Leavin' on a Jet Plane

So this is going to be a crazy and thrown together last entry, but wanted to officially end my blog before I go back to the states. I know the saying is time flies when you are having fun, but somehow the past few weeks have felt like a separate year. Maybe there is a physics formula that accounts for public transportation and hotel rooms in calculating the speed of time. Okay that made no sense, but what I'm trying to say is that in the past 10 days I've stayed in 6 different hotels and I'm exhausted. Here is my time with my mom/italy/end of paris in a nutshell.

Venice-

beautiful city, absolutely loved the water. still can't decide if real people actually live here

Florence- now that's what I call gelato, tuscany stole my heart,

and you can't beat biking through vineyards and castles on a full pasta stomach

Siena-

this hill city loves its horse race.

imagine harry potter style flags over the entire city, but there are 10 "houses" and they only care about the horse competitions for the cup

Rome- tremendous city that I liked more than expected, and now I wish I could go back and relearn all my ancient history with interest

oh, look how pretty the trevi fountain is. Wait... no.... this is what it actually looks like when 200 people all take the same picture I just took.

There are so many pictures I could post from our trip, but I feel like these give the feel. We of course visited the major museums, but pictures of us eating gelato are much more important.

I can't believe it's my last night in Paris and feel so lucky I lived here for a summer. There are so many different ways to get to know a city, and I'm glad to now know Paris intimately. Before I came, I got many lists of "have to do in Paris!!!". But I feel like everyone has their favorite croissant, crepe, museum etc that get overlooked if you are in a new city with 14 cafes in front of you and you are hungry. So for any future Paris travelers, I've tried to make it easy.

MUST do Paris (aka Malia's favorites)

chocolate passionfruit macaroon from Pierre Herme (listed first for a reason!)

try Kir (cheap white wine drink at most cafes-I will try to import the idea back to the states)

Le Cantine du Troquet (best meal of my life restaurant. I'm revealing the name. chef's meal. do it)

Yogurt. any market/any flavor and taste the French difference

any museum on a late night day

WALK. seriously, it's the best view of the city and the thing I'll miss most about Paris

goodbye paris, hello california.

sad but ready!

36 Hours in London

So being the NY Times fan that I am, I thought I would try to do the "36 hours in..." thing that the travel section does every week. Considering I was taking the Saturday early morning eurostar from Paris to London and returning late Sunday night, seemed like the perfect length to try and see a few major attractions (eat some good fish and chips). But the nytimes are masters of course, and any attempt for me to give the play by play would be wasted. I rushed around the city for two days to see it all, literally running up St. Paul's Cathedral to see the view from the top before closing. Here instead are the highlights (don't worry, I also got my fish/chips and necessary English pint!). Special thanks to Tai for giving me the Notting Hill hook up and travel advice- I definitely felt like I was in a Hugh Grant film!

In no particular order...

The Tate Modern Art Musuem was great- they had this huge space where you can watch dancers rehearse too

540 stairs apparently to the top of St. Pauls... worth it for the view

trying to prove I was in there...

Walking around in Hyde Park waiting for Harrods to open

normally I hate just tons of landscape/generic pics,

but it's hard to avoid if you are traveling alone

Okay, does the rest of the world not have squirrels!!?

Everywhere I went, the tourists/kids there were watching them. This is in front of Buckingham Palace...

honestly, more interesting- this man has trained this squirrel/pigeons! so I took a picture to fit in.

Gotta love Ben! But actually, this was one the reasons I wanted to go to London so badly!

P.S. Thank you to the British people for being so nice, funny and more than willing to give directions. AND my momma is coming to visit this week!!!

My Paris Rant

I feel that I need to have a disclaimer post, so that you realize despite the amazing times here, I am under no circumstances moving permanently to Paris. Hopefully this doesn't come out sounding ungrateful to Paris, or that I am suggesting living here is "difficult". But, I have already accepted that it will make me sound like a cliche American.

I've almost hit the second full month and this past week I have done almost nothing a tourist would do. In fact, I felt pretty much like a Parisian. OH... besides the fact that I don't speak French, ended up with a raw fish, lettuce and butter sandwich that I thought was just veggies, and still don't care that I go out in public in my beloved rainbows. But an old French lady asked me for help crossing the street, so obviously I have some street cred.

I got to ride the velib bikes (haven't before because my credit card lacks the required chip), after a co-worker rented one for me when we stayed out after the metro closed. Basically its free to ride under 1/2 hour ( a euro after that) and then you can just drop the bike off at a different location. Very cool public transit system.



And today I discovered the best english book store in Paris. It is NOT Shakespeare and Co, (tourist trap!) it is the San Francisco Book Company and I am in love. I took pictures (okay, yes, only tourists would take pictures). But seriously the books are almost all used/cheap and the store has the best collection and old book smell.

Anyway, reasons I needed to seek out an English bookstore and why my Paris love affair will be fleeting:

I miss american (reality/sports/bad summer shows) tv. I know, I shouldn't admit this, but it's true.

I would rather have spice in my food than butter. To be fair, I'm afraid to try the Asian food here and who knows, it might have some potential.

I can't wear heels like the French women, I get blisters from the walking I do in sandals! What I should be researching this summer is their genetic disposition to cute clothes and high heels!

I still don't convert euros to dollars. Turns out I've been paying 3 dollars for an avocado.

I like nature more than I realized.

I don't actually like goat cheese (gasp!)

BBQs are illegal, they dip their fries in mayo, and the cooked beef is still rare.

I would rather hug someone as a greeting, then kiss them four times.

No hard feelings Paris, but tie goes to America.

Thank you Rick Steves

This past weekend we took a day trip to Beaune, France. It is this little town in the Burgandy wine region. We decided to go because of this great bike trail through vineyards that Rick recommended (yea, we are basically on a first name basis now). We were not disappointed. Do you ever have that image in your head of these rolling green hills depicting heavenly landscape that's a strange mix between Ireland, Tuscany, or some remote place in Greece? Turns out it's Beaune! Also, the people were ridiculously friendly and appreciate visitors.

(the start of the official trail outside the town)

French vineyards are different than someplace like Napa because the actual wineries are located in the towns, not out in the fields. We did one tasting, where we brought our picnic lunch we got from the town farmers market. We had planned to do more, but like most things here, it took about twice as long as we expected. Sorry the pictures aren't better-I didn't know how to capture the beauty.

I have definitely mastered biking in the past year!

A Five Course Splurge

I've had my first French restaurant revelation this week.

It was from this little hole in the wall place that I won't use by name because it can't become too famous...we (as obvious americans) were asked how we had heard about it, it is a local secret treasure. ( I'll share on request!) The following food almost made me cry it was so good. We chose to go crazy and try the chefs meal for the table, priced really well at 30 euros. I don't know the real names, so I'll try to explain...

first course:
octopus and beet salad ( who knew this would be awesome)
something like hummus, but better. seasoned SO well and kind of spicy
avocado puree and ham, what a happy couple
buttery, yummy shrimp (still with their little heads on!)
a cold melon soup
BREAD, such good bread

second:
the best halibut like fish I have ever had. cooked with these grilled bell peppers
oh and the sauce, warm tomato and peppers.
BREAD

third:
lentils and carrots and what we thought was pork. It was at this point that the gentleman who asked how we knew of this place, congratulated us on being brave.

the waitress then asks if we liked the tongue....I actually did not
BREAD (with the lentils and sauce!)

dessert:
Sheep cheese and cherry sauce. I could live in that cherry sauce. At this point in the meal I am considering working for food in the restaurant the rest of the summer

simple cherry tart, perfect end to the meal. light and delicious

Reims/Champagne Region

First, I don't know why we decided to go anywhere on a Sunday in the middle of holiday season in France. Reims (pronounced "Rance" like "France"), was a ghost town. But we still got an AWESOME tour of the Roman caves where they keep 3 million bottles of champagne. Here are some pictures- and this New Years, be prepared for me to go on and on about the champagne making process, because I definitely feel like an expert now.

the sign says champagne, and I like this random house

the caves! I don't really have a taste for "good champagne" but this place had a great reputation and the glass at the end was good

this is the Notre Dame of Reims, almost all of the French kings have been coronated here. Beautiful!

Definitely one of my favorite cathedrals

And I just realized I would feel ridiculous if I didn't say something about Bastille Day. I have been looking forward to this French celebration all summer... here is the breakdown

• America does parades better. The parade was all military, although the units did sing. And it POURED
• No one wears national colors, and I'm pretty sure the travelers get more into it. aka no face painted French flags
• They can do fireworks, that plus the Eiffel Tower, and carefully choreographed displays to the best French songs I have ever heard. I felt like Ratatouille when he tasted that cheese and bread (strawberry?) together for the first time!!!

Characterization of Coxsackie virus B3 (CVB3) RNA dependent RNA polymerase (RdRp) variants in vitro.

That is the official title of my summer research project.

First, if you want the best explanation of my lab....

http://www.vignuzzilab.eu/research.htm

Second, I want to try and explain what I’m doing for research this summer- I’m sorry if I under/over simplify things!

I am researching RNA virus population dynamics. I am working specifically with the Coxsackie virus B3 (CVB3), an RNA virus that is very similar to the poliovirus. Viruses exist in nature not as a single “species” with tightly controlled genomes, but as “quasispecies”. These genetically diverse populations are better equipped to adapt to new environments, and RNA viruses make the most mutations during replication compared to other types of polymerases. You have probably heard of this in terms of many different infectious agents, and how it is hard to make drugs targeting rapidly evolving organisms- the arms race between virus and host. CVB3 is mainly a third world problem, causing “hand, foot, and mouth disease”, but it is another viral model we can study.

For those who want to read more.
CVB3 has a RNA dependent, RNA polymerase (RdRp) that is responsible for it’s replication, almost identical to the poliovirius RdRp. When studying poliovirus, they discovered mutant populations that were resistant to the antiviral drug Ribavirin. These mutants had RdRps that were making fewer mutations during replication, therefore creating a smaller population cloud of virus, or “quasispecies”. This was the result of a mutation at just one amino acid in the active site of the polymerase-position 64. When these “high fidelity” mutants were then exposed to other antiviral drugs, the viruses were unable to mutate and had attenuated virulence. This has implications in terms of vaccine safety and future treatment with antiviral medication.

I am expanding off the observations in the poliovirus model; instead we induced mutations in the RdRp of CBV3 and are seeing if we can find a mutant that is Ribavirin resistant. What we are finding is that despite the extreme similarity, mutations at the same position effect the two viruses differently and with limited viability. Induced mutations in one region, often become reverted with low fidelity polymerases instead of the high fidelity polymerases. Hopefully, by the end of the summer I can characterize the different types of mutations!