Basel is beautiful

I am safely landed in Switzerland and after a long day traveling and one very good pretzl Dara and I called it a night. After just a few hours here I feel like the Swiss mean business. I wouldn't mess with them. On to Zurich tomorrow!

if its tuesday, this must be naples

One of my grandmothers just left and I've got about 12 hours before I head out to go on an extensive trip with various wellesley friends. After having been asked for my itinerary for the 10th time I decided it would be easier if I just posted it. I've indicated when I am changing countries for those of you who need a geography refresher. I will have very limited access to the internet for the trip, so don't take it personally if I don't email you back right away. I will try to post updates when I get a chance.

mar 30 - london to basel (switzerland)
mar 31 - basel to zurich
apr 2 - zurich to milan (italy)
apr 3 - milan to bologna
apr 6 - bologna to rome
apr 9 - rome to naples
apr 10 - naples to bologna
apr 11 - bologna to venice
apr 13 - venice to florence
apr 14 - florence to bologna
apr 17 - bologna to bratislava (solvakia)
apr 18 - bratislava to budpest (hungary)
apr 19 - budpest to vienna (austria)
apr 24 - vienna to london

undue credit

For the past two weeks I have been silently commending the British for abstaining from that silly little thing called daylight saving. All I have to say is curse you, William Willett.

natural curiosities

Black swans fishing in Regent's Park

Some very interesting pruning methods here - which make all the trees look like weeping willows.

A tree at Hampton Court

good cause

ryan's visit

For his spring break, Ryan came to visit me in London. I can't even explain how wonderful it is to have someone to go to Sainsbury's with at 23:56. It took a couple of days for the jet lag to wear off but one taste of clotted cream and we were back in business. Fish and chips for £3 didn't hurt either.

We spent maybe an hour walking to Abbey Road, and then another fifteen minutes debating whether or not we were at the right end of the street. We started out to the other end of the road just to be sure but after several blocks the weather won - we decided to trust the small group of tourists blocking traffic at the closer end and call it a day. Later we discovered that we were at the correct place and that we don't know as much about our Beatles covers as we should.

We were out walking in the typical afternoon drizzle and all of the sudden the clouds cleared a bit and the sun shone through. We had been waiting for the perfect weather all week to go on the London Eye, not the best strategy in this city, so we dashed over and got in line. It was a bit long, but when we got through the sun was still there - and then they ushered us into the 4D experience (in case you have 3D glasses on hand) very much against my will. Apparently its not a free bonus, its a crowd diffuser.

It was partly cloudy the whole way up and then mostly cloudy and drizzling on the way down, but I am so glad we ended up going. The view was pretty clear, even with the sub-par whether, and it was nice to share something new to both of us.

Neither of us is very photogenic, Ryan doesn't ask strangers for photos and I don't like to, and I never got very into myspace - in other words, this is the money shot for the week.

Notice my scarf? Apparently, he's not just a good driver. He spotted it in a vintage shop buried under other not-so-pretty ones at the Camden Markets for a very good price, and you all know how I am about scarves.

We finished up the week with Avenue Q, a muppet musical. Which sounds so absolutely terrible, but I thought it was funny and Ryan actually didn't mind it. Win.

Link to all of our pictures.

last night

I made my first pizza from scratch.


It tasted a lot better than it looks.