Nearing the end!!!

I can't believe it's only a few weeks until we fly back to La Crosse! The crazy European adventure must end sometime, I just didn't think it would be when I still have so much work to do! Here, at any rate, are some pictures from our trip to Paris. We spent a long weekend for our anniversary (number 2!!!) sipping wine, eating crepes, and being snubbed--and it was fantastic!

NOTE: Again, some of the pictures are cut off, just click to view the whole image!

Here's my wonderful lady on our first stroll around Paris. And what should we find but a super-awesome arch hanging out in the middle of everything!


I hope this is pretentious enough; here I am enjoying my 9 euro coffee on Ile de la Cite. It was good coffee...

Notre Dame is rather impressive, no? And this is just the famous front, it's really long too, and has a great statue of Charlemagne in front.

The inside of the cathedral is very...Victor Hugo.

Our obligatory tourist shots in front of the Eiffel Tower. We had a perfect day for this visit!

I convinced Anna that we needed to go to the very top. I think I made a good call.


A million stairs leading up the hill to Sacre Coeur, which has a great view of Paris looking south.

Our final day was much more rainy, but the Arc de Triomphe is still pretty cool, and much much bigger than I imagined!

As you can probably tell, we had a great time, and between great wine, great food (mostly baguettes), and great sights, Paris is definitely on the list of places to go back to!

Good Stuff Abounds

Aloha to all! We're into countdown-mode these day, with a paltry 6 weeks remaining of our time here in London. We've had a few notable adventures since the last update, starting with a quick weekend jaunt to Canterbury.

While we did have a great time--and Canterbury is beautiful--I would have perhaps enjoyed the time more if I didn't have to take the GRE English Lit subject test while we were there. Good fun, you can imagine.


Canterbury is this awesome, mostly-medieval feeling village, complete with old gate towers, cobblestone corridors, and of course the cathedral dominating the skyline.

We were fortunate enough to visit the cathedral around sunset, and so reap the benefit of beautiful lighting. Notice the somewhat haggard look to my face, as though I recently took a 3-hour test that I didn't much enjoy...

This is a slanted house. If that's not curious enough for you, Charles Dickens mentioned it in one of his stories.

The cathedral is magnificent, and pops into view all over the place between the different houses and shops.

Canterbury is also a big college town, with 4 universities that were all coming into term just as we were there. Swarming with undergrads...gag...

A pretty enjoyable excursion, despite tests and all. We stayed at a little B&B in town for the weekend, and loved the quick train ride through the English countryside. Worth a visit if one is ever in the area!

Back in the game!

Hey folks, if you're seeing this post, then it means I was finally able to upload some photos again! I've been wanting to post a few from the last days of our visitors--especially since I owe Cindy a picture of Ian while he was here (completely healthy and sane, I promise).

We've got a big upcoming trip that will just about mark the end of our extra-London adventuring, but we're both really looking forward to our anniversary in Paris this year! Two years already, I can't believe it.

Anyway, here's some more photos of us with Callie, and the one picture of Ian in our flat that I was allowed to take:

NOTE: I don't know why the pictures are cut off, just click on each for the full view!

Here's the girls doing, you guessed it, the Abbey Road Strut. This isn't really the right zebra crossing, but you'd be amazed by how many crazy people are out there doing this every day...

Up in Regent's Park, Queen Mary really knew how to make a garden! We had a beautiful day for a stroll through the rose gardens, and...

...plenty of chances to fascinated by ducks. They really do all swim in a line. I wonder why that is?

Tower Bridge is still one of the coolest things in London.

Speaking of the coolest things in London: here's Ian! He came for a visit, and almost broke my thesis!

That's all for now, hopefully no more problems with pictures!

Problems with photo uploader...

Sorry for the delays in updating. I've been having trouble with Blogger's photo uploader--apparently it doesn't care for pictures over 3 MB very much. I'll keep at it, however, and soon will have even more new pictures to share!

We've had another visitor, all the way from gay Paris, over this past week. Ian has been in town visiting some of his friends, enjoying greasy breakfasts around town, and shattering Trevor's confidence in himself through his unwavering support for Trevor's dissertation topic. Sound like a contradiction? I thought so too, but I'm still quaking in fear of submitting this paper in January...

At any rate, look for pictures soon! I'm going to get in contact with Blogger/Google and try to see what's up!

Stonehenge and Bath

In the effort to stay current--and just simply because our trip yesterday was awesome--I'm posting pictures immediately of our adventure to Bath and Stonehenge with Callie B. To celebrate Callie's visit, we opted for a very special "Inner Circle" tour, where we actually got to go in among the stones at sunset. As you can imagine, it was a dramatic evening.

The Roman Baths--at Bath, go figure--are pretty spectacular as well. Bath is a beautiful little village that actually reminds me quite a bit of towns in Italy. In fact, the Pultney Bridge is a copy of the Ponte Vecchio in Florence, and it is the only remaining bridge in England that has buildings on it. The baths themselves are the only natural hot spring in all England, and were long believed to hold magical and healing powers. The Baths were dedicated to Sulis Minerva. Aquae Sulis was the Roman name for the town that would be rebuilt as Bath centuries later. Sul was a pre-Roman Celtic god worshiped at the spring. The current baths were built in the 18th century, and excavations of the Roman ruins didn't begin until much later in the 19th century. They didn't even know the Romans had been there for a long, long time.

Here we see a view of the Abbey from the top of the Great Bath. This Abbey, incidentally, is where Edgar, first king of all England was crowned by Dunstan, Archbishop of Canterbury in 973 AD.

This is the view of the Pultney Bridge mentioned above.

The Romans were really smart, and made their own saunas by drawing air across a fire under a hollow floor, and up through hollow flue bricks in the walls. This is the floor structure in one such room.

Callie and Anna relaxing (since they didn't get their traditional spa experience) by the Great Bath.

Stonehenge. Stonehenge is a really stunning piece of human heritage. Built between 3,000-5,000 years ago, and in the three separate stages over several centuries by separate peoples or tribes, we still don't know exactly what it's for, but it bears a special relationship in its construction to the solar and lunar cycles. It probably allowed ancient Britons to predict eclipses as well. The larger stones can weigh around 45 tons, and some of the smaller, "blue" stones are a rare type of stone that occurs in only one mountain in south Wales--some 250 miles away from where Stonehenge sits in the county Wiltshire.

Our tour got a special view of a dramatic sunset, coupled with some rain, but as a consequence also a stunning rainbow over the English countryside. Also, we got to go inside the ring, and people don't normally get to do that! Enjoy:

This was a really, really special adventure. Not one easily forgotten.

The Return of Strong Internet Connections!

That's right folks, we've finally got our internet hookups squared away, after much consternation and many long phone calls to multiple concerned parties. The "Death Star" is fully armed and operational, as they say. "They" referring to evil galactic emperors, of course.

Let's see, the last post I was able to complete was about Sweden a few weeks ago, and even then I was catching up. This summer has been flying by, Anna and I have both been hard at work--for the most part. My time has been divided between the several libraries at which I do my research. I wish I could take pictures of the reading rooms at the British Library, because they are fantastic. Where else would I get to handle and read original copies of books printed in the 1880's? I'll see if I can come up with some contraband evidence without getting kicked out. Anna has been taking several courses in design, sewing pattern adaptation, color, and styling. She is developing her plans for an image consulting business, and working hard at it!

Here are some pictures!

Tim turned 60 this year, and the big surprise for his birthday was getting the whole family together. As you can tell, he wasn't exactly expecting us all from the four corners of the world. New York, San Francisco, London and La Crosse, all getting slightly closer together these days!


So we says to ourselves, "since we're about the business of surprisin' anyway, let's see how many we can fit into one trip." Mom's near-heart-attack-of-joy was certainly a good one!


Of course, the planets aligned and brought many friends home during the exact time period in which we were so secretly back in La Crosse...so naturally we went bowling! This is, after all, what We do.


In case you needed more proof that we are really awesome...we're totally famous...

So there's just a taste of our little jaunt back across the pond. It was far too short, and full of good times and great memories. There's just a taste for now, but, as I've been promising for some time, now that the internet Force is with us once more, there will be updates aplenty--especially considering our visits and upcoming events! More on that later, and cheers for now!

Gazing out my window

We've had an eventful month or so, managing to fit in a trip to Sweden, moving to a new apartment in Paddington, a clandestine trip back to La Crosse to surprise our families and friends, and soon I (Trev) begin the hectic process of applying to Ph.D programs back in the US. Whew, at least it's nice to have a nice view to sit back on a Sunday evening and enjoy. Catching up on pictures a bit, here's a few from our Swedish excursion to visit some of Anna's more extended family:

Above: Trevor does something unintelligent. He is jumping several long meters into jellyfish infested, nearly arctic waters. It was awesome.

This is us in Grundsund, the beautiful little fishing village where Anna's cousin's grandmother lives, and where her aunt and uncle spent a good deal of time when their kids were growing up. Actually, this picture is more like outside Grundsund, in the awesome hills along the coastline.

And this is Grundsund itself, built right up along the water, and wonderfully maintained!

This is actually where we were first, but the pictures got out of order. This is outside of Gothenburg, with Erik Durtsche, Anna's cousin, and his aunt Ilva's family. The little dude is Gustav, and the one only slightly in the picture is Johan. Taking the picture is Micael. He's cool too.

Sorry this has been so slow in coming out. Once we returned to London and moved into our new flat, we began a continuing struggle with the internet people, and still have no reliable connection. I will be updating more as soon as we are able! Stay tuned!

Musing

Why is London so perpetually interesting? Especially during the summer, it's possible to wander right into large-scale events and interesting celebrations of more localized sorts. We took a jog through Hyde Park shortly after moving into our new place, only to come across a gigantic rock festival happening over the weekend. Stevie Wonder, Pearl Jam, Ben Harper, Paul McCartney, Crosby, Stills, and Nash, Jamiroquai, and Elvis Costello among others. Beautiful weather and a perfect opportunity to sit in the sunshine enjoying a couple beers listening to good music.

And again, this past weekend, walking towards Buckingham Palace to meet some friends from the US, Snoop Dogg concert in the park, astonishingly large Pride festival in Trafalgar and Leicester Squares featuring the cast of "Hair," and an American Beer Festival near Old Street for Independence Day. My inner beer geek is coming out to enjoy the festivities with some friends who desperately need a schooling in quality American brew. It may not be Riverfest on the Mississippi, but it's something!

The goings on are going on and on

The never-ending adventures are, well, never-ending. I'm having a fun time playing with ridiculous titles and opening sentences for updates and posts.

We have a ton more pictures from Italy to put up, but so much has been happening since we returned that I may have to return to those pictures at a later date. Since April, I (Trev) have been done with classes and have been "working" on my dissertation research. This basically involves reading a lot of fun adventure novels that I like to read anyway. After burning through quite a few books in the past month or so, I've opted to change tack on my research question. Hat tip to Kelly for the idea of focusing on the portrayal of faces in Victorian fiction and problematizing the idea of empire related through physiognomy. And you all thought I'd never make anything of myself studying literature!

So, here you see some interesting times around London since our Italy trip. At top, you see one of the Assyrian bull-dudes found at Ninevah by A. H. Layard around 1847. His findings were installed in the British Museum at the exact time, and roughly 100 meters away, from where Karl Marx was writing about class struggle and commodity fetish. Interesting stuff. Second, one of the historical curios lying around London, a bronze Sphinx along the Thames embankment. This one is notable because it has a plaque on it explaining how the scars and holes in the statue were caused by a German bomb dropped nearby in 1917. Third, this is what passes for a barbeque right now, huddling around a charcoal grill roasting marshmallows and sausages. Actually, that was a pretty awesome time. No complaints. Finally, the ever popular Tower of London. You know, for the longest time, I didn't even know it was more than just a big tower somewhere. It's a whole castle, and pretty impressive to walk around and read the history of things like the "Traitor's Gate."

Summer in London has been a lot of walking, working (mostly for Anna, hahaha), enjoying the beautiful weather--in London, I know!--and kickin' it with our friends. We've just moved into our new flat for the rest of time here, and once we get our internet situation figured out we'll have a few more posts to catch up, and then onto a more regular schedule. Cheers for now!

Italia part 2; Roma and beyond!

After leaving Pisa we hopped a train for Rome, gaining confidence in our abilities to speak enough pidgin Italian to make sure we were on the correct trains. Rome is a considerably more metropolitan city than Pisa, but in a very different way than London. Buildings are colorful and sculpted, people are leisurely and yet driven by more coffee than you could shake a handful of chocolate-covered espresso beans at. Coffee in Italy is a particularly delightful experience. It's more utilitarian in mode than in America. You go into the cafe, order (in our case) due cappucino, per favore, sip your coffee with a certain fabulous air of hurry and import, and be on your way. 1 euro at some shops gets you a crossaint and a coffee. Awesome.

Below, you'll find some of our early days in Rome. St. Peter's Square is big. Really big. I tried to get the perspective from the back of the square up the steps of the Basilica, but I'm not sure it gives the full scope. Next, we see some of the odd sense of humor displayed by Roman kitchen stores. They had another one that was a heart-shaped knife block. Hilarious. Third, this big model--about 4 feet across--lies in the Gesu Cathedral. This model is a giant temple, presumably the new temple, surrounded by scale model of the major churches from around the world. Very cool. The Gesu is also cool because it is the resting place of St. Ignatius of Loyola, founder of the Jesuit order. His arm is on display--yes, that's right, on display--in a big glass and gold case in one of the chapels. Finally, the Trevi Fountain, which is a huge and busy tourist attraction, as seen by the crowd all over the place. It was formerly the site where several of the ancient aqueducts joined in the city after their 14 mile travel from their source. Now, it is the largest Baroque fountain in the city, and it looks really beautiful lit up at night.

We had 4 days to spend in Rome, and touring was the name of the game. There is a lot to see in Rome; piazzas, basilicas, coffee shops, more piazzas, fountains, more coffee shops...the list goes on. In our wanderings--for most Italian cities are easily walkable--we saw a lot great historical buildings and sites. Here I am hanging out with Caesar on a walk toward all the ancient Roman ruins. Below that is the Circus Maximus, the largest section of ruins in the city. Expense to get down into, though. Our friend Alan is studying in the seminary at the Vatican, and he was able to get us tickets for all of the big Easter celebrations going on around the city. Getting to see the Pope is an adventure worthy of Indiana Jones, believe me. Picture three is us coming out of St. Peter's Basilica after a quick tour on Good Friday. After that, we immediately got back in line to get into the celebration that night. 3 1/2 hours later, the flood gates open, and the worst characteristics in mass humanity come pouring out. People pushing, shoving, trampling (almost literally) the sick and old underfoot. Somehow, we made it inside unscathed and got relatively good seats near the center aisle. This was cool because Il Papa comes right down the middle to say "hi" to everyone, and the crowd goes wild. Finally, you'll see Il Papa himself, who is, startlingly, only about 4 feet tall. He's all hat, I tell you. Very worthwhile experience, and a beautiful service, with the whole Passion sung in Latin, and prayers offered in all different languages of the world.

We'll carry on in Part III with a little more Rome, Florence and Venice. Ciao!

Italia part 1, and high time, too!

Our Easter break marked our first big vacation as a couple, and it sure was a doosie! We spent almost 16 days touring around Italy. 8 cities (technically a few more) in 16 days is a heck of a trip, and we had the time of our lives getting a full taste of all Italy has to offer.

Our first stop was the small coastal village of Manarola in the Cinque Terre area. Five of these towns are connected in what amounts to a national park by a system of trails and roads. We camped out for five nights in a small apartment. Above, you see me and Anna in the picnic overlook in Manarola, a view on the trails of Vernazza (very cool old castle), a more complete view of Manarola from the coastal walk, and Anna enjoying some espresso at sunset in our apartment.

Stop #2 was lovely Pisa, where we immediately proceeded to take the obligatory tourist pictures holding up the leaning tower. This particular day, it was so windy that I needed an extra midget in a yellow jacket to hold me up as well! Actually, this was because the piazza of the tower and duomo are insanely crowded with people who all have the same idea.

Anna was feeling slightly more sinister, and wanted to help the tower on its way earthward. 50-foot woman, eat your heart out. The final picture is to remind us of how we walked and walked and walked, looking for this tower which ought to have been in a direct line from our hotel. This is the back side of the piazza wall, where I commented, "what's this? We can stop and take a picture while we figure out where we are. Oh...is this it?"

I think I may have too many pictures for blogger to handle, so I'll upload a few more later. From here, we move on to Rome, Assisi, Florence, Venice, Padua, and finally Milan. More to come soon!