Thoughts from Backpacking: Prague, Czech Republic

This post is all about the amazing time I had in Prague back in May and June 2016

Oh Prague, how I loved thee so much more than Rome! Prague fit me very well. I loved my time spent there and I would go back in a heartbeat!

Out of all the places I went to in Europe during this trip Prague is the one place that I didn't actually know too much about and the one with the language I wasn't even going to try to attempt, but I wasn't worried. My heritage is Czechoslovakian (although when they split my family was on the Slovakian side by only a few miles) so I felt comfortable there and at least there I looked like all the locals. I found that out when tourists kept asking me for directions which helped no one at all because it was always when I was a bit lost too!

Charles Bridge from the Bank

My time in Prague was relaxed. I did not want to repeat of my time in Rome, where I seemed to be constantly walking but miserable. I chose to go to Prague because of Laini Taylor's book Daughter of Smoke and Bone which is set there. Taylor's words made Prague seem magical and it turned out to be true. It is a unique place that is hard to describe, but she managed it far better than I could ever hope to here.

Most of my time in Prague was spent wandering around with no real place in mind or sitting somewhere filled with history, people watching and just soaking up the atmosphere. I loved Charles Bridge and the Old Town Square the most. 

Charles Bridge is a large part of Taylor's novel and I spent hours there. It is more than just a bridge, it is a gathering place for the Artistic of Prague. The people on the Bridge were selling everything from CDs of their music to paintings, and weird musical instruments to handmade jewelery. I walked up and down two or three times. I stopped at every booth, at every peddler, at everything. I wanted to just remember what it felt like to be on that bridge. The coolest part of the Charles Bridge isn't actually all those people though. It isn't like any bridge I have ever seen. It is foot traffic only and to get onto it you pass under this magnificent arch. And the bridge is lined on its balustrade with 30 statues of Saints and other Christian Religious Figures. They loom over the crowd and despite having all those people there the Charles Bridge always feels a little creepy. At one point I looked down at one of the river banks and saw a group of people painting en plein aire the bridge so I made my way down there, too. I sat near them on the bank and sketched for a while. It is my favorite place in Prague.

The other place I spent a lot of time at was in Old Town Square where the Astronomical Clock is. The clock was pretty cool, but the square itself was better. I sat there for hours. When I was there there was some kind of music festival going on and people had flocked to it. There were children, tourists, the homeless, peddlers, dogs, couples, some odd individuals, a couple of teens giving out free hugs, and people like me taking everyone else in. In this square I started a photo project of taking candid shots of people enjoying themselves. I cherish those photos because they aren't of anything really touristy. They just feel like the Prague as I knew it.

Me with my finished Marionette!

The biggest, coolest, most amazing, and strange thing I did in Prague was making my own marionette at a Truhlář Marionety workshop! While researching in one of my travel books I saw this shop mentioned and I made it my mission to do it. Marionettes are a huge part of Daughter of Smoke and Bone and I wanted nothing more than to make a puppet of one of the characters while in Prague. Zdenka and Pavel helped me achieve just that. They welcomed me graciously into their studio and helped me make Zuzana, a character in the book who makes a giant marionette that is controlled when she pretends to be the puppet herself. The whole experience from painting her face, to choosing her clothes, and actually putting her together was one that will forever be one of the best things I have ever done. I actually told the Author when I met her what I had done and gave her the photo and she hopes to one day do the same!

On my last day in Prague I trekked to see the Petrin Tower, which is loosely based on the Eiffel Tower and has one of the best views of the city. Originally I was going to try to see the castle as well but after walking up hill for an hour and still not finding it I realized I didn't want to go IN the castle I just wanted to see it, which I could from the tower. It is in a park and the whole walk was beautiful. On my quest to find Petrin, I started another photo project. Prague has some seriously unique door knobs. I actually got yelled at by the US Embassy for taking a photo but when I showed the angry woman the photo of their door knob she was too confused to make me delete it and I scurried away!

I also went to see the National Marionette Theatre's production of Don Giovanni! I was stunned. It was in Italian so I didn't understand what they were saying but I followed to plot. However, the plot didn't even matter! The mastery of the crew had over the puppets was incredible! Never have I seen such skill! I spent the whole time watching the hands above do the work. The mannerism and body language of the puppets were surreal!

The view of the Castle through some haze from Petrin Tower

I loved Prague and I completely plan of going back one day. It fit my speed more than Rome did. It just had a different feeling to it. Probably because while it is a tourist destination it is not THE tourist destination. There still aren't too many people who go there and I think that made all the difference. I wish I had spent even more time there though. It was a lovely place and I still have so much more to see!

~Laura!

Thoughts From Backpacking: Vatican City

This is the account of my day in the Vatican City in May 2016!

Are you saying you wouldn't have been curious as
to what he was looking at?

The very first thing I did when I got off the metro to the Vatican was to follow the crowd in the hopes that they lead me to the Vatican Museum. They did, of course, but before I got there I made a spontaneous pit stop. I was walking down a street I saw a statue of a Knight that was holding flyers, one of the flyers said Harry Potter. I stopped dead, scaring the people behind me, and didn't even think about it. I just went through the doors and down a passage that led me to a statue of a wizard announcing the Storia e Magia. Honesty, it is probably dangerous how I will just follow things randomly if they relate to Harry Potter. The store was great and dark and magical. It was expensive though because of how almost everything was from the Noble Collection! There was so much cool things, including HP and LOTR and fairies and journals! It was amazing! I want to go back one day!

I left before I could spend my entire budget and followed the crowd. At one point I did ask for directions and was informed that the line into the Museum was just stupidly long. Oh gosh it was at this point as I was walking that I was corralled by SEVERAL pushy Italian men trying to get me to go with them to “Skip the Line.” But then I found an actual shop that sold passes to skip the line and I googled up and down and realized it was in fact legit so I payed the 17 Euro, I skipped the line and it was so worth it.

My long lasting general impression of the Musei Vaticani is that it was a never ending rush of humanity following signs that promised that the Chappella Sistina was that way, but seemingly never actually getting to the promised Chapel. I was there for weeks following the people and the signs. I traveled an entire country trying to find that Chapel and while it was incredibly worth it, it was also slightly ridiculous to be lied to by signs for that long and still follow them.

Laocoön and His Sons!

The musei itself was huge and imposing, filled with so many people that you went with the crowd or you got trampled. But I managed to break away several times and found treasures when I did like a Van Gogh in a little chamber no one else was in and a room of animal statues and a mosaic floor! It was here that I found out that a lot of sarcophagus look like ancient tubs (for instance Priscus's was totally a tub, you can't tell me other wise)! Oh and somehow in my research I forgot that one of my favorite sculptures was in these museums, Laocoön and His Sons which was a delight to see in person! But mostly the Museums had a lot of statues and a lot of stunning ceiling paintings and after a while they all blend into one giant thing that makes my head spin.

The Sistine was, of course, stunning but a little disorienting as you have to crane your neck to look at Michelangelo’s ceiling, which looked a little 3D and that freaked me out because HOW!? From there I once again became just a small part of a sea of humanity following signs that said “Uscita” trying to for the love of goodness get the heck outta there.

I was exhausted and wanted nothing more than to go back to Rome and back to my hostel but I couldn't very well leave the Vatican City without seeing St. Peter's Basilica! So I made my way over to the famous Church! Originally, my plan was to go to a Papal Audience that morning but I had trouble with faxing the invite request so that didn't end up happening. The Square was still set up from the Audience that morning but luckily the line into the Basilica was short as it was later in the day.

You thought I was joking about those skulls didn't you?

My first impression when I walked into St. Peter's Basilica was entirely inappropriate. Yes, upon walking into one of the most holiest place in the Christian World, I said aloud, “HOLY HELL!” Because I clearly have no class when startled. Luckily the Nuns behind me were very kind, and after laughing at me one whispered, “I thought the same thing the first time I walked in!” I quickly ran away to a basin of Holy Water and vaguely crossed myself because it seemed like the least I could do to make up for my mouth. I am completely uncomfortable in any type of Church and this was no exception. Mostly I was just confused and alarmed. Alarmed that there were actual dead Popes in caskets, confused by the strange lighting, alarmed at the random, graphic skulls and ugly baby angels, and once again confused by the sheer amount of different styles in Architecture. Seeing the Basilica was a bit of a roller coaster and there was so much to see that in my tired, near delirious from hunger state that it is mostly just a blur.

Overall, it is possible to do the entire country of the Vatican in one day, but I don't recommend it because it makes you weird by the end of the day. The Vatican Museums were extraordinary though! And the Basilica is everything I thought it was going to be and maybe even a bit more. I ended my day by hanging out it the Square, on the phone with my dad, watching little kids chase gulls that were almost as big as they were. It was there that I realized while I was very far from home some things, like kids chasing birds were universal.

~Laura!

Thoughts From Backpacking: Rome, Italy

This is an account of the first leg of my huge backpacking trip!

I chose to start my backpacking trip to Europe in Rome for a lot of reasons but honestly the biggest reason is because I wanted to avoid going to Italy in June. Thus I spent 5 days there at the end of May and let me tell you it was still too freakin hot.

I only had 34 days in Europe so why did I spend 5 of them in Italy? In the words of Hillary Duff, “Why Not?” I felt like Rome was one of those quintessential places that one has to see when in Europe and I knew I would regret it if I didn't add it to my list.

My first day in Italy I actually left and went to the Vatican City, but that is a story for another post. As for my first day in Rome I did a lot of touristy things and tried not to melt in the never ceasing sun. Okay so I knew the line at the Colosseum and Palatine Hill were going to be stupidly long because I researched it. That research told me to go to the Forum first and buy tickets there, saved at least an hour of standing in line doing it that way.

A view of the Forum from above!

 I went to the Forum because of the Temple of the Vestal Virgins which plays a big part in my favorite book 13 Little Blue Envelopes. First thing you need to know is that all ruins look basically the same which is why I wandered endlessly back and forth for HOURS looking for something that I actually passed 8 times. I want to write a post about how I did as much as I could of Ginny's journey in 13 Little Blue Envelopes so instead of writing about the Virgins I'll tell you about what else I did at the Forum and on the Hill. Since I had spent hours looking at the ruins I figured I would rest and spend some time just soaking in my surroundings. I sat under an olive tree (I knew it was an olive tree only because some guide kept yelling about them) and watched the people around me. I also started to collect plants and tape them into my journal, like a poppy and a daisy.

I had to do it, I couldn't resist!

After getting completely lost trying to leave the ruins I was ready to call it a day and go back to my hostel because I do not to well in the sun and by that point I had had more sun than I had my entire life, but I couldn't because I hadn't been to the Colosseum. I couldn’t go to ROME and not see the COLOSSEUM. I took it extremely slowly and gained bits and pieces of its history by eavesdropping on several different tours. My dad loves the Colosseum so I made sure I got a ton of photos from the inside for him. You aren't allowed to go down to the floor but you can see it which is cool.

My second day in Rome was spent walking the city with Stefano from New Rome Free Tour and a nice group of people. The tour was wonderful, especially Stefano who was a great guide! His two stand out features were being incredibly knowledgeable and was a fan of SHADE! The tour started at the Spanish Steps (which were under construction at the time), went to some churches, to the Pantheon, and ended at the Trevi Fountain (which had a million people there). He took us on a winding path down a lot of tiny alleys and I loved that because it felt authentic. Stefano was great and took that theme of authenticity to heart and taught his tour how to be a proper Roman by showing us how to use one of the many fountains around the city. IT IS A SECRET THOUGH. I promised I wouldn't tell, but let me tell you that I was spoiled with those fountains. They are revolutionary and every city in the world needs to follow suit.

I really liked Trevi Fountain, but jeez the crowds!

Day three found me dying with a cold but with a MISSION to do some shopping! I had a few things that I wanted to get from each city: postcards, coins, Harry Potter books, smashed pennies, and patches! Success for all of them! I enjoyed having no real goal other than seeing what there was to see and of course that brought me into some odd situations. Like sketchy grocery shop owners and scammers trying to put bracelets on me and giving me random elephants. I will never understand street scammers. I loved the bracelet though it had a sea turtle and the elephant would have looked great on my shelf, but I know their game. They aren't being nice, they want your money and I did not have any to spare!

Picture it: Rome, my last day there, me in some random park CRYING because I was so lost. I just wanted to go to the art gallery but instead I got lost in a sea of trees. I am so bad at navigating parks. I was so tired and so hot that I gave up on Rome. I went back to my hostel, grabbed my pack, and headed to the main train station to rest for a while before my train to Vienna where I would catch another train to Prague!

My general memories of Rome are warm, both because I was always sweating and because of the colors of everything. Rome wasn't one of my favorite cities but I would go back again, but in the winter. I never want to feel the boiling hot sun of Rome again. I still want to see the Capitoline Museum, the Capuchin Bone Crypt, the Appian Way, the National Gallery of Modern Art and the Cimitero Acattolico! 

(I know, there should be a lot more to this account right? Like the food I ate, where I stayed, the amazing people I met, and how I got around! No worries those are all going to be rounded together in blog posts of their own!!)

~Laura!

Thoughts from Places: My Fourth Teen Book Festival in Rochester!

This was my fourth time going to Rochester's Teen Book Festival! This amazing event that brings authors and readers together from all over the country is pretty unique! First of all it is free, which is amazing. Teens all over fund raise to keep it that way all year long and it makes it so incredibly special. Another reason it is so special was Stephanie Squicciarini, the founder of TBF. She passed away earlier this year and is truly missed, but I think everyone could feel her there though. She put so much time and effort into making the festival as amazing as it is. She put everything she had into it and would do some really crazy things to raise funds (my favorites were dying her hair into a rainbow of colors and wearing a prom dress)! This year during the opening ceremony they did a wonderful 13 second cheer to honor her and the 13^th TBF and I have got to be honest I was pretty much sobbing while I yelled my heart out. I had met her a couple times in passing throughout the years. I remember thanking her once for creating such fantastic event and she was so happy to hear that I enjoyed it. Stephanie was a truly remarkable woman and I hope TBF goes on in her memory for many, many years to come.

This year I was incredibly excited to go with two TBF newbies! I went with my friends, Allison and Katie. Rochester is a couple hours away from us so we had to leave pretty much at dawn to get there and had a great ride catching up (we've not seen each other in a while) and singing to Disney songs!

The Authors show off their fan made capes!

Most of the big events at TBF take place in the Nazareth College's Gym, including the opening ceremony with the annual game show hosted by Charles Benoit, most of the signings, the door prizes, TBF Shop, and the books that BN sells! This year all the authors had handmade TBF capes and played two facts and a fiction (which for some reason was really hard for them)! It's a great way to kick off the day!

One of the other great things that makes TBF special is that teens are 100% the focus. Teens volunteer during it, make the designs for the t-shirts and the program, have their own panel of teen authors, and most importantly they have priority seating at the panels! Usually every year there is at least one of my favorite Young Adult authors that I must meet. This year was different as it was Allison's favorite, Tamora Pierce, that we were determined to make seeing her panel with Bruce Coville a priority. So that was our first stop after the game show, but we couldn't get in as there were so many teens! Which is of course a great problem to have at a teen festival!

Roshani Chokshi and Claire Legrand during
their panel in the Chapel!

We decided that we would try again for Tammy and Bruce's next panel and went to see Roshani Chokshi and Claire Legrand! I am so glad we did because the two of them were hilarious! They were fantastic together and I truly believe that they should write a book together because it would be the funniest and creepiest thing I have ever read. Both authors talked about ideas for books that they have had that are horrible and honestly I think it made everyone feel better, because not every idea is good. They chatted about Hogwarts houses and their patronuses (Roshani is pure Slytherin with a shrew and Claire is a RavenPuff like me with an ocelot)! At one point, Roshani mentioned that her daemon would be a crow because she once almost fell off a cliff looking at a shiny shell! I also loved their advice about writing: finishing a story is the hardest thing so find the stamina to just see everything to the end and then decide how you feel about it!

By the end of that first session the three of us were starving so we headed out to see what food trucks had come! Katie and I had great poutine and Allison had some pretty good burgers! Once fed, we made our way back to see if we could get into the Tamora Pierce and Bruce Coville panel and this time we were lucky enough to be able to sit on the floor on the side of the room! Tamora and Bruce are best friends and critique partners and you can tell! They are amazing together! Allison has been telling me for years that I need to read one of Tammy's books and when I finally did in preparation for TBF I was so glad I did (I read Alanna, by the way)! Allison has every right to tell me “I told you so” because Tamora is beyond words. She is in her 60s and her health isn't the greatest but oh my gosh does that woman have spirit! She is hilarious and her friendship with Bruce is fabulous. At one point she warned a reader, “don't start with him. He will challenge you to a duel” over the proper color of a unicorn (white, obviously). They are both such characters themselves that it is no wonder that scores of people around the Globe absolutely adore them and their books! They, too, gave brilliant advice, such as always drawing a map of your setting no matter how big or small, get a partner that is honestly straight with you, and when you are stuck for an idea go back to those obsessions you had as a kid because your brain was obviously doing research when you didn't even realize it!

Bruce Coville and Tamora Pierce during their
talk! 

After experiencing Tamora and Bruce, the three of us headed to a different building to hear Jennifer Castle speak. All day I had been telling Katie and Allison about how much I enjoyed her book, Together at Midnight! After hearing her talk about it and how it is about random acts of kindness they both were sold on reading it which made me so happy! Jennifer told us about how she has a key word that sums up each of her novels and how she is always thinking about “What if” to think of plots.

Then it was the big moment! The time for meeting the authors and getting autographs. After 4 festivals I have mastered how to maximize the Authors I am able to meet and the key is having a friend with you. One of you stands in the longest line while the other goes into shorter lines and then you switch! I also do not own books for all the authors I want to meet as I read a lot of books from the library, but I always have something for them to sign! A little known fact of TBF is that their website has downloadable posters of the authors that can be printed! I always do this and all the authors are always so surprised and excited! Authors I met this year include (asterisk indicates book signed instead of poster) :

Margaret Peterson Haddix signs my copy of
The Palace of Mirrors!

Jennifer Castle*

Roshani Chokshi

Bruce Coville

Margaret Peterson Haddix*

Rachel Hartman

Justina Ireland

Brigid Kemmerer*

Brendan Kiely

Alisa Kwitney

Claire Legrand*

Taran Matharu

Dana Mele

Tamora Pierce*

A question I often get is what I talk to the authors about! Well, usually I start off my telling them that it is an honor to meet them. I never forget how lucky I am to be able to have such a cool and unique experience. Before they sign or sometimes during I tell them about bits and pieces of their books that I loved! I told Claire Legrand how much I loved her ghosts in The Year of Shadows and how original they were! I mentioned to Roshani Chokshi that I loved that she mixed Hindu Mythology with Hades and Persephone legends in The Star-Touched Queen! And to Jennifer Castle, I started to cry because of how much I loved how well she wrote about kindness in her novel, Together at Midnight!

Allison and Katie meeting Tamora Pierce!

I think my favorite part of the day though was seeing Allison interact with her heroine, Tamora Pierce! I was so excited and happy for her that I almost couldn't contain it! In fact I basically didn't, as I think I talked to Tammy more about how excited about Allison talking to her than I said how much I was glad to meet her!

Teen Book Festival in Rochester is without a doubt the best book event in the World. Everyone who has been agrees. I am fortunate that I live so close and am able to go so often! I completely recommend going! Keep an eye out on my Signings page for more in depth descriptions of meeting the authors listed above as well as more photos of me with them!! They will be posted shortly!

~Laura!

Thoughts from Places: Guillermo del Toro's At Home with Monsters Exhibit

The outside of the Gallery advertises the exhibit!

My Trip to the Art Gallery of Ontario in Toronto!

In honor of Guillermo del Toro winning Best Director at this year's Academy Awards I decided it was an appropriate time to post about the amazing exhibit of his that I saw in Toronto last October.

I did a quick over night trip up there shortly after my trip to NYC for the Turtles All The Way Down Tour (by shortly after I mean two days later. When I travel I tend to do it all at once). Toronto is only a couple hours away so despite being in a foreign country technically it is the closest BIG city to me so I go there often. I went to see a concert, and the next morning I made it my MISSION to go to the Art Gallery of Ontario to see their exhibit, Guillermo del Toro: At Home with Monsters!

Basically, del Toro has a house that he calls the Bleak House that is filled with his collection, including everything from his props, props from his favorite movies, comics, and books. The exhibit is all things he lent from his house and was set up in its image. It was extraordinary! It was the coolest thing I have ever seen in a gallery.

The Pale Man

To get up to the exhibit they had the stairs looked like bookcases. Right away I was excited. When I went in the exhibit, there was a video of del Toro explaining what his Bleak House was and why he had to have another house for his collection (his wife doesn't want it in her house haha). Turning a corner the first thing I saw was a life size statue of the Pale Man from Pan's Labyrinth! What a terrifying thing to see first. I knew I would love the rest of the exhibit.

It took me a couple hours or so to walk through because there was so many rooms with so much interesting, strange, one of a kind items. The vast majority of it, to my excitement, was concept art and other treasures from del Toro's movies. Lots of life size statues of his unique creations were around every corner ready to scare the bajeezus out of me. Del Toro, of course, has many amazing and terrifying movies most of which had something on display. The Shape of Water, the movie that just won the Oscar for del Toro wasn't yet out so there wasn't any of that, of course. Another unique feature was the interactive displays that featured copies of del Toro's sketch books and journals! This was a fascinating look into the mind of such a brilliant storyteller.

The Crimson Peak section of the Exhibit was my favorite!!

My favorite movie of del Toro's is Crimson Peak which is the biggest reason I went. It is half set in Victorian Era Buffalo and is a twist on the classic Victorian trope, starring four of my favorite actors: Mia Wasikowska, Tom Hiddleston, Jessica Chastain, and Jim Beaver!! I adore every single thing about it and now that I'm thinking about it I should probably write a review for it! The exhibit had some of the props and costumes from the movie and it was fascinating to see them up close. I loved seeing the tea set and Enola's key! Oh and the dresses!! They had two of Lucille's magnificent gowns as well as my favorite of the exhibit's Edith's dressing gown that even had all the stains on the bottom!!!!!! (Sorry for the exclamation overload, I'm still excited months later!)

The bust of Dickens that del Toro wrote on!

Other than things from his own movies, del Toro has a lot of other amazing things in his collection. He had original art from several Disney movies, Victorian mourning objects, Victorian portraits that would change as you looked at them from normal to creepy, a Shrine to Charles Dickens including a bust that del Toro wrote on the back of, crystal balls, vintage vampire hunting kits were among some of my favorite things! Del Toro also loves Frankenstein. He has a HUGE head of Frankenstein's Monster that greets visitors to his Bleak House when it is back at home. For the exhibit it was at the entrance to the room that held del Toro's Frankenstein collection, which included life size statues and wallpaper made of the many covers of the famous book. There was a room devoted to del Toro's comic book collection with copies on a big table that visitors were invited to sit down and read.

Besides all of that amazing stuff my favorite non-Crimson Peak parts of the exhibit was the atmosphere created by being around so many odd things in one place and the fact that there was a woman playing the scores of del Toro's films in one of the rooms that echoed eerily throughout the entire exhibit. All except one in one room: the rain room, which is exactly what it sounds like. Guillermo del Toro set up a room in his Bleak House that has the sounds of a thunderstorm raging outside that he works in! I decided right there and then that before I die I need to have a room like that because I too work best when I'm listening to rain. He even has it so that when you look out the “windows” you can see the rain lashing at the panes! In this exhibit there was a caged in bookcase lined with old books and a life size wax figure of Edgar Allan Poe (something else that I never knew I kinda wanted).

Poe in the Rain Room!

I loved my time at Guillermo del Toro's Bleak House. I was in awe for almost the entire time as well as properly creeped out. I haven't seen The Shape of Water yet but I can't wait to. I am so excited and happy for him on his Oscar win as I believe he is one of the most creative and interesting people alive. I am so glad I got to see that small glimpse into how he spends his time, as it was a truly unique experience to have someone donate most of their property to a gallery while they are still living! Thank you, sir, for allowing it to be on display for your fans to see, and congratulations on you well deserved Oscar!!

~Laura!

Thoughts From Places: The Women March in Seneca Falls!

My Trip to Seneca Falls and the Finger Lakes

A week ago I went to Seneca Falls for the Women March! Seneca Falls is the birthplace of Women's Rights! In 1848, Seneca Falls held the First Women's Rights Convention! The Convention is famous for being the place the Declaration of Sentiments was presented by Elizabeth Cady Stanton. 170 years later 15,000 people marched for equality for all! While there were many solidarity marches throughout the world, including one in my hometown I thought that going to where it all started was extremely appropriate!

The March started at 10:30 am, but we got there a couple hours early to eat breakfast and get a good spot for the Rally. Seneca Falls is a small place and it's main street has a lot of cute shops. We had breakfast at a place called Wildflowers, which toted on its front windows that it was "Women owned and operated!" The line was out the door and everyone in it was a woman there to support the march!

The Rally was held in the Women'sRights National Historical Park, despite the Park's Center being closed due to the Government shut down. Habitat for Humanity donated generators so that the Rally would go on as originally they were going to get the electricity for the microphones and speakers. That kind of set the tone for the day. Not the shut down but the kindness of others.

All of the speakers at the Rally were phenomenal! There were professors and politicians and even the Bear Clan Mother. My favorites were Arlette Miller Smith and Lt. Governor of New York, Kathy Hochul. Miller Smith kicked off the Rally with a poem adaptation of "A Gathering of Women." She is a dynamic performer who captured her audience in the best possible way. She was such a powerful speaker. I taped her poem and I've watched it multiple times this week. It gives me strength (wanna watch it? Here's the link!). Lt. Governor Kathy Hochul was equally powerful when she talked about how New York is always ahead of its time. We were first to legalize gay marriage, first to give free college tuition for the middle class, first to legalize abortion, and first to hold a Women's Rights Convention, of course, which led us to be the first State East of the Mississippi River to grant full women's sufferage! Basically, not only to women rock so does New York!

My friends Mary, Anja, and I were near the front of the Rally and as such we were towards the back of the March. This was fine by me because on the way out of the park I got to see the front of the March and it put the entire thing in perspective. That and the fact that by the time we got to the end of the route most people had left. The March itself was a lot of fun. Hearing hundreds of people chant the same thing with all their hearts, seeing all of the amazing protest signs, and feeling all the love and support and hope in the air made me feel so much better.

After the March ran its route, those who could convened at the Communtiy Center to hear more amazing speakers talk about great topics such as disability, reproductive, LGBTQIA, and immigrant rights, pay equity, ending systemic Racisim and sexism, environmental justice, eradicating violence and sexual harrasment against women, and passage of the proposed ERA! That's what I loved about this March. It wasn't just women's issues but a lot of the issues facing Americans right now.

The Women March in Seneca Falls was a fantastic, uplifting experience that I'm so glad I got to go to. I believe the 15,000 of us that were there were a little bit a part of History. We took over Seneca Falls for a day to gain equality for all. I'm so thankful to the organizers, Seneca Falls and its citizens for welcoming us, and its police force for keeping us safe.

When in Rome, or in Seneca Falls we couldn't leave without seeing what there was to see. So we made our way down Fall St to the National Women's Hall of Fame! Our original plans saw us going to the National Park Center, but since it was closed due to the shut down it gave us an excuse to see the Hall (and a reason to go back, I always try to see the bright side)!

The Hall of Fame, which had free admission on the day of the March but is usually $4, was only a couple of rooms but it packed a powerful punch! So many plaques telling the amazing stories of so many inspiring women. Honestly, after the early morning start and the exhausting March it was a little hard to concentrate on those plaques. I'm sure that on another trip I would have been able to read more of them, but as it is I didn't read too many that I didnt know.

We went on, up then down Fall St, going into many of the shops, most of which had women working in them, including a small boutique, a shop called Women Made, and the visitor center! I picked up post cards and souvenir pennies, my staples in travel. Our last stop was to the Statue called "When [Susan B.] Anthony Met [Elizabeth Cady] Stanton" which depicts as you can probably tell the meeting of two great suffragettes being introduced to one another by Amelia Bloomer on May 12th, 1851! Seeing the most famous names in the Suffragist Movement was the perfect way to end our time in that birthplace of Women's Rights.

Seneca Falls is in the Finger Lakes district of New York State. This marks my first trip out that way. The Anthony-Stanton-Bloomer statue looks out over Van Cleef Lake and we also got to see northern bit of Seneca Lake when we went to Geneva for dinner! We got there at the perfect time and were able to catch the sunset! It was absolutely gorgeous!

If you ever get the chance, you won't regret going to the Finger Lakes and while you're there you should make a point of visiting Seneca Falls, even if there isn't a March going on!

~Laura!

Thoughts From Places: Turtles All the Way Down Tour

My Trip to New York City's Nerdfighteria

In October I went to New York City for a couple days to go to the Turtles All the Way Down tour with Hank and John Green. I left on a Monday night at about 10:30pm (by Megabus which was late. It's always late because it comes from Toronto and it always gets stuck at the border.) I got into the city at about 8:30am or so and started the long walk to my Hostel from 27^th to 88^th. I could have taken the subway but I love walking the city as I never know what I'll find. I did take a break in Times Square to people watch and around 62^nd where I went to Lincoln Plaza Cinema to see Loving Vincent that movie that is completely painted in the style of Van Gogh! That wasn't a spur of the moment thing though. I have been following it's progress since they announced the movie years ago. Originally it wasn't coming to Buffalo and I thought I'd never see it but it just so happens that it was still playing in New York so I couldn't not go see it! I love seeing movies by myself. The first time I did was last year when I went to see Alice Through the Looking Glass while backpacking.

I love NYC!

I went by myself, but I met a bunch of nerdfighter friends, old and new, for a gathering before the show. I belong to the New York Nerdfighter group on Facebook. I joined it years ago when I went to the NYC stop of the Tour Because Awesome! In line for the concert I met some awesome people! Some of whom I met up with at NerdCon and again here! It was like a mini reunion! Seamus set up a pre-show gathering that I went to, but was late for! By the time I got there they had already written a bunch of nerdfighter notes and were just about to put them in John's (and Maureen Johnson's) books! One of the coolest parts of this was that Lori Earl, Esther Earl's mom was there. I had forgotten my TSWGO bracelet and she noticed and gave me one!! Lori is the mom of Nerdfighteria and is the loveliest person.

A bunch of us got food and then went to Bryant Park for a couple hours to kill time before making our way over to the Town Hall. We all sat in a circle and just talked about all sorts of nerdy things. There was about 20 or so of us. What was great though was that halfway through this other group of people came behind us and just started juggling? It must have been an agreed upon spot to practice or something, but either way it was really cool. One of our group actually abandoned us and they taught him how to juggle. I love how spontaneous NYC is. The venue was only a couple blocks away and I met up with Marie (who had my ticket, she bought us front row because she is amazing!) out front near the tour bus! We actually got to meet Rosianna Halse Rojas before we went in!

John and Hank Green!

The show itself was great. It was like watching a Vlogbrothers video live. John came out first and read a selection from Turtles. And then Dr. Lawrence Turtleman came out and gave a powerpoint presentation on Monotypic Taxa as windows into Modern Phylogeny (aka Hank in a turtle costume wearing a suit jacket). They took questions from the audience in the form of a mock Dear Hank and John episode, wherein they both forgot the format of the podcast. Hank brought out his guitar and sang a few songs. John did a tribute to Amy Krouse Rosenthal in the form of “We are here because we are here because we are here” to the tune of Auld Lang Syne that we all sang together which was sad and moving. Hank came back out and they both sang the Anglerfish song (which by the way is my favorite Hank song), All Star (because of course) and the first verse and chorus of Sweet Caroline BUT we couldn’t sing the BAH BAH BAH or the SO GOOD. It was so hard. John was so excited by the silence in the part that he literally jumped up and down around the stage. It was like his entire life was completed. As an encore they came out and sang the Mountain Goats.

As if just seeing John and Hank the night before wasn't enough, I was also invited to be in the audience for John's segment on Good Morning America the next morning. My friend Seamus was contacted by the producer to have him and 20 or so “mega Nerdfighters” come and welcome John. Seamus invited me and Marie along with a bunch of others! I had to get up at 5am, I fought with the 86^th street station turnstyle, but I did get to the studio. We waited in the VIP line and got our IDs checked (to make sure we were on the list, how cool?!), and got bracelets to wear. Once in we were led to the studio. We could see Times Square out the window. Basically, taping GMA was incredibly boring and kind of annoying. Commercials are forever long. There is this guy there who is supposedly a comedian that is in charge of keeping the audience under control or whatever. He “taught” us how to clap and how to smile and made fun of us. He was actually horrible. One of the serious segments was about that horrible Weinstein or whatever his name is and the comedian fellow literally said, “and remember big smiles.” We all looked at him like he was nuts and he said, “you know appropriate smiles though.” I was so mad that this man was telling me to smile during a segment about sexual assault that I told him to eff off.

The GMA Green Room!

He must hear that a lot though or I didn't say it loud enough because he still chose me to be one of the ten that went backstage to the green room to film a commercial spot with John. That was fun. I can officially say that I met him. I was the closest to where he was sitting (about 5 feet away from him) wearing my Pizza John shirt and he said “Thanks for wearing my torso on your face. Wait, no. You know what I mean!” and he looked around and saw all of us wearing DFTBA merch and was excited that we were all real nerdfighters. He asked me if I liked the book and I responded that since I got it last night from the event that I hadn't started yet. He was excited that all of us were at the show and asked if we liked the “Sweet Caroline” bit because he wasn't quite sure. I especially assured him that it was fantastic and that I loved how excited he got over silence and that it was surprisingly satisfying.

When the 10 of us who were picked came back to the main stage the cast of Goodbye, Christopher Robin was there! Domhall Gleeson, Bill Weasley himself, was there along with Margot Robbie, Kelly MacDonald, and Will Tiltson. The show gave everyone in the audience a ticket to Goodbye Christopher Robin's Director's screening of his film that night. Originally, I was going to try to see Aladdin on Broadway (well actually I tried to win the Hamilton lottery and of course did not get it), but I had already wanted to see the movie so I couldn't pass up a free ticket.

After the taping of GMA, some of us went to a diner on 9^th Ave for breakfast. It was so nice to spend time with other nerdfighters. From there a few of us went to Central Park with the intention of reading some of Turtles, but it was such a nice day so we sat at the top of this GIANT rock in near the children's playground. We sat there for what seemed like several hours but was only a few. Because we had all gotten up so freakin' early time seemed to be moving way too slow because of those extra hours. Eventually, we went to a Starbucks and actually read for a few hours before we made our way to Paris Theatre to use our free tickets. Goodbye, Christopher Robin is an amazing movie and I highly recommend it! What was cool was that the Director was there and introduced the movie! It was an incredible experience, the whole 2 days in New York was just bananas.

I'm so thankful for John and Hank for creating such an awesome and welcoming community. Even though I'm not from NYC the nerdfighters there are so kind and invite me to events even though I can't always attend. 

Best Wishes and DFTBA,

~Laura!

Thoughts from Places Spotlight: London As Seen Through 13 Little Blue Envelopes

(Please beware: this post contains 13LBE Spoilers)

Standing in front of Harrods

My beloved copy of 13LBE opened to the
Harrods chapter!

As long time readers of my blog will know, Maureen Johnson's 2005 novel 13 Little Blue Envelopes inspired me to travel. One of the most important places that the main character, Ginny goes to is London. There she follows the directions in envelopes 2 and 3. The entire adventure her Aunt Peg leads Ginny on comes to an end in London as well.

When I went to London I knew that I had to try and see some of the places that Ginny went to. First on the list was Harrods. Harrods is where Ginny's uncle Richard works and where Aunt Peg ultimately led Ginny to find her paintings. When Ginny first gets to London Richard takes her to Harrods. So of course I wanted to make sure that one of the first things I did was head to this huge department store. I underestimated it's size. This place is almost too big. I don't think I seen even a quarter of it because it was getting very late and my mom and I were exhausted. Originally, I was planning on finding Mo's Diner, where Richard and Ginny eat in the novel. I didn't though. Honestly, I'm not 100% positive it existed. I could have been searching for a fiction, but I didn't mind.  

Ginny "looked left" but in front of Harrods
you must look right! These were very
helpful in London.

The Egyptian Escalator

I also wanted to find the chocolate counter that Ginny went to so often in the novel to have the woman working there page Richard for her. I found it and was extremely pleased with myself. I didn't buy any chocolate there though because I had already bought a bar from another shop just in case the counter was a fiction too. The chocolate bar I bought even had a picture of Harrods on the wrapper (which I saved and pasted into my copy of 13LBE). I was amazed by the sheer size and weirdness of Harrods, just like Ginny was. They really do have a escalator that looks like it was ripped out of stereotypical ancient Egypt. I was so astounded by this that I stopped dead in my tracks and some guy bumped into me! Harrods was a strange, sort of wonderful place and I could see why Aunt Peg liked it so much!

Envelope #3 instructs Ginny to “become a mysterious benefactor.” Aunt Peg tells her to give an artist she likes £500. I do not have that kinda cash so I settled on a fiver. 

Alex and Jim!

I wasn't kidding about all
the sheep!

Richard tells Ginny she should check out Covent Garden and while Ginny didn't find her artist there I did. Jim and Alex performers who haunt the Garden regularly. They were fantastically entertaining and I wished I had more to give them. They did everything from juggling to unicycles. I really liked how they asked a young boy from the audience to help. I encourage you to go on youtube to look those two up. Covent Garden itself was a strange place though. It is an indoor/outdoor market type place where a lot of artists busk for a living. Among Jim and Alex there was also a man playing this crazy multi-piece instrument, a man who could make a creepily accurate sculpture of you in a half hour, and for some very odd reason a hundred or so Shaun the Sheeps. I could have stayed there for hours just watching all the people perform.

Standing in front of Aunt Peg's favorite painting.

My small tour of Ginny's London also took me to the Courtald Gallery where they have in their collection a very important painting to Aunt Peg, Manet's The Bar at the Folies-Bergere. Aunt Peg loved this painting so much she had a print of it on her wall where ever she lived. She also hid the key to the cupboard that held all her paintings under the left top corner, directly under the famous green slippers. I needed to see this painting for myself and so very early on our last morning in London I made my mom go to the museum when it opened. I was a girl on a mission! I was here to see Peg's favorite painting (also to see Van Gogh's Self Portrait with Bandaged Ear but that is another story). I am so glad that I went to see this painting in person. I never really understood why Peg loved this painting until I went to London. You stand looking at it like you are the artist, facing the bar. It portrays a young woman who looks terribly bored despite all the action that is happening in front of her (we see what is happening behind us through the mirror behind the woman). All of this excitement is happening and yet the girl is not enjoying it. That was sort of me in London at times. I was doing exactly what I had always wanted but I wasn't enjoying it, more like checking it off a list. However, here in this gallery with only my mom, the guard, and this painting I was finally seeing. I was seeing Peg's love of this painting and my own love of London.

My copy opened to the page the painting is first mentioned.
I pasted in a print of the painting ages ago. MJ herself took
a picture of this page when she saw what I did to it.

13 Little Blue Envelopes came alive for me in London. This year I plan to follow more of the envelopes as I backpack across Europe almost like Ginny does in the novel. I encourage you to read this amazing book if you haven't already. You can read my semi-incoherent-because-I-was-too-excited review of the book here, and my post about meeting the book's author, Maureen Johnson here.

More to come soon, 

~Laura

(Frustrated) Thoughts from Places: London in the Beginning

My First Day in London

Have you ever been so excited for something and then when it actually happens it is the exact opposite of how you were hoping it would go? Well, I do and my trip to London is the perfect example. London sucked. A lot of it was just awful. When I tell the story of my trip to others I have to stress the point that while there I considered the trip 30% wonderful and just 70% absolutely horrible. I have never been so frustrated before in my life. A lot of why it sucked and I was so frustrated was because even though I have been studying London for about a decade it actually makes no sense. Don't quote me (or her) but I think Maureen Johnson once said either on twitter or in one of her books that London streets looked like they had been planned by a drunk man following a cat. I thought she was exaggerating. She was not. London is just ridiculously unplanned. I am so used to Buffalo which has been called the “best planned city in America” that London, despite all the preparation, was just stupidly unorganized. At times during our trip I actually believed that the city as a whole was out to get people unfamiliar with it. 

Our hotel room

For example, multiple times we were following signs that were obviously placed there to help tourists find the major landmarks and the signs actually led us in the wrong direction. What the hell is that all about, London?! Basically, a lot of things went wrong. I say wrong because we had to see a lot in only a few days. The wronger things got the less we got to see. Originally, the London Trip was supposed to be 2-3 weeks instead of 5 days, but Mom could only take off so much and I rally wanted her to be the one to come with me.

The frustration of day one especially, we landed a little late and customs took ages. We waited until the rest of the plane emptied out and because of that we were last in line. Then mom couldn’t find her suitcase, it ended up on the floor on the other side of the conveyor belt. When we finally got out of all that nonsense and were trying to find the Gatwick Express we were greeted by shirtless Scots in kilts. Weird, right? We bought a couple postcards and stamps then got on the train. We were supposed to be out of the airport and at Victoria Station by noon. 

The Gunner and I

No. By the time we got to Victoria it was past 3 and we decided to check into our hotel instead of leaving our luggage in lockers at the station. When we got there and checked in I cried. It was horrible because of all the time lost. Mentally, I was already taking out most of the things I wanted to see. I was freaking out. And then I stubbed my toe on the weird bed. There was a desk but no chair. There was a shower but no shampoo. There was soap, sorta, there was a hand soap dispenser in the shower. The toilet was down the hall and up half a flight of stairs. I was pretty sure there was mold on the handle; mom said it was just corrosion. There was another door in the bathroom too that leads outside, not normal! And then to make everything even weirder and worse we had to give our room key to the desk every time we left. Oh and the outlets didn’t work. When we asked at the desk where our fridge was and why our outlets didn’t work they said that we couldn’t have one and that they would check them. While I was in the room I wrote out my postcard to my work saying basically that everything sucked so far. We also decided to take out the Victoria and Albert Museum and that mom would do it Wednesday by herself while I was in Oxford instead (which was actually okay with me because they didn't have anything I really wanted to see).

The Little Duck Whisperer

We left the hotel and made our way to Hyde Park Corner so I could see the Royal Artillery Monument with the Gunner, one of the main characters from Charlie Fletcher's Stoneheart. That was pretty cool, but looking back I barely even looked at him. I felt rushed. I felt like I was just checking him off my list. Next we went into Hyde Park proper and walked along the Serpentine. There were a lot of swans and ducks and a little boy who was feeding them. There were trick skaters and a weird ice cream truck. As we were looking for Peter Pan in Kensington Gardens we saw an actual cricket game! We took a wrong turn and found a woman trying to feed birds. Later, after we actually found Peter we saw her again and she had gathered quite a crowd of both birds and humans alike. One green parrot was hanging off a tree eating from a girl’s hand.

Peter Pan Statue in Kensington Gardens

When we found Peter Pan I was really excited about seeing it, but mostly I was pumped we finally found it! I went to scan the QR code to hear Peter talk and it didn’t work. It worked for everyone else but not me and I that’s when I got extremely mad and frustrated. When I get frustrated I am the meanest person in the world. I dont want to be obviously but it's one of my flaws. And so I lashed out at mom. More and more people kept coming and scanning that code and it was working for them and I just said “forget it let’s leave.” Everything was going so wrong and I was so tired. By that time it was going to be dark in an hour or so and we wouldn’t make it to the TARDIS in time if we went to the Elfin tree at the other end of the Gardens and Harrods, so we took out the tree and walked to Harrods. We also ended up taking the TARDIS out. And we got seriously, scary lost in the dark outside of Harrods trying to find a bus stop that we needed to get back to the hotel, but didn't exist. It also didn't help that we were so hungry we couldn't concentrate. So many things had gone wrong already and we hadn’t been in London for more than a few hours.

Mom and I were reminded of the bird lady from Mary Poppins

I cried a lot that first day. But I learned a lot that day. I started to learn how the Tube worked. For the first day the platforms confused me and we ended up going to the wrong side a couple times but once I figured it out the next day everything became a lot easier because we were able to get from the station we were at to the station we needed to be at. However, once we were out of said station there wasn't a clear path on how to get to the place we wanted. So much so that I am pretty positive they give wrong directions so that tourists don’t come back. Frustration should not be a part of any trip but it does happen. From now on when I plan trips that I cannot embrace getting lost (so as to find new things) I’m going to add at least 2 hours a day cushion for when we are frustrated and just need to stop.

More cheerful London posts soon, I promise,

~Laura!