Reflections

I'm sitting here in my final hotel, watching yet another European sunset. This time, however, it's over a Heathrow runway rather than some ancient site, port city, or modern marvel. Sad day.

Anyhoo, here's just a few reflections from off the top of my head. No doubt more will be coming once I'm no longer limited by the 15 min time limit of the lounge's free computers.

• I'm currently sitting here sipping peppermint tea. I'm definitely going to miss the masses of tea. Everywhere. All the time. In every flavor imaginable. Served with lots of good treats like scones and whatever this piece of chocolate-y wonderfulness I'm eating right now is.

• I've realized it's probably good that I won't be spending more time on Oxford Street. I think I've given H&M their annual profit already. I LOVE LOVE LOVE London fashion. Walking down the street... it's just incredible. I've already bought things that I'm thinking.... will I really dare wear this in Lincoln, Nebraska? If I stayed here I'd join the ranks of lace, leggings, and colorful hair. I'm already tempted to chop it all off again once I'm home...

• I've probably gained 10 pounds on this trip, despite quite literally wearing out my brand new shoes walking everywhere. However, the good news is, I'll probably lose it immediately upon coming home, seeing as how I'm going to be cooking for myself. A dangerous prospect, but the second bit of good news is that I'll probably be too broke to afford food. I'll bake masses of cookies to whomever will come cook me a steak.

• I've loved not having a cellphone. I just took out my Blackberry to charge it for the flight home, and it felt so... foreign. It's also been nice not compulsively checking facebook/email/twitter since I've been laptop-less for 3 weeks.

• The tube! Oh, public transport. What a love/hate relationship we have!

• Theater has been a huge part of this trip. I love love love live theater. Phantom of the Opera has been the highpoint of my trip, and I can't wait to see it again next time I'm in town. The soundtrack on my iPod has been on 24/7 since the show, I think. I also attended Chicago (I wasn't impressed), and Wicked (I WAS impressed). I only regret that I wasn't able to go to a proper opera, but the only tickets I could find started at 160 pounds! I'll definitely be taking better advantage of the Lied back home. Who wants to come with?

• I'll miss British cursing! Bloody wankers! ;-)

• I've discovered I'm an excellent city-walker. I weave, dodge, and duck like a pro. I even kept finding myself getting mad at the "tourists" who didn't know how to walk right. And I must have looked like I knew what I was doing even if I didn't! I got asked for directions at least twice a day, and could almost always answer them! Even in Spanish once down in the tube!

Well, my fifteen minutes are up. And seeing as my bus leaves at 4:23 tomorrow morning, I should probably get to bed. I learned my lesson in Greece... I'll be getting more than 15 minutes of sleep before this next set of flights. ;-)

Cheers, and see you all soon.

Adventures in Amersham...

6:30pm London

Me: Hello jolly Amersham station ticket-assistance man! Can you tell me how to get to St. Mary's church in Old Town? I was baptised there and want to see it!

Ticket Assistance Man: Golly gee whiz, of course! Go down to the Tesco and take a right, and keep walking.

Me, after turning right past the Tesco and walking for 15 minutes: Hello third shop owner I've asked for directions but haven't been able to tell me anything... where is St. Mary's?

Shop owner: You're walking there? Well, go down towards the station and turn left, and it's at the bottom of the hill. There's a trail that goes through the forest or you can just follow the road.

And so, I walk BACK, in the RIGHT direction this time, for 20 minutes, and come to the forest trail. Where the shoulder of the road conveniently ends. So, either I magically turn into a car and continue on my merry way, or tromp through the British forest.

So, let me paint a picture for you. Me. In skinny jeans, cutesy little gladiator sandals, a chic belted cardigan, and a giant Audry Hepburn purse. Stomping through the British forest, stepping over British mud holes, muttering British curses.

All this was in order to get to Amersham, the town I lived and was baptised in. Somehow, didn't think it would be this difficult. But I eventually found it. THEN. I got to the church door to this lovely sign:

In case you can't read it, it says CHURCH CLOSED FOR PREPARATIONS FOR THE AMERSHAM FLOWER FESTIVAL.

Are you kidding me????

So I snuck around back to where I saw an open door, and begged the little old ladies arranging flowers to let me in for a peak. Whew.

After finding my parent's old cottage, I did a quick lunch at a pub and walked back to the forest path for the trek back to the station.

Mission Accomplished. But man, what a day.

Highlights!

9:45 pm London

What a busy day! Let's do some highlights, shall we?

morning

• booked a coach tour last night at midnight, and frantically ran around Victoria Station trying to find it this morning, before realizing I needed to be about 2 blocks up. (found successfully)



• boarded a tour coach.... which was only a few winding roads, shouts for dramamine, and "looming antiquity" quotes away from being in Greece all over again!



• new favorite quote I think Hoff should use next Greece trip.... "the only difference between a tourist and a hitchhiker is about 3 minutes."
  

Windsor Castle

• IIII looooove caaaaastlesssss!


• saw where King Henry VIII was buried!! (told you... weirdly obsessed.)
  

Stonehenge

• saw the Henge... marvelous, if not a bit rainy.
  
• got my favorite tshirt of the trip.... it says Stonehenge Rocks. told you it was magnificent.
  

Bath

• Super gorgeous city... one could easily lose a day or two there. Wish I had more exploration time...


• saw the Roman baths... pretty amazing.
  
  
• ANTIQUITIES! which i skipped over rather quickly. gradually, one column and pediment begins to look like another.
  
  
• took a picture with a dressed up roman soldier
  

random bus highlights

• the older lady in the row across from me, after seeing a billboard, asking our tour guide "to explain that Lady Gaga" to her. (I laughed.)



• the older gent in the row next to the Gaga lady sucking stuff out of his dentures. shudder. sat with them at lunch later and found out he's some kind of bazillionaire. so I guess he can do what he likes.



• learning new british phrases to share with Jackie so she can practice her accent... "lollydoo" = crazy/frazzled "my giddy Aunt Mary" = oh my gosh "so dark you couldn't see a dickybird" = ...really dark
  

dinner at home (tottenham court road)

• got made fun of the way I say "potato"
  
  
• got introduced to ciders (yummmm)
  
  
• walked home in the rain, utterly satisfied.
  

Off to go plan my last few days in London. Sniff sniff, tear tear.

I belong here....

Again, I'm blending in well... got asked for directions more times today... in both English AND Spanish... and was able to answer both successfully. I belong here, I tell you.

Anyways. Whew. Talk about exhausted. I walked around for a good 8 hours today and now all I want to do is sit! I just got done sucking down a huge espresso frappecino... then promptly fell asleep for an hour. Now I'm just waiting to leave to walk down to the West End to see my second theater choice for the week, Chicago.

Last night, after the day's escapades, I walked down to the London Eye/Big Ben, etc for some night shots. Got there a bit before sunset so I chilled out and explored for a while before deciding to have dinner on a boat in front of the eye. Had a blackened, Cajun chicken with avacado/sour cream salsa. Yummmmmmm. Got some OK night shots, but I definitely was a photo nerd and envied everyone else's tripods.

Got up this morning and walked along Oxford street until H&M opened, got caught up there for an hour, then hustled my way over to try and make the Buckingham Palace changing of the guard. Practically ran there just to find out they weren't doing it today for some reason.

Somehow this trip I've managed to stumble my way upon all sorts of cool things. Today it was a marathon just outside Buck palace. Thoooounsands of people, and it must have just ended, because there were a lot of runners who looked like they wanted to die. I, on the other hand, would have died a quarter mile through, but that's another story.

Then walked around lost for about half hour, before finding a metro and going out to Harrods, then Covent Garden, where I caught some lunch and listened to some street performers (I decided more shopping would be a bad idea). Had bangers & mash.... wild boar sausage over mashed potatoes with a red wine and onion gravy. Soooooo gooooood. May as well enjoy myself now.... pretty soon I'll be off making my own food. Scary.

Headed down to Westminster Abbey next. I was super sad when I found out I couldn't take pictures inside. Just killed me--- I saw sweet stuff like Shakespeare's memorial and Charles Darwin's grave.

By this point my feet were killing me, so I decided to head back to the hotel. On my way however, I got stopped by a HUUUUUGE demonstration. Something with the Pakistanis and Isrealis. The bobby I asked wasn't very descriptive. I thought I had run into all the demonstrations in Greece... wasn't expecting one here. Unfortunately, I couldn't get in to take pictures at this one. *snap. Soooo I had to divert to another metro stop. Then of course I saw and H&M and had to stop in to see if they had some shoes I'd been eyeing earlier in my size. And they did. Add another pound to my luggage........ ;-)

And now I'm sitting here. Thinking I probably need to wrap this up and go grab a sandwich. I'm off to the theaters!

Hampton Court!

Got up at the crack of dawn to get ready to go to church where I was baptised out in Amersham... something I've been super excited about all trip. Got a few metro transfers in, and found out most of the trains/buses weren't working to go out there today, and the only one that would would put me into Amersham after the church service had already started. I was disappointed for sure, but I'll try and make it out there sometime this week. I'd love to get pictures of the church, especially with the fancy camera.

So, I decided to try my luck at trying to get to Hampton Court Palace, a home of Henry VIII (whom I've been weirdly obsessed with since I was like, 8). Got there around 1030, left around 5! The weather was absolutely incredible, with the most gorgeous sky-- I got some good pictures too. PS Hey Luis... do I get extra credit for some sweet jousting/falconry pix? Ha.

OH! And in my meanderings... I found some antiquity!!!!!


On my way out, I managed to stumble on a food and wine festival with live jazz, just outside the palace walls. Free entry! So I had me some gelato (woohooo) and sat and listened to the band. Talk about a great ending to a day.





Off to get in some last minute shopping and then catch some night life pix! This camera is quite the addiction......

Caio.

Amaaaazing

11pm London

What a day.
After my last post I decided to see if I could walk down to Big Ben/Parliament/London Eye. Just to see if I could. Well, that and the tube station scares me. Ha. But anyways. I made it as far as Trafalgar Square where I got caught up taking photos of everything. It was all so amazing. Walked by the National Gallery- I'll have to stop there as well as the British Museum, which is just up the block from my hotel! I'm such a nerd; too easily excited by academic things. ;-) But I did learn that it's about a 30 min walk down to the river. Totally do-able. Maybe tomorrow to get some good pictures if the weather isn't so dreary?

Sidenote- I must look British. I've been asked for directions multiple times today. (insert fist-pump here)

Continuing on, I got to Leicester Square, saw all the ticket booths, and made an impulse buy. On the way back, I gave in and popped in to KFC for some dinner. Yes, it was still crappy, overpriced, fried food. But served with french fries. Weird. But anyways, I know what you're thinking, but I didn't have a choice! I had to go get ready for my 19:30 viewing of THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA.

And oh. Oh oh oh oh oh. It was amaaaaaazing. Absolutely incredible. I know what I'll be spending a majority of my money on this week. Theater. I can't wait. Suggestions on my next show? Wicked? Chicago?

Walking back was fun as well. Saturday night in London. Tons of people. Lots of clubs. Wish I had some sisters here to share it with ;-)

Oh, and my fellow photogs will enojoy this. Today I had a group of girls in my hotel ask me to take a picture of them. They pull out a Rebel and try and put it on program, but I was like oh no, that's ok, I'm SURE I can figure out manual. They were impressed. ;-) Miss you all!


Hasta luego....

Notting Hill!

2:45pm London

So. I may have gone a little overboard at the Notting Hill markets today.
But then I got back to the hotel and tried everything on. Love love love.
Found the travel book shop from the movie Notting Hill. Couldn't find the blue door, however. I've got a week, I'll go back.
Lessons learned for today so far:

• I could make a million selling umbrellas around here.
• How to navigate, while holding an umbrella, 1200 other people holding umbrellas.
• Don't go to the Notting Hill markets with more than 20 pounds. You'll end up spending everything you just got out of the ATM.
• 

Lunch consisted of a stop in to Marks and Spencer for a take-away roast beef sandwich and bakewell tarts, filled with wonderful amazingness that I could easily eat a whole box of.



And now it's raining and I'm not quite sure what to do with myself.

More later.