just quickly

here are a few last pictures of london/bath

i will write more in a bit about the roman baths...if you're interested....i loved it actually and i'm glad i went because there were any as well preserved in rome!

ENJOY here

jessie :)

things are looking from up to up

my parents came and went.....:(

their visit was...interesting. haha.

1. dad destroyed his sciatic nerve on the trip over.

2. both of their bags were lost for two days.

3. there was only one full day of clear skies.

BUT despite that it was really good having them here. dad got a cane and went to the free hospital and wobbled around london some. it was nice just having them see my daily life and what i've been doing the past few months away from home...which is nothing much....:) but they got to see WHERE i was doing nothing. and of course...we got to eat at all my favorite restaurants.

highlights of their trip include but are not limited to: taking a boat ride to greenwich to straddle the prime meridian (but we forgot to set our clocks to official time. whoops), seeing the london eye at all times of the day including at night with orange clouds, going to leeds castle in kent decorated for christmas with a theme of the nutcracker...which meant completely over-the-top ballerina/rat/candy/fairytale stuff everywhere, the maze at leeds castle which mom and i got lost in and had to follow a child to get out of, the dog collar museum at leeds castle...the biggest one in the world!...and maybe the only one...and yes i said dog collar, notting hill market and the colored houses, spitalfields market in the freezing cold, v&a museum, british museum, thanksgiving dinner of chinese duck rather than turkey (the logic being it was still a BIRD so it counts somewhat), winter wonderland in hyde park with all the cheesy christmas-themed rides including a haunted house with santa!, getting christmas stockings once the luggage came, having a pint at one of the oldest pubs in london, and of course posing constantly with the telephone booths and double-decker buses.

see some (but not all) of the pictures here.

other than that life here is going along. and finally we are staring to have some ideas about what is ahead.

december 18th we leave for rome for four days.

december 22nd we go to sardinia for christmas in sassari/tula (the village where francesco's dad's family is from). we also have a big party on the 27th in another village close to there....the whole village opens their homes and has free food and free homemade wine...just a big night of eating and drinking. 

and then...

francesco just found out he was accepted for an internship at amnesty international for four months starting in january. while he comes back to london to do that....i will TRAVEL.

jan 6th i have a ticket to barcelona from sardinia.

jan 8th i have a ticket to madrid from sardinia. 

hehe. i bought two different tickets because they were really cheap (as in less than $10). so i will use just one of them...and travel down the respective coast of spain....the east mediterranean coast from barcelona or the west and into portugal from madrid. i will make my way all the way down and into....MOROCCO!!!! taking a ferry from the southern part of spain. i think i will stay in morocco for a month or so...depending on how i like it. i am really interested to see what its like....but i think i will enjoy being there. afterwards i'll travel back the other side of spain and from there....who knows. one idea is to take local buses from spain into the rest of europe....maybe the through the south of france. i think it would be a fun way to travel, cheap and scenic...and since i have all the time i need the slowness won't be an issue. 

another idea is to head back to india. i found cheap cheap tickets...i am really missing being there and francesco as well wants to go back. if i exhaust too much money or desire to be in europe i can always make my way back to my other homeland and find some things to do there. there is always traveling around india. i still haven't been to the south and there are still a million trillion places i want to see and lots of things i want to learn about india. but also there is plenty of opportunities working and/or volunteering with NGOs...whether it be the one i've worked for before or a new one. 

so those are the plans so far. as you can see they are still loose and flexible...but its nice to know at least a general idea of whats possible and not possible. london was/is getting a bit stressful as both francesco and i are a bit suspended in a state between holidays and working, without really doing either one. and its bloody EXPENSIVE!!!

everyone keep me updated on things....and i do have an address and phone number if anyone is interested. well the address will soon be obsolete but if its something interesting i can always give you the address i'll be at in italy...say for CHRISTMAS PRESENTS or something...hehe. just kidding!

AND before all this international travel even starts i'm taking a mini-trip within england. to BATH! just a day trip on friday....and just to see the roman baths....which is a bit silly since i'm going to rome in like a week and a half. oh well :) 

AND here are a few more pictures.

i'm so edgy

FIRST AND FOREMOST:

my parents are coming on tuesday!!!!!!!!! 

(tomorrow i'm using it as an excuse to go to a yoga class...to prepare for their visit...but really i just want to try yoga and feel like i need some justification for being "that" girl who lives in india for 8 months and doesn't try yoga until she is in london...what the heck?!)

secondly....

this photo album is mostly for my brother....but the rest of you can enjoy as well...its a collection of some of the graffiti and street art images i've taken from manhattan (lower east side, soho, west village) and london (mostly south embankment).  there are a few repeats from my first post on here....and a few random images thrown in there as well. 

NEXT TO COME:

a second installment of london photographs, including pictures from my parents visit!!!!

tartan, kilts, bagpipes, and hairy cows.

cottage in the countryside

calling the cows.....

such a country girl

an old castle in st. andrews

view of edinburgh from the castle on the hill

alright. so truth be told i only saw a few of those things in passing...not even a bagpipe up close but i heard the music from afar...and i didn't even get a glimpse of a hairy cow but i saw plenty of regular cows (including aberdeen cows...which make the best meat :) ) and plenty of sheep. I LOVE SCOTLAND!!!!

francesco and i went for just three short days to stay with his aunt and uncle in balmullo, a small village near st. andrews, where golf was invented and all the rules to golf are still made every year. and when i say small village i mean SMALL village, as in only one store with a post office attached...and one hair dresser...and thats it. but it was really nice. they travel a lot so they are full of stories about places all over the world. and we were lucky with the weather, two days of pure sunshine (even if it was completely cold) and the last day we spend roaming around edinburgh in the rain....oh well. the first day we saw the sights of st. andrews. and the second day we went on a long wandering stroll through the countryside. we did a big loop up a hill, around some fields, past some cows, saw the view above the village of the sea and the surrounding villages, and then through some woods on our way back to town. the countryside is full of the stereotypical cottages with slate roofing, ivy growing up the walls, fences that are falling down, and overgrown gardens full of flowers and herbs.  its perfect. i really fell in love with the scottish countryside. and the people are such a nice change from english people....they are friendly and warm and welcoming....whereas the english are a bit standoffish and rude.  

on monday we took the train to edinburgh where we explored the edinburgh castle and some of the town. it was raining, as i said, and really freezing cold, so our biggest mission was finding a local coffee shop that is open late and warm.  it turned out to be a harder mission than we thought. for a while we could only find starbucks...we finally found a local one, ordered our drinks, and then realized they were closing in 15 mins. bad luck. but they recommended a place right down the block, a laid back self-serve salad/vegetarian restaurant that turned out to be incredible. we got a cheese platter and sat for 3 hours listening to an old man play amazing piano. 

we have plenty of stories from the bus ride there and back as well....10 hours overnight each way. on the way up we were seated right next to two extremely drunk english girls who were determined to stay up all night and make everyone else do the same. eventually we found seats at the back of the bus....only to be woken up by the driver stopping the bus and running down the road, only to come back with two pieces of luggage....apparently we lost them somewhere along the way. whoops. on the way home we had a nazi for a bus driver who insisted on lecturing us over the intercom about bus etiquette. ahh life is hard isn't it?!

you can see these pictures and more here....ENJOY!

LONDon and off

so. life in london. 

we live in camberwell....in the southeast of london. our flat is quite nice...we have it mostly to ourselves although we do have two flatmates, a gay spanish chemistry teacher and a polish construction worker. we never see them. they stay locked in their rooms...or at work...something which neither of us can relate to at the moment. our neighborhood is nice....full of africans and caribbeans and just a short bus ride away from the city center. we are trying to figure out the complicated culture of black hair salons.....there is about three on every block in our neighborhood. most of them don't open until the afternoon and dont' get busy until later in the evening when their couches (yes couches) are jam packed with people watching other people get there hair done. we've even seen a few with in-house djs. i think francesco will go soon to have his hair cut...and maybe i'll get mine braided......what do you think?

we've just been relaxing and enjoying london. discovering old places and new places, roaming aimlessly around the city, each day a new neighborhood.....or one we've been to already and know we like. if we run into a street market, we'll stop. if we find a cute coffeeshop or tea house, we try it out. we have a few places that have become part of our regular week or day....but usual any day we're up for anything.....although lately the weather has turned a bit cold and francesco has dedicated himself to studying for the GRE...so its been more time in our flat and not quite so much time on adventures. 

we did take a mini-trip a few days ago (although we didnt' intend for it to be really). we wanted to celebrate diwali, a big indian festival. we had heard that maybe there would be something going on in the suburb of southall which is about 130% indian or pakistani so we decided to see what we could find. we took a bus - 50 mins - and then a train - 20 mins - to the suburb, stepped out of the station and were immediately disappointed. we were hoping for a little piece of india...but instead we found english-india...which means...depressing india. none of the loud music and bright colors and people pushing and shoving. BUT we did find a gurdwara (my favorite temples in india and the largest one outside of india)....and a massive hail/snow storm. we took shelter in a restaurant, gave it a rating based on its chai (about a 7.5) and enjoyed a 3 hour long bollywood movie.

the end. here is a link to more pictures....random scenes of london. but not really any of the familiar tourist monuments...i'm saving them for when my parents come!

ciao and ciao - hello and goodbye

so...we've been back to london from italy for about a week and a half. in the meantime we've finally gotten internet in our apartment....BUT my computer's hard drive CRAAASHED and burned...right after i saved a long, detailed description of the rest of our trip to italy to post on here for you all. so instead i have posted pictures on facebook and will put the public link here.  i tried to describe the trip along with the pictures so you could follow along with visuals. 

so...in summary....i am computerless but italy was absolutely amazing. 

see for yourself here

ENJOY.

more pictures

ITALY (bit by bit)

sooooo. 

i got to london. after being endlessly harassed by the immigration officers. i think they are just jealous...they have to stare at people's passports all day but never get a chance to leave their desks. i dont' blame them really...but i mean....what harm can i do to england? sweet little innocent me?

anyways i had two fast fast days in london (but time enough to find a favorite coffee shop close to our apartment, did you doubt it?) and then off to italy. the plan was to make it to florence for one of francesco's friend's graduation parties (except it was cancelled). so we just had a 10 day vacation....and met some of his friends and family along the way.

first stop - day one: PISA. (and yes of course i saw the leaning tower of pisa...and took cheesy tourist pictures with it)

we just walked around all day stopping along the way for wine and cheese. we saw the tower. and laughed at the japanese taking pictures. francesco started his 10 day long lecture about art history and architecture. we found a little secret square (that probably isn't secret but it felt like we were discovering something) in the middle of the city and had a super-duper pisan lunch (and i tried my first espresso.....maybe it was a mistake. i'm addicted)

thats it really. at night we roamed around the main street with all the people shopping. francesco had a scare because he "lost" his identification card (which is a bit like his passport so he would have been stuck....) but i saved the day. it was a good introduction to italy...and really the only day we had all to ourselves to celebrate our reunion. 

next stop - day two : BOLOGNA (where we visited francesco's brother)

bologna is a nice city....full of arches over the sidewalks and college students. we met up with nicholas (francesco's younger brother) at his apartment and also one of francesco's best friends from high school. had lunch of pasta with dried, crush fish eggs powder...apparently a sardinian (where francesco is from) specialty? i dont' know. we walked around the main city. bologna has a leaning tower too that no one knows about....but really its just a tower that is starting to sink into the clay. and its not very pretty. we decided it was a signpost for the gelato shop that is right next to it so from all around the city you can know how to get the best ice cream ever. 

and for our daily dose of exercise we walked up one trillion million stairs (and 666 arches built in the 18th century) up and around a mountain to get to a church (madonna di san luca) at the top that overlooks the countryside and the city a bit. passed rich bolognian villas on the way and all the sacraments of jesus (and a priest explaining them to a mass of boy scouts and their families). 

for dinner we indulged in a very amazing italian idea called aperitivo (i think) where restaurants put out various appetizers and you can eat as much as you want as long as you get one drink. so one glass of wine and endless food. not bad. the one we went to in bologna wasn't the best...but we tried at least a few in every city.  

and for now that will have to be all. i'm sufficiently frustrated with this blog and its inability to post pictures at the moment. so a few pictures from bologna will come later as well as the rest of our trip....and i think i will also post pictures on facebook and give you guys the public link to see these and more. 

i'll figure it out eventually.

so these are some of the many pictures. i will figure out a better format eventually i assume...because i think this is a bit of a mess. i'm new to this whole blogging business. i never thought i would be a blogger...but its the best way i knew to actually keep you all informed about my adventures. so excuse the profanity (although i think that particular statement expresses my sentiments exactly)

new york city. but mostly brooklyn. where all the cool kids are.

so i have started my new journey....with three days in new york with my best friend maria who moved up here for grad school. every time i come back to the city i remember how much i love it. i love that there is always something to do and something to discover. 

this is a very brief and condensed version of our escapades. brief as in short snippets that do nothing really but increase your curiosity. enjoy!

saturday night: restaurant in park slope. made friends with our waiter. who turned out to be super cool. and gave us inside info of what to do on...

....sunday: renaissance festival at the cloisters. in all its sword-fighting, knight-in-chain-mail-jousting, olde english glory. and giant pickles. and turkey legs. amazing. and sunday night we saw an excellent show (great lake swimmers) in a bar that really wants to be an old man's library.

monday: maria had to work and do the school thing all day, so i walked around 83% aimlessly and took pictures of the street art and graffiti in the lower east side and soho mostly. i love the details of the city.

tuesday: walked around park slope (where maria lives). shopped a little bit. tried to go to MOMA but it was closed (not for rosh hashanah though, its closed every tueday). and met up with said waiter for a improv comedy show at the upright citizens brigade. it was hilarious. 

so here are just a few pictures of new york. my monday street art series mostly.