Paris, London, and a Ball

Since leaving Florence I've been to Paris, London, and Oxford. I went to Paris and London with one of my friends from SUF, Rebecca Pedersen. We arrived in Paris in the early evening on Thursday. We basically unloaded our things, relaxed for a little bit and discussed our priorities for Paris and then went in search of dinner in our neighborhood. To celebrate the successful completion of junior year (oh dear god) and my semester abroad I decided to treat myself to the froi gras for a first course (it was part of the prix fix menu) and every single bite made me so happy. Rebecca and I spent our first full day in Paris in the Louvre. We went through the French and Dutch Renaissance paintings first. After that we took a break for lunch at an awesome Japanese restaurant. I went there on my last trip to Paris with my friend Cathy. I once again enjoyed the terrific gyoza and ramen noodle soup for lunch. We then went back and explored the Italian and Spanish paintings and the the large-scale French paintings from the 19th century. After that we took a Starbucks break, sat by the pyramids and enjoyed the brief sunshine before returning to the Louvre one more time to see the rest of their collection of French paintings until we were so exhausted that we had to stop. Since I've already discussed the Louvre in detail and I still loved the same things, I'm not going to go into detail about my second trip through. Rebecca and I figure that we spent a total of 7 hours in the museum.

The next day, May 1st, was actually a national holiday so all the shops and the sights/museums were closed. We walked around in the morning, had Japonese food for lunch (again). After that we went to the Eiffel Tower and climbed as high as you can before taking the elevator to the top. It was cold but the views were amazing. I have low patience so I hated waiting in the lines but in the end it was definitely worth it. I was just sad my battery was messed up so I couldn't take pictures. But Rebecca and I did the jumping photos in front of the tower. We laughed so hard and just had a great time entertaining the other tourists and locals with our attempts at capturing the perfect photo. We also discovered this one moving sidewalk in the Paris metro that was springy and took photos skipping down it until a local took offense and started shouting at us in French. The next day the museums were once again open, they were also free! Rebecca went to Versaille in the morning but having been recently I did not feel the need to be assaulted by large tourist groups at Versaille. I'd save that for the Musee D'Orsay. I enjoyed a leisurely morning strolling along the Rive Guache (left bank) of Paris. In the afternoon I met Rebecca online at the entrance to the D'Orsay. I have to admit I was disappointed by the D'Orsay. The area where they keep the Impressionist paintings are under construction. But since not showing them would cause riots, they moved them into really tight corridors on the first floor. Basically you had no room to look at a painting without being elbowed by another tourist. Furthermore you didn't have enough distance between yourself and the painting to actually really see the whole picture. One of the greatest things about Impressionism is the way a work can change as you move from being a foot away to staring at it across a room but that's not possible in a 6 foot wide hallway. It was nice to look at the Impressionists they are distinctly different from all of the Madonnas with Child and naked Goddesses I've been staring at all semester. The next morning we left Paris for London. We took the train which was really cool although I slept through most of it.

The best part of going from Paris to London was getting two more passport stamps. I just think passport stamps are so cool. The only downside was that the woman in the UK part of passport control grilled me to an almost insulting point. I listed my occupation as student and she said, "How much time are you taking of school for this trip?" I told her none I've been studying in Florence and now the semester is over and I'm on break. She asked how I was paying for it. I said from my savings, and she condescendingly asked if that meant I had a job. I didn't enjoy being treated as if I was likely to be the next great burden on the British state. Our hostel was very nice, right by Hyde Park and the Victoria and Albert Museum. After lunch at a neighborhood Indian restaurant, Rebecca and I went to the National Gallery. We went through half the museum before it was closing time and having missed some of the works we most wanted to see, we decided to return the next morning. That night we had Thai food for dinner. The only thing that would have made me happier than being united with chicken pad thai would have been a reunion with sushi. After dinner we went to one of the local pubs where I was happily reunited with Stongbow. The next morning we returned to the National Gallery and saw the second half of the Museum. I was really happy because we got to see Bronzino's Allegory of Venus and Cupid. In fact we spent so long in the National Gallery that we had to take a lunch break in the cafe. In the past few weeks I think I have become an expert on Museum cafes and I have to say the one in the National Gallery is the best by far. With the cafe in the Belvedere Museum in Vienna in second, the Tate Britain in third, and the one in the Louvre not worth considering. We left the museum, eventually, and walked along the bank of the Thames. We stopped to look at the globe and warm up a little in a Starbucks. I realized I have a somewhat embarrassing love of Starbucks. Then we went to Saint Paul's Cathedral. I can say with pride that during the past semester I have been to the three largest Cathedrals in the world: the Duomo in Florence, St. Paul's in London, and of course St. Peter's in Rome. After that I went back to the hostel because I wasn't feeling very well. Rebecca and I had Indian for dinner (again). We went to an Indian restaurant that I'd first been to when I was in London freshman year for the Shakespeare program. It was as excellent as I remembered it being 3 years ago. The next morning Rebecca left and went back to America, by way of Italy. I went to the Tate Britain to spend some quality time with the Pre-Raphaelites and the Turners. Which was amazing. I never get tired of seeing those paintings. I also tried to go into Westminster and see the halls of Parliament but unfortunately no tours were being given. The next day I walked around London and just enjoyed being in a city where English was spoken.

On Friday I went shopping in the morning. I'd intended just to window shop and if I saw a dress for the ball at Oxford I would have purchased something. However my downfall came at Top Shop. Did I find a dress? No, but I did find a pair of ankle boots which I had been searching for since January. Friday afternoon I got on the bus for Oxford to be reunited with Abby. We enjoyed a dinner of traditional pub food and then relaxed for a bit before going on a pub crawl. Which was a lot of fun. Saturday was the day of the St. Hugh's (Abby's college) ball. Abby and I spent the day shopping to see if I could find a dress and to pick up a few accessories from Primark. I spent 14 quid at Primark and bought a pair of high heels, a pair of flats, and sunglasses. I can only imagine that I am enabling the most horrifying labor conditions imaginable but for once my Jewish guilt doesn't seem to be working. I couldn't find a dress so I borrowed a little black dress from one of Abby's friends.

The Ball had a Secret Garden theme. It was so much fun. They had carnival rides, tons of different music venues, and awesome food and drink vendors. The only down side was the fact that it was about 10 degrees too cold for comfort. There was a huge variety of food and drinks from wine and beer to a bathtub full of Pimms. There was also everything from falafal to do icecream, to sausage and mash. The music ranged from jazz to a Queen cover band. I thoroughly enjoyed eating, drinking, and running around listening to music all night. Especially since I did it in fantastic company.

On Sunday Abby took me on a tour of Oxford. We wandered around some of the more famous Colleges and their beautiful grounds. Oxford is as gothic, stately, and is covered in enough coats of arms to make even me happy. For dinner I had a final meal at an Indian restaurant. Unfortunately I had to get up at the crack of dawn to get to the airport for my inevitably delayed flight to Vienna.

Farewell Firenze

I'm sitting in the common room of my hostel in London. My program ended a week ago and I miss it. I'm going to be traveling for the next month until June 3rd when I will return to the USA. So much has happened that I never wrote about. So I'm going to try and give brief recaps of my last month in Florence.

Abby came and spent the last few days of march/first few days in April with me. We spent a day in Milan where we wandered around and talked about life, working, study abroad, and the horrifying but inevitable life after college. Abby also had dinner with my host family one night, we brought dessert for them. Which as always with my host family was a huge success.

Abby left on Easter weekend.

Which leads to its own "adventure." My host family told me about the traditional Italian Easter cake called a Colombo. My roommate and I were naturally very excited about the prospect of another kind of cake. On Easter morning my roommate and I woke up to the sounds of my host mother sobbing. On Easter morning her dog, Lilly, got hit by a car and was killed. Needless to say no one really had a happy Easter. Tracey and I went out to dinner that night. Which was easily the highlight of the day. We went to Baldovino, one of my favorite restaurants where we ate and drank copious amounts of food. We were just happy we found an open restaurant with a table available on Easter Sunday in the pouring rain. A few days later we got to try the Easter cake and it was delicious although everyone missed Lilly until the very end.

The next weekend I went to Venice with my 16th century art class. The trip was awesome. We saw tons of paintings by Titian and Tintoretto. Who are probably my two favorite artists of the Italian Renaissance. The weather was also perfect for the entire trip, which is always a bonus.

The next week was rather uneventful. I spent lots of time rehearsing for Romeo and Juliet. And denying the fact that I had to prepare for exams and eventually leaving florence.

The Next major highlight of my trip was easily the beach day I took at Viarreggio with my friends Ellie and Evan. We relaxed on the beach, soaked up the sun, and completely denied the existence of our rapidly approaching finals and the end of the program. By the end of the day Ellie was very burned, Evan was somewhat burned, and I had an epic tan (and maybe a minor burn or two).

On the last day of the program we finally performed our production of Romeo and Juliet. Somehow the show came together in to a fun and funny production. I loved working with everyone on that show. It was a great way to cap off a brilliant semester. That night I had my final dinner with Sandra, Cosimo, and Tracey. They bought Trace..y and I gifts, which caused me to tear up a little bit. They gave me three kinds of tea and Tracey a tin of espresso to make with her new espresso machine. Once finished with dinner everyone from SUF went to the outdoor bar in Piazza Savonarola for a drink and to say goodbye. Talking to my friend and fellow Renaissance studies major, Jean, I realized that I was going to miss being in a city where the Medici had stamped their balls all over everything.

Now I'm in London, tomorrow I'm going to see Abbey in Oxford. I've already been to Paris (again) and will soon head to Vienna, Berlin, Lisbon, and Italy. I miss Florence terribly but I'm excited for what lies ahead.

Gothic Isn't Actually Gothic!!!!!

I went to Paris from March 25-28th. It was an absolutely amazing trip that made my inner nerd unbelievably happy. It also made me realize that I should have stuck with my French, since apparently all I needed to get into every museum for free was a little bit of French and the bright orange card with the emergency contact numbers for SU Florence (I think it was really the French). Anyway I'm going to attempt to tell the story in a semi-organized and chronological fashion. I left for Paris on thursday night. The flight was fine although Ryanair pilots really need to practice their landing skills. We flew into Beauvais airport which is like flying into Newark when you want to go to NYC. I'm serious about the Newark part. The first 3 things we saw on the bus ride from the airport into Paris were a McDonalds, a Buffalo Grill, and a power plant. This naturally begged the question where are we? Is this France or the Jersey turnpike? The question was finally resolved an hour later when the Eiffel Tower came into view.

I began the next day at the breakfast buffet. Where I reconnected with French croissants. I love Italy and Italian food but French croissants hold a special place in my heart. After breakfast I went to St. Chapelle in the morning with my friend Catherine. St. Chappelle was built by the St. Louis IX to house relics that his mother brought back from the Holy Land. It is a jewel box with stained glass windows comprising the majority of the interior. Unfortunately the apse was under restoration; but seeing the difference in the cleaned and uncleaned windows convinced me that the inconvenience was worthwhile and I would simply have to return when the restoration is complete.

After St. Chapelle we went to the Louvre and met up with Professor Hatfield and the rest of the students on the trip. We had to wait around for a bit while we got our tickets and the professor got permission to lecture. In the mean time we discovered something that made every American heart sing, yes I am talking about the siren song of Starbucks. With a Starbucks hot chocolate in hand the wait seemed much shorter.In the Louvre we started with some statues from ancient Greece, including everyone's favorite the Winged Victory. From there we marched on the the central focus of our trip Renaissance art! The Louvre has the best collection of almost every kind of art. I saw tons of paintings by Leonardo, Titian, Giorgione, and of course Da Vinci. I also "saw" the Mona Lisa as well as anyone can see it since they don't allow people within 20 feet of the painting. But after elbowing aside some Asian tourists (don't get me started) I got as close as you can get. What can I say it's the Mona Lisa. From their I happily proceeded onto the works I prefer by Raphael and Titian. Professor Hatfield, who was leading the trip, gave a great lecture in front of a portrait of Castiglione by Raphael. Once we had finished with the Italian Renaissance we decided to skip several centuries, move to France, and focus on the large scale paintings from the late 18th and early 19th century. My favorite room was the one I like to refer to as the room of the Barnes and Nobles classic edition paintings. Basically it was all the French monumental paintings that now grace the covers of my Barnes and Nobles editions of War and Peace and Les Miserables. I think there were probably a few more book covers in there but I don't remember which books. Although I have to admit that the painting that really got me excited was Napoleon Crowning Josephine. In addition to loving the Renaissance I must admit I have a minor obsession with Napoleonic era. Naturally I had to have a photograph next to that painting. The final stop on the Hatfield lecture tour of the Louvre (or at least the last one I cared about) was to look at the Canova statue Cupid and Phsyce. I am obsessed with this statue for several reasons. First of all it is a beautiful statue. Seco

nd of all George Balanchine quotes the statue in his Elegie section of Serenade which is one of my favorite ballets. I was secretly incredibly disappointed that I wasn't at the museum with 2 other ballet dancers and there for we couldn't do the Serenade based on the statue next to the statue. Instead I had to content myself with standing awkwardly next to the statue in a picture since I didn't think my classmates would understand why I was having them pose like that. I also thought they wouldn't look too good posing that way. I briefly contemplated the death of an Asian tourist who pretended to touch the statue in a picture she had her friends take and was leaning so far over the statue that she could easily have fallen over and onto the statue. However I really don't need to experience the French jail system. Although they might consider it a justifiable homicide. When our tour of the Louvre with professor Hatfield ended I decided I wanted to wander around the museum for a while. I really wanted to go see the period rooms. I have a huge soft spot for the decorative arts. I was sad I couldn't find the Cellini Saltcellar or any of Charlemagne's stuff. I left the Louvre when I felt as if I was going cross-eyed and my head might explode from too much art. I decided the best cure for this was shopping on the Rue du Dragon. The last time I was in Paris that was a street of amazing shoe stores. On my way to the street I did find my favorite chocolate shop in Paris, unfortunately I don't know how to spell their name. Unfortunately there were only 3 shoe stores left on the Rue du Dragon. I cannot tell you how devastating this was. I decided I might as well wander around the neighborhood and see what was their now. Like a moth to flame I was drawn to the Repetto store. I could not resist going in and looking at the leotards even though I wasn't going to buy anything. After window shopping for a few hours I met up with my friends by the Eiffel Tower and we went to dinner. Now the French may think that the Eiffel Tower is a hideous tourist attraction and I blight on the landscape but personally I don't care. Something about it just makes me happy and I love the way it's lit at night. I had dinner with my friends Sam and Zoe at a cute bistro by our hotel. Zoe and I split a plate of escargots for an appetizer and they were delicious. Anything cooked in olive oil and garlic is delicious. After dinner I went home and passed out.

The next morning I enjoyed more French croissants before heading off to Chartes and Versailles. Chartes is a town outside of Paris with one of the 3 famous French Gothic Cathedrals. First of all the town of Chartes is absolutely adorable. It is charming and French

and you could just picture Belle from Beauty and the Beast wandering around the town singing. At Chartes you can observe the development of the French Gothic style in architecture, sculpture and stained glass. The Cathedral like St. Chapel is currently under restoration. A decent amount of the facade has been cleaned. Staring at the half cleaned facade you realize that the cleaned stone is a completely different color than the unclean stone. Looking at some of the columns was rather like gazing at a black and white cookie. Now it may sound like I'm stating the obvious but until this trip if anyone had asked me what color stones were used in gothic cathedrals I would not have hesitated to say gray. And I would be completely wrong. The stone is actually white or off white. Again I'm sure you're wondering what the big deal is but the affect of off white stone as opposed to gray is striking. It's even more astounding on the inside

particularly with cleaned stain-glass windows. The effect is bright, airy, and colorful. Not dark, oppressive and gothic. I found myself questioning every assumption I had ever made about Gothic architecture as well as most of what I had leaned about it. My friend Cathy and I felt impelled to debate the meaning of Gothic architecture over lunch. Our final conclusion was that gothic architecture isn't actually gothic. Gothic cathedrals if they are cleaned just can't function with the word gothic as it applies to novels, clothing, or interior decoration.

The next stop on our field trip was Versailles. While the Gothic nature of Chartes can be debated, Versailles is definitely Baroque. I was incredibly proud of myself because with my limited memory of French, my international student ID and the SUF emergency contact card I managed to talk my way into free admission at Versailles. I was really happy to save around 15 euro on admission. My friends were all in line behind me and since they didn't speak french just smiled and said "moi aussi." Wandering around Versailles was a lot of fun. Cathy, Zoe, and I questioned Louis XIV's taste in statuary because porphyry and yellow marble look hideous together. Before entering Versailles we'd gotten a brief lecture from one of the TAs on the trip about life in Versailles. We learned that men could spend their days reading, writing, dancing, hawking, hunting, and flirting. Women had fewer options they could sit, stand, walk, sit, read, sew, sit, produce babies, and sit. In Versailles we saw all of the many seating options available to women. After wandering around Versailles we went out to the famous gardens. In the gardens we appreciated their symmetrically. Cathy was particularly fond

of this trait insisting that we walk down the center of the stairs rather than the ramps on either side so that "We can be symmetrical." She was very disappointed to learn that you couldn't walk through the exact center all the way down the length of the garden.

Upon our return to Paris, Cathy and I went to the Latin Quarter for dinner. We were rather disappointed to find that it has just become a massive tourist trap. However wandering down a side street we found an adorable bistro. We both had the salad with duck breast and chocolate cake for dessert. It was an absolutely fantastic dinner. Afterwards we returned to our hotel room where we continued to discuss Chartres Cathedral and our revelations concerning Gothic architecture.

The next day after a few minor problems with Springing Ahead and even more croissants Cathy and I made our way to the Orangerie which contains some fantastic large scale Monet water lilies. They were in fact created for the Orangerie which was really cool to see. After that we had what might be my favorite meal of the trip. Japenese food! We found a little Japenese restaurant (unfortunately no sushi) that did a 9 euro lunch of gyoza and ramen noodle soup. It was delicious and fantastic. I've missed Japanese food so much. It was the perfect way to end my trip to Paris.

p.s. Did you know mustard is a liquid? I discovered this when the airport security confiscated a jar I had bought for my mother.

It's Not Inappropriate, It's Shakespeare

It's been almost a month since I last wrote. It's been one of those months where I never felt like I was doing an awful lot but never seemed to have much time either. At first I thought I haven't done much that's worth writing about. Upon further reflection I feel that is completely untrue. So I'm now going to attempt to make up for a month of silence. This may come in no particular order whatsoever or in several posts.

The best place to begin is with the production of Romeo and Juliet that I am stage managing this semester. Working on that show has really ensured that my time in Florence has been a positive experience that I will look back on and remember with a smile. What's better than taking random lines of Shakespeare out of context and using them to make inappropriate jokes (not that they are appropriate in context either). I also like the fact that most people seem perplexed by the occasional incidents of thumb biting.

I went to Vicenza and Padua with my dramatic literature class (which contains most of the cast of Romeo and Juliet) for a day. In Vicenza we saw the the Teatro Olimpico which was designed by Palladio and is the first example of set design with perfect perspective. The set was built at the same time as the theater and was meant to be used only for the inaugural production of Oedipus Rex however it was so awesome that they couldn't bring themselves to tear it down. And I have to say thank god. Picturing that set in a ye olde Renaissance dumpster is enough to make me cry. The theater is truely a work of art. I wanted nothing more than to leap onto the stage. However since getting arrested in Italy isn't something I want to try, I restrained my self.

After that I went to Padua with the goal of wiving it wealthily. Actually I we went to the University and toured the university and the chapel with the Giotto frescoes. However the highlight of of our visit was when we saw the celebration for recent university graduates. When an Italian student gets their doctorate, their friends make them dress in ridiculous outfits, recite dirty poems and songs, and drink... alot. It was hilarious to watch however it also made me glad that I will not get a doctorate in Italy. Although great to watch the celebrations are also a sort of hazing ritual, the kind that is illegal in the US. And as funny as it was to watch a engineering grad get is back waxed while drinking, reading a dirty poem, with a cow's tongue down his shorts I really wouldn't want that to be me. But I have no compunction about giving me sense of schadenfreude free reign to revel in another's pain.

During spring break I decided to leave Florence and explore other cities in Europe. My first stop was Aix-en-Provence to see my good friend Sophia. Aix is a completely charming French town. Built on several natural springs there are fountains all over town. Furthermore, everyone was very nice and friendly to the often confused American girl wandering around speaking French poorly. In Aix I went to the tapestry museum that was filled with awesome tapestries (of course) of scenes from Don Quixote. They also had an exhibit of theatrical sketches which were awesome. Most of them were of French actors and Directors however there was one wall of ballet and dance sketches. Seeing them made me quite happy. My first night in Aix I had dinner at a restaurant called Les Deux Garcons. The hotel staff recommended it and I'm really glad I went. It was one of the most expensive meals of my trip but completely worth it. I was sitting next to an older couple that were eating some kind of soup that I felt I needed to try. It was a seafood bisque (don't ask what kind of seafood because I don't know) that you added cheese topped croutons too. While the Italians would not approve of the seafood and cheese combination, I thought it was excellent. Naturally I ordered a Provencal Rosé to accompany my meal. The restaurant also offers everyone who orders the soup a second helping at no additional cost. This made me very happy. In fact only a HUGE plate of profiterols for dessert could have made me any happier. Luckily that's what I ordered. That was probably the highlight of my eating in France, except for all the pastry. Aix is an excellent pastry town. I brought chocolate filled cookies back to Italy for my host family since we are all addicted to dessert. Naturally I also enjoyed eating French croissants. I don't know what the difference is (I assume it's the amount of butter) but croissants just don't taste the same outside of France. Now on to the things that really matter and for once I don't mean my next meal. Seeing Sophia was an absolutely wonderful experience. Going abroad has truly affected us in ways that I can see but won't be able to explain for a long time. Seeing Sophia was nice it was great to be able to talk to someone from home, to tell old jokes, and comment on the things we miss back home. Like the inexplicable craving for peanut butter that I feel almost every week.

The next stop on my trip was Madrid. This was probably my least favorite stop during Spring Break but it's all relative and I still had a fantastic time. Once I started planning my break I knew that my stop in Lisbon was to see the museums. I went to all 3 of Spain's major museums. The Prado, the Reina Sophia, and the Thyssen. I arrived in Madrid at around 4pm on Sunday afternoon. I took about an hour to get settled an oriented. The hotel where I was staying was within 10 minutes of all the major museums. So I decided that the perfect way to spend my first evening in Madrid was by going to the Prado. I was inside the Prado by 5:15 and stayed until it closed at 8. The Prado has a fantastic collection of Italian Renaissance masters, particularly Titian who was a favorite of Charles V. The Prado also has hundreds of works by the two greatest Spanish Masters, Velasquez and Goya. I enjoyed wandering around the Prado until it was about to close and I thought my head would explode from sensory overload. At moments like that the application of wine and tapas is the only known restorative. So I headed to a tapas bar that had been recommended to me and was near the Prado. I had my first glass of rioja in Madrid and a sandwich with chorizo. When I left the first tapas bar it was only 8:45 so I decided to walk across town for my dinner. After wandering leisurely and occasionally getting lost, I reached a street full of restaurants. I let restaurant radar do the selecting for me and wound up having a fantastic dinner with croquettas de jamon, a seafood pintos, and the ever present glass of rioja. Once I was finished I was feeling quite sleepy. Travel, looking at great art until your head will explode, copious tapas and rioja has been known to have that effect. I wandered back to my hotel and went to bed. On Monday most of the museums except the Reina Sophia. Naturally that is where I started my day. The Reina Sophia is Spain's modern art museum. I'll be honest and tell you freely that I don't particularly like or understand Modern Art. Now this is a highly general statement and I will admit it is frequently proven untrue. But overall I just feel bored and slightly confused when staring at Modern Art. Having just told you how much I dislike modern art I should mention that I do have quite the soft spot for Picasso, but then again who doesn't? The Reina Sophia is the home of Picasso's Guernica which depicts the brutality war and the slaughter of innocents. I saved that painting for last. Some other highlights of the museum included political cartoons by Goya, other Picasso paintings, and Salvador Dali. Staring at Dali is always fun his paintings are bizarre however I felt slightly underwhelmed. In the Prado is the Garden of Earthly Delights which was painted in the Renaissance, roughly 500 years before Dali ever held a paint brush. Yet there is a certain similarity between the images that appear Garden of Earthly Delights to those of Dali. Dali no longer seems so unique or crazy to me. Guernica, however, did not disappoint in anyway. I can't describe the affect that the painting had on me. Part of the impact lies in the fact that Picasso makes no effort towards realism instead he allows simple shapes to convey complex ideas and emotions. After leaving the museum I decided to wander in search of lunch. My wanderings led me to the Mercado San Miguel. At the mercado I went to a seafood stall and began with a plate of tiny cold shrimp. They were delicious really sweet with just a hint of salt. However it was chilly and the food was also chilled so by the time I finished them I was cold. I decided to order a bowl of seafood soup next. It was an amazing seafood and vegetable soup with clams, shrimp, cod, mushrooms, and other vegetables. It was warm and so filling. After that I could have left full and content but I my way out I passed a stand selling various empanadas and felt the need to get a chorizo empanada. And I'm so glad I did eating it made me so happy. After leaving the market I was a hot second away from a food coma and decided the best course of action would be a siesta. The rest of the day was unremarkable with the exception of my trip to the Museo del Jamon where I had my special treat: a plate of Jamon Iberico Bellota. As I consumed that rich, buttery, acorn-fed piggy I felt at peace with the world. Tuesday was my final day in Madrid. My plan was to begin with the Thyssen-Museum in the morning, break for lunch, the visit the Naval and Decorative Arts Museums, and possibly return to the Prado if I had time to kill. My visit to the Thyssen was wonderful. They had a special exhibit of Monet and his influence on later modern and abstract artists. I actually really liked this exhibit and thought it had been very thoughtfully curated. Plus who doesn't like the water lilies? After that I went back to the Mercado San Miguel for empanadas, seafood pintos, and churros con chocolate for lunch. I then went to the Naval and Decorative Arts Museums and discovered to my horror and despair that they closed at 2pm. This lead me to do what any mature 21 year old would do in this situation. I found a sunny bench and proceeded to sulk for a full 45 minutes. Still having the whole afternoon ahead of my I decided to return to the Prado. There I spent more time among the Goya and Velasquez paintings. I also saw their special exhibit called the Art of Power. Which showed armor, tapestry, and portrait and their uses for projecting the power of the Hapsburg dynasty in Spain. I'm really glad I got to go back to the Prado but I'm still bitter about missing the other two museums. My visit to Madrid ended with a night train to Lisbon. I actually enjoyed the ride. It was much more pleasant than my train to France.

Lisbon is an absolutely wonderful city. I spent my first day their wandering around the neighborhood of my hostel and reading a book I had picked up called The History of the World in Ten and a Half Chapters on a sunny bench. Lisbon manages to walk that fine line between slightly grungy yet charming and sketchy. Although some of the tiles covering the houses are slightly dirty and occasionally broken it just adds to the charm of the city. My hostel offers dinner every night for 8 euro. I decided it would be nice to grab dinner there and possibly meet a few other people from my hostel. It turns out that one of the very first people I met was a cook from San Francisco named Travis. Naturally we became friends while talking about food, working in restaurants, food again, Anthony Bourdain (aka God), and eating. There were also a group of Belgian students staying at my hostel who were impressed by my love of Top Gear. After dinner several of us went to a jazz club that was having an open mic jazz night. So we listened to some really talented amateur musicians and talked. One of the Belgian's gave Travis and I a huge complement. We were the first American's he'd met that he actually enjoyed talking to. He knew American's like us existed before we met because John Stewart is American but he'd never actually met American's like John Stewart (or us). Being told that I am in any way, shape, or form as cool as John Stewart is a huge compliment in my life. On Thursday I decided to explore farther afield. I set 2 conditions for my wandering. First I would only look at the map if/when I got completely lost. 2nd I would only wander uphill. That way when i was tired I would only have to walk downhill. I ended up finding a beautiful vista that had a small cafe set up and tons of people relaxing and enjoying the view of the water. Finding that spot was probably the highlight of my wanderings and I could see myself going back there frequently but for the fact that I'm no longer in Lisbon. Thursday night I had dinner at the hostel again. In addition to Travis and the Belgians there was now an Australian cook, named Jeff, staying at the hostel. Needless to say Jeff, Travis, and I once again bonded over all things food related. After dinner the Belgians took us all to a bar for lots of drinks. I still can't get over the music played at bars and clubs in Europe. The music tends to be between 3 and 30 years behind music in the US. On Thursday night I heard everything from 80s pop to songs from Grease (which was high school promtastic). On Friday I took it easy and on Friday night I went to see Alice in Wonderland in 3D. I'm not sure which was better. The movie or the really odd Portuguese commercials and coming attractions which I did not understand at all. I would like to think my confusion stemmed from a lack of knowledge of Portuguese but honestly the commercials made no sense. There was a 5 minute beer commercial that had no words and it took me 3 minutes to realize it was a beer commercial. Now the movie itself was fantastic and I would see it over and over again. On Saturday I went to Belem and saw the maritime museum and ate some of the local pastries. Frankly Saturday was basically my perfect day. It combined a history museum and pastry with an awesome lunch of octopus and shrimp in rice thrown in for bonus points. On Sunday I returned to Florence. My trip home sucked and never be in the Milan train station after 11 that is all I will say on the subject.

The Land of Beer and Waffles

This weekend I went to Brussels and I loved every second of my trip (except for the traveling part). Brussels is a beautiful city, the food is great, the beer is amazing and cheap, and the people are really nice. Originally Brussels was just an inexpensive city to visit with my friends Emi and Shira. I knew they had great beers and good food but that was about it. Getting to Brussels from Florence is an adventure in of itself, since I chose to fly ryanair which leaves from Pisa. Of course my flight was late taking off. The pilot was mediocre and the landing was incredibly turbulent, slightly terrifying and rather sickening. Eventually I did make it to Brussels. One of the first things to catch my attention was how multi-cultural Brussels was. Despite doing my best to keep in touch with the outside world through the newspaper, I'd forgotten that people other than Europeans, Americans, and Asian tourists ever came to Europe. Despite a slightly rough start to my trip I quickly began to enjoy my time in Brussels.

Emi, Shira, and their friend Jen are all studying in Geneva. The four of us started our night at the Grande Place, which is an absolutely beautiful square in the city center. Here you can see my failed attempt at night photography.

After wandering around the Grand Place and the surrounding neighborhood we decided we were ready to find to things: the famed Mannequin Pis and some waffles. In case you can't guess from the name the Mannequin Pis is a statue of a little boy peeing. Apparently it is also a symbol of Belgium and has been compared to the Eiffel Tower in France. Personally I don't see the similarity. One of them is a very large tower, the other is about the size of an American Girl Doll and it pees. While underwhelming the statue is at the same time rather funny. And the Belgians seem to love it as they reproduce versions of it, in chocolate. Anyway, the four of us got our waffles and enjoyed their amazing deliciousness while contemplating the bizarre phenomenon that is the Mannequin Pis. After finishing our waffles we felt ready to take on another crucial facet of Belgian culture, the beer. Our first stop on our journey of discovery into Belgian beer-land was a bar called Celtica (because what is more typically Belgian than an Irish Pub?) While their selection of beers on tap were primarily English and Irish, they did have a large selection of bottled Belgian beer. I began the night with 2 euro bottle of Duvel. For those of you familiar with Duvel you know that in the States a bottle costs around $10. After our first round of drinks we decided to move on to another bar, preferably one showing the France-Wales Rugby game on tv. After search for about 15 minutes we found shockingly another Irish pub. This one was called O'Reilly's. It was backed with fans of both the French and Welsh teams. My friends and I decided we were content to stay there and watch the game so we settled down, got a round of drinks, and watched a fantastic game. The first rugby game I ever saw was in England freshman year, Wales won. That same night was the first time I tried Strongbow. I decided it would be appropriate to come full-circle and order a Strongbow to enjoy the game. However this time, the Welsh team did not do so well. They were scoreless the first half of the game. While they had a fantastic comeback in the 2nd half (when the French team got lazy) they still lost. Watching the game was so much fun. Both the French and Welsh fans were prone to singing which made watching the game even more fun. I also started talking to a French student studying in Brussels while watching the game. It was really fun to talk to someone who wasn't American. When France finally won the match the fans started singing the Marseillaise. It was a fantastic moment in my life. After the game Emi, Shira, Jen, and I went in search of frites. We found a shop that basically just sold frites and split two huge packets. The guy asked if we wanted sauce and we said yes what's the most typically Belgian. When we found out the answer was mayonaise we asked for the 2nd most popular sauce. He told us it was Andelouse, a spicy sauce so we decided to try that and it was absolutely fantastic. After finishing our frites we returned to the first bar for another cheap round of 2 euro drinks. This time we tried a Belgian cider. While it wasn't my favorite drink of the night I still enjoyed myself. After leaving the bar we tried to get home, I say try because we failed at reading the tram schedule and thereby discovering which tram would get us home. Once we got that minor detail sorted out we got home while only being minorly creeped out by a guy lurking in a doorway.

The next day we decided to start with mini-Europe and the Atomium. Now I imagine mini-Europe is something like Epcot but I wouldn't actually know since it was closed. However the Atomium was really cool. It's a giant replica of a molecule that was constructed for the 1958 World's Fair in Brussels. After that we went to the EU campus, the Cathedral, a bunch of parks, the Grand Place, the Palais du Justice. We saw so many things I'm not even sure what we saw. I'm going to skip talking about dinner, it was nice but unexceptional. After dinner we went to a bar called Delirium Cafe and drank more yummy Belgian Beers. We all tried a beer that tasted like Gingerbread. It was a little strange but good. We referred to it as the cookie beer since the name was Flemish and therefor unpronounceable. I rather liked the cookie beer but at heart I like my Belgian Trappiste Ales.

Now Midterms are over (thank god) and I'm off to Aix-en-Provence, Madrid, and Lisbon for Spring break. Over the next 10 days I plan to eat my weight in chorizo and shrimp. When not eating I'll go to a few museums and do a bit of shopping.

Italian?!?!! I can barely manage English

We had the Romeo and Juliet auditions on Tuesday, and our first read through will be next Monday. For the audition I asked the actors to fill out a sheet that would let us know their feelings on cross-dressing, lines in Italian, and how large a role they were comfortable with. I asked them to circle the appropriate responses some highlights include, on the subject of cross-dressing included:

a. Yes, bring on the high heels/facial hair

b. No thanks, I have enough gender identity issues as is.

For speaking in Italian: No thanks, I can barely

manage English

And for a role size: A small role like the Wretched Apothecary would be perfect.

Here's a photo from the acting workshop involving a small fight over a bag of chips.

In other news I'm in the midst of midterms... Yay... Not even Italy can improve midterms. In my Italian class we went to an Italian high-school and talked to students studying English. They spoke to us in English and we tried to respond in Italian. Part of the challenge is the fact that when someone speaks to me in English I automatically want to respond in the same language. It was easier in someways because I didn't have to try to translate what they were saying, think of a response and then translate it into Italian. What that experience really taught me though, was that Italian teenagers have more style than I can ever aspire to. I never thought I'd want fashion tips from a 16 year old, but I do.

On Friday I'm heading off to Belgium for a weekend in Brussels with my friends Emi and Shira. I can't wait to see them! I've missed them way to much this semester. I'm looking forward to stuffing myself with beer, sausage, waffles, frites and yet undiscovered (by me) foodstuffs.