Welcome home, indeed.
posted by Mark at 11:47 AM

Welcome home!
posted by Ethan at 3:26 PM

Hello.
I've got back stateside safely.
End of story, I guess.
anne
posted by acmcs at 12:10 PM

yo. i'm at gatwick airport now, boarding staarts in a hlf hour.
the inauguration of the new bar in smdm was great; everybody was there to say goodbye to. the ne bar is beautiful, all pink and brass and dark wood.
late late late i arrived in london two nights ago. yesterday liz and justin and i found them an apt., ate some good curry, and had beers next to windsor castle.
now i'm going home. i'm glad.
thanks to all who put me up or put up with me here.
love, anne
posted by acmcs at 2:17 AM

My last day in Vienna I also: went to a modern art museum filled with Klimt stuff. Very nice. Mostly landscapes. went to a butterfly museum. This was a bit of a disappointment, since most of the flutterbies were not visible, though I did see some munching on some banana. I did watch a film there that included butterfly sex, butterfly birth, and butterfly death, the last mostly in the form of getting crunched by frogs, other insects, and birds. A bit gruesome. Afterwards I just wandered around a lot. I ate too much sushi and fried bananas again at the sushi buffet place.

The last museum I went to in Venice was a bit of a bore, I confess. Largely populated with religious motifed paintings. I hope to see something cool in London so as to go out with a bang. That day I mostly wandered around too.

Yesterday I travelled back to Rome and then SMDM. And hung out at the bar all day long, then ate dinner with my friend Eugenia. I didn't eat anything too interesting, but it was all delicious, for sure.

The big news is that the bar folks further and further delayed the opening of the NEW bar, until today (it was supposed to be last week, and before that originally planned for Oct. 1), quite by chance my last day here. The party starts at five p.m., and my plane leaves for London at 8:45 pm. I'm so glad I'll be here for the party. I'm doubly glad I decided to return here before heading off to London instead of going straight there. I get to attend the party and say a real goodbye to all the folks.

Tonight and tomorrow I will spend with Liz Schuller and Justin Kohmetcher, Lincolnites.

Ciao SMDM. Ciao Antonio, Paola, Leo, Georgia, Roberto, Simonetta, Melissa, Ricardo, Gianluca, Rafaello, Manlio Mario, Angela, Santino, Marisa, Emiliano, Alessandro, Martina, la swocera, Amerigo, Olga, Donatella, Alessio, Eugenia, Roberto, Valentina, Claudio, Tony, Marco, David, Monica, Mama Bucci, è tutti i altri.

posted by acmcs at 2:22 AM

Yesterday when I was sitting in Trotsky's old Cafe Central in Vienna, reading the election results in the IHT, I kept inadvertently making loud "Aaaah" and "Oh dear" noises, and smacking my forehead with the paper. I was a big hit.
posted by acmcs at 3:49 AM

kidding about both.
Good morning.
Venice is great. A zoo, though. The canals here are nothing like the ones in Amsterdam. In Amsterdam they were wide and stately, and few. These are squirrelly and many, lots of streets just endplop right into them, some even have stairs, right down into the water.

I joined forces with a dude from Chicago, Jason John Francis, who I met on the train, in the search for a hostel. Every single one was full. So we accepted the offer of a dude in the station for a double in a hotel. It's nice to be in a hotel instead of a hostel. Yesterday we just wandered around Venice, getting lost, and I taught him a little Italian. Drank capuccini and hot chocolate and spaghetti vongole with tomatoes. Kind of like manhattan clam chowder, and I like it better than the white-wine-sauce version.

It's once again great to be back in Italy. I feel like I know the people here. Plus it's about fifteen degrees warmer.

Today I am wandering around solo, but JJF and I will meet up for dinner, I think. Today's my last day of true vacation; the rest of my four days will be spent in stages of getting back home at last at last.
posted by acmcs at 3:28 AM

Ok. if you for some reason get a lot of gibberish, occasionally, that's what I thought was an apostrophe. Like the e with a slash through it next to the Y with two slashes through it. The jAE is a degree sign. I guess the Yerp keyboards rock more hard core.
posted by acmcs at 11:06 AM

for some reason cheap email has not found vienna. either it¢¥s free and impossible to find, or zou paz through the schnoy.
posted by acmcs at 6:58 AM

P.S. It¢¥s finallz quit raining, but now it¢¥s just brrrrrliciouslz cold. This morning it was -1¡ÆC. I¢¥m wearing 6 lazers on top.
posted by acmcs at 6:52 AM

Mom and Dan Dietemezer, greetings. I spelled castlz castlz on purpose. Sweet Zosh. And Rachel: she just disses me.
No, Mom, I onlz saw one protest. I think it might have been the same daz as the one in DC. Everz European I meet here is disgruntled about Bush and his war. It¢¥s not popular.

Well, it¢¥s clear to me anzwaz that the waltz is native to Vienna. The buildings are so tall and prettz and the streets so wide zou could walty to work instead of bus.
This morning I went to a applied arts museum but it felt more like shopping. Lots of furniture and glass vases and porcelain and metal stuff.
So then I just went to a sushi buffet place and ate all I could for 10 dollars. I now know something of mz sushi-eating limits.

Last night I ate upscale hash browns at a vegetarian restaurant. I don¢¥t think thez were worth the $7 thez cost, but the waiter was so concerned about mz happiness that I told him thez were great. Also zesterdaz: a portrait gallerz; a music museum; a gallerz called "secession" that had one klimt frieze and nothing else verz artz.

The music museum was fun. Lots of discussion of pitch and timbre and volume and how ears work and accompanzing fun activities. There were actuallz fart noises involved once or twice. I got to virtuallz direct an orchestra. I did so poorlz that thez stopped plazing and refused to continue the song, both times I tried. Also it¢¥s prettz much confirmed that mz pitch is horrible. There was one computer thing where zou sing into the microphone and it provides accompanzment, either smooth or dissonant, depending on how on target zour singing is. Guess mine must be prettz bad. There were also short presentations on Beethoven, Mozart, Strauss, Haydn, and mazbe one or two other composers. I felt sillz afterward, finding mzself walking around Vienna humming the 9th Szmphonz.

Last night zour basic rhino attack came in handz when I got mugged on the Vienna metro. just kidding.

This morning there were some prolife fellows actuallz persuing me down the street in attempts to give me pamphlets with the title "Pregnant? Worried?". I tried to assure them that I was neither, but thez were so agressive I was afraid thez were going to trz to verifz mz assertion. Finallz I had to actuallz turn around and go a different waz to rid mzself of them. I thought not speaking German would do the trick, but that just got them more excited for some reason.

I had to switch rooms in a hurrz at the hostel zesterdaz morning, right before I left to go out. This morning I discovered that I had left mz tevas in the first room. so I went back, knocked on the door, and retrieved them. the guz at the door didn¢¥t know what tevas were, but he was friendlz anzwaz. Then about five minutes later I found out i was missing mz washcloth, so I had to go back. And zet five minutes later, no toothbrush or toothpaste. Thez laughed at me.

Now I¢¥m going to a butterflz house. I don¢¥t know what that is, but i hope it¢¥s full of butterflies.
anne
posted by acmcs at 6:28 AM