qui per un breve periodo

Yes, it was beautiful, but oh was it stinky. Similar to how New York (city) gets in the summer: not unbearable, but noticeable. Katherine and I arrived in Paris on Thursday evening, after one last glorious day in London (we had sunshine). We spent our last hours in England brushing up on Sir John Soane, English architect and avid collector of relics of antiquity. We toured his home/museum as well as the Bank of England, which he designed in the 1800s, and which was, sadly, demolished in 1925.

After crossing the Channel via chunnel, we arrived in Paris and met up with several classmates. We stayed in our friend Sai’s aunt’s home, south of Paris in what I guess you would call a suburb, though it is nothing like what we know as suburbs in the US. It was a great location that was quiet and homey in the evenings.

Katherine and I spent 4 days in Paris with our friends, seeing most everything by foot, and spending all day, every day, walking. My feet are still in recovery. I won’t go into much detail- we saw all the standard things tourists in Paris see- but my favorite moments were two evenings. One night for dinner we grabbed sandwiches and sat in front of the Pompidou Centre, watching the building change from dusk to sunset to dark. The next night was similar, but this time we sat along the River Seine with Notre Dame cathedral in front of us. Beautiful.

So last night we packed up our belongings, again, and hauled our way to the train station for a night train to Florence. We met another Florence student from California in our car, as well as an Italian woman our age who spoke fantastic English. The four of us hung out a while between the dining car (which we got kicked out of), an empty first class cabin (which we also got kicked out of), and the snack car. Finally we tried to get some sleep, and at 8:00 we stepped off the train into what will be out “home town” for the next 4 months.

I can’t wait to tell you about our apartment here… it is beautiful, beyond what I could have imagined! But, I will save that for another post, after I take pictures (so as to make you all mad with jealousy!!!).

I am so happy to finally be here and be settled. More to come…