Wilkommen

[This overdue post brought to you by the letter B, as in busy.]

So, Germany! My trip started on May 25, ten days after Amber had gone home. I took a train up to the central London, then the Piccadilly Line on the Tube all the way from St. Pancras/King’s Cross to Heathrow Terminal 1. It took about an hour and a half, and I just read the whole way.

I flew to Basel, Switzerland and took an hour-long shuttle bus to Freiburg im Breisgau. There had been something of a miscommunication as to when I was arriving, so I found myself alone at the bus stop. Fortunately my phone service works abroad. I called Allison to tell her I was there and she rushed over to find me. It was great to see her! She led me onto the tram and took me to her friend’s house. I met a bunch of her friends as they were having a cookout, and then she, Ryan and I went back to her apartment.

It was a really nice visit I got to give Al her various Christmas and birthday presents, which had just been sitting around my room for a long time. Mostly we just spent time together, which was refreshing compared to the almost constant travel I had been doing on my other trips out of England. Allison had to study for the LSAT fairly often, which was okay with me. I liked Freiburg a lot – it’s quintessential Germany in the Black Forest region, so I didn’t mind not seeing Berlin or Munich then. Since I’d been to Vienna already I had a sense of a German-culture city (although Vienna is technically in Austria). We explored the town, and one day we climbed the Münster cathedral tower, which offered a beautiful view of the town from above. And it was a good workout!

We also spent a day in Europa Park, a theme park comprised of different Western European “countries.” It was a pretty big Disney/EPCOT rip-off, but it was fun. Good coasters! Although I’m still not a fan of the European theme-park culture, which basically involves a lot of disorganized crowding. When the three of us were trying to hop the shuttle back to the train station, the mass of teenagers also waiting just rushed the bus. I’m too short to be packed in by a bunch of people! It was really hot out that day, so it was difficult to breathe in that situation, but Ryan helped give Al and I some space. :)

Allison of course introduced me to German chocolate, food, and beer. We went to a brewery called Fierling one night, and on my last night there we went to a restaurant called Grandma’s Kitchen. It was delicious! I’m a very big fan of schnitzel and spatzle now. Once Al and I went to a Viennese café and had cake and coffee. Lots of good eating, all in all…good thing I wasn’t there for more than a week!

The day I went back to England didn’t run as smoothly as I’d hoped. I took the bus back to Basel airport for my return flight. When I arrived, I found Swiss Air wouldn’t let me check in because the flight was overbooked. They gave me two options. I could: a) fly back the next day or b) take a bus to the train station, take a train to Zurich airport, and a British Airways flight to Heathrow. But, the employee warned me, the travel times were incredibly close together, and there was naturally opportunity for missed departures.

I considered this choice. Traveling Switzerland by myself? Surrounded by strangers who probably didn’t speak much English? Without a Swiss franc to my name? The chance for it all to go horribly wrong?

Bring it on.

I’m so glad I did! The Swiss countryside was gorgeous for the two hours I spent looking at it on the train. I saw many cute towns that reminded me of the miniature villages Mom would always let me arrange as part of her Halloween and Christmas decorations. Some interesting characters were on the train, including a very tall, thin man who wore a cowboy hat and a constant grin. Fortunately I made it to my gate with ten minutes to spare despite being randomly searched at security (a pretty good record; I hadn’t been searched since coming back from Edinburgh in November). I made it to Heathrow around six o’ clock UK time, and for my “trouble” Swiss Air compensated me with £110.

The only real downside to the day was that, with all the running around to various travel points – Freiburg to Basel, Basel to Zurich, Zurich to London, then Heathrow to Paddington Station, and Paddington to St. Pancras – I hadn’t been able to eat anything! I felt like I was carrying knives in my stomach by the time I made it to St. Pancras. Fortunately I had an hour until the next train to Canterbury, so I sat down at Yo!Sushi and ate until I wasn’t hungry anymore.

By the time I got back to Canterbury, I was too tired to bother waiting on a bus and splurged on a taxi to my house.

Since then I’ve been preparing to leave! It’s been boring without any other trips to look forward to, but I’ve been spending time with my friends and enjoying the free time.

Amber Visits!

One week after I returned from my Italy/France trip, Amber arrived! I went and found her at the Canterbury West train station on April 28th. It was so good to see her, I was completely overjoyed! I hadn’t seen her in eight months! Although she’s usually lived in another town since I was in sixth grade, we’re still very close, and I’m pretty sure we’ve never gone that long without seeing each other. She was excited to go to Marks & Spencer, so the first thing we did was get groceries.

Her visit was well divided between relaxed and busy. The day after she arrived was the Royal Wedding, so we made my French toast crumpets with blueberries and mimosas and watched William and Kate get hitched, courtesy of the Royal Family broadcasting the event on YouTube. We had fun recognizing various family members and celebrities while trying to decide why any woman would put on such silly hats. Anything for Her Majesty, I suppose.

Our first day trip was to Dover, a really lovely historical town only a thirty-minute bus ride from Canterbury. We had really nice weather that I believe followed me home from the Continent (although this is has progressed into a dry spell for Southeast England). We strolled through the city center a bit, then took a bus up to Dover Castle.

History Lesson 1: This castle was designed for the court of King Henry II and, because it’s on the coast of the shortest distance to France and the rest of Western Europe, as a guard point. Thomas Becket was slain by Henry II’s personal knights in Canterbury Cathedral, for which the King did penance by walking barefoot from Dover Castle to the cathedral and accepting a flogging by all 70 monks there. Later, he built the Great Tower, a keep in the castle with walls 21 feet thick, which would have impressed foreign travellers making the pilgrimage to Canterbury.

History Lesson 2: There are once-but-no-longer-secret wartime tunnels underneath the castle that were used during the Napoleonic struggles and World War II as a means of defending the home front from Nazi-controlled France. We went inside on a tour of the underground hospital, where soldiers were kept and treated. The bunk rooms, kitchen, operating rooms, even the lavatories had been set up as a sort of time-travel attraction with sounds and smells to go along with it. It was interesting.

Plus we saw some White Cliffs!

We also visited Brighton (two hours away by train). It was a popular destination during King George III's time as his son, the future King George IV, lived an expensive and scandalous life there. We took an audio tour in George IV's Royal Pavilion, built by John Nash, which is a magnificent late-1700s palace, full of over-the-top décor, including the Chinoiserie style. We also had tea there. So fun! Afterward we strolled down to the shore and took a look at Brighton Pier. It's quite gimmicky - really the whole city has gone resort - but kind of cool to see. We also did fish n' chips that day at a Harry Ramsden's we happened across. It's a restaurant chain in the UK that also sold fish n' chips at EPCOT. Funny.

But of course the trip we were MOST excited about was Disneyland Paris! We spent four days and three nights there. We had a lot of mixed feelings. The park is beautiful! Sleeping Beauty's Castle is absolutely gorgeous, with a lot of dedication to the original film art. Unfortunately, because it was May and thus pre-peak season, a lot of maintenance was going on. The castle had scaffolding around it and several of its chambers were closed. Same with a few attractions around the park. Sad! I would have liked to go upstairs in the castle...but we had a good time. We were kind of disappointed in some of the organization, cleanliness standards, and cast member enthusiasm. As far as I can tell, there just isn't the same sense of duty to Walt Disney's demands for a family theme park as in the Stateside parks. But a few attractions like "Phantom Manor" (Haunted Mansion) were completely different. We actually agreed that "It's A Small World" is better at Paris than in Orlando or Anaheim, and we rode it three or four times. A Stitch interactive attraction was VERY well done. We also got to see some characters in different costumes, like Mulan dressed as a soldier instead of a prospective bride. We just didn't like that the food wasn't all that great (I mean, it's France!) and that the park culture there seemed to be highly impolite, as I would have confirmed later on in my visit to Germany. But it was really cool to see how an international park is run, and of course there's no better person to visit a Disney park with than Amb.

This photo was not staged to make us look so similar. It's just coincidentally freaky like this.

The next couple of days after we returned from DLP I needed to study for my one and only exam, Elizabethan Drama. Amber didn't mind lounging and reading while I worked, and we did explore Canterbury some more. Since she's a theatre person, I had someone to toss ideas at. Note: Since then I have learned that I have all A's in my classes, at least until I get the results of my exam back! There you go, Grandpa!

Immediately after my exam on May 9, we went up to London! We decided to stay two nights there so that we would have at least one full day in London before Amber left. Our hotel was on Finchley Road in Zone 2. The first night we hadn't time to do much of anything, so we went to a nearby shopping center and had dinner at the fabulous Yo!Sushi chain, then went to see "Water For Elephants" at the cinema.

The next day, we had a full day in town. We started with breakfast at the hotel, then off to Piccadilly Circus via Tube where we scrambled around a bit trying to find the beginning point for our hop-on, hop-off bus tour around central London. The tour was a good idea (of Amber's). We saw a good deal for the time we had to work with, and we also watched the changing of the guards at Buckingham (fun!), explored the National Gallery, walked through Harrod's, and ate at the original Hard Rock Café, also buying T-shirts, before nipping back to the hotel.

I do believe Big Ben is my favorite London sight.

Then it was off to Stratford-upon-Avon! It's unbelievable how much colder it gets just by going north of London. I don't know how northerners handle it! I'm glad I live in the beautiful Kent in the southeast. Much warmer down here. Our B&B, Broadlands Guest House, was about a ten minute walk from the station. The people who run it, Jeremy and Tamara, were absolutely lovely people - completely friendly, open, and accommodating. The room we had was little, but very clean and charming. We walked about five minutes to the city centre and had a full tea which, consisting of scones, finger sandwiches and desserts, doubled as lunch. Hathaway's Team Rooms, it was called. It's the best tea I've had in my whole time here! We roamed about, seeing Trinity Church where William Shakespeare, his wife and daughter are buried. Beautiful little church! There was also Shakespeare's birthplace. Most of the shops in Stratford-upon-Avon play upon the Shakespearean as a business strategy, including a great sweets shop! It's a really beautiful town.

But the highlight of the visit, naturally, was seeing "The Merchant of Venice" at the Royal Shakespeare Theatre. All I can say is, the Royal Shakespeare Company knows what it's doing. It was the first non-university Shakespeare production I'd seen live. Patrick Stewart was fantastic as Shylock! We had great seats, so we couldn't help getting hyper about him performing only ten feet in front of us most of the time. It was really good to see him perform onstage; he incorporates a lot of nuance that doesn't make it into his screen work. The rest of the cast was quite good, too, and the production itself was brilliant, set in a casino/gambling world (of Venice) and using modern fads like reality TV. I'm so glad we went! Seeing Patrick Stewart perform theatre was something I was hoping would happen during my year here. I wouldn't believe it had happened if I didn't have a Merchant of Venice shirt from the gift shop.

The newly re-opened Royal Shakespeare Theatre.

The next day, we returned to London for a last day there. We had a small room in a hostel that was well location just off Great Russell Street in Bloomsbury, nearly next door neighbors with the British Museum. We went to the Museum, had lunch in the café and spent a long while exploring the exhibits. We came across a few rooms I hadn't seen the first time I went there, including a big room full of old books. We liked! Since Amber was coming down with something - let's call it traveler's fatigue - we went back for a rest in the hostel before going to dinner. We were hoping for an Indian restaurant, so we explored Tottenham Court Road. We came close to turning around too soon, but we eventually discovered Sagar, a really good south Indian restaurant! We had delicious samosas and other delicious vegetarian food. Because it was the last day of Amber's visit, I bought dinner. She had gone into Big Sis mode, so I think she may have accepted this with both gratitude and reluctance, but it was time I asserted our sister equality. :)

We had to get up around 5:30 the next day to get Amber to the airport. To our dismay we learned the Tube didn't start up until 7am on Sundays, so there was a rather harried rush to recalculate the plan. Amber took a cab to Paddington to pick up her luggage (we had left a big suitcase there to make traveling easier) and I grabbed the Tube to St. Pancras once it opened to catch the first train back. I only waited an hour or two, but I simply read my book over breakfast at Starbucks, then slept all the way to Canterbury.

So Amber's visit was entirely successful, I feel. We were able to see different parts of England, plus even vacationed in France. I'm so happy she was able to come over. I didn't fully realize how much I was missing my family and friends from home until I saw her. And even after she left, I wouldn't have to wait long to see more family, because in ten days I was heading to Germany!

Next time: Visiting Allison!

La Belle France

Marseille

We arrived in Marseille a little after 11pm. Nora's older brother met us at the station and very courteously carried our bags as he led us back to their apartment, about a 10-minute walk from the train station. Nora's family is wonderfully kind - and they're all beautiful. (How beautiful? Nora's older brother and older sister both recently signed with a modeling agency in New York City. So, that beautiful.) The whole family was there to greet us when we got in; even Nora's older sister, who lives in NYC, was on Skype waiting to make sure we'd made it. They had a room with a set of bunk beds ready for Sam and I, and we were incredibly grateful after such a long travel day.

I only had one full day in Marseille, but Nora certainly made it a full one as she showed her hometown to us. I knew upon waking that I wasn't in Italy anymore, as breakfast consisted of coffee, croissants, pain au chocolat, and fruit. We did a little shopping first, mainly for some clothes to get us through the rest of the trip as well as souvenirs. We met up with Nora's best friend who helped give us the tour.

The best part of the day was going to the beach! The Mediterranean Sea is so much bluer than the Atlantic. The beach itself is made of grainier sand and pebbles that don't even hurt to walk on. I slipped a toe in the water, and of course it was freezing, so the four of us sat and talked there for a while. The sea air was great, and I only sunburned a little.

For dinner Nora's mother made a delicious Niçoise Salade, along with baguettes and brie. As a thank-you for letting us stay, Sam and I gave her a bookstore gift card since Nora told us she reads a lot. Nora spoke the most English out of anyone in her family, so I managed only so far with my sophomore-level French (most of it forgotten now). I could still tell without talking that they were so friendly and open.

Sam and I were going on to Paris, but Nora was staying in Marseille to visit with her family some more before heading back to Kent, we turned in early. We expected to sneak out at dawn for our early train, only to find that the whole family was up too so they could send us off. There was even coffee hot and waiting. By then we were so grateful that hugs and European kiss-on-the-cheeks were flying all over the place. We were off before first light, and Nora and her family waved at us from their terrace as we walked to the station. With so many kids around (Nora, her older brother, her younger brother, and her younger sister), it was like having my family back for a day.

Paris

The TGV fast train took us from Marseille to Paris in three hours. I slept a little, but mostly I stayed awake to watch the sunrise over Provence. I was hoping to see fields of lavender but instead saw endless fields of yellow flowers, occasionally interrupted by small towns or solitary farmhouses. We got into Paris around 9:30, took another hour to get to the arrondissement at Gare du Nord where our hostel was, then took more time to find the hostel because the directions from the website said to turn left when you really turn right.

But altogether we had three and half days in Paris, which was the perfect time for doing everything we were interested in. We first went on the New Europe walking tour, which met in the Place St. Michel and took us to see Notre Dame, Pont Neuf, the Louvre Courtyard, the Eiffel Tower from a distance, the Tuileries, the Palace of Justice, and the Champs-Elysée. Our guide was from Amsterdam this time. Afterward, Sam and I strolled down the Champs-Elysée and climbed the Arc de Triomphe for photo-taking. It wasn't hard climbing up thanks to the time I'd been putting in at the gym, but coming down the spiral steps made me dizzy. After one day reading signs and buying Métro tickets, my French had gained a bit of strength back.

Unfortunately, it seems that the moment I entered Paris my allergies went haywire. So I could enjoy an éclair and croque-monsieur, but only so much due to inhibited sense of taste. Sad!

On the second day, we were at the Louvre by 10am but it still took 40 minutes to get in. The upside was that with our status as students of a European university, we got in for free. Knowing that it would be impossible to see even a quarter of the pieces without sacrificing the rest of our time in Paris, we wandered only a couple of floors narrowed to our interests, roughly Dutch paintings and Greco/Roman sculpture. It was fun to see the Venus de Milo and the Mona Lisa in person, although by that point I was experiencing gallery overload from all the museums I'd been to recently.

We stopped by the Paris Opera House. If you stand far enough back, you can glimpse the statue of Apollo on the roof. Then a lingering walk around the back of the Palace of Justice brought us back to Notre Dame. I was completely awed by the interior. The cathedral itself is breathtaking, but the artists on Disney's The Hunchback of Notre Dame did such a good job that I felt like I'd seen it already, many times since I was nine years old. Sam told me she liked Canterbury Cathedral better, but personally I have to hand this one to France.

I was really feeling my allergies by then, so we went back to the Gare du Nord area, and Sam explored while I slept a little (but she can never resist a nap for long). Feeling much better, we decided to go to a reading at an English-language bookstore adjacent to Notre Dame called Shakespeare and Company. Leslie Dunton-Downer, a Harvard graduate, gave some amusing insights on the way English changes linguistically and how she believes French is most instrumental in this.

We decided not to stay for the after-chat, but instead took a long, lovely walk along the Seine, from Notre Dame all the way to the Eiffel Tower while the sun went down. We of course went up the Tower, all the way to the top, and as we did we got to know another pair of girls who were traveling from the States but were originally from Brazil. By the time we got down, it was after midnight. The Metro closed, the four of us split a taxi back to Gare du Nord since they were staying in the same area.

On our third day we took our time getting ready, and headed out to see Pére Lachaise Cemetery. There, we saw the graves of Oscar Wilde, Jim Morrison, Georges Seurrat, other greats and plenty of unknowns. It's a beautiful area, especially in spring! So lush and full of flowers. The weather had been generously gorgeous throughout our trip - not a drop of rain. It was especially nice that afternoon.

We had the worst Chinese food either of us had ever experienced. I was luckier, with my allergies, and couldn't taste it completely. We went back to the Eiffel Tower to take pictures of it in the daytime. We spent some time enjoying just being there, and I read a chapter of Jane Eyre, my book for the vacation. Chalk that up to one of my best reading spots!

Not superimposed.

We both bought scarves from a shop near Place St. Michel. I quite like mine! Very colorful and rather very French. Lastly, we had créme brulée at a sidewalk café, where a small boy shyly approached us and said "hello" in English under his parents' encouragement. We told him "bonjour" and he scurried away. The desserts in France had been great, but I was looking forward to a veggie fest by then. I don't know how the Italians and French eat so much dough-based food constantly.

Our Eurostar back to England was in the afternoon the next day, so we spent the morning walking around Montmartre. As our hostel was just outside Montmartre, we had saved it for last. The Sacre Coeur was beautiful, and I liked the beautiful aged quality about the place. Two sidewalk artists cut out our silhouettes even though we told them we weren't going to give them any money, and of course we didn't accept them. We came upon a Fragonard store, and I couldn't resist buying some bath salts.

We got onto the Eurostar with minimal incident (a pigeon flew too close to one of the trains and exploded, which was horrifying yet morbidly fascinating to witness). By 5pm I was back in Canterbury and wondering if my shoulder would heal from carrying my duffel bag for two weeks or if my metabolism would ever return to normal after so much Italian and French food.

But I didn't have time to be lethargic, because only a week after I got back from the Continent, Amber arrived.

Next time: Amber visits!

Italy

Once again, I have really let this blog get away from me! It’s been a very busy month and half since I last updated though. Fortunately I do keep good notes in my journal while I’m traveling. I think the best way to go about this is in a series of posts on what I’ve been up to since my last post. So! That means I’ll start with the trip to Italy and France!

Rome

Nora, Sam and I took a train to London, switching once to another train in order to get to Gatwick Airport. We landed in Rome at 8:15pm (7:15 UK time) on April 8th. It took an hour to get to our hostel by taxi (good thing we didn’t decide to try and figure out the subway and streets!) but we saw a lot of interesting things at night that way, including the Vittorio Monument and one of the original shooting locations for the movie Ben Hur. At the hostel, we met up with one of Sam’s friends who goes to IU but is studying in Bologna. It was almost ten o’ clock by then, and we were starving. So we all went to a trattoria a few streets over and split three pizzas. I tried prosciutto for the first time, and thought it was interesting. It’s fine on Italian-style pizza, but I’m not sure I’d like it on American style. We zonked out around midnight to get an early start the next day.

All of our hostels had breakfast throughout the trip, so we never had to go hunting for food without coffee or tea in our system first. The hostel in Rome was nice…but like with Vienna, almost too nice, as the comforters were down. I tossed it off the bed and slept in the sleeping bag cover I’d bought just in case of something like this, but I woke up with hives anyway. And unlike in December, the warm weather made it worse this time. I asked for an alternative blanket the next nights and slept on top of it, so I was okay after that.

The first day we took a tour of the Vatican, paying only ten euros more for the guide who showed us around. It was completely worth it, as we didn’t have to stand in line for four hours before entering, and our guide, Simon, was both funny and informative. The Vatican is astonishing! The Sistine Chapel is easily my favorite sight in Rome; it’s magnificent. It was also very exciting to go into St. Peter’s Basilica and see Michelangelo’s Pietà, one of my favorite sculptures.

By happy accident, we arrived on the first day of Italy’s National Culture Week, so many sights were open for free to the public, so after the Vatican we had a delicious pasta lunch at a small restaurant that stayed open during the part of the afternoon when shops are normally closed (a concept exceedingly unfamiliar to me) then went to the Coliseum. It was definitely cool to be there in person, and very interesting to go into and walk around in.

Another sight we got into for free was the National Gallery of Modern Art. We didn’t stay very long, and personally I preferred walking around the perimeter of the old city wall. There are beautiful parks and ponds and fountains there that make a lovely contrast from the narrow stone streets. That day, we got some pizza by the slice for lunch and ate it on the Spanish Steps (the pizza vendor messed with me since I obviously didn’t speak any Italian beyond “grazie”). The four of us all enjoyed spending a good hour at an outdoor café with strong espresso and dessert. Nora and I shared panna cotta with strawberry topping.

(Can you tell already that food played a big part in this vacation? Well, you can't go to all these new places and ignore an entire piece of culture, can you?)

Our last night in Rome, we all went to the station to see Sam’s friend off on the train back to Bologna, then had dinner (the best lasagna ever) before heading back to repack and shower, because the next day we were off to…

Florence

We arrived in Florence in the early afternoon on April 11th after a four-hour train ride from Rome. The scenery was beautiful to view from the window! It was sunny, and the countryside had an amazing yellow-green tint, fields of purple and yellow poppies scrolling by. The mountains in the distance were misty in the morning and bold in the afternoon. Our hostel was extremely easy to find – ten minute walk, tops – and was very comfy and clean. There was also free internet, so I could check in with family and friends. One of the girls staying in our room was a woman named Naoko, who was from Japan but currently living in London. She was very happy that I could converse a little with her in Japanese, and very patiently let me practice with her.

Our first day in Florence we walked around on our own, exploring the markets and streets. We went inside the Santa Maria de Fiore Cathedral and admired the Duomo, and sat in the peaceful Piazza di Independencia. That day I tried authentic fettuccini, gelato, and bruschetta, as well as some tiramisù that was more like pudding than cake. Interesting.

The second day an employee of Archi Rossi hostel took a big group of us on a walking tour, and we looked at the Medici palace, the church of San Lorenzo, an area dedicated to Dante Alighieri, Italy’s first gelateria, and the Loggio, a marketplace. I bought myself a leather purse and some souvenirs for people back home. Two girls on the tour, Chelsea from San Francisco and Maria from NYC, tagged with us for the rest of the day for lunch (fusilli with creamy asparagus) as we went to the Ponte Vecchio and had fabulous gelato just off to one side of the bridge and saw Michelangelo’s David in the Galleria dell’Accademia. It is perhaps the finest piece of art I’ve ever seen in person…and I have been to some of the world’s best museums this year.

Posing with the Ponte Vecchio.

Venice

The train ride to Venice was only two hours or so, but once we arrived at San Lucia station, it took us forty minutes of tromping over the many bridges and through campos, campiellos, and calles until we finally found our accommodation, the bed and breakfast Veneziamia. It was very luxurious compared to what I’ve been used to on trips. We had a three-person private room, a bathroom, a kitchenette and dining room all to ourselves the first night, as no one else had booked the other room yet. (The second night three girls from California showed up.) Privacy is rare when traveling like that, so I think we all felt rather affluent despite the place only being 30 euros a night for each of us.

After a lunch break on the main street (gnocchi al ragù that time), we surveyed a bunch of mask shops. The artisans normally don’t want photos taken of the designs as each mask is (theoretically) individually hand-made and uniquely decorated. We also made the happy-yet-tragic mistake of finding Gorm, a gelato shop that uses completely fresh ingredients and you could tell. We may or may not have gone there each day we were in Venice. My favorite combination was chocolate, coffee, and caramel.

We went to the Rialto Bridge and took pictures of the Grand Canal at sunset. We also explored the beautiful Piazza di San Marco, although St. Mark’s Basilica is definitely inferior to St. Peter’s in Rome. We even found an Italian Disney Store!

My favorite thing that we did in Venice was visit Merano, a little island just adjacent where the masters of Italian glassblowing apprentice, perform, and sell their art. We watched a demonstration and went into almost a dozen different blown glass shops. Merano glass and beads are breathtaking but most everything is so very very expensive. I did pick up a thing or two because I was so taken with it all, but nothing easily breakable. Something to keep in mind for later on down the road though…

After we got our train tickets sorted for the next day, we spent several hours walking around the Piazza San Marco until we found a more residential part of Venice. It was nice to see something that wasn’t all merchants and cafés. Since there isn’t any vehicle traffic in Venice, there are a lot of runners and dog-walkers.

Trying on a carnival mask in Venezia.

Friday April 15th was dominated by train travel as we made our way to France. We were up at 6am for a 7:50 train to Milan, where we changed to go to Ventimiglia, a border town. At Ventimiglia we were delayed three hours for a train workers’ strike. This contributed to our full European experience, so Sam and I didn’t really mind and Nora (being from France) was used to it. If we’d been further inconvenienced or if it happened again, though, I’m not so sure I’d have been as amiable about it. Apparently workers on strike still get paid for that time, which really surprises me. Seems the solution to striking is simple, but American ideas of employee rights are different than Europe’s.

In Ventimiglia the three of us walked around a bit until we found a little square that reminded me very strongly of Scottsburg. We each had a Panini. I had heard from various sources that hot chocolate on the French-Italian border is life-changing. So despite it being bright and warm out, I ordered one. It was amazing. The consistency was closer to pudding than milk, and I had to eat it with a spoon for the most part.

We eventually set off again, crossing the border into France and riding along the Cote d’Azur until we reached our last train change in Nice. It was dark by then, so I could barely the blue of the Mediterranean Sea from the black-blue of the sky, and the seats on this particularly train were so comfortable I couldn’t help falling asleep, until we arrived at our destination: Nora’s hometown in the south of France, Marseille!

Next time…France!

Life is a series of hellos and goodbyes

(Title credit to Billy Joel.)

Tomorrow I fly to Rome with Sam and Nora! I've been looking forward to it for so long, I'm excited it's finally happening! I'm all packed except for the things I'll need in the morning. It should be a really fun trip! Expect lots of pictures!

For those who want a reference, this is where I'll be and when, as I become a more worldly person by means of historical sites, museums, and of course, authentic Italian and French food!

April 8-11: Rome

April 11-13: Florence

April 13-15: Venice

April 15-17: Marseilles (I'll be staying at Nora's house.)

April 17-20: Paris

I should be back in Canterbury around 6pm or so on the 20th.

Since we're leaving tomorrow, Nora and I had to tell Yuki goodbye tonight. He has been in Canterbury since May 2010, and his study abroad program is now over. His flight home to Tokyo is on Saturday. My housemates (minus Flavio) and I went to a little party at Elena's house. Elena is a good friend of Camilla, but the rest of us know her a little too. We finally all took a picture together, which makes me happy.

Left to right: Yuki, Camilla, Nora, and me!

I'll miss Yuki a lot as we've become good friends. We were able to have some interesting discussions about Japan and American this year. All of my housemates are really great, although I don't see Flavio very often just because he comes and goes. It's a bit like having a friendly ghost. Yuki has invited me to visit him in Tokyo anytime, and I hope to take him up on it sooner rather than later. We'll be able to practice English and Japanese with each other over Skype, which is fantastic.

Italy's up next, and I know it will be fun. Camilla made these fun and useful lists of Italian phrases for me and Nora, entitled "Benvenute In Italia, My Favourite Roommates!" What a sweetheart. Now I can order my gelato and pizza politely!

Giving It the Old Oxford Try

Today I finally went to Oxford! I’ve been looking forward to it since I first learned about my acceptance into the Canterbury study abroad program. It was only a three-hour trip from Canterbury, and would have been less if not for a necessary Tube change to the Bakerloo and Victoria Lines due to planned works on the Circle Line.

I went with (can you guess?) Sam. The weather was gorgeous, for one thing. Spring is settling in nicely here in the British Isles. It made wandering the city all the more enjoyable…because as I have long since learned, the only alternative is steady, shiver-inducing rain or possibly curtain-thick fog, dourly doled out by a sickly sky. Even Canterbury has been remarkably well behaved, with gentle breezes all the way from the shore making its way to campus. Unfortunately, this increases my suspicion of the seagulls, as they have tendencies of getting lost on their way to and from the coast; I have yet to meet a disagreeable fate walking below their flight path, and would much prefer to continue this way.

Oxford is one of those impressively old cities with the added bonus of having potentially the most impressive university in the United Kingdom. (The other, I would imagine, is Cambridge. Unless you’re a fan of rowing – then I suppose you would say Eton.) The most I had known about Oxford was the account given in the His Dark Materials trilogy - which is actually an alternate Oxford anyway - and the fact that it has a history of churning out literary greats. To name a few: Lewis Carrol, Oscar Wilde, C.S. Lewis, J.R.R. Tolkein, and Aldous Huxley.

Merton College.

A brief history lesson: Teaching has apparently existed in some form at Oxford since 1096, and increased rapidly after King Henry II banned English students from studying at the University of Paris in 1167.

Academically, the University of Oxford is a leading contributor, particularly for English majors. The authoritative editions of books are Oxford’s; the Oxford English Dictionary is the last word on definitions in the English language; along with Cambridge, their collections of essays are the finest in almost any given field.

Studying at Oxford.

Sam and I took in the main road, then stopped for lunch at a café on a side-street. We try to find more local places when we visit towns, rather than just the Pret on High Street. I had a BLT bagel and a latté. Then we mainly strolled, stopping at a university store for Oxford T-shirts and souvenirs. I really can’t stress enough how beautiful the place was; perfect in springtime, flowers and trees blossoming, gardens newly manicured. You could actually smell the blossoms, which I loved. (The Kent campus’s aroma currently tends toward mud and the fumes from the buses.) It’s different from medieval Canterbury or Georgian Bath. Its architecture is Gothic Revival, giving the city an entirely other feel.

Sadly, the constituent colleges (Merton, Christ Church, Exeter) weren’t open to the public. I would have liked to have visited the Christ Church dining hall where they filmed some scenes for the Harry Potter movies, but I did see the grounds of Wadham, Trinity, and I think Lincoln. It’s all so old, and so beautiful! I didn’t mind at all that there didn’t seem to be much going on for entertainment purposes. Like Canterbury, it's only an hour from London so there's that.

The thing I loved most was visiting the Eagle and Child, a pub in the St. Giles section of Oxford (fondly known as “the bird and baby” by locals). Here, in the pub’s back room known as the Rabbit Room, the famous Inklings conferred. I think the tribute plaque on the wall describes them best:

C.S. Lewis, his brother W.H. Lewis, J.R.R. Tolkein, Charles Williams and other friends met every Tuesday morning between the years 1939-1962 in the back room of this their favorite pub. These men, popularly known as the “Inklings,” met here to drink Beer and to discuss, among other things, the books they were writing.

In the Rabbit Room at the Eagle and Child.

Once we’d seen more or less the bulk of the town, and after a cookie break at a hole-in-the-wall deli, we headed back.

Reverse-navigating the Underground, we saw a lot of police on the platform at Oxford Circus (a Tube stop/London district, unrelated to the city of Oxford), and wondered what was going on. We caught a train to Canterbury at St. Pancras and through serendipity met Justinian in a rear compartment. He had spent the last two days at the money-cut protests between Trafalgar Square and Parliament, which explains the police. In addition to the tuition changes, lecturer wages are being reduced, among other cuts. It isn’t pretty over here, politically. But being American, I’m used to unfavorable disagreement on government action.

I got home around 8:30pm and foraged some dinner. Since then I’ve been working on my photos and this post. Yesterday I wrote half an essay and would like to finish it soon. Tomorrow I have to spend the day reading for my last classes of the semester on Monday; Dracula (which I’ve read before) and a collection of short stories by David Foster Wallace. I can’t believe the term is practically over! I plan to celebrate with dinner and drinks at Origins, the bar in Darwin College here at Kent. Clever naming, isn’t it? Then more essays, I guess.

I love checking things off my To See list, but it makes me a little sad to realize I’ll soon be leaving my magical land of trains and ancient schools and scones and roundabouts. At least Amber is coming to share it with me in a few weeks!

But first…a break from England. In less than two weeks, I shall be in Rome!

Adventures in Theatreland

First things first (at least to my Grandpa Charlie, I know): I got my most recent papers back, one an A and one a B. Was a tad bummed about the latter, but I feel confident that the course grades for both will be A’s, so I’m not overly concerned.

And more importantly (at least to me, right at this moment): Today I went to London to see my first West End play! I went with Danielle, one of my British friends. I should mention that Danielle is delightful, able to helpfully inform me about the many things I do not know about UK-related subjects, such as the Royal Family – Prince Charles is rather unpopular with the British people, FYI – and the precise popularity of “Doctor Who.” Just as deftly she can make visiting her hometown of Birmingham sound about as pleasant as a trip to, say, the seventh circle of Hell or Gary, Indiana. I learn a lot from her, really.

Last night I didn’t sleep well. This is usually the case with me on the eve of doing something, most often traveling. I toss and turn because I’m too excited. So this morning I just gave up at 6:15 and headed for the shower even though I wasn’t meeting Danielle until 9:45. I wanted to make sure I would be appropriately posh, so out came the diamond earrings and French perfume. I put on foundation for the first time in months, and across the Atlantic my mother probably smiled in her sleep for no conscious reason.

Our train was at the platform right when we arrived at Canterbury West, and by noon we were at Charing Cross station in London. Charing Cross on the Strand in the Westminster section of London.

Big Ben, as glimpsed through the noon fog from the Strand.

I could hardly believe I was in the West End, the major theatre and restaurant district in London, or how long it had take me to get there. But since I don’t actually live in London, and because Danielle wasn’t terribly familiar with it either, it came as a surprise when we stumbled across Trafalgar Square! With Piccadilly Circus nearby and both Big Ben and the London Eye visible from where we stood, we were in the beating heart of London. I couldn’t stop smiling. I’ve done so much traveling outside of the UK or otherwise stuck in Canterbury since I arrived that exploring the country I’ve actually been living in for six months as of today has been wonderfully amazing.

The National Gallery at Trafalgar Square.

One of the Trafalgar Square Lions!

For lunch we picked the one place in the area that wasn’t a multi-course pre-theatre tavern or upscale restaurant, which by necessity must often face scorn from a student’s wallet. Hey, you can’t argue with a £6.99 buffet at Pizza Hut when it will save you from needing dinner that night also.

Afterward we headed down Haymarket to the Comedy Theatre on Panton Street. This is one of London's older theatres, opened in 1881. It was beautiful inside, very intricate and elegant. You could easily picture the London elite gathering there. On the walls leading up to the Royal Circle, the second tier balcony where our seats were (Row C), there were a lot of old posters for previous performances. I wasn't able to take any photos, but I remember seeing "A View From The Bridge" and "Cat On A Hot Tin Roof" from their British premieres, and "A Touch of Spring" starring Hayley Mills!

Ecstatic, yet feeling like a slight traitor to Broadway.

The play was fantastic; everything I could have asked for, really. This revival of "The Children's Hour," by Lillian Hellman, starred Keira Knightley, Elisabeth Moss, and Ellen Burstyn. I was a bit afraid that one of them might be replaced by an understudy since our show was a matinee and it was the middle of the run. Fortunately the first-string cast was all assembled. I'm really happy to say that Keira Knightley is both competent as an actress on screen and stage; she even pulled off a passable upstate New York accent. I do think she was overshadowed by Elisabeth Moss in performance if not in billing. Ellen Burstyn was as wonderful as I knew she would be, and when she was on stage everyone seemed to defer to her experience. It's a very intense play, making its place at the Comedy Theatre a touch ironic. As the mostly deaf old woman sitting in front of us exclaimed far too loudly as the final curtain was going down, "VERY DRAMATIC." It was like Douglas Carter Beane meets Henrik Ibsen, if both were female.

We had good seats too! I was relieved since they were about 50 quid. After the show, Danielle and I moseyed about until we found a Starbucks were after-theatre coffee, then hopped the first train back, changing at Ashford. I made it home at around 8pm, I believe.

And I can honestly say that this is one of the very best days of my entire study abroad experience. I can't wait until Amber comes so we can go exploring London some more together. I also found out the definitive date for my exam in May, so I can start planning my trip to Germany for visiting Allison! I may only have three more months left in Europe, but I mean to pack it as much as I can.