provence.

Last weekend, my friends Joella and Phill and I explored as much of Provence as we could in two days. We left early Saturday morning and headed to Arles, where we wandered through a bustling market and bought some great souvenirs. We each bought a little knife to carry around, mainly for the purpose of being able to cut cheese whenever we need to, which is pretty often. After a lunch comprised of finds in the market, we walked past a Roman theater and a Roman arena, saw the spot where Van Gogh painted "Starry Night," then caught a bus to Nîmes.

Nîmes was only a short ride away, but it felt distinctly different from Arles. We noticed that each place we visited had a very unique ambience. In Nîmes, we spent the night in a hotel that was directly across the street from the arena, so when we opened our windows, we were looking right over it. We walked past the Maison Carrée, which looks like a miniature Parthenon, then we found the Temple to Diana. The ruins of the temple are in a beautiful park, and we enjoyed walking around the park and watching three different brides having their pictures taken. We had dinner on a square where there was a free folk dancing and singing performance.

When we got up on Sunday, we went to see the inside of the arena, then we ran to the station to get a bus to Pont du Gard. Pont du Gard is a massive bridge that was part of a Roman aqueduct. It is one of the tallest Roman structures, second only to the Coliseum. We wandered around the bridge for a while, then swam and hung out on the bank of the river.

Our final stop was Avignon, which was packed with people because of the theater festival. There were signs everywhere for all the different plays, and actors were walking around in costume to hand out fliers. There were tons of street performers, doing everything from classical piano to break dancing. We walked past the Palais des Papes and saw Pont St. Bénezet, but the most interesting thing about this trip to Avignon was definitely just the ambience of the theater festival.

Bienvenue à Grenoble.

Bonjour!

I am finally in Grenoble! I have been very busy during the last week and a half, what with meeting new friends, taking classes, settling in at my homestay, and eating lots of French food. The city is surrounded by beautiful mountains, and

has two rivers that flow through it. There are lots of lovely parks, and little markets are set up every day all over the city.

For my homestay, I am living with a young woman named Sèverine in an apartment that is close to the center of the city. She is really sweet and very French, complete with a cat named Neptune. It has been wonderful, because I have gotten to meet a lot of her friends and do things like going out to a concert with her. I always look forwards to the dinners that I eat with her, because she cooks amazing French food, such as ratatouille and quiche.

ciao bella.

I spent last week in Firenze with Mary Love. It was so hot that we were basically melting, but it was nice to have a few days to spend with her and relax a little bit before heading off to start classes in Grenoble. I enjoyed getting to meet her friends, cooking in her little apartment that is only two blocks from the Duomo, and going out to get gelato everyday.

Of course, I couldn't really just relax in Florence. In the mornings while she was in class, I went to a bunch of museums, and then each day when she finished we would either visit a couple more or do something like going to shop at the Leather Market. I enjoyed going back to the most well-known museums, like the Uffizi and the Accademia, but I also really enjoyed seeing some of the less prominent places, like the Salvatore Ferragamo shoe museum and the Museum of San Marco. There is nothing quite like seeing all of this incredible art in person.

the little mermaid.

The next stop in my whirlwind of cities was Copenhagen. My dad and I took a walking tour on Rick Steves' recommendation with a guy who leads his tours as Hans Christian Anderson, complete with a purple jacket and a top-hat. He remained in character the entire time, which made for an unforgettably unique tour. Apparently, Danes were just voted to be the happiest people, so our guide took every opportunity to stop Danish people and ask them why they thought they were happy, despite having the highest taxes. The most common answer was that they are fine with paying taxes because they get so much for free, such as medical expenses as retirement homes. As a whole, the Danish people seem to think in similar patterns, but their thought processes make it hard for them to deal with changes in society such as immigration.

Another highlight of Copenhagen for me was seeing the statue of the Little Mermaid, which stands in the harbor as a tribute to Hans Christian Anderson. Maybe it's touristy, but I loved seeing it, if only because Ariel is my favorite Disney princess.

skansen.

Alright, it has been a busy week, so I'm trying to catch up.

I met my dad in Stockholm for a couple of days last week after I left Zurich. He had a business meeting, so I went sightseeing while he was working and then tagged along for dinner (and lots of drinks) with all of his associates. Stockholm is known for museums, but my favorite one was probably the Vasa Museum. The Vasa was a ship that was supposed to become the flagship of the Swedish navy in the seventeenth century, but it sank only twenty five minutes into its maiden voyage. After sitting in the bottom of Stockholm's harbor for about three centuries, it was salvaged and made into a fascinating museum. I spent about three hours there, taking a tour, watching a film, and walking through the exhibits.

Our hotel was right next to Skansen, which is an area that is reminiscent of Williamsburg. It contains houses from all over Sweden, including manors, windmills, belfries, and schoolhouses. Dad and I went to walk around at night, so none of the houses were open, but we enjoyed seeing the different styles of houses and the vegetable gardens, and we even got to see a folk dancing performance.

Since it is only a few days until the summer solstice, the days in Stockholm are about eighteen hours from sunrise to sunset right now. It was a strange experience for it to still be light when we went to bed after eleven and then to be woken by the light around three in the morning.

the beginning of a whirlwind of cities.

I spent the beginning of last week with my friends Doug and Audrey and their son Abe in Zurich. I was excited to meet Abe, who is a year and a half and cute as he could be. They welcomed me into their beautiful little apartment and let me crash on the couch for a few days. It was wonderful to have some time to relax in the midst of my busy travels. After going slow for these few days, I was geared up and ready to meet my Dad in Scandinavia.

climb every mountain.

Mary Love and I spent this last weekend high in the Swiss Alps in a tiny village called Gimmelwald. As Rick Steves says, "If heaven isn't what it's cracked up to be, send me back to Gimmelwald." It truly is the most breathtakingly beautiful place I have ever been. Little wooden cabins are nestled amongst hills of wildflowers, which are overshadowed by looming snow-capped mountains. Every way you look, you see something new and uniquely beautiful. We spent the weekend compulsively taking way too many pictures.

For our first day in the Berner Oberland, we took four cable cars to reach the peak of the Schilthorn. From this vantage point, we enjoyed an impressive view of the Jungfrau, which is the tallest mountain in Europe. "Jungfrau" means young girl, and she is protected from the Eiger (Ogre) by the Monch (Monk). We spent the entire afternoon walking around and around the observation deck, watching the blue skies turn cloudy as the afternoon wore on.

The next morning, the weather was dubious, so instead of following our original plan to take more cable cars up to the Jungfraujoch, we hiked up into the mountains above Gimmelwald. We walked in and out of clouds and fog, and several times we got rained on, but we thoroughly enjoyed our misty walk. The setting reminded us of The Sound of Music, so we walked around singing Edelweiss.