In Which I Make It to Budapest, At Last

As I trudged, exhausted, back to the hotel, St. Stephen’s Basilica rang out her bells in big resonant bass notes of doom, and light soprano peals of joy. It was 8 pm, and the light, like me, was fading quickly. The trip had been arduous. There was bad weather on the east coast […]

I Got A Deal, That’s Why I’m Going There

Greetings, my friends! I’m sure you have been awaiting my return with bated breath, and here it is. Butterblogger is back once more for the last trip of this academic year. To clarify – my year starts July 1, and ends June 30, so this is my final trip for the year, and I honestly […]

Pointing Our Footprints Toward Home

Thank you for joining me on this journey, my friends. Here, briefly, is the conclusion to the story. We checked out this morning and drove an hour to the Bologna airport. There we parted our ways, with D heading into town and eventually Rome. I, on the other hand, boarded a flight to Paris where […]

A Slow Day in Mantova

Today is my final complete day in Italy. When tomorrow morning comes, I will hurrying off to the airport on my way home. Has this trip been only one week? It alternately feels to have gone by incredibly quickly, and to have been quite a long vacation. Having spent the bulk of yesterday in the […]

I’m Like a Real Life Ben Stiller!

We are spending the night in a museum. Really – I can’t make this stuff up. We are staying in the Casa Palazzo Museo Valenti Gongzaga in central Mantova, and I didn’t have to do anything special to find it – in fact it was a bit of an accident. I was just looking for […]

“Been There, Done That” Sometimes Doesn’t Apply

I have a confession: Milan isn’t my favorite Italian city. In a sense, it isn’t really particularly Italian. They obey traffic signals, scooters park in delineated spots, and they’re very organized. I prefer the relative chaos of Italy to the south. That said, there are a couple things here that are well worth seeing. I […]