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.