This song is currently one I listen to almost every day.  Some days, I hear it more than once (or twice).  I think that we'll sing it in Heaven one day. I wish we sang it at my church.  Except, I think it's exceedingly difficult to actually sing.  Thankfully, in my head I sing just like her. 

"The problem is not that economists are unreasonable people, it's that they're evil people." 

Read the context here.

My title might tip you off just a little bit, but I just got back from a fabulous trip to Charleston, South Carolina.  Everyone I've ever known to have lived in Charleston will sing its praises until he is blue in the face, and I get it.  It's a fantastic place to visit, and I could imagine it would be a nice place to live too. 

Some friends from DC got married there this weekend, and I had a perfectly delightful weekend traipsing around the streets lined with fun, fancy, and quirky shops, wandering through the open air market with the ladies making sea grass baskets and young men making sea grass roses, walking along the waterfront, all while in the company of some of my dearest friends.  The wedding was beautiful, full of joy, and the bride and groom were beaming.  The reception gave us the chance to boogie the night away, and we learned that Yankees (and some southerners) can't square dance.  My group of 8 was so bad they tried to give us remedial help.  We might not have been the best students...  It was a lot of fun to catch up with friends from my grad school days, and it was interesting to see that about half of us had moved away from DC over the past 3 years (mostly to the south.  go figure. I certainly didn't think it's where I'd end up.)

If you haven't made it to Charleston, I highly, highly recommend it.  It's a walkable city, and is a blast to wander through.  I had crab cakes (blue crab!) at Hymans, a famous seafood restaurant there, and they rivaled my Maryland's.  They weren't better than my favorite Md version, but they were good enough to get, and from this native, that is a very big thing. 

If I can ever figure out how to post pictures on this blog, I will put a few up (or link to my snapfish page at the least) to show you just why I love it.  Rainbow row, Battery Park, Waterfront Park, Market Street, King Street, Meeting Street... I'm telling you, if you're looking for a girls' getaway, this is your place.  (I'm not sure how boys would feel about it).

Next trip on the docket: Home for the holidays at the end of the month.  I can't believe it's December!

I spent most of the past 2 weeks away from home, first for work, then for holiday travel. 

My first work trip was to Atlanta.  I liked Atlanta, but was reminded why I like living in a small city: traffic makes life less enjoyable.  The nice part was I could walk to my conference from my hotel, via a quick jaunt through Centennial Park.  Pretty nice, eh.  The downside of this trip: A water main break left my hotel without water for 12 hours.  No water on a work trip is no fun.  Imagine being unable to shower, flush, or washing your face with bottled water.  I knew there was a reason I didn't think camping sounded fun.  The kind people at Marriott comped us with ... oh wait, they didn't comp us anything, they just offered free bottled water. What the crap.  I smell a free night, Marriott!

My second work trip was to New Orleans.  I have a soft spot for all the city went through with Katrina, and I found some hilarious t-shirts while there (no, I didn't buy them) with creative disdain for FEMA.  That said, I found the city largely repulsive.  It didn't help that my first morning, I was greeted in my bathroom by 2 Southern-sized cockroaches.  I knew I was a deep south resident by my reaction-- a scoff, instead of the scream it would have elicited last year!  I was in the French Quarter and Garden Quarter, and felt that whenever I left the conference site, I was surrounded by people with hangovers or those working on getting hangovers, and all were disheveled.  There were strip joints everywhere, and walking down Bourbon Street I actually commented to a colleague that I didn't realize some of the things advertised there were legal.  It reminded me of the red light districts I had seen in Europe.  The streets smelled like a combination of puke and pee.  Made me want to yammy (and reminded me of Prague's stench).  That said, the architecture was beautiful, and reminded me of France (duh).  The waterfront was nice, except for the fact that we happened upon some teenagers smoking the ganja, out in the open.  What a city.  Cafe du Monde, famous place for coffee and bignettes (sp?) did not disappoint, at least.  If you're thinking of a nice place to relax, I don't think this is the city for you.  I'm heading back in January for another work conference, and I'm hoping that if I can find my way to a jazz club, I'll have an improved opinion of the place. Adding to my frustration with the city was the unexpected 6 hours I spent at the airport.  My plane was supposed to depart at 7:20 pm, but weather problems in Texas had us leaving at 10:30 pm.  I was exhausted, ready to be celebrating the holiday, and couldn't believe they kept pushing our flight back. I have a new pet peeve-- airports that shut down before the last flight departs.  All the food stands and magazine places shut down around 7 or 8, leaving us without anything but some vending machines until 10:30. 

My last trip was back to Atlanta, for Thanksgiving with 3 of 4 siblings.  It was too bad #4 couldn't make it with her family, but I am looking forward to lots of quality time with her at Christmas.  Time with the family was fun, the obligatory sibling spats and disagreements included.  I slept on the couch, which worked out better than I thought it would.  I think my conference exhaustion might have helped some. Has anyone seen Dan in Real Life? 

The thought that we're hitting December this weekend is alarming.  I'm off to Charleston for a wedding this weekend, so perhaps I'll post again after that.  I loved Charleston the first time I visited, and I'm looking forward to a return visit (with a friend who lived there for a bit, to boot!).  I'm hoping it erases the filth of NOLA from my mind.

I had a morning flight from hometown to current town this morning.  I had a few realizations while waiting:

1) I like living in a smaller city.  I can get to the airport 1 hour before departure, and still have time to relax before boarding.  Today, in big-city-hometown airport, I got there 1 hour and 45 minutes before departure, and proceeded to stand in a very long check-in line (thanks to liquid limitations, I can't go carry-on only), then a long security line, then a long Starbucks line, and boarded my plane without much time to catch my breath.  Ugh.

2) I am a trash talker at heart.  This morning, there were several people in Red Sox gear at the airport, kids and adults alike.  Last night, my hometown team (whom I've admittedly NOT followed for 5 years now) beat them in 10 innings.  I wanted to taunt the Bosox fans for this outcome.  Why?  Don't know.  But I had to exert extreme amounts of willpower to refrain.

3) SWA needs to hire some workers who know their alphabet.  When I checked in, the guy helping me told me I was in gate A5.  The screen had said B5, so I questioned it, and he double-checked, and reassured me it was, in fact, A5.  I walk to A5, and lo and behold, NOT my gate.  It was... B5.  I was annoyed (see point 1).

4) Pre-coffee, on 5 hours of sleep, = I felt angry all morning.  I was mildly amused at this, but didn't care enough to change. I think I scowled the entire time I was waiting in all these lines.  I like to think I'm a morning person, but days like today make me question that.  I felt a lot like the Mandy Moore character in Saved! when she says "I am full of the love of Christ" then chucks a Bible at a girl. 

5) Arriving back to my current city made me realize that I really like it here, despite its 100-degree Augusts.  Feels like home.  (I think that's an album, isn't it?)

6) I love my family.  I love and adore my nieces.  They are instant pick-me-ups. 

7) My alma mater was just named a Hottest school by MSNBC, for its outdoors options.  Unfortunately, getting a solid liberal arts education was not a part of that... Hmm.  Check out the rest of the list yourself.

Okay, so this was officially my Europe travel blog, but I am thinking I might post occassionally about things in life that I find exceedingly funny.  Depending on how well you know me, you may already know that this might extend to more things than it would for a typical person.  What can you do. 

We arrived in Rome by early afternoon, and drove straight to the airport to leave the car.  From that point on, we were dependent on Rome's train system to get us from point A to point B.  The hotel, arranged through my conference, was nicer than the others we had been staying in.  It was nice, because it was only about 10 minutes walking to the conference.  We made it to the Colosseum that first afternoon, and learned a lot about the events that happened there so long ago. There were labryinth-like halls beneath the floor, and they would surprise the gladiators by popping new animals up through a system of pulleys... I can't imagine the brutality that took place there in the name of entertainment. 

We had dinner at a pizza place along the road, and it was quite good.  We also tried the Italian favorite, Limoncello.  It's good.  And strong.  First taste-- tastes like burning.  But, it has a nice flavor.  Just remember, kids, it's strong. 

On my only full day of sightseeing in Rome, we headed to the Vatican.  After only 1 hour in line, we made it into the Vatican city walls.  What an impressive, awe-inspiring display.  The museums were stupendous.  There were so many paintings, and the best collection of sculptures I saw in Europe.  I got to see the unequalled Sistine Chapel.  I think my first words in there were "Oh my, wow."  And second, came "I thought it would be bigger than this."  I could have stayed there all day.   There was so much going on, on the walls, the ceiling, all over.  I feel like I only saw a fraction of it, and we were in there for a very long time.  There's a nice picture of me in the newest group of me, gazing at the ceiling.  Thank P for that one. 

Thanks to the quick thinking of P and B, we blended into a tour group to get to St. Peter's cathedral the 'back way', without waiting in line at all.  St. Peter's was so impressive, and St. Peter's throne was one of my favorite parts of the church.  Truly awe-inspiring.  After an overpriced lunch in the city walls, we headed back to St. Peter's to climb hundreds more steps, to the very top.  It was by far the most claustrophobic of the climbs, since the walls were actually slanted at one point, and given my height, I had to bend at the waist to make it work.  Deep breaths, and thinking of a happy place got me through there.  :)  Again, it was totally worth the view.  Some of my favorite photos from the trip are from the top of St. Peter's.  I learned something new while waiting in line (and nearly slayed P in embarrassment), when he explained the reason there were so many paintings of Jesus handing a key to someone was that Peter is considered the father of the Catholic church.  A good way to embarrass P: announce loudly, in the Vatican, in line for St. Peter's, "So, is Peter, like, important to Catholics or something?"  Yeah, I wasn't even trying.  Unfortunately, I had to leave the guys at this point to get to the opening night reception at the conference. 

The conference-- I was pleasantly surprised to run into a second friend from grad school at the cocktail hour.  I knew a friend, B, who now lives in Shanghai, would be there.  But, R, who lives in Chile, was there too!  It was great to catch up with these old friends, and good to see some friendly faces.  I'm pretty new to this area of economics, and so haven't built up many contacts in the field. 

The conference was fantastic.  I learned a lot about this new field of mine, and made some new friends.  I also think I made some great connections, and hope that I can find new research tracks with these new colleagues.  It was tough to not know many people there, and I was bummed that I couldn't join P and B for more sight seeing, but this transition back to work was helpful in getting me back to thinking about research. 

After long, full days of economics, on the Sunday I flew back to Germany, P and I (B had to catch an early-morning flight) went to see the Trevi Fountain, Spanish Steps, and Pantheon (or is it Parthenon?).  I think it was P's 4th trip, but he humored me by taking me there. 

On the train ride to the airport, I made an Italian enemy.   P and I jumped on the train, and the only seats that would accommodate our luggage were across the aisle from each other, and each of us sat in a four-seat row with another person.  I got my luggage out of the aisle, and tried to slip into my seat.  I misjudged the distance between the arm and the seat, and ended up sitting like I was sitting in an inner tube, butt on the seat, and feet hanging over the arm.  The woman in my row was clearly NOT amused, and I think P laughed for the first 10 minutes we were on the train, both at this woman's frustration, and my helpless embarrassment.  I was trying not to laugh, since I figured that would only further piss her off, but I had no options!  Separate terminals led to us parting ways, and it was the end of an unforgettable Italian adventure. 

I spent the night in a very sketchy German hotel that smelled like a Chinese restaurant.  No, I'm not being un-PC-- the hotel was run by a Chinese restaurant that was next door.  I had dinner at the only restaurant in the town that took credit cards, and it was the best German food I had.  I was happy to get on the plane to come home in the morning, and the rest, you've already seen!

I hope you got some enjoyment from following my trip.  :)

The next day, we headed for Siena, via Pisa.  I've already written a bit about Pisa.  We enjoyed laughing at the tourists, then I embarrassed the boys by insisting on my own Pisa photo.  Hey, when in Pisa..

We then continued on to Siena, in temperatures well into the nineties.  Thankfully, our trusty VW Golf had good a/c.  Our hotel in Siena was another on the sketchy side, but served its purpose.  One thing we noticed-- all the hotels in Italy have emergency cords in the bathrooms, I suppose in case you have a need to summon assistance.  I found it funny, because often the strings would only be reached if you were standing.  Hopefully they are not for old people falling down.  We had a nice dinner in Siena in the main piazza, after a failed attempt to find a restaurant recommended by our hotel.  In fact, I'd say it was my third favorite meal.  About the time P said "I feel like a bird is going to poop on me" a nice plop announced some bird poop plopping on our table.  Oh yeah.  It managed to miss all food and drink, thankfully.  We had some nice Chianti while in the Chianti region.  When we got back to the car, we realized that none of us knew the name of our hotel, nor the name of the street it was on.  After a few minutes of increased concern (and a wrong turn or 4), P discovered the "history" setting on Vickie, and we got back.  It was a scary moment, and as my family knows, I was about 5 minutes away from car sickness.  That magic word, "lost," sends me there faster than Amy Grant music or talk radio. 

The next day involved a full day trek to Florence.  We arrived with little excitement, and made our way to P's #1 pick for that stop, the Ufizzi Museum.  We stood in a very long line for 2 hours, but it was totally worth it.  The museum was great, and after several hours of perusing the masters' works, we headed to a cafe for a seat and some food.  As it started to rain, I was impressed with the entrepeneurship of the street vendors.  While 5 minutes before, there were no umbrellas around, within 2 minutes of the rain starting, every illegal vendor had umbrellas for sale for anywhere from 5-10 euros.  I decided to test their reservation prices, and offered 1 euro.  I ended up getting an umbrella for 2 euros, and P bet me it would be broken.  And... he won.  The umbrella was broken (one of the splines), but it worked just fine at keeping me dry.  I paid more for my cappucino at lunch, so no complaints here.  Plus, I had no qualms about leaving it in the hotel in Rome at the end of the trip.  We toured the Duomo.  Since I loved steps so much, we decided to climb to the very top of the Duomo, a trek that was well worth the effort.  The painting on the ceiling of the dome was intriguing, a depiction of heaven and hell.  Even though hell took up only 1/3 of the painting, it was overwhelming when looking at the art.  The devil depicted in the painting was a figure from the worst nightmare. After enjoying the impressive views of Florence, we headed back down, and were treated to a music practice in the Duomo.  The music was beautiful, old, high church music, and it was surreal and moving to experience that. 

After that, we killed some time walking around before heading to our big restaurant destination of the trip.  It was everything we hoped it would be.  We went all out, and practically had to roll out of there.  They bring complementary champagne to the table, and a huge platter of delicious appetizers.  We ended up sitting next to a couple that, in a small world moment, lives in Chestertown, Maryland!  The meal was incredible, the people friendly, and the chef came out several times to check on each table. What an experience!  We headed back to Siena for the night, and left in the morning for Rome.

Hello again-

I promised to fill in a few of the holes on my blog after I got back.  I figure better late than never... I know some of these stories have come up in conversations I've had, but I haven't been able to touch base with all of you, so here we go.  I will give a very deserved shout out to GPS car systems.  Without "Vickie" (I don't know, she was named when they picked me up in Marseille), we would have been lost.  Heck, we had moments of confusion even with her!  The boys enjoyed switching up the accent, but I think Australian Vickie guided us most often.

Lunch in San Remo was a blast.  In the newest pictures (from P's and B's cameras), you'll see a great shot with our waiter, our new friend.  He gave us great advice on what to order, and was super friendly.  Language issues led us to accidentally order mussels, but for those of us who tried them for the first time, they were pretty good.  Not something I'd order again (at least on purpose!) but when in Italy...

In the Cinque Terre at last, we had dinner our first night in that area in what I call Town 1 (the southernmost town), Riomaggiore.  It was fun meal, and I, for one, was ecstatic to be there.  Since our full day in the 5 Terre was Sunday, we had two options for a morning train from La Spezia to Riomaggiore-- 8 am or 10 am.  Since the trail would take 3-4 hours, we opted for 8 am.  After a late night of Taboo, wegot an early start, and were on the trail by 8:15 am. 

Side story-- I feel a need to explain my outfit for the Cinque Terre trail day.  Given my heavy baggage, in Helsinki I made an unfortunately decision to mail back ALL my t-shirts.  This was a good decision, until I hit this point in the trip.  So, on hiking day, I had few options.  Hence, the outfit.  The 'funny' picture titles correspond to ribbing I had to take all day for my coach outfit.  What can I say...Back to the story.

The trail from Riomaggiore to Corniglia (Town 2) was a very pleasnant, easy 20-minute stroll.  This gave me a false sense of ease for the other hikes.  The walk was incredibly beautiful, and the picutres I have from this day are my absolute favorites.  The second walk (Corniglia to Manorola) was about an hour, and we found a great cove in there to rest.  There were lots of steps, both up and down, along the way.  That's what happens when you hike by the water, along cliffs.  It was beautiful, it was worth it, but it was definitely difficult!  The third leg, from Manorola to Vernazza, was about an hour and a half.  That proved tough for me; the continuing summer cold didn't help.  To explain one of the picture's captions, at one point of this up the steps-down the steps-up the steps tiring sequence, I made a comment expressing frustration, that involved Rick Steves (the guy who wrote the guidebook that tipped me off to this paradise).  It was especially amusing, because as I muttered this phrase, we walked by a few other hikers who knew exactly what I was talking about, and laughed at me.  It was funny.  (maybe you had to be there...).  This phrase became a catchphrase for the trip, whenever we were faced with a lot of steps.  That phrase, and the boys liked to kid me whenever we had the opportunity to climb more steps "Look, S, more steps!  Just like you wanted." 

After making it to the 4th town of Vernazza around noon, we hopped on a train to Monterosso for lunch and a dip in the sea.  Here, I also had my first experience with a non-Western toilet.  In case you're not familiar, this means there is a hole in the ground and two foot indentations on either side.  Yeah.  So the picture you see in the newest collection is my victorious emergence of this, uh, "incredible" experience.  It was great to sit down, and we had another tasty seaside lunch.  Then, after a little time on the beach, the other girls had to take off.  P, B and I walked around Monterosso a bit, then found a quiet spot on the grounds of a convent to rest for a bit: up a LOT of steps, at the top of a hill.  After a much needed rest, we headed back to Vernazza for dinner.  We had another nice dinner on the top of a hill, and headed back full and exhausted. 

Howdy.  I am finally getting around to posting my pictures from Madrid, Marseille, and the many Italy adventures.  I know there are many here, but trust me once again when I tell you the number posted is a fraction of those actually taken.  I think the Cinque Terre pictures are the most beautiful, but you're probably not surprised by that, since I raved so much about that part of the trip.  There are a lot of pictures in that bunch, and significantly fewer in the others.  So pace yourself, pour a cup of coffee or wine, and I hope you enjoy!  I have many fond memories as I look over them.  It seems like it was a dream to be able to have done the trip, and I've only been home for 2 days!

Pictures (in chronological order):

London, last day

Madrid (two separate links)
Day 1
Day 2

Marseille

San Remo and La Spezia, and a glimpse of Cinque Terre

Cinque Terre

Pisa and Siena

Florence

Rome (2 links)
Colosseum, Spanish Steps, Trevi Fountain
Vatican

I'll hopefully be posting the rest of the updates by the end of the week.  I will be getting some more pictures from P and B in the next week or so.  There are some group shots they have that I don't, so I'll probably post a few of those when they arrive (by mail on CD).

Happy birthday Holly!!!!!