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.