So now just this one class left to complete, and one project to write up and I'm free! I'm counting down the days, but trying to enjoy these last days of European life to the max as well. This time in Pavia I am living in a different place, an old monastary that they turned into a residence for earthquake engineers - which seems a odd conversion but anyway I like living here. It's beautiful with tile floors and 20ft ceilings, stone stairs that are worn in the center from hundreds of years of monk footsteps, but also modern because there is a movie viewing room, a gym and a computer room and the furniture is from Ikea. Luckily it's also just around the corner from the best gelateria in Pavia so every night we make a trip there - though the best gelato in town comes at a price because it is also the reliable location in town for the mosquitos - always a buffet of humans to feed on there. The picture below is the view from my kitchen window...not too shabby. I can actually see the bells ringing in that tower.
Ah London...that was a fun trip. Good to see Kate and strange to speak English. At first it was confusing, I kept saying merci and excusez-moi, but then I realized how great it was to be able to communicate fluently and not have to think hard about how to conjugate my verbs properly when trying to say something in some other language to waiters and cashiers and general passersby. Anyway, I had a nice weekend there, we explored Kate's new neighborhood, ate lots and lots of wonderful vegetarian food (I forgot what it was like...and its like heaven), went to an electronica concert, had some picnics, saw lots of well kept gardens and other London landscapes. Went to a toy museum (see picture below)
It was nice. And not only because I could speak english and not be looked at as a freakshow for being a vegetarian, but also it was nice to be in a place that feels modern. In France and Italy I often feel like I am living in the past because the cities are ancient looking, there are cobblestone streets, castles and forts and 500 year old buildings galore and even the way of life often feels like the 'olden days'. You know...riding on rusty bicycles, hanging laundry out to dry, cooking food from scratch bought in little butcher shops, vegetable shops and bakeries (well in france they prefer hypermarches), actually using the shutters on houses etc etc.
Actually, to punctuate the modern feeling, we went to the Tate modern gallery, walked along the South bank of the Thames where there are all sorts of modern sculptures (see Dr Seuss trees above) and we went to a toy museum that made even me feel ancient because there were toys on display that I had myself not so long ago (and some that mom had), including the entire fisher-price sets that I think are still up in the loft at the cabin...see picture below...I believe we had all four in that picture and some others that aren't in the picture:
Anyway, for better or worse London is pretty much the same as America, we walked fast, ate fast, drank coffee while walking, even the streets and the stores and the people looked like home (though its funny because the first time I left the US, I went to Britain, and then everything seemed so different...). So the trip there was kind of a brief reintroduction to the life I'll go back to in less than a month!So I will leave you with some photos from my last few weeks and then get back to work on my project so I can finish before I come home (fingers crossed):
Hiking in the Chartreuse Mountains with Clemence
Clemence and the sheep butts
Mountain lake we went swimming at near Grenoble
View from Dana's Room where I stayed two weeks - Halfway up the Bastille
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