A visit from mom

May 31, 2007

Our travels continued when my mom and Walter, her husband, came to visit last week. We spent 2 days in Milan and then went to Cinque Terre, a group of towns on the Mediterranean. It was really beautiful there and we had such a fun time exploring all the little towns and eating really good food. We even hiked from one town to another and loved seeing the ocean and the cliffs. After that, we went to Bellagio on Lake Como. It rained a lot while we were there, but our stay at Hotel Belvedere was wonderful. It is so fun to share our Italian life with friends and family from home. My mom and Walter really got to see what it was like to be here and deal with the quirky Italian ways. And as with all our visitors, Ben and I are so grateful that they came to see us, it really makes us happy.

Now, we have one month left of being here and are deciding what are next steps will be. Hopefully, we will be coming through New York, Washington, and Memphis/Pickwick during July while Ben continues to look for a job. I have realized in the last month that Milan has become a home for us, even though it's not the best. And while, i don't think i'll be very sad to leave it, we've made a life for ourselves here and I feel proud that we've accomplished that. This next transition to wherever we end up seems even scarier than the one we made moving here. But we're praying that the next place we move is full of friends and opportunity for both of us.

Ben is very busy right now with school and I am not doing much. There's always possible performances for me, but one never knows with this group. Happy June to Everyone.

I love Paris in the Springtime?

May 21, 2007

Paris Trip: May 16-19, 2007

High Points: Riding bikes through the city, Wandering through St. Germain, St. Michel and Monmartre, Yummy Coffees, French Onion Soup, Crepes, Sunny afternoon in the Luxembourg Gardens, Watching Spiderman 3 in English, Stores on the Champs Elysee, Seeing famous art at the Louvre and Musee d'Orsay.

Low Points: Freezing Temps, Constant Rain, Disgusting Hotel in shady area, Overcrowded sights like Notre Dame, Sacre Coeur and Versailles, the very long bus rides to and from both airports.

Odd Points: The sun didn't set until after 10pm, we heard more americans speaking english than we'd heard all year and food and drinks are way more expensive in Paris than in Milan. We also saw men dressed as strawberries, a lot of steller mullets, Santa, in disguise walking through Versailles, and kids giving away free hugs under the Eiffel Tower.

French it Up!

May 14, 2007

I know it's been a long time since our last blog, but there wasn't anything really exciting to report. Ben's been working hard at school and we've been hanging out with friends. My dance company has been wishy washy about things, but I have a show tomorrow with them and maybe one in early June.
We went to Southern France this past weekend, be the real fun began the day before, when Ben was given free tickets to Beyonce's concert here in Milan. It turns out his school gave Beyonce on honorary masters. Why?? We don't know, but her dad came to ben's school to talk to the students and gave them all free tickets. The show was great and it was fun to go with all of Ben's classmates.

So, the next day we rented a car and drove to France. We stopped by San Remo for a little while and then got really lost. There were a lot of tolls and 124 (we counted) tunnels between Milan and Nice. But we finally got to our bed and breakfast in a town called Ventabrens, outside of Aix-en-Provence. It was a beautiful house and the hosts were really friendly and helpful. We went in to Aix for dinner and had an elaborate meal. The weird part about the town was that, walking down the street, there were so many americans speaking english. We guessed that since it has a big university there, they were studying abroad or something.

The next day we drove to the Luberon Valley and to a town called Gordes. This town is really spectacular and unique. It is built into a giant rock and the buildings are the same color as the rock. It was really pretty and overlooked the whole valley with vineyards, lavender fields, poppy fields and more. This land was really amazing and we were blown away by the beauty. We then drove to Rousillion, which is a town that is built on these bright red and yellow rocks. A lot of pigment for paints are harvested from these rocks.

After that we decided to take the scenic route to our next town which was Nice. That turned out to be a bad idea, as it took us through the French Alps and took forever. The drive was really fantastic, scenery-wise, but it was very tiresome.
We got to Nice and had a great dinner on these picnic tables in a little square. I had Moules Frites (mussels and fries) and a local dish called socca which is chickpea flour and olive oil tortillas. Nice also has a lot of tourists, but it was still fun because the night life is really exciting.

The next day we spent on the beach, which is so beautiful. It has no sand, just rocks, which is pretty uncomfortable. And there were a lot of topless ladies! The water is so blue and clear and wasn't that cold for so early in the year.

All in all, it was great. We really liked Provence and the Riviera and they are places we hope to come back to. We could really tell a change when we got into France. It felt less hectic, more calm and relaxed. Apparently, France and Italy have the same population, but 
France has double the land. I am really glad we got to see the country side and get a good rest from the cities.

Up next, we go to Paris. Au revoir!