Done.

That is all I care about right now.

Oh, and the fact that H and I are going to Oxford and having tea at The Rose!

YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY!

Pavilions, Peter (and Arianne), Palaces, and Procrastination

Things are winding down here in London. I've just sat through my last law school class ever, which is more exciting than I can say. I've decided to put off studying for a bit (yes, James, I've been studying for finals) and update my blog.

BRIGHTON
Two weeks ago, Jen and I went on a day trip to Brighton, a seaside resort city. After strolling for a bit along the shore, our first stop upon arrival was the Brighton Sea Life Centre. We saw various creatures--fish, giant sea turtles, rays and skates, sharks, octopii, etc.--and even learned a bit. Apparently, a full-grown octopus can fit through a hole the size of a Euro! The octopii were my favorite, while Jen was partial to the turtles.

By the time we left the centre, the morning haze had burned off; the bright sun felt wonderful. We stopped for some tea and scones at "Darcy's" before heading to the Royal Pavilion. King George IV built it while he was still the Prince Regent; reportedly, his doctor told him the seawater would help his gout. With its Indian-style exterior, the Pavilion sticks out like a sore thumb in the middle of Brighton:



The interior is done in a wonderfully exotic Chinese/Indian fusion style. I can only imagine what people thought of it during the early 1800's. My favorite room was the ornate dining room:



(Sidebar: You were right, Mom, the chandeliers were amazing!)

After buying some fun vintage "Brighton" posters in the Pavilion shop, we relaxed for a while in its beautiful gardens. We really could not have picked a better day to visit. The weather was lovely, and we felt so relaxed and comfortable. We spent the rest of the afternoon strolling through the streets and shopping. We eventually stopped for drinks (sangria) and then sat down to an early dinner at Darcy's (yes, again). Our food was wonderful (I had fresh fish), and we had a nice bottle of wine. We returned to the train station as the sun set beautifully along the shore. On the train back to London, we had a hilariously fun time. We bought mini-bottles of wine at the station and jammed on Jen's iPod (sharing the headphones) while sending text messages to H. We managed to meet up with her at our favorite pub, Montagu Pyke, and caught up on our day. Naturally, the evening ended with me getting hit on by a nice (but much too old for me) man, but what can you do?

PETER AND ARIANNE'S VISIT
We got home fairly early, as Peter and Arianne were supposed to be getting to our apartment around midnight (they were going to crash at our place for the night). I somehow willed myself to stay awake until 3 AM, but they still hadn't shown. I finally gave up and went to sleep. At 9 AM the next morning, they finally arrived, having been delayed because of a flight cancellation. They showered, got something to eat, and were off to Bath until the next day. We met late Monday evening, when I took them to Montagu Pyke for the infamous £5.50 steak and fries deal. They gobbled it up, and we had fun catching up over a few beers. Needless to say, there was must catching up to do! We met up for dinner the next night as well (Wong Kei), and then they saw the "The Producers" while I hit the books.

On Wednesday evening, I took them to Gordon's Wine Bar. Apparently my blog entry on the subject piqued Arianne's interest (okay, maybe Rick Steves had something to do with it too.) We lucked out and found seats in low-ceilinged cellar almost immediately. It's a loud and smoky place, but I love the atmosphere. I think they enjoyed it too. Arianne and I hatched plans for a big Northwestern reunion (since we're all going to be so scattered about come fall), and we all had fun reminiscing and plotting how to spend money we don't have (yet).

On Thursday, I got up early and bought A&P an anniversary present—tickets to my new favorite musical, Billy Elliot. I was tempted to get myself a ticket as well, but I couldn’t justify spending the money or the time. I did meet them later for a pre-show dinner, though, and I’m told they really loved Billy Elliot. I didn’t see them again until Easter Sunday, when they returned from a weekend in Paris. We ordered them take-out from one of my favorite London restaurants, Wagamama, drank wine, watched “Meet the Parents," and ate the Cadbury chocolate egg (see below). Not too shabby.

They've been off to Stratford-upon-Avon, York, and Edinburgh this week. I'll see them briefly tomorow evening before they head back to the States on Sunday. It has been wonderful to see them.

HAMPTON COURT PALACE
On Easter Sunday, I went with Jen and H on a day trip to Hampton Court Palace. The first part of the Palace was built by Cardinal Wolsey, who later gave it to King Henry VIII. Henry, William and Mary, and George II all added to the buildings and gardens, some of which were designed by famous architects Christopher Wren and William Kent.

We progressed through the interior more or less chronologically, starting with Henry VIII's State Apartments. This section was highlighted by magnificent Great Hall and the Great Watching Chamber. Next up were the Georgian Rooms. My favorite was The Hall of Windsor Beauties, which contains portraits of the most beautiful women in King Charles II's court. The Queen's Private Apartments were interesting as well; the audio guide shared all kinds of fun tidbits with us. Apparently, Queen Caroline was particuarly keen on bathing even though it was thought at the time that frequent bathing would cause illness. Oh, the irony... We wrapped up our indoor tour with the King's State Apartments. The neatest room was the King's Guard Chamber, which is decorated with some 3,000 arms (weaponry, not body parts).

After returning our audio guides, we went back in time to the Tudor Kitchens. As you can see from my pictures, they had people dressed up and working the kitchens. They were preparing real food and could tell you all kinds of interesting things about how food was prepared. It smelled wonderful inside, especially near the roasting spit, and it made us all even hungrier. So we set off to the Tiltyard Tea Rooms to have afternoon tea. After having our fill of scones and cake, we started exploring the lovely Palace Gardens.

We first walked through the beautiful Wilderness, where the spring bulbs were blooming. It was gorgeous and smelled amazing. We then made our way through Home Park and over to the Privy Garden, where we took lots of gorgeous pictures. The other smaller gardens were lovely as well. Be sure to check out my photos! We walked back from whence we came and tried The Maze. Being Harry Potter fans, it didn't take long for one of us to compare it to the Third Task in Goblet of Fire (honors go to Jen). It was trickier than it looked, but we made it out in the end and got the sticker to prove it!

Alas, it was time to return to London. I made an unorthodox Easter dinner--my "famous" fajitas--though we had a traditional giant Cadbury Easter egg for dessert. I got to briefly chat with James and Grandma as well. All-in-all, it was a lovely day. Almost as lovely as this photo I took in the Wilderness:



I plan on doing one last update from London before I leave for my two-week Eastern European adventure with James. Now it's time to get back to studying, but before I do, I'd just like to say congratulations to Lisa and Jeff on their engagement. Can't wait to you see guys in Denver!

Meet the Parents

The parents have now come and gone so it's officially time to write about their visit!

* * * * *

Mom and Dad arrived last Wednesday morning, and I met them at our flat's Official Relative Meeting Place--Starbucks. I showed them my flat and unpacked the goodies (clothes and food) Mom brought me. I helped them find their hotel in between classes then left them to recover from their flight. In the evening, we met up with Jenna and had a celebratory dinner at Cafe Pasta. Mom even brought along a small care package for her as well (instant oatmeal and peanut butter from her grandma).

The next morning, I jogged up to their hotel. Predictably, Dad had been up for quite some time. He was already downstairs having breakfast while Mom had just gotten up! We solidified plans to meet-up later in the day. While I toiled away in class, they shopped at Harrod's and visited the Victoria and Albert Museum. At 3:30, we met up at the Courtauld Collection a private art collection that I had never heard of, but it is very impressive. The Collection has an impressive assortment of works by Peter Paul Rubens, Gauguin, Seurat, Degas, Van Gogh, and Kandinsky, among others. It's most famous work is this familiar piece by Edouard Manet:



Mom made me sit down and consider what's wrong with it (the reflection, duh). At this point, I half expected her to whip out a handmade workbook for me to do on the collection. Oh yes, this would not have been a shock. That evening I treated Mom and Dad to tickets to The Producers. Meanwhile, I ran off to a "Girls Night Out" event at Canary Wharf. I'm told they enjoyed the show, especially the old-ladies-with-walkers dance, and I had a fun evening sipping free champagne and eating chocolate-covered strawberries with H and Jen.

After attending my two Friday classes, I met Mom and Dad at Russell Square, where we caught the Tube out to Heathrow. We rented a car (a lovely Saab) for our road trip through southern England. We managed to get out of the airport craziness without incident, but I had to alter our route after we missed our initial exit. But as luck would have it, the new route took us right by Stonehenge. Of course, none of us realized this until we literally drove right by it (see the pictures for details) so it was a pleasant surprise.

Our first destination was Moretonhampstead, a small town in the middle of Dartmoor National Forest, where we'd be staying for the night. The road out of town to our B&B was--how do I put this--interesting. Tall hedges lined the sides of this narrow, winding lane, and trees hung over the top, creating a slightly unnerving tunnel effect, and it was only wide enough for one vehicle. We also had to drive over two cattle grids. Thanks goodness we got there before dark! Our B&B--Great Wooston Farm--was cozy and quaint. We checked in, got a dinner recommendation from the proprietor, and faced the country road back into town. Our dinner was wonderful; I had a lamb dish for the main course, and the chocolate and lavender fondant I had for dessert as simply to die for.

After a good night's rest, we had a full English breakfast. I couldn't possibly eat everything she served us, but Dad was the good farmer's boy and cleaned his plate. Dad then showed me around the farm (it's a working farm with 350 head of cattle), and we took some pictures. Then we were off to drive through the Dartmoor National Forest. The drive was wonderful--hedge fences, hills, interesting rock formations (a.k.a. tors), and sheep as far as the eye could see. At one point, we saw a "Sheep Lying in the Road" sign, which turned out to be quite accurate. We hadn’t gone a quarter mile before coming across a few sheep drinking water out of the potholes in the road. We also stopped to see a clapper bridge, which I won't bother to define--just check out the pictures!

That morning we drove all the way to the coastal town of Tintagel, where we visited the ruins of Tintagel Castle. Legend has it this castle is the birthplace of King Arthur. Mom explained to us the legend of his birth, accused us of not listening!, and then sent us off the cliff-side ruins to take pictures for her (her knee not being up to the steep steps to the ruins). The seaside cliffs were astonishingly beautiful, and the water was a lovely blue-turquoise color that day. If there hadn't been a blustering wind, it would've felt like the Caribbean. After trekking back up the hill into town, we stopped by King Arthur's Bistro for some Cornish specialties--a Cornish pasty for Dad, potato and leek soup for Mom, and Cornish ice cream for me. Yum.

As we drove to our next stop, Mom noticed that we were incredibly close to our B&B for that night, the Old Bissett Mill. So we stopped by, checked-in, and had some tea before driving on to St. Ives, a popular resort town that is also home to an artist's colony. After getting a bit lost among the town's narrow streets, we finally parked and wandered along a sandy beach and a pier. It was a gorgeous afternoon, and the sunlight felt lovely and warm on my face. But the daylight was fading quickly so we off in the car once more. We drove toward Penzance and then along the southern coast. We stopped briefly in Marazion to take some pictures of St. Michael's Mount. The Mount houses a still-inhabited castle and is an island at high tide. During low tide, it is accessible by a footpath. That night we had dinner at the Norway Inn near Truro. Mom and I had traditional Fish 'n Chips, while Dad tried the local beef. Dad and I also sampled the local ale from St. Austell brewery.

Sunday morning we had another nice breakfast and then headed to St. Austell, where I was to catch a train back to London. We stopped by a grocery store to pick up provisions, and then I said goodbye to Mom and Dad until Tuesday evening. For the record, they visited the Lost Garden of Heligan, the Cerne Abbas Giant, Maiden Castle, Winchester, Sissinghurst, and Hever Castle. They also stayed in very interesting B&Bs. Sunday night it was Brambles, which has a thatched roof (picture here). On Monday night they stayed at Leaver's Oast, an old, 19-century oast (picture here) in Kent.

I met up with them on Tuesday evening back at their hotel in London. Mom assured me that they only got lost "a little bit," and Dad only drove on the wrong side of the road a "couple times." Without independent confirmation, I cannot attest to the accuracy of these claims. After swapping pictures and stories, we made plans to meet up the next morning.

We met in Leicester Square, where we bought tickets to Billy Elliot. In true Stephens style, both Mom and Dad managed to chat up other travelers. Dad chatted up two Kiwis--mother and son--in the ticket line, while Mom met two young women from California. Parents! While I was in class, Mom and Dad visited the National Gallery. We met up for dinner that evening at Montagu Pyke, a pub that Jen, H, and I frequent because of its cheap-yet-yummy steak deal. I brought Jen and H along to meet the parents, and everyone ended up ordering the steak. We had a fun dinner, and I was mostly spared from embarrassment.

Billy Elliot was wonderful. I enjoyed the movie, and the musical version was splendid. The boy who played Billy was simply amazing; other memorable cast members included Billy's hilarious Grandma, dance teacher Mrs. Wilkinson, and the "Born to Boogie" Mr. Braithwaite. But my favorite was Michael, Billy's cross-dressing best friend. His "Express Yourself" number with Billy nearly brought the house down and got a well-deserved mini-ovation. I also loved "Grandma's Song" ("and I never...would be sober"), "Born to Boogie," and "Merry Christmas Maggie Thatcher," which features a 20-foot puppet of the Iron Lady. Naturally, the dance numbers were a highlight; the first act ends with an amazing, angry solo dance by Billy, and a Swan Lake number with Billy and his older self highlights the second half. The encore--a massive tap number--stars the entire cast, including Grandma! I loved this musical. How I wish I had time to see it again!

After the show, I took Mom and Dad back to their hotel. They caught an early plane home yesterday morning, and I've just had word that they got home safely. Great seeing you, Mom and Dad!

Gone Dutch

I apologize for taking forever to update, but last week was crazy. I had a presentation on Tuesday, and my parents arrived the next day. It's been wonderful to see them; I spent the weekend driving around with them in southwestern England. But before I get into their visit, which isn't even over yet, I must back up a bit and tell you all about Amsterdam!

* * * * *

Amsterdam is the city of canals, museums, bikes, hookers, and legalized decriminalized marijuana. Holland is known for its windmills, cheese, clogs, and tulips. I managed to see a little bit of everything (yes, everything) over the weekend.

We flew in Thursday evening, checked into our (very lovely) hotel, and then immediately went in search of food. We luckily found a nice restaurant in the Leidseplein area still serving food. After stuffing ourselves full of steak, we went out to a bar for a couple beers. Jen has a particular affinity for Duvel, a Belgian beer, so I followed suit.

The next morning, after eating pancakes the size of Luxemburg, we visited the Anne Frank Huis. It was fascinating to see the place she lived, along with seven others, during the German occupation of the Netherlands. The tour is definitely a sad one, especially the diary excerpts displayed at the appropriate points. I found this one particularly tragic:

You've known for a long time that my greatest wish it so be a journalist, and later on, a famous writer . . . after the war I'd like to publish a book called "The Secret Annex."

In the afternoon, we took an off-beat tour of Amsterdam through Mike's Bikes. The weather wasn't ideal (chilly and drizzling), but it was still great way to see the city. Amsterdam is designed for bikes; and it's so flat that riding a bike around is easy. Anyway, on our tour we'd stop various places to learn about the city from our guide. He told us about John Stuart Mill's Harm Principle ("people should be free to engage in whatever behavior they wish as long as it does not harm others"), which led to the decriminalization of marijuana and prostitution in Holland. He explained "coffeshops" (read: places where you can buy marijuana) and the regulation of the prostitution industry. Eventually, we rode our bikes through the red-light district, where women (and men) sit in the front windows selling themselves like mannequins selling clothes.

Lest you think the tour was all sex, drugs, and rock 'n roll, we also stopped by the Royal Palace and learned about the city's canal system. Apparently, some 50-60 bodies and 20-30 thousand bikes are found each year when they drain the canals. Our guide also talked about the canal houses; the older ones often start to sink (their wooden supports rot) and must be taken down and rebuilt. Many of the houses have quite a lean to them!

We also rode out of the city, stopping at Rembrandt's Amazing Transporting Windmill (see my Amsterdam pictures for details) and a farmhouse, where we learned how cheese and clogs are made. Our return trip into the city was delayed a bit by a mechanical problem on Jen's bike so the farmer's daughter showed our tour group around the barn. I giggled at the New Yorkers in our group who were having the time of their lives feeding the cows. After the tour ended back in town, Jen and I rushed home, had nice warm showers, and got ready for Boom Chicago, a long-running improv show. True to the form, the comedy was hit-or-miss (but thankfully mostly hit). After the show, we enjoyed a few more beers in the Leidseplein area.

The next morning, while Jen slept off our late night, I visited the Rijksmuseum, the Dutch National Museum. The first floor mostly holds works from the Dutch Golden Age. My favorite was the minature "bigature" dollhouse; a Amsterdam wife had a to-scale model made of her canal house, complete with marble floors, artwork, curtain, and silver tea set. The dollhouse cost as much as another canal house! I also enjoyed the silver pieces and Delft ceramics. The second floor holds an impressive collection of Dutch art, including numerous Rembrandts and four Vermeers. I love to see Vermeer's works in person. The way he paints color and light is truly amazing. (And yes, I think about Colin Firth now when I see a Vermeer painting. Is that so wrong?)

I couldn't believe how many Rembrandts the museum has, but then I never knew quite how prolific he had been. The museum used to think it had more; so many of its "Rembrandt" acquisitions have been questioned or re-attributed to other artists that they had an entire exhibit--"Really Rembrandt?"--dedicated to them. The highlights of the Rembrandt collection are two works of unquestioned authenticity--The Five Syndics and The Night Watch. The latter is particularly impressive. For one, it's massive, and it would be even bigger had it not been sliced down to fit on a wall back in the day. Moreover, it's such an active, moment-in-time piece. And I could've looked at it for an hour and still not caught all the fun details!

After meeting back up at the hotel, Jen and I had lunch at the Grand Cafe before heading to the Albert Cuyp market. Street markets are always an interesting experience; typically, anything and everything is being sold. This market was no exception. Jen bought--of all things--socks, while I just browsed. I'm too hesitant for market shopping! Next up was the Heineken Experience, which is not so much an experience as a chance to drink 3 beers and get a Heineken glass for ten Euros. And while I still don't understand how beer is made, I do like Heineken now (I was lukewarm about it before). In the evening, we had a nice dinner and kept rolling with the Heineken. We took it easier than we had the two previous nights, but we still managed to stay up until 3 AM somehow!

On Sunday, we checked out of our hotel and arranged for our shuttle to the airport before heading to brunch. We returned to the Grand Cafe for the full European breakfast--bacon, eggs, toast, cheese, fruit, yogurt, juice, tea--before hitting the Van Gogh Museum. It's permanent collection is amazing, and it had a special Rembrandt/Caravaggio exhibition showing as well. The sheer number of Van Goghs is almost overwhelming; I mostly stuck to my audio guide and avoided the crowd as much as I could. I've decided yellow is his best color because most of my favorites--Still Life with Quinces and Lemons, The Reaper, and The Bedroom, are very yellow-intensive. I also enjoyed the special exhibition after seeing so many Caravaggio works in Italy. I think the side-by-side theme was a bit forced, but I'm not complaining about the chance to see so many wonderful paintings by two genuine masters. I resisted the urge to buy several posters in the museum shop, but I did get a small print of "The Harvest" because it reminds me of home.

After the museum, we got to the airport and returned to London without a hitch. Overall, I absolutely loved Amsterdam and cannot wait to go back some day. I'd love to see it during tulip season (which is right now!), and I could always return to the Van Gogh Museum. But my favorite part was the bike tour; anyone who knew me in undergrad knows how much I like to ride my bike!

To Napoli...and Beyond!

FRIDAY: Pompeii, Vesuvius, and Pizza
We woke up relatively early and caught an SITA bus from Naples to Pompeii. We arrived around 9:45 AM, which should've made us about 45 minutes "late" but in fact made us 45 minutes early. LP had the ruins opening at 8:30, but they actually opened at 10:30. We clearly weren’t the only ones with the wrong intel; there were about 100+ tourists waiting outside the gates when we got there. So we spent our extra time milling around the over-priced souvenir stands, and Ally and I bought cheap guidebooks to help us out. But holding these guidebooks didn’t save us from being accosted by several “licensed” tour guides outside the gates. They were quite relentless, but we weren’t fooled thanks to LP.

Once inside, we immediately walked as far away from the tour groups and masses of people as we possibly could. It was lovely to wander the ruins in quiet rather than in chaos. We checked out various buildings—baths, houses, temples, bakeries, brothels, etc. We also walked out beyond the city walls to two suburban villas—the Villa of Mysteries and the Villa of Diomedes. I enjoyed these a lot. The former had wonderfully preserved floor mosaics and wall paintings. The latter was a massive multi-story complex with a wonderful garden area. To think how beautiful it was before!

We also stopped by the Garden of Fugitives, where impressions of thirteen victims were found preserved in the ashes. They had all suffocated while trying to escape. Casts were taken and lined up in the garden as they were found. Seeing them definitely puts a more human face on the tragedy that befell Pompeii.

Did I mention the weather yet? No, I don’t think I did. Well, it was an absolutely gorgeous day. We all shed as many layers as we could. We’d had lovely weather our first two days in Rome, but the sun felt a bit warmer down in the Bay of Napoli. Anyway, after a few hours wandering about Pompeii, we finally exited and got some lunch. We really could have stayed the whole day, but we were anxious to visit Mt. Vesuvius and had to catch the last bus to the top.

We couldn’t resist the opportunity to visit an "active" volcano (last activity: 1944). But the bus only took us so far; we had to climb the last two kilometers ourselves. The bus ride itself was an adventure; the road winds and climbs up a narrow road. The driver had to honk the horn to warn oncoming traffic as we approached particuarly narrow corners, which is about every other turn. Now I have a pretty strong stomach, but even I was feeling a bit carsick toward the end. The bus made a temporary stop (aka a "shopping opportunity"), where we were given a brief history of Vesuvius. I bought a postcard and got it specially stamped.

The final climb was no picnic, but we managed it without much trouble. The top itself was mostly rock and mist (no swirling lava, which is fine by me), but we had fun climbing around and taking pictures. It was hard finding someone competent enough to take a decent picture of the three of us so we had to resort to using our timers. As I scurried over to join the girls in my photo (which can be seen in my photoset), I very nearly slid and fell down the side of the mountain. Now *that* would've been quite a story!

After walking back down to our bus, we bought some Vesuvian wine from a vendor. I brought it back with me in my pack; we plan to share it sometime over the next few weeks. As we waited for our bus to leave, I finally let myself read the part in which Vesuvius erupts in "Pompeii," a historical fiction book that covers a four-day span before, during, and after its most famous eruption in 79 AD. Am I a dork or what? (Don't answer that.)

Our trip back to Naples was uneventful. We had a delicious dinner at a pizzeria near our hostel. The pizza was excellent, but I expected no less from the town where it was invented.

SATURDAY: Buses and Beaches
The week was catching up with us so we took our time on Saturday morning. We got our bags packed and ready for our flight home and had a leisurely breakfast at our hostel. Our hostel in Naples—Hostel of the Sun--was great. If every you need a cheap, clean place to stay in Naples, I highly recommend it.

It was back to the SITA bus stop, but this time we were catching one to Amalfi. The Amalfi Coast is legendary for its beauty—blue waters, pastel-colored houses built into the sides of mountain. We were excited to just sit on a beach for a bit and relax. Here’s a map I stole from Rick Steves to help illustrate our day:



Our bus ride took us across the the peninsula so Salerno, where we then started along the coastal road back toward Amalfi. To call this a winding road would be quite the understatement. I swear all the winding tripled the distance between towns. It was a beautiful drive. We finally reached Amalfi around noon. The weather was nice so we grabbed sandwiches, chips, and drinks and had a little picnic on the beach. Then we soaked up the sun for a bit and splashed around (briefly) in the Mediterranean. After drying off and checking out the city square, it was time for our final gelato of the trip. On such a special occasion, only a large will do!

It was time to return to Naples, so we got on the next bus to Sorrento. Once again, our bus wound along the coastal road. We saw several gorgeous towns along the way, including Positano, which is often filmed for movies. I can only imagine how lovely it is to wake up and look upon such places in the glowing sun.

From Sorrento we caught the Circumvesuviana train back to Naples. We picked up our bags at the hostel, hopped the shuttle to the airport and were on our way home! Well, it didn’t go quite that smoothly. Unfortunately, Ally and I had to check our backpacks), which neither of us had to do on the way to Italy. Then our plane was delayed over an hour and there was no food in our gate area. But finally, around 10:30 PM we landed at London Stanstead. We breezed through customs (one situation in which being from a non-EU country is helpful), grabbed our bags quick as we could and got the train back into central London. We were lucky to catch the last Tube of the night and immediately went to McDonald’s for some much-needed sustenance. Never before has a cheeseburger value meal tasted so good!

Here's the final photoset. Next up: Amsterdam!

Roamin Round Roma

TUESDAY: The Vatican Cattle Drive

We woke up early (though not as early as we’d planned) to beat the rush to the Vatican Museum. Apparently, it is not possible to beat the rush. By the time we got there the line was already three blocks long; we waited at least an hour to get inside. When we finally did, it was awful--not the exhibits, of course, but the experience itself. You can only move through the museum on a specific path. You can jump ahead to the more famous parts—the Rafael Rooms and the Sistine Chapel—but once you’re there you can’t backtrack. We chose to take the longer route and saw some neat things, but the congestion was such that we couldn’t stop to look at things properly. It just got worse as we neared the end. It truly felt like a cattle drive, and the Sistine Chapel was our Abilene.

By the time we reached the Chapel, I was pretty annoyed. And the throng’s blatant disregard for the chapel rules—be quiet, no photographs, etc.—just made it worse. So now that I’ve “been there, done that” at the Vatican, I don't plan to return next time I visit Rome. We stopped by a pizzeria for lunch and learned that LP was right—the pizza in Rome is nothing to write home about. I would suggest sticking with pasta dishes and save your pizza craving for Naples.

After the hectic morning and unsatisfying lunch, our first day in Rome wasn’t off to a great start. Luckily, the weather and St. Peter’s helped turn the tide. We strolled over to the Piazza San Pietro and basked in the warm glow of the sun for a while. The Piazza is a lovely open area. We stood on the two points from which all the outer columns perfectly align, which was quite neat, and then joined the queue to enter St. Peter’s Basilica.

The basilica is truly massive—the second largest in the world, I believe. Naturally, there’s a ton to see on the inside: Michelangelo’s Pieta (his only signed work), the red disk on which Charlemange was crowned emperor, the ornate altar, the statute of St. Peter (we all rubbed his right foot for good luck), etc. And I was just dying to climb the dome and look out upon the city. After our hill-topping adventure in Cortona the day before, Ally and Laura weren’t too keen on the idea so they waited for me in the piazza. The views were definitely worth a few more sore muscles, especially on such a gorgeous day.

After sending a quick postcard off from the Vatican, I rejoined the girls in the piazza. They were being harassed by chatting with an older Italian gentleman. He wanted us to meet him in the Piazza Navona for dinner, which meant we were going nowhere near it that night! We trekked over to the Spanish Steps, which I found to be a bit of a let down on such a pretty day. I think the construction at the bottom and the scaffolding on a building right behind the steps really detracted from their charm.

At this point, we were going into severe gelato withdrawal; it had been almost 48 hours! But as we were leaving the gellateria, my cone broke and my precious gelato plummeted to the sidewalk. I was devastated. Luckily, the sweet man in the shop took pity on me and gave me a replacement cone. We enjoyed our treat while lounging on the steps and basked in the waning sunlight of the afternoon. On our way back to our hostel, we stopped by the Trevi Fountain and insured our return to Rome by tossing in one coin each. None of us are too keen on Italian men so we didn’t throw in any more than that (a second coin means you’ll fall in love with an Italian while a third means you’ll marry him).

Dinner that night was at a lovely restaurant on Quirinale Hill. The place we originally went to was full so we were sent us next door to its sister restaurant. It was a fairly pricy meal, but it was also the best we had in Rome. I had salad followed by spaghetti with monkfish. Everything was simply delicious.

WEDNESDAY: The Ides of March

Is there a more fitting day to visit Ancient Rome than the Ides of March?

Ally, Laura, and I split up until dinner. I woke up early and got to the Colosseum as it opened. It was a lovely morning so I drifted around the complex for a couple hours with my trusty audio guide. Among the things I learned: the Colosseum wasn't so named for its colossal size but rather after for the colossus of Nero that used to stand at the front gates. I'm fascinated by trapdoors and pulleys used to make animals and sets magically appear from the beneath the floor; they had a mininature showing how it was done. Such ingenuity in the name of gory entertainment!

Next up was the Palatine. It was here--legend has it--that Romulus killed his brother Remus and founded Rome in 753 BC. It used to be a posh Roman neighborhood, but the Palatine now resembles a lovely park checkered with ruins. I relaxed for a while on a bench overlooking the stadio and then headed down to the Roman Forum. It was all so overwhelming that I bought a book to help me understand just what I was looking at.

It would be futile for me to try and describe every detail so I'll just briefly discuss my personal highlights. I started from the Colosseum and walked along the Via Sacra (Sacred Way) to the Arch of Titus. The Arch commerates Vespasian and Titus' victories over Jerusalem. What I didn't know is that Roman Jews would avoid passing under it because it marked the beginning of the Jewish disapora (expulsion from Jerusalem). At the other end of the Via Sacra stands the Arch of Septimus Severus Snape, built to celebrate Rome's victory over the Parthians. This arch has very impressive reliefs but unfortunately I didn't get a good close-up of them.

In the center of the forum is the House of the Vestal Virgins. (I feel a particular affinity for my VV sisters, having played the (secretly slutty) Vestal Virgin at Leigh's murder mystery party back in the day!) Vestal Virgins led privileged lives (theater tickets, dinner parties, etc.) and were honored throughout Rome, but it all came at a price--30 years of celibacy, which could begin as early as age six. The punishment for breaking the vow of chastity was being buried alive!

After swinging by Trajan's Column (decorated with a spiral of beautiful reliefs of his battles against he Dacians), I headed to the Capotiline Museums. But as interesting as the exhibits sounded, I just wasn't up to spending time inside on such a lovely day. So I decided to head toward the Pantheon, searching for some sustinence along the way.

I sat down at a restaurant near the Pantheon. Somehow, I got to talking to two English men (father and son) who were sitting at the table next to mine. (I think I had noticed their Middlesbrough kits and asked if they were British.) They were in Rome for the Middlesbrough-Roma football match that night and informed me that I'd be seeing red-clad Middlesbrough fans all over Rome that day (and I did). I ended up chatting with them for a good 45 minutes. I told them about the Chelsea game I had attended, and we just talked about various things--British weather, rugby, skiing, the cost of living in Norway (random, I know). The father showed me pictures from the ski-jumping competition he had watched the week before, and I gave them advice on a gelato place they should try. Our checks came about the same time, and the father insisted on paying for mine. He explained it was for the "pleasant company," which was incredibly sweet of him. I really wish I'd taken a picture of my Middlesbrough friends for posterity's sake. Oh well, at least their team drew a tie that night and advanced in the Uefa Cup!

I wandered through Piazza Navona before stopping by the Pantheon, where I happened to run into Laura. We checked it out together before heading to Gelateria Giolitti, which is said to have been Pope John Paul II's favorite. I would say it was the best gelato I had all trip, not including the return trip I made the next day. ;P Laura and I split apart again; she wanted to visit a church, while I wanted to make one last visit to the Roman Forum and Colosseum area.

The three of us regrouped at the hostel later that evening. Ally had spent the day in Tivoli checking out Emperor Hadrian's villa. Laura had visited many of the same sights as I did but just as different times. We took it easy on our feet and just had dinner near our hostel.

THURSDAY: Raindrops Keep Falling on My Head

We split up again on Thursday. On the recommendation a couple girls staying in our hostel, I got up early and headed to the Borghese Gallery. I had to get there early because the gallery limits its tickets, which I didn't have yet. They assured me that 9 AM tickets would still be available this time of year, and they were right. I walked to the Museum through the grounds of the Villa Borghese. It was drizzling rain, but I didn't mind too much. It was a nice respite from the hectic streets of Rome.

The Gallery was created in the early 1600s by Cardinal Scipione Borghese, the pope's nephew and passionate art collector. He was so passionate, in fact, that he would use whatever means--monetary or muscle--necessary to get the pieces he wanted. The Borghese family has kept up and added to the collection over the centuries, although many pieces were "sold" to Napoleon after his sister Pauline married into the Borghese family. These now sit in the Louvre.

I bought and audio guide on the advice of a Patricia, an older woman I met in the ticket line. I was glad I did. I got so much more out of the gallery because of the insightful commentary. And with only two hours to see everything, it was nice to have a more precise path to follow. One of the gallery's highlights is its collection of sculptures by Bernini. The Cardinal "discovered" the brilliant Bernini at a young age and commissioned many of his most famous works. I was particularly taken by his Apollo and Daphne, a dramatic piece which captures the moment Apollo catches Daphnes and she starts turning into a tree. Other wonderful Bernini works include Pluto and Proserpina, David, and the incomplete Truth Unveiled by Time.

The upper level contains the bulk of the paintings. Titian's Sacred and Profane Love has become somewhat of a museum symbol. Rafael's Deposition, Caravaggio's Madonna, and Bassano's The Last Supper are among the "Life of Christ" highlights. But my favorite painting was Domenichino's Diana:



I just find it to be an interesting transposition--women (fittingly Diana and her nymphs) doing typically male pursuits--hunting, wrestling, running, etc. What you might not be able to see is the two young men spying on the nymphs from behind a bush (a big no-no). One is giving the viewer the "shhh" sign, but the woman bathing in the foreground sees you!

I barely made it through the collection when the two hours was up. After purchasing a book on the Gallery, it was back out into the rain. I didn't mind the rain that much. It wasn't coming down particularly hard, and it meant far fewer people on the streets. I walked back into town, swinging by the now-empty Spanish Steps, the Pantheon, and Giolitti. After a bit of shopping, I walked back by Ancient Rome on my way to the Basilica di Santa Maria Maggiore. I took refuge in the church for a while to write some postcards, and then I was off to meet up with my roommates at the hostel. Laura had spent her day checking out catacombs somewhere along the Appian Way. Ally had gone church-hopping.

After getting Ally a train ticket (Laura and I used rail passes all week), we stopped by a supermarket to get food for the road. When we went to get on our train, it was ridiculously full. Moreover, Ally had forgotten her Florence poster at the hostel. So instead of cramming onto the train and sacrificing the poster, we decided to wait an hour for the next one. It was definitely a good decision; our train was pratically empty. After a relaxing ride to Naples, we found our hostel and turned in for the night.

Here's the link to the second Italy photoset. Enjoy! Next up is Naples, Pompeii, Vesuvius, and the Amalfi Coast!

A blonde, a brunette, and a redhead travel to Italy...

and have a wonderful time! (The blonde would be Ally, another friend, who decided to join us at the last second.) We flew back in last night, returning to the chill of London after sitting on a beach in Amalfi just a few hours before. After a good night's sleep and a leisurely morning spent reading The Sunday Times and doing laundry, it's finally time to worry about blogging.

I originally intended to just "blog by bullet points," but I've decided to just go for and it do the usual write-up. (Please forgive me if I make more typos and grammatical errors than usual.) I'll do corresponding photosets as well. Feel free to leave questions in the comments; I promise to answer them. And Tim, I'll definitely put together a Top 10 list for you.

SATURDAY: The Day of a Thousand Steps
Backpacks in tow, Laura and I were off to London Stansted at 4:30 AM to catch our flight. We arrived in "near" Bologna around 10 AM and caught the 45-minute bus shuttle to the city. Our first stop? Gelato, of course! Our Lonely Planet (LP) guidebook sent us to the Gelateria delle Moline, where we enjoyed our first of many cones of gelato. Next we walked toward the central square, where we saw the Fountain of Neptune. Particularly noteworthy are the fountain's water jets, which are "cleverly integrated" into the statue. (See my photos for details.)

We then found the Le Due Torri, literally The Two Towers, both of which sport a sizeable lean. One leans so much it had to be cut in half. Perhaps it was the excitement of being in Italy or the sugar-rush of the gelato, but we thought climbing the 498 steps to the top of the taller tower with our backpacks sounded like a good idea. (The Big Ben climb had about 330 steps.) It wasn't fun, but we made it. We were rewarded with a wonderful view of the "Red Bologna". From the tower, we spotted an interesting building atop a hill in the distance, the Basilica Santurio della Madonna di San Luca, which could be reached by bus or on foot. We put it on our list of things to do after lunch and set off to find a recommended restaurant.

Except we didn't really eat lunch. By that time, it was 3 PM, and practically all the restaurants were closing until dinner. "No worries," we said. "We're not that hungry anyway. We'll just head over to the basilica and have an early dinner." Heh.

We took a bus to the base of the portico that leads up to the basilica. With 666 arches the portico is the longest in the world. Now as you'll recall, we could've taken a bus to the top or walked up the portico. Yet for some reason we decided to walk. "It's only 2 km!" we said. Somehow it escaped our notice that it’s 2 km uphill, but we did manage to make it to the top. It was gorgeous up there; the views were spectacular. But to this day we're aren't quite sure what possessed us to walk.

Yet the fun in Bologna didn't stop there! We walked (yes walked) back down to the bottom in search of dinner. Naturally, all the restaurants were still closed until 7 PM! Disgruntled, tired, and hungry, we plopped down in a cheap eatery near the train station and finally got some food. It was by far the worst food we ate in Italy, but it did the trick. Finally, we hopped on our train, arrived in Florence a few hours later, found our hostel without too much trouble, and got some much-needed rest.

Overall, I thought Bologna was definitely worth the time we spent there. Our day would've been more pleasant had we checked our bags at the train station (which we didn't realize we could do until later) and been more aware of Italian custom re restaurants, but Laura and I still had a good time. We laugh about what we call the "Day of a Thousand Steps" now, especially considering what happened a couple days later...

SUNDAY: Heady Times in Siena
We woke up early the next morning and headed to the Galleria dell'Accademia, mainly to see Michelangelo's David. The LP said to get there early, and we were sure glad we did. We walked straight in at 8:45 AM. By the time we left around 10, the line was a block-and-a-half long! The David itself exceeded my expectations; it's much larger (around 15 feet) than I anticipated and beautiful from every angle.

After grabbing a quick bite to eat, we hopped a bus to Siena. I enjoyed seeing the Tuscan scenery from the bus, although I’m sure it’s far more beautiful later in the year. We arrived in Siena and headed for the city center, the Piazza del Campo, a lovely, scallop-shaped space. We had lunch in the piazza (I had a wonderful ravioli) then set out to see the town. The cathedral is a massive Gothic church; highlights included the marble floor and Libreria Piccolomini, with colorful frescoes depicting the life of its namesake. Next up was the Chiesa di San Domenico, where we saw the preserved head of St. Catherine! It looked faked to me until we saw a close-up on a postcard. Gross.

Back in Florence, Ally had arrived at our hostel. After taking a quick siesta, the three of us went out to dinner at a restaurant nearby. Our food was fabulous; my Tuscan roasted pork (ariste di maiale al forno) practically melted in my mouth. The red wine was following as well, ensuring that we were quite giggly by the time we left.

We left in search of gelato. Ally led the way because she had studied in Florence one summer during undergrad and knew a place that would be open. After a few twists in turns, we finally stumbled upon the place she was talking about--Festival del Gelato—which has more than 70 flavors to choose from. It’s never hard for me—anything with chocolate will do. Now cold inside and out, we scurried back to the hostel and turned in for the night.

MONDAY: Duomo and Dumber
As the other two got ready the next morning, I ran off to the station to check train times. On the way, I stopped by the Mercato Centrale San Lorenzo, a large covered market not far from our hostel. I was tempted to buy some of the unique pastas they were selling but settled for just a banana instead.

Leaving our bags at the hostel, ventured out into Florence. After stopping by a patisterrie for some breakfast, we headed to the River Arno. We checked out the views generally and Ponte Vecchio in particular. This famous bridge has housed jewellery merchants for centuries. Unfortunately, the wares were quite out of our price range, but we enjoyed window-shopping nonetheless. After a stroll through the outdoor sculpture gallery that is the Piazza della Signoria (it holds copies of the David and Donatello’s Marcozzo), we finally visited Florence’s famed Duomo. We didn’t have time to climb the cupola (dome), but the interior of it was lovely (see my pictures for a glimpse).

As it was a Monday, many of the other attractions, including the Uffizi Gallery, were closed. So we decided to take an earlier train and make a brief stop in Cortona on our way to Rome. It ended up being quite a memorable stop.

Cortona was the setting for much of Under the Tuscan Sun (remember seeing that, Lori?). It’s set high upon a hill overlooking the Tuscan countryside. Because of said hill, we were hoping to drop our bags off at the station. Unfortunately, the Camucia-Cortona stop has no such service so we begrudgingly took them with us. We took a bus up to Cortona itself, and then the fun really started.

We did as the LP said and “wriggled up through a sleepy warren of steep cobbled lanes” to the Chiesa San Margherita. This stiff climb was made even more difficult by our backpacks. Laura and I were having Bologna flashbacks, and Ally struggled with the ill-fitting pack she had borrowed from a much taller friend. We finally made it to the top, and the views were lovely. After a brief rest, we literally shuffled back down the steep hill, bought some postcards, and caught the bus back down the hill.

Halfway down the hill, our bus picked up a ticket-checker. We showed him our tickets then he proceeded on up the aisle. But on his way back and stopped and started talking to us in Italian. Naturally, we couldn’t understand a word he was saying. Finally, he got out a ticket booklet and pointed to 40 Euros. Instantly, I understood that he wanted to fine us for not having a new ticket. But we were under the erroneous impression that our tickets were valid for a certain time period (I even asked the bus driver if we had the right ticket when we got on), while our tickets were actually only good for a one-way ride.

As Ally describes it, I had this look of utter disbelief on my face and simply stared straight ahead. I honestly didn’t know what to do; I didn’t want to pay that much for an honest mistake! Laura was frantically looking through her phrasebook, and Ally was trying to communicate with him best she could. We made little progress, and I wasn’t quite sure what we were going to do. Finally, a woman on the bus took pity on us and translated. We pleaded our case best we could, and she tried to help as well. We didn’t completely get out of it--we still had to pay ten Euros each. But at least he didn’t call the police like he was threatening to!

After he got off the bus, the woman and the driver talked about what happened. She explained that the driver was mad at the ticket man for doing that to us but there was nothing he could do; we thanked the woman for her help and got off. As we waited for our (late) train, we went through a range of emotions—confusion, anger, and amusement—about the whole affair. But we vowed not to dwell on it and had a rather enjoyable ride through Umbria. We found our hostel in Rome without much fanfare, and then sat down to a nice dinner (I had veal). We’d had an exhausting day--physically and emotionally—so it wasn’t hard falling asleep that night.

Here's the link to the photoset for these days. Stay tuned stories from Rome!