Italy Day 1 – Arrival in Italy

As I fell asleep last night I remember thinking, “Did I pack all my cards – visa, driver's license, bank card?” Normally I would crawl out of bed to check right away, but I was so close to sleeping that I guess the thought became part of my dreams and I drifted off.

This morning I started walking to the train and when I was about a block away from the house I thought, “I'm forgetting something. I know I'm forgetting something.” It suddenly clicked and I patted down my pockets, quickly realizing that forgetting the cards wasn't a dream. I ran back to the house, raced up to my room, and I arrived at the train station very warm and out of breath but I made it there in time.

I've never caught the train to Gatwick Airport before and I've run into trouble with trains running late on other trips so I decided to get to the airport early, just in case anything went wrong. Nothing went wrong. In fact, it went so perfectly that the train arrived and I was checked in and through security in twenty minutes. Not what I had planned for so I had plenty of time to people-watch. The dolled-up girls, the backpacking guys, the businessmen with their cell phones glued to their ears, and the people whose apparel tells you what kind of vacation they're headed to: flip flops with tank tops or parkas with heavy boots.

When I arrived at the car rental counter I asked if there was any way I could get a better rate than what I booked online. Turns out there's a pay-with-cash option which saved me over 100 euros! I ended up with a silver Fiat Panda and I thought it was rather fitting! (My nickname since I was a toddler has been “Panda Bear”.)

My Travel Buddy.

It was interesting driving on the highway. I'm glad I read some articles online about Italian drivers before I came here – I was prepared for the flashing headlights and cars seemingly darting in and out of traffic. So far I'm fine with driving here, but my suspicions before I came here were correct; it's taking concerted effort for me to stay on the right side of the road. When I came to the first round-about I almost went through it clockwise, but another car was coming and I was able to catch my mistake by watching it drive around counter-clockwise. Driving the smaller country roads through little towns made me second-guess myself a few times... it's a weird feeling.

I arrived at Panicale (sort of pronounced pan-ee-call-eh) around 8:30 p.m. after driving through mostly pouring rain to get here. The town is surrounded by a wall and the instructions I was given indicated that I was supposed to park in a particular piazza (which turned out to be a street, not a big open area like I was expecting), and enter the town by walking through a particular gate, but I got completely lost driving around the town as I tried to find the right area. I finally drove past a big, arched gateway and I decided to grab a parking spot to walk closer and see if I could find some kind of label to see if it was the gate I was looking for. I got out of the car and noticed a sign which let me know I was in the correct piazza, but the gate didn't have a sign on it.


I walked through the archway and my jaw dropped. This place is like some crazy movie set. It doesn't seem real. A maze of winding, narrow streets begging to be explored and photographed.

The piazza where I parked and the archway where I entered Panicale.

A woman was walking down the road towards me and as I looked at her, every Italian word I've been trying to memorize emptied out of my head. I asked if she spoke English and held up the paper with instructions for reaching the cottage. I pointed to the name of the gate and I can't remember if I said something in Italian, Spanish, or English. She confirmed that this was the right gate, so I showed her the name of the street and she said something in Italian with a couple of English words and started walking me back up the hill, up a side stairway, a little ways along a side street, and pointed out the doorway to the place where I'm staying. She asked who will give me the key (knowing a bit of Spanish is definitely helping!) and I told her, so she took me up a little further to Claudia's house. She knocked on the door and then jabbered away with Claudia's mom, who gave me the key. I just wanted to laugh at how ridiculous I felt about not knowing the language. At least I remembered how to say “Thank you” in Italian.

The stairway to Number 27, the place where I'm staying.

The place where I'm staying is simple and clean with modern fixtures and brick floors with old beam ceilings. The windows are tall and narrow with solid inside shutters, glass shutters, and an outside set of slat shutters. Through the narrow front door there's an immediate flight of steps up to the living area with open kitchen and dining area, two large bedrooms, and bathroom. It was warm and cozy when I arrived and I feel incredibly spoiled to get to stay here.

Number 27 is the middle doorway.

I'm Finally Going to Europe!

I'm still a bit nervous about going to Italy tomorrow, but there's definitely a hefty dose of excitement mixed in. I never imagined my first trip to Europe would be alone, but I'm up for the challenges and adventures that go along with solo travel. At least that's what I say now...!

My Italian is nonexistent, but Jon dug through his massive CD collection a couple of days ago and discovered that he has a nine disc set which claims to be able to teach Italian in a week! I find it easier to learn by seeing and hearing the words, but I've copied the complete series onto my iPod and I'll be listening intently at the airport, on the plane, and every spare minute in Italy. I figure I might as well give it a try!

For those concerned about my safety, I'm going to text Ann, the woman I live with in Hook, every night when I return to the cottage and my parents are planning to call once or twice. I hope to get internet access in the little town where I'll be staying so you might get blog updates while I'm away. If not, I'll be back in Hook on February 7 and blog updates will follow quickly or I know I'll get loving death threats from a few of you.

Another Rainy Day in London

Ann arranged to meet a friend in London today to visit the Victoria & Albert Museum of Childhood and invited me to come along. We spent a couple of hours wandering around the museum and then we parted company; Ann and her friend to go out for lunch and me to wander around on my own. We agreed to meet up at Waterloo station at 5:00 to return to Hook.

The museum was interesting, but Ann and I discussed it on the train on the way home and came up with plenty of ways to make it more interesting. Our ideas would probably cost a fortune, but we thought they were good ideas! The museum just didn't seem as fun or interactive as it could have been, although it was a lot of fun to see all the old toys.

My favourite display was about a family with five children who had a collection of teddy bears. They named them, took photos of them, drew pictures of them, made a scrapbook about them, and took them on vacation with the family. I loved the variety of the bears, the sweet names they gave them, and the copious amount of love showered on the bears. Reminded me of my cousin, Christa, and "Teddy".

My favourite display at the museum.
(The photo hanging on the wall isn't connected to the family.)

There was a selection of dolls made out of wax. Creepiest things ever!

Doll with a wax face.

An original Mickey Mouse toy.

Action Man.

Lindsay, you're right - clowns are horrifyingly creepy.

I really wanted to play with this magnetic hair toy.

The white dress: 1812-1815
The blue dress: 1855

There were several dolls with shifty eyes.
Confused me and amused me.

There were quite a few doll's houses - amazing amount of detail.

More museum photos: Link Here

When I left the museum I caught the tube to St. Paul's Cathedral (probably most well-known back home as the location of Prince Charles and Lady Diana's wedding). I want to go back again later as you can pay to go inside and gain access to the tower to get an aerial view of London, but the tower is closed for renovations until March.

As an aside, I still hate riding buses (How am I supposed to know when to get off the bus if I've never been in that part of town before? Why can't each stop be posted on a screen like on the train? Is there some trick I don't know about?) but I love riding on the tube. The first description that comes to mind is that it's like being inside a video game. Must be something about the winding tunnels and the bright colours used to indicate the different lines.

St. Paul's Cathedral.

St. Paul's Cathedral.

I walked from St. Paul's Cathedral down towards the river and followed the walkway along the River Thames toward Tower Bridge. I passed a large building with fabulous wind vanes with fish on top. As I was shooting a photo, a man who had just walked past called out, "That's the old fish market. It's now down on the other side of the river." I was surprised to get the quick history lesson and I really appreciated the information as it gave me an opportunity to look it up and find out more about the site when I got home. It's called Old Billingsgate Market.

Aha! Something just clicked!

From Kensington to Billingsgate
One hears the restless cries!
From ev'ry corner of the land:
'Womankind, arise!'
- from the song Sister Suffragette, in Mary Poppins

Old Billingsgate Market weather vane.

One of the things I really wanted to do while living here was view and photograph the iconic image of the Tower Bridge.

Me and Tower Bridge.
No, it's not called London Bridge (London Bridge is just a normal, boring, flat bridge).

Tower Bridge.

I love taking a minute to stop walking, look up, and check out the details.

A view from Tower Bridge of the Tower of London (it's that whole castle-looking area) near the north end of the bridge. A few hours are needed to visit the site so I'm saving it for another day, though I enjoyed walking in front of it along the Thames. Anybody know what the big bullet-shaped building is?

Tower of London.

Tower Bridge.
I really wanted to jump the fence and get a shot right from the middle of the street, but the bridge is too busy so I had to be content with just leaning over the railing.

As I was walking across the bridge the sun was setting, creating a beautiful pink sky reflecting on the glass buildings. I had one of those moments that hits me and makes me think, "I can't believe I'm really living here." I took a few minutes to lean on the railing and just be still and appreciate where I am in life. Not think ahead to where I want to be some day... just appreciate where God has put me now. I need to do that more often.


I arrived at the train station early so I decided to finally succumb to my ongoing temptation to hand over way too much cash and buy a Tazo Chai Latte at Starbucks.

A delicious Tazo Chai Latte with vanilla, cinnamon, and chocolate sprinkled on top.

Creative Driving Lesson

I won't have internet access at the cottage in Italy so I'm busy doing research and copying information off the internet to help me plan my travels each day. I just stumbled on this creative idea to develop the necessary skills to drive in Italy:

"If you do not have several years of experience driving in heavy, fast, unpredictable traffic, try this: get a mongoose and a cobra. Put them in your car. Go driving. After a few short weeks, if you survive, you will have the required reflexes and awareness. Be sure you use the mongoose and cobra training aides in a car that is not an automatic. An abundance of good maps is also critical. You will still get lost! It will be worse if you have no maps."