keats, ninfa, & levitation

monday we learned all about john keats

[review: english poet in early 19th century who died of tuberculosis in rome at an early age. "ode to a nightingale" "ode to a grecian urn" etc.]

keats died here

now it's a museum

right next to the spanish steps

there are locks of his hair on display

gross

the bedroom where he died

and his death mask

so next, we went to see his grave

prettiest cemetery i've ever seen

keats' grave

nameless

the movie bright star says 

he died "feeling like a failure"

his poet pal percy was buried close by

next we went to a design exhibition

weird wooden sink

today (thursday)

we went to the ninfa gardens

it used to be a medieval town

there are plants from all over the world here

perfect climate

dear betsy, this plant reminds me of you

it's from south america

laura

the sprinklers were tricky to navigate

bamboo from vietnam

amy filled up her water bottle with 

real spring water

lesloo

next we toured another winery

& had a wine tasting

then we took fun pictures in front of the vineyards

this is what we were going for:

http://www.mymodernmet.com/profiles/blogs/the-girl-who-loves-to-levitate

success

i saw london

i saw france!

we had our midterm break last week

melissa, leslie, amy, and i went on an adventure

kaitlin and margaret anne were there for parts of it

all 6 of us piled into a cab from the airport

on the wrong side of the road

here's our "hostel" for the first night

it was like the holiday, literally

it was raining and a sweet british lady ushered us in to this small cottage 

with a fire crackling

and showed us to our little room

all 6 of us have blonde hair.

the portuguese we met there found this hilarious

they loved poking fun of us

here is our friend, ella

she speaks with a british accent

we almost took her with us

we rode some double decker busses.

always on the second level

here is our next hostel

in camden

which was a weird place

but we loved it

triple bunkbeds & curtains

coooool

the first day we did a lot of walking

and stumbled upon quite a few things

had to

hey big ben

westminster abbey

william & kate got hitched here

and again

and again

loved navigating the "tube"

never been so thankful for english

please notice the number of lines available

there are 2 in rome

the gate to buckingham palace

fancy shmancy

if you jump the gate

you answer to this guy

yikes

buckingham palace with mel

queen wasn't home

shucks

the "gherkin"

thank you, norman foster

the london bridge

big let down

the next day we checked out some markets

and ate asian food

you don't realize how much you miss it until it's gone

we love nutella

dear emily, it reminds me of your love for peanut butter

the lookout on primrose hill

it started raining soon after

note the storm clouds...

my friends from mary poppins

dear reb, we needed your 5th grade costume

or just you in general

so we went for some afternoon tea

it came in a teapot

no lie

the next day...

we saw the tate modern art museum

it was free

there is a room dedicated to this pile of sunflower seeds

they were hand-painted & sentimental

but still...sometimes i don't understand modern art

we also saw picasso

interesting

next, we saw a show at the globe theater

much ado about nothing

starring the butler from fresh prince

geoffrey

fact of the day:

london has more trees per person

than any other city of its size

we love nature

ate fish&chips for dinner

delicious!

fyi...

"chips" are french fries

"crisps" are chips

walked along the thames to the tower bridge

much more impressive than the london bridge

the next day we started out on abbey road

yes, the line of cars behind us did lay on their horns

sorry we're not sorry

got to eat lunch with katherine on her break! (she's so grown up)

ate bangers&mash (sausage & mashed potatoes)

so good

loved loved loved getting to see her

next we made our way to shepherd's bush for

the avett brothers' concert

an avett with his fans

yes, i'm now a fan

sorry i hated on you guys

then went to sleep around midnight

& woke up around 3:40

eeeek

we took a eurostar train to paris in the wee hours of the morning

under the english channel

i was asleep

i don't know what it looked like

due to our exhaustion

we spent that day wandering around paris

and napping by the river

except this bridge smelled like pee when the wind blew the wrong way

gross

oh and we went to a famous little bookstore

shakespeare and company

our tiny towels at the paris hostel

dear kaki, i had to put a rubber band around my towel head to keep it on

i learn from the best

the next morning we explored

me & ames outside notre dame

our experience inside notre dame:

we took a free tour around paris

well, it was a tip only type thing

our tour guide, fiona

and she's from scotland

sound familiar? you're thinking of shrek.

amy, leslie, kaitlin, me and melissa outside the lourve

the mona lisa is tiny

here is an excerpt of fiona's tour

here are some of the chairs she was talking about

beautiful gardens in paris

london has more trees per person than
any other city of its size
we love nature

hello
purple hair

arc de triomphe
no one in the world has car insurance around this guy
there are no signs, lights, or markings on the road
a car bumps another about every 30 seconds
riding through that area in our taxi on saturday morning was
exhilarating

nutella crepe
could have eaten 20 of those

look how grown up we are
we use maps

so, this is what i thought the eiffel tower did at night
pretty pretty

but it also sparkles every hour!

who knew

perfect way to end our break