i will begin with london

so i flew from basel to london gatwick on the 28th...of may!

got in around 930 and a semi drunk louis met me at london bridge station and we went to a pub but they stopped serving at 11? what the heck was that all about? either way instead we went back to his house over near canning town....canary wharf....

the weather was excellent.

next day we got up and went out to the city proper. my eyes were burning like crazy. i never really have allergies but this really felt like allergies! went to boots and got myself some allergy medication that helped greatly. went to the natural history museum which was freaking awesome then on over to the geology museum where i felt what it would be like to be in an earthquake, like a really big one! they also had an escalator that went into the center of earth!

after this we headed over to the V and A museum translated to the victoria and albert museum. this was super giant and cool. i didn't go the last time i was there so i was glad for it. so many neat arts and crafts....tombs....sculptures....and fashion!

i especially enjoyed the wedding dress mannequins without heads.

after this we went to hang with some of louis's friends. two that i remember are jerry and bara. super irish and way into soccer. we had many beers, played some music and went to this cool little bar. the fellas wanted to keep going out and meesh was plum pooped. besides i think one of their friends got mad at me for untucking his tee shirt. mike and dave will appreciate this about my aversion to men with tucked in tee's. anyhoo, louis and i stayed and had another drink then went over to brick lane. i got some bagels! it's been so long since i have had a bagel!

the counter person called me sir. i know i have short hair. so now i wear my hair a bit differently so as to not be confused with the males.

either way it was delightful with salt meat of some kind...is that english? i think so. then off to get some curry dinner. so delightful!

we took a cab home and promptly passed out!

next day we walked the entire thames from one end of london to the other end stopping at the tate british museum which i had also not been to. had some fish and chips and a couple beers. got some beverages and went back to relax for the rest of the evening. good times.

the tube the DLR and many other rail lines were totally fucked the whole weekend. my trip back to the airport should have really taken that long...and it would have should i have opted for going to the faringdon station to take the slow train to gatwick. instead i sucked it up and went to victoria station strait from west ham to get the gatwick express for 16 pounds!

was at airport a bit.....then i flew to rome. sweet delicious rome.

london was a great start to the trip. i loved hearing all english again...not that i am biased against hearing swiss german all the time but it was genuinely pleasing to my ears and my brain to simply order or talk to people in strait old english!

had my photo taken with a guard at westminster....also went to the ICA.....very cool contempo place but the exhibit was slightly boring. just videos. of men shaving. annoyingly boring.

oh and on my way out of basel airport there is a passport control because the airport is in france and in switzerland. i realized that my passport stamp from entry was past the 90 day visitor visa. so the man said simply 'where do you live?' and i said 'basel' and then showed him my diplomatic work visa to which he smiled and thanked me letting me go to the gate.

but upon entering london i was in for things i forgot about.....i didn't realize that when entering london i had to fill out the immigration card because i am not EU. so when i was done filling it out i asked this dude what line i was supposed to go in and he said 'where are you from' and i said 'us' and he said the line was out the door and back on the plane to the US. clearly US isn't all that hunky dorey to everyone still eh? i said that obama was president now and that he should really watch his mouth. that's me being confrontational...i said it jokingly and he laughed...then pointed to where i was supposed to go.

upon reaching the not so happy english lady at immigration i was informed that i could very well be kicked out of england because i didn't have the address where i was staying. i had the phone number for louis but i never even thought to get his addy.

then she asked 'if i was to come into the US without an address would you let me in?'
i said 'i dunno i lived in texas so anyone really is welcome down there'
i had to give her louis's phone number and she stamped me on into england. phew!

so on the flight to italy i asked the stewardess for an immigration card thinking this was going to be the norm because i am not an EU citizen. she just laughed and said in italy they didn't care who came into their country. meesh learns many things.

sure enough the guy didn't even look at me nor ask what i was doing there.

ok...i will get to italy. i feel like i want to go backwards. the memories i have of rome are in photos but the memories of canavese are just in my mind. i ate raw veal with walnut oil, this other sliced veal with this cheese cream sauce made of anchovies, capers and tuna....this grass polents, grass dish with bread.....a sort of grass quiche....lemonchetta (spelled horribly wrong) for the final dish....beef soaked in white wine for a day with potatoes.....wine from the region.

i am far more partial now to northern italy. being in lugano in southern switzerland is why....the air was fresh, mountains....green...vineyards.....beauty.

i had a good time there.