During World War II, Great Britain took away most of the rice grown in the Madras Presidency to feed their soldiers,leading to a severe shortage of rice. To address this shortage, they started importing rice from Burma (present-day Myanmar).
When the Japanese invaded and occupied Burma, rice shortages became worse as the supply from Burma got cut off. Idlis got banned in Malabar region. Most restaurants during the day could not procure enough rice to sustain their business either.
Eventually, the British came up with a crazy idea to convince the South Indians to eat wheat because they could get wheat from Punjab and the North West provinces.
However, there was one small problem. South Indian women were not keen on spending three hours in the kitchen for every meal to prepare chapatis when they could prepare rice in just half an hour.
To this, the British came up with a solution in the form of wheat that could be cooked exactly like rice and would also utilize the cheap waste product of flour mills.
This was Rava or Semolina.
The British in their best propaganda spreading way, ran campaigns claiming that rava was more nutritious than rice and that Madras will not starve. They also ran free cooking classes. They convinced restaurants to invent new dishes using rava.
Yagnanarayana Maiya, the founder of Mavalli Tiffin Rooms, popularly known as MTR invented rava idly in the absence of rice. To replace Pongal in restaurants in the Madras Presidency region, upma was invented.
Upma, a humble dish born out of ingenuity to survive in challenging times, today represents such vast history. Made with a range of vegetables and some nuts, the dish is nutritious and over the years has helped women manage cooking while working full-time, becoming quite the silent supporter of feminism across South India!
Source: https://masalalab.in/2024/02/21/how-the-british-made-us-eat-upma/

I'd like to share a lengthy and self-indulgent note about my history with the Baha'i community and the impact it had on my family and me. It's worth noting that I'm sharing this using a throwaway Reddit account that I generally reserve for browsing porn. I find funny to imagine a Baha'i apologist reading this, becoming angry and judgmental, and then, investigating my profile and ending up jerking off. With that said, let's dive into my story.
I want to share my experience in case it resonates with someone else, a lot of the stories on this Reddit helped me, and perhaps my story will give some comfort to someone else. It has taken me a while to write this down, and I'm glad I finally got around to doing it.
My parents emigrated from their homeland for reasons of principle and value. Upon their arrival, they were greeted by Baha'is who met them. And so, lovebombed and lavished with love, praise, and celebration for moving countries due to values that they portrayed as being closely aligned with the Baha'i faith, my parents fell for this validation and worked very hard once they became Baha'is in the mid-1980s.
My dad got rid of all of his whiskies, and swiftly, my parents began hosting potlucks and fireside chats, diligently working to integrate into the Baha'i ecosystem. Back then, the atmosphere was fairly light-hearted, with devotional gatherings, prayers, and a somewhat 1960s-esque hippie vibe. There was live guitar music, and joss sticks.
However, I remember Baha'i classes having an interesting edge. We were taught that Buddhists were not following a religion but merely a way of life, and that Hindus had become pantheistic because they had lost the core of their faith and religion, which had become corrupted over time. Thanks to Google, I can discover that yes indeed, this is from Lights of Guidance.
There was a significant emphasis on the importance of gender equality and the oneness of humanity – because, hey, the eighties. I feel sad there isn't anything anymore about the Virtues project - even if the Virtues project was sort of framed like it was created by Bahais.
Even in the 1980s, there was an overwhelming atmosphere that the key to being a good Baha'i was how you presented yourself rather than your actual behaviour. I recall learning an apocryphal tale of a young Baha'i who, while fasting, participated in an aerobics class and nearly fainted (yeah, aerobics, this is a real 80s fable), but was told by another Baha'i to prioritize representing the faith well over completing the fast because *it looked bad*. From a very early age, I learned the importance of putting the right face forward.
My parents then took their relationship with the Baha'i faith to the next level and volunteered at the World Centre in Haifa. As a child, this was a pretty interesting experience. I was suddenly immersed in the Iranian, or rather, Persian community, with its strong culture of martyrdom. Even as a child, every event seemed to feature graphic videos depicting young kids being taken from their homes. It was quite frightening, and I remember being afraid.
I also recall a strong sense of hierarchy within the community. My family lived in a small apartment with a very old, busted-up car from the 1970s, while others resided in nice homes with pleasant views and drove nice cars. I attended a local Israeli school, which was a cultural experience in itself, while my peers my age went to the much fancier American school. It's important to note that, at this point, the conversation about the "great catastrophe" – two-thirds of the world's population dying, leading to a period of peace and the entry by troops – was a prevalent topic openly discussed at the World Centre.
We completed our stint there, even living through the Gulf War. Upon returning to my birth country, my parents chose to live in places with smaller Baha'i communities, as they wanted to support and help establish Local Spiritual Assemblies. Things had changed by this point, not only because I was a teenager but also because the community itself had transformed. There was a significant Iranian presence everywhere, and the focus had shifted heavily towards rules, especially those related to sex, drinking, and drug use. There was also a huge emphasis on financial contributions to the faith, and it was the first time I began to see a somewhat materialistic outlook within the community.
As a preteen and teenager, I engaged in activities like dropping off flyers in mailboxes and soliciting strangers to talk about this great new religion, all in the name of “teaching”. I joined the local choir and sang, inspired by a crush I had on a girl there. This was probably the golden time of the community, with the choir doing outreach and a balance between Western and Iranian believers.
However, things began to accelerate. The Ruhi Institute and teaching became significant focal points. I was encouraged to bring a good friend of mine to a Baha'i camp, and once there, I was pressured to ask him to convert. It was very uncomfortable.
This Reddit loves cringe stories, so here is a winner: I had a birthday party with my non-Baha'i friends, and two older Baha'i girls attended. One of the girls ended up stalking my friend, showing up at his workplace and calling him at home with sexually suggestive comments. The matter was escalated to the Local Spiritual Assembly, but instead of talking to me about it, they basically ended my friendship with this kid. To me, this somehow captures so much of what it was like to be a Baha'i child and how Baha'i adults treat children to this day.
When I turned 15, I signed up for Baha'i membership because it was the expected thing to do. However, by the time I was in my early 20s and studying at university, I had started to interact more with the local, real-world community. This might seem like a small thing, but it was actually quite significant. You see, my parents had always felt a little bit on the outside compared to the average person on the street around them. This sense of elitism was really exacerbated by being a Baha'i because Baha'is would walk around in a cloud of self-assurance, slapping each other on the back and saying , "We don't do drugs. We've got all the answers and solutions, not like you." That was pretty much the attitude. It felt very socio-economic, with a lot of judgment towards working-class people. When the Iranians arrived, the cultural judgments grew even stronger.
But I was working in restaurants and learning about booze from bartenders. I had gotten to know real people. I had lost my virginity, and all that Bahai jazz seemed so much less relevant. I hardly even noticed when the year 2000 arrived without the predicted apocalypse, entry by troops, or any of the other anticipated events. Life went on. I lived in another country and met a girl, and we lived together.
Here is cringe story #2: my girlfriend /fiancé and I hosted a Bahai couple from my hometown. Despite being in my late 20s and engaged, and even though I hosted this gentleman in my house and helped him with his preparations for his business and presentations in the country where I lived, he reported to the Local Spiritual Assembly that I was living with a woman and we weren't married. It was absolutely amazing. The level of judgment still grosses me out.
I started to reflect on what the religion had meant to me and saw how it had changed. The obsession with fundraising was becoming ever more strident and panicked. The gaps in the actual scriptural logic of the religion were becoming more exacerbated as real-world problems still ran rife, and real-time discussions on social media brought these issues to light. It took me a while to start really digging into it, and it was only much later, when I started therapy, that I realized I needed to formally resign from the religion.
Looking back, it's astonishing how this religion, which professes to have such blind equality between the genders, as if other religions have some kind of hardwired sexism, actually had hardwired sexism in how the Universal House of Justice operates. A religion that taught the oneness of humanity, as if all humanity is equal and other religions don't recruit from anyone they can find, places divisors. Although of course, Bahai’s can’t recruit from Israeli Jews, so much for oneness of humanity. But this religion has taught that all humanity is equal, unless, of course, you're gay. Then you can't get married, let alone have sex.
There are other principles I haven't touched on, such as non-involvement in politics, unless it involves things happening to Baha'is or politics in Iran. The principle of independent investigation of the truth doesn't seem to work if you might investigate something that's not in line with the Baha'i perspective. The idea of a universal language? I don't really see any evidence that they're even really thinking about that one. The unity between science and religion? A religion that only allows men to sit on its senior board of a global theocracy probably isn't going to jive with a contemporary scientific perspective…. I mean, apparently you don't need a penis to be a man anymore, right?
In between these moments are my colorful memories of random things, like endless discussions about the boundaries of physical intimacy, people getting married at the age of 16 because they had exemptions for being Persian, and meeting Ms. Khanoom in Israel, feeling some sadness that the lone woman who at least brought some feminine energy to the World Centre is now gone, replaced by 12 boring men.
I've had conversations with my wife where I tried to explain what Baha'is actually do. She just wonders why they aren't doing stuff like normal religions do, like reading to the elderly or supporting schools for the disabled. I explain that's not the target demographic. I remember a wealthy man brought to firesides who obviously nobody else wanted to listen to, but we all sat around and applauded him like he was a great ukulele player and a clever man. He pointed out a hilariously Iranian man who was an alternative healer, and they got into a debate about modern medicine. The wealthy man said, "Well, you should see my daughter and what she studied. She studies Law." And then quickly changed the subject when asked about her name since I studied at the same Law school. Here's this man who's self-aware enough to join the adoration of his crowd but doesn't want his daughter mixed up in it in any way. Absolutely hilarious. Make that cringe story #3.
This reflection was sort of sparked when my wife and I discovered that the writings attributed to Rumi, which Baha'is often quote, is the same guy who started the Whirling Dervishes. We read about Rumi and I realized just how different he is from Baha'u'llah. Rumi wrote poetry, but he didn't pretend to be a prophet of God. He was just offering a different dynamic for how to interpret spirituality. He didn't say he was part of some sort of cycle. There's something beautiful about that simplicity. And needless to say, Rumi lived long before the Baha'is ever started.
It makes me wonder, will anyone ever watch the equivalent of a whirling dervish dance for the Baha'is?
The obsession with appearances sounds like a joke, but it isn't. It wasn't for me. Some bad stuff happened to me on my trip to Israel. When we got there, my parents didn't understand why I was so upset about everything. It was a culture shock, attending a local school, not speaking Hebrew, being lumped together with Russian kids who also didn't speak Hebrew, and getting beaten up in the toilet. It wasn't a very good time for me.
So, I was sent to counsel with a local Israeli counselor. After several sessions, she instructed that I had to sit down with my parents and tell them what I needed to tell them, particularly about the shadow that had come over me since coming to Israel. My parents were enraged when I said, “I wish we never became Bahai”.
And so, we returned from the Holy Land and moved to a tiny community that was struggling to get members. To this day, my parents are still members. I've resigned so I'm never dubbed a "covenant breaker." I'm pretty sure my parents know that I resigned because they literally never raise the topic of the Baha'i faith with me. I wish the religion had some interesting cosmology, something mystical, some interesting new take on the universe, or provided my family with tools to handle being migrants or raising teenagers. At the very least, it could have given us a common language we could have used to bond together. It did none of that.
But to be fair, if it wasn't the Baha'is, some other rinky-dink cult would have love-bombed my parents back in the 1980s. Of course, it would have been so much more fun if it had featured more sex and drugs 😊

Why move to Waltham, MA? You’re standing on a charming street in Waltham, MA, surrounded by the vibrant hues of fall foliage while, the children laugh in a nearby park. Also, the neighbors chat warmly over fences, and the air is filled with the scent of autumn leaves. This isn’t just a postcard-perfect scene; it’s everyday life in Waltham. Known for its rich history, thriving economy, and strong sense of community, Waltham has become a magnet for homeowners and renters alike. But what truly sets this city apart? Let’s delve into the compelling reasons why moving to Waltham, MA, might be the best decision you make.

Why move to Waltham, MA?

A Rich Historical Tapestry
Waltham, often referred to as “The Watch City,” played a pivotal role in the American Industrial Revolution. The Waltham Watch Company, established in the mid-19th century, was a pioneer in mass production of watches, earning the city its nickname. Today, you can explore this fascinating history at the Charles River Museum of Industry and Innovation, housed in the original watch factory. Walking through Waltham’s historic downtown, you’ll find beautifully preserved buildings that whisper tales of the city’s industrious past.
A Hub for Education and Innovation
Why move to Waltham, MA? It’s a city that champions education and innovation. Waltham is home to renowned institutions like Brandeis University and Bentley University, attracting students and academics from across the globe. These universities not only provide excellent educational opportunities but also contribute to the city’s dynamic cultural scene. Waltham’s focus on education ensures a highly educated populace and a continuous influx of fresh ideas and talents.
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Waltham’s economic landscape is robust and diverse. The city hosts a multitude of businesses, from burgeoning startups to established multinational corporations. Being part of the Greater Boston area, Waltham is a hub for tech and biotech industries. According to recent statistics, the employment rate in Waltham is higher than the national average, with significant contributions from the healthcare, education, and technology sectors. This thriving economy offers ample job opportunities for both newcomers and long-term residents.
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Why move to Waltham, Ma? Despite its urban setting, Waltham is rich in green spaces. The scenic Charles River runs through the city, offering beautiful trails for walking, biking, and jogging. The nearby Prospect Hill Park provides breathtaking views of the Boston skyline and is perfect for hiking and picnicking. These green spaces allow residents to enjoy the great outdoors without leaving the city limits.
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Strategic Location
Another compelling reason why move to Waltham, MA, is its strategic location. Just 10 miles from downtown Boston, Waltham offers the perfect balance of suburban tranquility and urban accessibility. Commuting to Boston for work or leisure is convenient, with multiple transportation options including the MBTA commuter rail and bus services.
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INTENDED MAJOR: NEUROSCIENCE/ PRE-MED
SAT: taking in August (will update; expecting >1550) GCE A LEVELS (Singapore): AAB-AACC (85/90rp) SUBJECTS/COURSES: H2 Bio, H2 Chem, H2 Math, H1 Econs, H1 GP, H1 PW, H1 Mother Tongue (2nd language). The 2 'C's are my languages hahaha 🥲.
HONORS: 1. Edusave Certificate of Academic Achievement 2022 (National) 2. " " " " " 2023 (National) 3. Silver Medalist, Individual Category, International C.B Paul Science Quiz 2021 (International) 4. Top Performance Biology Award (School, 2023) 5. Good Performance Award, Academic Category (School, 2022)
There are more honors but these are the ones I'm listing down.
EXTRACURRICULARS: There's honestly A LOT like I don't even know what to list down in the Common App 🤡.
Here's a few: Student Councillor, Students Council, YIJC, 2022-2023 Organized school-wide events such as Orientation 2023 and Teachers’ Day 2022. Promoted camaraderie between students and school spirit.
Organizer, YGP Bazaar, Pasir Ris East Youth Network, 2022 Organized a bazaar to help small home-businesses gain traction after being affected by COVID-19.
Facilitator, Bahadur Bachey, Sikh Sewaks Singapore, 2022-2023 Ensured the safety and well-being of young children. Entertained children by playing with them. Taught them important life-skills such as discipline and obedience.
Sports Leader, Ngee Ann Secondary School (NAS), 2020-2021 Organized sports events to increase school spirit and promote camaraderie between students. Raised awareness regarding the importance of exercise and having a nutritional diet.
Member, Talent Development Programme, YIJC, 2023 Gained relevant information regarding different industries such as business and governance, and their significance in Singapore. Learned skills such as communication and problem-solving.
Exponent, Singapore Taekwondo Federation, 2012-2020 Completed a Taekwondo course up till 2nd Poom. Skilled in self-defense.
Member, Singapore Red Cross Youth, 2014-present(inactive) Trained in CPR and AED. Skilled in the different tying techniques of bandages. Trained in giving psychological aid
Volunteer, New Year's Eve Degh Sewa, Sikh Sewaks Singapore, 2022 Served food to people during the New Year's Eve event. Ensured hygiene levels were kept high to make sure the food was safe to consume.
Usher, New Year's Eve Darbar Sewa, Sikh Sewaks Singapore, 2023 Welcomed people warmly to the New Year's Eve event. Made sure people were walking in an orderly manner to prevent overcrowding. Assisted the elderly and the disabled to move around.
Food Service Worker, Subway, 2021 Served food to customers in a timely manner. Executed proper food hygiene such as wearing gloves and washing hands thoroughly. Cleaned the restaurant after closing down. Stayed calm during unprecedented or busy periods.
Did a research paper on artificial intelligence, recognised by Google, 2022
There's a lot more but idk which ones to choose. Unlike many people here, no, I did not start my own NGO or open an orphanage or become a CEO of a milion-dollar company.
I'm an International student so if anything is incomplete or needs clarification, just ask or tell hehehe.
I think my essay is pretty dope (at least to me).

I am not the OOP. The OOP is u/Extra-Mind364 posting in Marriage
Ongoing as per OOP
2 updates - Medium
Original - 30th April 2024
Update1 - 10th May 2024
Update2 - 17th May 2024
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Husband is going on a trip with another woman and I need reassurances
​
Hello all. My husband occasionally travels for work and next week he has to attend a conference in Budapest.
Nothing out of the ordinary except one of his colleagues will accompany him, and this colleague is a freshly divorced, very attractive younger woman. I don't like this woman because I believe she kinda has eyes on my husband. When he brought me as his plus one to a work dinner she wouldn't stop complimenting him (which is fine for me, within limits) but also made some "jokes" to me to "call her" if I ever need someone to take him out of my hands for the day, or if I can "lend him" to her.
This left a bitter taste in my mouth and when I told my husband about this he said he would talk to her and ask her to tone it down. But still, he complained a couple of times that this lady sticks to him like hot glue when she has the occasion, and when he and the team go out to eat she insist to carpool with him.
And now they have this trip together and I am uncomfortable. I trust my husband, but I am afraid this woman might try to pull something. My husband listened to my concerns and proposed I could come along, if it can help, and this sounds like the perfect solution.
But I too have my work stuff to attend to, and I am afraid if I come along I might come off as insecure and jealous, and distrustful of my husband. What do I do? My husband reassured me and offered a solution, but I am still undecided.
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Comments
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strike_match
The fact that your husband has listened to your concerns and offered real solutions speaks volumes. Trust him to handle things on his end because it sounds like he will. It also honestly sounds like he is being sexually harassed, so be ready to be in his corner if this woman pushes the limit and things come to a head.

OOP: She is his superior too, and I feel this is part of the problem. She's not exactly his boss, but she is one step above him.

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doringliloshinoi
Ah, the ol up and to the left org chart.

OOP: Basically, it's something of local branch and main branch. Husband is local branch and his title would be theoretically superior, but she is from the main branch and even if she has a lower title she is in the upper echelon, and this makes her his superior.

​
Update - 10 days later
​
Hello all, me again.
I ended up not going to the trip with my husband because I had a family emergency. Husband offered to take a sick leave, but I was against it and told him I trust him and his common sense.
Getting straight to the point: you guys were right and his superior (the woman) made her move. They were having dinner at the hotel restaurant when she started playing footsie and rub her foot on his leg. This made my husband uncomfortable and he asked her to stop to which she replied something along the lines of "make me", and husband left dinner.
She came to his room an hour late (meanwhile he had already called me to inform me about what happened at dinner) because she wanted to apologize. My husband tried to keep her at the door but she pushed her way in and sat on his bed. My husband tried to get her out but she literally lunged at him trying to kiss him and saying it would be "only tonight" because she "saw he was undressing her with his eyes" everyday, before actually starting to undress herself.
My husband tried to leave the room and she started to cry and apologize. She begged my husband to not leave her because she only needs someone to talk to. She dressed back and went down to the lobby to talk (husband wouldn't trust her anymore to be alone with him). Again she apologized, she said she just feels lonely and really wants someone like my husband. Husband consoled her a bit but also told her he won't be comfortable anymore to be with her one on one and that he would tell me. She agreed, asked for a hug (which my husband conceded) and left.
The day after her whole attitude made a 180 turn. She acted cold and distant with my husband in work situations and called him by surname. Today they were supposed to get back in office but my husband took PTO and she took sick leave.
My husband now is worried he might be facing retaliation. I believe him and his account of the events and I think he handled it well (except maybe giving her a hug), and I will be standing with him if she tries something.
I'll update when something worthwhile happens. For now we will try to enjoy out weekend without thinking about this.
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Comments
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charm59801
Um he needs to go to HR and/or the EEOC this is text book sexual harassment.

OOP: That's what I think he should do. He says he wants to forget the whole thing, but I am pissed with this woman.

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swine09
If he doesn’t, she’ll end up doing this again with someone else. This is deranged behavior and she needs help.
My thoughts go out to your husband. It’s awful to be accosted like this, especially by a superior. It’s normal to want to pretend it never happened, super common.
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KatersHaters
For safety, ask the hotel for copies of the footage of them in the restaurant (her leaning in and him abruptly leaving) and them in the lobby. I assume her gestures there looked like someone apologizing and him being stoic. And Id think the “forgiveness hug” is explainable with the context of the other supporting footage.

OOP: I will tell my husband to do that. There must be security cameras in the public areas, right?

​
Update 2 - 7 days later
​
Hello guys, I just wanted to update you on our situation.
Husband went to HR on Tuesday, and it seems they took his concerns seriously. It helped that he gathered some coworkers willing to testify on his behalf and how this woman was being "too friendly" to him. But the real big news is that someone from another office approached my husband, and hearsay is that this woman got transferred to my husband's branch exactly because she got "inappropriate" with her downlines. Word is that she at least made very "forceful" advances to another man and a woman too (!).
I admit I am relieved that this woman has history, and this made it more likely for my husband to be believed; but I am also pissed off because this person seemingly got off each time with a slap on the wrist. She's a predator and yet she never faced any serious consequence.
Her sick leave has been extended, and she let her team know she's getting back the week after next week. Husband is doing well, but is a bit a mess at times. He blames himself for everything that happened and worse he says he has "cheated" on me. He also said he's been having nightmares of having sex with her.
I have to reassure him he did everything right and he's not to blame here. He has decided to take some vacation days next week to rest and recuperate from the stress, and I am looking forward to spending some quality time with him.
We'll be alright, I know it.
​
Comments
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Spicy_burrito77
Glad they believed him and hopefully she gets fired and sued.

OOP: I hope so, but my gut says she'll probably just get transferred again.

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charm59801
He should file an EEOC claim, seriously.
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holliday_doc_1995
I’m so glad he went to HR! Do you have any idea what will happen with this woman? Is she being transferred again? Did your husband get reassurance that he doesn’t have to be around this woman anymore?

OOP: I don't know what will happen to her, and I don't think HR will tell my husband. But I think it's pretty telling she's hiding behind "sick leave".

​
I am not the OOP. Please do not harass the OOP.
Please remember the No Brigading Rule and to be civil in the comments

Greetings and Salutations! Not much to say here, had to know what the Attor was going to do. Hope you enjoy!
Ch. 26

• The Attor capturing Feyre is probably the best thing that's happened to her. Now she'll finally realize how far behind she is in her abilities, get her ass in gear, and BECOME THE GODDAMN AVATAR.
  
• Is that Rhysand's music I hear???? Shadow spear this fooligan, plz and ty
  
• Oooh the Attor is working for King Hybern…great; now he has the cauldron legs and Jurian's eye/finger. Just the book is left and Feyre is like, “Don't look at me when I'm trying to train.”
  
• Is that Azriel’s music????? Nice super hero landing, BTW
  
• “Will he kill him?” “No.” Damn. I'm assuming Azriel is the master of the hentai shadow tentacle technique
  
• TAMLIN WAS RIGHT. Feyre is in constant danger, what a blow to her ego.
  
• Lol Rhys using Feyre as bait, very clever. I should just always assume he’s playing 4D chess while Feyre is doodling with crayons
  
• Nice let's get this training started!
  
• DAMN she winnowed!
  

Ch. 27

• Noice! The classic, accidental, unintentional mounting scene that's found in every romance novel. Gotta have it.
  
• “Velaris isn't my home.” Savage, but uncalled for.
  
• Rhys is now going to cry on his portable multi-dimensional bed.
  

Ch. 28

• Bro…Nesta pretending to not enjoy Cassian eye-fucking her is adorable. I'm assuming once they bang the house will literally be in shambles.
  
• Oh cool, love me a good pensieve scene.
  
• Dude, Azriel's torture dagger is called Truth-Teller? That's a great name
  
• Yeah Azriel's rage seems more methodical and focused…he seems way more brutal than Cassian
  
• Hmmm so Spring Court is on lockdown…doesn't surprise me
  
• Whooo, date night with the inner circle!
  
• Wait, so Nuala and Cerridwen are half high fae and half wraith? How does that even work? Do wraiths even have a physical, tangible body? I need a long chapter that details how sex with a wraith would work. For science, of course ;)
  
• LOL Amren's amulet was just a placebo? That's awesome
  

Ch. 29

• Fun fun, a nighttime stroll through Velaris sounds lovely
  
• What does faelight look like, exactly?
  
• Dude there are official sports leagues in Prythian? Like what? Sarah J, you don't just drop this little detail in one sentence and not expand on it at all. I gotta know! This has a numerous amount of implications that I can't even…
  
• Whoa, is Amren actually a vampire??? She's drinking a goblet of blood at the restaurant. Please tell me this isn't the case, we already have a werewolf with Tammy, I don't want this to turn into Twilight
  
• Lol Azriel immediately wants to go dancing with Mor…this bro is thirsty
  
• Oh shit, Rhys and Feyre are now paired off. “I said a bang, bang, bangitty bang..”
  
• Yay, cool history lesson on the night court and the creation of Velaris. I'm wondering if the High Lord that created it was Mor’s family.
  
• Ohhhhh so Rhysand was playing the music when Feyre was in the dungeon Under the Mountain. In hindsight, that's super obvious
  
• Omg the old school sexting between Rhys and Feyre is hilarious. Love that Rhys is taking his shot though.
  
• Ok, too much use of the word “licking” on one page. Gonna need you to dial it down a notch, Mrs. Maas.
  
• Poor Rhys, looks like he's gonna have to rub one out tonight by himself
  

Ch. 30

• YES a training montage, this is what I’ve been asking for!
  
• Oooh tattoos all over their bodies…I approve. Can we get approved designs from Sarah J?
  
• Bro, Cassian is just a big softie isn't he? Love that he's teaching Feyre some fisticuffs
  
• Oh this is therapeutic for Feyre, she's letting out all her anger and guilt in that punching bag.
  
• Yeah, definite guilt for the faeries she murdered…but none for Clare Beddor?!? That's cold-blooded
  
• “I could smell the sweat on him, the sea and citrus scent beneath it.” Bro, is Rhys wearing that Old Spice Sea Spray deodorant? That shit smells good
  
• Oh interesting, there are different types of darkness that Feyre can use…glad she's finally tapping into this ability, sounds very cool
  

Fun chapters! Feels like this section is a bit of a lul, but I'm curious how things are gonna go down once they go to the Summer Court. Anyway, thanks for reading!

Hey everyone! I am 18M travelling to Tokyo by myself before starting a study abroad program for two months in Tokyo. I land in Haneda on Thursday (May 23rd) morning at 7am. I have never solo travelled before. My main interest is japanese history and old culture. I have some interest in manga and anime but not much. I love walking and walking more than 20k steps every day hasn't been an issue for me on past trips. I'm a minor in Japan so I don;t think I'll be clubbing or anything and I do pretty well with Jetlag (international student) so hopefully I'lll have lots of energy! I hope this itinerary is all good - i'm more unsure about the last three days because all these guides say that shibuya, shinjuku, and those areas are the heart of Tokyo but I'm on a pretty tight budget so shopping in designer stores isn't happening, and all of the more Japanese stuff that you can find in Kyoto too I'll be getting there in the two months that I have. (so all the Uniqlo stuff and thrifting etc)
Here is my itinerary so far. Is it too ambitious? I'm scared it might be just a little. Also i haven't properly checked the order of everything for kamakura and that one might be too much. For the last two days, i didn't know what activities to put so i will fill them with things that might get missed out on previous days however I am open to Shibuya and Shinjuku recs!
Also would love some restaurant recs. I don't plan on eating anywhere fancy in Tokyo but any nice restaurants would be nice - i do mostly plan on stopping wherever looks good.
I should also add I speak a little bit of Japanese (done my first year of Japanese at university).

Day 1: Asakusa

Land at 7am

• Go to hotel, leave baggage, big breakfast nearby (after not eating on the plane - jetlag beater)
• Walk Up Asakusa Culture Tourism Centre, to observation deck.
• Walk to Sensoji, up Nakamise street. Visit Sensoji
• Visit gardens nearby
• back to hotel to check in, leave bag, eat lunch
• 7 lucky gods walk (minus sensoji)
• Early night after dinner, night time walk along Sumida-gawa

Day 2: Ueno Park, Yanaka

• Ueno Park, (many shrines and zoo)
• Lunch
• Tokyo National Museum
• Nezu Shrine
• Explore Yanaka (if time)

Day 3: Day trip to Kamakura & Enoshima

• Hotel/Konbini breakfast
• Train to Kamakura
• Walk to Hokokuji Temple and Bamboo forest, stop at teahouse
• Walk back to Tsurugaoka Hachimangu, visit
• Street food lunch near Kamakura station
• Hase-dera
• Kotoku-in
• Train to Enoshima, see shrine, sea candle. Explore streets
• Back to Tokyo! Area near station for dinner and explore

Day 4: Shibuya

• Meiji Jingu Shrine and Yoyogi park
• Togo shrine
• Lunch
• Omotesando and Harajuku walk (not interested in shopping but i think it’ll still be cool)
• One piece store in Shibuya
• Don Quijote (maybe souvenir shopping)
• Dinner in Shibuya, famous crossing and then Omoide Yokocho

Day 5: Yasukuni and Shinjuku

• Yasukuni Shrine and accompanying museum
• Walk to Suga shrine, visit and walk around area
• Lunch
• Shinjuku Gyoen
• TMG building
• Missed stuff from past days?

Day 6: Central Tokyo

• Tsukiji market, walk around Ginza
• Lunch
• Head to Nihombashi (really just to see the plaque of the bridge)
• Kanda Shrine
• Akihabara (won’t spend very long)
• Catchup! (any other activities from the last few days that were missed out on)
• Dinner again, walk around city for last night in Tokyo

Any advice whatsoever is hugely appreciated!!

This is not a plan for my REDONE project, but just an idea I had while I was rewatching Attack of the Clones and making some changes to Episode 2 REDONE.
A lot of influences and ideas Lucas had for Attack of the Clones were sound: a blooming love story within the political backdrop at the center of the civil war, Palpatine using the war to gain power, Anakin's disillusionment with the ways of the Jedi, a hidden web of conspiracies setting for the war, and Dooku as this Jedi renegade who has defected to the Separatists. It has a lot of cool ideas, which is why frustrating the film fumbles at materializing them.
Aside from the romance between Anakin and Padme, the major failing of Attack of the Clones is that Lucas fails to show the turmoil of people of the galaxy, which would create a condition for Palpatine to rise. It is part of the reason why the politics in this movie is so boring because it doesn't dramatize the politics. Game of Thrones showed the general audience can get into a political epic.
So I decided to make a new outline, one that is faithful to Lucas' vision, ideas, and influences, while fleshing them out to make a more coherent story, also taking some cues from The Empire Strikes Back.
I also borrowed from and built upon the AOTC fixes I have done in the past:
https://old.reddit.com/fixingmovies/comments/qoftgq/in_attack_of_the_clones_padm%C3%A9_should_have_been/
https://old.reddit.com/fixingmovies/comments/z5m5wf/in_the_dooku_duel_in_attack_of_the_clones_obiwan/
Crawl:
The galaxy is falling asunder. Thousands of solar systems have declared their intentions to leave the Galactic Republic to create the CONFEDERACY OF INDEPENDENT SYSTEMS.
This Separatist movement, supported by various conglomerates like the TRADE FEDERATION, mercilessly strikes back the crumbling Republic with the mass-produced Droid Armies.
Senator Amidala, the former Queen of Naboo, is arriving at Alderaan to discuss the critical issue of granting Chancellor Palpatine emergency powers to assist the overwhelmed Jedi....
Alderaan:
The story begins with the right dab in the middle of the massive war that is yet to be called the "Clone Wars". We see Padme Amidala, now a Senator, arriving with her aide Cordé at the beautiful planet of Alderaan. After the Battle of Naboo, Padme Amidala became sort of a star--a prominent voice against the Separatist tyranny--but she is adamant against the Emergency Powers Act. This act is an amendment to the Galactic Constitution, which will grant Palpatine limitless powers, including bypassing the Senate to create a standing army to fight the Separatists. She meets Senator Bail Organa, the representative of Alderaan. Alderaan is a major progressive voting block, and Padme is here to unify the opposition against the constitutional amendment before the Senate votes on it. She has enough clouts and popularity to stop the amendment. Bail agrees with her that the emergency powers could be authoritarian, but he believes in the necessity of a centralized standing army.
As they discuss this matter, with Padme saying, "The day we stop believing democracy can work is the day we lose it", the meeting is adjourned abruptly when a city-wide alert is raised. They look outside to witness the Separatist battle fleet filling the sky, blinding the sunlight, and beginning a massive invasion of Alderaan. We switch to Count Dooku on the Separatist battleship (at this point, we don't see his face and learn his name), who reports to the hologram of his Master Darth Sidious that he has caught Senator Padme Amidala in the basket. Sidious smiles, "Good, good..."
Unknown Planet somewhere in the Outer Rim Territories:
Meanwhile, we switch to the battlefield on the other side of the galaxy. The local planetary military, under the command of the local government, is retreating from the relentless Droid Army. The Republic is continually losing the war, and we see the ineffectiveness of the planetary forces. Here, we see Anakin and Obi-Wan are commanding the withdrawal of their troops. Realizing some of the Republic forces are pinned down and on the verge of annihilation, Anakin disobeys Obi-Wan's orders to go to save the troops alone. In an act of courage, Anakin manages to save the troops and returns. As the Republic forces retreat, Obi-Wan scolds Anakin. With this, we understand Anakin's character--reckless but selflessly cares for his friends--and see his relationship with his Master Obi-Wan.
Obi-Wan is struggling as a Master to Anakin Skywalker. This is because Obi-Wan didn't take Anakin because he has a connection with him. He was entrusted out of obligation and duty for his dead Master Qui-Gon Jinn (whose name does not even get mentioned in the movie). So obviously, it is no wonder their relationship seems broken. Anakin feels attachments and all the emotions the Jedi Code forbids. He thinks Obi-Wan is too strict and cold--only one-minded about missions and duties.
Coruscant:
As the Jedi head to Coruscant, Anakin has a nightmare of her mother Shmi Skywalker. She's still trapped on Tatooine as a slave, and he wonders what happened to her.
Anakin returns to Coruscant to earn a decoration for his service by the Jedi Council. Master Dooku, is seated as one of the prominent members of the Council (so it can be an actual twist when Dooku is later revealed to be a bad guy). He is on good terms with Obi-Wan and Anakin since he was Qui-Gon Jinn's Master. Chancellor Palpatine is here, too, congratulating Anakin for his heroic effort. Palpatine suggests giving Anakin a reward. Anakin asks for a leave to return to Tatooine to see his mother. Much to Anakin's dismay, the Council rejects this on the grounds that the Jedi should let go of their past and attachments. The Jedi, especially Padawans, are strictly under the discipline with no autonomy. They cannot go anywhere they want. Instead, Dooku decides to give Obi-Wan and Anakin a non-combat mission as a prize, which is to find Padme. The Alderaanians are currently unable to reach Padme. Their mission is to find her and bring her back safely.
Regards to the hotly controversial emergency powers, the Jedi Council, like the public, is divided on this issue. Obi-Wan and Dooku are supportive of the amendment. Both show their distaste toward the Senate and the politicians in handling the crisis, "Don't forget she's a politician. They're not to be trusted", "It's been my experience that Senators are only focused on pleasing those who fund their campaigns... and they are more than willing to forget the niceties of democracy to get those funds". This is why they are shown to be very much supportive of Palpatine's controversial policies that can be perceived as authoritarian. Palpatine gets stuff done. In contrast, Anakin is apolitical--he never cared about politics.
Alderaan:
Anakin and Obi-Wan depart to a ravaged Alderaan. The battle is ongoing, and the Alderaanian forces seem to be unable to beat back the Droid Army. Here, the Jedi meet Senator Bail Organa for the first time, who is overseeing the Alderaanian forces. The battle resembles the Civil War battle from The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly, in which both sides are dug in the trenches and unable to penetrate each other's defense line. Bail informs the Jedi that Padme's emergency powers talk was held in Aldera in ruins, currently occupied by the Separatists, and she would be stuck there--under their captive or hidden out of the enemy sight. The Separatists are entrenched in Aldera--a city protected by a massive energy shield. Bail informs the Jedi that they are on schedule and under their continued bombardment of the city, the enemy shields would be overwhelmed in a further month. Both Jedi are stunned, but they have no choice.
In the enemy stronghold in Aldera, we quickly learn why Dooku gave the assignment to find Padme to Anakin and Obi-Wan. It's because the Separatists are unable to find Padme, who seemingly has disappeared. If she had been rescued by the Republic, she would be on the news, which means she is still somewhere in Aldera. Dooku reports to the hologram of his Master that he cannot find Padme. Dooku is then Force-choked by his Master. Dooku pleads to his Master, promising him that he will get her.
Meanwhile, the Alderaanian troops watch the HoloNet broadcast of the current Senate session. As a major progressive voting block, Alderaanians and Senator Bail Organa used to be against granting emergency powers to the Chancellor, but this invasion has changed their mind. Palpatine has firmly established himself as a wartime Chancellor. Through the hologram, Bail Organa gives a speech in favor of the amendment and votes for it, which sways the rest of the Senate to his side. The amendment has passed. Palpatine says, "I love democracy. I love the Republic. Once this crisis has abated, I will lay down the powers you have given me!"
Meanwhile, a week has passed, and the trench warfare is ongoing. In Aldera, Corde--Padme's body double--is helping Padme hide in the underground subway tunnel. Corde leaves to get her more food and water but is then caught by the droids. The droids present her to Dooku. Corde is shocked to find that Jedi Master Dooku is the leader of the Separatist movement Dooku raises his hands and unleashes the Force lightning to torture her to open her mouth to locate Padme.
The newly created "Grand Army of the Republic" has arrived at Alderaan, wearing shining white armor. They are welcomed enthusiastically by the Alderaanian forces. Obi-Wan is surprised that the standing army has already been dispatched to warfare, so he tries to talk with them, but they seem... "different".
Anakin arrives, bearing "lunch", a cloth full of live insects and worms, which he casually reports he got from inside the CIS base after discovering an underground entrance into the city, running through the sewers beneath the protective shield. Obi-Wan scolds Anakin for being reckless. While the new Republic army installs the even more powerful cannons to bombard of the shield above ground, Anakin guides Obi-Wan the way through the sewers and into the underground levels of the city. Obi-Wan suspects Padme is dead at this point, but Anakin can sense her, due to the strong bond they formed during The Phantom Menace--he can feel she is holding his japor snippet tight. From there, they make their way to the shield generator chamber. Anakin wants to fight the droids, but Obi-Wan stops him. Obi-Wan simply blows up the shield generator by using small spherical bombs and pointing out that there are alternatives to fighting. With the shield down, the white-armored Republic troopers begin a full-scale attack on the city.
As Corde finally confesses to Dooku where Padme is hiding, the droids rush in to inform Dooku that the shield is deactivated. Dooku orders the droids to go after Padme while hurrying to flee.
The battle of Aldera is chaotic. The Republic troopers are aggressive and far more competent than the local planetary forces, dispatching the battle droids. Anakin rushes into the Separatist-ran POW camp alone to search for Padme. Instead, he finds a dying Cordé. She apologizes to Anakin, disheartened in thinking she had failed her duty to her mistress. She tells Padme is hiding in the underground subway tunnel of Aldera, and in her last grasp, tells him that Dooku is behind the Separatists. Anakin initially does not believe her, but there is no time to go and tell Obi-Wan about this. Anakin races to the underground tunnel. While Obi-Wan is looking for Anakin, he stumbles on the two corpses of the Republic troopers, whose helmets are cracked. He takes a closer look and discovers that these troopers have identical faces.
Anakin finds Padme, who has been hiding all these years. At first, she doesn't recognize him, for he has grown so much. Anakin is glad that she kept her word about keeping his japor snippet. However, the battle droids are rushing into the tunnel, and they both flee. Obi-Wan comes to rescue them. When Anakin is about to inform him of the last words of Padme's body double, "Master" Dooku is standing alongside Obi-Wan, listening to Anakin. Dooku asks him to hand Padme over to him. Anakin refuses, saying that he will be the one taking her to Coruscant. Obi-Wan allows him, for Anakin has been missing Padme for a long time. Anakin and Padme board his ship and leave Alderaan in haste.
Obi-Wan turns to Dooku to inform him that all Republic troopers are clones. Dooku pretends to be surprised. Bail suggests looking into Kamino--the civilization highly proficient in cloning technology.
Coruscant:
This is where Anakin and Obi-Wan's storylines diverge in two. Obi-Wan and Dooku arrive at Coruscant and visit the Archives. Kamino doesn't show up in any data. Dooku says, "If an item does not appear in our records, it does not exist!" Dooku heads off, and Obi-Wan is not satisfied.
Obi-Wan visits Yoda currently training Younglings. The scene goes the same as the film's, except at the end, Master Dooku barges into the room and says Anakin has still yet to be returned to Coruscant with Padme. Yoda predicts Anakin must have gone to Tatooine. Obi-Wan is frustrated with his apprentice, complaining that Anakin is too reckless and refuses to obey his command.
Obi-Wan: "I realize now what you and Master Yoda knew from the beginning... the boy was too old to start the training and..."
Yoda: "Obi-Wan, have faith that take the right path he will."
Yoda surprisingly asks Obi-Wan to trust his apprentice rather than control him. This makes Obi-Wan rethink his relationship. In order to bridge the relationship between Anakin and Obi-Wan, Obi-Wan's arc is that he must see Anakin as a man and respect him. Obi-Wan forms a connection with him by understanding Anakin's point of view ("What I told you was true, from a certain point of view."). Obi-Wan realizes maybe the Jedi Code is too rigid, and a sense of duties and obligation alone can't make one a great Jedi. This character arc lends well to The Clone Wars TV series and Revenge of the Sith, in which Obi-Wan evolved into a more quippy, light-hearted character who has a drastically different personality from TPM and AOTC. Both Anakin and Obi-Wan would become more understanding of each other, and as a result, their clash at Mustafar becomes more heartwrenching.
Anyway, Yoda orders Obi-Wan to go to Kamino to investigate the Clone Army. Dooku, learning where Padme has gone, smiles. He contacts and sends his army of bounty hunters to Tatooine. Jango Fett is not the only bounty hunter Dooku hired. Dooku orders them to use Anakin's mother Shmi Skywalker as bait.
Kamino:
From here, Obi-Wan's plotline is pretty much identical to the film's. He investigates Kamino, learns it was the Jedi Master who ordered the creation of the clone army for the Republic to prepare for the war, figures out that the bounty hunter Jango Fett is the genetic template for the clones, then Obi-Wan fights and chases him to Geonosis.
Geonosis:
There, Obi-Wan discovers Dooku in the middle of the conversation with the Separatist leaders. He realizes Dooku is the true mastermind of the Separatist Confederacy, and the new Separatist army is amassing to attack the Republic systems.
Tatooine:
For Anakin's co-occurring storyline, it is also largely similar. Anakin and Padme discuss politics and democracy, and Padme's ideals. Anakin sees politics as a simple matter, "That sounds an awful lot like a dictatorship to me", "Well, if it works...", as well as discussing Anakin's frustration with the Jedi Code. Anakin hates the Separatists because the slaver guilds have allied themselves to the Confederacy. Anakin keeps having a nightmare of her mother, and now she is dying in his dream.
Later, Padme awakes to find out that the ship has landed on Tatooine, not Coruscant. She is upset and argues with Anakin. He lied to her. He finally reveals what he learned about Dooku and says Tatooine is the safest location. Anakin believes the Jedi Council is compromised and can't trust it anymore, though Padme knows that is not the only reason. It is partially for Anakin to meet his mother again. His former owner Watto reveals that he sold Shmi to a moisture farmer named Cliegg Lars, who then freed and married her. They then get the Lars family, who tell Anakin that the Tusken raiders have abducted Shmi just recently. Padme allows him to leave her and track down the Tuskens, for she will be safe under the guard of the Lars family.
Anakin locates the campsite where one of Dooku's bounty hunters, having paid the Tuskens to kidnap Shmi, is torturing her in a tent. When the bounty hunter leaves, Anakin frees Shmi, who dies in his arms. The bounty hunter returns to the tent and is quickly apprehended by an enraged Anakin. Anakin "forces" him to make him confess who hired him. The bounty hunter says it is Dooku, and Anakin kills him after confirming his suspicion. Hearing the noise, the Tusken raiders surround the tent. Anakin massacres the entire tribe. Now, Anakin has personal stakes in defeating Dooku, and facing him is crucial in Anakin's arc in the story, unlike how he had no idea who Dooku even was in the film.
Anakin returns to the Lars homestead and finds out that the Lars family is held hostage by Dooku's bounty hunters. Anakin fights the bounty hunters to free Owen and Beau, but Cliegg is murdered. Despite Anakin's best efforts, the bounty hunters escape Tatooine with Padme to Geonosis. Anakin feels guilty about forsaking his duty and leaving her to the homestead.
Anakin races back to his ship, on which Anakin receives the message from Obi-Wan warning the Republic and the Council about Dooku and the imminent Separatist attack on the Republic. Anakin contacts the Council about what happened to Padme. Mace Windu orders Anakin to return to Coruscant. Don't do anything out of impulse. The Council will take care of it. Trust in the Council's judgment. Here, Anakin is facing two paths. Be a good, little, nice Jedi, and follow the Council's order, or chase after Dooku to save Padme and Obi-Wan. This is the point at which Anakin tests his resolve. Anakin makes a decision to go against the Jedi code (Attachment is forbidden) and get to Geonosis alone.
Geonosis:
Obi-Wan is held captive while Dooku comes along. Instead of Dooku revealing there is a Dark Lord of the Sith controlling the Republic (there is no reason for Dooku to spill the beans here), the confrontation with Dooku forces Obi-Wan to grow out of Qui-Gon Jinn's death. He should face the fact that his Master's Master has turned to the dark side because of the strict Jedi Code and the Republic's corruption. After all, Obi-Wan investigated the clone army, which was apparently commissioned by a member of the Jedi Council. And then the Republic will use the clone army--this immoral slave force--in the war. Then Dooku persuades Obi-Wan to join him. They both agree that they are dissatisfied with the ways the Republic and the Jedi Order handle things, so maybe Obi-Wan can see Dooku's point of view. Dooku should be a personification of what Anakin COULD become, concerning Obi-Wan that Anakin can succumb to the same fate as Dooku. This motivates Obi-Wan to gain some understanding with his apprentice Anakin.
From this point, the story is nearly identical to the movie. Anakin fights the Geonosians in the factory but also gets captured. Anakin, Obi-Wan, and Padme are pushed to the execution arena (don't have Anakin and Padme kiss here) and fight the beasts. The Jedi Knights arrive to rescue.
Here's the crucial difference. Instead of Padmé safely boarding the gunships and escaping the arena battle with the Jedi and the clones, she gets captured by Dooku during the arena fight. Dooku holds Padmé as a hostage and announces it to the Jedi, stopping the arena battle. Dooku says he will kill her if the Jedi continue resisting. Anakin insists they should surrender, however, all the Jedi glance at each other and arrive at the same conclusion: they will fight. This fuels Anakin's resentment toward the Jedi.
At the last moment, the clones arrive, blasting and destroying the battle droids. Dooku takes Padmé and flees. He has another idea of what to do with her. The clones and the Jedi escape, and the Battle of Geonosis begins. Now, there are personal character-related stakes for Anakin. Anakin is adamant about chasing Dooku from the start of the battle. The battle is now an obstacle for Anakin to catch up with Dooku, blocking the gunship's path. Instead of the conflict between Anakin and Obi-Wan on the gunship being "stop the gunship to rescue Padmé fell on the desert", which ends up pointless in the story, now, the conflict is that Obi-Wan believes this is a trap to lure Anakin. Obi-Wan shouts at Anakin not to follow Dooku. But angered by the other Jedi's lack of care for Padmé during the arena fight, Anakin ignores his warning and heads to rescue Padmé alone.
Catching up to Dooku in the hangar, Anakin finds that Dooku is holding Padme captive. Dooku taunts Anakin by holding Padme in the air with the Force choke, which echoes what Anakin does to Padmé in Revenge of the Sith. Now, Anakin's rashed charge at Dooku makes more sense because there is a clearer trigger for Anakin to act this way. Dooku hurls Padmé away, and the lightsaber fight commences. During the duel, Dooku reveals that he is the one who ordered to torture of his mother. Anakin gets all the more angry and impulsive, and predictably, gets his hand chopped off.
Instead of Yoda arriving late to save Anakin, it should have been Obi-Wan arriving late. In the movie, you get a supposedly "Master versus Apprentice" dialogue between the two, and you don't feel anything because you don't even know Dooku was Yoda's apprentice beforehand. Yoda vs Dooku was not built up, but Obi-Wan vs Dooku was built up. This is a student of the student going against the old Master, and these two characters having the dialogue makes more sense.
The fighting between Obi-Wan and Dooku is fierce but cut short when Dooku brings down a pillar over Anakin, forcing Obi-Wan to break off his attack to save him. Dooku then moves to his escape ship, forcing Obi-Wan to make a choice: a mission--that is stopping Dooku and ending the entire Clone Wars--or Anakin's life. Sacrificing a few to save the many. Although Obi-Wan should pick the first option as a Jedi Knight of the Republic, he eventually chooses Anakin's life. Dooku escapes.
Coruscant:
After the battle, Dooku arrives at Coruscant to meet Sidious as in the film, but Dooku reports one more thing to Sidious. He says that Anakin has fallen to the dark side for the girl.
Coruscant is currently holding a massive military parade through the city, resembling Roman Triumph, to celebrate the victory over Geonosis, while Palpatine is publically revealing the existence of the clone army. The citizens love Palpatine and see the hope that the Republic might win the war. The Jedi will also join the parade, with each Knight leading a battalion of clone troopers.
Preparing to be part of the parade, Anakin and Obi-Wan, for the first time in the story, have a heart-to-heart conversation, not a rigid Master-Student lecture. Anakin realizes he has been too reckless. His brash act of confronting Dooku alone costs him his arm and he apologizes to Obi-Wan. Obi-Wan then gives some respect to Anakin, for he has successfully protected Padme. In a way, Obi-Wan and Anakin go through the opposite character arcs. Obi-Wan changes from someone who supports Palpatine and, as he discovers the hidden conspiracies, to someone who is now against him and his emergency powers. Anakin, after witnessing what Dooku has done to his mother, is now looking for blood and vengeance against the Separatists--staunchly supporting more authoritarian measures to fight the war. This change goes alongside Anakin's embrace of more radical emotions.
Before Anakin and Obi-Wan depart to join the parade, Obi-Wan senses love between Anakin and Padme. Secretly, Padme kisses Anakin for the first time (No marriage as it comes across as too abrupt at this point).
As the Jedi march alongside the clone troopers, Obi-Wan secretly discusses with his Masters in the line his finding that it was likely Dooku who ordered the creation of the clone army for the Republic. Yoda and Mace Windu warn them to not reveal this secret to anyone else. They discuss if Dooku is the mysterious Sith Lord (Maul's Master) they were looking for... or maybe Dooku is the new apprentice of this mysterious Sith Lord. If there is another Sith Lord, he could be residing within the Republic's power structure. They found themselves fighting another war inside the Republic.
Palpatine oversees the parade from the top, while the citizens of the Republic cheer. Anakin gladly pledges his loyalty to the most powerful Chancellor in history, while Padme watches the parade with visible frustration as her efforts to stop Palpatine's emergency powers have utterly failed.
I tried to keep the general story elements the same. I focused on fixing what was already in the story rather than discarding it. I fleshed out the characters to be more active and get to have more choices in the decisions. The politics are more integrated into the character drama rather than being in the background. The character arcs for Anakin and Obi-Wan are clearer, with the climax concluding each arc. Instead of Anakin and Padme hiding on Naboo and just playing the patty cake for half of the film, the story is more aggressive and focuses on the war itself. Dooku's concept is utilized to the fullest as he manipulates the Jedi from within and firmly establishes him as Anakin's arch-villain. Padmé falling in love with Anakin makes more sense because she sees how far Anakin is willing to go to save her, especially in the climax. Anakin earns her love, not handed out to him. The romance is constantly developing to the end.
The qualm with the outline is how Anakin finds Padme in Aldera. Dooku sends Anakin and Obi-Wan to Alderaan so that they can find her for Dooku, only for Dooku to go to Alderaan himself and torture Padme's body double to learn about where Padme is. Dooku sending the Jedi then becomes pointless anyway. Another problem is that Padme only meets Anakin at the midpoint, so she doesn't interact with Anakin all that much, and the relationship doesn't get enough time and development.
Aside from those issues, I found the final outline to be more satisfying and tighter in my Episode 2 REDONE. Maybe sometime later someone would do a full rewrite treatment based on this outline lol.

This is not a plan for my REDONE project, but just an idea I had while I was rewatching Attack of the Clones and making some changes to Episode 2 REDONE.
A lot of influences and ideas Lucas had for Attack of the Clones were sound: a blooming love story within the political backdrop at the center of the civil war, Palpatine using the war to gain power, Anakin's disillusionment with the ways of the Jedi, a hidden web of conspiracies setting for the war, and Dooku as this Jedi renegade who has defected to the Separatists. It has a lot of cool ideas, which is why frustrating the film fumbles at materializing them.
Aside from the romance between Anakin and Padme, the major failing of Attack of the Clones is that Lucas fails to show the turmoil of people of the galaxy, which would create a condition for Palpatine to rise. It is part of the reason why the politics in this movie is so boring because it doesn't dramatize the politics. Game of Thrones showed the general audience can get into a political epic.
So I decided to make a new outline, one that is faithful to Lucas' vision, ideas, and influences, while fleshing them out to make a more coherent story, also taking some cues from The Empire Strikes Back.
I also borrowed from and built upon the AOTC fixes I have done in the past:
https://old.reddit.com/fixingmovies/comments/qoftgq/in_attack_of_the_clones_padm%C3%A9_should_have_been/
https://old.reddit.com/fixingmovies/comments/z5m5wf/in_the_dooku_duel_in_attack_of_the_clones_obiwan/
Crawl:
The galaxy is falling asunder. Thousands of solar systems have declared their intentions to leave the Galactic Republic to create the CONFEDERACY OF INDEPENDENT SYSTEMS.
This Separatist movement, supported by various conglomerates like the TRADE FEDERATION, mercilessly strikes back the crumbling Republic with the mass-produced Droid Armies.
Senator Amidala, the former Queen of Naboo, is arriving at Alderaan to discuss the critical issue of granting Chancellor Palpatine emergency powers to assist the overwhelmed Jedi....
Alderaan:
The story begins with the right dab in the middle of the massive war that is yet to be called the "Clone Wars". We see Padme Amidala, now a Senator, arriving with her aide Cordé at the beautiful planet of Alderaan. After the Battle of Naboo, Padme Amidala became sort of a star--a prominent voice against the Separatist tyranny--but she is adamant against the Emergency Powers Act. This act is an amendment to the Galactic Constitution, which will grant Palpatine limitless powers, including bypassing the Senate to create a standing army to fight the Separatists. She meets Senator Bail Organa, the representative of Alderaan. Alderaan is a major progressive voting block, and Padme is here to unify the opposition against the constitutional amendment before the Senate votes on it. She has enough clouts and popularity to stop the amendment. Bail agrees with her that the emergency powers could be authoritarian, but he believes in the necessity of a centralized standing army.
As they discuss this matter, with Padme saying, "The day we stop believing democracy can work is the day we lose it", the meeting is adjourned abruptly when a city-wide alert is raised. They look outside to witness the Separatist battle fleet filling the sky, blinding the sunlight, and beginning a massive invasion of Alderaan. We switch to Count Dooku on the Separatist battleship (at this point, we don't see his face and learn his name), who reports to the hologram of his Master Darth Sidious that he has caught Senator Padme Amidala in the basket. Sidious smiles, "Good, good..."
Unknown Planet somewhere in the Outer Rim Territories:
Meanwhile, we switch to the battlefield on the other side of the galaxy. The local planetary military, under the command of the local government, is retreating from the relentless Droid Army. The Republic is continually losing the war, and we see the ineffectiveness of the planetary forces. Here, we see Anakin and Obi-Wan are commanding the withdrawal of their troops. Realizing some of the Republic forces are pinned down and on the verge of annihilation, Anakin disobeys Obi-Wan's orders to go to save the troops alone. In an act of courage, Anakin manages to save the troops and returns. As the Republic forces retreat, Obi-Wan scolds Anakin. With this, we understand Anakin's character--reckless but selflessly cares for his friends--and see his relationship with his Master Obi-Wan.
Obi-Wan is struggling as a Master to Anakin Skywalker. This is because Obi-Wan didn't take Anakin because he has a connection with him. He was entrusted out of obligation and duty for his dead Master Qui-Gon Jinn (whose name does not even get mentioned in the movie). So obviously, it is no wonder their relationship seems broken. Anakin feels attachments and all the emotions the Jedi Code forbids. He thinks Obi-Wan is too strict and cold--only one-minded about missions and duties.
Coruscant:
As the Jedi head to Coruscant, Anakin has a nightmare of her mother Shmi Skywalker. She's still trapped on Tatooine as a slave, and he wonders what happened to her.
Anakin returns to Coruscant to earn a decoration for his service by the Jedi Council. Master Dooku, is seated as one of the prominent members of the Council (so it can be an actual twist when Dooku is later revealed to be a bad guy). He is on good terms with Obi-Wan and Anakin since he was Qui-Gon Jinn's Master. Chancellor Palpatine is here, too, congratulating Anakin for his heroic effort. Palpatine suggests giving Anakin a reward. Anakin asks for a leave to return to Tatooine to see his mother. Much to Anakin's dismay, the Council rejects this on the grounds that the Jedi should let go of their past and attachments. The Jedi, especially Padawans, are strictly under the discipline with no autonomy. They cannot go anywhere they want. Instead, Dooku decides to give Obi-Wan and Anakin a non-combat mission as a prize, which is to find Padme. The Alderaanians are currently unable to reach Padme. Their mission is to find her and bring her back safely.
Regards to the hotly controversial emergency powers, the Jedi Council, like the public, is divided on this issue. Obi-Wan and Dooku are supportive of the amendment. Both show their distaste toward the Senate and the politicians in handling the crisis, "Don't forget she's a politician. They're not to be trusted", "It's been my experience that Senators are only focused on pleasing those who fund their campaigns... and they are more than willing to forget the niceties of democracy to get those funds". This is why they are shown to be very much supportive of Palpatine's controversial policies that can be perceived as authoritarian. Palpatine gets stuff done. In contrast, Anakin is apolitical--he never cared about politics.
Alderaan:
Anakin and Obi-Wan depart to a ravaged Alderaan. The battle is ongoing, and the Alderaanian forces seem to be unable to beat back the Droid Army. Here, the Jedi meet Senator Bail Organa for the first time, who is overseeing the Alderaanian forces. The battle resembles the Civil War battle from The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly, in which both sides are dug in the trenches and unable to penetrate each other's defense line. Bail informs the Jedi that Padme's emergency powers talk was held in Aldera in ruins, currently occupied by the Separatists, and she would be stuck there--under their captive or hidden out of the enemy sight. The Separatists are entrenched in Aldera--a city protected by a massive energy shield. Bail informs the Jedi that they are on schedule and under their continued bombardment of the city, the enemy shields would be overwhelmed in a further month. Both Jedi are stunned, but they have no choice.
In the enemy stronghold in Aldera, we quickly learn why Dooku gave the assignment to find Padme to Anakin and Obi-Wan. It's because the Separatists are unable to find Padme, who seemingly has disappeared. If she had been rescued by the Republic, she would be on the news, which means she is still somewhere in Aldera. Dooku reports to the hologram of his Master that he cannot find Padme. Dooku is then Force-choked by his Master. Dooku pleads to his Master, promising him that he will get her.
Meanwhile, the Alderaanian troops watch the HoloNet broadcast of the current Senate session. As a major progressive voting block, Alderaanians and Senator Bail Organa used to be against granting emergency powers to the Chancellor, but this invasion has changed their mind. Palpatine has firmly established himself as a wartime Chancellor. Through the hologram, Bail Organa gives a speech in favor of the amendment and votes for it, which sways the rest of the Senate to his side. The amendment has passed. Palpatine says, "I love democracy. I love the Republic. Once this crisis has abated, I will lay down the powers you have given me!"
Meanwhile, a week has passed, and the trench warfare is ongoing. In Aldera, Corde--Padme's body double--is helping Padme hide in the underground subway tunnel. Corde leaves to get her more food and water but is then caught by the droids. The droids present her to Dooku. Corde is shocked to find that Jedi Master Dooku is the leader of the Separatist movement Dooku raises his hands and unleashes the Force lightning to torture her to open her mouth to locate Padme.
The newly created "Grand Army of the Republic" has arrived at Alderaan, wearing shining white armor. They are welcomed enthusiastically by the Alderaanian forces. Obi-Wan is surprised that the standing army has already been dispatched to warfare, so he tries to talk with them, but they seem... "different".
Anakin arrives, bearing "lunch", a cloth full of live insects and worms, which he casually reports he got from inside the CIS base after discovering an underground entrance into the city, running through the sewers beneath the protective shield. Obi-Wan scolds Anakin for being reckless. While the new Republic army installs the even more powerful cannons to bombard of the shield above ground, Anakin guides Obi-Wan the way through the sewers and into the underground levels of the city. Obi-Wan suspects Padme is dead at this point, but Anakin can sense her, due to the strong bond they formed during The Phantom Menace--he can feel she is holding his japor snippet tight. From there, they make their way to the shield generator chamber. Anakin wants to fight the droids, but Obi-Wan stops him. Obi-Wan simply blows up the shield generator by using small spherical bombs and pointing out that there are alternatives to fighting. With the shield down, the white-armored Republic troopers begin a full-scale attack on the city.
As Corde finally confesses to Dooku where Padme is hiding, the droids rush in to inform Dooku that the shield is deactivated. Dooku orders the droids to go after Padme while hurrying to flee.
The battle of Aldera is chaotic. The Republic troopers are aggressive and far more competent than the local planetary forces, dispatching the battle droids. Anakin rushes into the Separatist-ran POW camp alone to search for Padme. Instead, he finds a dying Cordé. She apologizes to Anakin, disheartened in thinking she had failed her duty to her mistress. She tells Padme is hiding in the underground subway tunnel of Aldera, and in her last grasp, tells him that Dooku is behind the Separatists. Anakin initially does not believe her, but there is no time to go and tell Obi-Wan about this. Anakin races to the underground tunnel. While Obi-Wan is looking for Anakin, he stumbles on the two corpses of the Republic troopers, whose helmets are cracked. He takes a closer look and discovers that these troopers have identical faces.
Anakin finds Padme, who has been hiding all these years. At first, she doesn't recognize him, for he has grown so much. Anakin is glad that she kept her word about keeping his japor snippet. However, the battle droids are rushing into the tunnel, and they both flee. Obi-Wan comes to rescue them. When Anakin is about to inform him of the last words of Padme's body double, "Master" Dooku is standing alongside Obi-Wan, listening to Anakin. Dooku asks him to hand Padme over to him. Anakin refuses, saying that he will be the one taking her to Coruscant. Obi-Wan allows him, for Anakin has been missing Padme for a long time. Anakin and Padme board his ship and leave Alderaan in haste.
Obi-Wan turns to Dooku to inform him that all Republic troopers are clones. Dooku pretends to be surprised. Bail suggests looking into Kamino--the civilization highly proficient in cloning technology.
Coruscant:
This is where Anakin and Obi-Wan's storylines diverge in two. Obi-Wan and Dooku arrive at Coruscant and visit the Archives. Kamino doesn't show up in any data. Dooku says, "If an item does not appear in our records, it does not exist!" Dooku heads off, and Obi-Wan is not satisfied.
Obi-Wan visits Yoda currently training Younglings. The scene goes the same as the film's, except at the end, Master Dooku barges into the room and says Anakin has still yet to be returned to Coruscant with Padme. Yoda predicts Anakin must have gone to Tatooine. Obi-Wan is frustrated with his apprentice, complaining that Anakin is too reckless and refuses to obey his command.
Obi-Wan: "I realize now what you and Master Yoda knew from the beginning... the boy was too old to start the training and..."
Yoda: "Obi-Wan, have faith that take the right path he will."
Yoda surprisingly asks Obi-Wan to trust his apprentice rather than control him. This makes Obi-Wan rethink his relationship. In order to bridge the relationship between Anakin and Obi-Wan, Obi-Wan's arc is that he must see Anakin as a man and respect him. Obi-Wan forms a connection with him by understanding Anakin's point of view ("What I told you was true, from a certain point of view."). Obi-Wan realizes maybe the Jedi Code is too rigid, and a sense of duties and obligation alone can't make one a great Jedi. This character arc lends well to The Clone Wars TV series and Revenge of the Sith, in which Obi-Wan evolved into a more quippy, light-hearted character who has a drastically different personality from TPM and AOTC. Both Anakin and Obi-Wan would become more understanding of each other, and as a result, their clash at Mustafar becomes more heartwrenching.
Anyway, Yoda orders Obi-Wan to go to Kamino to investigate the Clone Army. Dooku, learning where Padme has gone, smiles. He contacts and sends his army of bounty hunters to Tatooine. Jango Fett is not the only bounty hunter Dooku hired. Dooku orders them to use Anakin's mother Shmi Skywalker as bait.
Kamino:
From here, Obi-Wan's plotline is pretty much identical to the film's. He investigates Kamino, learns it was the Jedi Master who ordered the creation of the clone army for the Republic to prepare for the war, figures out that the bounty hunter Jango Fett is the genetic template for the clones, then Obi-Wan fights and chases him to Geonosis.
Geonosis:
There, Obi-Wan discovers Dooku in the middle of the conversation with the Separatist leaders. He realizes Dooku is the true mastermind of the Separatist Confederacy, and the new Separatist army is amassing to attack the Republic systems.
Tatooine:
For Anakin's co-occurring storyline, it is also largely similar. Anakin and Padme discuss politics and democracy, and Padme's ideals. Anakin sees politics as a simple matter, "That sounds an awful lot like a dictatorship to me", "Well, if it works...", as well as discussing Anakin's frustration with the Jedi Code. Anakin hates the Separatists because the slaver guilds have allied themselves to the Confederacy. Anakin keeps having a nightmare of her mother, and now she is dying in his dream.
Later, Padme awakes to find out that the ship has landed on Tatooine, not Coruscant. She is upset and argues with Anakin. He lied to her. He finally reveals what he learned about Dooku and says Tatooine is the safest location. Anakin believes the Jedi Council is compromised and can't trust it anymore, though Padme knows that is not the only reason. It is partially for Anakin to meet his mother again. His former owner Watto reveals that he sold Shmi to a moisture farmer named Cliegg Lars, who then freed and married her. They then get the Lars family, who tell Anakin that the Tusken raiders have abducted Shmi just recently. Padme allows him to leave her and track down the Tuskens, for she will be safe under the guard of the Lars family.
Anakin locates the campsite where one of Dooku's bounty hunters, having paid the Tuskens to kidnap Shmi, is torturing her in a tent. When the bounty hunter leaves, Anakin frees Shmi, who dies in his arms. The bounty hunter returns to the tent and is quickly apprehended by an enraged Anakin. Anakin "forces" him to make him confess who hired him. The bounty hunter says it is Dooku, and Anakin kills him after confirming his suspicion. Hearing the noise, the Tusken raiders surround the tent. Anakin massacres the entire tribe. Now, Anakin has personal stakes in defeating Dooku, and facing him is crucial in Anakin's arc in the story, unlike how he had no idea who Dooku even was in the film.
Anakin returns to the Lars homestead and finds out that the Lars family is held hostage by Dooku's bounty hunters. Anakin fights the bounty hunters to free Owen and Beau, but Cliegg is murdered. Despite Anakin's best efforts, the bounty hunters escape Tatooine with Padme to Geonosis. Anakin feels guilty about forsaking his duty and leaving her to the homestead.
Anakin races back to his ship, on which Anakin receives the message from Obi-Wan warning the Republic and the Council about Dooku and the imminent Separatist attack on the Republic. Anakin contacts the Council about what happened to Padme. Mace Windu orders Anakin to return to Coruscant. Don't do anything out of impulse. The Council will take care of it. Trust in the Council's judgment. Here, Anakin is facing two paths. Be a good, little, nice Jedi, and follow the Council's order, or chase after Dooku to save Padme and Obi-Wan. This is the point at which Anakin tests his resolve. Anakin makes a decision to go against the Jedi code (Attachment is forbidden) and get to Geonosis alone.
Geonosis:
Obi-Wan is held captive while Dooku comes along. Instead of Dooku revealing there is a Dark Lord of the Sith controlling the Republic (there is no reason for Dooku to spill the beans here), the confrontation with Dooku forces Obi-Wan to grow out of Qui-Gon Jinn's death. He should face the fact that his Master's Master has turned to the dark side because of the strict Jedi Code and the Republic's corruption. After all, Obi-Wan investigated the clone army, which was apparently commissioned by a member of the Jedi Council. And then the Republic will use the clone army--this immoral slave force--in the war. Then Dooku persuades Obi-Wan to join him. They both agree that they are dissatisfied with the ways the Republic and the Jedi Order handle things, so maybe Obi-Wan can see Dooku's point of view. Dooku should be a personification of what Anakin COULD become, concerning Obi-Wan that Anakin can succumb to the same fate as Dooku. This motivates Obi-Wan to gain some understanding with his apprentice Anakin.
From this point, the story is nearly identical to the movie. Anakin fights the Geonosians in the factory but also gets captured. Anakin, Obi-Wan, and Padme are pushed to the execution arena (don't have Anakin and Padme kiss here) and fight the beasts. The Jedi Knights arrive to rescue.
Here's the crucial difference. Instead of Padmé safely boarding the gunships and escaping the arena battle with the Jedi and the clones, she gets captured by Dooku during the arena fight. Dooku holds Padmé as a hostage and announces it to the Jedi, stopping the arena battle. Dooku says he will kill her if the Jedi continue resisting. Anakin insists they should surrender, however, all the Jedi glance at each other and arrive at the same conclusion: they will fight. This fuels Anakin's resentment toward the Jedi.
At the last moment, the clones arrive, blasting and destroying the battle droids. Dooku takes Padmé and flees. He has another idea of what to do with her. The clones and the Jedi escape, and the Battle of Geonosis begins. Now, there are personal character-related stakes for Anakin. Anakin is adamant about chasing Dooku from the start of the battle. The battle is now an obstacle for Anakin to catch up with Dooku, blocking the gunship's path. Instead of the conflict between Anakin and Obi-Wan on the gunship being "stop the gunship to rescue Padmé fell on the desert", which ends up pointless in the story, now, the conflict is that Obi-Wan believes this is a trap to lure Anakin. Obi-Wan shouts at Anakin not to follow Dooku. But angered by the other Jedi's lack of care for Padmé during the arena fight, Anakin ignores his warning and heads to rescue Padmé alone.
Catching up to Dooku in the hangar, Anakin finds that Dooku is holding Padme captive. Dooku taunts Anakin by holding Padme in the air with the Force choke, which echoes what Anakin does to Padmé in Revenge of the Sith. Now, Anakin's rashed charge at Dooku makes more sense because there is a clearer trigger for Anakin to act this way. Dooku hurls Padmé away, and the lightsaber fight commences. During the duel, Dooku reveals that he is the one who ordered to torture of his mother. Anakin gets all the more angry and impulsive, and predictably, gets his hand chopped off.
Instead of Yoda arriving late to save Anakin, it should have been Obi-Wan arriving late. In the movie, you get a supposedly "Master versus Apprentice" dialogue between the two, and you don't feel anything because you don't even know Dooku was Yoda's apprentice beforehand. Yoda vs Dooku was not built up, but Obi-Wan vs Dooku was built up. This is a student of the student going against the old Master, and these two characters having the dialogue makes more sense.
The fighting between Obi-Wan and Dooku is fierce but cut short when Dooku brings down a pillar over Anakin, forcing Obi-Wan to break off his attack to save him. Dooku then moves to his escape ship, forcing Obi-Wan to make a choice: a mission--that is stopping Dooku and ending the entire Clone Wars--or Anakin's life. Sacrificing a few to save the many. Although Obi-Wan should pick the first option as a Jedi Knight of the Republic, he eventually chooses Anakin's life. Dooku escapes.
Coruscant:
After the battle, Dooku arrives at Coruscant to meet Sidious as in the film, but Dooku reports one more thing to Sidious. He says that Anakin has fallen to the dark side for the girl.
Coruscant is currently holding a massive military parade through the city, resembling Roman Triumph, to celebrate the victory over Geonosis, while Palpatine is publically revealing the existence of the clone army. The citizens love Palpatine and see the hope that the Republic might win the war. The Jedi will also join the parade, with each Knight leading a battalion of clone troopers.
Preparing to be part of the parade, Anakin and Obi-Wan, for the first time in the story, have a heart-to-heart conversation, not a rigid Master-Student lecture. Anakin realizes he has been too reckless. His brash act of confronting Dooku alone costs him his arm and he apologizes to Obi-Wan. Obi-Wan then gives some respect to Anakin, for he has successfully protected Padme. In a way, Obi-Wan and Anakin go through the opposite character arcs. Obi-Wan changes from someone who supports Palpatine and, as he discovers the hidden conspiracies, to someone who is now against him and his emergency powers. Anakin, after witnessing what Dooku has done to his mother, is now looking for blood and vengeance against the Separatists--staunchly supporting more authoritarian measures to fight the war. This change goes alongside Anakin's embrace of more radical emotions.
Before Anakin and Obi-Wan depart to join the parade, Obi-Wan senses love between Anakin and Padme. Secretly, Padme kisses Anakin for the first time (No marriage as it comes across as too abrupt at this point).
As the Jedi march alongside the clone troopers, Obi-Wan secretly discusses with his Masters in the line his finding that it was likely Dooku who ordered the creation of the clone army for the Republic. Yoda and Mace Windu warn them to not reveal this secret to anyone else. They discuss if Dooku is the mysterious Sith Lord (Maul's Master) they were looking for... or maybe Dooku is the new apprentice of this mysterious Sith Lord. If there is another Sith Lord, he could be residing within the Republic's power structure. They found themselves fighting another war inside the Republic.
Palpatine oversees the parade from the top, while the citizens of the Republic cheer. Anakin gladly pledges his loyalty to the most powerful Chancellor in history, while Padme watches the parade with visible frustration as her efforts to stop Palpatine's emergency powers have utterly failed.
I tried to keep the general story elements the same. I focused on fixing what was already in the story rather than discarding it. I fleshed out the characters to be more active and get to have more choices in the decisions. The politics are more integrated into the character drama rather than being in the background. The character arcs for Anakin and Obi-Wan are clearer, with the climax concluding each arc. Instead of Anakin and Padme hiding on Naboo and just playing the patty cake for half of the film, the story is more aggressive and focuses on the war itself. Dooku's concept is utilized to the fullest as he manipulates the Jedi from within and firmly establishes him as Anakin's arch-villain. Padmé falling in love with Anakin makes more sense because she sees how far Anakin is willing to go to save her, especially in the climax. Anakin earns her love, not handed out to him. The romance is constantly developing to the end.
The qualm with the outline is how Anakin finds Padme in Aldera. Dooku sends Anakin and Obi-Wan to Alderaan so that they can find her for Dooku, only for Dooku to go to Alderaan himself and torture Padme's body double to learn about where Padme is. Dooku sending the Jedi then becomes pointless anyway. Another problem is that Padme only meets Anakin at the midpoint, so she doesn't interact with Anakin all that much, and the relationship doesn't get enough time and development.
Aside from those issues, I found the final outline to be more satisfying and tighter in my Episode 2 REDONE. Maybe sometime later someone would do a full rewrite treatment based on this outline lol.

Hello! My boyfriend is flying in from Australia mid June and we'll be doing a road trip up north in my 1987 BMW E30.
We plan on spending some time in Carmel/Monterey area, Pt Reyes/Marin area, the Redwoods in Humboldt, then either Newport, OR or Cannon Beach, OR! Open to other ideas too.
Could use recommendations for:

• Favorite/memorable airbnbs or hotels you've stayed in? (We'll try to keep it to ~$150-300 per night)
• Memorable cafes/restaurants - i.e. "this place had a killer pastry"or "adorable cafe with loads of history"
• Cute pitstops that are slightly untraditional - i.e. cute little farm to grab fresh berries, wacky antiques trinket store, hole in the wall bookstore, pick up a pizza from "insert place" and go to "insert beach", that sort of thing!

***Even when slightly inconvenient or longer, we will opt to hug the PCH because we'll be in a near-40 year old car with no AC, and it's much more pleasant that way! It appears that part of PCH is still closed off, from ~SLO -> Carmel? Any recommendations for the best route alternative for that segment are welcome!
We'd like to avoid the super touristy areas, just because that's not really our thing plus my car is too old and precious to be parking in super dense areas! We'll do a mix of some planning and some stumbling into towns, but I'd like to have a few little pitstops marked down.

period: april 28th to May 14th 2024.
Nights spent in: Tokyo - Sendai - Fukushima - Koriyama - Nagoya - Hakata ( Fukuoka ).
If it's really off the beaten path or not you'll decide, some destinations visited are really particular, other are way more popular even if usually not what you'll visit in your first trip to Japan. let's say i've been to japan last summer and did all the usual things one do the first time he's there, probably even something more: Tokyo - Kyoto - Osaka - Nara - Nikko, Fukuoka, Matsumoto, Himeji, Miyajima. pretty much what almost anyone does for their first time if they have the opportunity.
Given the weak Yen and having still some time ( and money ) i could spend i decided to come back less than a year later, this time at the end of April up until half may in order to explore less popular destinations. I'll avoid to provide the usual tips anyone provide, like how to move from narita, how to get a Suica or how to book a train seat, how to operate a toilet and such things.
SOME TIPS
Concerning Suica: contrary to what most people suggest, i didn't buy one neither last summer or this time and frankly i've never missed not having it. I use my mastercard credit card, most places in japan accept it with zero problems and for the rest you can get Yen at any ATM machine that you can find in any combini with it and pay cash wich japanese still very much use
Concerning the period of the year: last year i went in August. I can confirm that moving around in April/May is so incredibly much better. The heat in august is some day even unbearable. This time the weather was mostly fine, got only one day of rain even if the temperatures were still a bit on the cold side overall. Unfortunately this year Sakura came early and I missed it by a week or two. But still apart from the cherry trees all the plants were blossoming and it was so nice to see flowers everywhere compared to the pain of the humidity and the torment of cicadas you have during summer.
Concerning golden week: one of the two weeks i was there was the golden week. I didn't book anything in advance but, maybe because of the fact i was moving off the beaten path, i almost never had problems booking trains or hotels during golden week ( i said almost, more details later ). Cant tell what's the effect when trying to book hotels in places like Kyoto.
concerning planning: my usual planning method goes the following: i book the plane, obviously. I buy JRP ( yes i still bought it even after the price increase ) and i book two days of hotels. The rest of my trip i have an idea of what i want to do and where i want to go but i book hotels and such, while going along. This gives me the flexibility to change my itinerary or react to bad weather ( last summer i run away from a typhoon with this trick ) or unexpected problems ( last summer i got food poisoning and i had to delay my program booking an hotel for three more days than expected: had i booked all nights in advance it would have been a huge problem ). I only book hotels using the booking website app and i can only say good things about it. I travel alone, maybe for couples or families this isn't as easy as it was for me.
Warning: I like to walk and I walk a lot. So if you need tips to move around, I’m not probably the right person because what you might want to do using a bus or a taxi I would probably do by walking. I’ve walked on average of 20 km a day and probably more and if a place is like 3-4 km from where I am I walk there without even looking if there’s a better option with a bus or something else.
I will give a vote to the places I’ve visited according to two parameters:
How off the beaten path it really is, judging by how many foreign tourists I met there. And an overall vote telling how worthy I feel the place is to visit. To make it short I will call them “OTBP VOTE and OVERALL VOTE”

SO LET'S START WITH THE ACTUAL TRIP REPORT:
Day 1: landing in Tokyo at midday in Narita. After finishing all the immigration process i moved to my hotel. This time i decided to book it for two nights in Omiya/Saitama. The place is less than half an hour from Tokyo Station and was the opportunity to see something different. I haven't seen much of the place but the area around the station was very lively, lots of restaurant and lots of people moving around. It was full of decoration with squirrells and a football team, i guess they were either promoting it or they won something cause decorations were everywhere, honestly didn't ask about. Well apart from checking in, recovering from the flight, looking for something to eat and checking a bit the areai didn't do much.
day 2: in the morning i took the train to Ashikaga Flower Park. I've seen picture of it online and according to the informations i gathered i might have been late for the sakura but the Wisteria were in full bloom and they had a lot of them in this park.
So i took the train, it was around an hour ride and Omiya was strategically on the way. I realized my trip plan was proably a good one when, once reached the Ashikaga flower park station ( there's a train station dedicated to this park ) all the people on the train got off. A little walk, ticket and i was in. The place, given the right time of the year, was AMAZING, UNBELIEVABLE. I can't begin to tell you how cool and how huge the wisteria plants were. they were in full bloom, and was something out of this world, it looked like something you see in the movie avatar. Like three or four wisterias as big as a basketball field if not even more, of different colours and kinds, plus a lot more of regular sized wisterias and a lot more flower plants of all kinds. Had to say, for some reason with all the flowers the air wasn’t at all full of their scent. I even got a wisteria flavoured ice cream, wich was probably a wisteria coloured ice cream cause it didn’t have any real particular taste. The place was packed with Japanese people and foreigners like me you could count them on the fingers of one hand. I arrived there early, so by early afternoon I was satisfied with my visit and moved away. A quick check on my train app and google maps and realized I could reach Kawagoe from there fairly easily.
ASHIKAGA FLOWER PARK OTBP: 9 OVERALL: 10
When I was on the train it stopped at the Tochigi station, it looked nice from the train so I decided to jump off and check the area a bit, because sometime I do that kind of things, and the idea wasn’t bad at all: the town itself doesn’t look anything special but there’s a canal wich was very picturesque, plus it was fully decorated with paper carps because of the time of the year and Japanese people were doing boat rides on the river on traditional little boats while singing songs. I won't say to go there specifically to see the place, but if you're on that train route or still around it, it might be worth a stop. So, once I finished checking the area I jump back on the train and finally reached Kawagoe.
TOCHIGI: OTBP: 10 OVERALL: 6 ½
Kawagoe is a small place north of Tokyo, not very far, wich is know for a small neighbourhood with old Edo houses. That neighbourhood is more far from the station that I expected, but still nice and worth a check. There’s a very cool bell tower there and one of the coolest Starbucks I’ve ever seen. I wouldn’t spend a whole day in Kawagoe if you ask me but If you’re in Tokyo and have an half day available that you don't know how to spend I’d say it’s totally worth a train ride. Had my dinner there and then moved back to Omiya where I would spend my last night.
KAWAGOE: OTBP: 7 OVERALL: 7
Day 3: woke up early, jumped on the train and moved to Sendai where I had planned to stay the next three nights. Once again Omiya was a good choice cause I could take the shinkansen right from there without having to move back to Tokyo.
Arrived in Sendai, left my luggage in the hotel where I couldn’t check in cause it was still to early and hopped on a local train in direction of Matsushima. By midday I was already in Matsushima. This is another very famous destination for Japanese people, one of the most known panoramas in japan. Have to say, the town is a typical sea town, definitely welcoming. I had one of the best Sushi I ever had in japan in a local restaurant ( check matsushima sushi kou if interested ). Visited Zuiganji temple and then walked a bit on the coast, crossed the Fukuurabashi bridge, the long red bridge that you probably have seen in some picture, and walked around Fukuurajima. Here you can have a walk around the island it’s not small but is small enough that you can walk it all fairly quickly and it has some nice spots to discover. You have to pay a small fee to cross the bridge. Then went back, checked the Godaido of Zuiganji and it’s worth mentioning that when walking along the coast I’ve stumbled across a couple of signs giving instructions on what to do in case of a tsunami and what happened back in 2011, wich I didn’t even think about up until that moment and suddenly the memories went back to what happened there more than 10 years ago. Last thing, my advice is to walk down to Oshima island. This little island is less crowded, you can reach it crossing a little red bridge and honestly to me it’s the best spot to admire Matsushima. I didn’t went for the ferry ride across the bay cause the weather wasn’t very good and I was starting to be a little short on time, so I moved back to Sendai.
MATSUSHIMA: OTBP: 9 OVERALL: 8 ½
Once back in Sendai, I went to see the sunset from the panoramic floor of the AER building near the station, wich is totally free even if finding the right elevator that takes you up might be a bit tricky, but the view is totally worth it, you can even see in the distance the big white shape of the dai-kannon and from the other side of the floor you can easily see the sea.
Talking about Sendai, I didn’t dedicate to the city the time that should have been necessary because I was always on day trips and I spend there mostly the late evenings, but my impression is that Sendai is a very nice city that should appear more often in peoples itineraries. The city is particularly vibrant and alive, lot of young people, lot of things to see and do, a covered shopping street that is almost endless full of restaurants and shops, way more green than many other Japanese cities. I’d recommend anyone who had the time and the opportunity to spend a little time here. Also it has a very distinctive identity and everything proudly revolves around the image of its founder Date Masamune who is everywhere in senday, even the penguin of the local DonQuishotte mall was dressed up as Date Masamune.
So after the panorama, I went in the hotel, finally checked in and then moved back to look for food. Walked down what I think is called ichibancho street, wich as I said before is an endless downtown road full of shops and restaurant and stopped to have a try at the most famous local dish, Gyutan, wich is grilled cow tongue. Never had tongue in my life and have to admit it, it’s not bad at all, I quite enjoyed it. Had a little more walk around then called it a day.
SENDAI: OTBP: 7 ½ OVERALL: 9
Day 4: today trip is to Hiraizumi, a UNESCO world heritage site, where you can admire some historically significant buddhist sites. You had to catch a coincidence in Ichinoseki but the whole ride is pretty straight forward and doesn’t really take much time. At 9 am I was already ready to explore. As I sad I’m a walker, so I walked the walk from the station to the Chuson Ji temple wich is around 2 km and I totally recommend it cause the town is quite nice to walk through, very small village, very cozy and intimate. Chuson Ji it’s a very beautiful complex to explore, it’s inside a forest, kinda reminds a bit of Nikko atmosphere if you’ve been there even if the buildings aren’t as spectacular. The whole wood was full of blossoming plants and here and there I was able to spot some late cherry tree still full of flowers, giving me an hint to what sakura must really be.
You stumble in the temple buildings one after another while you go deep into the wood. I reach the main building and there’s a ceremony in progress. I discovered later that the next day was planned the Fujiwara festival where all people dress up like in Edo period and do a parade in the city. The day I was there instead the children parade was planned, so it was full of kids dressed up and judging by how proud and elegant their parents were I tend to think it was a pretty big thing for them. I enjoy the situation for a while, then went back to exploring, till I reached the main attraction of the temple wich is the Konjikido, a golden pavilion that dates back to the XII century wich is amazing to see in person.
Once I finished exploring the whole Chuson Ji complex I went looking for a restaurant and had a nice ramen set, because the visit took the whole morning, then moved to the second stop wich was Motsuji Temple: as much as Chuson Ji impressed me, Motsu-ji disappointed me. The thing is, you pay to enter and in the end what you see is a place mostly empty, where the only building there are reconstructions and most places are just a bunch of rocks with signs saying “here once was this building” “here once was that building” and the main thing you’ll see there is a pond whose importance is that it dates back to the time when Japanese gardens were kinda dull compared to what they’ll become centuries later. So it’s kinda a pond that you would completely ignore in a different context. I mean, I totally get the historical importance of this place, but, honestly from the ignorant eyes of a tourist it’s really nothing you would invest your time visiting, according to my opinion.
Another place that would have been worth visiting was Takkoku-no Iwaya Bishamondo, but isn’t really that easy to reach, it’s a bit far to walk to and I was once again out of time, therefore I decided to skip it and went back to the station and to sendai where I again went to look for something to eat and had a little night stroll, nothing worth mentioning.
HIRAIZUMI: OTBP: 9 OVERALL: 8
Day 5: today I decided to go to Kakunodate. The town is a easily reachable by train from sendai but a bit far compared to the day before. Went off the station and once again started walking. The place is known mainly for its many samurai houses, all indications point to them so it’s not possible to miss them. The town itself for the little I’ve seen doesn’t really seem to offer much apart from that but the samurai distict it’s nice. Many of the houses have been converted into small museums, that you can visit paying a small fee. I entered one of them, there was a little tour showing the history of the city and the history of the family of samurai living there. Among the things you could do you had the chance even to hold a real katana ( it felt quite a clumsy and top heavy sword compared to what I had imagined ). In fairness, to my taste, there isn’t much to do apart from visiting the samurai district, yes you can visit the local museum, do some craft shopping ( I bought a very nice box made of cherry bark there wich is a typical local craft ) therefore after a late lunch I was back to Sendai. In my opinion if you want to see a Samurai district you can also go to Kanazawa and there’s much more to see there overall compared to Kakunodate, but if you like the atmosphere of a smaller village instead of a big city and you like something more “off the beaten path” then I’d say go to kakunodate.
KAKUNODATE: OTBP: 8 ½ OVERALL: 6 ½
Given i was back to sendai relatively early, that gave me the opportunity to walk ( yes I walked even there ) to see the dai-kannon. The walk was nice, it took me through some very quiet neighbourhood that you wouldn’t normally visit. When I reached the statue It was too late to go inside it but I still had a good view of it. That is a quite impressive sight, you almost have difficulty to grasp the actual size of it. The area around the statue has really nothing to offer, therefore my honest suggestion is take a ride with the sightseeing bus and use that to reach it and once you’re finished with the statue move to a more interesting spot.
And this was my last day in Sendai. My plan at this point was to book two nights at Koriyama but probably because of the golden week I wasn’t able to find a hotel to my liking there therefore I decided to book one night in Fukushima and the next night in Koriyama. These were the two more expensive nights of all my trip and still ended up spending only around 70 € a night.
Day 6: plan for the day: leave the luggage in the hotel, visit Yamadera, go back to sendai, pick up the luggage and move to fukushima to spend the night. Yamadera is truly easy to reach from Sendai and a very recommended destination if you happen to be in Sendai. The place is mostly known for a temple that is reachable walking an abundant number of steps up a hillside. You reach the town, wich Is a very little and cozy village in the mountains west from Sendai and the temple is very close to the station so it’s not possible to miss it. You can tell the whole village revolves around the temple but it still maintain an authentic spirit. Lots of restaurants and little shops to visit on the road that brings to the temple. The temple itself is very “vertical” : sets of stone stairs will lead you up the side of the hills, till you reach the main building and a couple of satellite building where you’ll be rewarded by an amazing view on the village below. If you don’t mind stairs you’ll be rewarded with a very relaxing atmosphere. Here too given the latitude and the altitude I’ve been able to enjoy a couple of late blossoming cherry trees. The weather was amazing that day and all the gardens where full of flowers, this made the whole trip particularly enjoyable. Luckly I’m an early bird because later in the day the place was really packed with visitors. Once I was finished I had a nice set of Yamagata Dashi Soba in a typical restaurant with Tatamis low tables and a beautiful view on the river that cuts in half the village.
YAMADERA: OTBP: 10 OVERALL 9
After a late lunch I jumped back to the train, went back to sendai to pickup the luggage and moved to the next stop, Fukushima. Here I had the first disappointment of my trip. As my usual I booked a hotel that was close to the main train station, wich is usally the place where you want to be. I had a walk around there and the impression I got from Fukushima was that the place was miserable, a place that has really nothing much to offer to a tourist and not even to a citizen because compared to all the other places I’ve been in japan the impression was that even the locals weren’t as lively and enjoying life that much. I hope I’m not offending anyone and for sure I can’t give a proper review of the place after just an evening spent there, but the impression I got was of one of those town, that you can find in every country you'll visit, where young people can’t wait to get old enough to run away from.
FUKUSHIMA: OTBP: 9 ½ OVERALL: 4
DAY 7: wake up in fukushima, move to Koriyama, leave the luggage at the hotel, and then visit Ouchi-Juku and Aizu Wakamatsu. If you’re wondering, the thing is doable but you need to move early. Once you reach Koriyama you take the local train for Aizu Wakamatsu. There you jump on another local train, wich isn’t entirely operated by JR so you’ll have to pay a ticket, to Yunokami Onsen station where you end up in one of the coolest train stations in japan because it’s built in the style of a traditional house with wooden interiors and a straw roof, and it has a feet onsen right outside where you can wait the train while bathing your feet in thermal water, how cool is that?
From here you take a bus and reach Ouchi Juku. On paper it sounds harder than it actually is but you have to plan your trip properly. Ouchi Juku is a post town all made of traditional houses that reminds you a bit of Shirakawa Go, I frankly don’t know how it isn’t more popular among foreigners cause it’s truly a one of a kind place. Most probably is because it’s so off the beaten path and hard to reach. Still it’s extremely popular among Japanese people because the place was crowded and, when I left, the car traffic was stuck by how many people where trying to reach the place by car. I have to tell you in all honestly the place is probably a bit too touristy because there’s not a single house that isn’t turned into a gift shop or a restaurant. But still the place is so charming and picturesque that is totally worth a visit, plus the surrounding woods, mountains and rice field really act like a frame around the most beautiful picture. So I spend the morning here and around 2 pm I move back to Aizu, because there are really not many bus runs in the evening taking you back to Yunokami Onsen and you better reach the place early.
OUCHI JUKU: OTBP: 10 OVERALL: 9
That gives me the opportunity to visit Aizu Wakamatsu. Ive heard about the city for its castle and for the legend of the Byakko Tai. I get off to Aizu Wakamatsu main station and walk across town till I reach the castle. Keep in mind it’s Saturday and along the whole walk I might have crossed three people. The city was deserted and one thing I’ve learned is, if people on a Saturday evening flee a city like that, then there isn’t much to do or see there, and that’s the impression I got, kinda like Fukushima, probably even worse. Still, I reached the castle: the park is very nice, the castle is a beautiful Japanese castle but, to my understanding it’s a modern reconstruction cause the original castle was lost during the Meiji restoration as Aizu was one of the spots that rised against the emperor. At least around the castle there were now many people. From the castle, wich I didn’t visit inside, I went back to the train station, this time I reached Nanukamachi station and I have to admit it the area there seemed more alive and interesting to stroll around than the area around main Aizu station, therefore maybe I just walked across the wrong part of the town, I honestly can’t tell.
AIZU: OTBP: 9 OVERALL: 6
From Aizu I finally moved by train to Koriyama. I really didn’t spend enough time there to have a proper opinion but the impression I got was of a laid back place, more relaxing than sendai and definitely more alive than fukushima. If I had more time I’d probably give it a shot for a day visit, it might be a surprise.

DAY 8: by this day I ended up with a terrible sore throath that I had to endure almost till my last day in japan. I never had a fever but there was definitely something going around, I kept hearing many Japanese people coughing on trains all around japan so there was definitely something going around, maybe it’s just the season changing, it happens during this season all the times to have some cold or cough. Anyway, the day I had to wake up early and move from Koriyama to Nagoya by Shinkansen, wich was a considerably long trip but at least it gave me the opportunity to take probably the best picture I’ve ever take of mount fuji, from the train. Once in Nagoya I left the luggage in the hotel ( wich, thanks probably to the fact that the golden week just ended, I happened to book for 4 nights for a whopping 25€ a night wich was a total steal even for current Japanese standard prices ). There I immediately jumped on another train and went to visit Inuyama.
The area around Nagoya is a bit tricky cause it’s full of railroads operated by a company that is not JR wich are not covered by the JR Pass but there’s a JR station a bit to the north of Inuyama that will do the job. The place is totally recommended for three reason: it’s overall nice, with the Kiso river cutting it, the castle is one of the few original ones and even if small is considered a national treasure and the whole area around the castle is very nice and worthy to spend some time on. So I visited the castle, the view from the top floor is awesome and in a clear day you can easily spot the skyline of Nagoya. Outside the castle there’s an edo style street full of shops, restaurants and street food that is nice to explore, totally recommended a walk there.
INUYAMA: OTBP: 8 ½ OVERALL: 10
Coming back to Nagoya I just had energy to look for food then I went back to my hotel for a good night of sleep.
DAY 9: a day trip from Nagoya to Ise. The trip isn’t that easy, you got to take a couple of trains if you move only by JR ( and a couple of stops of one of them aren’t even JR operated wich is a little confusing honestly ) and you end up in Iseshi station. From there I moved to Ise Jingu Geku, wich is the outer sanctuary and from there you can take a bus ( guess what, I walked instead ) to the main Ise sanctuary. If you don’t know Ise Jingu is the most sacred place in the Shinto religion and is regularly visited even by the emperor given his role in the Shinto religion. Inside the main temple one of the most sacred relics of Shinto religion is preserved.
Well, being totally honest here’s my impressions of Ise: it’s not simple to reach. The city itself, for what I’ve seen, looks like it has seen better days, meaning it looks like it’s falling apart. And the temples, there’s really not that much to see: they are in a forest, and the temples are not that spectacular, plus the most interesting parts are forbidden to visit. You can go to Atsuta Jingu without moving out from Nagoya and have a fairly realistic impression of what you would see in Ise without all the issues. I know people will attack me for what I’m saying, but that is what I’ve got from it. The most fun part was the edo style neighborhood that you can find right before entering the main Isu complex, wich looks almost like a theme park. I don’t say don’t go there, I say if you are, as you are probably, on borrowed time, with lots of places you want to visit and too few days to see them all, if Ise is in your list you might want to use the day to see something else.
ISE: OTBP: 6 ½ OVERALL: 6 ½
DAY 10: I decided to spend the day in Nagoya and take a look of the city, thanks also to the weather that was a bit rainy and really not inviting for another day trip. What I’ve seen in a day is the samurai exposition in Marunouchi. It’s free and it’s totally worth it, lots of beautiful samurai armours and swords. There’s another exposition that opened not many years ago that you can go nto too far but I didn’t visit so I can’t tell about that. From here I went to Nagoya castle. You pay to enter the complex but currently the Castle is under restoration and you can see it from outside ( it’s very impressive, Nagoya and Osaka castles are massive ) but not visit from inside. But the Honmaru Palace right beside it is open and totally worth a visit. From here took the subway ( yeah today I didn’t walk much so I got a subway day pass ) to the Osu Shotengai Shopping District, wich is the usual kind of covered shopping streets nest you can find in all the Japanese cities, and then moved again to Atsuta Jingu Shrine that, as I said, to me is a completely valid alternative to visiting Ise. The day went by without even noticing and I couldn’t see all the other places I had picked, like the Toyota museum, the tokugawa museum or the science museum, but that’s what you get when you only have one day dedicated to visit a city as big as Nagoya. Still I had time to get an impression of the city and I honestly don’t get the bad reputation it has among foreigners, the city looked to me quite interesting, nice, full of things to see and the people felt particularly laid back compared to cities like Tokyo or Osaka, it’s probably the place where I’ve seen the biggest number of tanned Japanese in all the country. To me Nagoya is totally worth at least two or three days dedicated only to visiting the city.
NAGOYA: OTBP: 5 OVERALL: 9
DAY 11: my original plan was to walk the Nakasendo from Magome to Tsumago. But the weather that day was kinda shit, I wasn’t feeling particularly In the mood of a walk because of my throath and I was starting to feel a bit tired, so I improvised and went for a day in Takayama and Gero Onsen. Takayama is pretty famous. I went there around 20 years ago and I remembered it as a very nice place. Getting back now, with all the Japanese places I’ve seen so far, I would say this: the train trip to Takayama is Spectacular, is a truly feast for the eyes. The town itself, it left me a little disappointed. The Edo style streets that its famous for, I’ve seen so many of them at that point around japan that it didn’t really leave a significant impression on me. And it was honestly smaller than I remembered it. Plus the weather, as I said, didn’t help. So overall the reality didn’t stand up to my memories and my expectations. Plus most of the houses there have now been turned in cheap souvenir shops with nothing giving you an authentic feeling. Don’t know, probably I wasn’t really in the mood that day.
TAKAYAMA: OTBP: 2 OVERALL: 6 ½
I took the opportunity on the way back to stop at Gero Onsen. Unfortunately I didn’t have the time to actually stop for an onsen cause overall the whole day wasn’t planned and I mainly improvised. Still the town is very nice and probably, having no expectations or no knowledge of it, even more worth visiting than Takayama. Had a nice walk around the town, and at least had the opportunity to “feel” the thermal water cause there’s plenty of fountains with hot spring water where you can rest your feet or your hands. It was enough to make me aware that a proper onsen there must be a very enjoyable experience.
GERO ONSENS: OTBP: 8 OVERALL: 8
And after this I went to Nagoya where I spent my last night in the city.

DAY 12: moving to Fukuoka ( Hakata ). I booked a hotel near Hakata station so I jumped on the shinkansen and moved there. The ride was as confortable as any shinkansen ride can be and I reached the place sooner than I imagined. First thing was a good look of the city from the panoramic floor in the station. Then had a walk to the Canal City mall wich is a very weirdly and interesting designed mall that is a very popular location in town. Had a walk from there to Nakasu island where I got a quick dinner considering it was already time, and had another walk around the area wich unfortunately will turn out to be my only experience of Fukuoka. I’ll spend here three nights but the following days will be so full that won’t give me any chance to visit the town more, so in the end I don’t really have an opinion on Fukuoka if not that I should probably have spent more time there, but unfortunately the days you have are numbered and there’s so much to see that you have to give up something here and there, so i won't even give a vote to the city.
DAY 13: Destination is Kagoshima that it’s easily reachable by train. I went there with no real expectation and I was totally blown away. Something clicked and I instantly liked the town, I must say that probably the fact that one of the most beautiful girls I’ve seen in japan out of the blue started a conversation with me on the train probably helped a lot in putting me in a good mood.
From the station I walked downtown till the coast. On the way I stopped shopping a bit, found a local market where local artisans that day were exposing their crafts wich I liked a lot and went to the top floor of the Centerrace Mall to get a panoramic view of the city with an amazing view on Sakurajima volcano. If you don’t know it’s the symbol of the city and it’s said to be almost always active, the whole day I’ve been there he kept puffing little clouds of smoke from time to time, it was very cool. So, once reached the cost I walked ( you should know it by now ) till I reached Sengan-En wich is the garden and the palace of a local lord and it’s very beautiful, totally worth a visit, also compared to many other places in japan, this is more modern and therefore more unique both in the architecture of the palace and the style of the garden. I’d say if you are in Kagoshima you won’t regret visiting it ( maybe don’t do like me and take a bus cause it’s more than 6 km from the station ). After visiting Sengan En I went back to the ferries and took a ferry to Sakurajima. The ferry is very cheap, 200 yen, and quick to reach it’s destination, but on Sakurajima there’s really not much to do if you don’t plan to use a bus or some other kind of transportation. Since it was already evening, I had nothing planned and I had to go back to Hakata, I just took the time to have a walk on the Lava Trail wich is a walk in a natural park that has grown over an old lava flow, wich is a quite unique thing that I enjoyed more than I expected. Then I went back to Kagoshima, had dinner and moved back to Hakata. I have to say I really enjoyed Kagoshima, the city has a unique vibe, very laid back, the people seemed to be relaxed and happy and were much more open toward foreigners than anywhere I’ve experienced. If I’ll ever be back in japan I’ll surely manage to spend some more time in Kagoshima. I took the train and I was back in hakata at around midnight so I went straight to bed in hotel
KAGOSHIMA: OTBP: 10 OVERALL: 10
Day 14: Nagasaki. Another fairly easy destination to reach from Fukuoka. The city itself is very narrow and develops around its river. As a tourist I was immediately attracted to its atomic bomb museum, wich is north from the station. I went there, you don’t say, by foot.
And later, once I’ve done with the atomic bomb part, the Nagasaki near the sea.
And here starts the tale of the two Nagasaki, because it feels like two different places in one. The north part, wich I didn’t enjoy much, felt a bit neglected and it’s mostly houses where people live. And it’s the part where you’ll see more tourists because as I said all the atomic spots are there.
On the other hand the south part near the city was to me much more alive and full of life, I’m no expert but that’s probably where the locals like to spend their free time and on the other hand you’ll see way less tourists here.
Back to the morning, I did what most tourists do, and visited the atomic bomb museum, the peace park, the ipocenter, and went also to see the half standing torii that is one of the few authentic places left as testament of the bombing, around the city. Talking about the museum, I’ve been to both thins and Hiroshima and, even if Hiroshima is bigger and with much more to see, I would suggest if one has the opportunity to visit also the Nagasaki one, it absolutely has its own legs to stand on. On a side note, out of 10 visitors, 9 were foreigners, I guess Japanese already know their history and don’t feel the need to visit such a place on a nice Sunday morning.
The peace park it’s a park, there you can see the famous statue wich is one of the main symbols of Nagasaki and that, if you ask me, is one of the ugliest statues you can find in the world, but still if you’re in Nagasaki you probably don’t want to miss it.
After lunch I moved to the sea side, here I’ve seen DeiJima wich is the former artificial island where the Portuguese were segregated centuries ago, very interesting place, kinda like a mix of an open air museum and a theme park, felt a little bit plastic but still worth some of your time.
Then had a walk to the near seaside park wich is a very nice and relaxing place where flocks of eagles fly so low over your head that if you rise your hand you can almost touch them, and pretty much ended the day there before having to go back to Fukuoka.
NAGASAKI: OTBP: 5 OVERALL: 7 ½

Day 15 – 16 - 17: my last full days in japan. I was in need of some rest at this point and I needed to move closer to Narita where I had booked my flight for day 18, so i spent more than half of day 15 to transfer from Hakata to Tokyo. I booked my last hotel for three nights near Otsuka station, wich if you ask me is a nice spot to stay in Tokyo. When I arrived in the evening there was a rose festival and all around the station there were roses bushes in flower and there were people singing and the whole station looked alive but also quiet, if you like a place to stay In Tokyo that it’s not chaotic like Shinjuku or Shibuya I’d recommend Otsuka.
The last days aren’t really worth mentioning, I’ve spent most of the time shopping for souvenirs, and recovering for all the travel i did the two weeks before. I explored a couple of places worth mentioning that not everyone ever goes to in Tokyo, like Nakano Broadway ( a weird shopping district that feels like a little Akiabara ), Nippori where there’s a little known street nice for shopping, or Chiba where there’s one of the biggest mall in japan but apart from that nothing much that you can read in the report of anyone who have been to Tokyo.
And with this, I think I can conclude my report. If you want me to upload some picture and you have a site to suggest me where it’s easy to upload and you don’t have to make an account let me know and if there’s enough interest I will oblige as soon as I’ve finished downloading all the pictures from my phone.

My husband and I are visiting NYC in mid-June. He hasn’t been in 10+ years and I have never been. I am here for your expertise. For context, we are staying at The Quin Central Park. We are both accustomed to walking (we visit DC every year and walk everywhere) and plan on navigating the subway while in NYC.
Clothes What weather should we dress for? I know late summer is very hot in NYC but I’ve found mixed reviews for June. I’m cold natured and I read a few times the nights in June can still get cold. I’ve searched on Reddit and have quickly gathered closed toe shoes are necessary. I was hoping to wear a low heel to dinner one night but let me know if I should abandon that hope. Hit me with your advice.
Entertainment We plan on visiting the MET, 9/11 Memorial, and a Broadway show. We both love museums and history. I would like to do a little shopping while there so let me know what stores are worth the visit. We are fine with seeing the Statue of Liberty from afar. I’d love other entertainment/experience recommendations.
Food We are adventurous when it comes to trying food. We love Mediterranean, Italian, Moroccan, Ukrainian, German, etc. What are some unique places for lunch and dinner to try that are worth it? A friend who has been to NYC recommended the Polo Bar for drinks. Is this a good bar for drinks? What other places would you recommend for a good drink before/after dinner? We both enjoy martinis, French 75's, and wine for context. We expect to spend more money on food in NYC and are fine with spending $30-$50 a plate for casual meals. We'd also like a recommendation for a nice place for dinner to celebrate our anniversary and are fine with spending $100-$150 a plate for that dinner. If we need to adjust those expectations, let me know.
Travel We are flying into NYC and then we will get a rental car to drive up to Saugerties. I would assume the best way to do this is to take a train as far out of the city as possible and then rent a car? What would you recommend?
Thank you in advance for your recommendations. I'm excited to see the city for the first time even if it is a short visit.

So Season 36 is in the books. Kind of crazy that there have been 36 seasons of the show now. Now I honestly had no idea until after the premiere that this season was in fact filmed before 35, and was still sort of a Covid season, with no airports and staggered start times, as well as an abnormal route. While this season wasn’t as restrictive as the last few before 35, it was still noticeable. Not leaving the Americas was rough, but I think they did a decent job of it. They still had a lot of cool locations to work with, I especially enjoyed the Caribbean legs in Barbados and the Dominican Republic, two places we’ve never seen and a region we’ve only seen maybe twice in the whole show (Jamaica is the only other Caribbean location I recall). The challenges were overall not too bad. They’re still not quite what they used to be but I think they’ve improved in that regard recently. They really need to work on the Detours though, there were some this season that seemed so insanely unbalanced (The Jeep one in leg 3 seemed impossible). As for the cast, I really liked it. No gimmick teams at all, just a lot of normal people. Even though about half of these teams could have been first boot material on many other seasons (it took us until the final 6 on a 13 team season to be left with competent teams), it led to some extreme entertainment in the early legs getting to see some amazing incompetence. The winners were satisfying, even if very anticlimactic. Overall, this was a decent season, somewhere in the middle of the rankings. The biggest drag on it was probably the longer episodes. This season was filmed as a regular, 60 minute episode season, and most of these episodes could really drag and had obvious filler in them. Anyway, lets get to the teams.

1. Maya & Rohan: Just like last season, the superfans were gone first. Not a great look for that demographic, and a stark reminder of how knowledge of the show means almost nothing. They were really sweet and it was great to see how excited they were to be on the show, especially Rohan. It honestly does kinda suck to finally go on the Amazing Race and then be the first out and only go to Mexico. What did them in was bad navigation, especially on the way to the first clue. Getting stuck at the dead end and having to turn around was quite funny. Not much else to say, having to fight for screentime with 12 other teams is hard.
   
2. Chris & Mary: I have to say I liked casting a team like this. They kinda stopped doing it for a while with a bunch of young influencer casts but going back to having some sacrificial lamb teams that just have no chance is great. Seriously they must have cast them knowing they’d go quick because I don’t think Chris would be able to handle a lot of the physicality we saw in this season, even in the next leg climbing up all those steps. When he fell right at the starting line I knew it was gonna be rough, and then in their boot episode he almost vomited just from walking around. They were very sweet though, they had a cute relationship and Mary was so nice and patient with him. I think they knew they were never going to win and were just trying to enjoy themselves. Despite being extremely weak physically, what slowed them down a lot was bad navigation, and I think they definitely could have survived the leg had they done a little better in that regard. Anyways, they were a good addition to the season and I think fulfilled the role casting wanted them to have
   
3. Anthony & Bailey: I loved these guys. Yes I’m sure some people don’t like them for how woefully bad and nonchalant they were at the race, but once again they were probably cast for their entertainment value, which they had. All their airhead moments were very funny to me, and it was enjoyable to just see them bumble around for a few legs. Even I was surprised how early they went though, I thought they were athletic enough to last until the final 8 or so, but their indecisiveness at the Detour is what killed them. The Detour that episode was insanely imbalanced, the Jeep Detour seemed extremely difficult, I just have no idea why they went back to it without even trying the cooking. Had they not done that they almost certainly would have survived the leg. I was really hoping to see them and their antics for a bit longer, but they were just so incompetent they had to go. They made a fun addition to the first three episodes though.
   
4. Michelle & Sean: The fact they lasted as long as they did showed what a trainwreck season this was. From being bad jumping through ropes despite owning a double dutch business, to doing the challenges out of order, to taking forever to go down a hill, to the disaster of their last leg, they were BAD. They were perfectly fine people, but man in terms of the race they had nothing going for them. They were weak physically, mentally, and navigationally. Ultimately what did them in was Michelle being totally lost at the Roadblock. I don’t even think she ever finished it from the looks of it. I did feel bad for Sean going down the hill because you could tell he was genuinely terrified, but it’s the Amazing Race, and having to watch that was kind of pathetic. Having Phil jump rope after they were eliminated was cute. Once again though, perfectly fine people and it was fun to watch them bumble through a few legs, but they never had a chance.
   
5. Kishori & Karishma: Very fun team. I definitely see why people didn’t like them as they could be quite annoying, but I mostly found them entertaining. Definitely wasn’t rooting for them, but it was clear they really had no shot. They just brought a general level of silliness to a season that was already full of a lot of silliness and incompetence. It’s honestly impressive they lasted as long as they did, given how incompetent they were. They just messed up a lot of little things, like not putting on the outfit for the roadblock in the first leg or skipping a clue in leg 2. By the time their last leg came around they just couldn’t keep up with the competition, their slowness at the Roadblock especially is what did them in. Think they went at the perfect time, I think they definitely could have started to get more on my nerves if they lasted longer.
   
6. Derek & Shelisa: One of my favorite teams of the season. At first I was rooting for them because they seemed like a likable older couple, and I’m always a sucker for older teams. But then as time went on I started to like them for a different reason: It became evident how much Derek sucks. Despite talking a big game and acting all macho, Derek was an extremely incompetent and poor player. Just to hear him talk himself up so much and then fail at almost everything their last few legs, especially the last one was great. He got lost all the time (that was probably on Shelisa too though) and then just sucked at some of those challenges, like the throwing Detour in their last leg, and then he even was tapping out at the bike Detour they switched too! And whatever chance they still had was gone after he struggled so much at the Roadblock. Shelisa seemed perfectly fine though and had the patience of a saint dealing with this guy. I don’t think Derek is a bad guy or anything though, but I kinda enjoyed seeing him get some humble pie.
   
7. Sunny & Bizzy: A fun underdog team. Basically their whole time in the race they were at the back of the pack, but the fact they hung on as long as they did was quite impressive. They had some clutch moments where they were able to save themselves from a likely elimination, like in legs 4 and 5 where they were in a pretty clear last and were able to make up ground at the roadblock. They had perhaps the funniest moment of this season when they failed miserably at the Detour in leg 4, with, and I quote, “Mama rat took baby rat skiing around the world, they did some yoga, and that was a positive experience.” That was priceless. They were just a badass team all around, being two firefighter moms. Ultimately though their biggest weakness was navigation, and by their last leg the competition was just too tough for them to keep up, especially with how much they struggled to find the Detour clue.
   
8. Angie & Danny: They will probably go down as one of the most unfair eliminations in Amazing Race history. The fact that they got delayed up to 90 minutes because of a production error was absolutely ridiculous, and they honestly should have gotten some sort of time credit or non-elimination for it, even though I’m sure that would have messed up the rest of the race. It sucks even more that this happened to such a likable and rootable team. Danny was probably one of the strongest individual race players we’ve ever seen, being amazing with directions and good at basically every challenge he did. Angie was definitely along for the ride, and she struggled quite a bit with being able to keep up and in Roadblocks, but I do think she improved as the race went on. I was always skeptical of their alliance with Amber & Vinny and Rod & Leticia, but ultimately it seems like it was the right idea as the other two teams did help them a few times when I thought they would just ditch them when the tables were turned. I really hope they, or at least Danny with somebody else, can come back because his love for the race and wonderful personality and attitude really were a bright spot in this somewhat mediocre season.
   

5th. Yvonne & Melissa: Despite lasting so long on a season with 90 minute episodes, there’s really not much I can say about them. Historically shows like Survivor and to a lesser extent The Amazing Race have had some pretty uneven edits that just shaft some teams, but with more equitable attitudes now and longer runtimes we have seen these shows get a lot more even handed with their edits. But Yvonne & Melissa were basically the one exception this season, and I’m not sure why. My biggest guess is that 1. They just weren’t that interesting and 2. They were always in the middle of the pack. They mentioned this in their last leg that they were purposefully flying under the radar and being quiet, which doesn’t really translate well to TV. And the middle of the pack always gets the least attention in an episode, especially early on in the season, and the fact that literally every leg they were smack dab in the middle just really hurt them. In leg 3 I don’t think they had any airtime at all. They were fine though, they were nice enough and a little snarky which I liked. I just wish they told their story a little more, like in their last leg when Melissa just dropped that she did security for Joe Biden, like what?? Either way though they really had no chance on their last leg after the first roadblock. There was very little opportunity to pass teams after that, even though they weren’t too far behind Amber & Vinny so had they finished the baseball roadblock a little faster they might have been able to pull it out. Their elimination episode was just a little anticlimactic because I just knew there was no way such an invisible team would be in the finale.
4th. Amber & Vinny: My guess is that this was the most disliked team this season, but I didn’t mind them. It’s funny because I used to hate all the fighting couples on the Amazing Race, but now to have one again is kind of a breath of fresh air, just like on Survivor there’s just so much positivity on the show now that it’s a little boring/annoying sometimes. To be clear as well, Amber & Vinny didn’t even fight that bad, but they did have some good drama moments. I don’t think Vinny is a bad guy but he seems to just naturally be kind of an asshole, but you can see him try to fight that and reign it in. Amber seemed nice if a little sensitive, which combined with Vinny’s personality led to lots of the arguments. They did seem to love each other and the proposal when they were eliminated was cute. As for what did them in, they had almost no margin for error on their last leg. Having the staggered start times on a leg with little opportunity to make up time put them at a disadvantage, and they were just a little too slow, especially at the drink making detour. If they had just done that a little better they likely would have pulled ahead of Ricky & Cesar. It was for the best though because even though I didn’t dislike this team I was definitely rooting for Ricky & Cesar more in that matchup.

1. Rod & Leticia: Surprisingly ended up being my favorite team this season. Ricky & Cesar just weren’t as fun for me, and I honestly wasn’t that crazy about Angie so she dragged that team down a little bit. At the start I didn’t think much of these two, with Rod seemingly like just some jock and Leticia seeming pretty shallow. But as time went on I began to really like these two, Leticia proved to be a pretty smart individual and Rod’s personality and positivity was just infectious. His work-hard play-hard attitude was just great, in many cases it wasn’t his big muscles that pushed him through but just a strong drive and determination. They were an extremely well functioning couple, knowing each other’s strengths and weaknesses and using that to their advantage, and they almost never lost their patience with each other. I was really rooting for them to win, but given Rod’s status as an NFL player I doubt they needed the money as much so it was okay. What did them in was a final leg not designed for their strong suits, as it ended with two straight memory challenges and then a puzzle, with them not doing great at any of them, especially Rod at the Declaration of Independence challenge, it seemed like they were there a LONG time, given that Juan & Shane went to another state and were still able to pass them later on. Really fun team though.
   
2. Juan & Shane: Nice guys. Unfortunately not much more to say than that. They were probably the team I wanted to win the least out of the final 3, but it didn’t come from any dislike. It’s just we had just seen the young fit guys win the race, and I was ready for something different. They had a cool story though and you could just tell what great friends these guys were. They got along and knew how to work with each other, which likely came from being in the military together. I really liked Juan in particular, he definitely seemed to carry the team more than Shane, was a really down to earth guy, and had an interesting story about his upbringing in Colombia, which I wish we had learned more about. These guys were a very well rounded team who performed well basically through the whole race, and I think they would have gotten more credit for that had they not been overshadowed by the race monsters that were Ricky & Cesar. Their decision to do the seaweed detour in Barbados was an especially good decision that likely saved them that leg. They definitely would have had a shot the last leg though had they not gotten so lost finding the cheesesteak restaurants, which was basically entirely the fault of that random guy saying they were pizza places, lol. The fact that they went all the way to New Jersey and still rebounded for a second place finish was very impressive though.
   
3. Ricky & Cesar: The most dominant team in Amazing Race history? Seriously, it was insane how these guys absolutely dominated from start to finish, with the one exception of the second to last leg where they had a close call with Amber & Vinny after really struggling at the windsurfing roadblock. Other than that it’s hard to think of many other times they even somewhat struggled, I guess maybe the rally car challenge in the megaleg? But the fact they were able to beast at such a wide variety of challenges was super impressive, especially in a 13 team season, never finishing outside the top 3, and only once outside the top 2 is insane. They were such a nice team too, they were so sweet and friendly to everyone they interacted with, they were huge fans of the race, and were always so humble despite the way they dominated the race. Even though they could be a little dull at times, and having to basically always watch them in a fairly commanding first got a little tiresome. But they absolutely deserved this win more than anyone else, and to hear they would use the money to start a family was such a sweet ending.
   

Husband and I (outdoorsy 30-somethings) just got back from the most magical 10 days of blitzing through Italy and I wanted to report back on how it all went! Itinerary report followed by general takeaways below. (:
May 5 (Rome) - Landed at Rome airport around 9AM, bought tickets for the Leonardo Express / validated in station and then hopped on a train around 10ish, got to Termini for around 11AM if I remember correctly. Wandered from Termini to our airbnb in Trastavere with our backpacks on, walked through/past a lot of the sites we'd be seeing later on. Part of the walk took us down the steps so we were walking along the bank of the Tiber and wowowowowow. We were more wiped out than expected after the walk and ended up napping at our airbnb after we checked in (lol) and then put ourselves back together, did Rick Steves' audio tour of Trastavere, found a place to get dinner, and just kind of wandered around the neighborhood stopping to sip wine and eat tiramisu in different spots. It was incredible.
May 6 (Rome) - Used IT.TAXI to call a car to bring us to the drop off point for our guided tour of the Vatican. I don't regret booking this because The Vatican is, ultimately, fucking insane in its offerings of art and history and whatnot, but this was easily the busiest/most crowded/suffocating thing we did the whole trip. There were so many people our tour ended up getting diverted from the Sistine chapel 2 or 3 times, which I actually liked because it meant we got to see EVERYTHING there was to see. I think we walked ~4 miles by the end of the tour. Tour started at 9:30 and we were walking out of St. Peter's at 13:00. Walked back to our bnb, passed out until 15:00, and then walked back into the heart of the city for our 17:45 Colosseum entry slot. Took our time getting there and let ourselves get distracted by any steps we wanted to run up or things we wanted to get closer to, etc. Waited behind maybe 5 people before getting our tickets checked for the colosseum, did Rick Steve's audio tour once inside, amazing. Originally we were planning on doing the forum afterwards but did not realize the forum closes early! Ended up spontaneously catching a bus to Appian Way and wandered around some of the park for sunset - not the part of the park we meant to wander around, but it was pretty nonetheless. Tried to catch a bus back but it never came, so we called another car via it.taxi back to our neighborhood. Grabbed dinner and gelato.
May 7 (Rome) - Hopped on a local bus to San Paolo train station, took a train out to Ostia Antica. Did the Rick Steve's audio tour (this is a running theme) and wandered the ruins for a couple of hours. The red poppies popping out of everything could make me cry, honestly. We were basically the only people there all morning. When we left around 11:00 there were hoards of schooltrips showing up, but we had the whole place to ourselves. Crazy. Hopped back on the train and took it to San Paolo, where we dipped into the metro and took a different train to the Colosseum area. Grabbed some street food and wandered - at midday this area is WAY more packed than in the late afternoon, like how it was the day before when we were there. The main line to the forum was stupid long, but there was no line at the Palatine Hill entrance just a little bit away from the Arch. We entered through there and wandered, did the Rick Steve's audio tour, wandered some more. Caught a bus to Campo d'fiori, and did most of Rick Steve's heart of rome walk. When we got to the pantheon we got in line to buy tickets - one of the machines was accepting money but was out of printer paper - we were able to snag one of the last printed tickets from the other machine around 17:00 and get inside the Pantheon. We ended up being two of like 10 people inside, this was a definite highlight. Did Rick Steve's pantheon audio tour and marveled at everything. Got kicked out around 17:45, continued the Heart of Rome walk and ended it ourselves at the Trevi Fountain. It was slammed but not hard to get close to the fountain itself. Walked back to Trastavere and watched sunset from one of the bridges over the Tiber. Wandered into a restaurant named something ending in "il massi" in trastevere - inadvertently one of the best meals of the whole trip. Hung out in Piazza Trilussa while a street performer played Bob Marley to a very happy crowd, went home, passed out.
May 8 (Rome -> Florence) - Grabbed coffee and pastries and ate them in Piazza Trilussa after checking out of our bnb. Trekked up Janiculum hill (with our bags) and hung out there for about an hour taking in the incredible view before walking down the other side (towards the Vatican?) and catching a bus to Termini, where we hopped on a pre-booked bullet train from Rome to Florence. Walked from the train station to our place in Oltrarno, close to Pitti and Ponte Vecchio - felt a kind of like, culture shock, I guess? Rome and Florence are so, so different. We stayed in a really cool airbnb on the top floor of what used to be a tower, I think? There was a plaque out front. A lot of stairs to go up but definitely worth it. Dropped our stuff off, grabbed some gelato, made it over for our 17:15 tour time of Accademia to see David. The line situation was NUTS but there was a method to the madness. The poster scammers were EVERYWHERE. Once we got inside it was very cool - David does not disappoint - we did the Rick Steves audio tour and wandered. Once that was over we made our way back towards Oltrarno and realized we were close to Gustapizza and like ~15 minutes out from it opening. I'm not about to wait in line for hours for food, but I can wait 30 minutes. Got in the to-go line, ordered two pizzas right after they opened (husband went out and bough a bottle of wine in the meantime), and we ate the pizzas and drank the wine in the nearby piazza. This was one of my favorite meals. I fucking love a piazza.
May 9 (Florence) - Slept in a bit! Did Rick Steve's Florence walk. Were originally going to do the duomo climb but changed our minds at the last minute - the amount of people waiting made it seem like it was going to be really claustrophobic - I don't regret this at all. Ended getting tickets to the Orsanmichele church / museum kind of on a whime (it was suggested in the Rick Steve's audio), I think 8 euros a pop. The church was beautiful, but the museum must be a state secret. We were the only 2 people in there, and the second floor is all HUGE windows with unobstructed views of the whole florence skyline, from within the skyline. It was dead quiet inside. No crowds. And incredible views. We soaked it up in here for a while, and then after the tour was done (around Palazza Vecchio), we wandered into San Frediano (I heard it was a cool area), got some of the best sandwiches from some random place, had Salciccia for the first time and didn't realize until we were like halfway through eating it (so good, omg), and hung out at a bar near a park for a while before catching a bus (I think 12) up to San Minianto. I read in a thread that this was a better viewpoint than the Piazzale Michelangelo with less crowds, and holy smokes. The view was insane. The monks closed the grounds right before sunset, but we were able to post up in one of the nooks in the wall right outside of the grounds and watch the sun go down. No crowd at all. Magical. Hiked back down on foot through Piazzale Michelangelo and stopped for a second to grab a beer and snap a photo, but it was SO so soooooooo crowded. Kept walking and wandered around Palazzo Vecchio area, grabbed dinner somewhere and headed home.
May 10 (Panzano) - Got our rental car and made our way to Panzano for a lunch reservation at Dario's. I was worried this was going to be hokey or full of old people or something, but this ended up being a huge highlight. We were sat at a table with a bunch of guys weekending together from Milan, a couple from Brazil, and some other folks from Northern Italy, and we all just chatted and ate together and drank way too much chianti and stayed until we basically were asked to leave. It was amazing. What was supposed to be a two hour lunch turned into a six hour hang out. The food was incredible, obviously, but making friends with such an assortment of strangers was really, really special. Wandered around Panzano a little bit after we all parted ways and then made our way to the carpark in Florence. We had reserved a spot at a place a week or so in advance and paid once we got there in person, it was great. Grabbed some more of the best sandwiches I've ever had in my life from some hole in the wall place in Oltrarno and hung out at our airbnb drinking wine until bedtime.
May 11 (Montepulciano) - Slept in a bit! Grabbed a capuccino at the local spot we'd found near our place, got our rental car, and set off for a day spent wandering around in Montepulciano. Didn't really have a set in stone plan for the day, but we parked for free near a bus station and then caught a cheap shuttle up to the top of the town. Hopped off at the top (the driver could tell we had no idea where "the top" was going to be and kindly flagged us when we were supposed to get off), and really spent the whole day just wandering up and down the town. The wine was all very good, everywhere. The food also. And catching the sunset from the top was probably one of the most incredible sunsets I've seen anywhere ever. Highly recommend. Drove back after dark and the highway was CLOSED so we spent most of the drive on a very, very small road carrying diverted highway traffic in both directions. It was a little scary because of the buses and trucks, but we lived. Dropped our car off at the return lot, caught a tram back to termini, and walked back to our place. Got in around 23:00. LONG, beautiful day.
May 12 (Florence -> Cinque Terre) - Got coffees at some third wave coffee shop instead of the usual spot because the usual spot was slammed and we had our bags with us - this place was fine but definitely geared towards Americans. And then walked to Termini and caught a train to Pisa, hopped out and switched platforms, and then caught a train to Monterosso Al Mare, landed around 15:00. Met up with our airbnb host, who was SO KIND, and walked up the 150 steps to the room we'd be staying in (not in the old side of town), it was amazing. Rooftop access. And tucked into the forested hill behind the other buildings. It was directly over the train but, surprisingly, that didn't bother us at all. We dropped our stuff off and wandered back out, got some foccaccia (holy shit) and walked into the old town. We wandered deep into the old town and up some road surrounded by vineyards and found some open but OLD woodsy staircase path that brought us up.... we did not know where we were going but did not care. Ended up popping out in the back of the cemetery at the top of the hill. Nobody was there, but if you walk ~50 meters or so away from the cemetery and down the road, there's an incredible panoramic viewpoint of the whole area. Wandered around here, then down an old-looking path around the cemetery that brought us to the front of the place, which is where the crowds (really not a lot of people) of people were. Wandered back down into the old town, bought some picnic-stuff from a local market (focaccia, pesto, olives, cheese, beer, limoncello) and then made our way home and picnicked on the rooftop while the sunset. Incredible day.
May 13 (Cinque Terre) - I think this was my favorite day. I don't know. I'm a sucker for large bodies of water and generally just being in nature. We got down for breakfast around 10AM, and droves of people were getting off of the train to start the hike that everyone does. Currently only the Monterosso -> Vernazza -> Corniglia sections are open. We were planning on doing the hike first thing, but really, really didn't want to deal with the crowds of it all. So we bought our trail pass ticket and then decided to change our plans around. We ended up catching the ferry from Monterosso Al Mare and taking it down to Riomaggiore, 45 minute trip total (15 euros a head and you get to see every town from the water... so worth it), where we ran around a little bit and split a cone of fried anchovies from Tutti Frutti (10/10). Hopped on the train and took it to Corniglia, wandered around here a bit and then hopped on the hiking trail and hiked Corniglia -> Vernazza. Definitely recommend. The views were stunning, and we only saw a couple of people in either direction since we started a bit later in the day / I assume a bunch of people only do the first chunk of the hike when starting in Monterosso. The portion we did took us about 65 minutes, and we stopped to re-apply sunscreen and gawk at the views a couple of times. Did a quick lap in Vernazza but were itchy to get to the beach at this point, so hopped on the train to Monterosso, used our trail passes to get free access to the train bathrooms and change into our swimsuits (we brought a small, roll-up-able hiking sling bag for this purpose), bought a towel for 10 euros from one of the stalls near the beach and hit the free section of the beach in Fegina. Some folks but nothing crazy. Laid our stuff down and spent the afternoon swimming in the sea. The locals said the water was cold but it was beautiful - 69 degrees Fahrenheit or so - much warmer than the ocean water we're used to in California lol. After hanging out here until around 18:00 or so, we made our way back up to our room (150 steps!!!!!), showered, put ourselves together, and made it back out for dinner around 21:00. We were able to get a table at a restaurant in the old part of town and if I recommend any place, it's this one: Tosca Bistrot. The chef was out and about helping the waitstaff, she stopped and chatted with us for a bit, and the food was the best food we had the whole trip. Anchovies in lemon and oil, trufie with pesto, poached sea bass, tiramisu and a pinoleta, which is a tart I've never heard of or had but now cannot stop thinking about. It was amazing and special and sweet. Walked out of here and sat on the beach in the dark for a little bit near some street performers before making our way home.
May 14 (Cinque Terre -> Milan) - I'm counting this as our last day even though technically we flew out of Milan on May 15. Initially we were going to spend two nights in Monterosso Al Mare but it felt dicey having to take a three hour train ride to a city where you then would have to catch a flight, so we opted to head to Milan to spend our last night before flying to limit any chance of craziness. We checked out of our bnb in the morning, spent a few hours wandering around with our bags, got some focaccia and ate it on the beach in the shade of the sidewalk overhand, and stopped at a local market to buy some fresh fruit for the train ride. This turned out to be a mistake. We bought two peaches, a nectarine, and some lemony cookies. Husband and I split the peaches and nectarine on the train ride, and just as we get to our hotel in Milan he starts complaining of nausea / upset stomach. He ended up having wild food poisoning. We washed the fruit before eating it but I guess something similar happened to him years ago when he was in Romania - something about his guts just not being familiar with the bacteria on the skin of the fruit or something. I was totally fine, but I historically have really strong guts. It ended up pouring rain the entire afternoon we were in Milan, anyway, so while it wasn't the most ideal way to end the trip it was also not the worst. Our hotel room was small enough that it was the perfect place for him to need to be close to a toilet, and we just opened the windows and listened to the rain and the locals being raucous into the night. Thankfully he was through it by morning and was able to get some sleep! But that was basically that!!!
BIGGEST TAKEAWAYS - I have to assume this applies to anywhere, but our favorite moments / things really ended up being the little everyday things as opposed to the big tourist attractions. Like the local cafes we ended up going to every morning, hanging out in piazzas with the birds, chatting with people, and letting ourselves wander down any weird little path that caught our attention. And the gelato. - We tried our best to not over-schedule things and really only book the attractions we wanted to see instead of what we felt we HAD to see. We're not huge art people so we felt the Uffizzi and such would have been lost on us, were more interested in eating and hanging out with people so we prioritized that, etc. - Public transit is so wildly easy to use here that you should absolutely lean into relying on it. The bus schedules were pretty easy to read wherever they were posted, google maps' routes were usually spot-on, and if the bus doesn't show up (in Rome this seems to happen sometimes) and you don't want to walk, it.taxi worked just like uber. - If you can book the BIG ATTRACTIONS towards the end of the day, do it. Crowds are thinner and you have a better chance of smaller numbers being inside. We booked Colosseum/Forum/Palatine Hill pass + Vatican (with a tour) + Accademia + time slot to Ostia Antica in advance and let ourselves sort of figure out the rest of the day-to-day as best we could. - Aside from lodgings and the car rental, the only other thing we booked in advance was the bullet train. It was pretty packed so I recommend you do the same, plus I think it's cheaper if you book it in advance. - Idk if Rick Steves gets a bad rap or whatever but as two people who didn't WANT to book tours to everything and also could not afford to book tours to everything, the guided Rick Steves walks were amazing. They give you so much context to wherever you are and there were absolutely some things we saw - a completely empty church with a beautiful rose garden and singing nuns comes to mind - that we never would have stumbled upon without them. Definitely recommend. Husband and I literally just split a pair of airpods, made sure to download the audio tours when we were on wifi, and listened and walked. In this vein, definitely bring a good portable charger.
I can honestly say this was a magical, life altering trip for me. I have never taken two weeks to just go have fun somewhere like I did with this, and it was amazing. Ultimately I think the most important thing is not letting yourself be too tied to a schedule, giving yourself some leeway/grace, figuring out specifically what's important for YOU to see, and just leaning in to living in wherever you are. It was amazing. I wish we had more time and I can't wait to go back.
If you want any specific recs (food, gelato, lodging, etc) in any of the places we were, feel free to message me!!

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