I am, officially, gainfully employed until the end of August. Yeehoo!
We are off to Italy at 5:30 am tomorrow morning! Here is our tentative itinerary (we actually wrote this for ourselves. Yes, we are huge dorks.):
ITALY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Itinerary
Day 1 Saturday: Drive to Montalcino via coast. Chill out in Montalcino and have dinner and soak in the hot tub, so Jim better remember to pack his swim suit.
Day 2 Sunday: Explore Montalcino and hike around. Pick olives. Go to a wine tasting.
Day 3 Monday: Northern trip—Siena, San Gimignano. San Gimingnano has a bunch of really tall Tuscan towers and wonderful wine. Siena is known for its awesome plaza and food and shopping. We want to buy some Italian shoes.
Day 4 Tuesday: ?????? Secret Surprise Day (involving Gelato)
Day 5 Wednesday: Eastern Trip— Castiglion Fiorentino, where Jim did his study abroad program, hike to Montecchio where there is an ancient castle, hike back, get in the car and go to Cortona. (eat more gelato?)
Day 6 Thursday: Montepulciano has the best wine ever and a friendly man in a wine shop.
Day 7: Friday: ????ANOTHER Secret Surprise Day!!!!!! (gelato AND bellinis!)
Day 8 Saturday: FIRENZE!!!!! (Duomo, Statue of David, Uffizi Gallery)
Day 9 Sunday: FIRENZE!!!! (soak in the Tuscan sun)
Day 10 Monday: Firenze and Lucca (and then, sadly, we go home)
Domani!!! (tomorrow!!!)
Monday, April 16, 2007
The moment of truth
Tomorrow I will find out whether or not I got a job. If I didn't, I will kind of be glad because that means that I can go home for as long as I want and bring Emma back with me. If I did....back to reality.
Jim is working really hard, but Saturday we leave for ITALIA! Don't be surprised if you don't hear from us for a while, as we'll be exploring Tuscany, visiting vineyards, taking hikes, and checking out the Duomo. Fabuloso!
Jim is working really hard, but Saturday we leave for ITALIA! Don't be surprised if you don't hear from us for a while, as we'll be exploring Tuscany, visiting vineyards, taking hikes, and checking out the Duomo. Fabuloso!
Spring weekend
Spring has definitely sprung here in London. We're even having a "heat wave!" That means that it's about as warm as it is in January in Texas--yesterday it was around 80, we think!
So, in honor of spring, here are a few spring pictures from out and about in London.
The tree in front of our house bloomed last week and yesterday we noticed that many of the trees along our road, suddenly have leaves again. We noted that we are not used to this phenomenon, having spent most of our lives in the South where most of the trees are evergreens of some sort.
This is Spike, our neighbor's cat who likes to come hang out. Don't be jealous, Emma and Chowder. He means nothing to us. Plus, as Jim pointed out, he has a dirty mouth.
On Saturday night, Jim booked us at a Jazz Club called 606. Getting there, as usual, was an adventure because of tube engineering and then a traffic jam once we got a cab. The club was in a basement and we had to ring the bell from above and be let in. Inside, we were squished at a tiny table between a pregnant woman and her husband and 6 chainsmokers. The jazz was great, but because we were "non-members" we had to pay a premium price and overall it wasn't really worth it. But still fun to get out and do something!
Sunday we decided to go for a picnic (along with everyone else in London) and headed to Hyde Park, which is like London's Central Park.
There were lots of people out and women were stripped down to their bikinis all around.
Jim was sporting his new man capris and his glasses..he looked very cute.
After our lunch, we headed to the Natural History Museum. On the way we saw some beautiful tulips.
With much excitement, Jim ascended into the Natural History Museum!
There seemed to be a lot of rocks in the Natural History Museum and after looking at about 6000 of them, we decided we would get down to the real reason we came: the dinosaurs! This is my best imitation of the dinosaur behind me:
One thing we have noticed about London is that as it gets warmer outside, it also gets warmer inside. We got a taste of what it will be like on the tube this summer and the museum was pretty stuffy, too. So we moved through the dinosaurs pretty quickly. T.Rex kind of scared Jim:
But he got along REALLY well with the stegasaurus:
Overall, it is my opinion that the Natural History Museum in Cleveland is superior to the Natural History Museum in London. It definitely has a better dinosaur exhibit. I'm also pretty sure that we missed about half the museum because we were eventually overwhelmed by the enthusiasm of the children all around us and bailed early.
Finally,this is our dining room table...which is featured a lot in this last batch of pictures, so I thought I would share. During my unemployment, I planted the flowers in the background! (I'm still unemployed, by the way, but have a job interview today!)
Only five more days until we go to ITALY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
So, in honor of spring, here are a few spring pictures from out and about in London.
The tree in front of our house bloomed last week and yesterday we noticed that many of the trees along our road, suddenly have leaves again. We noted that we are not used to this phenomenon, having spent most of our lives in the South where most of the trees are evergreens of some sort.
This is Spike, our neighbor's cat who likes to come hang out. Don't be jealous, Emma and Chowder. He means nothing to us. Plus, as Jim pointed out, he has a dirty mouth.
On Saturday night, Jim booked us at a Jazz Club called 606. Getting there, as usual, was an adventure because of tube engineering and then a traffic jam once we got a cab. The club was in a basement and we had to ring the bell from above and be let in. Inside, we were squished at a tiny table between a pregnant woman and her husband and 6 chainsmokers. The jazz was great, but because we were "non-members" we had to pay a premium price and overall it wasn't really worth it. But still fun to get out and do something!
Sunday we decided to go for a picnic (along with everyone else in London) and headed to Hyde Park, which is like London's Central Park.
There were lots of people out and women were stripped down to their bikinis all around.
Jim was sporting his new man capris and his glasses..he looked very cute.
After our lunch, we headed to the Natural History Museum. On the way we saw some beautiful tulips.
With much excitement, Jim ascended into the Natural History Museum!
There seemed to be a lot of rocks in the Natural History Museum and after looking at about 6000 of them, we decided we would get down to the real reason we came: the dinosaurs! This is my best imitation of the dinosaur behind me:
One thing we have noticed about London is that as it gets warmer outside, it also gets warmer inside. We got a taste of what it will be like on the tube this summer and the museum was pretty stuffy, too. So we moved through the dinosaurs pretty quickly. T.Rex kind of scared Jim:
But he got along REALLY well with the stegasaurus:
Overall, it is my opinion that the Natural History Museum in Cleveland is superior to the Natural History Museum in London. It definitely has a better dinosaur exhibit. I'm also pretty sure that we missed about half the museum because we were eventually overwhelmed by the enthusiasm of the children all around us and bailed early.
Finally,this is our dining room table...which is featured a lot in this last batch of pictures, so I thought I would share. During my unemployment, I planted the flowers in the background! (I'm still unemployed, by the way, but have a job interview today!)
Only five more days until we go to ITALY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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