Final Europe Recap: Rome June 30, 2009

Day 7

We took the overnight train from Paris to Rome, and it was really fun (for the first 14 hours, more on that in a moment).  We had our own “room” with bunk beds and as the sun set I really enjoyed watching the many castles on the French countryside as we rode past.  We drank some beer and ate chocolate we bought in Paris before turning in.  We couldn’t eat from the dining car as we were out of Euros and they do not take credit cards. Doh! That’s ok.  Both of us slept pretty well with the rumbling of the train.   Our scheduled arrival time for Rome was 10:30 am (we had left Paris at 7pm the night before) but at 8:30 our train stopped.  In the middle of nowhere, for an hour and a half.  And then, later on, it stopped again!  We were 5 hours late arriving in Rome and we were famished!  No one told us why, though apparently this is not uncommon with Italian trains.  Who knows.

Once we arrived we hopped on the metro to Circus Maximus, to see our pal Melanie who was hosting us for this leg of our trip.  Melanie originally hails from Western NC but has been living in Rome for two years working for FAO, which is the Food and Agriculture Branch of the UN.  She speaks 3 languages and has lived in more countries than I have visited.  Plus, she is a lot of fun!  Her office overlooks the Coloseum and the Palatine Hills, which sure beats my view of the basement hallway.

We loitered around the Circus Maximus until Melanie finished work and we rode home on the most crowded bus I have ever been on (she told us she usually walks).  Melanie lives is the Trastevere neighborhood (translates too “across the Tiber”) in a neat flat that is happily 30 seconds from a tasty gelato shop.  After showers and a nap we walked through winding cobblestone streets past a number of lovely piazzas to a small restaurant that turned out to provide the first of the three amazing dinners we ate there.

After an amazing dinner we went to Isola Tiberina, a small island in the Tiber River connected by bridges.  Well, a better name for the Isola would be “Cocktail Island” because during the summer months all these temporary bars pop up and all the city goes there to drink and hang out.  We sat on a pile of cushions on a blanket and watched the river cross over rapids as we enjoyed a drink.   Romans love cocktails, which surprised me. I would have though they were all into wine!

Day 8

We pounded the pavement in Rome!  Visited the Palatine Hill ruins (where many of the early emperors lived) and then the ruins of the roman forum, the temple of the Vestal Virgins, the arch of Titus, and all kinds of amazing roman architecture. I am not going to lie that watching the first series of the show “Rome” helped me understand some of the time line.   It is amazing what they accomplished.  We learned that Romans are great recyclers, and that the finery from the emperor’s palaces; statuary, marble and the like, is all at St. Peters Basilica now.

We also visited the Colosseum, which is really large and then walked across the street to the Celian Hill, where there is a large park and the Church  Santa Paulo and Giovanni, two Roman soldiers who were martyred.  Then we walked over to the super swanky Aventine Hill, where the US Embassy and some enormous homes are located.

We met Melanie at her apartment after work and again she led us through piazzas past fountains, the Pantheon, and great statues to another great night out:  drinks along the Tiber with her pals Vilan and Valentina and then dinner.  Her coworker and friend Mami joined us for dinner.  Mami is a marathoner, and holds the record for being the 16th fastest woman in Rome.   On the way home we saw the ruins of Argentina Largo and the statue of the elephant with an obelisk on its back.  If Napoleon had sticky fingers when it came to Egypt, the Ancient Romans were even worse.  Melanie told us there are more obelisks in Rome than in Egypt.

A few bits of Rome trivia:  there are lovely water fountains throughout the city that you can drink from.  They come straight from an aquifer and are so nice and cool!  Feels great when its hot out.  Also, cats are revered in Rome for saving the city from a plague many years ago. Every ruin or monument had a dish of cat food somewhere nearby.  There are cats everywhere!

Day 9

We woke up late and went to the Vatican.   Instead of taking us 20 minutes to walk there it took us 2 1/2 hours because I got us really lost.  Oops!  The upside was that we ate breakfast from a bakery we stumbled upon and it was the  most amazing donut I have ever eaten in my entire life. Ever!  Filled with real deal Holyfield pastry cream.  Mmm. We finally found the right way, which was through Janiculum Hill which afforded us fine views of the city and the Garabaldi Memorial.

Anyway, we made it to St Peters, and all I can say is, wow.  Words cannot describe how beautiful it is.  There is art in every corner of the room.  It is so massive you could fit St Pauls, Westminster Abby, and Notre Dame in there and still have room for my house, or 4 of my house.   We skipped the Vatican museums on account of the fact we couldn’t actually find them and it was pretty late at this point.  We wandered off across the Tiber river, got lost again and found the Pantheon, which we were able to go inside of (our previous visit with Melanie was at about 10pm and it was closed).  We did some drinking and shopping (yes, I spent 70 Euros on olive oil, balsamic vinegar and other food items) and never did find our way back to the Tiber so we took a taxi home.  Just fine as our feet were about to fall off!

Another fine dinner with Melanie!  It was Thursday, which is the only day most restaurants make gnocchi.  Melanie and I both had gnocchi with radicchio and clams and it was amazing.  A great dinner on which to end our vacation.

Epilogue

We made it home just fine, though flying to the states from Leonardo DaVinci airport is a little bit of a nightmare.  There were luggage issues so it took everyone forever to get checked, and sure enough Chris’s suitcase got lost.  It finally showed up in Raleigh the next day.  When we opened it we found it had been tampered with:  the balsamic vinegar had been unwrapped and put back in the suitcase (not interesting enough to steal, I guess) and hilariously enough, in Chris’s suitcase was an article of  someone elses’s clothing, specifically, a pair of bikini bottoms that probably belonged to a 10 year old girl!  I bet right now her parents are mad and accusing her of leaving it in Rome when in truth it was a very slack airport employee.

A wonderful vacation.  Thanks to everyone who gave us travel tips, and special thanks to Tom and Tallie and also Melanie.  Thanks!

Oh yeah, and of course

Birds Seen on the Continent!

Goldfinch, finally

Monk Parakeet

Tree Creeper

Serin

Hooded Crow

Siskin

House Martin

Redstart

Black-headed Gull

Swift

the European  oriole that was yellow with black wings, can’t remember the name.

Europe Part 2: Paris June 30, 2009

Unfortunately for poor Paris, it got the short end of our schedule: we were really only there for Sunday and Monday and Sunday all the restaurants are closed and on Monday all the museums were closed!  Things to save for next visit.  We arrived very late on Saturday night, just enough time for a stroll to the Eiffel Tower and Jardin de Trocadero before crashing into bed.

Paris trivia:  first of all,  the person who designed and built the Eiffel Tower was named Gustav, NOT Alec Eiffel like the Pixies song always led me to believe.  Secondly, it was the winner of a contest to design a  gateway to the 1890 worlds fair.  The design that came in second place?  A giant guillotine.

Day 5

Again we started off our visit by participating in a Fat Tire Bike Tour, as we did in London.  We had another great leader who maneuvered us safely around some of the city’s great landmarks:  The Louvre, Les Hospital de Invalids, the Place del la Concorde, Musee D’Orsay.  Apparently, Napoleon had very sticky fingers and is responsible for the obelisk in the Place de la Concord and most of the Lourve’s Egypt collection, which is quite extensive.

After our tour it was fairly late, and because it was solstice the big celebration Fete de Music we decided to take advantage of this opportunity.  We spent the next 6 hours walking around the Latin Quarter drinking wine in cafes and checking out bands.  We did make it down and into Notre Dame, which is so huge, I think you could fit about 10 of my house in there.  The amazing thing to this woman who lives at the 34th latitude?  How late the sun went down.  It was still light out at 11!

Day 6

Breakfast was  Pan au Chocolate from a local patisserie, yummy!  Those French know how to eat.  The only museum that was open was the Louvre, so we headed over there.  Here is what I learned about the Louvre, that probably everyone else knows and I didn’t is that it used to be a really, really large castle.  And on the inside, it is gorgeous!  The rooms are so ornate they are as lovely as the art on the walls.  We wandered through and kept getting lost, but enjoyed everything we saw.

For lunch we went to a cafe where I had duck and Chris had (drumroll) Steak Tartare.  Yes, it is raw ground beef, and yes, it was on accident that he ordered it.  But, here is the thing: its pretty good!  Those of you who like sushi, it tastes and the texture is very close to salmon sushi.  And its served with pickles and cabochons to cut the richness of the beef.   We managed to make quite a dent in it.

We did a little shopping in the afternoon, more wine at cafes,  and then went to catch our overnight train to Rome!

See photos of Chris’ raw meat mountain, as well as other Parasian delights over here.

Europe Trip, part 1 June 27, 2009

We just got back from a lovely European vacation.  I hadn’t ever been there, and for Chris it had been about 10 years.  Our friend Melanie lives in Rome,  and decided to go for a visit via London and Paris.  Below is a description of our escapades.

Photos on Flickr Posted soon!

Day 1

Direct flight from Raleigh to London, which arrives at Heathrow at in the morning.  We take the underground to the hotel (Millennium Mayfair Grovesnor Square, which was a fabulous place to stay) where we drop off our bags and, since it is too early to check in, immediatly start exploring our neighborhood, namely, we go to the British Museum.  When the Brits colonized everyone, they brought back treasure and it is all displayed in this enormous, very well organized musuem.  We take Rick Steve’s advice about the British Musuem and focus on Egypt, Greeks and Mesopotamia (and we do see the Rosetta Stone, how cool).  We also look at China, India, and Indonesia but by that point were so dead on our feet that we headed back to the hotel for a quick nap.

After the nap, we did a Fat Tire Bike Tour of the city.  In my opinion, this is the way to see a city.  You see all the highlights without having to pound the pavement!  The bikes are very comfy 3 speed beach bikes, and it is not strenuous, we even stopped at a pub midway for a beer.  The guide was really knowledgeable and funny, too.

After the tour, dinner at a pub and then bed!  We were so tired.

Speaking of pubs, we had previously decided to only drink beer while in the UK.  Here is a list of the beers we drank.  Chris was impressed by all the cask ales: every pub seemed to have one.

Here is a list of the beers we drank (over the course of a few days)

London Pride

Toddy Lager

Bombadeir bitter

Sam Smith bitter (from a cask, the best beer we tasted overall)

Youngs bitter

Youngs special ale

Youngs Waggledance

Staropramen

Some Lemongrass thing, and some summer ale, cant remember the brewer

Spitfire Ale (Kentish style)

Greene King IPA

Day 2

Tower of London, baby!  We spent almost the entire day here.  There was a big exhibit of Henry VIII’s arms and armor in the White Tower, which was really interesting.  We did the beefeater tour which was very cool, and it turns out “our” beefeater spent 3 years guarding Rudolph Hess.  Not at the tower, so far as I know. Checked out the crown jewels and and exhibit on crown making (did you know they recycle the gems from crown to crown)?

We did a bit of wandering after that, ended up at St. Pauls which was the first of many lovely churches we viewed, walked the Millenum Bridge and wound up at a Pub on the Thames.  After a few beers we tried to get tickets for the Globe Theatre (sold out) so we rode the London Eye instead.  Yes, even me Miss scared-of-heights. It wasnt that bad though there is a photo of me looking distinctly nervous.  The view really is amazing from the Top.

Ate Indian food for dinner.  Mmm.

Day 3

We started off the day with a visit to the Churchill Museum and Cabinet War Rooms. This was a highlight of the entire trip, and I really do recommend it. It was fascinating!  The cabinet war rooms are a maze of underground space where Churchill and his cabinet worked during WWII.  It was amazing, and interesting.  The museum,  which is off to one side, is a great exhibit of Churchill’s exemplary life.

After this we got a bite to eat and went to  St. Martin-in-the-fields for a free concert, which they do a few times a week.  Anyone who listens to WCPE radio in the morning, like we do, knows that host David Ballentine LOVES to play pieces recorded from this lovely church so we had to check it out for ourselves.   The concert was a clarinetist, a tenor, and a violinist from Wellington College who each performed a few solo pieces.  Lovely.

We had about an hour to wander around the National Gallery before catching the tube out to Richmond for dinner with my cousin Tom Fishburne and his family.   Tom, Tallie and thier two little (hilarous and adorable) daughters Martha and Scarlet have been living here for 2 1/2 years. Richmond is a really cute town on the Thames home to Ron Wood, Eric Clapton, and is famous for the bar where the Rolling Stones got their start.  It was so great to see the  Fishburnes, and my cousin is so talented I have to plug his website right here.  (He is a marketing guy, cartoonist, and all around cool dude).

Day 4

We started out downtown, watching the changing of the guards and then Westminster Abbey before going out to Notting Hill to wander Portobello Road’s Saturday Market (trivia: did you know Orson Wells lived on Portobello Road)?  The intense crowds scared us off so we went back to Oxford St and, at Tallie’s reccomendation, had a proper English tea at Selfridges (which itself was a madhouse due to a big sale they were having.  50% off Prada bags, anyone?)  That was a really tasty treat!  I love love love clotted cream, and would like to eat it everyday.  I also love minature food, like tea sandwiches.  Crayfish salad with rocket was my favorite.

After that we went to a pub and drank a bunch of beers before heading to St. Pancras to catch the high speed chunnel train to Paris!  More on that, later.

Finally, what you have all been waiting for:

list of birds seen in the UK

Chaffinch

Great tit

Blue tit

Long-tailed tit

Jackdaw

Grey Heron

Shag

Cormorant

Lesser black-backed Gull

Tufted Duck

Coot

Mistle Thrus

Blackbird

Starling

Magpie

Woodpigeon

Mute Swan

Pochard

Carrion  Crow

Herring Gull

some parrots I need to look up….

Absence June 27, 2009

Makes the heart grow fonder?

Sorry to have been so far from this blog for quite some time now. Its been a crazy spring. As most of you know, my boss has cancer and I have never worked so hard in my life.  Then, field season hit and our tech got sick.  So its been crazy because I have been in the field so much working. I don’t know at this point if life will get any easier but I will try to be back in the blogosphere!