its about time

PICTURES FROM SPAIN!!!!!!!!!!!!!

i am in morocco. internet is limited...well not so much availability but time sitting down at one that works well...so sorry for the lack of communication. but enjoy the pictures and hope all is well! know that im safe and having the best time!!!!!!!!!!!

i love spain.

so far...girona

barcelona

tarragona

valencia.

they are all amazing. the people are friendly, the weather is almost nice, the towns are cute, the streets are small.

barcelona is by far my favorite...maybe my favorite city ive ever been in. it has everything...big and small, beach and city, beautiful buildings and art, and restaurants and bars galore!

as far as small towns go i like girona best. maybe it is because it was my introduction to spain...but anyways it have a nice river running through the town with bright riverside houses, the sun was shining, and there is a city wall that you can walk on with an amazing view of the city and some gardens around.

im in valencia now and i also like it. the old city is small and cozy with tapas bars everywhere full of people having the most leisurely meal of their lives, even at midnight.

this is just to touch base. hope you´re all well...hopefully i can write more later!

when in rome...and sardinia...

do as the romans and sardinians do: eat four course meals everyday starting with the best cheeses and salamis, followed by a pasta dish, followed by a meat course of lamb, pork, and/or goat, and ending with fruit and sweets. and all the while never having an empty glass of wine. and never stopping a loud and animated discussion about something or other (it doesn't matter what it is actually).  ahh. its the life.

so...i left london...the pictures from the previous post are some final flashes of my life there. francesco came to italy a day before me. which means i had a day in london by myself. it was strange...i spent most of the day holed up in our apartment using the time to attempt to make him a christmas present that he wouldn't be witness to....and also i was on a tight budget of 70 pence so i wouldn't have to withdraw any money on my last day. it worked.

rome was....well....amazing. overall i think i prefer florence as far as cities in italy, but rome was a whole different place. it is much bigger, much more city-feeling, and much more powerful (which i think is why i like quaint florence). everywhere you turn there are important people, or more accurately, people who think they are important. of course i didn't recognize anyone, but francesco was forever pointing out old presidents or political figures, we saw the ex-communist leader going into the parliament, AND we saw tinto brass, a famous italian director who convinced the world that his movies were artfully erotic, not porn. apparently he's a butt man.

not only were there important people everywhere...but roman ruins everytime you lifted your eyes. we went to all the classic places...the colosseum in all its glory....we heard stories about the naval battles they had there and the gladiator fights. it reminded me of when i was at the roman bath in bath and the guide was telling us about how all the sweat and hair and dirt and grime that the gladiators excreted in the hot rooms were saved and botttled and sold to the rich ladies of the city so that they could apply it to their faces and hope to absorb the gladiators beauty and strength and virtility. yeah....i was disgusted. who really knows if it was really gladiator gunk....and even if it was....who really wants to put it on their face?! but anyways...gladiators....colosseum. 

we also went to the foro beside the colosseum, the main square of the city. there were temples and columns and marble everywhere. picture perfect ruins. i couldnt believe the amount of old stones. everywhere you looked old stones. the columns are my favorite.

and then...what is rome without the vatican? we couldnt stay away. somehow we ended up inside the vatican city almost everyday....once just to see...the second time for the vatican museum so that we could be disgusted by the popes wealth and at the same time admire his collection of amazing artwork. i really liked the hall of maps in the museum...maps painted on the wall from the 14th century of all the popes land from the view of the vatican city....and after the endless halls of extravagance (including an absolutely disgusting display of "modern art" they force you to walk through) we finally made it to the sistene chapel and admired michelangelo at his finest. truth be told, i wasnt super impressed right at first...but gradually my mind was changed. more than the panels themselves i liked the characters between the panels which are painted in 2D but look like statues popping out of the ceiling. 

....and we even went back to the grand ol vatican to see il papa (the pope) himself give his sunday blessing from his window looking down on the square (this is something important italians like to do....look down on their audience....its a show of power....not like important americans who just speak from a stage to give the illusion of being equal to their audience. the end result is the same though. some sociological insight for you). sorry to say all we saw of il papa was his backside as he was walking away because we were a bit too late....somehow we werent sad though. our morning espresso was much more important than il papa. we did donate money to his ever growing riches because we purchased a vatican paper out of curiousity. we even got an idol of the virgin mary and baby jesus AND a picture of the pope free with the paper. lucky us.

and now....SARDINIA. which isnt italy and italy isnt sardinia. just for the record. and i am part sardinian. i believe by now im something like: half sardinian, half indian, half american indian, half polish, and possibly some small part american.

some instructions for sardinian survival:

1. when playing in the countryside dont expect to interact with any sheep, even though there are more sheep than humans on this island. you may, however, find a dog that looks and smells incredibly like a sheep. he makes a good second choice. much more interactive.

2. when riding a train from cagliari to sassari, it is common to wait for several minutes at each station, not for people to get on and off the train, but for a train coming the other direction to pass as there is only one track any route on the whole island thus one train at a time.  apparently you shouldnt be alarmed either if your carriage fills with a thick black smelly smoke. it just means something broke. and you should just open the windows for the smell to go away and continue on the journey as planned. 

3. a city on this island may have all appearances of providing public transportation...but looks can be deceiving. in sassari what appears to be a tram is really only the structure of a tram. it may move on a tram line BUT there is only one line in the city with no set schedule thus said tram serves no purpose whatsoever. the same could be said for buses in cagliari. despite having bus stops with lists of bus routes, on certain days without any notification, there could be only two buses for the whole city, leaving every 1.5 hours and going anywhere they want. 

4. if you have an insider with you who can translate sardinian songs, dont be surprised by lyrics such as "oh my god! there is a black guy on the roof!" (francesco and i have decided to make an american version for the new era: oh my god! obamas on the roof!)

5. sometimes the stereotype of an italian grandmother is almost true. the supreme matriarch, pillar of the family, whose goal is to feed everyone until they explode and who displays life-sized jesus statues in every room of her house (along with crosses, portraits of il papa, glow-in-the-dark st. francesco figures, and of course a few virgin marys). it is strongly advised to hide all said artifacts in chosen bedroom as to prevent nightmares. 

6. a few useful sardinian words: ajo (said ayo, meaning lets go), eja (said eya, meaning yes) and I!!!!! (said like e, meaning extreme enthusiasm and/or disbelief)

i have much more insight for you all...but im sorry to say that for now this will have to do. just for the record though, i have won the hearts of the village of tula, proved by fact that i got a christmas present from nona! there are pictures posted here, including the ones from the beginning of this post and more from rome, and some from sardinia....but not all from sardinia. 

i am headed to spain tonight. i am not sure when i will be updating this next or what my plans are. ill figure it all out when i get there i suppose. hope youre all well and feel free to drop me an email anytime! i have a new email address: jessieleighhodges@gmail.com or the old one: jlh_bird@yahoo.com.

ciao!!!