Oxford, land of books

Good Marrow All, 

Jordan and I have been having a wonderful time here in Oxford. We have been spoiled with beautiful sunny fall weather. We have made many acquaintances and a few genuine friends. Our seminars give us plenty to do. We have the same seminars, which have proved to be extremely thought provoking. I will post pictures and give a better description of Oxford tomorrow. We are hoping to update the blog biweekly. Much Love, Desi.

Stratford Upon Avon

Our first English excursion outside of Oxford was to William Shakespeare’s hometown and resting place. It was beautiful. Rich with culture and history as well as nice people. As we were hanging out on the street at night taking pictures enjoying a beer, some locals stopped by to ask us why we were sitting outside of a christmas shop in the rain on a saturday night. They invited us to a bar where various English people bought us beer all night and we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. The day after we walked around and saw the beautiful town. It was unnervingly pleasant, the people were suspiciously welcoming and the food was glorious.

 

 

This is the street we stayed on.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Christmas shop across from Shaksey’s Birthplace

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Saw a ghost in the graveyard.

Stratford Upon Avon at Night

Leone Swan. He sounded a lot like Leone while we fed him pocket toast.

Me

Shaksey’s Birthplace

A nice Church

We saw this band playing…Captain Dangerous. They were really amazing. Very cool music. We listened while we enjoyed a couple Tasty Pasties. There is way too much we could say about Pasties…

Sicily

These are some photos from our Sicilian Excursion. A photo from Beautiful Taoromina. You can see the tip of the boot of Italy from this spot!!! AMAZING. After Cortona we traveled to Palermo. Palermo was interesting. The city itself was rich with history and had extremely beautiful architecture. The city itself as unfortunately in a dilapidated state and unfortunately far from preserved. But good company and still yet good food made for a wonderful experience. After Palermo we drove all over Sicily. From Palermo we went to Taormina, which was probably the most beautiful place I’ve ever been. The scenery,the food, the hotel and the city were all absolutely amazing.  On our way to Ortigia we stopped by Mt. Etna. Etna was surreal. An active volcano with unbelievable scenery. From there we continued to Ortigia where we went to natural caves and ate local home made olive oil with local wine made by a farmer on the side of the road. It was wonderful. We continued to Trapini right outside of Favignana. There we traveled to Favignana by boat and saw some of the most beautiful water in the world. The company, food and scenery of Sicily were all so beautiful. The trip was all around lovely and memorable. Here are some moments we took home…

Cool plant that was on our balcony of our Hotel in Taromina

This is the waterfall of mountain river Jordan and I jumped in.

Momma conquering Mount Etna. We took a pilgrimage to this active volcano and it was well worth the drive. 

Funky little houses built in the garden. We never did figure out why they were built…

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The Colors of Favingana.

The parental unit standing on the remains of the Greek Ampitheater.

Daddy on the Balcony in Taromina. The most beautiful part of our lovely stay.

Church …

Lovely view of the coast in Taromina

Water in Favingnana

Ditto

Greek Ampitheater in Taromina

Morgan contemplating on coast of Favingana

Momma sitting on top of the world : )

Cortona

Where to start…Cortona was wonderful. Both ideal and dangerous for starting a trip off. The standard was immediately high. When we arrived, Desi and I both fell asleep early only to be woken around 3:00 AM to Morgan. Morgan made everyone a wonderful dinner and we at by 3:30 AM. After everyone finally arrived, the group consisted of Morgan, Hannah,Desi,Jordan, Andy, Mary and Eva. We all anxiously walked into Mary’s apartment not knowing whether to expect puddles of urine or cakes of mold as the price was so low. The apartment was amazing. Our festivities quickly became centered around the (relatively) spacious kitchen and wonderfully amusing balcony that happened to be a surprise. We all spent late nights eating Gelato overlooking Tuscany, went through at least a few bottles of local wine on the balcony each night, explored the culinary richness of Cortona, watched the sun set from the fortress of Cortona, embarked on a pilgrimage to visit St. Francis of Assisi’s monastery and  and learned romantic Italian phrases, compliments of Morgan. (IScorregato)  Overall, it was amazing and there is just way too much to talk about. We are both so grateful for the beautiful time we shared with everyone there and it is certainly something that we will always remember. Here are some moments caught in a box…

 

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