Columbus: OSU, Family, and a big bed

After an atrociously long day of travel, we landed in Columbus. Lo and Behold, the first thing i see when I was into the terminal is a boutique selling crap for osu. knew then beyond a doubt i was back in good ole' c'bus, whether i wanted to be or not. Shortly afterwards I got to see Ben, which was great to see boo, and we haven't stopped harassing each other yet. some sibling things never die, do they? one other wonderful thing about being back so to have my big bed back. Such a nice change, seeing as i'd been sleeping on cots for all of italy.

now, for those of you who read this regularly, this will probably be my last post on here, seeing as i've ended my Parisian adventure (for now at least). Thanks for tuning in, and a big thanks for everyone who commented on it. It always made my day to see that someone had been reading this.

gros, gros, gros bisoux!!

Venice: Canals, glass, and tourists

A quick train trip from Florence, Venice was a completely different Western European town from all other Western European towns we'd seen. It was built on water. Other than that...they all got to be pretty similiar. the canals did make for many picturesque spots, and also about impossible to read the map, because they had caused the city to grow haphazard.

Murano, a little island about 10 minutes by boat from Venise, is a neat little half day diversion. The island is famous for making blown glass, and a person can buy anything from cheap little trinkets to fabulous works of art. When we went we got to see a demonstration of blowing glass, which was pretty much the most fascinating part of the trip, other than that it was just shopping.

While Venice was a neat place to be, my parents and I all thought that the city was completely overrun by tourists. even though we were only there at the beginning of the heavy tourist season, it was an effort to work through some of the crowds at the monuments, or to dodge all the people walking while reading their guidebooks, thus not paying attention. Yes, we were tourists too, and we're not really being hypocritical, just that it felt easier to meet tourists than locals in both Florence and Venice.

---ciao!

Florence: Bobili Gardens, Truffles and Creepy Baby Jesus's

do you think it's Jesus's or Jesusi?

what we expected to be an easy and uneventful train ride, from Riomaggiore to Florence, turned out to be just that. After we'd gotten on the wrong train in a locked compartment that we weren't meant to be able to board on. oops. Instead of going directly to Florence, we headed north, to Bologna, where we then took a train south to Florence, adding about an hour and a half to the days travel. o well, we got to see some of the countryside, right?

Once we made it to Florence, it was just a short walk to our hostel, Luna Rosso, where we were had some of the best customer service that i'd seen in Europe. Run by Marco, a guy in maybe in his early 30s, was incredibly friendly, helpful, and a wonderful change from our hostel experience in Cinque Terra. he didn't hesitate to point out good restaurants, ways to avoid lines, and things to do. I would highly reccommend looking into his hostel if you're ever in the neighborhood.

Highlights from Florence include the Bobili gardens, which are behind the Pitti palace. while the palace itself is ok, there's some art in there, the gardens are breathtaking (but don't compare to giverny, imho). the major part of the gardens are set up to be a formal garden, full of hedges, grasses, and fountains, and light on flowers. but if you climb all the way through the gardens to the back, you will be wonderfully rewarded with a view looking out on the tuscan countryside.

For mother and I, Florence was a chance to see some amazing works of art in person. As an art history minor, if feels good to know that i've seen Michaelango's David, Botticelli's Venus and Spring in person, just to mention a few. I will also admit that I was a little spoiled by Paris, being able to go whenever i wanted to art museums, not during tourist season, but it was still great to see them. Also, at the Accademia, where David is housed, they had a fasicnating exhibit about rennaissance musical instruments. Julie Carolyn, if you're in Florence, make sure you check it out. you'll enjoy.

Now, besides some renown rennaisance art, Florence was bursting at the seams with medieval art. Simply because the nature of medieval art, it has a religious theme about 99.99997% of the time. the time period did not allow for a lot of artisitc creativity, thus a lot of the works look remarkably similiar. similiarities include goldleafing, a lack of perspective used, and what i've come to dub the creepy baby jesus syndrome. During the Middle Ages, the Divinity of Jesus was heavily emphasized, not his humanity (unlike in the renaissance, what with the rise of humanisism and all). Because of this, medieval artists were prohibited from protraying baby jesus from looking like, well, a baby. so what they ended up doing is creating a baby body, and sticking a full grown man's face on it, creating some of the creepiest looking infants ever seen.

Finally, a note about Italien food. it's good. except for the bread. sorry for those who disagree. We might not have, had we not been in france. but, Italians do make a mean truffle sauce covered ravoli, which my mother fell in love with, and has already sent me on a mission to recreate here.

next up....Venice

---Bisoux!

Cinque Terra: Ocean, Steps, and "Fucking Americans"

early on the morning of the 12th (happy brithday to me, happy birthday to me...) we headed to the train station for a full day of travel. We made it to Basel, which is right inside the border of Switzerland, where my dad changed a lot of money, only to discover that Switzerland is not, in fact, part of the EU, and does not operate in Euros. (whoops, way to forget basic european politics) after changing all the swiss francs into euros, we were ready to go. The train through the alps was simply breathtaking, it's a unaminous decision that going back to the interlocken area in the summer is a must. Crystal clear blue water full of boats and people, snowcapped mountains in the horizon. We transfered trains in Milano, and once again in Monterossa, finally ending up in Riomaggiore at 9:55pm, the southernmost town of Cinque Terra. (For those who don't know, Cinque Terra is a national park on the coast of italy, facing Corsica, and there are five towns located in the reserve: Monterossa, Vernazza, Cornigla, Mantorola, and Riomaggiore)

We get off the train and head up the hill toward our hostel, only to find it's lights off, and locked up for the night. With the help of some wonderfully nice kids who were staying there for the weekend, we learned that the man who owned the hostel had booked all the rooms, and had apparently forgotten our reservation. Dad went down to a local gelatria and started asking around, and eventually found us a room with Antonio, who is my stereotypical italian grandpa figure (just picture that, i'm sure it'll be close).

The next morning, my parents went back to the hostel, to try and figure out what happened (and if nothing else, to at least get the security deposit back), while I slept in a little bit more). From what they told me, the guy who owns the hostel completely blew up at them as soon as they said who they were saying things like "you fucking Americans, you think you can go anywhere, buy anything, you fucking americans bombing everything, always wanting your own way..." and more of the same stuff. my parents just dealt with his wife, and remained as civilised as they could. eventually they got their money back, and we had a great stay with Antonio. So, moral of the story - if you're ever in Cinque Terra, NEVER STAY AT THE CINQUE TERRA HOLIDAYS HOSTEL.

The rest of the our stay in Cinque Terra was wonderful, full of hikes between the villages, swims in the beaches, and exercizing on the "Cinque Terra Stairmaster", or the many, many steps everywhere, because all five towns are carved out of hills. All of our calves could tell that we'd been climbing, and they were all protesting :)

After a couple days of fun in the sun, we headed to Florence...

-Bisoux!

PS: Italians may have the upperhand when it comes to ice cream, pasta, and pizza, but the french win out big, big, big time when it comes to bread, pastries, and meat dishes (compare a tuscan style steak with boeuf bourgineon, you'll see what I mean)

PPS: GC2k7 has been continued, and is still going strong....

PPPS: Pictures will be up at some point.

Strasbourg: Vinyards, Chateaux, and Bronchitis

After a full day of travelling, we'd left Bruges around 9:30 in the morning and got into Strasbourg at 5pm, we headed into the center ville to find a restaurant to grab some dinner. We ended up at a place called the "Academie de bière" (Academy of beer for those who can't figure it out), a little college bar/pub/watering hole where the food's cheap, the beer's good, and the music's loud. We played nice with our waiter, enough so to get two free rounds of shots (completely unasked for, but barely alcoholic, so not a big deal), and had some delicious sauerkraut and tartes flambées.

The next morning we walked into the center ville again to see some of the sights of Strasbourg, quickly realizing that Strasbourg is truely a working town, and not a major destination for tourism, and for a good reason. Mother and I decided to book an afternoon tour to see a chateau, tour vinyards, and attend a wine tasting, while Dad decided to opt out of the tour. In the meantime, we saw the cathedral of Strasbourg, which is interesting, one of the more distinctive ones i've seen (believe me, i've seen a lot of cathedrals here...) and grabbed a early lunch.

The tour was great, it gave me a chance to see the alsace region that i'd wanted to. The chateau, Haut-Kroenbroug, was breathtaking, pictures to come, and the countryside was great to just drive through, the whole area is full of vinyards and dotted with picturesque red-roofed villages, each with it's own church steaple. once again, pictures will be added at some point. The wine tasting was interesting, I learned some stuff, and tasted some delicious wine. I'd thought about buying some and bringing it home, but decided it would be a looooot easier (cheaper) to just look for it at home.

Mom and I made it back to the hotel around 7, to find that a restful afternoon had not infact made dad feel better, and the general consensus was that a doctor was needed. So we had the concièrge call a doctor for a visit (after office hours in France the doctors make house calls, you only go to the hospital for a real emergency, such as if you're missing a limb). The doctor was nice, very knowledgable, but didn't speak any english, which made for a fun hour of translation for me (I never knew the word for phlegm, learned it then). Turns out that Dad had bronchitis, as well as inflammed intestines. but an anti-inflammatory, a couch syrup, and an antibiotic later and he's back to his normal annoying self ;)

The next day turned into a daytrip to Colmar, a smaller town about an hour south of Strasbourg. Very quaint, and if you're ever going to the region, i'd reccommend staying there over strasbourg, it'll be worth the extra money.

After that, we hopped on the train bright and early the next morning, and headed to Italy, by way of Switzerland...

-Bisoux!

Bruges: Chocolate, Chocolate, Canals, Chocolate, Beer, and...chocolate.

Before I actually talk about Bruges, I want to mention the benefits of European train travel, or at least how we've experienced it (with the help of the Eurorail pass):

- First, there is no need to be three hours early. half an hour is more than enough.
- Second, there are no security checks. yes, they are for our good on airlines, but damn if they're not annoying as hell and ever-increasingly invasive.
- Third, depending on what train you're riding, you get things like complementary meals, wine, and "refreshing towelettes".
- Fourth, it's dirt cheap in comparision to airlines, and possibly even car travel, seeing what gas prices are.


and now for something completely different, Bruges:

Called "The Venise of the North" Bruges is a city built on canals, with a decidedly Germanic influence. You don't see the cathedrals with the arabesques and flying butresses, here, it's all about red brick, step gables, and heavy sturdy architecture. I found the city georgous, and loved just wandering the streets, window shopping, taking pictures, and praying against the rain that kept threatening. We also took a tour on the canals on a boat. Like "Les cars rouges", the parisian tourist buses, the guide gave us a very abreviated history of the city, highlighting that there is a Michealango sculpture in the cathedal (the only work of his outside of italy), several 14th, 15th, and 16th centruy buildings and bridges, and stuff like that.

My mom, for those who might not know, likes chocolate. really likes chocolate. I mean, seriously, don't get in the way of her and it. Bruges just so happens to be famous for it's chocolate. About every block or so, there will be a chocolaterie, full of window displays and intoxicating scents. What became one of my Dad's and my favorite pastimes was watching my mother just go from chocolaterie to chocolaterie. She could be headed down one steet, turn 90%, sprint across the street and go half a block, without warning, just to compare stores. As we left Bruges, She said "that's it, i'm done, no more chocolate for me". She lasted 2 days.

There are a couple other food items that Bruges is known for as well, namely beer and mussels. Now, it doesn't take much to get me to try a beer, but mussels are a different story. Funny thing is, I tried them both. The first beer I had, Leffe, was kinda crappy, I think it was pretty much the bud of belgian beer. The second, Bruges zut, was actually made in Bruges, and quite good. The mussels on the other hand, were delicious. I actually ate a couple of my dads, and was pleasantly surprised.

One of thing to note about bruges was our hotel. We stayed in a little hotel, and it was wonderful. about a 10 minute walk to the center of the city, the rooms were massive (by american standards, not just european), and they served the best continental breakfast i've had in a while.

After bruges, we had a day of travel, and ended up in Strasbourg just in time for dinner.

--Bisous!

ps- pictures to come

Normandy: Roundabouts, Beaches, and Cows

Our first stop in our European adventure was Normandy. Saturday morning I met up with my parents for a nastily early train to Vernon to see Giverny, where Monet created a lot of his paintings, including his waterlily series. Absolutely breathtaking, I think we could have stayed there for several hours, mom painting and dad and I playing with the camera.





I plan to use this photo when I apply for my summer job at glamour shots in the mall; the gardens; artistic shot of the gardens; parentals on the bridge; close up of some flower that I forget the name of.







At Vernon, we also rented a car, so we could work on our own schedule for Normandy. so, the rest of the day was NORMANDY DRIVING EXTRAVANGZA - Day one. It was such an extravaganza I slept through it all, waking up in Caen to parents who were completely lost. We got ourselves to the hotel, checked in, found dinner (crepes), and pretty much passed out for the night.

The next morning, NORMANDY DRIVING EXTRAVANGZA - day two, at the completely reasonable hour of 6:30am, we piled into the car and headed to Mont-St.-Michel. An old abbey/chateau/castle/military stronghold first dating back to the 11th century, it's located on a tiny island right off the coast of the mainland, one that before they built a road was only accessible during lowtide, and is full of ramparts, turrets, massive rooms, and tourist shops. I like to think of it as the stairmaster of the middle ages.






Mont-St.-Michel and it's parking lot; i'm stretching like dad; looking out off the ramparts; Mom in the hazy weather




Next up on the N.D.E. was the beaches of D-Day. With Mom at the helm, me as navigator, and Dad snoring in the back, we made our way up to the coast, surviving a horribly incorrect map, going the wrong way on a roundabout, and Dad eating all of our baguette. The beach we stopped at first was Arromanches, part of the Juno invasion, where the Allies had to scale sheer cliffs. Completely incredible, they were about a 90% incline. I can't imagine what they went through.

After Arromanches, we took a road that let us drive right along the coast, passing through all the little villages and towns that spot the area. Dad was asleep, and thus has no opinion, but my Mom and I loved Houlgate. It would have been maybe a 30 minute direct drive from Caen, and seemed like an incredible picturesque town, literally on the beach. We made it all the way to Honfleur, which is a small harbor town across the way from La Havre. Recommended to me by Stan and Caro, the town was idyllic. the evening included wandering around through various art galleries and dinner on the harbor.

The next morning we packed up, checked out of the hotel, and went to Caen's Memorial for Peace, a fabulous WWII museum. They did a good job of mixing personal stories, historical context, and political motivation together. After the morning at the museum, we drove back to Vernon, dropped off the car, and hopped a train to Paris, ending the night in Bruges, Belgium.

--gros bisous!

ps - i'll post pics as soon as I can get my hands on Dad's harddrive that he's storing them all on.

au revoir...

I've been quite busy since I last posted...first of all, I said several goodbyes. I said goodbye to friends from Paris, some of whom I know i'll see again, some of whom I better see again, some of whom I hope i'll see again, and some i'll have to wait and see. I said goodbye, no, not goodbye, au revoir, to the ruszkowskis, who I will make every effort to keep in touch with, because they have been nothing short of fabulous to me. I said bye to pompidou, le louvre, d'orsay, my constant entertainments these past months. In short, I said goodbye, au revoir, to Paris.


on my way to meet my parents at St. Lazare, I almost got teary on the metro. I really was not ready to leave. It's interesting, when I was headed back to France from Morocco it felt like I should have been going home, that I was done...but now that I am, all I want is to start it all over.

to those I said goodbye to, "a la prochaine fois, et je t'aime."

to those I'm going home to, "I can't wait to see you, and I love you!"

Packing blows.

















That is all.

Things to note:

1- Parents are here!

2- I'm done with finals!

3- Does this mean i'm a senior in college?!

4- I leave Paris in less than 48 hours :(

5- I get to experience Bezaire Eurotrip 2k7 in less than 48 hours!