Devon Chenelle ‘23
Prose Style Editor
Since graduating college, the exigencies of personal finance and public health have not allowed me the peripatetic life I enjoyed as an undergraduate. However, through the good graces of the Office of Private Practice, the ingenuity of Pfizer, and my summer employer’s largesse, I was finally able to again travel abroad. Thus, soon after my summer position ended, my lovely girlfriend and I set out for Europe. What follows are observations from that trip, and an exhortation: Treat yo’ self!
We began our journey in the Netherlands. My first impression was of the linguistic prowess of the Dutch: Everyone I encountered spoke incredible English, and, while I first felt presumptuous blithely beginning conversations abroad in my own tongue, I soon gave in. The highlight of my visit was Amsterdam’s canal system, which can be explored by renting a boat and cruising through it on your own. I can’t take credit for this idea—my college roommate lives in the city and was our intrepid guide—but it was something I can’t recommend enough to anyone visiting Amsterdam.
Pictured: The author at the Milan Cathedral
We then left Holland for Brussels, where I fell in love with the neo-Gothic architecture and the art museum. Our hotel was a couple blocks from Brussels’ Grand Place, one of the most stunning city centers I’ve seen. While the European Parliament was underwhelming, the Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium were a must-see. To my delight, there I turned the corner and found one of my favorite pieces of art—The Death of Marat by Jacques-Louis David. I was unaware the museum housed the piece (a mere replica is in the Louvre!), and stumbling upon it made me giddy.
After Brussels, we flew to Florence, where my girlfriend found us an incredible Airbnb with a rooftop view of the Florence Cathedral and the Palazzo Vecchio—the same view sketched by Hannibal Lecter from his prison cell in Silence of the Lambs. Florence was beautiful, and the exterior of the Florence Cathedral is perhaps the most impressive man-made structure I have ever seen (my lovely companion, who has traveled to India, thought it comparable to the Taj Mahal). However, our time in Florence was the first time I ever felt truly swamped by fellow travelers. I would only return in the offseason, perhaps February, when the city’s attractions are not so crowded that they cease ticket sales for certain attractions, as they did during our trip.
We then rented a car in Florence and, applying my rusty skills with a manual transmission, drove into rural Tuscany, where several of the most memorable episodes of our trip occurred. To begin with, we found ourselves in Italy during Ferragosto, an ancient Italian holiday held each year on August 15, but which is generally treated as a long summer holiday, with many Italian businesses closing for weeks. The Italians forced to work during the holiday take on the attitude of an American clocking a long day on the Fourth of July. As a result, we were forced to check ourselves into our hotel through a key hidden in the bushes adjacent to the building and to largely find our own entertainment. The next day, we drove to Siena and discovered that, by mere happenstance, we had wandered into the city on the day of “Il Palio”—a horse race that might be described as Italy’s Kentucky Derby. Luckily for us, we were able to simply take a bus into the city to observe, without any ticket, one of the country’s biggest annual events. I had never previously rented a car abroad, but I hope to do it on all my future travels—it affords you the freedom to roam and stumble upon things in a style that, despite Europe’s excellent mass transit, is simply not possible when traveling by train.
The last leg of the trip, in Milan, was a little calmer, but we still made time for some sightseeing. On our final day there, we toured the Milanese business district, where there are glass skyscrapers reminiscent of Chicago and New York, but with more of a European feel, given the extensive greenspaces between the buildings and the less frenetic pace on the streets. And, furthermore, finally satiated on Italian cuisine, we did an “Asian Food in Milan Day.” It was one of the culinary highlights of the whole vacation. Lamb vindaloo, it turns out, is delicious anywhere.
As I flew home, I reflected on the past two weeks in Europe with gratitude—gratitude heightened by the challenges of the past two years. I’ve enjoyed law school, but navigating it has been no easy task. Taking this opportunity for a trip was a way to reward myself, and I hope all my readers, when time and money allows, also reward themselves for all the hard work and mental strain of law school. I’m glad I did.
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dnc9hu@virginia.edu