Happy New Year!

I didn't get to go to Belgium, but no matter. Despite having bronchitis, I rushed around London with a friend and saw quite a few new things. I could probably live here for years and not see everything though-
The Tower of London. It's expensive to go in but worth it. We spent about 3 hours inside but I think you can spend longer if you have more time. We were there close to when it was closing and already dark so we couldn't take as many pictures as we'd hoped.


Inns of Court- this is where you live and learn to be a barrister. People training to be lawyers join an Inn and then have to eat 12 dinners at the inn with barristers from the inn, maybe. There are 4 inns. It seems much better than the US system, if you ask me. I want to join an inn and eat some dinner.


Once you join an Inn, you can go here to the Royal Court of Justice- which was featured in Bridget Jones's Diary 2. We were too cold to see her apartment and the fight scene area so I guess this was our Bridget Jones lore of the day but I WILL see her apartment before I leave London.

This is the inside of the Globe theater- it was insanely cold and windy so luckily there are no shows in the winter. Maybe when it gets warmer I will attend one though- God knows I will have tons of free time with only 2 days of classes per week.

Westminster Abbey interior- it was a very cool church. I felt like it had a lot more to offer than the Italian churches but maybe the literature was better for this than it was for the Italian churches and more importantly the heating was good so you felt inclined to stay in for a while. St. Francis' Basilica was pretty awesome though, despite needing a parka to stay in.

Assisi

I had heard that Assisi was always packed with tourists, but when I went it was so dead it was creepy. It is another cute hill town with pretty city walls/fortifications and the basilica is amazing. I wish I could have photographed the frescoes inside because they were the best I've seen by far. I know the Sistine Chapel is more famous, but I preferred this. I think the town was especially creepy due to the Siesta hours. Most of the towns have them, but in the less touristy ones, there is absolutely no one outside from around 1-4.

St. Frances Basilica
Nativity Scene
Inside the basilica courtyard

View of the full basilica- so huge. I did not get to see nearly all of it. I wonder how many monks live in there?
Look, it snowed!

More Assisi Pics

Perugia

Perugia is a hill town that reminds me somewhat of Nagasaki- tons of stairs and roads with no labels whatsoever that don't seem made for cars. It is not too touristy either- always a plus.

Main Plaza

Lots of hills

Stair streets!

The main stair street- why I could not take the bus to the train station with my suitcase.

Pretty church

More Perugia Pictures

Florence

Florence was amazing- probably my favorite city on the trip. It was too expensive to go into all the museums, however, so I did not see all the famous things there like David. Oh well. It makes me realize how lucky we are in the US to have the Smithsonians.

Palazzo Vecchio
Duomo


Duomo and Florence from above

Arno and Ponte Vecchio

Plaza

More pictures of Florence

Pisa

I was so excited to get to climb the leaning tower. I went when I was 12 and it was in a dire state and I was crushed not to be able to go in. It is a hefty 15 euro though.




Click here for more photos

Rome

Since I have not figured out how to get more than 5 images to show up in here, I am posting a link to all the pictures at the bottom of each post and then picking my 5 favorites.

Rome was amazing- I went there with some friends so I saw everything in the first 3 days before one friend had to leave and then had about 2.5 days left to kill. You definitely do not need 5 days there unless you like to go into a lot of museums, I guess. My favorite things were the Vatican and the Colosseum/Forum.

I also had some amazing food, but it is sort of tucked in with crappy tourist sort of places that are not so good.


Forum

St. Peter's in the Vatican

View of Plaza in front of St. Peter's

Colosseum



Trevi Fountain

If that is not enough-
Rome Pictures

Berlin

Jewish Holocaust Memorial (with high-end communist apartments in background and Lawrence)

Reichstag (Parliament)

Brandenberg Gate (divided East and West Berlin)

Charlottenburg Castle

Berlin Wall

Dublin

So the weather in Dublin is as awesome as you hear about- rainy and windy and cold! I think in the summer it has to be nicer. On the bright side, it's very compact and easy to get around on foot and by bus and there are lots of places that have traditional music playing. People get very into it!
Trinity College


Cute Dublin Street

Christchurch Cathedral

Dublin Castle

Pub

The Cotswolds

So I had to drive to the Cotswolds, which was traumatizing because the interstate closed and then I had to take these tiny-ass roads with 400 roundabouts on therm. As if driving on the left isn't hard enough, they can't just have a regular stoplight? Plus, what's the point of a roundabout WITH a stoplight? Isn't the point not to have stoplights? Sigh. I think living in the Cotswolds could be great but not with all these stupid roundabouts.

Medicine Woes

I have found out that US Benadryl is only available as Nytol and it's behind the counter so when I run out of mine very shortly, I will need a sleep aid. I guess I do use it before I go to bed so my skin doesn't itch, but I don't think they want people to take it daily like I do.

What they call Benadryl here is actually Zyrtec in the US, making my previous statements about the unreasonableness of drug prices slightly incorrect because one tablet is around $.30, while in the US it's closer to $3 if you don't have insurance. That would be all fine and good if Zyrtec did squat for my itchy skin but I need Benadryl.

While I Appreciate the Thought--

I've been seeing these strange ads encouraging people to donate to charity over the holiday season. Except that the ads are ridiculous- and I just can't really get into them. They tell you that you should buy a llama or a toilet and that it won't be forgotten, especially when your child gets a gift saying that a farmer in Bolivia got a llama instead of little Johnny getting that new Wii game he always wanted.

City of London

St. Paul's Cathedral

Tower of London

Tower Bridge

Tower of London

View of City of London

Walk from Westminster Abbey to Kensington

NHS-related march

Parliament

Westminster Abbey
Buckingham Palace

Royal Albert Hall