Safely Home from a Month in England - France - Italy

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I got up early this morning - 4 AM - but my body still thinks it is in Rome at 10 AM. So here is a nice jet-lagged review of the past month.

While Lulu was busy teaching her class for FSU - I was free to roam at my leisure. The last week Lulu and I spent alone in Italy. What a great time we had. We visited Dr. Bill Woodyard and his classes at the FSU Study Center in Florence.

It started out with visiting the typical tourist spots in London - Westminster Abbey - Parliament - Big Bend - Buckingham Palace and the British Museum. Add to that - side trips to Wimbledon - the White Cliffs of Dover - Oxford - Stonehenge - and Salisbury. Throw in shows - Billy Elliot and Mamma Mia - several nice drinks and suppers at the pubs - and visits to Hyde Park - Saint James Park and Regents Park. The two weeks in London flew by way to fast.

A Eurostar train through the Chunnel had us in Paris in two hours. Paris was way too busy celebrating Bastille Day - crowds were bad in the Louvre - Versailles - and the Bastille Day parade. A train to Epernay and the Champagne District was a beautiful quite pause to enjoy the other France. A trip up the Eiffel Tower - a walk through Notre Dame Cathedral - a boat trip along the Seine were magically followed by a French dinner with music and singing completed Lulu's class's time and we wished them a safe trip back home.

After having to be "on duty" for 3 weeks - Lulu and I boarded a train for Chamonix in the French Alps. We had 8 day train passes - and planned to get our money's worth out of them. After the cable car ride up Mount Blanc - it took 10 hours of trains to get through the Alps to Italy. After getting over the hump - we cruised on trains to Milan - Pontedera -Pisa - Livorna - Florence and Rome. Time ran out before we ever got to Venice - but by yesterday - we were ready to come home.

Walking through the ruins in Rome by sunset is incredible. Your imagination runs wild to think that civilized people lived in these building over 2000 years ago. People entered the Colosseum - with ticket - sat in superboxes - watched people fight to their death. Roads built before Christ are still being used.

I have strange tastes. Things I enjoyed best were - the Billy Elliot Show - the Vespa Museum at the factory - the haunting feelings of the Colosseum - the simplicity of Stonehenge - and the Chapel on the hill in Florence form the movie "Obsession." I just couldn't pass up a photo shot of a different car - motor scooter - electric vehicle - or bicycle. It is always fun to see the many different people - the clothes they were - what they eat - and how they conserve energy. The cost of gasoline is over $7.00 a gallon and electricity is equally expensive. The incentive to save fuel/MONEY - has produced many simple elegant solutions on way to save. Italians always hang their clothes out in the warm dry air. French showers have their own little water heaters in them. London offers incentives to driving electric cars like - free parking - free charging - lower license and insurance fees - and they waive the congestion fee in town. People pay less for electricity at night to put their power plants to more efficient use.

But most of all - I am amazed that I have the time - health - and money to be able to do this. Without Lulu's job - this would be impossible. After this amazing month - I am in awe of how well Lulu does her work - enjoys being with her students so much - and loves what she is doing. It is so much fun seeing the students taking advantage of this wonderful opportunity.