( Behind a cut, because it's looooooooong )

I'm leaving in a few minutes to head to the airport. I don't know if I'll have Internet access, so you may not hear from me for a while. On the + side, maybe BC will be back to normal when I return!

So on Monday, rather than being on a flight home as planned, I went with thecrrcookie and melydia on a canal cruise. It's a great way to see Amsterdam, and I took scads of pictures ( Read more... )

I arrived in Amsterdam mid-afternoon, to find Schiphol a crowded mass of upset humanity. By now, Great Britain and Scandinavian air space was closed due to the volcanic activity, and flights were being cancelled right and left. This meant lots of distressed and angry people wandering about the airport, and media people sticking microphones in ( Read more... )

The day started not so great. I couldn't find my cellphone! It wasn't in my room, it wasn't in the sitting room where I'd been using the computer the evening before. Fortunately, it did turn up at the restaurant where I'd had dinner, but I was panicking there for a bit.

I began the day at the Palazzo Pitti:

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also a few other books appropriate to the occasion, including Hella Haasse's The Scarlet City, thus combining both Italy and the Netherlands in one book.

I'm trying to travel light, but it doesn't work with all these books! And I threw in an extra skirt and an extra pair of shoes at the last minute.

I leave for the airport in about half an

I went to hear Tony Kushner last night at the University of Chicago's Artspeaks program. He was interviewed by Charlie Newell, the artistic director at Court Theatre, which is currently mounting a production of Kushner's adaptation of Corneille's The Illusion. I could listen to him talk forever. "The only obligation an artist has is to tell the ( Read more... )

A while back, a discussion with friends about travel digressed into "why do people dress like slobs when they travel?" which led to my usual comment that, when it comes to plane/train travel, I imprinted on Eva Marie Saint in North by Northwest, and why don't I have a train case ( Read more... )

I left Tuesday morning for Galena, and got to my B&B around 3:30, having made a few stops on the way. As I was approaching Freeport, I noticed signs for the Lincoln-Douglas debate site,

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God, I love this city. Where else can you visit eight art galleries on a moving elevated train? It's called Art on Track, the brainchild of a group called Salvo NFP, which places art in unlikely public spaces. You pay an entrance fee (unless you, like me, have a free pass), go up on the "L" platform, and wait for the "Art on Track" train. It ( Read more... )