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.

London's not so foggy after all...

9pm London

Nap = success.

I'm pretty sure I was legitimately hallucinating on the flight over. Was possibly even carrying on a conversation with Amanda, Alexa, and Jackie. And maybe in a British accent. Ha.

Decided to explore, ate at a pub which I can't remember the name of. First places I saw to eat were Subway and KFC.... tempting. Very tempting. But all I could think of was what Hoff and Luis would say. Shame me to death I'd think. In the end, I had a burger. Not so out of the ordinary, but at least it was in a British pub.

After eating I somehow found my way to Oxford Street. What can I say, I have a nose for shopping. I passed a million stores that made me stop and go "oooooooo," but I decided to save some other days for shopping.

HOWEVER, I managed to make my way past a 3 story H&M, so of course I had to stop. Got a fab little black number, a grey dress, and a striped skirt. Pictures to be posted later. I left most of the store 'undiscovered' so I'd have something to look forward to later. Also spotted a Marks and Spencer across the street. Being this close to such a major shopping street is definitely going to take a toll on my budget....

Found a grocery store on the way back and satisfied a double craving... bananas and diet coke. Next, all I need is to find a gelato or crepe place. My fellow ex-Athenians would be proud ;-)

Just spent an hour on the phone with dad trying to get my computer fixed. (Update if you hadn't heard- my PC crashed a few weeks ago so I'm currently doing without. I'll be trying to post blogs at night on the hotel's free computer, but no promises.) Even with the recovery disc he sent over, we still can't get it to work. Ugh.

Pictures coming soon to facebook and maybe here.

Notting Hill antique market tomorrow.... Currently taking bets on how many times I'll get lost. I'll post the final number tomorrow evening.

Xs and Os

Hello London!

2pm London

Well, I haven't eaten since 3:30 am, have blisters on my hands from dragging my suitcases around, and I am having hallucinations that I hope are caused by the fact that I went to bed at 2:45am and woke up at 3am and not because of that awkward sandwich I faintly remember eating on the flight.

But....I'm in London.

Hotel is quaint, I'm on the top floor with no elevator, in a room not big enough to hold my shoe collection, and no wifi.

But... I'm in London.

Think I'll take a cat nap before heading out to find a pub and get over this feeling of 'who decided it would be a good idea to let me loose in London for a week and what the heck am I going to do.'

Cheers.

Good Morning Frankfurt....

10am frankfurt time

Sitting in Frankfurt waiting on, guess what, yet another delay. So what better to do than start an imaginary blog. Well, only imaginary if I can't get my computer up and running by the time I'm in London.

The rest of the archaeology/photo students are hopefully boarding their plane by now-- I left them after our flight in from Athens, handing out hugs and promising reunions soon. A certain few really made this trip amazing for me [shout out to the roomies ;-)]. The past 3 weeks have been incredible and Greece has been [almost] what I'd imagined. But after 3 weeks of 45 people, the buddy system, and daily plans, it's definitely going to be different by myself with no set plans. Hm.

So now I'm off to London. I loved being a part of the big group, but I think I'll also enjoy doing things on my own for a bit. Someone recently told me that all this is great, but it's even better sharing it with someone else. So, since I'll be mosyin' around by myself for the next week, I've decided to share it with you. Chances are, if you're reading this, I probably like you, or at least have some level of tolerance for you. ;-)

Looks like the plane's here-- peace out Nebraska, Athens, Frankfurt.... I'm headed out to Foggy London Town [Michael Buble... look it up. You're welcome.]