Halloween weekend is upon us! BOO! Not in the I’m pissed sense, mostly in the im trying to add some All Hallow’s Eve cheer, plus a little shout out to the Boo Bear…Anyway, yes it is Halloween weekend, and Im pumped! I love Halloween! So, Friday we don’t have class, so Rachel and I decided it would be a great idea to finish our Palace escapades with a visit to Hampton Court Palace, the favored palace of one Henry the 8th. Oh man, were we pumped! We took a train out to Hampton Court, which was about an hour away, if not less. It was really nice because the palace was literally right across the river from the train station. It was a beautiful area! And the palace was MASSIVE. I didn’t expect it to be that big. It was bigger then Buckingham and Kensington pretty sure, but smaller then Windsor. It too had people living inside of it still. I couldn’t believe how big it was. The palace was a maze too. We had to go all over the place to make sure we had seen it all. I think it was my favorite palace next to Windsor. It was soo cool. They had it themed so it was like the wedding day of Henry to Kateryn Parr. We toured the state apartments all 5 sets of them (each king/queen had their own design and area that they preferred), the chapel (STUNNING), kitchens (huge and amazing), cellars, and various courtyards and great halls and stuff. It was soo big and just overall the coolest thing ever. I loved it soo much! Then after you think you can see no more, there are even more buildings that serve different purposes. They kind of look like soldier barracks but house different areas of need for the castle. We toured some of the gardens, but there are like 12, so we only did the 2 closest ones. We also did the hedge maze, which was more challenging then the one at Blenheim, so that was a lot of fun. We had the best time! I would definitely recommend that to anyone that comes here. I want to go back!
Once we finished at the palace, we went back to London and cooked dinner. We had to pick up some finishing touches for our costumes too. All I needed to buy was a mask, so my costume was hella cheap, but Rachel’s was a bit more complicated. She was a vampire, so she bought a whole new outfit, fake blood, and fangs. It was a lot of fun to shop. The girls, minus Rachel, plus Ben wanted to watch a scary movie, so we decided to search for one. All of our friends from the states have been telling us about “paranormal activity” so we decided to boot leg it and download it off the internet. Oh man minkz, did we think that movie was funny. It was not scary at all. I was more confused as to what the hell was going on and how people thought it was actually scary. Our commentary throughout the whole thing was more entertaining then the actual movie. It was so fun watching it! After the movie, I just went to bed, I was hella tired.
HAPPY HALLOWEEN! Its Saturday, Halloween, and a beautiful day in London! We were going to go to the London Dungeons today, but we couldn’t get tickets, and its really expensive, so we opted out. Instead we all went out to lunch together at a café down the street. It is super cute and italian. I had the best caesar salad, holla! After lunch, we all just kinda hung out and started getting ready for the evening. Rachel got ready first because she was going out to the Albion (a pub in our neighborhood) with some of the guys and 2 girls that she met at Roehampton (where we take our management class). The rest of the girls, plus matt and ben got ready to head to sidcup to attend a halloween party hosted by 2 girls from Rose Bruford (the school we go to for Global Issues). It was great meeting the girls and all of their friends, especially because most of them will be coming to study abroad at SMU next year. It was so much fun getting to hang out with them and see how British students interact outside of school. After awhile Krista, Lindsay, and I wanted to leave, so we headed back to London. This was kind of a problem because all the trains stop around 11, so we had to take buses…needless to say it took us about 2 hours to get home. Once home, I took a shower and went to bed. It was a good time! Haha I love sleeping.
Ah yes, Sunday again! The first of November! I cant believe I go home in a month and a half! Its crazy!!! Its definitely weird because I feel like I have been away from home for a flong time, but I feel like I have been here for a very short time…Its odd how that works. Well, I woke up to the door bell and was surprised to see a delivery man…I think he was scared of me…You would be too if you saw my hair when I wake up like that…Anyway, I was PUMPED! My wonderful parents sent me a sweatshirt and best of all a ZUNE!!!! YAY! I HAVE MUSIC AGAIN!!! HOLLAA!!! You don’t know happy I was! Back to my day…I started it by just hanging out with everyone in the flat, cleaning a bit, but then Sam and I decided we were hungry, so we set out to find some food. We walked to a café near by and got really good sandwiches and had a great conversation. I love sam, she is a good kid! :) its soo funny because I look at all the people that are on this trip with me and I realize that the only person I really knew before I went on this trip was Rachel. Its crazy how close you get to people in such a short time. I love it though. Later that night, Rachel had seen a flier promoting a French chamber choir concert at the church near our flat, so we decided to go. We both love choral music, so we figured it would be pretty. It was great! They were wonderful and sang a lot of great songs. It was a wonderful, relaxing end to the day.
Technically Monday isnt the weekend, but I will keep going because there isnt much to say….We went to class at 10:15 and got out at 10:45, thanks Gary! We didn’t have much to talk about, so that was cool. Rache and I decided to run errands. We went grocery shopping and bought cookie sheets so we can make some cookies here pretty soon. After errands we all just hung out around the flat and made dinner. At around 8:30, we left for this small pub in the Camden area. We were all going to see a play called Nursery Crimes, did Humpty fall or was he pushed? Yeah, it sounded interesting. It is a fringe theatre, so it is a hella small space and has these kind of racy, cutting edge, plays. The one thatwe were seeing though was just a musical with adult language. Oh man, it was definitely the best play we have seen this whole trip! Everyone agreed. It was positively the funniest thing I have seen in awhile. I died. I don’t think I stoped smiling. All of the songs were incredibly witty and the story was just really cool. All the characters were from different nursery rhymes. It was just an amazingly creative show. I loved every minute!
After the show, we all went back to the flats and fell asleep. Another successful night in London!
Finally, there ya go! All caught up! Well, besides today, which Im still living…and so far nothing has happened, just school. So, there ya go! I will update later when my life becomes more interesting…We go to Scotland on Thursday, soooooo incredibly pumped!!!! WOOT WOOTT!!! Oh, one cute thing is that Meran’s mom, Sue, aka my mom too, but whatever, sent me the cutest package! I love her! : ) It made my day!
Tuesday, November 3, 2009
Indian Food, K Space, and Religion! Yeah, London!
Alright, so now we are up to Wednesday the 28th of October! Phew! Time flies, eh?! Anyway, I skipped Tuesday because nothing happened. Wednesday was a bit more exciting…I had the day off, so I slept in for awhile and then I decided to clean for a bit. Overall the day was pretty boring, we didn’t do much. Then, we went out to dinner before the play we had to see for our Theater class. We decided to go to this Indian restaurant because none of us had been to one yet…yeah, pretty sure that was the worst idea I have ever had for myself. I had had Indian food before in Paris, and I loved it, I had no troubles. However, this Indian food was TERRIBLE. We all felt soo sick afterward. I thought I was going to die. It was soo bad. It really sucked that I felt so sick too considering the play we were going was a little show called, “Inherit the Wind” at the Old Vic starring the one and only KEVIN SPACEY!!!! Yeah, that’s right, I saw him perform live! It was AMAZING! I felt well enough to appreciate what I was seeing. The show was soo good too. It had a great message. I loved it! The lady sitting next to me was super cute too. She was this elderly woman who was from Australia, but moved to England a few decades ago. She was asking me all about the states and where I came from. She couldn’t have been cuter. Anyway, the whole play was great, but I was ready to vom, so I left right after it was over, unlike the rest of my class who stayed and hung out hoping to get Kspace’s autograph (that didn’t happen…). The rest of the night consisted of me sleeping my way to health, which worked! I felt like a million dollars the next morning! Super!
Thursday I didn’t do much considering that for art we are working on these papers that are pretty much our whole grade, so we didn’t really have class, we just had to research. I slept in and then went down to the National Portrait Gallery and did some research. It was really nice. When I had been there awhile, Lindsay and I went to this restaurant called “The Crypt” which is literally a crypt turned into a restaurant and gift shop. It was pretty neat. We ate in this small little alcove made of brick. It was awesome! Another thing checked off the list of things I wanted to do in London! :) After lunch, I had Politics class, which was interesting as always. I love my teachers, they couldn’t be cuter if they tried!
Oh! I forgot to tell you all, so for Global Issues on Tuesday, yeah, the day I didn’t talk about, we went and visited a Church of England parish in Barnes (a cute little area near Hammersmith, where our flats are). The vicar or priest made us coffee and cookies and showed us around as well as talked to us about what the Church of England is and how it differs from every other religion. Anyway, this parish had a catholic base, so its an Anglican Catholic church or something, it was pretty interesting to hear about how they put the 2 together. Also, it was really cool because the vicar talked about how there are all these different types of religions and parishes in Barnes, such as Methodists, Catholics, Jewish, Muslim, etc and they all get together for a get together every year and cook out and have different events and such. I thought that was really interesting how they can all come together as a community based on religion and get a long and find that similarity. Because as my mom always says, and the vicar said, they are all basically the same, just a little different.
Oh and after we left the church, I got lunch with Bob, Matt, and Rachel and then we headed off to Management…But then when we got there, we all decided that we shouldn’t have class that day because we didn’t feel like it. Darrin, our tutor who is taking over for Chris Bond while he is in Asia, had to go to the Arctic Circle (Norway) for a few days, so he wanted to get out of there early to finish packing. So, we didn’t have class, HOLLA! Early weekend!!!
So, now Im thinking I should have just written about Tuesday, oh well, you get the gist…Back to Thursday! After Politics I didn’t do anything, so there ya have it, a very exciting day! Haha.
Thursday I didn’t do much considering that for art we are working on these papers that are pretty much our whole grade, so we didn’t really have class, we just had to research. I slept in and then went down to the National Portrait Gallery and did some research. It was really nice. When I had been there awhile, Lindsay and I went to this restaurant called “The Crypt” which is literally a crypt turned into a restaurant and gift shop. It was pretty neat. We ate in this small little alcove made of brick. It was awesome! Another thing checked off the list of things I wanted to do in London! :) After lunch, I had Politics class, which was interesting as always. I love my teachers, they couldn’t be cuter if they tried!
Oh! I forgot to tell you all, so for Global Issues on Tuesday, yeah, the day I didn’t talk about, we went and visited a Church of England parish in Barnes (a cute little area near Hammersmith, where our flats are). The vicar or priest made us coffee and cookies and showed us around as well as talked to us about what the Church of England is and how it differs from every other religion. Anyway, this parish had a catholic base, so its an Anglican Catholic church or something, it was pretty interesting to hear about how they put the 2 together. Also, it was really cool because the vicar talked about how there are all these different types of religions and parishes in Barnes, such as Methodists, Catholics, Jewish, Muslim, etc and they all get together for a get together every year and cook out and have different events and such. I thought that was really interesting how they can all come together as a community based on religion and get a long and find that similarity. Because as my mom always says, and the vicar said, they are all basically the same, just a little different.
Oh and after we left the church, I got lunch with Bob, Matt, and Rachel and then we headed off to Management…But then when we got there, we all decided that we shouldn’t have class that day because we didn’t feel like it. Darrin, our tutor who is taking over for Chris Bond while he is in Asia, had to go to the Arctic Circle (Norway) for a few days, so he wanted to get out of there early to finish packing. So, we didn’t have class, HOLLA! Early weekend!!!
So, now Im thinking I should have just written about Tuesday, oh well, you get the gist…Back to Thursday! After Politics I didn’t do anything, so there ya have it, a very exciting day! Haha.
Where in the surrounding areas of London is Taryn Wirkus?
So, this is what we call a busy weekend! You ready? Good. Alright, so Friday Rachel and I went to Oxford, holla! Home of bright minds and some great dictionaries among other things! Anyway, we had a bit of a mishap in the morning…We missed our bus because we couldn’t find where it was leaving from. All the directions said were Buckingham Palace Rd…Well, if you havent been to London, that road is FLONG and has many places where buses come…so it wasn’t exactly helpful. We tried to call the company, but they werent very helpful, so needless to say, we had to find a new way to get there. We finally got there by ANOTHER bus company, and it was fairly cheap, so we went for it! Oxford is only about an hour and a half from London, so it was a really nice drive. I love travelling here, its soo pretty! Especially now with the leaves changing and such.
When we go to Oxford we realized we didn’t really have a plan of action, but its fine. We knew that our friend Wiggy was actually coming to Oxford the same day, but he was staying with his friend Nick, who actually goes to Oxford University (holla!), and so we were going to hang out with them later, but for the time being had no plans. The bus dropped us off in the city centre area, so we just kind of walked around and went into shops and such. It was around lunch time, so we actually went to Pizza Hut ( I know, I know, kinda trashy, but actually not!). You’d be surprised how nice they are here…Holy crap! They are all decorated to the T and look like stylish, metropolitan Italian restaurants. It was super nice. We had to walk do wn this spiral staircase and then were greeted by a hostess and waited on, so it was great. Pizza was awesome too. I hadnt had it in awhile. After lunch, our friend Wiggy arrived and we walked around with him for a bit until we came upon Christ’s Church. We had to go in! This is the place where some of the Harry Potter movies were filmed as well as the home of the great hall that inspired the great hall in Harry. So, we loved it to say the least! It was awesome! Soo pretty and really cool. Once we walked through the whole thing, we realized that there was this huge field behind it with like a mini forest and a river that kind of curved all over through the forest. It was GORGEOUS!!!!! We walked in a ways and sat on a bench under these huge, colorful trees, facing the river filled with ducks and swans. It was AMAZING. Best part of the trip right there! England is famazing, you should come.
After sitting there for awhile, we decided we should probably meet back up with Wiggy and meet his friend, Nick. So we walked back into town and met them. Nick was so nice and hella smart…Yeah, we felt really cool saying we went to SMU…Except not really…Anyway, he was really nice and showed us around his college, Worcester (a college within Oxford). Apparently it is the prettiest and best college at Oxford. I believe it, it was PHENOMENAL. They have these exquisite buildings with great architecture, their own private lake, courtyard, gardens, and playing fields. He took us to his dorm aka house where he and 4 other people share a kithchen and living room. They each have their own room and bathroom. It was sooo nice! I loved it! I was jealous, but walking into his room I realized that I wouldn’t have like it there…It didn’t look very pleasant to go to school there. He had boards of notes, books, and essays everywhere. It was kinda overwhelming. Nick said that his finals were 7 months away and he was already freaking out because he doesn’t have enough time to study…Im like dude, you don’t even know, I am lucky if I spend 7 hours studying for finals…Man, I wouldn’t last. Haha, oh well! But overall, it was a really cool insight into Oxford University!
After we toured Worcester, we went out to dinner at a Thai restaurant, and it was really good. The waiters were hella funny and really nice. After we walked around for a bit, Rachel and I realized we should head home, so we did. It was a great day in Oxford! Loved it! We were super tired though and had to get up early for a big day of travelling the next day.
Saturday! We booked an Evan Evans Tour of Warwick Castle, Stratford-Upon-Avon, The Cotswolds, and….Well, we didn’t know this when we booked it, but yeah, Oxford! Super fun! Haha. Anyway, the bus was SUPER nice! And our guide was named Leslie and our bus driver was Jill. They were soo cute! I loved them! It was kind of a whirl wind trip, we didn’t get to stay very long at all the places, but that’s alright!
We started the day off at Warwick Castle, which was phenomenal! Soo much fun! It was really kid friendly. I kept thinking my cousins would LOVE IT. They had it all decorated like a medieval castle and it was also decorated for halloween. It was awesome. There were also Madame Tussaud figures everywhere, which were slightly creep minkz because I thought they were real. There were 3 exhibitions going on: The Weekend Party, The Kingmaker, and something about Henry the 8th. The Weekend party was basically showcasing what would have happened when there were Royal weekend parties at the castle. Needless to say, I was pumped! The Kingmaker exhibit took you down into the bottom part of the castle, which was basically cellars and tunnels and an exhibit on how they prepared for battles and stocked the castle. It was really cool. The Henry the 8th exhibit was really cool too because it showcased what the castle looked like when he was there and some of his belongings. We walked all over the castle and it was just amazing. After we were done roaming the castle, we climbed up the mound and saw the grounds from a high point. It was soo pretty! Then we went to the gardens and saw peacocks. Beautiful! It started down pouring though, which was kinda fun, but cold.
Our next stop was Stratford-Upon-Avon, the hood of one Billy Shakespeare. We saw his crib from the outside, but didn’t go in because it wasn’t worth the money. We walked around the very small town for a bit, but then went to lunch at a cheap italian restaurant. Overall, a really nice trip there. It was a really cute little town.
After Stratford, Jill drove us through the Cotswolds! I was soooo fexcited!!!!! They were GORGEOUS!!! Especially with all of the colors. It was amazing! On top of it, there was a rainbow that went over the whole area. It was great! There were all of these rolling hills with small villages dotting the valleys. Little streams going through the cobblestone streets. Small stone cottages with thatched roofs and little gardens. It was totally picturesque. I loved it soo much! Holla!
Oxford is the gateway to the Cotswolds, so we stopped there for about an hour. It was great to be back! We just walked around and went into a few shops. It was a nice little end to the day.
Alright, Sunday! Holla! Our weekend adventures still go on! So, Rachel and I are trying to see all the royal palaces before we are done here and we still have 2 left to see. Knowing this, we took it upon ourselves to use this beautiful fall day to go and see Princess Diana’s main hizzity hang, Kensington Palace. It is situated pretty much in Hyde Park (probably my favorite place in London). Oh man it was a beyond GORGEOUS day! The colors at Hyde park were beyond words. We walked around for awhile before visiting the palace. While we were walking up to the gates, we realized that we were surrounded by these large men in sweat suits….This was a bit different…There were also people walking up to them randomly and asking for autographs, so we were like who are these dudes? I looked at their outfits and on them it read, “Blackburn Rovers F.C.” so I knew they were a football club, but I had never heard of them. Apparently, over here, they are a pretty big team. They played Chelsea that day, but lost terribly, its not their faults though, I guess there was an outbreak of the swine on their team. Anyway, that was pretty neat knowing we walked through Hyde Park with them and didn’t know it. We thought they were looking at us strangely. Anyway, finally, we reached the palace. It wasn’t that impressive, but it still was pretty on the outside.
The first part of the tour of the palace was the “Last Debutante Exhibit.” It showcased what debutantes went through, all of their clothing and accessories, the different ettiquette lessons they had to take, and overall the process of becoming a debutante and coming out into society. It was really interesting. We also got to see a room full of Diana’s dresses. They were gorgeous. After the exhibit, we got to go and see the state apartments that are still decorated in Queen Victoria’s liking. It was so cool to see everything. It was all soo pretty and a lot bigger than it looked from the outside. The whole tour was amazing. I still think Windsor is my favorite though!
After the palace, we walked around Hyde park some more and saw Harrod’s, but didn’t go in (we are saving it for later). We ran into Prince Albert Hall and went inside, it was really neat. From there we walked around and saw the National History Museum, but didn’t go in either…At this point though, we were really tired, so we decided to go home.
That night we cooked an amazing dinner! So good! We had pasta, chicken, and veggies. It was great. Then we decided to prepare ourselves for halloween by watching an oldie but goodie: HOCUS POCUS! Holla! From here our world came crashing down however when we were told Zachary Bink’s real name is actually Thackery as in…Well, I don’t really know, but its fug. Oh well. Anyway, that was Sunday! Good day overall!
See, here you would think our travels are done, however they are not! They continue to Monday! When we decided that it would be the perfect day to go to Stonehenge! HOLLA! It was a GORGEOUS and sunny day, so Gina (Matt’s Sister), Matt, Rachel, and I hopped a coach bus and headed off to our destination. On the ride there, I didn’t have an ipod, so Gina and I jammed out to her iphone. It was great! I was so pumped because the first 12 songs she played were amazing, so we had a great time. After a gorgeous, but incredibly long (only about 2 hours..but still felt like forever) journey, we saw the beautiful rock formation on one side of the bus and a HUGE flock of sheep on the right, I was PUMPED!!!!! Everytime I see sheep I think of Darmby. I love them! Soo much! Stonehenge was beautiful! It was really interesting because right when we got there the weather turned to have this kind of eerie, overcast look to it, so it was definitely cool. You couldn’t go up to the rocks, but you could walk around them about 400 feet away. They were an incredible sight! I was so excited to be standing in front of something that is older than the pyramids of giza. It is so amazing. Anyway, we got to hang out there for a couple of hours. It was defintely worth the money to go!
When we got back to London we went out to dinner because it was Gina’s last night, so that was really nice. After dinner we headed back to the flats and hung out until bed time. It was a wonderful day! : )
When we go to Oxford we realized we didn’t really have a plan of action, but its fine. We knew that our friend Wiggy was actually coming to Oxford the same day, but he was staying with his friend Nick, who actually goes to Oxford University (holla!), and so we were going to hang out with them later, but for the time being had no plans. The bus dropped us off in the city centre area, so we just kind of walked around and went into shops and such. It was around lunch time, so we actually went to Pizza Hut ( I know, I know, kinda trashy, but actually not!). You’d be surprised how nice they are here…Holy crap! They are all decorated to the T and look like stylish, metropolitan Italian restaurants. It was super nice. We had to walk do wn this spiral staircase and then were greeted by a hostess and waited on, so it was great. Pizza was awesome too. I hadnt had it in awhile. After lunch, our friend Wiggy arrived and we walked around with him for a bit until we came upon Christ’s Church. We had to go in! This is the place where some of the Harry Potter movies were filmed as well as the home of the great hall that inspired the great hall in Harry. So, we loved it to say the least! It was awesome! Soo pretty and really cool. Once we walked through the whole thing, we realized that there was this huge field behind it with like a mini forest and a river that kind of curved all over through the forest. It was GORGEOUS!!!!! We walked in a ways and sat on a bench under these huge, colorful trees, facing the river filled with ducks and swans. It was AMAZING. Best part of the trip right there! England is famazing, you should come.
After sitting there for awhile, we decided we should probably meet back up with Wiggy and meet his friend, Nick. So we walked back into town and met them. Nick was so nice and hella smart…Yeah, we felt really cool saying we went to SMU…Except not really…Anyway, he was really nice and showed us around his college, Worcester (a college within Oxford). Apparently it is the prettiest and best college at Oxford. I believe it, it was PHENOMENAL. They have these exquisite buildings with great architecture, their own private lake, courtyard, gardens, and playing fields. He took us to his dorm aka house where he and 4 other people share a kithchen and living room. They each have their own room and bathroom. It was sooo nice! I loved it! I was jealous, but walking into his room I realized that I wouldn’t have like it there…It didn’t look very pleasant to go to school there. He had boards of notes, books, and essays everywhere. It was kinda overwhelming. Nick said that his finals were 7 months away and he was already freaking out because he doesn’t have enough time to study…Im like dude, you don’t even know, I am lucky if I spend 7 hours studying for finals…Man, I wouldn’t last. Haha, oh well! But overall, it was a really cool insight into Oxford University!
After we toured Worcester, we went out to dinner at a Thai restaurant, and it was really good. The waiters were hella funny and really nice. After we walked around for a bit, Rachel and I realized we should head home, so we did. It was a great day in Oxford! Loved it! We were super tired though and had to get up early for a big day of travelling the next day.
Saturday! We booked an Evan Evans Tour of Warwick Castle, Stratford-Upon-Avon, The Cotswolds, and….Well, we didn’t know this when we booked it, but yeah, Oxford! Super fun! Haha. Anyway, the bus was SUPER nice! And our guide was named Leslie and our bus driver was Jill. They were soo cute! I loved them! It was kind of a whirl wind trip, we didn’t get to stay very long at all the places, but that’s alright!
We started the day off at Warwick Castle, which was phenomenal! Soo much fun! It was really kid friendly. I kept thinking my cousins would LOVE IT. They had it all decorated like a medieval castle and it was also decorated for halloween. It was awesome. There were also Madame Tussaud figures everywhere, which were slightly creep minkz because I thought they were real. There were 3 exhibitions going on: The Weekend Party, The Kingmaker, and something about Henry the 8th. The Weekend party was basically showcasing what would have happened when there were Royal weekend parties at the castle. Needless to say, I was pumped! The Kingmaker exhibit took you down into the bottom part of the castle, which was basically cellars and tunnels and an exhibit on how they prepared for battles and stocked the castle. It was really cool. The Henry the 8th exhibit was really cool too because it showcased what the castle looked like when he was there and some of his belongings. We walked all over the castle and it was just amazing. After we were done roaming the castle, we climbed up the mound and saw the grounds from a high point. It was soo pretty! Then we went to the gardens and saw peacocks. Beautiful! It started down pouring though, which was kinda fun, but cold.
Our next stop was Stratford-Upon-Avon, the hood of one Billy Shakespeare. We saw his crib from the outside, but didn’t go in because it wasn’t worth the money. We walked around the very small town for a bit, but then went to lunch at a cheap italian restaurant. Overall, a really nice trip there. It was a really cute little town.
After Stratford, Jill drove us through the Cotswolds! I was soooo fexcited!!!!! They were GORGEOUS!!! Especially with all of the colors. It was amazing! On top of it, there was a rainbow that went over the whole area. It was great! There were all of these rolling hills with small villages dotting the valleys. Little streams going through the cobblestone streets. Small stone cottages with thatched roofs and little gardens. It was totally picturesque. I loved it soo much! Holla!
Oxford is the gateway to the Cotswolds, so we stopped there for about an hour. It was great to be back! We just walked around and went into a few shops. It was a nice little end to the day.
Alright, Sunday! Holla! Our weekend adventures still go on! So, Rachel and I are trying to see all the royal palaces before we are done here and we still have 2 left to see. Knowing this, we took it upon ourselves to use this beautiful fall day to go and see Princess Diana’s main hizzity hang, Kensington Palace. It is situated pretty much in Hyde Park (probably my favorite place in London). Oh man it was a beyond GORGEOUS day! The colors at Hyde park were beyond words. We walked around for awhile before visiting the palace. While we were walking up to the gates, we realized that we were surrounded by these large men in sweat suits….This was a bit different…There were also people walking up to them randomly and asking for autographs, so we were like who are these dudes? I looked at their outfits and on them it read, “Blackburn Rovers F.C.” so I knew they were a football club, but I had never heard of them. Apparently, over here, they are a pretty big team. They played Chelsea that day, but lost terribly, its not their faults though, I guess there was an outbreak of the swine on their team. Anyway, that was pretty neat knowing we walked through Hyde Park with them and didn’t know it. We thought they were looking at us strangely. Anyway, finally, we reached the palace. It wasn’t that impressive, but it still was pretty on the outside.
The first part of the tour of the palace was the “Last Debutante Exhibit.” It showcased what debutantes went through, all of their clothing and accessories, the different ettiquette lessons they had to take, and overall the process of becoming a debutante and coming out into society. It was really interesting. We also got to see a room full of Diana’s dresses. They were gorgeous. After the exhibit, we got to go and see the state apartments that are still decorated in Queen Victoria’s liking. It was so cool to see everything. It was all soo pretty and a lot bigger than it looked from the outside. The whole tour was amazing. I still think Windsor is my favorite though!
After the palace, we walked around Hyde park some more and saw Harrod’s, but didn’t go in (we are saving it for later). We ran into Prince Albert Hall and went inside, it was really neat. From there we walked around and saw the National History Museum, but didn’t go in either…At this point though, we were really tired, so we decided to go home.
That night we cooked an amazing dinner! So good! We had pasta, chicken, and veggies. It was great. Then we decided to prepare ourselves for halloween by watching an oldie but goodie: HOCUS POCUS! Holla! From here our world came crashing down however when we were told Zachary Bink’s real name is actually Thackery as in…Well, I don’t really know, but its fug. Oh well. Anyway, that was Sunday! Good day overall!
See, here you would think our travels are done, however they are not! They continue to Monday! When we decided that it would be the perfect day to go to Stonehenge! HOLLA! It was a GORGEOUS and sunny day, so Gina (Matt’s Sister), Matt, Rachel, and I hopped a coach bus and headed off to our destination. On the ride there, I didn’t have an ipod, so Gina and I jammed out to her iphone. It was great! I was so pumped because the first 12 songs she played were amazing, so we had a great time. After a gorgeous, but incredibly long (only about 2 hours..but still felt like forever) journey, we saw the beautiful rock formation on one side of the bus and a HUGE flock of sheep on the right, I was PUMPED!!!!! Everytime I see sheep I think of Darmby. I love them! Soo much! Stonehenge was beautiful! It was really interesting because right when we got there the weather turned to have this kind of eerie, overcast look to it, so it was definitely cool. You couldn’t go up to the rocks, but you could walk around them about 400 feet away. They were an incredible sight! I was so excited to be standing in front of something that is older than the pyramids of giza. It is so amazing. Anyway, we got to hang out there for a couple of hours. It was defintely worth the money to go!
When we got back to London we went out to dinner because it was Gina’s last night, so that was really nice. After dinner we headed back to the flats and hung out until bed time. It was a wonderful day! : )
A week in a review
The week of the 19th wasn’t that exciting lets see…We got back from York Sunday and I worked on my project. Ben’s friends Sarah and Caro made all of us lasagne (soo good and super nice of them) for dinner and we all just hung out for a bit.
Monday was my theatres presentation that was really long, but turned out very well. So glad its over! Now I have nothing to worry about for the rest of the time here, such a relief to get it over with! After class, Rachel and I went to the Queen’s Head, a pub restaurant near our flats by the park with the tennis courts, for the first time. It was such a nice place! Its now one of our favorites! They have amazing food and it’s a great atmosphere. While we were eating, we watched Wiggy and Steve, two of our friends on the trip play tennis, so that was entertaining. After lunch we walked to Tesco and went grocery shopping. That was all that happened on Monday..Pretty exciting, I know…
Tuesday we had our long journey to Rose Bruford where we had a different teacher for our Global Issues class. Michael, our new tutor, is teaching us about religion in Europe (specifically U.K.) for the next 3 weeks. He is a very nice guy and very knowledgeable. It was really funny though because he talked to us about Buddhism for a bit, and then preceeded to make us all meditate for awhile…It was pretty funny. You had to be there, but whatever! Anyway, after global issues we made the trek to our new home for International Management, Roehampton University. The university is located in Barnes, which is only about 15 minutes away from our flats, so that’s pretty nice. We met with Darren, who is so nice, and had class. Afterwards, he took us down to the student union and we hung out in their bar/café section for awhile. It was interesting meeting some of his other students and talking to him. He’s such a nice guy and very interesting. I feel like all of our tutors are…Its great! Anyway, we all had a play to go to, so we left after awhile.
That night, we headed to Sloane Square for “The Author” by Tim Crouch. Wow, what an interesting play to say the least…I mean, we were warned, but it was weird, but strangely very good. It’s an odd set up because there is no stage, there is just 2 sets of bleacher style seats facing eachother. The actors and playwright all sit among the audience and you don’t know who they are until they start the show. It was extremely awkward to say the least, but also hella funny. The play is about being an audience member, but also about another play that the actors are putting on by the same playwright. The stuff they talk about is pretty racy and very uncomfortable at times. Some of the issues were really in your face and tough subjects to hear about. What made it even more interesting was that I was sitting next to Rachel and the playwright happened to sit next to her. It was interesting to say the least. He was amazing though, so interesting. The actors actually talked to the audience members and asked their opinions on the subject matter. It was such an interesting and uncomfortable show. You should definitely google it.
Wednesday was pretty boring, I didn’t do much, but make dinner with Rachel in the evening and go to Oxford Street to shop around a bit.
Thursday we went to the National Gallery for art and saw Turner and the Masters exhibit. It was so pretty and neat to see all the different famous paintings. After art, nothing really happened, except for the arrival of Matt’s sister, Gina. She is so nice and came to stay with us for a few days.
That’s all that happened throughout my week, but on Friday I head to Oxford, so pumped!
Monday was my theatres presentation that was really long, but turned out very well. So glad its over! Now I have nothing to worry about for the rest of the time here, such a relief to get it over with! After class, Rachel and I went to the Queen’s Head, a pub restaurant near our flats by the park with the tennis courts, for the first time. It was such a nice place! Its now one of our favorites! They have amazing food and it’s a great atmosphere. While we were eating, we watched Wiggy and Steve, two of our friends on the trip play tennis, so that was entertaining. After lunch we walked to Tesco and went grocery shopping. That was all that happened on Monday..Pretty exciting, I know…
Tuesday we had our long journey to Rose Bruford where we had a different teacher for our Global Issues class. Michael, our new tutor, is teaching us about religion in Europe (specifically U.K.) for the next 3 weeks. He is a very nice guy and very knowledgeable. It was really funny though because he talked to us about Buddhism for a bit, and then preceeded to make us all meditate for awhile…It was pretty funny. You had to be there, but whatever! Anyway, after global issues we made the trek to our new home for International Management, Roehampton University. The university is located in Barnes, which is only about 15 minutes away from our flats, so that’s pretty nice. We met with Darren, who is so nice, and had class. Afterwards, he took us down to the student union and we hung out in their bar/café section for awhile. It was interesting meeting some of his other students and talking to him. He’s such a nice guy and very interesting. I feel like all of our tutors are…Its great! Anyway, we all had a play to go to, so we left after awhile.
That night, we headed to Sloane Square for “The Author” by Tim Crouch. Wow, what an interesting play to say the least…I mean, we were warned, but it was weird, but strangely very good. It’s an odd set up because there is no stage, there is just 2 sets of bleacher style seats facing eachother. The actors and playwright all sit among the audience and you don’t know who they are until they start the show. It was extremely awkward to say the least, but also hella funny. The play is about being an audience member, but also about another play that the actors are putting on by the same playwright. The stuff they talk about is pretty racy and very uncomfortable at times. Some of the issues were really in your face and tough subjects to hear about. What made it even more interesting was that I was sitting next to Rachel and the playwright happened to sit next to her. It was interesting to say the least. He was amazing though, so interesting. The actors actually talked to the audience members and asked their opinions on the subject matter. It was such an interesting and uncomfortable show. You should definitely google it.
Wednesday was pretty boring, I didn’t do much, but make dinner with Rachel in the evening and go to Oxford Street to shop around a bit.
Thursday we went to the National Gallery for art and saw Turner and the Masters exhibit. It was so pretty and neat to see all the different famous paintings. After art, nothing really happened, except for the arrival of Matt’s sister, Gina. She is so nice and came to stay with us for a few days.
That’s all that happened throughout my week, but on Friday I head to Oxford, so pumped!
FINALLY!
Hey Strangers! Im a terrible person, Im aware. Im sorry it has taken me so frackin long to update! But later is better than never, right? I hope so. Well, I left off the day before I went to York, which was the weekend of the 16th of October…Oh balls, so it was a long time ago…My bad. Anyway, off to York we go!!! Good times had by all! Rachel and I decided to take this really cheap bus company called the Megabus. Its actually really nice. We had to get up at 4am so we could get ready and arrive at St. Pancras International train station by 6:30. It is about a half hour tube ride away and we didn’t know exactly where to pick up the bus. When we got there we grabbed breakfast and found that we actually took a train for a part of the way. It was a gorgeous train ride! I love the English countryside. If I could put it in my purse, I would. The train ride itself was about an hour and a half and then we took the bus the rest of the way. The whole journey took about 5 hours. Once we got to York we were kind of dropped off on the outskirts of the city, so we had to take another bus to the city centre. Luckily, we found that York was actually pretty small for being one of England’s major cities. We actually could walk everywhere. It was so nice. I would say our small bed and breakfast (Holgate Bridge B&B, super cute and very nice people!) was about a mile away from every attraction we wanted to see, so it was great! (Althought the place was great, I was an idiot. I decided it would be really smart to put my waterbottle in my purse as we were walking because I had so much to carry, and it spilled all over…yeah, my ipod died…It was terrible! I was heart broken…Its my life, but its fine! I survived the situation…) We got there Friday evening, so once we got situated we went to a pub for dinner. While we were eating there was this small group of old men who were hella cute! Their accents were amazing! They sounded like Shrek, no lie. They swore a lot, which was kinda funny just because it wasn’t a big deal for them, yet this older couple was scoffing and shooting them death glares. It was a great meal! After dinner we walked around a bit and decided that we wanted to see “Fame” the movie, so we did. It was pretty good. I enjoyed it. Later that night, we decided to go on a ghost walk. It was supposed to be one of the best in England, but I wasn’t THAT impressed. It was interesting and all, but I think it could have been better. The guide took us all over York, down little alleyways and up to the big monuments and such. It was interesting to hear about York’s past. After that we were both hella tired, so we went back to the b&b and went to sleep.
The next morning we woke up early and had a complimentary full english breakfast with coffee! It was phenomenal! Loved my life! We got ready for the day after eating and headed out to see the Minster. It was gorgeous! We didn’t pay to go all the way in and look everywhere, but we went into the entrance and saw enough. It was HUGE! Next door was the Treasurer’s House, so we toured that. It was beautiful! They had this small cellar/cave thing that you could go down into and the floor was actually part of the original Roman road from when they occupied the area. They told us ghost stories down there, and it was so cool. We even got to wear protective head wear, so it was great! We were stylin’. When we got our fill of the house, we went and shopped around for a bit and ate at another pub. It was really good, but it took FOREVER. Dining experiences always do though…It kinda sucks when you are budgeting time, but oh well! After lunch we went and walked around on the city walls. Everything was so pretty from up there. All the leaves were changing colors and the houses all had these beautiful gardens and everything. It was a gorgeous sunny day! Loved life!
York has all these pretty gardens and parks you can walk around in, so we did that for awhile. A river also runs through York, so we walked around the riverside and over the bridges, which was hella pretty. Later that evening when we had walked everywhere we decided to take an evening boat cruise. It was soo pretty outside! The sky was a deep, navy and the stars were out (you don’t see them in london often…), it was great! The only problem was that it was FREEZING! Yeah, I almost got hypothermia, but its cool. Its all about the experience! The boat tour was centered on York through time, so we heard all about York’s history and different things we were seeing as we went. It was great! When the boat cruise finished we went out to eat at a really nice Italian restaurant then headed back to the b&b and went to sleep.
We left York pretty early in the morning (about 8am) and got back to London in the early afternoon. It was a really fun weekend trip and I definitely recommend going! The people were soo friendly and there was so much to see and do. It was another place I could see myself living. I was so upset on Sunday though because I had my huge theatre presentation the next day, so I had to work on that when I got home…I was a bit tired, but I survived. No big deal!
The next morning we woke up early and had a complimentary full english breakfast with coffee! It was phenomenal! Loved my life! We got ready for the day after eating and headed out to see the Minster. It was gorgeous! We didn’t pay to go all the way in and look everywhere, but we went into the entrance and saw enough. It was HUGE! Next door was the Treasurer’s House, so we toured that. It was beautiful! They had this small cellar/cave thing that you could go down into and the floor was actually part of the original Roman road from when they occupied the area. They told us ghost stories down there, and it was so cool. We even got to wear protective head wear, so it was great! We were stylin’. When we got our fill of the house, we went and shopped around for a bit and ate at another pub. It was really good, but it took FOREVER. Dining experiences always do though…It kinda sucks when you are budgeting time, but oh well! After lunch we went and walked around on the city walls. Everything was so pretty from up there. All the leaves were changing colors and the houses all had these beautiful gardens and everything. It was a gorgeous sunny day! Loved life!
York has all these pretty gardens and parks you can walk around in, so we did that for awhile. A river also runs through York, so we walked around the riverside and over the bridges, which was hella pretty. Later that evening when we had walked everywhere we decided to take an evening boat cruise. It was soo pretty outside! The sky was a deep, navy and the stars were out (you don’t see them in london often…), it was great! The only problem was that it was FREEZING! Yeah, I almost got hypothermia, but its cool. Its all about the experience! The boat tour was centered on York through time, so we heard all about York’s history and different things we were seeing as we went. It was great! When the boat cruise finished we went out to eat at a really nice Italian restaurant then headed back to the b&b and went to sleep.
We left York pretty early in the morning (about 8am) and got back to London in the early afternoon. It was a really fun weekend trip and I definitely recommend going! The people were soo friendly and there was so much to see and do. It was another place I could see myself living. I was so upset on Sunday though because I had my huge theatre presentation the next day, so I had to work on that when I got home…I was a bit tired, but I survived. No big deal!
Sunday, October 11, 2009
Royalty? Je pense donc je suis! Not really, but I wish.
Alright! So, pretty sure I havent updated in awhile, I am sorry, but my life has been HELLA boring up to 2 days ago. I will give you a brief overview of what happened this last week…Tuesday we had classes all day, so that was exciting. Then that night Rachel and I went on a walk throughout the neighborhood. So, that was Tuesday. Wednesday I had the day off, so I slept in for a bit, then I watched Footloose. Don’t ask me why, I just did. Good times! Then later that afternoon, Rachel went to TESCO and bought a TON of food, so we cooked up a storm. For dinner we made chicken, lamb, potatoes, and vegetables. It was epic. I am actually pretty proud of my cooking skills on this trip ;). Rachel had a bit of trouble cooking the lamb…it took about 3 hours…And then it looked sketch minkz, but shes not dead, so that’s a plus. Anyway, it was NAST minkz!!! When you pressed on it, blood came out…It was terrible. Baa Baa black sheep have you any wool? No, because Rachel ate it all! OH NO. It was soo sad! I know, I know, I have no problems eating chicken and beef…But it has always been worse with Lamb, I don’t know why. Anyllama! That was Wednesday, sooo exciting, I know, you all are on the edges of your seats!!! So then if you follow the chronological order of a week, you get to Thursday. On Thursday, there was no class for Art, so we slept in, and had a relaxing morning. Unfortunately, I had to go to class at 2, so I did that, which was pretty exciting. Afterwards, we did nothing! It was a great time! :) Im pretty sure we just hung out and thought of our dreams and aspirations…aka I booked trips to Paris and Dublin for Rachel and I, so that’s exciting!!! While im on the topic, I would like to share this with you…We all have 6 weekends left here in London before we go on our 2 week travels, and then home. Well, Rachel and I will be here for a grand total of 1 of those weekends! Holla! Yeah, we will be busy… So, this coming weekend we are going to York. Then the following weekend we are going to Oxford and the Cotswolds, I couldnt be more pumped :) ! Apparently, the exchange rate is amazing right now? But, if its not, we are not going…So I need to get on that to figure things out. Finally, the following weekend is Halloween, which will be our final weekend in London aka tourism galore and scary attractions. The weekend after that (November Holla!) we are going to Scotland. Then the following weekends are Paris (with steve howe!!!) and then Dublin!!! SOOO PUMPED FOR LIFE!!! :) Im going to be in debt SOO bad, but I don’t care! Its about the experience!!! So I am going to jump back to describing my week…I think we left off on Thursday, which I am done with, so now Friday! We had ANOTHER day off! So, I decided to be productive and did my laundry (which cost me my spleen, aka its fexpensive! It was 6 pounds to wash and dry one load, so about $10…CRAZY). After that, we went to Tesco and bought food for the rest of the week. While at the grocery store, Rachel got the idea to dye her hair! So, we did that when we got home! Now she has dark brown hair! Its soo pretty! I dyed it, and I was nervous that I would screw up, but it actually looks really good, so HOLLA!!! After we dyed her hair, Sam came home and so we had a mini girls night. We ate ice cream and watched Varsity Blues, hella fun times!!! Alright, brace yourselves for one of the best weekends of your…Well, technically my life, anyway! Are you braced?! GOOD!!!!
Saturday we (Rachel and I of course) went to WINDSOR CASTLE!!!! AKA the Queens favorite and mostly weekend residence!!! It was FUGE and on a hill and STUNNING!!!! Oh man, was it gorgeous!!! Yeah, pretty sure one of the highlights was going into the chapel and seeing the home of the Order of the Garter and also walking over Henry the 8th’s, Jane Seymour’s, and Charles the something’s graves! It was GREAT! I couldn’t believe they were ACTUALLY there, buried under my feet. It sounds weird, but it is an awesome feeling that so much history is ACTUALLY there and not in a book. We also saw the place where they laid the Queen Mother and Queen Elizabeths dad to rest. It was beautiful! The whole of Windsor was just so decorated and inside the castle was a small city. There are over 150 people who live inside and everything is sooo cute!!! I love it!!!! I want to live there sooo bad!!! It was probably by far my favorite part of the journey so far! I loved loved loved it! Windsor was only an hour train ride outside the city of London. So, not only was Winsdsor in the city of Windsor, but so is ETON COLLEGE!!! Okay, for those of you who are not aware, I have a freakish obsession with private, british boarding schools. I think they are awesome! And hella interesting…So! It was only fitting and like seeing Mecca for me, that Eton was there! It is the most famous and elite boarding school in all of England. Both princes and a ton of prime ministers attended the school. Unfortunately, it was shut down for tours, but we got to see it and it was BEAUTIFUL! I bought a guide book , if anyone is interested. Sadly, I had to leave my heaven (windsor and eton) and go back to London. 0nce we got home we ate some dinner and then we planned some more of our lives and Rachel read me stories about Henry the 8th, in a British accent of course. It was a great day!!!
AND THE WEEKEND STILL ISNT OVER!!!
SUNDAY! Aka FUNDAY! We started the morning with some Yoga, aka I had to stretch my calf meat because I felt like I had a charlie horse! It blew minkz spleen! Then I ate breakfast, THEN! THEN!!! We (Rachel and I of course) went to the Tower of London!!! HOLLA!!!! It was GLORIOUS! And FUGE! I loved it sooo much!!! I didn’t realise that it was so much more than just a few tours. All the Beefeaters (gaurds) live inside the walls as well as the governor. It was absoulutely FAMAZING!!! We took a tour with a beefeater, who was hilarious and had so many interesting stories. After his tour, we went and saw the crown jewels (BEAUTIFUL, STUNNING, HOUSE OF BLING to the nth DEGREE!!!), not a big deal…And then toured the place. There is a special exhibition of Henry the 8ths items that will never be all together ever again, so we saw that. It was all of his armour, some of his clothing, all of his weapons, and some other stuff. It was so cool! I loved my life on Sunday! :) Anyway! After the Tower of London, we walked the 100 feet or so to the TOWER BRIDGE!!! OH MAN MINKZ!!! I am in LOVE with TOWER BRIDGE! I am going to be it for Halloween(not really)!!! I love it so much! Its stunning!!! We walked up the 70391 stairs (Finger, I thought of you because remember when we had to walk up the Arc de Triomphe in Paris and there were all those stairs and we were laughing so hard? Yeah…that happened again! Aka it is Londons idea of a stair master) and got to the top. It was gorgeous, but rainy, oh well! I loved it! I love this city!!! SUPER CUTE!!! :O) Basically, I had a FAMAZING weekend! After the bridge we just went back to the flat and made chicken parmesan (HELLA GOOD!) and did homework. That is your anti-climax for this weekend, but I don’t think much can beat it around our flat…Oh well. Well, I miss you all and cant believe its already pretty much mid-october! Its CRAZY! But I have soo much more to do here! I will keep you posted! Love you all!
Saturday we (Rachel and I of course) went to WINDSOR CASTLE!!!! AKA the Queens favorite and mostly weekend residence!!! It was FUGE and on a hill and STUNNING!!!! Oh man, was it gorgeous!!! Yeah, pretty sure one of the highlights was going into the chapel and seeing the home of the Order of the Garter and also walking over Henry the 8th’s, Jane Seymour’s, and Charles the something’s graves! It was GREAT! I couldn’t believe they were ACTUALLY there, buried under my feet. It sounds weird, but it is an awesome feeling that so much history is ACTUALLY there and not in a book. We also saw the place where they laid the Queen Mother and Queen Elizabeths dad to rest. It was beautiful! The whole of Windsor was just so decorated and inside the castle was a small city. There are over 150 people who live inside and everything is sooo cute!!! I love it!!!! I want to live there sooo bad!!! It was probably by far my favorite part of the journey so far! I loved loved loved it! Windsor was only an hour train ride outside the city of London. So, not only was Winsdsor in the city of Windsor, but so is ETON COLLEGE!!! Okay, for those of you who are not aware, I have a freakish obsession with private, british boarding schools. I think they are awesome! And hella interesting…So! It was only fitting and like seeing Mecca for me, that Eton was there! It is the most famous and elite boarding school in all of England. Both princes and a ton of prime ministers attended the school. Unfortunately, it was shut down for tours, but we got to see it and it was BEAUTIFUL! I bought a guide book , if anyone is interested. Sadly, I had to leave my heaven (windsor and eton) and go back to London. 0nce we got home we ate some dinner and then we planned some more of our lives and Rachel read me stories about Henry the 8th, in a British accent of course. It was a great day!!!
AND THE WEEKEND STILL ISNT OVER!!!
SUNDAY! Aka FUNDAY! We started the morning with some Yoga, aka I had to stretch my calf meat because I felt like I had a charlie horse! It blew minkz spleen! Then I ate breakfast, THEN! THEN!!! We (Rachel and I of course) went to the Tower of London!!! HOLLA!!!! It was GLORIOUS! And FUGE! I loved it sooo much!!! I didn’t realise that it was so much more than just a few tours. All the Beefeaters (gaurds) live inside the walls as well as the governor. It was absoulutely FAMAZING!!! We took a tour with a beefeater, who was hilarious and had so many interesting stories. After his tour, we went and saw the crown jewels (BEAUTIFUL, STUNNING, HOUSE OF BLING to the nth DEGREE!!!), not a big deal…And then toured the place. There is a special exhibition of Henry the 8ths items that will never be all together ever again, so we saw that. It was all of his armour, some of his clothing, all of his weapons, and some other stuff. It was so cool! I loved my life on Sunday! :) Anyway! After the Tower of London, we walked the 100 feet or so to the TOWER BRIDGE!!! OH MAN MINKZ!!! I am in LOVE with TOWER BRIDGE! I am going to be it for Halloween(not really)!!! I love it so much! Its stunning!!! We walked up the 70391 stairs (Finger, I thought of you because remember when we had to walk up the Arc de Triomphe in Paris and there were all those stairs and we were laughing so hard? Yeah…that happened again! Aka it is Londons idea of a stair master) and got to the top. It was gorgeous, but rainy, oh well! I loved it! I love this city!!! SUPER CUTE!!! :O) Basically, I had a FAMAZING weekend! After the bridge we just went back to the flat and made chicken parmesan (HELLA GOOD!) and did homework. That is your anti-climax for this weekend, but I don’t think much can beat it around our flat…Oh well. Well, I miss you all and cant believe its already pretty much mid-october! Its CRAZY! But I have soo much more to do here! I will keep you posted! Love you all!
Monday, October 5, 2009
Day 30-32: A couple of Romans, Hugh Grant, and some footie! :)
Day 30-32:
October 2nd aka Happy Birthday Felz! We left for Bath around 8am. I was PUMPED!!! I have ALWAYS wanted to go to Bath! We had PERFECT weather! Our bus driver was hella nice too! The ride was GOREGOUS. We actually got to see bigger hills, so that was fun! It was like being at home! But it was better because around Bath there are just valleys and valleys of lush green, herds of sheep and horses, and these beautiful english manors and little farm houses that are soo beautiful. I love it soo much! Once we got into Bath I died. It was AMAZING!!! It sits in the middle of this valley and I there is this river that runs through it and kind of curves around everywhere. There are houses all over the hillside and they are all stunning! Oh man, I loved it! The first thing we did was go on a tour of the Roman Baths, which Bath is famous for. They were beautiful and really cool! They excavated all of these underground baths and different parts that made up the old city center of the Romans. It was amazing how they did everything back then. Everything was still in pretty good shape and it was amazing how they built modern Bath right on top and around the historical site. The city of Bath is just utterly gorgeous. Pictures don’t do it justice. After the tour of the Baths, we walked around the town and down by the river. The weather was beautiful and it made everything else better! While we were down by the river we met a yellow lab puppy named “Barley” and he was sooo CUTE. I also saw a pair of Teests (snowys) and they were club super cute! I wanted to take them. Rachel, Matt, Ben, Reckase, and I went to lunch at this VERY nice, but non-expensive place in the city. It was really cool. I had an amazing burger, so it was a success for sure. The whole trip was phenomenal! After lunch we went to the Bath Abbey which was hella cool. They had a crypt and everything, love it. When we arrived at the Abbey and the Baths (they are right next to eachother and surround a square along with a bunch of shops/restaruants/pubs) there was a guy playing the violin and he was FAMAZING! It defintely set the mood and it was very European. I love it here! :) I think if I had to move somewhere here, Bath would be one of my top choices. I love it soo much! Sadly, we had to leave Bath at 3:30, but it was a great trip! Once we got back, I watched a movie (Shaun of the Dead) with Sam, which was pretty funny. Great day! Miss you all! Loves!
I will try to post some pictures here, but they will most likely be Rachel’s due to the fact that my camera isnt working at the moment :(
Day 31:
Wow, today was a FULL day! Rache and I have decided that we are trying to get stuff done before we start travelling! And by getting stuff done, we mean, seeing touristy stuff that we want to see before we get hella busy. So we started our Saturday morning with a jaunt to Portobello Market on Notting Hill. It was a beautfiul area! Loved it! And the market was FUGE and PACKED! They sold EVERYTHING! I bought 3 really nice scarves for 5 pounds, so that was exciting! We walked around for about an hour and then got sick of the crowds, so we headed back towards the tube stop. We realized King’s Cross wasn’t too far out, so we decided, what the hell?! Lets go see where Harry Potter takes the train! So once we got there we found this small little wall that was “moved due to construction” haha yeah…How the hell are the wizards supposed to find it and get to the right place when it was MOVED?! Haha. Yeah…anyway, needless to say we took the stereotypical tourist photos and it was a great time! Once we got our fill of Platform 9 3/4, we walked around the area trying to find somewhere for lunch. We came across this coffee house-esque restaruant which was pretty cute. We ordered pizza and garlic bread. It was cheap and hella good! But here’s the thing. It’s very European, and sort of nice and all, but when you want to get things done, its not the way you want it to be. ANY MEAL HERE TAKES FOOOREEEVVERR!!! I understand that eating is more of a social thing, but honestly, oh my god! Seriously, I don’t want a pizza lunch to take 2 FRACKIN HOURS! It was a bit ridiculous, but that’s just the American in me talking. After lunch, we needed to walk off the pizza, so we decided to head to Camden (the birthplace of punk music, holla, right up my alley…not, but its still cool) and it was PACKED as well. OH man minkz! We headed towards what we thought was the market and ran into this really gorgeous neighborhood with huge houses, so we were like, huh, pretty sure this isnt it…So we looked around for a bit and ran right into the London Zoo of all places! HOLLA! JACKPOT! So we, like any normal person would, decided to find our inner child and go see the Am-in-als! We walked in with a bunch of 7 year olds and it was GREAT! We saw the reptile house, Gorilla kingdom!, and a bunch of other stuff. My top 3 fav’s were: 1. The monkeys! They had a bunch of spider monkeys in a small enclosure full of trees and a walking path, and they didn’t keep them in cages, they were just kind of all around this enclosure hanging out. So you could walk right up to them, didn’t pet em, they probably would have ran, but it was awesome! They were right ther! Holla! 2. The penguins! We got to watch them during feeding time and they were soo cute! Just like Happy Feet! :) 3. LIONS!!! And TIGERS!!! They had baby lion cubs and they were the most adorable things I have ever seen! Defintely simba and nala, nbd. I was pumped and the tigers were BEAUTIFUL! The zoo was awesome!!! :) Good choices! After the zoo though, we were dying. It was now 5:00 and we had left the house at 8am. SO! It was time to head home! We walked the mile or so back to the tube station and it took us an hour to get home. Tons of walking, but it was all worth it! So much fun! :) Great day! After we got back we just hung out and didn’t do much. We had dinner and hung out with the girls and went to bed early.
Day 32:
So Sunday it is! We thought we were going to be really productive and do another day full of touristy stuff, but we were hella tired! And the weather was pretty overcast and cold, so we weren’t motivated at all. Rachel and I got up early though, and walked to the really cute neighborhood by our flat and went to the Green Hotel for breakfast. It is this little bed and breakfast place that has a pub/coffee house feel restaurant on the bottom. I tried a full english breakfast for the first time! It was sooo good! Loved it! Had a great cup of coffee and it was perfect! :) However, once again, the meal took FOREVER! Another hour and a half. But, oh well! It was hella good. After breakfast we headed to Tesco to buy stuff for making lunches the next 2 days. We wanted to cook. When we got back to the flat and cleaned up, did some facebooking, etc, we decided to make taco salads for lunch. We are really good cooks! Holla! They were famazing! Matt came over and invited us to watch the huge rivalry game between Chelsea and Liverpool at this one pub, so we figured what the hell! I have always wanted to experience football european style, especially because the fans are ridiculous. We went down to the Fulham area and we just saw masses of people in all blue for Chelsea. It was ridiculous, but really fun. There were cops everywhere and bouncers at every door. They would ask who you were rooting for and that would determine whether or not you could go in or not. We decided that the area was a tad rowdy, so we headed back to the flat area and went to this pub down the street. Matt knows the owners, they are this really cute family, so we watched the game there. It was so fun! All of the fans are super cute! I love watching football (soccer), its interesting! :) After the game we just all hung out all night. Had a small dance party, nothing too extreme. I went to bed fairly early, so that’s always nice! Another day off tomorrow! HOLLA!!!
October 2nd aka Happy Birthday Felz! We left for Bath around 8am. I was PUMPED!!! I have ALWAYS wanted to go to Bath! We had PERFECT weather! Our bus driver was hella nice too! The ride was GOREGOUS. We actually got to see bigger hills, so that was fun! It was like being at home! But it was better because around Bath there are just valleys and valleys of lush green, herds of sheep and horses, and these beautiful english manors and little farm houses that are soo beautiful. I love it soo much! Once we got into Bath I died. It was AMAZING!!! It sits in the middle of this valley and I there is this river that runs through it and kind of curves around everywhere. There are houses all over the hillside and they are all stunning! Oh man, I loved it! The first thing we did was go on a tour of the Roman Baths, which Bath is famous for. They were beautiful and really cool! They excavated all of these underground baths and different parts that made up the old city center of the Romans. It was amazing how they did everything back then. Everything was still in pretty good shape and it was amazing how they built modern Bath right on top and around the historical site. The city of Bath is just utterly gorgeous. Pictures don’t do it justice. After the tour of the Baths, we walked around the town and down by the river. The weather was beautiful and it made everything else better! While we were down by the river we met a yellow lab puppy named “Barley” and he was sooo CUTE. I also saw a pair of Teests (snowys) and they were club super cute! I wanted to take them. Rachel, Matt, Ben, Reckase, and I went to lunch at this VERY nice, but non-expensive place in the city. It was really cool. I had an amazing burger, so it was a success for sure. The whole trip was phenomenal! After lunch we went to the Bath Abbey which was hella cool. They had a crypt and everything, love it. When we arrived at the Abbey and the Baths (they are right next to eachother and surround a square along with a bunch of shops/restaruants/pubs) there was a guy playing the violin and he was FAMAZING! It defintely set the mood and it was very European. I love it here! :) I think if I had to move somewhere here, Bath would be one of my top choices. I love it soo much! Sadly, we had to leave Bath at 3:30, but it was a great trip! Once we got back, I watched a movie (Shaun of the Dead) with Sam, which was pretty funny. Great day! Miss you all! Loves!
I will try to post some pictures here, but they will most likely be Rachel’s due to the fact that my camera isnt working at the moment :(
Day 31:
Wow, today was a FULL day! Rache and I have decided that we are trying to get stuff done before we start travelling! And by getting stuff done, we mean, seeing touristy stuff that we want to see before we get hella busy. So we started our Saturday morning with a jaunt to Portobello Market on Notting Hill. It was a beautfiul area! Loved it! And the market was FUGE and PACKED! They sold EVERYTHING! I bought 3 really nice scarves for 5 pounds, so that was exciting! We walked around for about an hour and then got sick of the crowds, so we headed back towards the tube stop. We realized King’s Cross wasn’t too far out, so we decided, what the hell?! Lets go see where Harry Potter takes the train! So once we got there we found this small little wall that was “moved due to construction” haha yeah…How the hell are the wizards supposed to find it and get to the right place when it was MOVED?! Haha. Yeah…anyway, needless to say we took the stereotypical tourist photos and it was a great time! Once we got our fill of Platform 9 3/4, we walked around the area trying to find somewhere for lunch. We came across this coffee house-esque restaruant which was pretty cute. We ordered pizza and garlic bread. It was cheap and hella good! But here’s the thing. It’s very European, and sort of nice and all, but when you want to get things done, its not the way you want it to be. ANY MEAL HERE TAKES FOOOREEEVVERR!!! I understand that eating is more of a social thing, but honestly, oh my god! Seriously, I don’t want a pizza lunch to take 2 FRACKIN HOURS! It was a bit ridiculous, but that’s just the American in me talking. After lunch, we needed to walk off the pizza, so we decided to head to Camden (the birthplace of punk music, holla, right up my alley…not, but its still cool) and it was PACKED as well. OH man minkz! We headed towards what we thought was the market and ran into this really gorgeous neighborhood with huge houses, so we were like, huh, pretty sure this isnt it…So we looked around for a bit and ran right into the London Zoo of all places! HOLLA! JACKPOT! So we, like any normal person would, decided to find our inner child and go see the Am-in-als! We walked in with a bunch of 7 year olds and it was GREAT! We saw the reptile house, Gorilla kingdom!, and a bunch of other stuff. My top 3 fav’s were: 1. The monkeys! They had a bunch of spider monkeys in a small enclosure full of trees and a walking path, and they didn’t keep them in cages, they were just kind of all around this enclosure hanging out. So you could walk right up to them, didn’t pet em, they probably would have ran, but it was awesome! They were right ther! Holla! 2. The penguins! We got to watch them during feeding time and they were soo cute! Just like Happy Feet! :) 3. LIONS!!! And TIGERS!!! They had baby lion cubs and they were the most adorable things I have ever seen! Defintely simba and nala, nbd. I was pumped and the tigers were BEAUTIFUL! The zoo was awesome!!! :) Good choices! After the zoo though, we were dying. It was now 5:00 and we had left the house at 8am. SO! It was time to head home! We walked the mile or so back to the tube station and it took us an hour to get home. Tons of walking, but it was all worth it! So much fun! :) Great day! After we got back we just hung out and didn’t do much. We had dinner and hung out with the girls and went to bed early.
Day 32:
So Sunday it is! We thought we were going to be really productive and do another day full of touristy stuff, but we were hella tired! And the weather was pretty overcast and cold, so we weren’t motivated at all. Rachel and I got up early though, and walked to the really cute neighborhood by our flat and went to the Green Hotel for breakfast. It is this little bed and breakfast place that has a pub/coffee house feel restaurant on the bottom. I tried a full english breakfast for the first time! It was sooo good! Loved it! Had a great cup of coffee and it was perfect! :) However, once again, the meal took FOREVER! Another hour and a half. But, oh well! It was hella good. After breakfast we headed to Tesco to buy stuff for making lunches the next 2 days. We wanted to cook. When we got back to the flat and cleaned up, did some facebooking, etc, we decided to make taco salads for lunch. We are really good cooks! Holla! They were famazing! Matt came over and invited us to watch the huge rivalry game between Chelsea and Liverpool at this one pub, so we figured what the hell! I have always wanted to experience football european style, especially because the fans are ridiculous. We went down to the Fulham area and we just saw masses of people in all blue for Chelsea. It was ridiculous, but really fun. There were cops everywhere and bouncers at every door. They would ask who you were rooting for and that would determine whether or not you could go in or not. We decided that the area was a tad rowdy, so we headed back to the flat area and went to this pub down the street. Matt knows the owners, they are this really cute family, so we watched the game there. It was so fun! All of the fans are super cute! I love watching football (soccer), its interesting! :) After the game we just all hung out all night. Had a small dance party, nothing too extreme. I went to bed fairly early, so that’s always nice! Another day off tomorrow! HOLLA!!!
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