alisonklein

Liviana took me to explore Milano and it is absolutely a spectacle. Ancient buildings are intermixed with the freshest stores offering the newest fashions. I think you could walk around for hours and still not see all there is to buy! We went to a lovely castle called Castello Sforzesco which had cats runnign around it! Lovely place, now it houses a school and library and museum. We looked through the classy department store and judged all of the designer bags from Valentino to Chanel. They only carry up to a size 6 in designer clothes here. If you're bigger, you can shop at the lesser stores I guess :/ Everything in the city center is beautiful, pristine, classy, and expensive. I even ... read more

After my adventures in Spain with my beloved Vincenzo I decided to visit beloved family friends Liviana and Joe in Milano. My first full day here, we went to the city of Genoa. This is where the sail fabric that would become jeans was first made! It's incredibly beautiful. Liviana drove me all along the coast through a number of beautiful seaside towns. It's nice to be a car again!! The buildings in Genoa are beautiful and have artfully painted facades that mimic real architectural features like molding and window art. Very cool! The road winds up and down surrounded by sea pines and lush flowers. We went down to the beach and it was sensational. It's near a protected park so it was absolutely pristine. The water was crystal clear and beautiful metamorphic rocks formed ... read more

Amazing shopping, could have spent tons. Explored Alcazaba - gorgeous stonework leading up and up through stunning gardens. Spanish gardens are wild and lush and passionately overflowing, not prim and proper as English ones are. The structures worked with the landscape to create an inviting maze of architecture and nature. Took lovely pictures. Found a much-needed bathroom at the top. This was the best part of all. Saw the remains of a Roman ampitheatre. Much like the pictures I've seen of the remains of Roman ampitheatres. Went back to the boat and beat Vince at ping pong. I did this many times throughout the trip, he never won. I am a ping pong superstar. Due to bets won 1) an awesome steak cooked by Vince upon return to the states 2) The pleasure of watching Vince ... read more

In the interest of catching up with my travels, these next few entries will be sparse and to-the-point. They're more for me to remember what happened than to amuse anyone so I would reccommend NOT reading them. Unless you're VERY bored. Madiera -- beautiful. Lush foliage, climbing mountains. Bought wine/liquor. Drank it with mussels in restaurant while Vince tried to connect to Wifi to check basketball results. Unromantic. Drank a vodka tonic and fed the birds. Ran on the beach even though Vince told me not to. Climbed down the cliff despite his protests. Felt like a rebel. Deep blue waves playfully pummeling the rocky cliff. Managed to climb back up! Went to drink more wine. Kept ordering more glasses to get free olives, despite Vince's protests. Tab surprisingly small. Became unreasonably drunk. Somehow got back ... read more

Our next stop was Tenerife. We decided to go for a whale watch. Imagine our surprise when we learned that the "whales" were actually dolphins. Feel compelled to call BS on that one. Anyway, we boarded a catamaran with a bunch of other lazy tourists and were taken out to sea to watch for these whale/dolphins. The sea was blue, the sky was blue, the sun was shining, and there was free wine. This was excellent. Our expert guide was able to find a number of dolphins for us to look at. It's so neat they'll swim lazily alongside the boat and they're like gently undulating monoliths. They looked so fat and funny I just wanted to poke them. This is not allowed unfortunately. I kept wanting to stand up on the rails to better see ... read more

I have a lot to recount! It's hard to get internet at sea (they charge 100 E for 3 hours) so I'm going to try to remember 10 days of adventure now. I went on a cruise with my beloved boyfriend (it's official now! yay to me for not fearing committment) Vince to the islands of Lanzarote, Tenerife, Madeira, and finally to Malaga. We started in Barcelona. It was hard to focus on the sights with Vince there but I did my best! Lanzarote was perhaps my favorite island. It's a vast expanse of volcanic rock that's more reminiscent of another planet than anything here on earth. Jagged pieces of igneous rock cover the earth in sheets and piles. It is the island with the most recent volcanic activity and thus has not reached a developed ... read more

Yesterday was my last day in London for awhile as I depart henceforth to Espana! Ay de mi que fabuloso, you might being saying to yourself. Maybe not. Regardless— Yesterday I went to the Tate Modern Art Museum and I can honestly say that it’s one of the most stimulating and beautifully presented collections I’ve seen while here. The space itself is reminiscent of an enormous warehouse, the entrance has a high ceiling tangled with intersecting metal supports. The walls of each floor offer a depiction of a timeline including artists and movements to contextualize the material and remind one of chronology. The place is all clean lines with personality instead of coolness and clever touches. In return for my coat at the coat check, I got a small metal tile with a number. How cool ... read more

The UK travels continue! Brighton was such vibrant place! There was a maze of cute boutiques scattered around itself with a pretty fountain in the middle and a smattering of chairs for having tea or lunch. Brighton is the sunniest place in England, which means very little. Nevertheless, the slightly more frequent caress of the sun’s fingers was very cheery. The beach is made of rocks, not sand, but I think this is not something that bothers Europeans. I saw the drunkest people I’ve seen in England in Brighton. There are tons of bars and clubs up and down a few streets and even down on the beach. Unruly teens promenade around wearing anything from matching full-body leopard-print spandex body suits to Robin Hood costumes. They drink, they dance, they yell and whistle. They must be ... read more

I've been a busy bee! Katie has come to visit and we're having a great time. It was wonderful showing her around Oxford. She ate a lot of potatoes and seemed to really like it. We then went to London. We visited the infamous Platform 9 3/4. It was funny when I asked the train station lady where it was she replied "I think just around the corner. They keep moving it". Tell me what other platforms can be moved liked that!! Katie and I walked around Hyde park and went to Camden. This later part was bad for the health of my wallet but SO good for my soul. Near Hyde Park we saw all kinds of luxury cars and hotels. We even saw a mini-cooper covered in mohair. I don't get it either.... We ... read more

Well yesterday and today I've been in The City of Love a solo! Yesterday was a failure but today I was victorious. I will recount both for the reader's amusement. Day Un Yesterday I essentially cried uncontrollably while I tried to go to the Louvre. I was feeling lonely and homesick and could not stop crying. This made it hard to ask for directions because it's hard to speak clearly in a foreign language when you're sobbing. The Louvre is not located at the metro stop called Louvres. I was headed there and had been on the metro for a good half hour before I realized that the surrounding area was looking more and more like Compton. I decided to turn around. A stranger on the train saw how pathetic I looked and tried to comfort ... read more