Brummie-ham!!

Saturday morning Jessi and I started our trek to Birmingham to see her faves in concert. After a few metro and train rides we arrived in what is the industrial urban glory of Birmingham. It’s the 2nd largest city in England, but apparently not very high on the tourists’ lists (well, I can’t lie, I stopped through the city in 2004 to take a chocolate-filled tour of Cadbury World). We cabbed from the train station to the concert venue, where I finally got to meet Jessi’s friend Jason. The three of us went to the awesomely seedy bar next door for a pint. And the ambience was glorious. Seriously, we walked in at 3pm to find four or five of Brummie’s finest 60-70 year old men heavily getting their drink on, while watching/cursing at horse races on tv. Apparently 20-something American girls are somewhat of a rarity in this hood. Jessi was especially the crowd-pleaser and immediately attracted the attention of an older, toothless Brummie. He came over, and to the best that I could understand, attempted to compliment Jessi, mais tout était complètement perdu en traduction (completely lost in translation) due to a combo of his drinking and crazy Midlands accent. Seriously. And I’m not sure if that’s before or after his buddy fell off his barstool. Solid intro to B’ham, for sure!

Enjoying her first gulp of Birmingham flav ...

Jessi and I headed over to check into our hotel, about a 10-minute walk through the “warehouse district” – at least that’s what I’d equate it to. We arrived at the end of a huge Indian wedding reception – seriously there were a couple of huge buses outside taking guests home. So while I’m at the front desk trying to check in, in true-Jessi fashion the girl befriends a wedding guest, receives tips on the best curry in the city, and gets invited to join the end of the reception. We all know I’d attend a 2nd Indian wedding in a heartbeat, but we had to decline due to lack of time. We got dressed and headed back to the bar where we met up with Jason and his friend Jim, one of the other performers, for a dinner of heavy potatoes, carrots, and burgers; I think Jessi almost passed out at the sight of yet another sac of potatoes on her plate, haha. We had a great dinner together, sharing keen observations of our first impressions of the Brummie flava. We took a quick tour of the tour bus (yiiikes!) and then the show started. Jessi’s been to several HTC shows, but the UK tour line-up was different from any she’d seen; all of the musicians & music were knew to me, but even for Jessi it was a first time to see some of them live. I really had no idea what to expect but loved it! Basically, Jason served as the MC to keep the show rolling between the different performers. All of the headliners pretty much performed independently but maintained a really natural & entertaining level of group interaction. Their music was all awesome and they were hilarious together … all in all, a really entertaining show that I’d highly recommend. The tour is continuing on through England, Belgium, and Scandinavia before rounding out the tour in Paris in a couple of weeks. Not sure where I’ll be at that point, but I’d definitely be down for trying to see them again.

T-R-O-U-B-L-E :)

Jessi and I consistently fueled ourselves with jack & lemonades (me) or jack & diets (Jessi) during the show and were ready for l’After back-stage. It was fun talking to a few of the musicians, and I particularly enjoyed the company and humor of Jim, who’d we had dinner with earlier. The four of us continued to go out together afterward, and Jim and I ended up at some Brit teeny-bopper bar … 5 pounds sterling for the cover and awkwardly small g&t’s in plastic cups. We danced & laughed a bit, but it wasn’t necessarily our scene so we left. It was super fun to get to know Jason & Jim, amazing to see Jessi (even though our time together was insanely short!), and now I have some new musical interests J The tour bus (and Jessi) had to leave for Bristol that night, so I was alone in Birmingham for Sunday afternoon before getting my flight back to Paris. One thing that the city is know for is its huge selection of shopping, so I could have been stuck in worse cities for a Sunday afternoon; needless to say, I had no problem spending those leftover sterling pieces on some fun clothes :) Pictures below from backstage with Jason & Jim ...

Jessi & Jason, tres jolis ensembles :)

Quality Time with the Page's and Jessi in Surrey!

So I got to London Luton, took a train partway into the city, and then Mr. Page graciously picked me up halfway – super nice! And he brought Jessi with him, so we had a nice little squealing reunion in the middle of the East Croydon tube station … wherever that is exactly. The Page’s are an English family who lived in Germantown during high school, and their son Nick was in Jessi’s and my’s class at Houston. So it was great to see them after several years, and of course always wonderful to see Jessi – especially outside of the US, when we tend to get into the most trouble together!

View from the Page's House ...

On the way home we picked up the requisite English meal of fish and chips – yum! Thursday night we had a great time catching up with Nick, his parents Melanie & David, and his sister Steph. And there’s never an empty glass during a soirée at the Page’s! By the way, they live in a beautiful house in the Surrey region of southern (I think!) London. The back of the house is filled with windows overlooking gorgeous rolling hillsides dotted with the occasional cow or sheep. Friday we went for a delightful & leisurely pub lunch in the cute town of Oxshott, followed by a fun drive through the area. Jessi and I split a steak-n-ale pie (yep, just as heavy & delicious as it sounds) and a sandwich at the pub.

Friday night there was an informal gathering of friends at the Page’s for a bit of drinking, cricket-watching and commentating, and fun conversations. Here's a pict of Steph's boyfriend Mark, Steph, me, Nick, Jessi, and Adam. And of course our hosts, David and Melanie!

Whether in Memphis or London, the Page’s have always been excellent and gracious hosts. Thank you for a wonderful, relaxing visit and a peak into the English side of your life!

Ahh and it wouldn’t be right to keep the “Charlie Bit Me” video awesomeness to myself … I think we watched this about 14 times each day at the Page’s – even though I think it was just Jessi & myself really appreciating it, haha! Go to youtube and search for “Charlie bit me” – you won’t regret it, I promise. If I make any references to Charlie, Harry, or biting going forward, you know where it’s coming from.

Almost Missed my Flight for London

I work up early on Wednesday morning in Paris to take the train back to Rennes, do some laundry, re-pack for England, etc. Bummer of the day – after a week of random hostels/hotels, a long, hot shower is usually on the top of my list. But no hot water – I was bummed!! Anyway, I woke up on Thursday and headed to the station to take the train from Rennes to the western Bretagne city of Brest, which has a small airport for flights to England. I was already cutting it close with this train time … then an hour and a half delay was announced, due to some sort of accident on the train coming from Paris. I went to the bus station to see if that might be an option – it wasn’t – and then just decided I’d have to wait it out. So finally we left, 1.5 hours late, on what was a pretty nerve-wracking train ride for me. It was such a short, 3-day trip to England that if I missed this flight, I might just have to cancel the whole trip! So I got to Brest like 50 minutes before my flight, took a 10-minute cab ride to the airport – “Je suis pressée Monsieur … vite vite!” I ran into the airport to find that check-in had already closed, and they initially refused to let me check-in (even though the flight itself was 30 minutes late) – these cheap carriers are sticklers about closing check-in 40 minutes out. Anyway, the two Frenchies at the desk conferred and allowed me to check-in … pheww!

Back to Rennes Before My English Adventure

So after the whirlwind tour of Ireland and Italy, I came back to Rennes for a day. Wait … let’s back up to the end of Italy. We took a train from Naples to Rome late in the day to get our 9pm flight back to Paris. We got to Paris around 11pm, just missing the last subway/train into the city, so we had to take a random night bus, then a cab, to get to our friends’ apartment. We didn’t get there until 2:30 or something, approximately 3 hours after they were expecting us, woops! But they were in good spirits, having just gotten back from a night out, so it wasn’t a problem.

Last Day in Naples

Well, coming off of the night before’s pizza and cheap cocktail intake … I had a bit of a hangover on Tuesday in Naples. It wasn’t too bad, but the combination of a slight headache with the constant flurry of movement in bustling Naples … well that made the morning of walking around a bit unpleasant. Seriously, anything I’ve read about Naples has described it as a city full of constant motion, people yelling, Vespas zooming in and out of streets & sidewalks … and this is exactly how it was. I probably got flicked off or yelled at by Vespa drivers several times, due to my indecisive movements in these tiny streets.

We walked through the old city center around our hostel, and there were people selling anything & everything all over the place! Seriously, we couldn’t walk five feet without having the opportunity to buy something completely random from a table on the street. Heaps of belts, ties, thousands of cell-phone chargers, designer knock-off bags (ok, so I caved & perhaps bought a fake D&G even though I generally hate that type of thing), underwear, jewelry, football jerseys, candy, fresh seafood, toys, small appliances. It was insane. And the interesting thing was that they didn’t necessarily even seem to be targeted at tourists – it’s like all activity in the city centers around the art of street commerce, for locals and tourists alike.

We walked to the waterfront, through several large piazzas, past the city’s old castle, and of course ended up at another highly recommended pizzeria … Pizzeria di Matteo, where President Clinton supposedly dined several years ago (not that that fact had any weight on our decision, just wanted to pass along some trivia). This time we decided to split one pizza and an order of lasagna. Sounded like a good idea until we were served two full pizzas, once again. Novice mistake, I guess … pizzerias in Naples really just serve pizza; we assumed “Lasagna” on the menu was the dish itself but it was actually just a type of pizza. But the ricotta on the lasagna pizza was probably the freshest I’ve ever had, so I have no complaints. Voila, more pizza pictures ...

Pizza and Peroni ... ca, c'est Naples!!

Ciao, Bella!!

Fresh Pizza & Good Drinks in Naples!

Number one priority after checking into the hostel: tracking down the best pizzeria in Naples tosample pizza in its birthplace! Well, who knows if it’s the best, but Pizzeria Sorbillo is highly recommended as one of the oldest, family-run pizzerias in the city .. and it was BON! I had your plain, basic margherita pizza … light tomato sauce, lots of fresh mozzarella, and one delightful little sprig of basil in the middle. The pizzas themselves were huge, thin and doughy at the same time. And of course we took a photo series of our dinner … see below:

Ahh .. that's pristine

Digging in ...

Halfway through ...

Et ... c'est fini ...

After dinner we went to a little outside bar for a drink. I don’t mean to be dramatic, but I had the best gin & tonic I’ve had since leaving the U.S., seriously … heavy pour of gin accompanied by a little bottle of tonic that you can add at your discretion. Now I love me some French nightlife, but I’ve never been impressed with their cocktail abilities (beyond, of course, wine, beer, pastis, or straight alcohol) … so grazia a Naples!! We had a couple of drinks there and then started talking to the two Italians next to us. They were an odd couple of guys but very friendly; one couldn’t speak much English but apparently he’s into the “couch surfing” network and likes to take his tiny dog out with him at night. The other had great English, so we had no problem communicating there … except he turned out to be a bit sketchy. We walked with them to another bar which was on an obscure side street and packed with young locals. Andrea and I could not get over how cheap all of the drinks were – I think it was some sort of black-market bar or something because those were the cheapest drinks I’ve had in Europe! One of my fave beers that costs about 6 euro a bottle in France was 2 euros, so we ended the night there!

Sketchy bar and clandestine photos of the locals ...

Ending the night in our hostel's piazza fountain ...

Hide your Bling - we're going to Naples!

So Naples has a bad rap – I guess no one can deny a few stereotypes, the mafia history, the recent problem with trash build-up, etc. Everyone – my parents, other tourists, Italians – warned me to be careful with my bag/purse while there, so I guess I was a bit more wary than useful. But I was delightfully surprised by how much I enjoyed Naples and really wish I could have spent more time there. Monday night we checked into our hostel in the middle of the city; it was basically an apartment of 4 rooms, owned by an Australian, turned into a hostel. It seriously felt like we were just crashing in someone’s apartment, very homey/casual/comfortable … definitely the most enjoyable hostel I’ve probably stayed in.

Roman Soldiers Galore!

Saturday was an absolutely gorgeous, sunny, hot day in Rome … and I am proud to say that I got my first sunburn of the season! Woohoo, finally, after several dreary months in Bretagne! And what a way to get a sunburn – touring the Coliseum and Palatine Hill! First we checked out a huge morning market; I’ve been to tons of markets in France, but they don’t compare to the chaos & variety found at a Roman market. It seemed like there were miles of vendors selling everything … several with huge piles of clothing, each piece for a euro!

I actually went into the Coliseum a few years ago, but this time we took a guided tour in English from an Italian. I still have mixed reviews on whether or not I’d recommend these guided visits … sure, you learn a bit of history and supposedly get to skip the entrance lines … but for a price that’s double the normal entrance fee, I’m not sure if it’s worth it. It’s strange because, at least to my observation, there are no “official” tours of the Coliseum and Palantine Hill; rather, there are random locals who have organized tours which operate independently of the Coliseum itself. They run around outside the entrance trying to sell their tours to the tourists, who don’t usually know that they can buy separate audio tours inside the Coliseum for a lot less. Would it be that difficult for whatever organization that runs the Coliseum to just create guided visits included in the legit entrance fee and eliminate the confusion that all of these separate, independent hawkers cause? Anyway, we paid for one of these tours, which didn’t end up being too valuable … and it was only offered in English, so I tried to deliver a rough translation into French for my roommate. Needless to say, I probably didn’t do a great job at this – afterwards she actually said that she’ll probably just buy a book to read a bit more about Rome, the Coliseum, etc. So I effectively failed as a translator. Anyway, we had a good time and it was awesome to be outside all day in this weather! Last time I was in Rome it was cold/rainy, and I caught a guy with his hand in my bag in the middle of a crowded subway trying to rob me … so I guess anything had to beat that first experience! But seriously I really did enjoy the city a lot and now have a much more positive image of it. Aww, cultural understanding, now that’s why we travel :)

"Hey Mom, look what I found!!"

Good timing - we happened to be in Rome the day before its annual birthday celebration ... hence the Roman parade around the Coliseum!

A few photos from our tour inside the Coliseum:

Even the ancient Romans appreciated Pop???

Views of the Roman Forum & Coliseum:

Italia Italia!

I think that no matter how many times I go to Italy, to whatever city or region … I will love it. It is seriously just a fabulous country with a culture that is easy to enjoy, regardless of your interests. Saturday we flew to Rome and were lucky enough to find a room at the first hotel we called. We stayed in the area north of Termini station, which ended up being a relatively quiet residential area with gorgeous old buildings which are now either nice apartments or government offices. We were so eager to eat Italian food when we arrived that we went to practically the first pizzeria that we saw, which ended up being a bit touristy. After dinner we found a corner store to stock up on drinks for the night –since we had every intention of going out on a Saturday night in Rome. But after getting back to the hotel we realized that we were pretty tired and had plenty of things to see & do the next day … so my apologies, no fun nightlife story from Rome to share.

The Cliffs of Mohrer, Afternoon in Galway, and our Last Night in Dublin

The bus continued through the countryside to the Cliffs of Moher, where we were free to get out and explore for an hour. The cliffs are obviously known for there amazing views, and it was pretty spectacular. As it was super windy and the driver had been pumping us full of fresh tales of recent tourists who’d been blown of to their death, we stayed on the conservative border paths.

We got back in the bus, drove a bit, then stopped at a small pub for lunch, before taking the coastal rode back to Galway. The views along the coast were incredible, and we stopped a couple of times for photo opps … rolling, green hills spotted with stone, small houses, and animals … with the rocky coast in the distance … it was awesome. Here are some picts from one of our stops.

We decided to take a later bus back to Dublin that night, in order to have time to enjoy a drink at a pub in Galway. Proved to be a great choice, as we had Bailey’s & coffee in a traditional pub with a great, local atmosphere.

Downtown street in Galway / Our last pub stop in Galway

We got back to the Dublin hostel on Friday night and went out searching for some live Irish music … but Friday night in the Temple Bar area is pretty much like Friday nihgt in any touristy, slightly raunchy night-life quarter. And somehow we ended up in the actual Temple Bar, probably the most touristy and least authentically Irish place we could have picked. Anyway, we ran into a group of Spanish guys who’d come to Dublin from Madrid as their friend’s bachelor party weekend. I’m not sure what the Spanish custom is, but the bachelor was dressed as a cow and his friends had matching t-shirts with nicknames. They provided most of our entertainment for the evening, needless to say.

Tour of the Burren ... where are we????

On Friday we decided to take a tour through the nearby countryside of the Burren and the Cliffs of Mohrer. In the past I haven’t necessarily been an advocate for organized bus tours like this, but in this case the 20 euro was well worth the 6-hour tour of places that were difficult to get to independently by bus or train. It took about an hour and a half on the bus (MC’d by the lively driver with his bits of Irish history & cheesy jokes) to get into the heart of the Burren countryside. I forgot the exact translation, but I think Burren means “barren, rocky land” or something like that in Irish; but if I’m completely mistaken with this translation, then that’s just my own observation of what I saw J The bus stopped at a local family farm for an hour-long walking tour of their land, led by their son (a pretty cute guy in his late 20’s, always a plus when the guide is attractive!). So we walked through the rolling hillside filled with a strange combination of grass & stones, tons of cows, random wildflowers, and short stone walls everywhere. The history he shared with us was pretty interesting, and the views of the surrounding countryside were amazing.

Great views of the Burren & surrounding countryside (notice the strange combination of stone/grass randomness ... )

No shortage of cows and short stone walls in this area:

Leaving you with this: super awkward photo of me trying out the "Sliding Stone" ... natural playground that's existed for 100's of years