London-Paris-Rome

London was so chill. I never expected it to be like this. I thought it would be more new yorkish.. and the subway and surface traffic feels very east village or houston or greenwich village-ish, but there's not the "blam-pow" of midtown, or even the upper east or westside, or even midtown, or even harlem.. just very chill. i found it to be very relaxing... i never expected it to be this way. the whole monarchy thing is so much a part of their history. big ben, london bridge, trafalgar square, picadilly circus, the war memorial museum, the V&A, museum of natural history, buckingham palace, parliament, hyde park, the marble arch, the thames, milennial wheel, heathrow...

Paris was everything I expected. very grand, very large scale, posh, chic, elegant, cultured, sophisticated, urbane... it looked much smaller on the map, kind of like Philadelphia, but more dense.. i heard it was the most densely populated city in the world. it was also deceptively large in that you felt that things were very close, but the next thing, you would be walking for half an hour and nowhere near your goal... either that, or you were so damn close, you couldn't believe it... ok, we went to the eiffel tower. the louvre was like walking into the pearly gates. couldn't believe the majesty, the beauty. it was disneyland for the highest and most discerning intellect and artistic soul. couldn't get enough of it. truly majestic. the eifel tower, the louvre, ste, chappelle, notre dame, chatelet les halles, gare de lyon, euro-disney, the seine, the champes el'lyssee, the thinker, the mona lisa, cupid & psyche,. venus de milo, arch de triumphe, the bastille...

Rome, it was much smaller than i thought it would be. very homey. chill, warm, relaxed, urban, and they really take everything, the history etc, in stride. amazing. so many scooters rushing about, they really have a high bar in terms of fashion, culture, art, inspiration.. the colosseum, st. peter's basilica, the vatican, the sistine chapel, the spanish steps, the pantheon, the catacombs, the appian way, the forum, palantine hill, gelato, the arch of titus...