London, Rome, Venice, Paris!

We left SF Airport on Jul 28 5 PM PST and reached London Heathrow on Jul 29th 2 PM GMT (via Air Canada) with our backpacks (the best decision ever!) After freshening up in my brother’s place in Belsize Road, where we stayed for the visit, we headed on to Primrose Hill. This is a park which connects to the famous Regents park. Rolling green park with a wonderful skyline! I haven’t seen a park like this in SF - hardly crowded; mind you, it was a Friday evening! We just sat there for a long time, drinking in the evening sun and just staring at the beautiful view of London until it was time to get back for dinner.

The following words from William Blake were etched on top of the hill:I have conversed with the spiritual sun. I saw him on Primrose Hill

As I spied Windsor castle from our car, the next day, I felt transported back in time. The feeling increased as I witnessed the ‘Change of guards’ marching right before the castle, where tourists thronged to get a video of this centuries old practice. Our guided tour on the castle grounds took us to various points of interest in the castle -

• State Rooms for the Monarch’s residence, containing an amazing Waterloo Chamber with the largest carpet in the world
• Queen Mary's Doll House - on seeing this, I understood the meaning of the term ‘live like a Princess’!
• China Museum - hundreds of sets of China for every occasion
• St George’s Chapel - containing the tombs of many royals

It was amazing to see the interiors of the castle but more than the splendor, the air of ancient-ness was overwhelming. To learn about the Order of the Garter(how the name came to be) and the early beginnings of the castle from the time of William the Conqueror, on the grounds was an enriching experience to say the least!

I should call out the creamy Jersey cow ice cream that I had there too!

Hit by jet lag on the way back, we skipped Wimbledon to tomorrow and hit the streets of Soho and Oxford circus. After some shopping, we went to a cafe - L’eto Cafe and I couldn’t resist ordering 4 mini cakes. The one that took the cake was called dulce de leche cake - an unbelievingly moist cake that beat my favorite so far, tres le ches cake (a Mexican cake)!

We took the tube to Wimbledon Park and walked a solid half hour to the famous Wimbledon tennis (All Englands Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club). In the museum, I learnt that tennis was invented in England and became famous due to a broken croquet machine. The story goes that to raise funds to fix the machine, a small championship of the new lawn tennis game was held (tickets purchased at 12 shillings!). The rest, as they say is history! I’m not much of a tennis fan, but even I could appreciate the growth of this classy game from its small beginnings.

The guided tour was another eye opener - from the way the grass (100% rye) is grown and maintained to the newsrooms where the stars give the press interviews. Sitting in one of the seats of well covered centre court, I could feel the emotional sensation of thousands of fans cheering their champs!

Probably one of the best part of my London stay - cycling in the park and streets! We started in Hyde Park and then went to the adjoining Kensington Gardens. Although I disliked the cold rush of air, the sensation of riding a cycle along a lush green park was great! The Kensington gardens was another treat altogether - different patterns of pretty flowers and bees busy with what they normally do. From there, we cycled on the roads to Buckingham Palace. All I did was follow my husband but it was a very liberating moment, since I can’t remember the last time I cycled on the streets with traffic lights and automobiles around me.

The Change of Guards was in session when we came closer to the Buckingham Palace. But the multitude of people trying to catch a glimpse of the ceremony or on video was too much for us to see anything of importance. We did see the processions going to and coming from the palace. With that we headed out, happily cycling off on the empty roads leading away from the palace…

Borough Market was another farmer’s market where we enjoyed a healthy vegan Ethiopian and Egyptian lunch each less than 5 euros!

Another quintessential English landmark dripping with history and packed with both gruesome and honorary tales. Our very entertaining guide spoke about the background of the tower and its use ,amongst others, as a palace, prison and now as a home to the Crown Jewels. We were shown the Traitor’s gate(also called the ‘water-gate’ entrance) where the famous Anne Boleyn would have entered in her time. The story of the ‘Princes of the Tower’ was also told as living in fear in the Bloody Tower - the two young nephews of Richard II, who was supposedly killed and buried in the tower.

The Crown Jewels was plain splendor - from the oldest being a century old spoon to Kohinoor in the Queen Mother’s crown. The attire and jewels used during coronation, the history behind how the earlier jewels were melted when the monarchy was abolished and then later a new set of jewels created with the monarchy reestablished - was interesting to see and learn.

It was a tough day with visits to too many landmarks; we clocked 25K steps that day! Thanks to a Starbucks nearby, we rested our feet for nearly 2 hours after our Tower of London tour. The rest of the evening, typical of the unpredictable weather there, was spent by the Tower Bridge. The rainy evening was upsetting our plans but we braved the cold drizzle and windy evening to see as much as we could.

We travelled on the British Airways from London Gatswick to Rome Fiumicino, landing in Rome around 2 PM on August 3rd. It was train away to reach inner city. We bought the 48 hour bus pass (12.50 per head) for our movement within the city. Our wonderful guesthouse situated 20 minutes (by bus)away from the city center was in Trastavere. Having made comfortable by the guesthouse manager who was so helpful that she even gave advice on what bus to catch to see our various attractions of interest, we lost no time in freshening up and heading out for our audio guided tour of the Colosseum.

The heat was a pleasant change from the cold summer of London. I relished it! As we neared the Colosseum, passing the Palazzo Venetia - an architectural wonder by itself, we noticed some sort of construction works on either end of the roads. The crowds were huge even at 5 PM - it did seem a little confusing there; finally we completed the security check and got our audio guides.

It was our first audio guide and wasn't too personal. But we walked around the Colosseum, seeing the various sections which gave an idea of the events that happened here a millenia back - the seats of the public, the royalty; the now revealed underground passages where the fighters and gladiators used before they were present to the public, the different entrances.Its amazing that this structure still remains to this day even with neglect over many years (its been renovated to some extent for safety I guess).

We walked for a couple hours within the Colosseum and the audio guides pointed us to the Constantine's arc outside with the remains of what was once a huge fountain. We could see the Palantine Hill from here.

Another wonder I saw in Rome are the public water fountains supplying free water to anyone and everyone from centuries old aquaducts! We didn't have to buy water at all, and used this to satiate our thirst, refresh our selves and refresh for later. The water was cold and tasted good too. My heart ached a bit to see no tap as water was free flowing, yet this is a wonder of ancient Roman civilisation which still supplies water to its citizens and tourists alike.

On August 6th, we took an early bus to Musei Vaticani in time for our 9:30 AM guided tour. It was the best idea to go on guided tour. There was so much to learn and understand and there’s no way we could know even a part of it without the guidance we got that day. I have described a small gist of what we learnt from absolutely nothing to what I can say is foundational appreciation of Vatican Museum which by itself is a drop in the ocean!

• "Laocoon & his sons” life size sculpture thought to be more than 2000 years old. Its very realistically describes the pain of Trojan priest Laocoon at the moment when sea serpents attack and kill him and his sons. His fault - he had warned the Trojans to not accept the Trojan Horse gifted by Greeks.
• “Belvedere Torso” - the nude torso of a man sculpted again more than 2k years back and yet the source of inspirations for many famous artists including Michaelangelo
• The many tapestries hung in the Museum - unbelievable works of art which had artists sitting at a loom side by side and bringing forth masterpieces. One which will stay close to my heart was the one which had Jesus’s eyes following the onlooker! Mesmerizing work!
• Our very knowledgeable guide spoke of the history of Rome from the Rome and Romulus brothers who ancestor was Aeneus the Trojan hero who escaped the destruction - mostly if you see a hero depicted with an old man across his shoulder and helping a child escape, thats got to be Aeneus
• The wonderful Raphael Rooms (4)- wonderful frescos on the ceilings and walls in the apartments of Vatican. The paintings in the Room of the Signature really attracted my attention, ‘The School of Athens’ actually has Raphael’s portrait in it.
• The Sistine Chapel! Incredible work of art by Michelangelo who painted it for 4 years. Craning my neck, to see the sequences of the Genesis in the bible and the Last Judgement, for 20 minutes wasn’t enough.

As an onlooker who knew nothing deep about Christianity, I was endlessly awed by the brilliant pieces of work which spoke more about the divine blessings in the form of artistic talent that the artists had that materialized into such artifacts of devotion. I was overwhelmed more of this humbling experience than the grandeur and splendor of each work. I think everyone who have any bit of spiritual inclination(with some interest in arts and history also) should go there and soak in this sea of masterpieces!

The St Peter’s Basilica was another surprise. We had to cross the tombs of past popes, a very solemn experience, to enter into the Basilica, the biggest church in the world. As we stepped in - my pair of eyes wasn’t enough to take in all that I saw even after considerable minutes! Grandeur is not the word!

I can’t begin to describe the myriad structures that we saw and the myriad emotions that I felt being there! Bigger than life size works of artists was seen on every other wall. Below the central altar is the tomb of the first pope, St Peter. Another work which transfixed me was ‘The Pieta’. This shows the grace and form of Mary as she accepts her son’s fate.

As we strolled in the streets of Venice we realized why it is a romantic city! A dreamy world, surrounded by water and beauty. Even the skyline was like a super artist's brushwork! We followed good advice and just got lost in the city streets following only a couple of signs 'Per Rialto Bridge' to go south of our hotel and 'Per Piazzale Roma' to reach back.

Entering the St.Mark's Square was like entering some dreamland - huge area before the St.Mark's basilica with (mostly) tourists and pigeons everywhere! Being closer to sunset, I was like in a trance with a smile on my lips, drinking in the peaceful sights.

There were more Gelateria per square km here than we saw in Rome! We continued our streak of single scoop cups of Gelato and made sure we had different flavours each time - pistachio, hazelnut, milk and cream, tiramisu, cappucino...

We discovered a local to go place which makes fresh pasta. We were regular customers there (called FriedLand). Here we had seafood fries and cuttlefish pasta. Atleast once, we had lunch in an osteria where we enjoyed Scampi and pasta which had zucchini flowers - incredible flavours and very well done! We always made sure we ate less so that we can try out at other places. And with all the walking, we did eat often. Also, like in Rome, there were water fountains from which we had water. There was no need to spend extra euros to have good water.

We paid a visit to the Rialto bridge market to check out the fresh vegetables and seafood stalls. Amazing array of food although, unfortunately we couldnt buy anything for a good home cooked meal; and well, some of it I wouldn't know to cook anyways!