Fashionable Marketing

L lived in London for a few months while studying fashion in undergrad, so it was particularly fun to explore fashionable London with her. On Thursday we spent the afternoon in Soho, stopping in fabric and trims stores, as well as RD Franks, a fashion bookstore. Of course, we also browsed boutiques and clothing shops that were out of our price range to dream the day away. And I bought tea, for a person must drink and purchase tea in Britain, no?

On Friday we visited the Spitalfields Market, a market for handmade goods and designers with a different theme each day. Fridays are Fashion and Art. Quite a few booths were disappointingly mass-market goods, but there were quite a few booths in which you were able to speak to the artists about their work. I bought a perfectly marvelous purse handmade from lovely vintage fabric, as well as a dress and a cute top. With a willingness to wade through the mass-produced goods, there were some really nice finds. Of course, it’s not as diverse as Etsy…

Saturday morning is the time to go to the Portobello Road market, made famous in my mind by my childhood experiences with Bedknobs and Broomsticks, a movie I recently rewatched and enjoyed much less than I did as a child. Unfortunately, I think we ended up on the less interesting end of the market, which mostly consisted of goods that seemed to fall off the back of a truck and fewer curiosities. By the time we arrived at the interesting end of the market, it was noon, my arches were falling, and the market was stressfully packed with people. I’d do it differently next time, but I did enjoy wandering and watching.

Dancing Fleas

We visited Les Puces on a Sunday morning (L&D plus me) for a bit of antique shopping. Les Puces, or the fleas, is a gigantic market composed of (I think) 15 sub-markets that branch off the rue des Rosiers on the very northern perimeter of Paris. Each sub-market has about 150 vendors in booths in winding alleyways. The place is just fascinating. Every booth has something different and new. There are art nouveau furniture dealers, crafters, postcard sellers, beads, trinkets, vintage clothing, kitchenware, artwork, and junk. So much junk. We walked into one booth market "Curiosities" to find scientific instruments and snakes in formaldehyde. Amazing. I'm so glad we went.

We then spent the rest of the day in Montmartre. We had lunch at La Sancerre, which was crowded and more expensive than I expected, but boy was that cheeseburger delicious. It was a bustling bar with lots of people there to congregate and be seen, especially on the terrace. Unfortunately not many vegetarian options for my friends, who were beginning to get tired of cheese and bread...even though we still had fondue that night for dinner.

We did a tour of the great things of Montmartre: the Moulin Rouge, Amelie's haunts (her apt, her cafe, her greengrocer, her Sacre Coeur moment), a million stairs, and the APC surplus store for fashion at half price. I stress, a million stairs. Montmartre can be a killer if you don't plan to make it easy on yourself.

That evening we went to a traditional French cabaret Au Lapin Agile. No naked ladies. A bunch of people sat at a table and sang rousing traditional French country songs and shanties and things, engaging with the audience and having a great time. There was a bit of poetry and comedy, but mostly group singing. We had a good time, and I felt very cultural, but something was a bit farcical about it all, and not intentionally. I don't know. It was all in French and enjoyable, but difficult to follow and a bit expensive for the reward. For the same price I could have seen an opera and bit much more satisfied.

The next day I worked in the morning and then met another friend at L'Orangerie for conversation and art. I had never been before (I could take or leave Monet) but everyone always reports that it's something remarkable. And it definitely is. It has two giant oval-shaped rooms with Monet's waterlilies. The natural lighting is breathtaking, so I only recommend you go when it is sunny in Paris (which is 50-50) and not when it is closed on Tuesdays. It was really quite remarkable to see the kind of depth an artist can put in such a gigantic work. Amazing. The museum also had exhibitions downstairs, in which I discovered two new artists I had not known but now enjoy: Chaim Soutine and Didier Paquignon. Beautiful.

After a coffee next to La Madeliene, I met L&D at the Palais Garnier for a ballet, La Fille Mal Gardee. It was lovely, and pretty traditional, though not quite worth the standing ovation it received. Afterward we trekked to Le Bistrot Victoire, on the recommendation of The Frugal Traveler. The service was pleasant and the creme brulee delicious, but our meals were nothing to get excited about. And I'll be honest, I hated my meat. But everyone's experience is different....

I'm so glad L&D came and had me as a part of their honeymoon...I had such a great time with them, and Paris is so much better shared!

A Circus Indeed

With L&D in town, I had an excuse to put work aside for a few days to explore the city with them. L has exceptional fashion taste and interests, so we spent a day shopping in La Marais. La Marais has both the best food and affordable fashion shopping in all of Paris, in my and others' opinions. We also happened to be wandering during the semi-annual sales in Paris, so it was a good time to be out. We were able to visit both chains (APC and Kookai, for instance) and vintage stores, which were a lot of fun.

Unfortunately, I did not think ahead and a great deal of establishments were closed for the Sabbath on Saturday, so we were not able to experience falafel or any other great food. Instead we ended up at Bar de Cirque on rue Amelot in the 11th for pizza. We had the strangest service experience I've ever had. No fewer than three people asked us what we wanted, put in our order separately, and confirmed our order. Nevertheless, both our drink order and our pizza order came back wrong. And we weren't complicated: we ordered three vegetarian pizzas. That's it. No special order, not even three different pizzas! Yet we received three (yummy) margherita pizzas. Unexplainable. Then all three different people charged us different amounts. Amazing. Disastrous. Don't do it.

After shopping, we stopped for a sit and mint tea at Riad Nejma, and enjoyed each other's company over some really delicious ice cream. We walked to Notre Dame with the hope of entering and managed to get there at the exact time they were closing the doors. Grr. We had another drink at another cafe, and then delicious dinner at Le Grenier de Notre Dame. Boy, I love that restaurant. I had the lasagna, and it was really something. We ended the night with jazz at Le Caveau des Oubliettes, one of my favorite places to be in Paris. I know it's touristed, but I don't care. I love interesting jazz. Let someone else listen to the standards.

Markets in Marrakech

In the morning, we struggled with Moroccan stubbornness and bureaucracy in an attempt to mail ourselves the pottery we had purchased. (Update: one bowl broken, two bowls in tact.) Finally succeeding though paying exorbitant prices, N and Is walked us to the bus station to send us on our way to Marrakech. This time, we took a more reliable bus, which was a relief since we would no longer hand our friends along to help us navigate the unfamiliar waters. Crossing over to Marrakech was hot hot hot, much hotter than our previous long bus ride, since we were spending more time traversing the desert. Whew.

Arriving in Marrakech, we made our exhausting way into the medina, following our hotel manager on foot since there are no cars allowed in the medina/old city/marketplace. I must say that our hotel experience was very frustrating: difficult to find, difficult to communicate, expectations not met on either side, grr. However, it was BEAUTIFUL and very comfortable and very affordable. It's hard to say if I'd recommend it or not, but it certainly was lovely, and I'm not sure another hotel would be easier on American tourists with certain expectations.

We hired a guide through the medina, which was a very smart move. He showed us such beautiful spaces. A great portion of the medina is for workshops, where children and artisans create glasswork, metalwork, pottery, cloth dying, etc. Our guide kept taking us places where shopkeepers could sell us things. It was nice to be able to say we'd already purchased things in Essaouira, so the pressure was off. The sights of the medina were just amazing. Children in the metalwork shops. The vibrant colors of a thousand scarves. Giant jars of olives. Snake charmers in the main square. Orange juice carts with hundreds of fresh oranges to be squeezed. It was really something, I have to say.

It was the last day of our trip. The next day, we flew back to Paris but just stayed at the hotel by the airport to fly back to the US the day after. We were exhausted, but we were happy. We were so, so happy.

Sunset on the wall

Our second day in Essa (we decided to stay there an entire extra day and night, sacrificing time in Marrakech, because we loved it so much and were having such a great time with N and Ism), was mostly spent shopping! We had spent the first day scoping and then returned to do the shopping on the next day. We bought terracotta bowls, three beautiful rugs, silver jewelry, scarves, thuya boxes, and our favorite is a hand carved wooden mask sculpture by a local artist. It's beautiful.

We had kebabs for lunch, and a year of delicious kebabs in Geneva didn't prepare me for this really delicious grilled kebabs. Awesome. We sat with them in the fish market park and coerced a new friend to join us. The outrageous number of stray cats in Morocco made me very sad, and I was happy to share my chicken with this little one. D took like a thousand more reference photos. He clearly has big artistic plans for our trip.

Honestly, it was a day for wandering. There are a million experiences to be found in Essa, and though it doesn't quite feel like "real" Morocco like Casa did--it's more like luxury Morocco--it was so unique and beautiful that we wanted to be a part of all of it. We wandered the medina looking for finds and treasures. Lots of back areas that were mostly residential with beautiful doorways and intimidating walls. N and Ism found a local poet in a funky back room who shared his poetry and ideas at dramatic length.

We arrived back in our room (after landing the mask) and relaxed before heading out again. We went to the walls of the medina, which once protected it from attacks from the sea, and sat to watch the sunset. I think it was the first time D had watched the sun set from beginning to end. Beautiful. After an hour or so of just sitting in peace, we wandered to find delicious dinner. We stumbled onto a marvelous place with very traditional style food. We sat in a plush corner to ourselves with pillows and candles and ate and ate and ate. I highly recommend the place, if I can think of the name.

We were sad for it to be our last night with N and Ism. They were such perfect travel partners. D thinks we should travel with them all over the world. Here's hoping. Thanks, you two.

A Castle Made of Sand

So we didn't see the actual castle. But we were near it.

After dawn broke over the wedding, we took a taxi back to Casablanca, from where we took a Moroccan bus to Essaouira. This was a five hour bus ride, but the bus ride was a mess. It was an old bus, but functional, and open windows made it pleasant to ride in. However, it was smelly, and it was very sketchy. We stopped very often, picking up passengers on the side of the road, and it looked like the driver was stopping to run his errands all the way there. A mess. And we were so exhausted that it made the process kind of stressful, but really it wasn't as bad as our flight experience, in proper perspective.

Essaouira is a beautiful city on the Atlantic Ocean, where Jimi Hendrix, Cat Stevens, and Bob Dylan have all lived or vacationed. Most of the buildings are white, against a blue sky and a blue sea, with palm trees and a gorgeous white sand beach...a person couldn't ask for much more. And while the latitude we were on should have meant it was VERY hot, the position of Essa makes it a wonderfully sunny but 75 degrees cool. It was perfect. Unfortunately, we were so exhausted we didn't see anything that first day. N had arranged for an apt there (rather than a hotel...it was wonderful and super cheap!), and once we arrived, we laid down for a nap at 6pm at woke up at 830am. Whew.

We woke in the morning and headed out for breakfast, which we ate on the open Plaza Moulay Hassan near the marina. We had lovely Moroccan mint tea and omelettes and crepes and squeezed orange juice and the like. Afterward, we walked around the medina and shopped...mostly looking rather than buying...to see what was out there. Terracotta wares, rugs, clothing, silver, art, beauty products, leather, thuya woodworking, lanterns, stoneware...you name it and it can be found there. And for cheaper than in Marrakech, the location of a more famous medina.

We walked around the medina and port for a little while, with Darick taking hundreds of photos for painting references, and then we had lunch at the fish grills around the square. These little shops buy fish fresh caught that day from the port, line the seafood in a row, and then you point to the very fish you want to eat. They grill it up and you eat it. The freshness of the seafood was really wonderful. And we had so much fish!! It was quite a delicious (and messy) adventure. Note the photos of our lunch before and after.

To walk off our big lunch, we walked along the beach for a few hours. Darick went into the water and reported it was much too cold for swimming, though that never stops the 14 and under crowd. We, however, laid ont he beach for a while. The unique geographical position, mentioned earlier, keeps the city cool, but the beach very windy, which makes it ideal for windsurfers but not for loungers. So we walked instead of bathing.If you walk far enough, you come upon men with camels and horses who would love to take your money to let you ride their animals along the beach. This sounds romantic, but not for us, so we walked back toward the center of town and had a drink overlooking a makeshift soccer pitch on the beach.

After a rest in the apt, we went to a bar, Taros Cafe, which is a rooftop bar overlooking the square, the medina, the ocean, everything. From there, we watched the sunset and drank expensive drinks in order to stay for the show, which is why we had come in the first place. Essa is known for Gnaoua music, which is a Moroccan style of music involving cymbals, a stringed instrument, and wild jumping and dancing. Our photos of this didn't turn out, but N's were great. It was really a fantastic concert. The bar is expensive, but worth it. We finished the night with kebabs for dinner, and who can beat that? Love me some shawarma.

St. Sulpice and Shopping

On Monday, on the way to school, I stopped by a church I walk past every day: L'Eglise Saint Sulpice. It's a beautiful, very old church, and it's supposedly the largest in Paris, even larger than Notre Dame. It was made famous by Dan Brown's horrible book and consequent movie, the DaVinci Code. It houses the rose line, or the marker for the original Prime Meridian, under which Silas tries to find the Holy Grail. The Rose Line itself is quite cool: a gold line crossing the church from north to south. What is also cool about the church is it's stunning design which allows it to be brightly lit by sunlight, no matter where the sun is in the sky. It also is ringed with chapels all the way around the church, each with it's own saint and sometimes two, so you might ask for the intercession of the one closest to your needs. My favorite with the Saint Louis chapel, which has a stained glass window of King Louis IX, the patron of Saint Louis, and a statue of St. Therese of the Little Flower, the saint of the church in which I was married. It was a chapel designed for me. Lovely.

On Wednesday the sales began! Paris goes on sale during the month of July, and EVERY store goes on sale, from Louis Vuitton to H&M to Cartier to Claire's. Its quite remarkable. Given the poor exchange between dollar and euro, the sale price doesn't really save me much money, so I didn't buy much, but it is still cheaper than it was without the sale...

Art, Music, and Light

On Friday, June 29th, I slept all day. I think I had a crepe from a vendor on the street for lunch. Not too much excitement.

In the evening, Kate and I had delicious entrecote et frites (steak and fries, a standard Parisian dish) in an area close to our apartments, and then had one more evening at the Louvre. We knew we couldn't do everything, but we just tried to do a little more than we had done before. Greek and Roman sculpture, including the Venus de Milo and Winged Glory. We also visited Napoelon's apartments, since he used to live in the Louvre before it was the art museum we know today. He certainly was extravagant.

The next day, after several failed attempts over two weeks, we toured L'Opera Garnier. It was still a bit of a failure, since we'd been trying to catch a guided tour of the opera house but found the book to be inaccurate, which was unfortunate. We gave up, and we toured the place on our own. We saw old costumes and miniature sets, in addition to wandering around the really beautiful halls surrounding the auditorium itself. We even had a chance to see the "Phantom's box", though he wasn't there.

We finally left the Palais Garnier, grabbed some quiche in the train station, and headed to Notre Dame. Since I had already been, Kate went up to the top with Judith, who had met us there, while I read my book in the courtyard. It was a nice, relaxing break, though I also had to do a little program organization via cell phone. From there, the three of us walked to the other island in the Seine, L'Ile Saint-Louis. It's mostly a residential spot, but there is a lovely little shopping strip with neat little specialty stores which runs down the center of the island. We went because we hadn't been and also because the island is known for its ice cream. And the rumors are not wrong...the shop where we stopped had gelato that they shaped into a rose on your cone. It was super delicious. I also spent a ridiculous amount of money on a few different varieties of olive oil in an olive oil store. I was in heaven.

Judith headed back to the foyers, but Kate and I continued on to Ste-Chapelle, which is the beautiful chapel Saint Louis (King Louis IX) built to house Jesus's crown of thorns when he acquired the precious relic. Now it can be found in Notre Dame, and they bring them out sometimes. Anyway, Ste-Chapelle is an incredible place, completely surrounded by amazing stained glass windows. If you read from bottom to top, left to right, the windows pictorially represent the entire Bible, from Genesis to Revelations. It's incredible.

Running out of time

On the 25th, Paris went on sale. France has strict rules (as does the EU, for that matter) about when sales can occur and what they mean, so it's an exciting time to see a sale in Paris, particularly since it has such fantastic fashion. So I went shopping today, and it was glorious. And exhausting. Zara, for one, was a madhouse of epic proportions.

I realized the next day, the 26th, that I had less than one remaining week in Paris, and there was so much left to do! So after class I headed out to the Pantheon, where France buries it's heroic men who bring honor to their country, by way of a photo of the Sorbonne. The Pantheon, though it doesn't get enough recognition as a tourist site of Paris, is gorgeous, with beautiful paintings commemorating the glory of France, and a full crypt of heroic and brilliant Frenchmen (plus one woman). Foucault's pendulum is here, which is fascinating. Look it up on wikipedia. Wandering slowly through the crypt, I found the final resting places of Voltaire, Victor Hugo, Alexandre Dumas, Louis Braille, Emile Zola, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, and Marie and Pierre Curie. Marvelous.

That evening, the majority of the students in the program went to a tiny fondue restaurant in Montmartre, called Refuge de Fondue, and they invited me along. It was incredible! For a relatively small sum, given this is Paris, we had aperitifs, appetizers, meat and cheese fondues, dessert, and a baby bottle filled with wine (or orange juice, given my preferences). It was so much fun, drinking from baby bottles and eating marvelous mounds of cheese. Few things are as fantastic as fondue.

Le Destin de Emily

June 7 and 8

The 7th was spent working, although I did a little reading in the Luxembourg Gardens, created, as most public parks were in Paris, as a playground for the royals. The really are beautiful, mostly because they are simply enjoyed. Everyone comes to relax, picnic, read, and exist. It's wonderful.

On Friday, the 8th, the study abroad group visited the US Embassy, located on the Place de la Concorde. One of the officials of the US government gave us a briefing on French politics and US-French relations. I thought is was fascinating, and I was reminded of my undergraduate desire to be a member of the diplomatic service. I'm not designed for it, but I did want it, once upon a time.

In the afternoon, though somewhat cloudy, Shama and I went to Montmarte for a leisurely walk through the playground of Amelie Poulin. We exited the metro system via a bajillion stairs, since we decided to walk rather than lift out of the deepest metro station in Paris. However, we ended up outside of one of the beautiful art nouveau metro stations around Paris, this one made famous from the movie (and other things, I'm certain).

More stair climbing to the top of Montmartre, past tourists and shops to the Basilica Sacre Coeur. It's the highest point in Paris, so says the guidebook, and it really is something. Amelie sent her tricky metro photo booth lover up the winding stairs in from of the church, and the top provides a beautiful view of Paris. Well, when it's clear. The inside of the church is incredibly beautiful, with tiny chapels tucked back behind the alter and mosaics everywhere. Not as breathtaking as the St. Louis Basilica, but oh so much older...

We walked past the myriad of artists attempting to sell their mediocre oil renditions of the Eiffel Tower and had a crepe covered in chocolate, ice cream and goodness. A walk past Van Gogh's former residence and the last remaining real windmill in Paris (Moulin, of course, means windmill) brought us to the Cemetiere de Montmartre. I, for one, love to see buried famous people. I think it rocks. So we paid respects to Alexandre Dumas, Hector Berlioz, Edgar Degas, and Francois Truffaut, in the (dead) flesh. Remarkable, how the French can stuff so many people in tiny tiny spaces. They just stack them one on top of another. Incredible.

We also got a little too close to the red light district in an effort to photograph the Moulin Rouge. It's super expensive to catch a show and dinner, so we just hit the outside. It looks just as you'd expect, but it's still worth it to see it in the flesh. (Heh heh.)

Castles and Cathedrals

Our final tour stop was Milan(o). I'd been to Milan twice before, and though the shopping was great and the Duomo impressive, it was hardly mind-boggling. I think I'd survive if I didn't return, yet it seems to keep pulling me back.

Our tour guide for Milano was much better than that of Venice, not repeating herself nor making racist comments. We first took a little tour of the Castle, where the family who once ruled the city-state of Milan (before Italy was united) lived. One half of the castle was ornate and had many windows, which is where the family lived most of the time, but when the castle was attacked, the family would move into the other half, where there were no windows so they were more likely to safe.

From there, we moved to La Scala, the premier opera theatre in the world. I'm not sure what identifying characteristic makes it so, but I recognize that when you sing opera, here is where you want to do it. It was so beautifully ornate on the inside. It was destroyed in WWII (I think), but it was one of the first buildings to be rebuilt, as a symbol of the city. A few of the choir members went to see the ballet there that night, though I didn't make it out.

Through the beautiful galleria (shopping center with a ridiculously beautiful ceiling), we ended up in the plaza in front of the Duomo. St. Peter's Basilica is the largest cathedral in Christiandom, followed by one in Seville, Spain, and then the Duomo in Milan. It was incredibly beautiful, particularly on the outside. It is also the home of an incredible sculpture of St. Bartholomew...email me if you want to know why I thought it was so cool.

That night I stayed in, but Milano won the UEFA cup in soccer, which means I definitely didn't sleep until the streets calmed down around 3 am. The honking, screaming, firecrackers, etc. were riotous. I am clearly not brave enough to attempt to act like an Italian when there is football involved.

Glass Orchestras and Inky Tentacles

Off to Venice, or Venezia. I had been there before, when I studied abroad in Geneva, so I didn't take many repeated photos. However, the sights are no less breath-taking the second time around. I imagine I could return to Venice a thousand times and never get tired of the beauty, the smallness, the romance, the tourists, the shopping, the pigeons, the Italians, or anything. I care not that it's almost overrun with tourists. It's incredible, with nothing to which I might compare it. Venice is among the most incredible things I've seen in my short lifetime, and though other things might compete with it, nothing will compare to it.

Our courier, Sebastian, who was our companion on the entire tour, coordinating with venues, hotels, restaurants, tour guides, everything, was a Venice resident, so he took us on a little walking tour on the way to meet our guides, informing us of good places for gelato and groceries. We then went on a cool walking tour with a terrible, racist guide. He kept cracking snide remarks about Japanese tourists until one of our (half-Japanese) choir members spoke up. We saw the Rialto bridge, packed with shops, the beautiful Ca d'Oro, and a fish market. We also saw a beautiful spiral staircase, which my guidebook (though not our terrible guide) told me is rumored to have been designed by Leonardo da Vinci. Since the choir sang a wild piece about Leonardo, we were particularly interested in those things related to him. We also saw the opera house, and progressed our way to the Piazza San Marco, made famous in so many movies and diamond commercials. We went into the Basilica for about 4 minutes, but it was fascinating. Most fascinating, I thought, was the fact that the floor is sinking in various places, making the marble floor very uneven as you make your way through the cathedral.

After breaking off from the group, a few of us walked up the grand canal, shopped a little, and slowly made our way back toward the hotel, getting lost in corners a few times. We stopped for dinner, and true to my conviction to eating local food, I had cuttlefish in the Venetian style. When reading that the specialty in Venice is seafood, I should have paid attention to the section of the guidebook explaining that the Venetian style is boiled in squid ink. I only ate about a third. It was too, um, rich, for me.

The next morning, Emily, Dipika and I headed to the islands. I was determined to buy gifts for everyone while in Venice. What makes a better gift than beautiful, hand-blown glass from Venice? So we walked once again to the Piazza San Marco and jumped on the Vaporetto (water-bus) around the main island. Our first stop was the cemetery island where the Venetians are buried. There is buried one of Darick's favorite composers, Igor Stravinsky, so I took a photo for him. Also of note were the cypress trees all over the cemetery. These trees are all over Italy, but they are particularly notable in cemeteries, since they reach toward heaven.

Finally, we ended up at Murano, where artisans blow glass that is reknowned around the world. The trade is passed through families rather than through schools, and one must be an apprentice for 20 years before having one's own shop. We were able to watch a demonstration, and it was fantastic. We then shopped, all day. It was fantastic. You'd never believe the kinds of things they can make of blown glass. I bought, of course, Christmas ornaments for myself, and gifts for others. At one point, I saw an entire tiny orchestra, no player larger than an inch and a half, made of delicate glass. It was incredible.

We sang that evening in a church built in the year one thousand, to another really receptive audience, composed of about half tourists. It was really nice, with another decent performance. Afterward we ate dinner on a dock on the canal, facing the sunset. It was perfect, as only Venice can be.

To flourish

Fiorenze. The city of Florence was named from the verb meaning to flourish. And flourish one does.

The city is beautiful, if not filled to the brim with tourist curiosities, like Rome. We began our tour, after a beautiful drive through Tuscany to get there, at the Duomo. The cathedral of Florence is built of marble. Though marble is common inside many buildings in Italy and greater Europe, it is rare on the outside, since it weathers so poorly. The builders of the Duomo were not to be deterred, though, and the building is covered in gorgeous designs in white, red, and green marble. Inside is also an architectural marvel - a dome created of gothic arches, never to be repeated to this day in human history.

Our walking tour, behind a slow-moving but well-informed Italian guide, took us past all of the glories of Florence - the original home of Michelangelo's David, a demonstration of the world's first graffiti (a derivation of the Italian word for scratching), the reported home of Mona Lisa, and many, many churches. Post tour, Dipika and Emily and I wandered back to most of the places the guide had breezed past, such as Dante's home and some gorgeous churches. We went past the Uffizi. Without Darick to enjoy them with me, I chose not to indulge in most art museums on the trip. While I realize I passed up some of the most world-reknowned art there is, such as the Sistine Chapel and the Uffizi, I'll be back. I married an artist, after all. However, we did visit the real David in the Galleria della Accademia, and it was incredibly impressive. The true masters are known as such for a very important reason. No pictures allowed in the museum, so I took mine with the replica in its original location.

We then crossed the river (Arno? maybe that's in Rome...) via the Ponte Vecchio. The bridge is lined with shops, which were once occupied by livestock vendors. Merchants, however, decided it was too smelly and ran all of them out. Now the bridge is lined with fine jewelers....thirty or so all lined up next to each other. It's quite a sight. On the other side, one finds the Medici palace, where the family lived who once ruled Florence and commissioned great works of the Renaissance.

On our way back to meet the group, we stopped at a restaurant off the beaten path recommended by the trusty guide book. I can't emphasize enough how much my guide book rocks, and I'd highly recommend traveling with one and relying on it for guidance. This restaurant was all Florence, with Florentine ingredients and recipes. It was hands down the best meal in Italy, and perhaps one of the best of my life. The recipes were rich with sausage and truffles and ham and the ingredients were just exploding with flavor. And cheap! So so good. If you are headed to Florence, ask me for the name of this place when I can look it up at home. You won't regret it.

We stayed at a hotel in Montecatini, about 45 minutes drive from Florence. There was nothing to do there. I won't bore you with details.

Next morning we went as a group to the Piazzale Michelangelo, a point (now really a parking lot) on a hill near the city where you can see the whole city. Apparently it's one of the best sunset views in the universe, but we didn't catch it at sunset. It is still remarkable though. After that, a group lunch that couldn't compare with the dinner of the night before, plus there were clandestine chicken livers making the meal a bit spoiled. However, we then shopped, which is really what one does in Florence. Ice cream and shopping for leather and paper goods. I purchased both, plus olive oil. Then the choir packed up and headed to the Tuscan countryside to sing at a 700 year-old church as part of a chianti festival. This time, well rehearsed, we sang much better, and the audience seemed so excited to have us there! They even threw us a reception afterward, and though none of us could talk to them (except one of our students) we were all appreciative of each other. It was a great time. Here are olive trees next to the church, in a Tuscan grove. Sigh.

Empires and Ice Cream

Choir tour began after a (thankfully) non-stop flight to Rome. We de-planed, passed customs, checked into our hotel (actually a religious institute run by nuns) and then went on a guided tour of the Colosseum and the Roman forum. It really is remarkable to see the things that you've seen your whole life in books and in mediocre Academy-award-winning films. The Colosseum was, well, colossus. It has weathered time well, and is awe-inspiring.

Our tour guide knew much more information than we, jet-lagged and weary choristers, could really handle, but it was great all the same. Once you get inside, you can see the rooms that were underneath the wooden floor in ancient times, where the gladiators powdered their noses and the animals took their final snooze. You can also see the marble stairs where royalty watched the events from shaded areas and the archeologists still digging for lost artifacts. To attempt to get a mental handle on how old the place is can be baffling.

We then continued to tour the Roman forum and the various temples and archways around the area. The forum is where the soldiers hung out, gambling and going to market and whatnot. The house of Vestigal Virgins provides a good story, though not much to see, and the nearby palace was restored by Michelangelo himself. Though I didn't see where Julius bit the dust, we did see the place where his funeral pyre burned.

That night, after a bit of a necessary rest, we had a group dinner. We had one provided group meal in each city, which was a nice reprieve from the money that I didn't have but was spending anyway. The Italians eat what I would consider an outrageous amount of food at any given meal, and we did the same at these group meals. So bread, two pasta dishes, a meat dish, and a dessert. While the first meal was fairly uneventful, the dessert was remarkable--mille folgie--or a thousand leaves. It's many layers of pastry filled with a delicious custard. I melted.

On our way back to the institute, we traversed through the Vatican City, right through Saint Peter's Square. At night, the fountains and the buildings are lit on all sides, which is quite remarkable to behold. Since I am old, and a wuss, I did not go out after dinner that night, but the walk home through the Vatican City was a perfect way to end the evening.

The next day began with the Piazza Navona, a cute little piazza surrounded by cafes and filled with fountains. From there we walked to one of the great architectural finds of the world, the Pantheon. Its dome is poured concrete, and it's still unknown as to how it was constructed. And at the center is a hole for light, which tells the time on the walls of the internal structure. Here lies great emperors, and Raphael.

We then continued on a walking tour of the beautiful sights of Rome. We visited the Trevi Fountain, of La Dolce Vita and Frank Sinatra fame. It's the fountain of "Three Coins in the Fountain." According to local legend, if you throw one coin into the fountain, you'll return to Rome within the year. If two, you'll find love in Rome, and if three, wedding bells will soon ring. Since I didn't need the latter two, I only tossed one. We also went past the former home of Lord Byron, and took a hike up the Spanish steps, most famous, for me anyway, from Roman Holiday. A jaunt into Piazza Populi, then we headed out for pizza and some gelato. It was a busy day. In the late afternoon came our first performance of the tour. We sang, as a choir, as part of a mass at Saint Peter's Basilica. While I expected it to be, say, "neat," I was amazed at how wonderful the experience was. Being in the cathedral itself was remarkable, knowing I walked on ground over the body of Saint Peter, and passing the marvelous Pieta, now behind bulletproof glass to protect it from axe-wielding maniacs. We sang our own pieces as the regular parts of the mass, during the preparation of the gifts, communion, etc. The whole experience was very solemnifying for me--perhaps not for others in my group, but at least for me. While the mass was said in Italian, I could tell at which point we were and go along in English. It was incredible. Except the pigeon traipsing his way across the altar. The altar boys almost lost it.

Dinner that night on a side street near Vatican city with some fellow graduate students. In each city I attempted to eat at least one dish that was not only Italian, but was specific to the region in both recipe and ingredients. In Rome, that was pasta ala carbonara, and it was delicious in this particular place. Again, I ate too much. However, I still managed some gelato for a passagiata (post-dinner walk) through Vatican city. The place we ate that night remains my favorite gelateria of Italy--it was so incredibly creamy and wonderful. The flavors were gloriously vibrant. It was like a masterpiece of Italian ice cream.

On our last day in Rome, Dipika (my roommate for the tour) and I did a little more back-street exploring. We climbed to the top of the Castel Sant' Angelo, where the pope once saw a vision of an angel sheathing his sword, bringing an end to the plague in Italy. From the top, you can see the whole of Rome, which is fantastic to see. From there, we walked to the Campo dei Fiori--the flower market--to wander the stalls. I purchased spices, ready made for delicious pasta. We had pizza for lunch in the Jewish ghetto, which was once run down but is now a great place for liveliness and food. In this area, which pushes up against the ancient city, there is a church, called something I can't remember but is similar to Our Lady of the Fish Market. This is where the Jews were once forced to go to mass, but they defiantly put wax in their ears. It's a beautiful medieval church, and in the front is an old drain cover known as the Bocca della Verita, or Mouth of Truth. According to legend, and Gary Cooper, the mouth bites off the hands of liars. I passed the test.

That night we left the city of Rome for a concert in the surrounding hills, in a town called Fiorentino (I think). The roads in the city were so small that we had to park the bus outside it and walk to the center to the church. It was perfect. My camera battery had died, so I have no photos of this place, but it was remarkable. It was a smallish crowd, and we sang terribly on almost every piece. It was a nice experience, nonetheless. Back to Rome that night for a pizza dinner once again, and the next morning we headed off to Florence.