed until closing and headed to the Roisin Dubh, another pub, since it was Conal's last night, and stayed until closing there. Once at the house, the boys wanted a full Irish breakfast...yes it was 3AM...and Emma, after disapproving of their cooking methods, cooked a beautiful breakfast which made the perfect ending to a perfect first day. The next day, I headed off on an early train to Dublin. After trying to find Dublin Castle (which looks nothing like a "castle" in my mind compared with a church I followed from the skyline and got lost thinking it was the castle) for about an hour and a half, I toured around there and Christ Church Cathedral and St. Audoen's Church, which had beautiful stonework! Met A at the train station and headed to Tom and Emma's (more characters: wonderful couple with the cutest baby, Nell) to get ready for...get this...a reception at the U.S. ambassador's residence. The ambassador's residence...how do I describe it...was the most posh place I've ever been to for a reception. It's in the middle of the park, across the street from the President of Ireland's house, down a gorgeous driveway. It is the quintessential mansion from any Victorian novel, and I felt like all the women should have been in huge ball gowns waltzing around. Rather, we were a motley crew of artists (I met Tom Killroy, a famous playwright, and had U2's manager pointed out to me, among other illustrious people) all gathered to see the presentation of a Sol LeWitt wall drawing that was just installed in the ambassador's residence. Sol LeWitt, as the museum lady said, was one of the first "conceptual" artists...which doesn't necessarily bode with me well. If you've never been with me to an modern art museum, you should know that I have been known to scream at Blue Canvas #31.5, Duct Tape on Floor, and other such pieces of "art." However, knowing how this LeWitt piece was done made me appreciate it a little more. He drew out 8 simple lines and curves on squares, and the installers pick out the numbers 1-8 out of a hat to decide which squares go in which parts of the grid. All patterns that are made are unique and random. But the coolest part was meeting the ambassador and seeing his house. He gets to look out his windows and watch deer frolic through the park, drive golf balls at his private driving range, and support local art in his home...pretty good job I'd say. And the best part...he was wearing a chicken tie during the reception. Yeah, I notice these things. But he was the nicest and most welcoming guy, and he was so glad that we were there. I'd go back...Aoife... Anyway, after that wonderful introduction to Dublin, I left on an early morning train back to Galway to get on a ferry to Inis Mor, one of the Aran Islands of the west coast. The island is made up of gorgeous scenery and stone walls. I have never seen SO many stone walls in my life. The bus tour guide said there are 7000 miles of stone walls on the island (which is definitely a tourist number...miles?), but I could believe it. A stone wall enclosed every square of land, so the countryside looked like a leaf under a microscope...green and gridded. And it was beautiful stonework...no mortar, just stacked stone. A fort on the cliffs was the same way. Supposedly people started building the walls only in the nineteenth century...so many walls, so little time. But I'll always associate Ireland with stone walls...which reminded me of Robert Frost's poem, "The Mending Wall."

There where it is we do not need the wall: He is all pine and I am apple orchard. My apple trees will never get across And eat the cones under his pines, I tell him. He only says, 'Good fences make good neighbors'.

I wonder if the walls are necessary...but it does seem like Ireland, as a community, is very close. Everyone is a friend. Maybe it's the walls. Maybe it's the Guinness.

Met two girls from Capetown, South Africa on my tour. We went back on different ferries, but ran into each other on Shop St. and hung out some more. Had dinner with Aoife that night and discussed the pros and cons of being a "tourist." Staying with locals, you get to see the city through those eyes and get to go places off the beaten track. Tourist guides and maps tend to frame a city in a very different way than how people living there would describe their city. However, when I go to a touristy place, I feel a sort of safety. I think it's because I'm surrounded by other stupid tourists with the same stupid questions, and all of us have no clue as to what is going on. Being in that boat is sometimes a nice place to float. To fit in or not to fit in...that is the question. Well, I guess the camera gives it away.

Speaking of (click on picture for more pictures):

Sorry if that was boring...I'll get the hang of storytelling by the end of this.

Cheers!
Melissa

Advice from the Chesire Cat and the Red Queen

2007-05-14T07:44:00.000-07:00

"'Would you tell me, please, which way I ought to go from here?'
'That depends a good deal on where you want to get to,' said the Cat.
'I don't much care where-' said Alice.
'Then it doesn't matter which way you go,' said the Cat.
'-so long as I get somewhere,' Alice added as an explanation.
'Oh, you're sure to do that,' said the Cat, 'if you only walk long enough.'"

"Speak French when you can't think of the English for a thing-turn out your toes as you walk-and remember who you are."

To all my readers,

This blog will try to keep you updated, as well as help me to remember, my travels in Europe over the next few months. I'll try to keep stories interesting and post pictures if I can figure out how. Comment as you see fit, but remember that many different people will be reading this, so please keep all comments appropriate for all ages. If you see me in a place that you've been before and have suggestions, even down to a restaurant to eat at or a statue to go to, comment and let me know!

Cheers!

Melissa