My sister's Liger drawing

So i'm sharing a room with my sister right now. It's 12:20. I'm on the computer looking up tax stuff and she's reading a book. Out of no where she asks me

"Have you seen my liger drawing"

I nearly choked and died. She's way older than me and is working as a pharmacist. Wow.

I ate too much and I have a big zit

I hate too much at Vegas. It is sin city, and gluttony is a sin, but I ate so much that I got stretch marks. I ate so much that laughing hurts - a lot.

I also have terrible skin right now. A lot of zits. There's this one on my nose. It's pretty big. At least 3 mms of a bump. And it's a ripe one. I really want to pop it, but I may have to wait another day.

Back to running a lot more to work off all the buffet eating.

Merry Christmas Everyone!

Merry Christmas everyone. I'm enjoying a lovely 60+ degree winter in Los Angeles. Funnily enough, I did not get the barrage of scarfs and gloves as I had anticipated. Thank you Sharon, for adding to my growing scarves collection.

Last night, I had the wonderful pleasure of hanging out with Sharon, Lyndsay, Karina, and Todd (Xi) at Garden cafe to catch up on old times. They're my HS buddies and it's great to see them after not seeing them for so long. Yes, it was a bit lame to hang out at Garden cafe on a Saturday night, but there isn't any better place to just chat. Well, there are the boba places, but Sharon refuses to tip for boba (which I wholeheartedly agree).

Tomorrow, my family is driving up to Vegas for two days. It's going to be some madness. We're aiming to get there by 3pm, check in, and then jump into line for the Bellagio buffet (SCORE!). I'm excited for the food and the shopping.

Okay, it's time to stop being anti-social and hang out with some aunts and uncles. They're over here for dinner.

Pachelbel's Canon in D

It's one of my favorite pieces. I used to be second string violin in 8th grade, but I still learned the first violin's version and played it even though it wasn't for me.

This rant is pretty damn funny! Get to the last bit about Green Day.

http://egotastic.com/video?yt=JdxkVQy7QLM&w=600&h=500&info=Pachelbel%20Rant

Things I've never seen before in my life before moving to Boston

Frozen Puddles.

Beer Ball

Super Awesome Mahjong

Was really bored, so was playing mahjong on Yahoo! Check out this awesome hand that I won! 13-fan! You'll probably ask why I didnt do the highest scoring hand for the game (1 and 9 from each suit + each wind + each dragon). I thought about that, but it wasn't going ot happen because I couldn't pick up the 1 and 9s.

Here's a screen capture of my hand

Next time I'm at the Cask and Flagon, I will pay more attention to the people around me.

This is what John Krasinski (Jim from the Office) said in an interview

"

GMMR: Ok, I can not finish this interview John without asking….I live in Brookline and work in Newton (John’s hometown) - so next time you are home, I think I have to buy you a beer. I mean, it’s only fair. You took your time to answer my questions. You up for it? (ed. I will stop at nothing to meet this boy, or at least get him to call me)

JOHN: I’ll meet you at the Cask and Flagon fah shoa, dude."

I've been there a few times....maybe there's a chance of meeting him!

California

I miss In-N-Out #2 Combo with extra crispy fries. I must have such a combo in my stomach within an hour of arriving in LA.

Update: Also want Pastrami Sandwich from The Hat.

Key Office Quotes

Any single cell living organism has to have a spine.

- Michael Scott

The Office

So I'm sitting at home this weekend and watching a lot of The Office on dvd, both seasons. These DVDs are well worth it. They have commentary on at least half of the episodes (and they're actually funny and somewhat insightful) They have deleted scenes for all the episodes. There are some really funny stuff that you just wish it would make it. The packaging is also pretty cool. If only more shows can have this caliber of bonus material!

On a final note:

Determined
Worker
Intense
Good Worker
Hard Worker
Terrific

One of the best posters ever

Cecily Brown

Saw this at MFA today after class. Her paintings are now one of my favorities. Colors are vivid, the forms ambiguous. It requires both examination upclose and far away. Even when you think you know what you're looking at, you don't. There's constant movement on this static canvas.

The one above is probably my favorite of all in the exhibit today. Although her work often falls into the category of erotica, this painting resonates strongly with my ideals of being in love. It's passionate and innocent. I enjoy how the lovers are distinct and melded together simultaneously.

Early Thanksgiving

Every year, I'm used to having fried chicken at Knott's Berry Farm for Thanksgiving. So really, I dont touch turkey, stuffing, or cranberry sauce at all.

Tonight, I just came back from lunch/dinner at Keith's home. (Keith is Rebecca's boyfriend). His mother had invited our apartment and Keith's apartment for a Thanksgiving dinner. The Food was fantastic. Yams topped with roasted marshmellows were yummy. Of course, my favorite dish is always dessert. Had apple pie and pecan pie. I am stuffed.

Jake Ivory's

Went to Jake Ivory's, a dueling piano bar tonight. Super fun! If anyone from out of town is visiting, I'd definitely go there again. Nothing beats some Tenacious D on piano. You know what song I'm talking about!

Update: Just remembered it was super fun to have All American Reject's "Dirty little secret" mashed with Fall Out Boy's "Sugar, we're going down" played on the piano

MFA and Fashion Show 2006

While LA does have my favorite art museum, The Getty, Boston's Museum of Fine Arts should be able to fill that need to look at paintings and sculptures that I regularly have. It's certainly a rising star in my list of favorite places to visit when I have down time. It's big, modern, and have a pretty good breadth. One of the things I've noticed is that it has devoted more space than other places to non-European art. I look forward to seeing Islamic art because I'm quite fascinated by Islamic calligraphy! There's plenty to see and plenty of talks to attend! I'm super excited!

Last night, my sister, mother, and I also visited the Fashion 2006 exhibit. MFA has invited about 10 Fashion houses to display pieces from their 2006 collections. Being the fashionistas (by way of Project Runway) that we are, it was great fun to see beautiful pieces from haute coulture up close (although some are in the ready to wear collections.)

Of my favorites are the Christian Dior, Christian LaCroix, and Rochas collections.

John Galliano for Christian Dior was inspired by Johnny Depp's The Libertine for this collection. It's full for scarlet red decadence and destructed French Imperial costume. Very much like a glamourization of the violence in the French Revolution. It's provacative and beautiful at the same time. There were plenty of great pieces, but my favorite accent was the pearl necklaces that so many mannequins had. It was a white pearl choker (3 strands) but some beads on the right had been painted red. Strings of red crystals also drip down from it. Together, it mimics the blood coming from a partially severed head!

The Christian LaCroix collection carries a air of Spanish Romanticism. It didn't have the shocking value of Christian Dior, but definitely delicate and young. I cant' remember which piece I liked most, but it was super cool.

Finally,the Rochas collection was inspired by Victorian Chimneys. S black and grey dominated the palette. What I liked most about the collection is the development of this color, slowly shifting the color. It had plenty of great details with tailored mensuits and nice silhouettes. It's feminine, but not in that delicate, virginal way like Christian LaCroix. It's feels more mature.

Anyhow, that was super fun!

Family Time

So my sister and my mom had been staying with me since Monday. Their visit was pretty fun.

Although I could not take time off from school to hang out with them too much, I did have the chance to meet up with them for dinner and walk them around Boston on certain occasions.

I've had the best dinners with them. We went to the following places

Legal Seafood - best place for Boston Clam Chowdah
Some Chinese place with a lobster special - not that good but hey, it's Chinese food
Elephant Walk - French and Cambodian food that is awesomeness
Assagio - Italian restaurant that wasn't superb but wasn't atrocious
Mike's Pastry - Most famous pastry place in Little Italy. The Tiramisu is great, but the Neopolitan is questionable. Coffee wasn't all that great (of course by Italian standards)

Anyhow, I'm especially stuffed from last night's Italian food.

Going the Ethnic Route

I went out to have Pho tonight. My friend and I were really missing the selection of ethnic food. Anyhow, even though it's definitely not as good as it is at home, (overpriced and not exceptional), It definite made it super fun and filled this void.

Afterwards, we had time to kill, so we went to a Lollicup. Boba- good! but overpriced once again.

We later joked that if we popped in a Korean soap opera instead of watchign Grey's Anatomy, it would have been so overly asian!

Stupid papers

I'm reading about fly sperm. Why? Because I have to.

YAY, THERE IS A GOD!

Finally heard news that Britney filed for divorce. There is justice.

Can't wait for Britney to get back to her bad self! Hope she doesn't go the "I wish someone will love me" route like Jessica Simpson.

BCMP retreat

Just came back from BCMP retreat. It was at SUCH a nice place in New Hampshire. Everything was free and the staff was really polite and accomodating. The place had one of these crib-style movie theaters lined with Lazy-Boys. I was supposed to share the room with someone, but she never showed.

It's weird to have professors who teach the class in the hot tub with a bunch of your classmates. I meet the PI for a potential rotation there. Anyhow, really fun time!

Death Cab Concert

Just came back from the DCFC concert and it was pretty good. I really liked their set. It surprises me how produced their sound was live. Anyhow, definitely a good time!

Room Decorations

I think I've mentioned before that my room looked very sterile. Just plain white walls, white bed, and white sheets. If the walls were padded, then it'd be more fun, but alas, it's not.

Anyhow, I printed out many of the pictures that I took in my Euro trip and posted them. Now it's a lot more warmer. See for yourself.

Music Updates

A) I'm going to a Death Cab for Cutie concert. I'm super excited

B) Imogen Heap is also heading to town. Thinking of going.

C) New DAMIEN RICE songs posted. "O" was one of the best albums ever because every song puts me on the verge of crying. He's amazing. His songs are making me want to cry again. I love it.

http://www.myspace.com/damienrice

siRNA

I gave a presentation on a paper for one of my classes today. It was a really cool piece that used siRNAs to treat Herpes Simplex Virus 2. For those who don't know, siRNA is the prizing winning discovery for this year's Nobel prize in Medicine and Physiology. Anyhow, I thought I had 15 minutes, but as it turned out, everyone before me took longer than usual. So I had 10 minutes to give this presentation. I did it in 9.

Side note: Merck bought Sirna for $1.1 Billion. Its stock doubled. Note to self: must make use of all the paper reading for investment in Biotech firms.

Broken Coffee pot

I broke my coffee pot today. I had left the coffee maker on all day. So I took the coffee pot to the sick and filled it with really cold water. The bottom cracked.

So I bought a new one. Walgreens had one on sale. Now I have two coffee makers and one coffee pot. They're exactly the same.

PS. I picked the 4-cup one because the 10-cup (although at the same price) would have been encouraging an already bad habit.

Love for $149.95

So I've been looking for tall high heel boots (FMB's for those in the know) for a while since I threw my last pair out. (It was way overworn). At first my budget was $100.00, but there were no hits.

Today, I went to DSW and found a pair that was seemingly perfect in my criteria. Tall, snug, but not too snug such that I can still wear my pants under it. It's a pointed toe, but doesn't look like it could stab someone's eye out. The heel is also pointed, but not stiletto style.

Yeah, it's perfect. Until I took a look at the price. It was $149.95. Technically, I can afford it, since it's payday soon, but I don't want to blow my budget for November before November even starts. Plus, I have other stuff I need to get. Like more long sleeve shirts.

I know these boots can last me some time. Should I keep it?

Oh yeah, there's another pair for $129.95, but it's not as nice. It doesn't fit as perfect, but the two are closely analoguous. Should I get this one instead?

Slow Mo Vid of water balloon

Very cool

http://www.collegehumor.com/video:1715504/

Laziest Dinner EVER made by me

I got too lazy to make a proper dinner and too cheap to buy it. So here's what I did

1 can of Tuna - Drained
Lime Juice
Pepper
Salt
Crumbled bleu cheese
Cherry Tomatoes that are shriveling because it's been in the fridge a bit too long.

Hey, it could be worst, I guess

Try uncooked top ramen straight from the packet with a simmer of the MSG on top.

Amen, sister!

P. I have not tried the top ramen thing. Let me know how it went if you have.

Awesomeness

I have this class called Micro 230. In there, we read a lot of papers and critique them. The sick thing is that my new instructor for that course is KEVIN STRUHL. I presented one of his papers in my junior year HHURP journal club. It's gnarly to put a name to a face and personality.

---

In the past, my lab had been criticized for techniques (ie RNase Protection Assays and Nuclear run-on with G-less cassettes) that fell out of favor with the general community since chromatin IP and quantative RT-PCR came onto the scene. One time, I mentioned how I had to do a CsCl spin to isolate DNA and my classmate said "Wait, we're in the same generation, how come I never did it?" Anyhow, together, it made me feel very archaic.

After being owned by the midterm, I still had molecular biology class. The professor, Steve Buratowski (whose work I am decently familiar with since the Martinson Lab was interesting in many of the same things) talked about RNase Protection Assays, Nuclear Run-ons, and G-less cassette analysis for studying transcription. I felt very vindicated that someone still talks about these techniques.

OWNED!

I just had a midterm that made me feel owned. I haven't felt like this spring quarter of sophomore year. This is the first time that I couldn't finish the test. It's not that I didn't know. It just too much time to sort out the markers in the genetic analysis setup. Thankfully, many from the class felt the same way. Hopefully, I did relatively well enough.

Things go up and down

Just an update of the good and the bad of my life so far

The weather
Good: It's not going to rain tomorrow, so I can go jogging
Bad: It's going to be about 37F and maybe up to mid 40s

Health
Good: My cold is finally ebbing. It was pretty miserable earlier the week
Bad: I'm having more headaches from this cold than ever. I dont like it. Plus, it's taken a toll on my exercise.

School
Good: Vanilla experiment for rotation project has finally worked after the third try
Bad: Class commitments are taking all of me until next friday

Food
Good: After 4 consecutive meals of Pizza, I'm finally moving on to other foods
Bad: I'm totally winging the recipes and mostly failing

Fall Foliage and Cold

Boston is getting really pretty lately. The fall foliage is slowly setting in and I have the pleasure of admiring the Charles's riverfront as I commute along the Harvard Bridge each morning and afternoon. I hope this lasts for a while before all the leaves fall.

On a side now, starting to feel the chill now. It's about 50s during the day. It's really not bad, but there are times where I felt that I'm not dressed well enough. Last week, I went on a shopping spree at Old Navy for long sleeve tshirts. I didn't have too many of those, and I figured they're very versatile for hte winter. For some reason, I dont feel like I have enough clothes for the winter. I have enough to last me, but still a girl needs to be fashionable. I'm aching to go shopping, but I'm still recovering from the sprees last weekend. ( also went Target for electric blanket).

Work is starting to eat in. I know I picked Harvard BBS because of the huge selection of faculty that I can rotate with, but it's becoming a daunting task. I had a bit of scientific identity crisis. I came in with a preconceived notion of what I would like to try and what I would want to avoid. I'm starting to second guess myself, I don't find myself as enthusiastic with the things I thought I like. I talked to a professor about it and he gave me some pointers. I'm gonna follow up on that and see if it helps at all.

8 sided dice

I just came back from playing Risk 2210AD for about 3 hours. It was very complicated, very long, but can be very fun. I think I just leveled up in terms of nerd-hood!

Tickets!

I just got tickets to the 16th First Annual Ig Nobel Prize Informal lecture series. It "honors achievements that first make people LAUGH, and hten make them THINK."

It's gonna be so much fun! Can't wait for academic talk of scientifically irrelevant research!

Peppermint Patty

Trust me. Chocolate fudge syrup + Peppermint Schnapps = AWESOMENESS

The Harvard Club

Just came back from dinnner at the Harvard Club. I feel so entitled and snobby (j/k) Anyhow, it was a really cool event. The gala was organize to facilitate interaction between PhD students and Med Students on both Cambridge and Longwood campus.

While seeing what the old boys club is a very cool experience, two things made the night great. 1) The food wasnt' shabby at all! I had prime rib and it was medium-rare the way I like it. 2) The keynote speaker, George Daley, gave a great speech. Over the last two weeks, I had been bombarded with speeches of how great this institution is, how we are the going to the be the leaders, and how we should be excited about our work and this time in our lives. Well this guy gave a pretty similar speech, but the difference is that instead of just trying to inspire us, he also made us laugh. It's definitely a great departure from all the trite speeches.

Oh yeah, I also got these spiffy business cards that has the my name as well as Harvard written on it. I think I should send it to my family and they will finally believe I am going to school at Harvard. Sweet!

The Harvard Club

Just came back from dinnner at the Harvard Club. I feel so entitled and snobby (j/k) Anyhow, it was a really cool event. The gala was organize to facilitate interaction between PhD students and Med Students on both Cambridge and Longwood campus.

While seeing what the old boys club is a very cool experience, two things made the night great. 1) The food wasnt' shabby at all! I had prime rib and it was medium-rare the way I like it. 2) The keynote speaker, George Daley, gave a great speech. Over the last two weeks, I had been bombarded with speeches of how great this institution is, how we are the going to the be the leaders, and how we should be excited about our work and this time in our lives. Well this guy gave a pretty similar speech, but the difference is that instead of just trying to inspire us, he also made us laugh. It's definitely a great departure from all the trite speeches.

Oh yeah, we also got these spiffy business cards that has the my name

Back from the Retreat

The Retreat at Provincetown was a lot of fun. The weather predictions had been poor so having all the sun at the cape was very much welcomed. For those who don't know, Provincetown is at the very tip of Cape Cod. It's about 3 hours from Boston, and it is super gay friendly. There are more stores for guy's clothes than girls clothes, outnumbered about 5:1. It also has a lot of antique stores and art galleries. The atmosphere is just as you would expect from a East Coast little beach town. Very quaint.

I have some cool pictures. Just thought I'd share them

Outside my room

Along the beach. The people in the pic are some other first-year grad students like me.

Funny signs for the garden! Maybe for my cell cultures too.

Found this in the middle of a Zen Garden store in P-town.

First-years doing "I Will Survive" on Karaoke. Note: Old Guy in the back is one of the directors of our graduate program.

Some Roommate love! Left is Rebecca, Right is Adrienne.

Outside at night. That's a tower, not a light house. There were fireworks too, but those pics didn't come out too well.

So yes, in the end, you can tell we clearly talked a lot about science at this retreat!

BBS Retreat

Tomorrow, I'll be leaving Boston for the weekend. The BBS program has invited all the first years to go on a retreat in Provincetown, MA. Should be exciting.

Update: Here's the link to the place we'll be staying at.

http://www.provincetowninn.com/

More when I get back

Science + Interpretative Dance = . . .

I got to see this after an excruciatingly long poster presentation on the biophysics of integrin conformational change. It almost made those lost moments of my youth worthwhile. Just almost, but not quite.

http://www.cbrinstitute.org/labs/springer/lab_goodies/Turning_on_Integrins.mov

Pub Crawl Success

Hosted Pub Crawl with roommates from Central Sq. to Harvard Square. Nice turn out. Happy about it. My roommates rock!

Boston Adventure

I've been in Boston a few days and it has been great to me. I had orientation yesterday, which was long and brutal, full of boring administrative stuff. However, it was very cool to finally meet all my other colleagues. At night, the program rented out some space at this bar near Fenway Park that had pool and a bowling alley. It's sort of like a D&B, but without all the kids and the arcades.

Today was a free day, which meant some roaming around. I've experienced first hand that Boston is very walkable, but you can get lost easily if you don't know where you're going. That's because many of the streets do not run in a grid. Yes, Boston streets have no civil planning.

Also went to my first Red Sox game. Although the Sox lost terribly to the other Sox, I've noticed that the Boston crowd is really enthusiastic. The atmosphere is definitely more lively than at any of the other three baseball games I've been to.

Here are some pictures from today's adventures

Downtown Boston in the Day


Office Building

Church next to Office Building

Another Church

Harvard Medical School

Inside Fenway Park

Downtown Boston at Night

Ada, I know that you really want to see my apartment, I'll get to those soon!

First day in Boston

A few things

1) Red eye flights suck when it's not a direct flight
My first stop was at Atlanta and it was 2am at LA when I arrived. To make it worst, my insomnia the previous night messed up my circadian cycle. End result: 1hr sleep on plane. On the second leg of the flight, I had ever intention to just sleep straight through. That was until the passenger who sat next to me began to tell me her life story and how she loves her dog. I hope to never become her. Seriously, I didn't have the patience to patronize her.

2) Boston is beautiful
I think I lucked out with the weather today. It was sunny and a brisk low 70s. Driving along the Charles as I exited onto Mass Ave definitely made me love this city already. It feels exciting and lively and very great jogging city!

3) Apartment Location is MONEY!
I'm a block in from Central Square. I have a lot of stores and restaurants at my fingertips. It's lovely to be 2 blocks for a organic co-op market, and 5 minutes from a Shaw's. It's a tad far from campus but the shuttle stop is just a block away. Oh yeah, the apart is smaller than the one I had in LA, but at least I get my own room!

4) Roommates are great.
Finally met Rebecca and re-met Adrienne. Both are super nice. Rebecca put up with me in ikea and getting a bed

5) Sept 1st in Ikea is hellish
Everything is out of stock because that's when EVERYONE is moving in. I missed out on two mattress from Ikea.

6) Bed
I got a pretty sweet bed. It cost a little bit more, but I didnt wanna put up with any more price shopping. It was a bit out of my budget, but the one that was one lower was just crap. At least this one, I definitely like. Best part, I will have it on Sunday!

That's it, peeps, I'll post pictures later.I'm dead tired and functioning on 3hr sleep and 1 cup of coffee at noon. Small victories make me super happy. I'm probably pretty deluded.

Future Predictions

Tomorrow, I will embark on another phase in my life. It is the first step in the road to my greatest achievement.

For one great discovery, I will win two Nobel Prizes.

I will win the Nobel Prize in Medicine or Physiology for the groundbreaking work in creating the Anti-Aging Panda Puppy

Then, I will win the Nobel Peace Prize because the proliferation of my Anti-aging Panda Puppies will bring about a global ceasefire. Even the most violent groups will lay down their arms and just go "Awwwww" upon seeing these awesome Anti-Aging Panda Puppies.

Stay Tuned!

Getting all nostalgic

Started packing my stuff for Boston. Opened up a box of old letters, birthday and xmas cards, and random postcards that I've recieved since HS and through college. There were a couple of choice one that I'd like to share.

1) Conan Birthday card from UCLA peepz
They put in msgs next to all the guests who did "in the year 2000". Best card EVER

2) Lyndsay's postcard from Amish country
Picture of this cute little Amish family. Fits my warped sense of humor well

3) Melinda's letter from some time in
She signed it "Melinda Timberlake" Oh the wonderful days of boyband yore.

4) HS graduation card from Cindy (my sis)
Had some msg like "you're really awesome....just like me!" Sweet inside jokes too.

I also have tons of pics, ticket stubs, and other random stuff that I kept. Definitely gonna bring it all with me.

The Lists

It's probably the last post I will blog while abroad. I'm trying to kill some time before dinner. This trip has left me wanting to see more of the world and understand its history, culture, and people.

Though it might be a good time to hand out the awards.

Favorite City visited
Venice - Great shopping, interesting sights, unparalleled experiences

Most amazing religious building
Florence's Duomo - Great on the inside, great on the outside

Coolest Piece of Art
Michelangelo's Infinito - Although it's unfinished, it now has a completely different message adn effect on the people who see it.

Piece of art that I unexpectedly liked
The ceiling to the first room in Venice's Galleria del Accademia - It was filled with 500+ faces with angel wings. All the faces are supposedly different.

Best place Culinarily
Paris - HANDS DOWN

Best deal
7.10 Euros for a sandwich, a pizza, two cups of coffee, a bottle of water, and a chocalate cake at this one little cafe in Barcelona.

Funniest Moment
Our tour guide got drunk and tried to prove that he wasn't drunk by telling us the history of Florence. Every so often he tried to spell the important words out. He never got passed the fifth letter of RENAISSANCE.

Best shopping
Barcelona - Lots of stores around that are all centrally located. Have expensive ones, have ones in my alley!

Most disappointed shopping
Rome - The stores are either super expensive haute couture, or really semi cheap and tacky looking.

Most interesting place to hang out at
Park Guell of Barcelona - a park that looks like none other
St. Chapelle of Paris - small, but stained glass windows are unrivaled

Museum I'd like to spend more time in.
Louvre - Normally, people take 5 days to see that whole thing. I had 2 hours.
Museo d'Orsay - Same story as above. I had 1 hour this time
Doge's Palace in Venice - Will take guided tour next time.

Most Overrated
Versaille - Long lines outside, huge crowds in every room inside, few bathrooms for the large area. Also, sensory overload with all the French grandeur. Given that I had limited time, it could have been better spent elsewhere.

Best Moment
Front row seats to Eiffel tower at night.

Fine Irish Gentleman

As I was wandering around Rome with nothing to do, I decided to stop into a museum. I had to go to the bathroom really badly and I figured museum bathrooms are safest.

Anyhow, I went to the Museo Nazionale Romano near Piazza Navona. As I was walking around, looking at the cool statues (all of them were copies of Greek statues), this older Irish gentleman told me that I should check out the marble basin in the other room. He thought I might like it. So I did and afterwards, I went back to tell him thanks for the recommendation because it was a very fine piece. Then we got into a little bit of a chat.

I found out that the Irish gentleman was a retired engineer who had worked all over the world, but had not seen much of the cities that he worked in. So now, he's going around everywhere to see all the history and art. He passionately recommended some places that I should visit, including the Villa Julia, which housed some fine Etruscan artifacts and jewelry, as well as the Ostia Antica.

It's great to talk to someone who is enthusiastic about the world and its history.

0000

Side note: Three new gelati flavors: Zabaione, biscotto, dolce latte.

Uninvited guest, Part deux

As it turns out, that stupid British woman also stays at my hotel. I had a talk with her over breakfast this morning.

Don't think I changed her opinion, probably reinforced it even more.

But at least, I got to give my side and defend myself.

Uninvited guest ruins dinner

I was just at dinner, having a really good Italian meal in a restaurant that had a great atmosphere. Alan and I were reflecting on our lives and the trip itself. When we were about 3/4 done, this British lady who sat next to us decided that she needed tell us that we were the most spoiled children that she has ever met before running off.

Now, I'm angry because she had no right to just jump in in the conversation and offer her opinion. Especially when she didn't know the context of the experience itself.

And

I'm confused because I'm not sure what part of the conversation made her feel this way about us.

It ruined the night.

I'm glad she didn't stay long enough to enjoy the conviviality of the restaurant. After she left, the table behind us had a birthday and the owners sang happy birthday to the birthday girl and offered free champagne around the house.

Should have been an Art major

After this trip, i realized I woudl have loved to be an art history major. It sucks to go through all these sites and not know what the significance of all the art/architecture has. Need to work on being more cultured! Not in the bacteria sorta way.

Ruins Galore

Hi Everyone,

The tour officially ended today, so I get to explore Rome on my own. Although I am sad to leave some really great people (they're heading off to Athens), I must admit that I am looking forward to a hot shower in my hotel room and being free from mosquitos. Camping has shown my what luxury truly is by making me experience that seedier side of things. You begin to appreciate toilets that flush well and don't smell like urine, or showers that have little side shelves so your clothes won't get wet.

I spent the yesterday exploring Pompeii and today exploring Ancient Rome. So far, I've seen tons of ruins, only the broken skeleton of ancient civilization. Here's what I think of the two places.

1) Pompeii
Pompeii was about 2 hours away from Rome by train. We had to get to Naples and then connect onto a really cruddy train for another half hour before reaching the entrance of Pompeii Ruins. Man it was freaking hot. Going into Naples, you definitely see the difference between southern and northern Italy. You notice that it's hotter and the places are dodgier. Seriously, I actually felt scared for my safety for a brief moment in Naples.

Anyhow, back to Pompeii. The city was bustling with life when it met its dome in 79 AD. In these ruins, you really get a slight sense of how well these people lived. There were large forums for commerce, great temples for their gods, and some even had fancy villas. In some homes, you can see the fine mosaic tile flooring. It's really cool to see how we still imitate that style today. The place is HUGE! Some places still had frescos. Although it's in ruins, you also get a good sense of how ornate many of these homes are.

One of the coolest places to see is the whorehouse, where there are some erotic frescos still up! The Romans are very kinky people. After the visit, I went to the Archaeological museum in Naples to see more of these frescos and their obsession of the phallus. According to the museum, the phallus was believed to ward off evil, so people wore it as jewelry and put it large stone ones right outside their homes. Really weird, especially for my prudish self. I'm definitely glad that the times have changed.

My biggest regret with Pompeii is that I didnt see the body plaster of the victims. According to my research, they were at this place called the Garden of Fugitives, which is really far away. I also heard that some were taken to the Archaeological Museum in Naples. However, it wasn't there either. As it turns out, they moved it to another site which was closer to the entrance so people didn't have to go way out of their way to see it. Boo to that!

2) Ancient Rome
Today, I went took a tour of the Coliseum. Traveling tip: Buy whatever Museum pass if they offer it in the city you're visiting,. It cuts the lining up (especially in Paris and Rome). The tour was okay. The speaker gave a good idea of what sorta things happened, but if you watched Gladiator, you woudl have known anyways. The Coliseum is really big! On the outside, you dont really feel that impressed. But once you walked in, you really feel how grand it is.

We also took a tour of the Palatine. Trivia point: The word Palace comes from Palatine because the emperors of rome built this grandiose homes for themselves on this hill. The tour was given by this Australian chick, who was a great tour guide. She was very vibrant, had good huomr, and provided a lot of little tidbits that busted many myths! At this hill, you see the remains of the large palace for the emperor Domitician (?). He had his own circus minimus! On this large hill, you see all these ruins, and you have to keep in mind that EVERYTHING except the little garden and his circus minimus is covered! There are enough walls left that you do get a sense of how large the halls. VERY COOL.

Side note: on these tours, you really learn THAT the Vatican steals everything. They stole all the great marble from these ancient buildings for their own cathedrals, basilicas, etc.

There, you also got this awesome semi-aerial view of the Roman Forums. Definitely another great site! There's these three barrel chapels (?) that are simply HUGE. There are a few standing columns around, some more rundown walls. There's only one church that's still standing. It has the second oldest bronze door in all of the Roman empire. Pretty impressive that it still works and haven't been plundered by the Vatican.

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Thus concludes the adventures of the last two days. I think I may have forgotten to write that I saw Trevi Fountain and the Spanish steps. There, I learned that I hate tourist and crowds only taint all these beautiful places.

Alright, one more full day at Rome and tht's it. For the last day, I plan to tackle the Mouth of Truth and maybe the Cupercin(?) monks. Otherwise, it's pretty chill. I haven't figured out how to spend my final hours in this great city.

Overall, This trip has been pretty damn amazing. I'll log the top 10 and worst 10 moments when I get home.

I'm going to Vatican city where the church is big and the cieling is pretty

Today, we got into Rome. The Florence update is posted as a separate post below, so check that out after this.

We started the drive from Florence at 7am so we can make it into Rome by noon. It was harsh because the night before, I got back at 2am. Regardless, I just slept on the coach.

We were warned by our tour guide that in order to get into the Vatican Museum, we'd have to play dirty and cut in line. I was all ready to do that. So, first thing I did as I approached the line was to scope out for asian families that I can pretend to be apart of. Once I found my target, I moved in slowly and sneaked my way into the line. When I looked ahead of me, I saw other people from the tour cutting way up front. I felt good because at least I was less amoral.

The Vatican Museum is relaly cool. They have heaps of rooms full of paintings, tapestry, furniture, frescos. Of course all these are depictions of Biblical stories. Here, I saw Raffaelo's School of Athens. (Side note: after seeing italy, definitely getting sick of Michelangelo, Raffaelo, and Bernini. These guys did EVERYTHING ART)

Of course, the real goal is to see the Sistine Chapel. Must say, Very impressed by the shear execution of this large project. The audio tour definitely gave a great explanation of what everything is supposed to be on the ceiling and the side walls. Being my less amoral self, I refrained from snapping a picture of ceiling. Go me!

One surprise in the Vatican Museum is the collection of Modern religious art. Modern art and religious are, to me, are always two very separate entities, since modernity is often more concerned with the laypeople. Anyhow, here, you have these very non traditional representation of Biblical tales, using very old media, but with a definitely fresh sensibility. My favorite was this large completely white stained glass window that depicted the Pieta scene.

After Vatican museum, went into the largest cathedral on earth, St. Peter's Basilica. No they were not kidding in terms of size. I was blown away by size, but not so much by the art within it. Of course there is Michelangelo's great work, the Pieta. However, I found the ceilings unimpressive. For being THE church on earth, I think St. Mark's in Venice beats it, hands down!

So we finished seeing the Vatican, and decided to roam into Rome. One of my top objectives is to see the Pantheon, which is this tour de force of ancient architecture. As one of the best preserved buildings from 1AD (ish), it still stands very well. Really cool use of space to have this empty dome. It's small, but feels really big. The height of the building is the same as the dome's diameter.

It was about time to catch the coach back to the campsite. Decided that I wasn't gonna waste any time sitting in the campsite and being bored so ventured out to dinner in town. Need to get back really soon.

Final side notes

1) Bug bites: 35 and counting.

2) Gelato flavors: tried: amaretto, bacio, pistachio, caffe viennese, cacao amsterdam, lima tropical, mela verde, cocomero, torronita, crema gran soiree, tuttobosco, passion fruit, caffe, panna cotta, melone, kiwi, macedonia. total count so far: 23! Go me for becoming a fatty!

Ciao Bello!

Yesterday, I was just in Florence. The day started slow because I decided to go into town with the tour. Big mistake. They took us into town late and wasted more time to show us a leather making demo (bad sales pitch). Anyhow, as soon as I could wiggle away, I jetted. Here are my adventures!

1) Piazza dell Signorio.
This is suposed to be the city center of ancient Florence, the seat of power for the di Medici family. It was really awesome because immediately, you see some very beautiful sculptures around. There's an entire fountain on the Neptune, the famous Rape of the Sabine, and Perseus holding the decapitated Medusa. Very great pieces.

Also, supercool is that I meet this old native Florentine man. He was very sweet, just asking me where I was from and telling me that he loves it in Florence. Great hospitality!

2) The Duomo
I was walking down the street, eating my gelato, and just window shopping. Anyhow, for a moment there, I stopped and looked up. I was stopped mid-lick. Ahead of me is this jinormously tall cathedral, wrought with marbles of red, green, and white. Nothing beats this awestruck moment. One thing that's cool about the Duomo is that it's very enclosed, in that it doesn't have this large square dedicated to it. There's a campanile and a octagonal building right around it. If you see the pictures, you'd think I photoshopped it all together. The colors also make it very unique because Gothic cathedrals are often gray and black, but hardly ever red and green.

I also went inside. Thankfully, the line wasn't too long, so I got in after about 20 minutes of waiting. Definitely a large enclosed space. You really feel this awe and respect when you walk inside these large cathedrals.

3) Pont Vecchio
I went to this place with the walking tour of the group. This bridge crosses the Arna River (?) Within the bridge is small shops. These shops have kept its facade for hundreds of years, so you see medieval banners all around.

4) DAVID!
It was my goal to see David, one of Michelangelo's greatest works. There are several replicas around the city, but nothing beats the real thing. The walking tour guide told me that it would take 1 to 2 hours just for the wait. That was very depressing because we left the walking tour about 1:30 and the bus picks us up at 4. Really leaves very little time for anything. Anyhow, I had given up, and decided to have a good lunch just so I can have some down time to lick my wounds. You see, I had already given up a second objective in Florence - the Uffizi gallery, which is this large museum housing the greatest collection of Renaissance art. Boticelli's Birth of Venus is found there, as well as early works from Leonardo and other TMNTs.

Even after the lunch, I was feeling like I couldn't just give up so easily. Since the David's home is not that far, I might as well make a visit and check out the line. I figured it's well worth a try. Thank god I did that! The line was only half hour. Crowd control is also excellently done. All too often, you have hordes of people around these great artwork. Here, in the galleria, you don't. David is right there and there's only about 30 people in this great hall, admiring the work.

David is an absolutely masterpiece. He's 502 years old and doesn't look a day over 18. Most impressive is the skill and detail that you see in the sculpture. The muscle tone, the veins running underneath his skill. There's softness on the surface and strength underneath. It is definitely a treat in my life have the opportunity to see the real thing at close distance.

I missed the bus because of him and had to find my way back on public transportation. Well worth it, i tell you.

4) Infiniti sculptures.
The Infiniti sculptures are unfinished sculptures of the apostles that Michelangelo started for some pope's tomb. Here, you get this great effect. You have these rough marbles, completely jagged and craggy. Then, you have these body's emerging from it. It's like looking at someone just walking out of the marble in that particular pose. There is this perfect marriage of the beauty of natural and the beauty which man can creat. You'd have to see it for yourself!

After all these adventures, went to dinner with the tour,. Got majorly ripped off with terrible food. Afterwards, went to Space disco for karaoke (did "living on a prayer") and then went for a walk because I got bored. Had tiramisu at this nice little square with jazz music playing in the background. THen had more gelato!

Overall, good night!

Venice, Firenze and the Tiramisu Curfew

Hi Everyone,

I'm in Florence right now. Others are at a bar, but I wasn't feeling it, so I decided to blog more.
We drove into Florence today and will be doing the tour tomorrow. Tonight is really a recup night.

Yesterday, I had such a great time in Venice. Such a cool place. I can't believe how much I did. Here's the rundown in rough chronologic order

1) Getting Lost
We took a ferry from camp to Venice at 8am. It was great to walk through the city with nobody around, especially when you're forming your first impressions. I love it that the streets are so narrow. The buildings are very unique and eclectic in style, since Venice used to an important trading center. The city has influences in and around the Mediterranean. Our tour guide was supposed to take use to St. Mark's Square, but couldn't find his way. Like a true guy, he refused to fully admit that he's lost, but instead said that he gave us a very authentic traveling experience.

2) St. Mark's Square and Basilica
After arriving, I immediately ditched the group with another girl, Ning. We decided that it was best to venture off and skip the glass-making demo, even though Murano, a small island off the coast of Venice, is very famous.

Anyhow, our first objective was St. Mark's Basilica. Interesting story, Venice wanted to become a more prominent state, so to make itself more important, at least religiuosly speaking, they raided the body of St. Mark from Alexandria! Anyhow, the line into the basilica (like in all major churchesbasilicas) was long, but at least it was fast moving. We got in half hour's time. The interior was sooooo awesome. The entire ceiling was gold and all the artwork was done in mosaic. We visited the Pala d'Oro, this large golden panel of many saints and such. The best part was going into the second floor (loggia) It takes out right up close to the mosaics and also outside for a great view of the Square.

Oh yeah, I'm going straight to hell for snapping pictures all around, even though it was prohibited.

2) Doge's Palace
The Doge's Palace was next door, so Ning and I hoped on over too. It was very impressive. The Doge is essentially the ruler in Venice. He's chosen through a very complicated system, which I do not fully understand. Anyhow, what's really cool is that you see everything. All the state rooms, apartments, and even the prisons. All the rooms were so impressive. It's easy for me to compare this to Versailles since they're both residences for royalty. Personally, I thought the Doge's palace was more impressive and way better since less tourists were there.

As we moved from one impressively beautiful and ornate room to another, we followed these tour groups around and listened in on the history and functions.

One of the coolest parts of the Doge's palace was this huge state room with very HUGE paintings on the ceiling. It was meant to hold a procession and has no columns. The way it was supported is by suspension from the second floor.

Another cool thing was seeing the prisons. First off, the accomodations were way better than any of the campsites on this trip. Second, there was this gallery of stuff that prisoners had drawn on the wall. Let me tell you that the human race has changed much in the last few hundreds of years. Boys still draw pics of women and their penises (?) whenever they have a chance.

It started raining really hard at around 1pm, so Ning and I statyed there for lunch. Cool eh!

3) Some church that I forgot the name of right now.
This church is recommended as a little gem in Venice. It's a Franciscan chruch and the artwork is once again great. The body of Titan, one of Venice's resident artists is there. Ning and I spendt a lot of time taking pictures of the place.

4)Gondola Ride
At around 4pm, we went bnack to St. Marc's Square to meet the group for a short 40min gondla ride. It's deinfinitely an experience of a lifetime. After rushing every where all day, it was great to just sit back, relax, and just take in the sights, especially around the back canals.

5) Galleria dell Academia
Took a visit to the Accademia because it was highly recommended again. SIt housed the largest collection of Venetian art, so I saw oa lot of relighouis works. We took a audiotour, which took you around through the gallery's 24 rooms and gave a brief description of its architectural history, a, as well as a highlight of some of the important works per in each room. Definitely made me appreciate 13th-16th century artwork more, since for the most part, I didn't really care to spend the time for this kind of art before hand. You start picking up on the usual scenes (ie Passion of the Christ, Mary's coronation, Mary and the child). After a while and being saturated with all these artwork, you begin to notice nuisances and changes through out time, both in depiction and style. The best piece is a series of 8 large murals about the story of St. Ursula. The audiotour definitely made a difference in my appreciation of it.

6) Ride up and down the Grand Canal in the Vapporetto.
You can't go through Venice without just sitting back again and taking in all the buildings on the grand canal. So snapped a lot of pictures. It was here that I broke teh momentuous 1000 mark with photos taken.

7) Dinner near Rialto Bridge
Finially, it was getting late and hunger had befallen upon me and Ning. So we stopped to find food at a nice restaurant (might as well). We walked around looking for a restaurant that would serve tiramisu. Apparently, they don't serve tiramisu after 8pm. It's very peculiar to me and I don't understand why. If anyone has a clue, please tell me.

After dinner, we went back to the campsite, just in time to catch the last ferry back to the campsite. I was tired out and decided to call it an early night.

Side note: The masks of Venice are super cool and beautiful. Wanted to get one but chickened out for fear of destroying it during transport.

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Other side notes

1) Saw the Leaning Tower of Pisa today. Really surreal to see this building lean. Of course spent time taking in lame pictures of myself tipping it down etc.

2) Bug bite count is up to 20 plus. Most of it came from the couple hours I spent in the FLorence campsite. These bugs are vicious.

3) Had 5 scoops of gelato today within the span of 15 minutes. I went to one gelateria, got three scoops. Finished half of it, then saw another gelateria and had 2 more. My favority so far is a flavor called baccio. I am planning to have more tonight after blogging.

4) Looking forward to seeing statue of David and being impressed by the works of Michelangelo, Raffaello, Leonardo, and Donatello. You know, the turtles! just kidding.

This all, more updates later!

Sad Panda finds Happy Hippo and battles Mozzies

Ciào peepz!

Greetings from Venice. We drove in today, so tomorrow will be a busy sightseeing day. We're staying at Camping Fusina, which is the bee's knees of campgrounds. Venice is only 20minute ferry ride away. This place has internet, nicer cabins, a nice bar, and a supermarket. Yes, I am now high-roller trailer trash!

Let's do a recap of the last 24 hours.

Anyhow, Nice and Cannes are in an area called Cote d'Azur, aka the blue coast. They didn't lie. The water was super blue! I was so amazed by its vibrance.

After dinner, we got decked out to go to Monaco. After a 2hr drive through the picturesque French Riviera, we got to Monaco for a short visit. Monaco was CHA-CHING MONEY! Went to the Grand Casino of Monte Carlo. It had a 10 Euro cover. A bit steep, I admit, but I figured there's a very low chance of me ever seeing it again. What's 10 euros when it's freaking Monte Carlo. Anyhow, there were some 5 euro roulette tables, but the blackjacktables were 500 euro minimum bet! I put in 10 euro for slots! Lost it all...Oh wells.

Anyhow, the Grand Casino was small, but definitely grand! Most impressive was its toilet. Here's the thing. When you flush, it flushes the toilet bowl. Then a little brush extends from the toilet seat to clean the seat as the seat spins through it. So yes, that's what 20 Euros got me, to see how a toilet seat can be cleaned automatically.

Anyhow, today had been pretty cruddy. I got sick two nights ago and I'm really feeling it today. Sniffles galore. It totally didn't help the little stop in a French perfumery when your nose is stuffed. I slept through most of the driving and had this terrible headache. Thankfully, I'm feeling much better now.

For our second service stop, we stayed at a little Autogrill along the way in Italy! I was definitely looking forward to something other than stuffed baguettes and when I saw that pasta line, I was totally delighted. Anyhow, I got too excited and ordered the wrong thing and was totally ripped off. I was pretty upset at that because I had been looking forward to a good meal. To ease blow, I decided that I'll buy some ice-cream. Then I came upon a little candy thingy called a Happy Hippo, which was hippo-shaped wafer with chocolate fudge inside. Ice-cream and hippo = Yummy!

For our last stop, we visited Verona, the famous home of the star-crossed lovers, Romeo and Juliet. You can actually climb up to Juliet's balcony. Let me tell you, there were many people who looked more like Juliet's ugly aunt than Juliet herself at that balcony. Below the balcony is a statue of Juliet. Legend has it that if you grab her right breast, you'll be lucky in love. Many guys went for that. Later, one of the boys on the tour offered himself for the same purpose to the girls. I'm sure you can figure out which part of his body he offered.

Must say that I've met more rude Italians in Verona than Frenchmen in France. What's up with that!

Our tour guide also told the girls to be careful of Italian men. They won't leave you alone if you make eye contact with them. Apparently, that's enough to be love. Funny thing is, to stop a car from running you over as you cross the street, you also need to make eye contact. So here's the choice: Love or Death. You decide.

Oh yeah, I also had my first real Italian gelato. Decided that I will do a running list of flavors. Here are today's: Tiramisu, Straccitelli, and Niccolia.

Soon, we got to the campsite in Venice. Within 30 minutes of arriving, I've already been attacked by the mosquitos, or Mozzies as the Aussies call it. Boo to that! Total bites count on this trip so far: 8!

Oh a more real note, I'm getting a bit tired of the tour. I don't feel like I'm seeing each city sufficiently. So far, every city that I've been in is just a day tour. One more day per city would be wonderful. Since every other day is driving, I feel like I know the service stops way better. Everything feels very rushed because there's so much to see and so little time. It's often difficult to decide between a nice meal versus another sightseeing stop. The campsites are also far from city center, making it difficult to stay out later. This is a great sampler, but for me, I really want to see the cities in a more relaxed pace and be able to enjoy the smaller things at each place. Next time I see Europe, it's going to be 3-4 days per city.

Anyhowzers, for tomorrow, I look forward to seeing all of Venice. It'll be rushed. In the afternoon, I'll be going on a gondola ride. Can't wait to see St. Mark's Square and the Grand Canal, since Casanova (the movie with Heath Ledger and Sienna Miller) made it look so wonderful.

Nice Cannes

Bonjour!

I'm in Cannes right now. We drove in last night from Spain. Much to talk about!

First off, Barrcelona was great. The city was so unique in architecture and style. Very few tall buildings. after a quick morning driving tour, we had a walking tour of the Barri Gotic, the Gothic Quarter. Our tour guide gave us a bit of history lesson, which allowed me to put Barcelona in a better perspective. Then, went to Parc Guell. The park was designed by Gaudi, so it really looks like something to be found underwater in a coral reef.

After the Parc, I went shopping back at the Barri Gotic. Must say that I love shopping in Barcelona. A lot of fashionable shops with very affordable clothes. The souvenirs also has more character to them. Love te shopping in Barcelona!

At around 5, it rained really hard for almost 2 hours. I went to an ice cream parlor and another department store instead. Personally, I think that it's a great choice. When it stopped pouring, I continued my trek down Las Ramblas, the main boulevard in Barcelona. It was filled with street performers, but it had too any of the same sort of souvenir shops.

After that I walked to Port Olimpic to meet up with others from the tour for dinner. Barely made it in the nick of time, b/c all of them went to a flamenco dance show. For dinner, we all shared paella and some sangria. Regrettably, I didn't really have tapas in Barcelona.

After dinner, we went to the Font Magica, the dancing fountain in front of the royal palace. That was amazing!!! Bellagio could not even compare. too bad I can't share the pics with you guys right now.

After that, went clubbing back at Port Olimpic. The club Baja was okay. All bartenders were in bikinis and swim trunks. Every so often, the'd get up and do this really lame dane. I thought the music sucked b/c the DJ was spinning terribly, putting in adlibs that were bad and made awkward transitions. The club next door, Shoko was way better with its house music. For a moment, had to babysit this stupid 18 year old on the tour because she was super-trshed and insisted on finding a guy. I am so annoyed with her immaturity. Left the clubs at 4:30, but had the most wretched time finding a cab back home. Got back to the canmpsite at 5:30 am, with just enough time to pack and shower before departure at 8 am. Definitely a fun night!


Anyhow, must jet now. After lunch, I'm heading over to Nice! Later tonight, the tour is going over to Monte Carlo. We're going to get all decked out for it! My gambling itch is starting already!

La Playa en Barcelona

Holas amigos,

So it´s really not that long since my last post. People are still hanging out in front of my cabin so I really can´t go to bed yet. It´s about 1:32 am here. I just had a really chill night sitting in front of the beach. After dinner, the whole tour (more or less) went out to the beach. There was a frisbee and volleyball game going.

I did take a dip in the in the Mediterreanean (yeah, my spelling sucks) Sea. It was super warm, even at 9pm. Well, the sun didn´t set until 10ish. What´s really weird is seeing the moon rise. It looked liked this giant orange orb on a pitch black backdrop. Definitely different from the Pacific where it´s freaking cold all the time. Since I´m in Spain, I had some San Miguel beer (which they also allowed on the beach) Others decided to check out the town later in the night. I´m saving that for tomorrow night.

Tomorrow is going to a big day for me. It´s really our only day to see Barcelona. There´s so much to see. The resident architect is a guy named Guidi(?). He designed many of the city´s main architecture, including the La Sangra Familia, which is this gargantua cathedral that began construction in 1931(?) and is not expected to be completed until 2041. We will also roam around Las Ramblas, the main street where there´s plenty of shops and street artist and pickpockets. I hope to find a semi nice dress there so I can go into the casinos at Monaco the night after. There´s also this dancing fountain. I´m guessing it´s something like Bellagio, but we´ll see. Other sites include a Columbus monument, which overlooks the sea, the Olympic buildings (Kylie Minogue shot "Slow" at the pool there"), and the Park Guell, which Guidi(?) also designed. Other than that, I plan to have some coffee, spanish tapas, and sangria. Olé mates!

Figured I should talk about some of the tour. So basically, we´re in a group of 50 people. Some of us are ending the trip early in Rome, while others are making their way to Athens. It´s mostly Aussies and Kiwi, so I hear words like "mates" and "cheers" very often. Yeah, no valley girl talk here. There´s also a couple of Canucks, a few Americans, and one Brit. The group is pretty young, most are between 22 and 27. The oldest is a 30 y/o, but she doesn´t look her age nor act it. A lot of people are perpetually drunk. Anyhow, the food is pretty shitty, so are the accomodations. We´re staying at these campsites, which have cabins. These are simply gloried sheet metal sheds. No soundproofing nor insulation.

anyhow, I have 20 minutes or so more online and I¨m gonna check my email instead. Meanwhile, good night guys!

Buenos noches, estoy en Barcelona

Holas senores y senoritas!

I just got into the campsite in Barcelona, so nothing has happened yet, Thought I´ll recap the last couple of days in France. So here we go. Sorry for no pictures again. This computer doesn´t allow picture transfers, but believe you me, i wished I could show you the beauty that I managed to get down.

The last that we left off, I was in Montmartre. I went swiftly down to find the Moulin Rouge and took a picture. En route, i passed by the Sex Museum and was hoping to visit it the next day. Sadly I didnt get to visit it. Anyhow, definitely interesting to walk through the seedy side of Paris.

From there, I walked to the Galleria Lafayette and the world famous Opera house. That was nice, took some pictures and such. I was supposed to meet a travel mate at the Trocadero acrossed town so I was looking for a metro station. Anyhow I kept on walking and walking. In the end, I found that I had walked to Sacre Coeur, the basilica, all the way to Champs Elysees Clemenceau. Looking at the map, it looks like I´ve made nearly half way cross town!

Anyhow, I had dinner at the Trocadero with one of the prix fixe meals. Really awesome. Had some wine and staked out in front of the fountains with a primo view of the Eiffel tower. Definitely one of the best moments in life for me. I was so close to the Eiffel Tower that I can´t see it all without moving my head up and down. On the way back to the campsite, I stopped at the Arc de Triomphe for a nice night photo.

The next day I went to Versailles and that sucked. MOM and CINDY¨: I´m sorely disappointed. It was a waste of my time. The site was impressively grandeur, but everything else about it was a nuisance. Bathrooms were far and apart. The admission was expensive, and it was a freaking loaded with tourists. Boo to Versailles. Unless I get good chicken with it, I dont want any of it.

Got back to Paris city centre at about 4 and went straight to the Museo d Órsay, a famous museum that houses all the impressionist art. That was such a treat. The lines were long, but moved quickly. It was a formerly a train station in the 20s, so everythign is very art deco. I loved every moment of it. Looking back, I shoudl have spent more time there than at Versailles. It´s exactly the art that I love. Took some great pictures there. I´ll upload it another time.Saw a Van Gogh piece that made it to the number two position in my favorite VG paintings. Number 1 is still Starry Night.

(meanwhile, sorry for the crappy typing. I´m on a time limit and this keyboard is made for spaniards.)

After that I walked through the Jardin de Tuilleries (which links the Lourve to Arc de Triomphe) and snapped some pics of calm Parisian life. It´s lovely to see people in the outdoors, reading, painting, and loving life. People are so calm and relaxed here. Totally not rushed at all.

I also visited Les Halles and Centre George Pompidou. It´s a cheaper shopping area. There I found another H&M. French H&M is way better than British H&M. So wished I had more time to shop there.

For dinner, I met up with Alan at the Trocadero and ate at the same restaurant I went to the night before. Since it´s my last night in Paris, I tried to have as many stereotypical French food as possible. I had French Onion soup, escargot, white wine, creme brulee, and chocolat chaud. The creme brulee was the BEST I´ve EVER HAD. Lemme tell you, if I can take to the Eiffel Tower and eat it there, it woudl have been Heaven on Earth.

The next day, we spent 6 hours driving to the Beaujolais wine region in central France for 2 nights of R&R. It´s nice to have a slower day to just chill and relax as we are en route to Barcelona.

En route, we stopped by a little French town called Fountainbleau. There I found this cute little bakery and bought 4 pastries there. OH and I ate ALL Of it. It was super good. Pictures were great too.

We stayed at the Chateu de Cruix, a small winery runned by Contiki. The facilities were way better than at the Paris campsite. Most glorious is the view of the landscape. Simply stunning. OH yeah, the nearby town is also super cute with its old orange brick houses. I can totally understand why Van Gogh used such vibrant colors. It´s actually all there in front of your eyes!

That night, the Chateau hosted the themed party. The theme is the Letter P. I went as a Panda (surprise surprise). Although I´m certain i´ve been mistaken for being punched. Anyhow, others went as presents, priests, pharoahs, prostitutes, pingpong players, etc. My favorite was three girls on my tour that all went as pregnant. Nothing beats three crazy dancing pregnant women doing dips and shaking their butts!

The next day, we had a chill picnic day on a mountainside. They packed our lunches for us and all we had to do was hike an hour up to this place that they called the top of the world. It overlooked the entire wine region. Once again, stunning.

That brings us to day. We drove 10 hours to get to Barcelona. ON the way, we stopped by the Pont du Gard, which is the remnants of the old Roman aqueducts. Definitely a treat for a nerd like me to see the magnificence of Roman engineering. Beautiful and nice little short stop.

Special discussion now, about toilets. European toilets always smell like piss. I miss American bathrooms where there´s always a hint of air freshener going in there. All the bathrooms I´ve been to makes me wanna hold my breath. But I can´t because the lines to use the bathrooms are so long that I would have died three times over before I would find fresh air. Breathing it makes me wanna puke.

Second specal discussion, it was brought to my attention of the foiled terror plans in London. Just wanna let everyone know that I´m alright and I would be flying out of Rome on 8.23.06 and will definitely keep my heads up so that I wont miss my flight. Scary times we live in. I´m glad the plans were thwarted.

Super side note...I know i´m on vacation, but it scares me how disconnected I am with the world. I know the whole point of a vacation is to not have to think about strife adn suffering. It feels like I¨m in this little bubble and I dont know what is going on at all.

Super super side note: I got 5 bug bites and it itches terribly. I´ve taken pictures of it. It´s not big, but definitely a nuisance.

Anyhow, that´s the end of my post. I have a full day at barcelona and will be looking forward to see all the sights and partying it up here. I also look forward to exercising my broken spanish that I´ve acquired from two years of Spanish in High school.

So for now... Ciao, amigos! I´ve missed dinner already.

I, Giddy Hyper Chihuahua

Bonjour Dudes,

I'm in lovely Paris and I'm overwhelmed. This place is beautiful. If I ever met a Parisian who moved from Paris to US, I'd smack them for leaving the most beautiful city in the world.

Last night, we drove into Paris after dinner at the Contiki campsite for a little night tour of some important sites. The sun was setting, making the first views of Paris completely overwhelming. My heart was racing with excitement. The Eiffel Tower at sunset will make you breathless!

This morning we were dropped off at Museo d'Orsay to start some free exploring time. The museum is closed today, so I'll see it tomorrow.

First stop: The Lourve. Only spent two hours there. Didn't see everything. I only have 2 days in Paris. Given this time constraint, I dont think I will be able to really experience Paris fully. Anyhow, saw some of the classic works, like Nike, Mona Lisa, and Venus de Milo. I could spend a week at the Lourve and still have more to explore.

Next, I headed over to Ile Cite for Notre Dame, Ste Chapelle, and Ste Michel. Notre was extremely impressive. Flying buttresses all over. Even though the tour guide told us that it may not the best idea to go inside, I did anyways. The line was short and moved quickly. I thought it was a mistake for him to say that. Seeing the four rose windows and the sculpture of the Virgin Mary at the altar (?) was awesome. Ste Chapelle is definitely a small gem at the heart of Paris. The stained glass windows there are tall and probably the best I've seen.

Now I'm at Sacre Coeur. This Catholic Church is different in design. It's not the Gothic style as in Notre Dame. If I remember correctly, it is called Romanesque. Anyone, one striking characteristic is that the depictions in the stained glass windows are different. The figures are more grotesque(?) There's actually shadows on the people.

Of course, France is known for its culinary prowess. I've had escargot at the campsite (crap). I think i'll order some tonight. So far, i've only dwelved into desserts. Had two crepes, a small cake, and a slice of berry tart. Mmmm....so good! I'll have some prix fixe (?) meal later and will be visiting the Eiffel Tower for a night view. Maybe tomrrow I'll have my stuffed baguette.

Oh yeah, Some talk about the Contiki Campsite is necessary. Talk about basic, the "cabin" we're in is crap. It suffices, but definitely no luxury involved. You know those little sheds that you can buy to put in yoru backyard? Well I'm living in one of those right now. And it fits 4 of us.

If anything is winning about this tour, it's the people. Everyone's young, between 20-30. Everyone wants to have a good time. Most people are from Austrailia and New Zealand. It's interesting how many of them have travelled a lot around Europe, months at a time. And not for study either. I think it's b/c they're so far away and airfare costs to get to Europe.

anyhow, need to go before they charge me more.

Ta Ta

Boogers and Bowels

There's really no appropriate way to say this, but as I'm logging my trip, I should also jot down random observations.

1) The hot dogs in London are different. It's more like a big breakfast sausage. Not as good as a hebrew national, but still enjoy it. Streetside hot dog stands always hits the spot.

Warning: If you don't like farts, boogers, pooping, or any other bodily function, Skip the rest of this post.

2) I've noticed that boogers in London and are different than those in LA. My boogers in LA are usually gray, moist, and squishy. I've noticed that my boogers in London are dry and sticks to your nose hair more. You know, that kind where you pick at it, but it hurts a lot b/c it's yanking the hairs out with it? Yeah, that kind. The color is more of a black color, but does have patches of white. So there you have it.

3) Also, I'm not constipated. I've finally taken a dump in London. After eating some McVitties Digestive cookies, 2 apples, and 1 banana to help my dig. tract out! GO DUODENUM!