#notapub

Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday in London were, without exception, exceptional! I am still a tiny bit groggy, and Jesse is sleeping as I type, but we seem to have overcome jet lag enough to have full days and nice evenings without too much of a hitch.

As a former Londoner, I am constantly surprised at how non-overwhelming London is this go around. It's not to say that London is underwhelming; quite the opposite, in fact. London is just as bustling and manic and chaotic as ever, but visiting its streets as a New Yorker has a significantly different feel.

When I arrived in London in June of 2006, I had never lived anywhere with public transportation, let alone a bustling global city during boom economic times. In just a few days back, I've quickly realized that many of the feelings I had for London I was feeling because it was a big city, not because it was particularly Londony. I did know that there were certain parts of London and British culture that I admired and enjoyed, but only now do I find the distinctions effortlessly easy to identify.

Jesse has felt similarly - and feels that this is the first city he's been to where, in his words, "Oh yeah, these people get it. They know what it's like." As a native New Yorker, he has a hard time being in any place that feels as big or as fully-functioning as NYC, but he identified the traits quickly here.

There are a few things that we've noticed, whether I knew them before or not. First, device culture has not taken over this city. Most people have a smart phone, yet very few faces are buried in them. With our heads up and off of our iphones as we're walking around the city, we're finding that people are far more willing to either just be where they are for the moment or to read a book than they are to pull out their devices. It seemed foreign at first, like maybe these people were just cylons, because who could ride the Picadilly line from Heathrow to Covent Garden without playing at least one round of Bejeweled Blitz? or checking their twitter?!

I am actively and Jesse is passively going Facebook-free for the duration of the trip, so we're quite happy to be with people who are not checking their phones every five seconds. We had dinner last night with some friends, and the only time Joe pulled out his iphone was because I was lamenting about being at this awesome pub and not being able to check in. He quickly made a hotspot for me, which was so kind, and of course I checked in, but the whole thing seemed a bit silly. Just be at the pub! Enjoy your time with friends! The whole thing is just so nice, and I look forward to bringing a little bit of it back with me to New York.

It's also fun to just go to places without reading every single review. We've managed to have many excellent meals without reading a single person's opinion about the place. This is a big step for us and is another thing we hope to bring back home with us. Not constantly consulting online maps and reviews, however, did lead to one hilarious multi-hour hunt for lunch, during which we attempted to eat at not one, but two different places that were not pubs, but theatres.

With the exception of the trip from the airport, we've managed to stay off of public transportation completely! We've walked all over Central London (we're staying in Covent Garden), and this morning will be the first trip up the Northern Line to my old 'hood, Hampstead/Belsize Park.

The highlights have been the pubs, the walking, and the catching up with friends. Tonight we're going to see a new musical, The Commitments, which is based on the Roddy Doyle book and film.

Here are a few pics from our first few days in this lovely place:

Look kids, Big Ben!

This graffiti has been on the damage on this wall on the Embankment since I lived here, and I find it oddly comforting. Our walk along the South Bank was the closest yet to a "trip down memory lane."

I quickly re-adopted the morning tea ritual. This is the view out of our hotel, which is much more like a flat, since it's graduate housing at LSE. I can't say enough what a find our accommodation was - central London, very afforable, and very nicely set up with a fridge, kettle, and all the things you need.

Back on the South Bank, we checked out the 40+ year old skateboarding and graffiti spot beneath the SouthBank Centre. We signed a petition because they want to fill it up with boring chain shops, when this is clearly so much better.

 Jesse has already tried so many new ciders! This was the best, though - Swedish passionfruit cider!

This is called "aspiration bridge," as it passes between the Royal Opera House and the Royal Ballet School.

We had a nice picnic in St. James' Park. We got Tesco's finest sandwiches, so you know they were good. Jesse approves of how much egg salad is available in London.

The squirrels in the park were no joke. This one was confident I had food for him.

Walking on the grass alongside the Mall was a highlight of the day. 

UK, you're doing it right.

Look kids, Big Ben!

It requires a lot of discipline for this guy to not get tickled by me.

 These were pretty sweet (again). I recommend it to anyone.

Like I said, the walks have been the highlights.

We saw a chocolate dachshund and a black pug romping in the park, and my heart exploded right there.

 Just look at that face. 

It's like a go bag, only I worked really hard on this

If you've been within earshot of me in the last month, you know I have a thing about packing. I was excited to tell anyone who seemed willing to listen about my "practice packing" and just how well it was all going. I appreciate everyone who endured the long ramblings on the difficult choices involved in the optimization within a 22"x14"x9" space, for the kingdom of heaven is yours.

When the day finally came, I felt fully prepared. We had purchased the perfect suitcases, packing cubes, and tiny bottles of things. I had even convinced Jesse to do a practice pack, which despite his very polite grumblings, was very enlightening and gave us real insight into what was realistic within our "carry-on only" policy. I did three official "practice-packings," which made day-of packing quite simple, as I had adjusted the official list to reflect only the things definitely going in the bag.

In case you are curious, I am excited to show here what I ended up packing in my carry-on and personal item for the trip. These pics were taken immediately before the items entered the suitcase, so they represent hours of deciding and selecting down from the original list.

CARRY-ON SUITCASE

1. 3 pairs of leggings: one long, one capri, and one pair of bike shorts. These are indispensable for me when traveling. Sometimes they are part of an outfit, but many times they are invisible and are solely for comfort and/or modesty.

2. 5 tank tops (+1 on my body). Tank tops are like the leggings of your upper body. They do many things for many people, but for me, they serve three main purposes: a) cleavage management b) undershirt-style sweat-gathering and c) ability to strip down to tank top and aforementioned leggings for immediate loungewear upon entering the hotel. I will put on a tank top in the morning when getting dressed; it will serve as an undergarment for the entire day, as cozy loungewear in a private setting, and sans leggings is my sleepwear. In this case I brought 4 black (incl the one on my body) and two colors that work with other items).

 3. Three dresses. One colorful maxi, one tea-length versatile black dress, and one short pink recreational dress. In a perfect world, I would only wear dresses. I love dresses. It was hard to get it down to three. All three, when accessorized appropriately, can serve in almost any setting.

 4. Two pairs of pants and one maxi skirt. All three are from Chico, my absolute favorite store these days. All three have an elastic waist (to deal with typical body changes during a month-long excursion), are flowy, comfortable, and versatile. The skirt is from their "Travelers" collection, and is a standout in the wardrobe so far. Those paisley pants are only one of two patterned things I brought, but they are so lightweight and lovely that I couldn't resist.

 5. Five tops - one flowy black and white poncho thing, one striped warm 3/4 sleeve tunic, two soft long sleeve shirts (one black, one grey), and one grey v-neck tshirt. I've already worn the flowy poncho (with black tank underneath) and love the way it looks. This is my only area of concern, as I just don't have that many tops and might find myself wanting more.

 6. One bathing suit and one cover-up. That is the best cover-up, ever - it has been with me in many bodies of water around the world. Simple cinched/elasticized at the top, flowy at the bottom.

 7. This picture is incorrect. I only brought the 3/4 sleeve black cardigan; the jeans were a last minute casualty of space. I'm a little sad about them, but I rarely wear them at home, so I think I'll be fine.

8. Outerwear - I packed my hooded trench and new-ish dark denim jacket with sparkly buttons. I love this jacket and have worn it almost every day since I got it. The scarf on the left is enormous and incredibly soft and versatile, and the one on the right was a staple of last winter's wardrobe, so I think it will serve me just fine. NB: I plan on acquiring a significant number of scarves in Italy.

 9. Shoes - I packed one pair of walking shoes, one pair of sandals (which also serve as walking shoes), one pair of house shoes (I find this to be more necessity than luxury on cold stone floors in Europe), and one unpictured pair of hideous bright blue crocs. The crocs are my flip-flops, in essence - lightweight, waterproof, comfy. They are also what I cook in at home, so I plan to utilize them often in Italy.

 10. Socks & Undies: 6 pairs of underwear (+1 on body), 4 pairs of socks. Since most of time I won't be wearing socks, I feel this is more than enough.

Here is how it all went down:

 One packing cube for tops & scarves, one packing cube for tanks & leggings.

One extra large, two-sided packing cube for pants, skirts, and dresses, and the tiny one for unmentionables. Shoes, extra bra packed in a Croc, Woolite and extra ziplocs for those million unexpected situations, jewelry (mostly earrings) rolled in a case, a bath puff, and a netted bag for washing delicates.

Here's how it all fit in: (and yes, I see the crazy face my suitcase is making in the fourth pic)

Shoes and the little packing cube first to go in the spaces made by the rolling handle

Large cube on top of them, taking up that whole half

 Crocs surrounded by other packing cubes

Inside of the lid has everything else, including my trench (and new arrival, brush!) in the pocket

Last small bits, including house shoes, bag of toiletries, and bag of pens/misc placed in spaces around the top

PERSONAL ITEM:

This part was pretty easy, as I've done years of traveling and know what I like to have on hand. DSLR, Grid-It with cords & such, small umbrella, two pairs sunglasses (one nice, one cheap), iPad, Moleskine, Italian dictionary, tissues, case of daily stuff I always have (bandaids, neosporin, credit-card-shaped multitool, etc etc), case of meds (advil, allergy medicine, etc), tiny maglite, two kind of lip balm, case for emergency backup cards (pinkberry card, etc) comb, plug adapter, business cards, deck of cards, pens, baggu-type shopping tote.

All* to go in my new (and already beloved) Tom Bihn tiny backpack!

*Not pictured: passport, iPhone, stuffed peanut, Jesse and his stuff

So here it is, all together and ready to go:

That extra laptop-looking case is my cpap machine, so I don't die.

How it actually turned out...

So...the best laid plans, right? We got to the airport, and the Virgin Atlantic guy just chuckled when I placed my carryon on the scale. I was 4 kg over the weight limit to carry it on. I'd worked so hard on keeping the size correct that I hadn't weighed the darn thing. So under the plane it went. Luckily, our bags arrived, and none of our toiletries exploded. I'd done a bit of prep for us by individually bagging them just in case this very thing happened, but man, all that prep and we had to check anyway!

I'm still glad we focused on this limitation, though, because even after two days, I already feel very unburdened by "stuff." It's easy to pick an outfit when you have the entire wardrobe mapped out in your mind, and it's great to know that we can check for future flights if we need to. 

I know I'll have lots of feedback for myself once I've been living out of this suitcase for four weeks, but so far, I feel great about everything we packed and didn't pack.

Dodici anni fa, il giorno era buio

Twelve years ago, I was feeling a little bit antsy. It was the longest I'd ever spent with a bunch of people without any real privacy, and I was having a hard time sleeping. I'm an extrovert through and through, but all of this "togetherness" was just a bit much. We'd spent five days in London, five days in Rome, and about ten days in our home base of Cortona, Italy, and every single one of them was, well, together.

I had no idea that the next day would be September 11, 2001, a somewhat significant day in my twenty short years on the planet. I had no idea that taking a few hours to get myself together and get some peace and quiet would be the beginning of a decade of finding my way to the scene of that horrific crime. I was sitting in Caffè degli Artisti on via Nazionale in Cortona, sipping a latte, when the first plane crashed into the North Tower of the World Trade Center.

I, of course, was clueless. I was studying abroad during my junior year, and the only thing on my mind was how to get some space between me and all of these art students. I was square in the middle of my extremely conservative liberal arts education, and these folks, while lovely and really fun after a few too many glasses of wine, were rubbing up against my Southern sensibilities. A few were from my university, a few were from the sponsoring big state school, but most were from scattered points across the country. We were a rag-tag bunch of art kids, except I'd barely taken a drawing class and was kind of fudging my way through the whole thing.

So there I was, drinking my latte - ok, it was a latte with Bailey's - when I looked up and was confused by what I saw. I saw footage of what I thought was the '93 bombing of the World Trade Center. It seemed odd and out of place on the local Italian news playing on the tiny bar television, but everything seemed odd when announced by the statuesque ladies they put on television in that country. I cocked my head, trying to figure it out, when the film switched to live coverage, and I watched the second plane hit. My stomach lurched. Oh my god. What the hell. In the few seconds previous, I'd come to realize that the plane that hit the North Tower was current, but speculation led me to believe it was a horrible mistake. Watching that second plane was a gut-wrenching realization of what was going on.

I looked around, panicking. No one was paying any attention. I stood up, getting my face closer to the screen, but I couldn't make out what they were saying. They seemed serious, and this was definitely real, but the fast talk in Italian was way beyond the "Quanta costa" and "Buona sera" I'd been practicing in town. I ran out into the street and looked for any of my compatriots, but of course, now they were nowhere to be found. I ran back in, straight back to the screen, but I hadn't imagined it. This was definitely real.

It took about half an hour for word to spread around town, and I was the source of the news for many in our group. I made the lap between the screen and the street a dozen times, checking each time for a familiar face. I finally settled in when this nice Texan couple who had wandered in at the sight of a television offered to share their pizza and their booth and a pair of spectacular accents that were comfort enough for the time being. They had ordered a quattro stagione, and it was the first time I had ever tried eggplant. To this day, the taste of melanzane brings me back to Caffè degli Artisti and the dark hours of the afternoon of 9/11.

Exactly twelve years later, and I'm sitting in my New York City apartment with my wonderful boyfriend/partner, Jesse, a week and a half away from heading back to Cortona. We'll actually be staying a few kilometers away from town, but to me, whether I'm on the hilltop or the countryside matters not. It was a doozy of a decade between that afternoon in Italy and the circumstances that led me to head back for a long, lazy holiday abroad, but it was all worth it.

I look forward to a week in London and three weeks in the Tuscan countryside, focused on resting, relaxing, and reconnecting with the place that served as the starting block for my life. I get to spend it with the most perfect person for me, and I hope to spend some time reflecting on the years between that time and this one. The title of the blog, "Return to the Scene of the Wine," is a reminder to myself to keep chasing that perfect bottle, the one I first had in Cortona for a mere five thousand lire, or about $2.75.

I don't plan to spend any time on social media, but this blog will post to Facebook, and I plan to post photos both here and on Instagram (@sarahdotbrown). I will also serve as scribe for Jesse's submissions to the Captain's Log, so you can follow the Braver household here on braversineurope.blogspot.com.