Yeah, so there aren't many pictures of Margann and I together. I took a lot of pictures of her and declined to be photographed more often than not. In the end, when I look through the pictures I can't help but get the feeling that I took a cardboard cutout of Margann all through Italy and France and photographed it. Margann's annoyingly, consistently GOOD smile adds to the effect. Also, I'm convinced that my face is too expressive to be caught in a flattering light in a candid photo.
Ah yes. A picture says a thousand words. This one says "WTF are you doing now. Let's get this show on the road. It's hot and my feet stink so I'd prefer not to stand in the same place for too long."
This one says "Don't mind my and my dirty, stringy hair. I'm just going to spend half of this 5 hour train ride staring at our itinerary and fretting (internally) about whether or not we are indeed on the correct train while Margann watches Gossip Girl and practices her camera-ready smile."
"I WILL NOT regurgitate whatever this disgusting drink is that the guys at the table next to us bought us. Play it cool, Lauren." Seriously, it was soooooo grosss. We didn't want to be rude and not drink it, but, man, it was a struggle. When the wine ran out, we were fighting over the last crust of bread to use as a chaser. I may have somehow convinced Margann that a wilted piece of lettuce leftover from our salad would do the trick. I'm pretty sure that's called being tipsy at 2 in the afternoon.
"No time for lookin' hot... this gelato is about to melt dammit and I just can't bear to watch."
Well, now I am sorely, sorely tempted to post some bad pics of Margann but that would be mean. Okayyy maybe just one....
Hah. hah. HAH. Margann fell down and the first thing I did was take a picture. Keepin' it real. After this fall it took us about a year to get to our restaurant because she was walking so dang slow.
Let's get to some Flat Margann now shall we? (If you don't know what this "flat" business is all about - check this out.)
We waited over an hour to get into St. Peter's in Rome and it was totally worth it. It was COOL in there, in multiple ways. I have to mention this, because it really annoyed me at the time and still annoys me: there were so many people wandering around taking pictures with their iPad 2. You came to Europe and the only camera you brought is your freaking iPad???? I just can't get behind that. Those people looked stupid. End of story.
Oh hey, Margann. How's that audio guide treating you? Pretty well, I guess. We were a bit freaked out by the line to get into the Colosseum. It was definitely a couple hours long. We almost left when we realized there were two ticket lines: one to buy a basic entrance ticket and one to buy an entrance ticket with audio guide (for 5 Euros more, I think). The audio guide line had about 10 people in it. What the heck is up with that?!?! Granted the guide is pretty skimpy on the deets, but paying 5 euros more to skip the line was worth it.
Okayyy if your cute waiter offers to take your picture YOU LET HIM. That's just the way it is. This is Margann and me eating gelato for dinner on the Piazza Navona. Gelato for a meal was not an infrequent occurrence. I would say we were trying to save money, but this particular gelato cost about as much as your average dinner.
Chellloooooo cutest picture of Margann ever. We bought this hat off a street vendor for 10 euros. This is basically how it went "I'm going to buy this hat if it costs 10 euros or less. Excuse me vendor person, how much is this hat? 10 euros. OK!" We're American. Haggling is not in our blood.
Yes, yes Margann. We see you. We see you in your cute hat. We see you in your cute hat.. at one of the biggest equestrian events in Europe (FEI Nations Cup)??? 15 minutes before the Grand Prix?!? Tickets in hand??!?!?? We were walking through the Villa Borghese gardens, eating ice cream, when we stumbled upon this event completely randomly. It was crazy. There was screeching and purchasing of tickets with very little regard for the actual price of the tickets. Margann gave me the lowdown on all the (super famous) riders competing and we were thrilled to see Eric Lamaze (a Canadian) win on his amazing horse Hickstead.
We also saw a lady with some very see-through white pants, but that's neither here nor there.
That was Rome. It was sticky and hot, just like Rome is supposed to be.
We took train to Riomaggiore, one of the Cinque Terre in Italy. It was the nicest place we stayed on the trip and the place we stayed the longest - a happy coincidence. We spent our days eating, hiking between the towns, and praying for it not to rain. In general, the weather was sunny and warm - except for when it poured.
This is the view from our terrace, which we shared with a young couple from Australia who stayed in the room next to ours. I'm not sure if Australians are just louder and more obnoxious than Americans, but they seemed to outnumber every other kind of tourist. They were everywhere! We liked these particular Aussies though. This was the first time they had ever left Australia and they were on a 2 month around-the-world trip. Their only regret was starting in the US instead of going there toward the end of their trip. Apparently all they did was shop since things were so cheap and now they were having to lug everything they bought across multiple continents. Yeah. I felt really bad for them....right.
I'm looking up olive focaccia recipes right now... although it probably won't be the same when not eaten on a warm rock mere steps from a beautiful blue sea. It'll still be good though. Doesn't Margann look like an Italian with that scarf? Good work sista.
Cuteness overload-d-d-d-d.
So, after thinking the weather in Cinque Terre was bad, we got actual bad weather in Nice (and the rest of the Cote d'Azur). It pains me even now to think of it, because it was SO ANNOYING. We were planning on grabbing some serious beach-time, you know, a general state of "being outdoors", but no, it was pouring rain about 3/4 of the time we were there. Usually, rain does not bother me at all. However, being in the rain when you don't have a single item of appropriate clothing is not fun. We did have a flimsy umbrella, but it didn't help much when the rain was coming sideways.
On the first day of pouring rain we went to visit the Villa Kerylos in Beaulieu-sur-Mer (my favorite thing about Beaulieu-sur-Mer is that it was the basis for the fictional town Beaumont-sur-Mer, the setting of "Dirty Rotten Scoundrels", starring one verrryyyy good-looking Steve Martin). It was kinda fun to be in this villa (we were almost the only ones there) perched right on the coast, with the weather going crazy outside.
It was a good place to hole up for a few hours since the audio-guide was crazy in-depth. Even more detailed than the Colosseum audio guide, which is just wrong. I love historic houses though so I thoroughly enjoyed it.
We did manage to catch one full-on sunny day which we put to good use with a visit to the Rothschild Villa (also in Beaulieu-sur-Mer) and a few hours on the beach in Antibes.
The house and gardens were huuuuge and the audio-guide was, again, very detailed. By the end, we practically ran out of there with one thought on our minds: BEACH. We weren't disappointed. Antibes has a great little public beach with delicious food stands. We split a Nutella crepe, freshly fried french fries with ketchup and mayo, and a cheese panini. Then we went for a swim and took a nap. THAT'S HOW EVERY DAY SHOULD HAVE BEEN. I'm still bitter, can you tell?
On our last day, we kept out of the rain with a really, really long lunch at a creperie, finishing with a delicious cappuccino. I was trying to fit in, as one does, but it was not a good idea. I spent the rest of the night bouncing off the walls of our hostel room (yeah, you read that right, hoStel). Man, I cannot drink coffee. I think I freaked Margann out a little bit by how poorly I handled myself.
And then we went back to Dorridge! We had such a fun time together and are already planning another trip. The most amazing part of this trip was that NOTHING went wrong, ever. With all the planes, trains, and buses we took, I expected to have a minor meltdown at some point, but that never happened. Turns out Margann and I are the perfect travel partners. We can't wait for Kate to graduate from college so the three of us can go on a trip together. Woohoo!
PS I'm so tired now. Together we took over a thousand pictures so it took an eternity to pick a few to show you all. And in the middle of it Sascha ate an entire stick of butter that I had out on the counter to soften to make cookies. Bitch.
PPS Jeff has an actuarial exam on Thursday (well until TODAY he thought it was Friday...good one Jeff) so he has tomorrow and Wednesday off for last minute cramming. I think I might have to duct tape my mouth shut or something to keep from bothering him. Actually, I do need to check on him every so often. I'll say "Are you studying in there?" He'll say "Uhhhhh.... yeahh...." but what he's really "studying" are narrated gameplay videos of Company of Heroes. I completely understand though. His win/loss ratio at the moment is frankly embarrassing.
