TravelinGirl

Pictures!!

Ok folks, I have uploaded my photos to Flickr. If you didn't get an email from me already from Flickr, and you want to see the photos, email me and I'll send you an invitation. Otherwise, if you're already signed up on Flickr, go there and look at the pics already!

I think I set a personal speed record for getting them posted, given that there were just a bit more than 700 photos, and I put tags and titles on all of them, and some explanations on some of them too.

Not sure exactly how I'll pull it off right now, but I'm working on a blog that incorporates some narrative with the appropriate pictures, as well as any other links or info that might make the story come alive a bit more.

posted by Unknown @ 9:54 PM 0 comments

I'm home
I'm happy to announce that I'm home. Have been for a number of hours. Just enjoying my house, going through email, remembering that I own other clothes/shoes, etc. Haven't tackled regular snail mail yet - it's just too much. I'll deal with it tomorrow. I'm trying to stay up (sorta) late enough to get back on local time. I have the pictures uploaded to my computer, and I'll let it run to update to flickr overnight. Then I'll probably work on the tags/descriptions over the next couple of days. I'll update when the pictures are available - but be warned - there are 700ish. (Certainly folks will not want to look at ALL of them - I'm working on how to make it easier for folks to digest.)

posted by Unknown @ 8:10 PM 0 comments

Last Day
So it's my last day of "vacation" (in quotes because it's my last day to be away from home, but I don't have to go back to work for a while after I get back). Why am I spending it in an internet cafe instead of out in the world? Because I'm on overload. I had a lovely morning sitting in a cafe (not a coffeeshop) having a croissant and tea and watching the tourists go by, reading and writing in my journal.

I feel like there is no way to do justice to what I've experienced over the last few weeks. I've had my senses bombarded every day for weeks now, and I'm not sure how to really sort that stuff out into something coherent to tell stories about when I get back. I mean, there are a few ready-packaged stories (the luge runs, impressions of tour members, favorites of various things - food, architecture, music, stupid tourist tricks, etc.). But much of the stuff I've seen, done, tasted and experienced has really just been piling up in my brain. I feel like a sponge that's been overwhelmed by the deluge it's trying to absorb - there's just no more space in my brain for more stuff.

I went through some of my pictures last night. It was wonderful to re-see some of the places I've been, relive some of the conversations. I feel like I didn't capture the other tour members as much as I would have liked so that I can illustrate stories about them for the blog. But I have lots of categories for keywords for flickr (which is likely where I'll be posting them - not sure if I'll sort them all first or put them all up and sort and create groupings by keywords or what). When I don't have to pay for my internet access, I'll put all my impressions into a blog entry so you guys can maybe get a feel for some of the stuff I experienced. When I sat down in the cafe to think about things, it was actually rather apparent that I have lots of impressions that come down to my senses - how I experienced things. For instance under the category of sounds - there were a ton of things that came up just in regard to thinking about the sound of the streetcars in Berlin (the rumble along the street, the sound of the validation machine {kachunk}, the announcements about the next stop {imagine the Peanuts cartoons' teacher voice in German}, conversations in the train, etc.). I think with more time to think things through, I can come up with interesting lists for all the senses (sights obviously dominating with architecture, art, graffitti, people interactions, food, etc.; smells having interesting stuff like old library smells, old church smells, piss on the side of buildings smells, fresh-baked pastries smells, schnitzel smells, etc.; feeling/touch - brushing past people in crowded tourist areas, big hugs from tour folks, the feel of a warm comforter on a cold night, etc.; tastes were oddly not as varied as I'd have guessed - lots of schnitzel, apple streudel, some Indonesian food, a Czech cola, etc.)

But how do you capture your impressions? About how nice it was to see Meta (someone from home right when I was feeling homesick), about how overwhelmed I was by everyone's kindnesses on the tour, about how awesome it was to sit over food and have great conversations with people, about how it's so broadening to travel because it makes you start challenging some of your assumptions, about how easy it is to both let things go past you, and to wish that they hadn't slipped by, about how incredibly lucky I am to have had this opportunity, and how excited I am to try to tell my friends all about my adventures when I get home. I'm trying to figure out how to do a travelogue that involves my descriptions of my adventures illustrated with select pictures from the 700+ from this trip. I have ideas, but not sure how to implement them. Will be asking for help/suggestions when I return.

To bring you up to date with what Meta and I got up to - in short, not much. We hung out. Then we hung out at a different place. And then we hung out and read. And then we ate. And then we hung out and read and listened to tv. And that was just fine with both of us. We did not even get around to either the redlight district or the sex museum. (I've seen both before, and Meta wasn't interested, so we had a wonderfully veg-tastic day.)

Can't wait to see everyone again! Call me at home on Monday evening or Tuesday if you want voice confirmation that I made it back. Hopefully I'll have an uneventful (and not full!) flight back home. Ciao!

posted by Unknown @ 5:21 AM 1 comments

Good news/Bad news

The good news for all of you travel fans is that you'll have me back in your midst sooner than I thought. Instead of coming back next Friday the 30th, I'll be coming home on the 26th instead. Why would I come back sooner and skip beautiful Paris? Because I'm getting tired and homesick, and while I'm much better now, the stomach thing really wiped me out. I'd like to get home to my own bed (no snoring roommate), my own shower (consistent water pressure and temperature), and my normal clothes (i.e. anything other than the shoes I brought with me). Besides, that means that I can then get my pictures online sooner, and get my little travel adventure stories put together with the pics.

The bad news is that there will be fewer updates from the road (although blogging stoned may be entertaining for the masses). The really bad news is that I need to beg a ride home from SFO. My flight gets into SFO at 1:55PM on Sept. 26 (Monday).

Ok, with that bit of business out of the way, I'm here in Amsterdam. I have not yet done anything other than drop my stuff off at my hotel (can't get into the room til after 2:00 local time), and come here to check email. I'm going to go back to the hotel, leave a note for Meta (which was my only reason for checking email now), going in search of lunch and an English language bookstore. After lunch will wander around taking pictures (this place is insanely cute - even in a trip filled with insanely cute places). Will find a nice coffeeshop in which to ensconce myself, and will hang out there til Meta shows up. Then we shall see what hilarity will ensue (I'm pretty sure that the Sex Museum, and a tour of the redlight district will be part of the itinerary.)

posted by Unknown @ 2:16 AM 0 comments

Ok, maybe I'lll have a bit more time to post today. Everyone has either gone home already, or are out and about today, so I don't have anyone breathing down my neck to get to the internet.

Last night was our last night as a group. We had a big going away dinner at a heurigen (kind of a winery, but like for new wines? there is some subtlety there that I don't understand.) Anyway, it was lots of fun (free wine for the group), but also sort of sad. I'm sad to have said goodbye to people that I've spend lots of time with over the last 2 weeks or so. Everyone was really cool and nice and interesting in different ways. I loved meeting each and every one, and each person really added something special and unique to the tour (smartass comments, sincere concern for my welfare, different perspectives on the world, interesting questions and viewpoints, and overall just lots of fun, outgoing, loving personalities). I now have friends from all over the country (and am praying for Bonnie and Jim and their house in Galveston).

I think my favorite person was Christoph. How do you not love someone that you have a common link with (his fiance was my guide on the Italy tour - Taunya), someone that I got lost in Berlin with, someone that has snarky commentary to make me laugh, took me to the Czech hospital, and always had a smile or a wink for me? Propbably next on the list was Kathy - as my roommate we got to bond, and she's a really sweet lady. I also really liked our guide Ben - he's a white guy with no rhythm, a very dry but quick-witted sense of humor and a heroin problem (inside joke). How do you not like someone who makes jokes about the state of your bowels in front of the whole group on the last night?? Everyone else was great too, and I'll be able to tell you all more about them when I get my pictures uploaded and a better version of this blog finished.

Some of my favorite moments: doing the luge runs (even if I was sick as a dog), walking across the Charles bridge at dusk with the group, any group meal, walking through Cesky Krumlov with Warren, any time after Berlin that I wasn't thinking about my intestines, listening to Richard's jokes and generally funny patter about anything, dozing on the bus when I should have been listening to Ben's history lectures, looking at the bus windows to see the dancing girls and then back at the expressions on Bonnie and Jim's faces, looking at the beautiful Czech countryside from the bus windows, being in the museums when it was rainy and miserable out.

I have had so much fun and so many great memories, that I don't know how to capture it all and share with you guys how awesome it was. By the time I get back, I'll have had some of it worn off by being in a new place (Amsterdam) with an old friend (Meta), but I wanted to try. Every single person on the trip has touched me in some way, and I hope that I've touched them and made an impression too. If travel does nothing else for you than let you know it's really quite a small world and there are really no differences between people anywhere, and if it gives you the hunger to learn more, to put yourself in the shoes of other people, then it's so helpful. I come away from the trip feeling stuffed to the gills with new knowledge, information - full of art and music and new sensual experiences and feel so very happy and lucky to have been able to experience this. Can't wait to get home and share this with you guys and maybe make this website come alive a bit more with my experiences.

posted by Unknown @ 7:03 AM 0 comments

Greetings from Vienna. This may be a short post - this keyboard makes me nuts. The y and z are swapped. Doh!!

Anyway, I'm on the road to recovery. I'm still not 100% by any means, but I'm definitely feeling better now. Still being careful about what I eat, and bummed to not be able to realllllllly sample the great food-beer-wines they have to offer here. Will have to have some cake and coffee, apparently fun thing to do in Vienna.

The city is lovely, and for some reason the word that comes to mind is 'old world'. I feel like I should be waltzing through the palaces we've seen. We saw Melk Abbey yesterday that has a crazy amount of gilding and gold on every conceivable surface, and weirdly posed bones of saints (don't worry, I have photos - up to 667 now...). Tonight I am going to see some opera (the guide has agreed to take me - I suggested that it was like in Pretty Woman except without me being a whore.) I have managed to buy insane amounts of presents considering everything has to be flat-light or unbreakable.

I'll fill in more details when I return, others are waiting for the computer, but I wanted to let you all know that I'm on the mend, having fun and still alive and kicking.

posted by Unknown @ 7:24 AM 1 comments

Ahoy! (Apparently this is a Czech greeting. Not sure it's spelled right, but that's how it sounds.)

Yippee! I have a new and exciting experience to add to the list of things I've done while traveling - gone to a hospital/clinic in the Czech Republic! After 3 days of stomach cramps, intestinal issues involving finding a restroom every hour or two, and either chills or fever, I decided I should find out what the hell was wrong with me, and could I take anything for it. They diagnosed me with gastroenteritis. Basically, I had to pay for an x-ray and a sonogram to find out that all I can do is ride it out, try to get enough fluids, and not get to see the one city I really wanted to see on this tour. (Me, bitter? Nah, bitter is for wimps...) I'm going to whine a tiny bit more - I went on the walk yesterday of the other half of the city (the 1/2 w/out the castles) and was miserable for 3 hours but stuck it out (with a well-plotted potty break in the middle where the guide had to wait for me. yeesh.) I REALLY wanted to go on the castle-section of the walking tour that they did as a group this morning, but went to the doctor instead to basically be told to eat bread, drink lots. Wooo.

Ok, to counter the bad karma of bitching, here's the stuff I'm thankful for - much time to try to wade through Foucault's Pendulum. Maybe I'll finish it on this trip.... My roommate who helps me when she can (even though she's afraid to be anywhere near me given that she's afraid she'll catch what I've got). The folks on the tour for being so helpful and solicitous (even though it makes me feel like an ass for making them worry and or being the center of attention for something I don't want to talk about.) That I got to see anything of Prague, even if it's not as much as I would have liked. Cheers to Christoph (who's a photographer in his spare time) for taking photos with my camera while he was out this morning so that even if I didn't see it, I can have some sense for the other 1/2 of the city. Ed. Note: Good news, lost weight.

Now, to the description of the hospital/clinic thing. That was pretty surreal. You have to realize that I went there at 9 in the morning. All I"d eaten the day before was 4 pieces of toast (nothing before going to the clinic). Of course the writing is all in Czech, so I can't even sorta make it out the way I usually can in other languages. I gave the front desk lady my passport and she filled out some paperwork. I talked with Christoph, our co-guide. A grumpy Czech doctor who sorta spoke English and a nurse who obviously didn't speak any (but she was kind of grandmotherly looking, tried to help me out with expressions and sign language) brought me to an examination room. I told the doctor what my symptoms were. He palpated my stomach/intestinal areas (weird, slightly painful, had to pull the shirt up and the pants down a bit further than I was comfortable with, but the nurse was there). The room looked like a mish-mash of old stuff and new stuff (Betadine bottle next to some glass bottles with cut glass tops that reminded me of my chemistry class in high school). Everything was kind of crumbling and seedy, but also obviously clean and the best they had to work with.

An intern guy put me in a wheelchair (how humiliating) and wheeled me up this ramp to the Xray and sonogram areas. On the side of the ramp were all these empty gurneys - they looked like 50s versions of gurneys (as did the wheelchair they put me in). Then the xray and sonogram equipment was all new. The sonogram operator spoke English - she had lived for a year in Hillsborough working as a nanny. She was a burst of cheerfulness in an otherwise dreary place. (Sonogram goo is icky - cold, messy, got everywhere. I thought she was trying to break my ribs on the right side looking for something... ow...) She told me should couldn't find anything wrong (duh). Back into the wheelchair, down the ramp and back to the doc to basically be brusquely told that I had gastroenteritis (no explanation), and to drink lots. I had to ask if I could take anything (no), what I could try to eat (bread), and was dismissed. This whole thing took about an hour and a half (not bad on a Saturday - but then again we were the only ones going in), and cost probably $120(?). Not bad. Very surreal. Annoying that I can't do anything to either feel better or speed things along.

How sad is it that my one ray of sunshine today was getting on line? Oh well. Tomorrow should be interesting. We take the bus to Cesky Krumlov, walk around, and don't get to go to the hotels til late afternoon. Apparently I'm going to have to ride it out tomorrow - there's no way to get me to the hotel early due to logistics, so I'm stuck with the group. I'll have to manage food/drink/potty breaks carefully.

Ok, while things are ok with my tummy, I'm off in search of food that will be soothing (and near my hotel as there's no restaurant here). I probably won't be able to post again for a few days, but will check in again maybe in Vienna. Ciao! (Apparently the Czechs also use this one...)

posted by Unknown @ 8:29 AM 0 comments

Hi everyone. I'm sitting here in the Czech Republic (Prague) on a rainy afternoon. Sorry it's so long between posts, but it's tough to get time to do stuff when you feel like you should be enjoying the place you're visiting rather than sitting in front of a computer.

Let's see, where did your intrepid traveler leave off? Well, let me hit the highlights for the moment, and I'll go back for the interesting stuff.

• Rome - 2 days then up at the buttcrack of dawn to get the flight to Berlin. Rome is amazing of course. I walked my feet off. I had managed to lose my umbrella in the car on the way from the train station to the hotel, so bought one from a little shop. Had so-so food and great food, sometimes in the same meal. My favorite was actually a salad (insalata rustica) with salami, cheese, mixed greens, tomatoes, roasted eggplant. Walked my feet off. I'll try to scan in a map of my route when I get back so you can see how far I went. I'm bummed to not have brought a pedometer (didn't think of it til I got here).
• Berlin - did laundry first day, then met group at 5:00, did a group game to get everyone's names, then walked to group dinner. Next 2 days did tours in the morning with local guide (from New York - ha) who walked our feet off. Someone has a pedometer and we clocked 6 miles on just the morning walking tour. Mostly toured East Berlin, went to Checkpoint Charlie. (That area has changed IMMENSELY - I'll have to go back to see if you can see any of the buildings in the last photo I had had of Checkpoint Charlie. Was weird to be there again 4 years later on Sept. 11/12.) Berlin wins for cheapest meal (not provided by the tour) of the trip so far. There was a neighborhood kebob place that was pretty hopping, so I got something there (no idea now what it was called - they carved some meat off a rotisserie thingy, put it in a thin bready thing like a crispy tortilla, put in lettuce and tomatoes and some sauce - amazing. All that and a coke for less than 4 euro. Could have spent a week in museums, but didn't. Wanted to go to the Guggenheim, but didn't get around to it. Went to the Jewish history museum - that was interesting, and a modern art museum whose name escapes me.
• Dresden - From Berlin we took the bus for a day in Dresden. On this day I didn't feel good. Had chills on the bus (I literally had every piece of clothing I had in my daypack on my body trying to keep warm, and also borrowed someone else's sweater). I joined the group for lunch, hoping I'd feel better, but they were going to do a walk with a local guide and I just wasn't up for it. Ben, the lead guide, brought me back to the hotel. Had dinner in the hotel with the group, but ducked out of the other group introduction game due to illness.
• Prague - one day was pretty much used up in taking the bus out of Germany and into the Czech Republic. We had to show our passports at the border crossing and that whole operation (plus the tour bus in front of us) took about an hour. Still frigging sick (seems better in the morning then worsens in the afternoon/evening - either hot or chills, sometimes alternating, then intestinal problems with pain. ugh. But luckily no vomiting.) Our guide's surprise for us for the day was that we got to go luging. VERY fun. You have a little cart thingy that takes you up the hill (you're basically attached to a wire underneath your cart) and then lets you go down (sorta like the winter olympics sport - but not nearly so fast and no helmet required). I got to do three runs, and had a blast. The little cart thing has a stick that you pull backward to break. I think I breaked twice on the last 2 runs. Today in the morning we had a tour of the city. It's an amazingly beautiful city - awesome art nouveau architecture, beautifully preserved, lots of public art (both old and modern), and the light here seems different (much like my first viewing of Florence - sort of muted but warm).
• Tour - the group members are all pretty cool. Many of the people in this group have taken Rick Steves' tours before, and they (and I) agree that the group is pretty fun and inclusive. There are one or two people who are sort of loners or out in their own sphere, but everyone is really nice and very friendly. People have been so soliticitous knowing that I'm not feeling well. (I feel like an ass for being inside instead of out in this amazing city, and for making people worry about me, but I appreciate their caring and support.) There are guys who are "singles" on this tour (unlike my last tour where only women seemed to have traveled there alone). I have been paired with Kathy from Modesto. She's a really nice lady who's been taking care of me a bit while still trying to stay the hell away from me so she doesn't catch whatever I've got. I think I may be the youngest person on the tour again (I think even our guide Ben is only in his early 30s). The co-guide is Christoph, who falls into the "it's a small world, isn't it" category by being the fiance of the guide I had on my last trip (Taunya). The hotels so far have been great - always an attached bathroom (thank god), and roomy enough. The one in Dresden had a bed that was supposed to be a "double" but was actually two twins stuck together (in the same frame and everything). Kathy slept on the couch that night, and it was probably good because I was thrashing about and either shivering or sweating. The group meals have been pretty good. Heavy on the meat (which you all know I'm a fan of), heavy on the sauces, and heavy on the dumplings. I wish I could enjoy the food more, but for today at least I'm on a regimen of tea and toast, and drinking as much water as I can stand to try to get re-hydrated.
• Misc - Photos - up to 400ish so far. Lots of food photos again. Less of churches (at least in Italy - a few when I was in other places, but they tend to be interesting architecturally). Didn't bring an adapter for Czech plugs, so my phone is dead for probably another 3-4 days (should be chargeable when I get to Vienna - hopefully my camera will hold out...) I feel like my brain is filled with so much stuff that I've seen that I don't know how to process it, how to make it make sense for you guys, but I really want to try as it's soooooo neat here, and I've been learning so much from the local guides - history and culture and how people live in both pre and post communist eras. Alcohol - have tried the local beers and/or wines for each area we've been to so far. Did at least try a Czech beer (very good, don't remember which one), but I'm definitely not up to drinking form.
• Things I miss - not having to think about how much money something is. Not having to think about what kind of food something is. Bad American television with 87 channels and nothing on (I'd love to veg out in my room watching tv, but it doesn't have one, and if it did, the only english-speaking channel would be news). Having sweats to veg out in. My friends to share snarky comments with. Normal pillows (the ones here are really flat. weird.) Being able to eat and drink whatever I want. Diet Coke (although Coke Light is much more prevalent now than it was either of the last 2 times I was here - it's similar, but doesn't taste quite right).
• Things I don't miss - you can't avoid either Starbucks or McDonalds (not that I've gone in to either of those). Hearing Americans (they seem to be everywhere, even when I'm not with the group - although standing in a group crowded around and listening to someone does tend to make that obvious).

posted by Unknown @ 8:11 AM 0 comments

Ciao!

I'm sitting in a little alcove in a tower listening to the rain and thunder. I went to Museo del Opera (or something like that - I'll fix the reference later) and saw Michelangelo's unfinished Pietà. It was amazing. I wasn't going to stop, but I had 40 minutes to wait for the tourist bus (I know, it's tacky and horrible, but I would have been able to get to Fiesole - a tuscan hill town - and back for a reasonable amount of money and could have laughed at all the tourists). Anyway,I wasn't going to go in, but I had time to kill and knew that that was in there, so I paid my €6 and wandered around. While I was in there it started to sprinkle, and then to rain, and then to POUR. I had my umbrella (which was a good thing), but not my raincoat. I managed to make it back to the hotel between major downpours, so my timing with rain on this trip has (knock on wood), been great.

Yesterday was fun. Got up late (as I won't be able to do that once I go on the tour - I figured I should get SOME kind of vacation during my vacation). Wandered and got some strawberries and cream for breakfast. Wandered up and down walking everywhere. Took photos. Went to the market area - that's always fun to see the tourists and those who prey on them. There was beautiful leathergoods stuff, and amazing scarves - too bad I don't wear them, because all the beautiful colors and styles made me want to wear some! Had an amazing sandwich (best lunch I've had yet) from a little restaurant in the big indoor market (oh my god, this place is foodie heaven, every kind of cheese, meat, fruit, veggie, etc. Made me want to rent a house here just so I could shop and make food.) The sandwich was a round tuscan roll (they don't seem to salt the bread) dipped in au jus (sp?) and then piled with warm just sliced pork. They put a green and a red sauce on it (no idea what's in the sauce) that made it spicy and yummy. Took this outside to sit on the steps of a church and watch the tourists and pigeons and hawkers and enjoy my awesome sandwich.

More food descriptions - last night for dinner had a simple bruschetta (toasted bread rubbed with garlic, topped with tomatoes and basil - heaven) and a saffron risotto. The risotto was perfect - creamy and yummy without being sticky or heavy. Had a 1-4 liter of house red wine with dinner (€3 - can't beat that!) - my stomach was a little unsure about the red wine, so I only drank one glass. Had a tartufo dessert (truffle gelato - chocolate on the outside surrounding creamy vanilla?coconut? filling) with a glass of vin santo. All that food and I'm losing weight. Then again, walking all over the city and back does that.

The night before I ate at the same place (Trattoria Nella - ate there with the Rick Steves folks last time - around the corner from my hotel). That was REALLY good. Appetizer of insalata caprese (tomatoes, fresh mozzarella - so cream it melts in your mouth - and fresh basil). For dinner had roasted pork with rosemary roasted potatoes. This was amazing. They were both roasted to perfection, with just a hint of salt and a hint of herbs to make everything just right. Dessert was (finally) tiramisù and vin santo. Had a 1-4 liter (2 glasses) of white wine with dinner - perfection.

Soon I'll be off to a train to Rome. I think that'll be a good way to spend a couple of hours on a rainy day. I feel sorry for all the tourists who've never been here before and are having to figure out what to do because of the rain. Then again, I've been enjoying having most places to myself without the tourist hordes, so that's cool by me. I wasn't going to buy people things on this trip, but I saw things that just screamed people's names, so I'm going to have to figure out how to send things home - my bag is overflowing with stuff. Doh! Anyway, hugs and kisses to you all, I'm being safe and having a great time! Can't wait to fill this in with pictures when I get home.

posted by Unknown @ 1:33 AM 1 comments

Ciao a Firenze!

Just got into Florence by train from Venice. It's overcast and muggy here, rained pretty hard in Venice this morning. Luckily it was for the one hour that I was in the Guggenheim museum, so that was fine by me.

Venice is magical. I always go there thinking that I'm not going to enjoy it, and then I always go away thinking it's pretty cool. (Forgive punctuation or spelling errors - things are in different places on Italian keyboards.) The first night I got there, I took a waterbus to the stop at San Marco, and then walked with my luggage from San Marco to my hotel (about a block from the Accademia bridge). My trainer will be so proud - I got arm and leg workouts hoisting my 40 pound suitcase up and down the steps of the 7 bridges between San Marco and my hotel. Woo! Checked in, cleaned up a bit then went to have dinner on a little piazza. There was a violinist and guitarist serenading the square, so I enjoyed that. Then again, the 2 glasses of wine and a Bellini (peach juice and prosecco - a sparkling white wine) may have helped with that too. Oh, and a bit of jetlag and dehydration. Back to the hotel, took a sleeping pill and voilà - no more jetlag. Walked ALL over the city (to San Marco, to the Rialto bridge, to the train station, back to Accademia). Went to the modern art museum in there and had lunch at their cafe in a little booth overlooking the Grand Canal. It was lovely.

This morning I went off to the Guggenheim. It was closed when I got there, so I wandered a bit and took a few photos. You have to check your bags (even purses) in museums now, so I didn't get to take any photos in the museum, but I wish I could have. Seeing the rain on the sculpture in the garden of a naked man (somewhat abstract) sitting (with a huge erection) on a horse with his arms straight out and his face turned toward the sky (as if he were welcoming the rain) was something really cool. I can't wait to get home and talk art with all the artsy folks, and architecture with the architecture folks. (I took some forbidden pictures in the modern art gallery, so of course I have to share those.) It was great to wander around both of those museums with hardly anyone there (in the first one I had entire wings to myself at times).

The food has been good. So far just sandwiches for lunches as I've been on the go. Dinner last night was a steak (served with lemon - yummy) with fries. Not very Italian, but what I was craving. And instead of tiramisu - which I think is a Venetian creation - I've had crepes for dessert every night. (i'll have to even up the balance when I got to Paris.)

Anyway, I've been spending like a madwoman (bought mom a beautiful mask in Venice), so some of you will have authentic Venetian gifts for christmas. Things are SOOOOOO expensive here - € to the dollar is killing me. Oh well, when in Rome (or Florence, or Venice)... Off to find an enoteca and have some gelato (can you believe I've been here 2 days already and not had ANY gelato???)

I'll check in again when I can! XOXO

posted by Unknown @ 7:03 AM 0 comments