• Camera
• Bird ID guide for Europe
• Fungus ID guide for Europe
• Ferrari hat
• “HAMILTON” beaded bracelet
• Hiking boots
• Binoculars
• Enchanté Gator Tours swim trunks
• ????

See you soon…

Flights: check
Passport: check
Work boots: check
Excitement: CHECK

Hello, friends! This is where I will be blogging about my trip to London and Wales, in the grand tradition of my previous trips abroad. I can’t wait to eat lots of meat pies, explore medieval castles, tour all the museums, and hug cute cows. I have a whole week to adventure in London before I settle in at Latchygors, a 25-acre smallholding in western Wales.

I have imported my entries about my trips to Italy in 2011 and 2012 from my old blog, to tide you over and give you an idea of what to expect.

More updates soon.

CHEERS!

I can see that some of you have figured out how to access my Flickr slideshows and view my photos that way! Bravo, my friends, bravo. Obviously I haven’t been very timely about my posts here, and for that I apologize. That herniated disc has kept me from being especially productive. I am, however, feeling loads better now. I have also finished my classes and made it to Venice. You’ll get to see lots of photos from here! But first, we must backtrack to Fiesole.

It’s easy to get to Fiesole: catch the number 7 bus from central Florence and let it take you away from the busy sidewalks and the tightly-packed buildings, wind and rumble up the hills to the north of the city, and arrive in the quiet, open Piazza Mino, with the slope of the hill facing Florence on one side and the Duomo and belltower prominent on the other.

It was incredibly cold when Mom and I were there, and being on top of a hill, it was quite windy as well. During the hot summer months, Fiesole has been a popular vacation spot for wealthy Florentines for this very reason; even in Roman times, the rich kept summer homes here to escape the heat of the valley. It was once an Etruscan settlement, evidenced by the walls and artifacts preserved in its several museums; known then as Faesulae, it was conquered by the Romans in the early 3rd century BCE.

Speaking of the Romans, Fiesole’s oldest outdoor attraction is a Roman amphitheater and surrounding ruins.

Overlooking the rolling Tuscan hills, the theatre is more than two thousand years old and can seat that same number of people. Not only can you walk around in it, but it is still used for theatrical productions to this day!

Oh, yes, and our tour guide was a cat.

I’m not kidding. He was always either just ahead of my mother and me or right on our heels as we followed the paths through the ruins, occasionally going off the trail and giving us disapproving looks when we did not follow.

The other side of the ruins are a bit less interesting, but the remains of pillars and the foundations of buildings can still be seen.

Included in the price of admission to the theatre is a museum that contains Etruscan and Roman artifacts—art, coinage, and weapons, as well as human and animal remains. The gift shop had pots and pitchers made to look just like the ancient Etruscan ones.

From the side of the hill facing the valley, there was an unbelievable view of Florence, where the highest buildings in the city just barely reached up through the haze.

It’s probably an even better view when it’s clear, but whatever.

If you head all the way up to the top of the hill, you find the church and monastery of San Francesco. Beneath the church is a quaint but still interesting ethnographic museum kept by the monks, which includes ancient books and religious items, an array of art and curios from China (many sent home to Italy by Catholic missionaries), and Roman, Etruscan, and Egyptian archaeological findings (highlights include yet another mummy, and an in-situ Etruscan wall).

Lastly is Fiesole’s Duomo in the town’s main piazza. It is fairly drab inside and out, but like many of these old churches, there is a kind of serenity to the austere brick and stone. It is meditative in its simplicity—all the better to appreciate the mathematics of the space.

And that is all from Fiesole! I won’t divulge the contents of my next planned post, but if all goes as planned, it will make you want to lick your computer screen.

Until next time! Ciaociao!

Ciao, tutti!

I am very sorry for the long break since the last update. My internet access is a bit unreliable, plus my mother arrived last Friday (we\’ve been very busy with sightseeing, and I hope to share all of that with you soon), and on top of all of that, I have hurt my neck and can\’t do much of anything right now. Once I am recovered, expect some treats from Palazzo Pitti and the Boboli Garden, Santa Maria Novella, and Fiesole.

<3 Thanks for your patience. Dopo, ciao!

Once again, no photos today. I took the long train ride from Rome to Milano Centrale, rather worried that I might have to stand for the entire six-hours-and-some trip because I had not reserved a seat in advance; fortunately, I only had to stand for a little while here and there. People getting on and off throughout the trip occasionally left seats open, and I was able to sit for the majority of the journey. I do wish that more of the trip had been in daylight, because what little of the terrain I could see before sunset was remarkably beautiful. Deep-green hills, forests, and muddy rivers all covered in gentle mist.

It seems to be true almost everywhere that the best museums are closed on Mondays, but I believe that Milan\’s Duomo and its associated museum is open, so that is my plan for tomorrow.