Jazz exhibit and a freak storm in Warsaw

So, the event I got to attend last night was the opening of a jazz exhibit that details the performances and visits abroad of the great names in Jazz to promote happy feelings about the US. I must say that it was a huge success - what a cool exhibit! It was all black and white photographs of the biggest names in jazz and blues: Louis Armstrong, Muddy Waters, Dizzy Gillespie, Duke Ellington, Ray Charles, Clark Terry (who I've had the privilege to see in concert at Jazz Alley in Seattle), and the list goes on. I love Jazz, and apparently so does Poland as the Jazz scene here is alive and well. I feel so lucky that I could go the the event.

But, as we were getting ready to leave, we discovered it had started raining. The weather had been absolutely gorgeous for the past couple days, so this was a little surprising. Even more surprising was that it continued to get worse every second until tables chairs and umbrellas were blowing over in hurricane style winds and hail (though it really looked more like ices cubes) started falling. It was totally bizarre! I've never seen bigger raindrops in my life either! So, there we were, stuck in the bar and trying to wait out the rain as none of us had brought anything to shelter ourselves with. But at least we were stuck in the bar and could have a drink or two while we waited. Eventually it let up a little bit and Candace and I ran to her friend's car to get her stuff out of the trunk and then sought shelter under the eaves of a hotel check in area while we waited for a cab. Needless to say, we were completely soaked. Nothing that a change into pajamas and a hot cup of tea can't fix though!

Today I am heading out to the Wilanow castle and will probably hit up a couple museums or galleries as well as the Palace of Culture, which is supposed to be pretty amazing. Having a great time and sending my love to all!

Warszawa!!!!

Wow! What a great city! Everyone should visit Poland, I've been so impressed.

So, Krakow was very fun and cute, but also quite touristy. I enjoyed my stay there immensely, but Warsaw is quickly becoming one of my favorite places I've been on this trip. Candace, the ever gracious host, has kept me extremely entertained. I got here on Saturday night and went to a housewarming party with her where I met most of her colleagues from the Embassy, what a wonderful and interesting group of people! Then, yesterday, we rode bikes all over the city, stopping at outdoor festivals everywhere and eating wonderful Polish delights and drinking awesome unpasturized Polish beer. Delicious! I got to see so much of the city and enjoyed the bike ride immensely. I am convinced that it's the best way to see a city. After our ride around town, we went to an outdorr jazz concert and then on a river cruise with folks from the embassy as a send off for one of their co-workers who is heading to Kosovo in a week. It was a beautiful evening, the company was great and the sunset was subperb.

Being here is amazing. I can't believe I'm in Poland/Eastern Europe. Not many Americans make this a destination, though I am totally convinced they should. It's an eye-opening experience the history of Warsaw alone is staggering. 85% of the city was destroyed in the Polish uprising of 1944 and they re-built the city brick by brick to look as close to what it did before the devastation. It's incredible to walk the streets with that in mind.

The weather has been beautiful, thankfully, as it has been unseasonably wet here from what I've heard. Right now I am sitting in a coffee shop on a square and enjoying a sunny morning and a caffe latte while planning out my day and making reservations for my hostel in Berlin. Tonight I will be going to an opening VIP reception for the place where we saw the jazz concert last night. So glad I found a cute dress while in Krakow! I'll take lots of pictures and be sure to post asap.

I feel so lucky to be staying with Candace, we hadn't seen eachother for 8 years and it's been great catching up with her - she's still just as wonderful as I remembered her and I'm glad to be rebuilding a great friendship. Not to mention the palatial accomodations in her apartment - it's so nice to have my own room and personal bathroom after staying in hostels with 12 other people to a room and all sharing a bathroom.

Stay tuned!!!

Finally I have some time to write!

PHEW! What a crazy week!

So, in the past week I have taken final exams, turned in my terrible paper, checked out of my apartment, then made the trek from Florence to Venice, Venice to Vienna, and then a crazy journey from Vienna to Krakow, Poland. This evening I head to Warsaw and shoudl arrive by 8pm.

Venice, as I told you earlier, was great. I loved Vienna and had the luck of being able to go to a Mozart Symphony/Opera Concert while there, which was a great experience. They played all my favorites, the venue was beautiful and the singers were amazing. I'll post pictures soon, hopefully.

Then, there was the ridiculous journey from Vienna to Krakow, Poland. Holy hell! I was supposed to leave Vienna at 10:15pm and make it to Krakow by 6:30am the following morning. However, this most certainly did not happen. I awoke at what I later found out was 4:30am to discover the train was not moving and freaked out because my phone, which had been stuck on Eastern US coast time since I left the states (5 weeks!) decided to switch to local time while I slept. Basically, I had no idea what time it was, though I could tell it was early morning from the level of the sun in the sky, and could not figure out where I was. Turns out, we were stopped at a train station in the middle of the Czech Republic and that there was such bad flooding up the track that we could not continue on our route. After sitting there for three hours and trying to figure out what was going on, no one would tell us anything, they finally said we had 10 minutes to get our things together and run over to another platform to catch and train that would take us to a bus. We had no idea what stop to take, and finally figured that out, got on the bus which took us to another train station, got on another train, which then took us to another train that would take us to Krakow. Then, as if things weren't bad enough, this train took the most circular and long trip to make it to Krakow. We ended up arriving in Krakow a full 11 hours after our original scheduled arrival time. 19 hours on a train with only the snacks I brought with me (thank goodness I had the common sense to also bring a bottle of wine!), when the travel toime should have been 8 hours. That's what happens when you travel though! Gotta roll with the punches!

The silver lining to this crazy journey, though, was that I made a great friend on the train. She's a French teacher from Toronto, Canada that is participating in a program in Nice, France. We had the best time in Krakow together before she left on the night train to Prague last night. We exchanged information and are going to keep in touch, though she is heading to Hong Kong for a year to teach after she completes her program in Nice. So jealous!

Anyway, as I said earlier, I'll hop on a train to Warsaw at 5pm this evening and (hopefully) should make it there by 8pm to meet up with Candace Faber, a girl I went to junior high and high school with who is of the most fabulous character adn brilliant to boot! I am extremely excited as I haven't seen her in 8 years! Guess I'll have to break off my engagement with my fiance (featured in the post below).......

Stay tuned!!!

I am staying in Poland.... I found a husband!!!!

Venice & Vienna

Well, I am now in Vienna, Austria, writing to you from the hostel I am staying at here. I arrived this morning after riding the train through the night from Venice. I actually left Florence yesterday at 12:40pm local time and went to Venice, spent a couple hours there and then hopped a train for Vienna at 9pm.

So far, this is what I've learned about myself since venturing out by myself on this leg of my trip: I can not sleep on trains for the life of me (granted, I had a "couchette," which is a fancy word for an uncomfortable seat, so that may have been part of the problem), guys named Andre in Venice are crazy with a capital C-R-A-Z-Y, and Vienna, though beautiful and awesome, really sucks when it's raining. .I've also realized that I don't particularly care for hostels - though I'm not really sure anyone does. I mean, it's a great cheap way to have a place to shower and sleep, but I just find them a little uncomfortable and worry that I'm bothering them while I try to cram my huge-ass backpack into my locker in the middle of the afternoon while they're taking a nap. That reminds me, holy crap do I need to throw away or ship home some crap. What the heck was I thinking? Oh, yeah. I was stationary in Florence for 4 weeks straight and didn't have to deal with lugging my backpack and daypack around with me. Ugh.

Ok, so for the scoop on crazy dudes named Andre in Venice: Whoa. Dude was totally harmless and I was completely safe because tons of people were everywhere and it was daylight, but wow did this guy say some weird stuff. I think he tried to tell me he was bisexual, but in a very lewd sort of way. Don't ask. Once I got back to the train station (after making fun of him mercilessly about following me around, even when I purchased fruit at a fruit stand and told the gentleman helping me that the guy was just following me around) I was sitting on the steps thinking about dinner and a beer, besides still trying to avoid Andre, when I was saved by a slightly drunk Polish guy named Gregory. Turns out, Gregory was pretty rad, even though he had a completely idealistic idea of America. We chatted, I left and got dinner, came back and sat on the steps and he was still there, we talked music for a bit and he told me all about what I should do while in Krakow (he was pretty stoked I was going there), and then wished eachother well on our respective journeys and parted ways. I've seriously met some of the coolest, laid back people on this trip, that's been pretty awesome. Not counting Andre, of course.

Even though I didn't have much time in Venice and didn't take a ride on a Gondola and have the driver (pilot? captain?) sing to me, I did get to see the Rialto Bridge and Piazza San Marco, which was amazing. After that I relaxed on the edge of the Grande Canal and watched the cruise ships come in. It actually reminded me of home a lot, which made me a little homesick, but was perfect to chill me out for a long train ride.

I arrived in Vienna this morning at around 8:30am, found a hostel and then set out to check out the city. It's been raining all day, so I ended up completely soaked by the time I got back to my hostel, but I had a great time looking at all the sights and eating the most awesome bratwurst I've ever had yet. Emphasis on the "yet" as I will be heading to Germany next week.

To be completely honest, even though I was totally miserable and wet, I was completely blown away. I mean, I'm in Vienna! Seriously, this is Mozart country. In fact, I'm going to hear some Mozart and Strauss tonight as I ran into some people selling tickets for the opera and got a special deal because I'm a student. Sweet!

If you would have asked me last year what I would be doing right now, there's no way in hell I would have said (or even guessed): "Hanging out in Vienna, heading to Krakow tomorrow night in a sleeper car and then onto Warsaw, Berlin, Luneburg and Hamburg after spending 4 weeks in Florence and running around other parts of Italy." Whoa. I mean, it hasn't all been perfect and sunshine and rainbows, there have been 2 days where I seriously pondered shortening my trip, but for the most part, this has been an incredible experience and memories I will cherish for a lifetime. And it ain't even over yet! I still have 16 more days before I head back to the U.S.

Oh, and Austrain advertising is hilarious!!! Seriously. I am completely unsurprised that Ah-nuld came from here as I've never seen so many cheesy gym ads in my life. Thumbs up, beefcakes!

hello???

Ok, so I've posted pictures and written posts and I am so surprised that I haven't gotten any comments to my posts - I am so sad! Ok, seriously, I really love hearing from you all so feel free to post as many comments as it'll take.

I leave for Poland on Monday (actually am heading to Venice on Monday afternoon and then onto Vienna, Prague and finally Krakow where I will stay for a couple days) and am sad to leave, though it will be nice to get to some cooler weather - it's been so bloody hot and humid here all week. Our apartment is almost unbearably hot and sleeping has become very difficult (on top of it already being a little difficult because of my crazy, vino-induced dreams).

Tomorrow I have finals and will turn in my huge and horrible paper on establishing an income tax in WA and analysis on the best system to implement to fall in line with principles of social justice. Riveting, I know. I'm considering printing off copies of it for Christmas gifts - ha!

Anyway, I must get back to work so I can finally be done with schoolwork for the year. Miss you all and sending my love!

Picture Day!

OK, so after a week of no pictures, I am finally posting some today.....

However, I have to let you know that I did not make it back to Cinque Terre this weekend as I woke up yesterday morning not feeling well and decided to stay home and work on my paper and study all day, which actually ended up being pretty productive. I was very sad that I had to miss the trip there, but also ok with it as I'm pretty sure I will be back someday. You can't always fit everything in to your trip that you want to.

I did make it to Pisa and Lucca this weekend though. Pisa was pretty cool, but I was seriously impressed with Lucca - what a cool and cute little town! Appparently, when Napoleon conquered Lucca, he liked it so much that he gave it to his sister as a gift. After he died, his wife and sister made the medieval walls of the city into a great promenade that you can walk and bike on. It was seriously cool.

With that said, here's a snapshot of my weekend, my trip to Siena last Thursday and a few pictures I had promised from Mercato Centrale:

SIENA:

The cathedral in Siena was incredible:

You can't really tell from this picture, but the ceiling was painted dark blue with golden stars to look like the night sky. I loved it.

Me and the enormous Piazza del Campo (I think that's the name) in Siena:


PISA:

The cathedral and the Baptistry were both very moving. The Baptistry was very sparsely decorated, but while we were in there and up in the gallery looking down, a man started singing creating some beautiful harmonies with the acoustics and echos and totally gave me goose bumps all over my body. It was a cool, unexpected experience and I was glad we had a chance to witness it. After he was done singing, he began preparing to baptise a little boy whose family was gathering to witness the event. Pretty cool.


LUCCA:

Part of the park on top of the walls around Lucca:

Piazza Napoleone in Lucca:


and some random shots around town:

Hopefully that will be enough photos for now as I have to run to class. Ciao!!!

Ode to Italian coffee

Oh, cappucino.... ti amo! How beautiful and frothy and deliciously creamy you are! How wonderfully happy you make me every morning as I stand at the caffé bar and revel in the most holy of Italian morning rituals, the time of day when I feel like a real local and so in touch with Italy and all its fantastic craziness! Oh, caffé! How beautifully sweet/bitter and dark the caffé espresso is after a three course Tuscan dinner - there is no better way to end such a glorious experience.

How sad I will be when I must part from you and go back to, gag, Starbucks!

All flowery silliness aside - Italian coffee is seriously the most amazing coffee I've ever had. I am so jealous of people who get to live here and have it all the time - these Italians got their pasta, wine and coffee down to an art. It's truly an amazing thing to experience, especially since those three things are pretty much my favorite things in the world. Anyone reading this, if you ever find yourself here, you HAVE to drink as much coffee as you can. The Italians sure do, and they definitely know what's up - I met a guy that has 3-4 espressos in the morning and then a cappuccino later on in the morning after he gets to work in the Mercato Centrale as a butcher. Then, he has another espresso (caffé, in Italy) after dinner. I tolod him he needed to slow down as it was bad for his heart - he told me that his heart didn't need to worry about the espresso, it needed to worry about how pretty I was. I love Italian men! :) I know they say the same things to all the girls, I don't take it to be very serious at all, but damn do they say it well!

I went to Siena yesterday afternoon with our law school people and explored the town and had dinner there - what a place! I loved Siena. The Duomo there is beautiful and that Piazza was HUGE! My friends and I had a couple appertivo and drinks at the squarebefore dinner, which was lovely. If you've ever seen the newest Bond flick, Quantum of Solace, the opening scenes are at the Piazza during the medieval horse races held there on July 6th and August 12th every year. If you haven't seen it, you should check it out.

I will post pictures as soon as I can remember to load them onto my thumb drive (sorry).

Tomorrow I head to Pisa and Lucca with a couple friends. I am looking forward to it. Sunday is Cinque Terre.

Now, back to my paper on the WA State Income Tax proposal and the redistributive/social justice aspects of that...... uggggghhhhhh.

No new pictures yet, but.....

Hello all my wonderful friends and family!

Obviously, as you can tell from the pictures below, the Amalfi Coast and Capri was breathtaking. Walking through Sorrento, a boet tour around the Island of Capri, hiking from one side of Capri to the other to have a lovely lunch and lay on the beach, walking through Positano and laying on the beach for the afternoon, and an afternoon of exploring the amazing Pompei is certainly something I will never forget. I highly recommend making the trip there if you ever find yourself in Italy. It's hot, beautiful, picturesque and the most sapphire-blue water you will ever see. Truly amazing. It can be expensive and time consuming to get there by train and to plan the trip yourself, so I would recommend taking an organized trip like I did - just make sure that there is time for you to do you own thing if you're like me and hate organized touristy stuff. I was glad I got to have time to myself and do whatever I wanted to do while there.

I will say though, try to get a hotel where a group of 12-14 year old french kids are NOT staying - they were absolutely obnoxious and woke us all up screaming and running through the hallways and stomping up and down the stairs at 6:30am on Sunday. People don't understand that when they are abroad they are representing their country and behaving like that does not give people a very good impression. I know they are just kids and don't get it, but seriously. And their teachers traveling with them didn't seem to care at all. Just awful. Thank goodness I already had a good impression of French people from my trip to France years ago or I may have been swayed.....

It's about 1:30pm local time and I just returned to school after having lunch at the Mercato Centrale in Firenze. I had the most amazing roasted pork sandwich (second only to my mama's famous pulled pork) and the Mercato is definitely a sight to behold. Can't believe I forgot to take my camera with me, so I will be returning there tomorrow with camera in hand and try some more delicious food!

This weekend's plans look to be shaping up nicely, though I need to work a little more on them (which I will be doing tomorrow morning). I have come to terms with the fact that I will not be able to see everything I had planned on seeing, and will be going to more of the big sights on this trip, as I will definitely be returning someday. So, with that said, I will be going on a group trip to Siena this Thursday afternoon will all the people in the Gonzaga Law Program, on Friday I will go to Pisa and Lucca by train (haven't decided if I will stay the night or not yet). Saturday I have to get this paper finished for my Justice & Society class because we have paper presentations next week and the paper is due next Friday. Sunday I will go back to Cinque Terre for a day trip since we were rained out the first time we tried to go and I now can go back with a group for free. So far I'm feeling pretty good about that. Next week I have finals on Friday, but will try to get in some sightseeing during the week. It's just a little difficult to plan as my classes are so spread out during the day. I likely will be going to the Science Museum to see Galileo's telescopes and Galileo's finger in a jar between classes soon, or maybe in the morning. I still have yet to go into the Duomo, so I must do that too, and am also planning on going to see Dante's house and his church, which I've heard is very moving. Then I will try to make it to Santa Croce, Pitti Palace and Boboli Gardens. I think I will likely go to Fiesole to see the Etruscan Ruins there next Saturday or Sunday and then will begin my journey to Venice and then onto Poland and Germany on Monday the 22nd. I'll likely go to Venice and spend the afternoon there to see the city, then stay the night and begin my journey to Krakow, Poland the next day.

Phew!!! I have a lot to do and the sand just keeps trickling through that hourglass!! Hopefully, if I push myself hard enough, I wil be able to see evrything I am wanting to see. Keep your fingers crossed for me!

I got homesick for the first time yesterday, for some odd reason, so rest assured that all of you are in my thoughts. I wish you all could be here to experience this with me, but this blog helps with that as it's almost like you are. Love and hugs to all of you...

Sorrento, Capri, Positano, Pompei.... Oh my!!

I cannot say enough about how beautiful the Amalfi Coast was, it was truly amazing. With that statement, here are a few pictures to show you what I mean:

Sorrento from the bus:

Mt. Vesuvius from our (crappy) hotel in Sorrento:

CAPRI:

POSITANO:

POMPEI:

Mt. Vesuvius from the Forum in Pompei (above)

Too much to see and do!

So, I'm desperately trying to figure out my travel plans for next weekend as I'm heading out for the Amalfi Coast for this weekend at 6:30pm tonight and I'm hopelessly confused and worried. It looks as though I won't be able to make it to Volterra after all, I don't think. But, I am going to Siena on Thursday and then I think that Friday I will try to go to Lucca as the train ride is short enough and the schedule agreeable enough with me actually having time to spend in the town. I could always just go to Volterra on Friday, stay the night, then go north to Lucca, spend the day and then head back to Florence. Decisions, decisions..... That actually might work. Just worried I won't be able to find a place to stay in Volterra, and then I'm supposed to go back to Cinque Terre that Sunday (which means more train rides going back in the same direction I just came from. Hmm.... might be time to talk to the tour agency and see if I can't just meet them in Pisa on Sunday morning and do the trip....

Hopeless. See what I mean? (not to mention my inability to make a decision)

DAD - Tell me what to do, you're great at making decisions. Do I do day trips and waste a bunch of time on the train and bus, or do I spend the extra time planning (for hostels) and the extra money to stay overnight in Volterra, then head to Lucca for the day, back to Pisa for the night on Saturday and try to meet up with the tour group in Pisa to go to Cinque Terre that Sunday? You have a lot of time to decide as I likely won't have internet access until Monday since I'm heading to the Amalfi Coast tonight....... that reminds me, I need to go buy sunscreen....

Expect gorgeous pictures of Sorrento, Capri, Pompeii on Monday. Do NOT expect pictures of me in a bathing suit!ù

Ciao!!

Grrrrr

School is seriously getting in the way of my time in Florence and my travel plans. Both classes combined, I have around 80-100 pages of reading per night. This is getting VERY frustrating! Not to mention the paper I need to start writing that I have no direction on..... Grrrr!

In good news, however, I went by the tour agency I was supposed to do Cinque Terre with this past Sunday to book my Amalfi Coast trip yesterday afternoon and found out not only that we will have breakfasts and dinner included on that trip, but that I can go back to Cinque Terre with them whenever I want at no charge since the weather was so horrible. Yay! That frees up time for me to go see Lucca and Volterra and saves me money! Also, this trip to teh Amalfi Coast is going to be amazing - 3 nights and 3 days, we'll go to Capri, Sorrento, Pompeii and more and still have time to lay on the beach! Can't wait! Now to go do some crunches so I can have a prayer of looking decent in the bikini I foolishly allowed my roommates to convince me to buy..... There will NOT be pictures of me in that!

Love to all.....

Crazy Italian men...... Bellissimo!!!

Just for you mom, like I said I would, and all other ladies that would appreciate it....

They also pretended to measure the doorway of the Duomo, but I was too busy gaping at them bending over to measure to actually take a picture.... see below:

Joanna's reaction afterwards:



(That's actually later on with the River Arno in the background)

Updates....

Okay, so last Thursday we were supposed to take a group trip to Fiesole to see an amphitheater and Etruscan Ruins. Unfortunately, this fell throuh as the bus drivers decided to go on strike from 3pm until the morning. Thankfully, we hadn't already left and gotten stuck there, though it wouldn't have been too long of a taxi ride. We've rescheduled the trip for this Thursday afternoon - cross your fingers for a smooth trip!

I managed to hike up to the Piazzale Michelangele this Saturday, which boasts the best views of Florence. It was my first time seeing the entire city, and it definitewly did not disappoint! I forgot to load the pictures on my thumb drive and will post them soon. What a beautiful city!

That was not the end to the weekend, however, as my roommates and I had booked a trip up to Cinque Terre (5 lands in Italian) on the coast, which is a truly beautiful area if you look up some pictures. Sadly, it was pouring down rain and so cold when we got there that we were unable to do the hike along the coast and cliffs through the 5 towns lining the waters edge. We had to immediately buy a ticket back to Florence - I was so bummed! Not only did we blow a total of €60 by the end, but I was really looking forward to visiting the area. I did have time, while we waited for the train to return to Florence, to take a look around the top town we had taken the train to and were supposed to hike down from. Even in the rain it was a wonderful place and I have decided I will return there next weekend for a two-day trip as I must be able to see it. I will post rainy pictures soon....

The train ride back to Florence was beautiful though, we had a chance to see marble mines in the mountain areas and stockpiles of huge blocks of marble along with various other types of stone. We also got a peak at the top of the leaning tower of Pisa on our way back, which you can't see going the other direction. I decided that was probably enough for me as I don't have a lot of time or money to be visiting extra places. It was actually a bit of a fun adventure - I mean, that's what traveling is all about, right? Rolling with the punches and making the best of the unexpected oppotunities you get. Besides, I had a lot of reading to do and it was good to get back to the apartment early to get a jump start on that. Yeah, I almost forgot I was going to school while doing all this as well, don't feel bad.

We will also be heading to the Uffizi Museum on Wednesday, which should be amazing. There are countless precious works of art there, including the famous painting of the Birth of Venus, and I am very excited to go! I am going to be booking my trip to the Amalfi coast today as well - I made sure to check the weather and it looks as though it will be very nice - so excited to see Pompeii and lay on the beach! But, my poor roommates are having problems getting their money from financial aid (still! We've been here over a week!), so they won't be able to join me, which is too bad as it would have been fun to have them there too. Keeping my fingers crossed their money will be dweposited today and they'll be able to come too.

I am also going to look into reserving a hostel at Cinque Terre for next Friday as I absolutely have GOT to go back and see it. Thinking I will leave Florence Friday morning, hike down when I get there through the national park and stay the night, saving Saturday to putz around and play on the beach before returning to Florence. My rommates alrady have other plans, so this will be a solo trip, but I don't really mind traveling alone - I actually kind of like it - as I can do whatever I please and stay as long as I want to.

OH!! GELATO!!!!!!!!!!! Seriously - this stuff is worth all the hype. It is TO DIE FOR! And don't even get me started on the wine and Limoncello! I'm also thinking about doing a hiking wine tasting tour in Chianti......... I know, you're jealous! I am almost jealous of myself!

I am leaving so much stuff out, the Ponte Vecchio, The restaurant in the Santo Spirito district, more gelato (I'm keeping a flavors journal), Shopping at the Outdoor Market, crazy Italian men in speedos and work uniforms at the same time (will post pictures for you, mom), vespas with "Don't Mess With Texas" bumper stickers, beautiful people, funny beggars, having a cappuccino at my neighborhood caffé bar with a bunch of Italians in biker gear this morning, the list goes on..... but I have to save some stories for when I get home!

Ciao for now!!