Poll ( Answer in the Comments)

Since Beth is no longer traveling, she should:

a) stop the blog, normal life is boring
b) continue the blog even though I rarely read it so that I can catch up on her life
every 3 months
c) continue the blog, I'll still read it
d) run back to europe and relive the story from "Under the Tuscan Sun"

Guaranteed to Blow Your Mind

I am back stateside now. I got back on Saturday. The drive to Charleston was uneventful, and faster than I thought ( no I didn't speed...much). Arnold has been taking good care of me. The jet lag is almost gone. I got my first nice long night of sleep in a while last night. That should cure me of getting sleepy at 9:00, which is 1:00 AM in Europe. Arnold and I are going to Queen Anne's tonight. For those of you who have not been. It is a pirate themed restaurant. I know you are thinking "Long John Silver's" but Queen Anne's is a pirate museum in front and a high quality restaurant in back. It has really fantastic food and always has creme brulee and cheesecake.

On my last night in London, I had planned to go into downtown and see We Will Rock You, a musical based on the music of Queen, with a few of the other Clemson people. These people were not in my traveling group. My group had gone back to London a day early because Catherine needed to leave early. This worked out perfectly for me because I was not rushed to get to the theatre on Friday. Well, the other guys didn't show up in time. After much internal debate, I decided to go by myself, which meant I had to navigate all the way from our hotel near the airport to downtown London. So I called ticketmaster and reserved my ticket, got out my map of London and figured out how to get there.

The show started at 7:30. I left the hotel at 5:30. I took a shuttle to the airport, the Gatwick Express train into London's Victoria Station, the Victoria tube line to the central tube line to the theater. I managed to get to the theater with 25 min to spare. I actually made not a single mistake getting there. I was impressed with myself.

The show was awesome. It was set in a future where actual music had died and the only stuff left was produced by computer ( they called it Radio Ga Ga). There was a dreamer who would bring back really music. The lead character's name was Galileo Figaro. Ok, so the plot was a bit corny, but the show was spectacular. I bought the big program, the little program, the poster and the commemorative glow stick. I wanted to get a t-shirt, but the one I wanted only came in small baby doll tees. It had red sparkly letters and said guaranteed to blow your mind. I got all the way back to the hotel without a problem. Unless you count the shuttle being 40 min. late a problem. I got back at 12:30 and had to bang on the door to wake my group memebers up to let me in.

Our room only had one queensized bed, so at first, Thomas, Paul and I tried to sleep in it together ( no comments from the peanut gallery). However I got cold in the middle of the night and the blankets were on the floor. In my half awake state, it made more sense to go to the blankets than to bring them to me. So I slept on the floor.

Me and my genius self had packed before the show, so all I had to do in the morning was get dressed and pack my pajamas and toothbrush. We were the first of our group at the airport. Our flight was overbooked. They didn't tell us, but people farther back in line were offered $400 or 600 US Air credits to take a flight the next day. Some of our group was intrigued, but in the end everyone just wanted to go home.

And that is what we did. I was the first to get my luggage and get though customs. I waited for a bit, but the rest of the group was taking forever. When one group member came through we said screw it and just left. I wanted to see Arnold and I was tired of waiting. And I still had a 3-4 hour drive ahead of me.

And that brings me back to where I started the story.

Almost Home

We are back in London now. I have had a blast but I am ready to come home. We made the most of our one day in Paris. We got off of the night train at 9:30 in the morning. We made it to the top of the Eiffel Tower, to the Louvre, and to Notre Dame, depsite the fact that we didn't get everything settled with our hostile til noon. See you all soon!

Insert Creative Title Here

We are now in Florence. We got up at the butt crack of dawn to check out of our hostel in Venice and catch our train. We were all disappointed when the McDonald's didn't open til 9:00. We made it to Florence with no issues. Thomas found our hostel. It is a nice place, though not quite as nice as our last on. Once we got settled, we saw a Leonardo Da Vinci exhibit and the David. Both were very cool. The gelato, however, was better in Rome. You weren't allowed to take picutres in the Accademia ( where The David is) so I bought a postcard. 2004 was David's 500th birth day, so they set up this whole new exhibit around him. Some of the modern art dedicated to David and Michelangleo was downright fugly. Anyway, we still have to pay for internet access, so I may not post again til at least Paris, if not when I get back to the States. but who knows, I might just pay for more time. Ciao.

Water, Water everywhere...

We are still in Venice, at least til tomorrow morning anyway. Catherine and Thomas went to the beach. Paul and I decided not to go. We've seen the water and I really didn't want to spend the last week of my trip burnt to a crisp. Nor did I want the few clothes I have with me to be covered in sand. So Paul and I set out to find an internet cafe. The first one was closed, the second one was full with a large line, the third one was closed, and the fourth freakin'one had available computers. We are having a great time. We are just relaxing today. Yesterday we went shopping and walking around the city. We also went the Venician Guggenheim. It was pretty cool. It had a bunch of modern art including some Dali works. Everyone asked me to explain the art because they didn't get it. I told them that most of it didn't make sense to me either. Venice has been nice because it isn't quite as hot as Rome. Up until Venice, we were spending just as much money to stay hydrated as we were to eat. We have decided that Rome has better gelato than Venice, but Florence is supposed to have the best. I'll know for sure tomorrow. We catch a train at 8:30 tomorrow morning to Florence.

We also went to the island of Morano, where all of the Venician Glass is made. We even saw a couple of glass blowers. It was quite a lot of fun, except for the price tags on the glass.

Sorry I can't be more desciptive, I am a bit tired. Hopefully I won't have to pay for internet access in Florence.

551 steps later...

I don't have a lot of time, we have to pay for internet here, but I'l try and give you the reader's digest version. Rome continued to be awesome. We saw the sistine chapel and st. peter's and the vatican museum. We climbed the 551 steps to the top of the basillica ( big dome on the top of st.peter's). I had strawberries for dinner one night because that is all i really wanted.

We are now in venice. The train ride here was nice, since this train actually had air conditioning. We walked around last night afer we settled into our flat. The hostel overbooked so we actually got to stay in overflow housing, which is an entire apartment. We don't even have to share a bathroom with anyone. Venice is famous for it's glass, so i'll probably pick me up something cheap but cool to remember the experience. The canals are cool. The buses are water buses since they have no cars and no autoroads. Ta ta for now.

When in Rome...

Rome is pretty much awesome, except for the showers at the hostel. We went to the Coloseum (sp?) and much of the ruins in Rome. We went to the Pantheon, which is the most complete building left from ancient Rome. We went to Pompeii. Today we are taking a tour of Vatican City. I'll write more when/if I have time