Spring travels

Sorry for a delay in posts, but I've been off traveling this week! I went to Florence for Easter weekend, came back to Paris for a few days, and then I was off again to Amsterdam. I had a great time in both cities, both equally special and different.

Florence
Pictures from Florence
We arrived in Florence on the Saturday night before Easter. We took a 5 minute cab ride to an apartment we had rented through Hostelworld.com. We waited. And waited. And waited. No one came to let us into the apartment. I called, and called and no one picked up. We were stranded and starving in Florence. I had failed.

BUT, I had a friend from GW studying abroad there for the semester, and she was gracious enough to let me, Ellie and Meredith stay with her for the night until we figured something else out. We kicked it "7th grade slumber party" style, putting two mattresses on the kitchen floor. While my friend was nice enough to let us stay for one night, we had to find other arrangements for the next few nights we were there. So we found Hotel Residenzia Millenium. It looked like a great location, cheap, and tidy. I booked it. I then went on to tripadvisor.com to look at reviews, and found this entry, entitled: "Owner is Insane and Potentially Dangerous". I couldn't read the review out loud I was laughing so hard. What had I gotten us into this time?

We arrived at the hotel on Easter morning, slightly terrified, but intrigued by this 'insane' owner. We found him to be simply overly helpful, shared a little too much information about himself, and a little creepy, but definitely manageable. The only weird moment we had was on Sunday night when we couldn't get out of our hotel for some reason; Ellie looked for other ways to get out, but the window was the only promising exit.

Hotel fiascos aside, Florence was beautiful. We went to the Duomo for Easter Sunday. Meredith wanted to go to mass, but we never made it as the crowds outside the church were oceans wide. It was a great experience - between the medieval parade, the fireworks display at 11am (yes, in the morning, it's Florentine tradition apparently) and the church bells, we were Easter. We all had our Easter finery on, had a nice big pasta/pizza lunch, and then we went to Galleria dell'Academia where we saw the David.

As someone who has studied the David in almost every single art history class, because it is THE reference to the perfect man that every artist after Michelangelo looks to, it was again sureal to be in the presence of something so great. There he was, with that stern look, relaxed and strong stance, having the sun from the skylight illuminate him. A slide is one thing, but the real deal is so much better.

We walked and walked, and strolled through the San Lorenzo leather market where we convinced each other it was time to we marked our travels with something that would last, or at least for a couple years: a purse. We each got one, talked the prices down at the stalls, and strolled away happy.

One night for dinner we met up with another friend from GW (oh so many Americans in Florence; I swear I heard more English than Italian!). We decided to grab some Peroni's (italian beer) and Pinot Grigio and take it to the Piazza Signoria. It was the perfect light, good people and good laughs. For some reason "Beauty and the Beast" started playing in a near by sculpture gallery, which only added to the mood. After drinks we went to this fabulous restaurant called Coquinarius; while my cold was so bad I could barely taste anything, it was still memorable. The waiter was super nice, the ambience small and intimate, and you could tell everyone around us was a regular.

There is something golden about Florence. Perhaps it's that special light in the piazza, or how the sun hits the buildings along the Arno, or maybe even how the gold on the Ponte Vecchio calls to a girl's heart; whatever it is, it is a very special place and I am eager to return with Ben, Deb and Carlos in May!

Amsterdam
Pictures from Amsterdam
Amsterdam - what an amazing little city! My parents kept saying, oh, you're just going to love Amsterdam and I thought, sure, but how amazing can it be? And did I find out. This cross between the Village and the Vineyard and some odd utopia where everyone rides bikes and is for lack of a better word, chill. Everything about Amsterdam was so settling and peaceful; I felt as though the air was even softer there.

I loved this city. But my love for this trip started before I arrived in Amsterdam - I took the train from Paris to Amsterdam! It took 4 hours, but I couldn't fall asleep because it was just so beautiful. The Flemish countryside is a quite a sight. I now understand why the Flemish masters had such a fascination with nature - the soft fog over the fields, the mist around the green green trees, the sheeps and cows in the meadows next to little farmhouses. It looked like it was out of a fairytale. I tried to capture the tulip fields as we approached Amsterdam, but the train was going a bit too fast for clarity unfortunately.

I was in Amsterdam Friday night through Sunday night, and I really wish I had longer. There was just so much to see and so much to take in, it really deserved more than two days. I guess I'll just have to go back!

During my few days, I managed to go to the Anne Frank House, the Tulip Museum, the Bloemenmarket (flower market), "I Am Amsterdam" sign, and the Van Gogh Museum, as well as stroll the canals, have pancakes and try not to get hit by bikers or trams (close to impossible, how do they do it?).

I didn't know what my reaction was going to be to the Anne Frank House. Always the emotional one, I braved for the worst (hysterical crying) but I came out with a very different impression than what I originally thought. As I went from room to room, reading parts of her diary on the walls, learning about how incredible this little girl was, seeing their "papers" to the concentration camps, experiencing the darkness and silence they had to live in every day, I was moved. I was upset, as I thought I would be, and then selfishly or not I thought to myself - thank god that wasn't my family. I teared up listening to stories of her friends that had survived the War, a video made of Otto Frank (her father) in 1980 in which talked about his daughter, and finally at the book of names that listed the families deported from Amsterdam to camps. At the end of the visit, there was a guestbook. All I could write was, "I am blessed. - Remy Tumin, 4/18/2009". And I truly am.

There was just something so odd about this city that I loved. Some can't stand it, but I really enjoyed it. There's something about the rhythm of life there that fit. I got a text from my mom during my time there that went like this: "Interesting city and cultured, don't you think? I remember people any age sitting in parks on a hot day in their underwear, just regular not sey or self conscious, any age, just take off your shirt, have lunch and go back to work, very laissez-faire, is it still?" I said, well, it's not warm enough out for nakedness but I'm sure they still do. I didn't see any of that, but I did see a fair amount of lounging on the roofs of houseboats, hippies cuddled in blankets on the roofs of their cars, and rollerbladers jamming to disco. What a crazy city. When can I go back?

Promise I'll be better about getting on my blog more often! It really is spring in Paris now. Mom's coming Thursday, can't wait!

Bisous,
Remy

Plus de printemps

Click here for some recent Paris photos! Post to come. Off to Florence on Saturday for Easter!
Bisous,
Remy