I'm Back! Take a seat, grab a cup of coffee and prepare to read for atleast 10 minutes or so! Sorry guys, this is a long one.
Where to even begin…
As I said before the ladies arrived on Sat, 19 Feb. I picked them up at the airport and then we headed back to good ‘ole Carleton Rd. I have a feeling that they finally realized what I was talking about when I said that I had to walk at least 15-20 minutes to go anywhere and what a hassle it was. Once we got into my teeny tiny room and unpacked, we then preceded the usual ritual of the “Jamie, Erin & Lora” Crunch-n-munch & Doritos eating frenzy! I think it lasted well into the morning, possible 0400? Sunday we went to Battersea Park in Chelsea for London Fashion week. Actually, we only made it to the Fashion week-end portion. It was a huge building with over 100 designers set up in booths selling their collections. Things were very expensive and very catwalk like; meaning you can’t wear it day to day or even ‘clubbing’ (I hate that word… it is right up there with the dreadful ‘hoodie’ and ‘pop’) Anyway, I found myself the most wonderful jacket ever! It was only ₤400. (funny that I use the word only so casually) Made of thin leather (grayish in color) with fox fur around the collar. Inside was rabbit fur dyed to the pattern of a leopard or cheetah. This coat was amazing. If it wasn’t for Lora & Erin, it would be sitting in my closet as we speak. Ok, ok, there was one minor problem: the one button it had was to be fastened over my chest area and of course it wouldn’t fit – no problems though, right? Because I was just going to have the leather button loop extended… The ladies wouldn’t have it. I think they may have had to actually drag me from the booth, possibly kicking and screaming – I don’t remember because I have blacked this horrible memory out. J The rest of the day we kind of walked around to little stores and such in Chelsea. It was very posh there. We got to see inside one of the townhouses as we passed by – truly amazing. I just wanted to knock on the door and say “I’m home”… That night I took them to that fantastic Indian place in Leicester Square for dinner. Funny story though: on our way there from Chelsea we were going to take the tube. We had talked about going into "Leicester Square" for dinner. As we boarded the tube, the doors began beeping signaling that is was time for them to close. I got on, Erin got hit with the doors and they shut infront of Lora. This was there 1st day here! You should have seen the look in Lora's face, priceless! We were wording the tube stop to her through the window - l e i c e s t e r s q u a r e ... Lora said she was trying to think "what the hell is the name of the stop we were going too!" Erin hit the door out of instinct and luckily, it opened and Lora got on. I think the three of us laughed so hard that we could barely stand up! Seriously this was the funniest thing I have ever witnessed before in my life. Could you imagine? In a country for maybe 15 hours and being stuck in the subway system with now clue where you are going or where it is that you are staying? Not funny reading this I suppose, you should have been there though... priceless! Anyway - Once we got home, we made some plans for the week and took it easy. Monday morning came and so did the snow. Our mission? Hats. So we took a stroll along Holloway Rd and looked for some hats. Can’t find any. Lovely. We ducked into the Moroccan café for lunch and then continued on our mission. We finally found some hats inside James Selby, but you see, these hats are made for little tiny English heads. Now I have never thought my head to be large in any capacity, but by English standards, it must be. So here we are, trying on little tiny woven caps on our large American heads. Lora looks at me, forehead all wrinkled, and says “How does this look?” We look smashing, just smashing. So we head out into the snowstorm that lasts all of 20 minutes with our tight little caps on (which by the way itch our foreheads so badly that Erin had a red mark for the rest of the week from hers…) and make our way back home. Monday was not very eventful. Have I mentioned thus far the problem that has followed us around of knocking things over? Perhaps I should elaborate on this one. It all starts at the fashion show on Sunday when Lora (not purposely) knocks everything off the hanger or bumps into things. This clumsiness spills over to Erin by the middle of the week and I think I even knocked over a few items. This was hysterical because everywhere we went, EVERYWHERE, something was knocked over, fallen off a rack, kicked down and walked over. We can’t be taken anywhere. Ok, that was just a little side note back to the week. Since Monday was not very eventful, it became productive in the sense of the official itinerary for the week. Lora became the task master. We had each day planned out on little pieces of ripped up notebook paper. Tuesday: Wake up at 0930 and Beatles tour at 1120. Right. Out of the house at 1100, no Beatles tour… Had some lunch & tea at a pub called The Globe instead. I should mention that by Tuesday, I had become sick with some sort of illness. Sore throat, fever, achy… I felt great. So not only is it the best weather London has seen since I have been here, I am sick as well. The conditions were perfect to have international guests for the week! Can you feel the sarcasm? The next item on the list for Tuesday was Madam Tussauds wax museum. This had to be one of the better parts of the day. When you first walk in there is a hallway of panels that light up like camera flashes from the paparazzi. I of course felt completely at home with this: “Thank you, Thank you… No no, you are too kind… Sure I can sign an autograph.”. When we got inside the first room, it was amazing. You didn’t know if some of them were actually real people posing they looked so lifelike. Of course, Brad (Pitt) was there to meet me. We posed for a few photos together! Erin & Hugh (Grant) as well. George Clooney asked me to marry him, I had to turn him down though. It was so much fun. After walking around in there for about 2 hours or so, we made our way to Kensington Palace to see a tour or a museum. By this time, I feel like crap (achy, stuffy head, fever…) and what does it start to do? Snow. Right. As we make our way into Hyde Park, with it’s never ending hills and paths, we pass a large black gate with gold at the top. Should have set off something to the three of us. Perhaps, oh I don’t know, a Palace? Nah, lets keep walking to the other end of the park. We finally stop to ask. What’s that you say sir, the palace is at the entrance with the large black gate with gold at the top? Splendid. By the time we get back there, it’s closed. Which is alright, we were pretty tired and I don’t know if we could muster up the energy to walk through a museum. We did get some wonderful pictures of a little garden and pond, and some snow as well. We decide to continue onto the next leg of Tuesdays never-ending schedule: Harrods. Hooray! I bought a pair of fuzzy leather boots for ₤59. They were originally ₤120. That was the best deal I have found so far and imagine that, at one of the more expensive stores in London. I forgot to mention of the millions of boots that I have tried on since I have been here, let alone the amount I tried on Sunday after the show. So it was quite the accomplishment for me. Anyway, we navigate our way through Harrods into the designer likes of Versace, Gucci, Pucci, Stella McCartney, PRADA (yay!)… and many others I have never heard of nor can remember the names. We found ourselves surrounded by shirts and jeans priced at ₤500. You can see why the boots were such a stellar purchase. After we wandered on the 5 or 6 some floors of the store, we made our way outside to the street and decided to eat somewhere. The thing about London, which I am sure it’s like this in many large cities, is that the restaurants signs don’t do justice to the actual interior of it. We found a large, yellow sign reading “Great Italian Food” or something of that matter. You go downstairs and enter into a very quaint setting with candle lit tables with white linens. You would never imagine it to look so nice from the poor advertisement. After dinner, we found that our tube station that we intended on taking was closed and needed to be at the Shunt Vaults for Tropicana by 2030 to pick up our tickets. As usual, we are running behind with time. And now that the damn tube station was closed, we were forced to take a taxi (I’m really not sad about this; it’s my preferred method of travel. Makes me feel like I have a personal driver!) We made it to the performance on time (surprisingly enough) and I think it was even better the second time seeing it. I’m telling you, this theatre group is amazing. I know that Erin & Lora enjoyed it as much as I did. On our way home that night, Erin & I ended up crying on the tube. Crying from being sad your thinking… More like crying because Lora is so flippen hysterical. There she is on the other bench of seats across from us between to men, talking to us but only we can see her mouth moving. We can’t hear a word she is saying. So there she is looking as sweet as always just talking away – oh how the tears fell with laughter. I think everyone on the tube witnessed this. I love these ladies. Ok, lets see: we are on to Wednesdays trip. We went to Stonehenge & the Roman Baths. By far, this was my favorite thing. We got up nice and early at 0730 so we could take a train at 0930. Ok, so we got to the train station at 1030… This was my first time on a train, a real train – not like the one that goes around the zoo – and it was so nice. I wonder why people don’t travel like this more, it seems so easy. Maybe I am not aware of the train system in the US; perhaps I will look into this when I get home. Ok, perhaps everything is just better over here because I am in Europe; the trains at home are probably over priced and not as nice. Anyway, we arrive in Salisbury and take a bus to the Stonehenge site. I do have to point out that it seems like we were constantly paying for everything we did on this day. Paid for the train, the bus, and entrance into Stonehenge, the train to bath, entrance into the Roman Baths… I think it turned into a very expensive day. Should also mention that this day could have been the coldest. Here we are, standing in the middle of nothing – looking at the old stones with nice gusts of arctic wind ripping through our coats and into our bodies. Felt lovely, really did. After taking at least 50 pictures from every angle I could, we found our way to the warm gift shop. Oh, look at that will ya, we have spent so much time in the gift shop we have missed the bus. They come every 50 minutes or so, so we waited it out for the next one, mostly inside the shop… shopping… Once the bus arrived, we took it back to Salisbury and then grabbed the train to Bath. It was nice to take a little break. I think we were all relieved to be out of the weather and inside the train. Once we got to Bath, we found the Roman Baths rather quickly and went inside to the self guided tour. I should mention here that the town of Bath is beautiful. Old cobble stone streets and cream colored buildings everywhere. I feel bad that we got here so late because after the museum, there wasn’t much time to do anything else (shops and stores closed, it was dark out). Anyway, inside the Roman Baths were the original ruins from the first one built. Pillars with roman writings on them, old mosaic tiles, check out the web shots to see what I am talking about. The best part though was the large spring surrounded by statues of the roman gods and teal colored water with steam rising from it. I think I could have stayed there for hours just sitting and looking at it. Lora & I did something bad though… It says clearly that you aren’t supposed to touch the water, why would you post that? Just like a little child is told that the stove is hot and not to touch it, the bath water is sacred and you can’t touch it. Right… See picture below! After touring this place, we found a little Thai restaurant for dinner. Then we had to make a decision to walk around Bath in the dark seeing probably nothing or catch the next train back to Salisbury. We decide to do what, I don’t know, but miss the train anyway. So we find a little coffee shop and have some hot chocolate until the next one. Once we arrive in Salisbury, we missed the train to London by, ready for this, 2 minutes. So we decided to go to a pub and get some tea. Yes, tea. Not a beer. Amount of nights we ventured out into the nightlife of London = 0. We are getting so old! So we find a pub called the Cat Tavern. Funny name because when we walked in we found a black dog on the couch. We ordered our tea and sat down, the 5 or 6 locals that were in there drinking promptly left on our arrival, so we had the little pub/bed & breakfast to ourselves. Guess who joined us – Rosa. The adorable black dog on the couch. We sat and cooed over a dog like we had never seen one before. I think all of us miss having animals since we can’t own one in our current living situations. Although (cough, cough..) I am going to have to work on Bonnie once (cough, cough) getting home. I need a dog, it’s settled. Anyway, there we are drinking tea, Rosa sitting on a chair like she was one of us, trying to warm up from the chilly day. It was a really nice end to Wednesdays trip. We then caught our train home and reminisced about high school for the next hour. About how we became friends and what we had done in the summers. Shall I say it again, I love these ladies. By the time we got home (at least 2330) we were exhausted. I don’t think we had too much of a problem laying down and relaxing. I was supposed to go to class on Thursday so the girls had planned a day of things that I have already done or could do on my own, so I wasn’t going to miss much. They left for the day and I slept the entire day. I was still feeling sick and I think it all caught up with me. I had little errands to do when I got up (which didn’t include class… ugh, I really should get back into that routine of going… I took a little holiday for the week, ok!) That night when they got home, we had planned to go to a nice dinner. Unfortunately it rained the entire day for the girls and I was still feeling yucky, so we made the decision to be gluttonous with Burger King. Lora & I walked to the store and stood in line to order. They don’t take VISA. So we get out of line and get some money out. I then try to order for Erin (she stayed at the house, we each had a bitchy day and this was hers, so we let her stay in) (oh, mine was Tuesday because I was sick and then Lora’s was on Friday… she couldn’t get her contacts in and that started the whole day off for her) anyway, I attempted to tell the man behind the counter that I needed a whopper with “no lettuce or tomato”. I was met with a puzzled look. I said it again, this time much slower. He nodded his head in what I thought was an understanding. He then repeats to me “whopper with no cheese”. What the %$^&! Side note: you think it’s bad in the US… Hah. I dare you to try and “have it your way” like the damn slogan suggests! I correct the man behind the counter a few more times and it seems he understands. Keep in mind this entire time, there is only one man cooking, one man manning the chips and one man taking orders at the counter. Apparently at this BK they don’t have the convenience of the “no specific item on your burger” key on the computer. Because each time we ordered, he would have to run into the back and tell the manager/cook. Ok, next up, I order – which seems to go off without a hitch. Then Lora orders. Oh boy. When she changed the order, he gave her a dirty look and said that his manager was going to get mad at him. We just looked at each other in disbelief. The entire time this is happening there is an English guy next to us trying to return his meal because he said the chips suck. We then repeatedly tried to ask the man who took our order for ketchup. We got 4 packets. We just placed 3 orders. The guy next to us laughs and says “You’re going to need a lot more than that for these chips”. We make the decision to go to the grocery store right next door for a bottle of ketchup. What an experience. One I would rather not have again. I should remind you again that we do have a kitchen in our flat, but it is so disgusting that I can’t even begin to imagine cooking in there. I went in to wash some coffee cups so we could have some tea and it looked as if someone pasted some corn flakes on the outside of the dishes and then took a blow dryer and fused it on there. Again, see below – there are pictures. Ugh.
Ok, here we are to Friday, the day we were, are you ready for this one? On time. I know, you need to read that sentence again. I will just type it for you: We were on time. We got to the Tower of London a little early, had a traditional English breakfast than took our tour. We were met by a man dressed in all red and black with E II R on his chest. He was one of the ‘beef eaters’ that protect the tower. Come to find out that they are retired British military Sgt’s that actually get to live in the tower itself. Very educational. He proceeded to tell our group about the history of the Tower, of all the Kings and Queens who lived there, the prisoners that were held, the torture performed, the murders, the escapes, the ravens, etc. It was very interesting. The story of the raven is that if the ravens were to ever leave from the tower, the monarchy will fall and the tower to crumble. So they keep the birds in cages so this doesn’t happen (makes sense right?) He also told us about the nick name beef eater that they were given. He said that it was never confirmed nor is there anyone who really knows the true story, but that they are called beef eaters because of the times when there was no meat for the towns folk and the protectors of the tower were paid in rations of meat. This upset the people and they coined the derogatory term beef eaters. Great theory, right? Later that night my friend Karen came upstairs and told us that she had went to the same tour earlier in the week with her parents (who where here visiting her) and her guide told her that the reason they are called beef eaters was because they had to try the meat for the royalty to make sure it wasn’t spoiled or bad. What? So who was telling the truth here? Our guide said no one really knew and Karen’s guide was very sure of his story. Ugh, bloody liar! And I gave him ₤2 as a tip after the tour because he was so thorough. Oh well, who knows what the true story is, how they get things right that happened over 1000 years ago is beyond me anyway. After that we were allowed to roam the grounds on our own. On of the buildings were protected by the guys in the furry hats; this is wear the crown jewels are held. Oh Boy, were they dynamic to see. You don’t believe they’re actually real because the jewels are so large. We were sort of rushing because there was so much to see, we were supposed to go to West Minster Abbey after this. I told the ladies to just go on with out me and we’d meet up at the London Eye later at the scheduled time. I can go their anytime on my own and I’d already paid for the Tower of London, so I wanted to take my time and walk around. It was great though, so much history inside this place. After a while of walking around by myself, I made my way to the London Eye to meet the ladies. For those of you who don’t know what it is, it’s the large Farris wheel looking thing that takes 30 minutes to get all the way around. It gives you a 360 degree view of London. All of London. It’s really nice to see everything, but of course, it was cloudy and gloomy which brought on fog to most of the views. No worries though, it was just one of those things that you ‘have’ to do when you visit London. After this, we made our way to Buckingham Palace. One of the guards that were guarding the tower of London was wearing a grey uniform. We thought they wore red, but thought maybe it was just he guards at the tower. When we got to Buckingham Palace though, these guards were also wearing grey. We decided that it is their winter outfit and that the red ones were for summer and fall?? Oh well. When we made our plans to see the palace, we thought we were getting a tour of the inside. Wrong, we were getting a tour of the Queens art gallery. The royal family is living there right now and the tours for it don’t begin until August. Windsor Castle is open now for the tours. Things that would have been helpful to know before hand! It was ok though, we toured the art gallery (rather quickly I might add) and found a pub to have dinner at. Lora ordered fish & chips (& mushy peas!) and Erin & I ordered the best food I have eaten here so far; steak & ale pie. OMG. It was pot pie with a dark brown gravy with steak inside, with a side of mashed potatoes and green beans. I can’t wait to have it again, it was smashing. And to think, I hate eating stuff like that at home! After that we pretty much just went home, so tired from the long day. On Saturday Erin & Lora made plans to go to Wimbledon and I made plans to not go. I repeatedly asked Erin if she minded because this was what she most wanted to do but I just wasn’t that into it and wanted to try and make the arrangements for next weekend’s trip to Scotland and arrange the cab ride to Heathrow for the next morning. Am I a horrible friend? Rhetorical question.. Anyway, they went off to tour the tennis museum and I discovered that I had a virus on my computer. Stellar. Could things be any greater than this? I downloaded McAfee Virus Scan and it went ahead and confirmed that my computer is sick. I don’t know what is going on with it. Erin’s boyfriend Alex is a computer guru and gave me an ad-aware program to also install. After a billion virus scans and ad-aware scans later, it still says I have a virus. Great. I think I am going to pack it up and take it to one of the huge Dell stores downtown. I will set it on the counter and tell them to “fix it”. They will probably look at me and say “um, doesn’t really work that way love…” Anyway, we make plans to meet later in the day in Oxford Circus so they could do some last minute shopping and we would have a nice dinner. Ok, shopping – completed. Dinner – oh lord. We find a really cute bar/restaurant with really red interior and lots of candles. We go inside and sit down at the bar area at a table. Most of the places we go to eat at have additional seating upstairs or downstairs. This place appeared to have only the tables by the bar. We sit down and order our drinks. I don’t know if the bartender was mad because we sat upstairs and ordered food or she was just rude because the drinks came 20 minutes later (including the water we ordered). Then Lora’s dish arrives, 15 minutes before me & Erin’s dish. What the hell. This is why tipping in England is optional. So much for a great last meal. By the way, she didn’t get a tip, just incase you were wondering if we felt bad and left one anyway. We went home that night and the ladies got their suitcases in order and set the items out for the next morning because we were leaving at 0400 (the cab was calling us when it was time to go outside). The alarm was set for 0245. Guess what happened…. Com’on, you know how the story is going to end up. I’ll give you a second to think about it just incase you aren’t quite sure………………………….
Yep, the cab calls at 0400 – we are still sleeping. I think we all shot straight up out of bed and said “What the @#%*!!, what, the alarm, great, ugh, didn’t go off, crap, get my, move, let me by the sink, is this yours or mine….” It was complete mayhem. We got out the door though 10 minutes later and piled into the waiting taxi downstairs. The tube isn’t running this early in the morning and the bus system is for those who know how to read the bus map. I can’t do it, I’ve tried. I refuse to learn it, I think. Why? When it’s so easy to just put your arm in the air and wait for your personal driver?? Oh well. We get to the airport and of course, nothing is open. Nothing, that is, except Burger King. Lora gets a cheeseburger and chips for the plane (if you have been paying attention thus far, you will note that it is 0600 in the morning by this time). We take her to the security gate and of course, I cry. Then Erin & I have some tea & scones at the food court area that had finally opened. We then walk around and shop for a little while. Ok, I shop for a little while; Erin just walks around with me. Her flight wasn’t until 11ish. Have I mentioned the fact yet that we are totally obsessed with the monarchy? King Henry VIII and his six wives? We googled different things every night when we got home, trying to figure out the royal line and how they were all connected. I can see why some people dedicate their lives to being a historian. You would almost have to. We actually took a quiz to see which queen we were.
Here is the part where the link is supposed to be; but my computer is being difficult.....
"Anna of Cleves got the royal shaft. She came all the way to England to become the fourth wife of Henry VIII. Once married to Anna, he refused to consummate the marriage, and called her the "Flanders Mare". Talk about a burn, considering that by this time, Henry was the fattest man in England and had a rotting syphilis sore on his leg. Anna was miffed, but she was too sensible to let it ruin her fun. She was given an annulment and a fat yearly allowance, and she threw extravagant parties and dined on delicacies for the rest of her life."
Hello! I am Anne of Cleves. Married to Henry VIII for only 3 months or so, they got divorced and she lived off his wealth and threw lavish parties for the rest of her life. Guess that quiz could be pretty dead on!!
Not that this has anything to do with the monarchy, but we also took another quiz: Yes, I am Carrie Bradshaw. For any of you that had a doubt…
Anyway – back to Sunday morning. I found a book about all of the Kings and Queens of England dating back to the very first King. King Egbert (802-839). So Erin & I sat and read through parts of the book while we passed the time until she had to go. When I walked her to the security check point, I could already feel the tears welling up in my eyes. Great, now I am crying like a baby. We kind of quickly say goodbye because goodbye is just too hard to drag out. I then go through the airport with red eyes and tears streaming down my face (just like I did when I left Erie). Who do I decide to call? My Mum. Only, it’s 0500 in Beaver Center at the time. I hear a faint “H ello” on the other end of the phone as I start crying. “Mummy, (sniffle, sniffle) they just left… I (sniffle, sniffle) hate being here alone…) And that lasted all about a few hours. Not the missing Erin & Lora part, but the hate being here part. I don’t hate being here, I am moving here. I just miss my family and my friends. It was so nice to spend a week with these guys that it was hard to let them go. I know I will see them again when I get back home, I’m just so emotional sometimes.
Are you still awake? That was long wasn’t it… Sorry about that. See what happens when I am gone for just one week. Ugh. This was typed out in word and it is 7 pages long. Good grief.
I am leaving Thursday night for Ireland with Karen & Dayna. We nixed the Scotland trip until maybe after spring break. I can’t wait to travel. There is just so much to do here in London that you feel like your missing things when you do leave. I need to start doing day trips and museums on my own. Just easier that way. This London Metropolitan University thing is really hindering my plans. Ugh, I just thought of something, I need to pack for this trip. Although, it’s only Monday. I supposed I have some time still.
Alright – I have some “school” work to do. See ya soon!
As I said before the ladies arrived on Sat, 19 Feb. I picked them up at the airport and then we headed back to good ‘ole Carleton Rd. I have a feeling that they finally realized what I was talking about when I said that I had to walk at least 15-20 minutes to go anywhere and what a hassle it was. Once we got into my teeny tiny room and unpacked, we then preceded the usual ritual of the “Jamie, Erin & Lora” Crunch-n-munch & Doritos eating frenzy! I think it lasted well into the morning, possible 0400? Sunday we went to Battersea Park in Chelsea for London Fashion week. Actually, we only made it to the Fashion week-end portion. It was a huge building with over 100 designers set up in booths selling their collections. Things were very expensive and very catwalk like; meaning you can’t wear it day to day or even ‘clubbing’ (I hate that word… it is right up there with the dreadful ‘hoodie’ and ‘pop’) Anyway, I found myself the most wonderful jacket ever! It was only ₤400. (funny that I use the word only so casually) Made of thin leather (grayish in color) with fox fur around the collar. Inside was rabbit fur dyed to the pattern of a leopard or cheetah. This coat was amazing. If it wasn’t for Lora & Erin, it would be sitting in my closet as we speak. Ok, ok, there was one minor problem: the one button it had was to be fastened over my chest area and of course it wouldn’t fit – no problems though, right? Because I was just going to have the leather button loop extended… The ladies wouldn’t have it. I think they may have had to actually drag me from the booth, possibly kicking and screaming – I don’t remember because I have blacked this horrible memory out. J The rest of the day we kind of walked around to little stores and such in Chelsea. It was very posh there. We got to see inside one of the townhouses as we passed by – truly amazing. I just wanted to knock on the door and say “I’m home”… That night I took them to that fantastic Indian place in Leicester Square for dinner. Funny story though: on our way there from Chelsea we were going to take the tube. We had talked about going into "Leicester Square" for dinner. As we boarded the tube, the doors began beeping signaling that is was time for them to close. I got on, Erin got hit with the doors and they shut infront of Lora. This was there 1st day here! You should have seen the look in Lora's face, priceless! We were wording the tube stop to her through the window - l e i c e s t e r s q u a r e ... Lora said she was trying to think "what the hell is the name of the stop we were going too!" Erin hit the door out of instinct and luckily, it opened and Lora got on. I think the three of us laughed so hard that we could barely stand up! Seriously this was the funniest thing I have ever witnessed before in my life. Could you imagine? In a country for maybe 15 hours and being stuck in the subway system with now clue where you are going or where it is that you are staying? Not funny reading this I suppose, you should have been there though... priceless! Anyway - Once we got home, we made some plans for the week and took it easy. Monday morning came and so did the snow. Our mission? Hats. So we took a stroll along Holloway Rd and looked for some hats. Can’t find any. Lovely. We ducked into the Moroccan café for lunch and then continued on our mission. We finally found some hats inside James Selby, but you see, these hats are made for little tiny English heads. Now I have never thought my head to be large in any capacity, but by English standards, it must be. So here we are, trying on little tiny woven caps on our large American heads. Lora looks at me, forehead all wrinkled, and says “How does this look?” We look smashing, just smashing. So we head out into the snowstorm that lasts all of 20 minutes with our tight little caps on (which by the way itch our foreheads so badly that Erin had a red mark for the rest of the week from hers…) and make our way back home. Monday was not very eventful. Have I mentioned thus far the problem that has followed us around of knocking things over? Perhaps I should elaborate on this one. It all starts at the fashion show on Sunday when Lora (not purposely) knocks everything off the hanger or bumps into things. This clumsiness spills over to Erin by the middle of the week and I think I even knocked over a few items. This was hysterical because everywhere we went, EVERYWHERE, something was knocked over, fallen off a rack, kicked down and walked over. We can’t be taken anywhere. Ok, that was just a little side note back to the week. Since Monday was not very eventful, it became productive in the sense of the official itinerary for the week. Lora became the task master. We had each day planned out on little pieces of ripped up notebook paper. Tuesday: Wake up at 0930 and Beatles tour at 1120. Right. Out of the house at 1100, no Beatles tour… Had some lunch & tea at a pub called The Globe instead. I should mention that by Tuesday, I had become sick with some sort of illness. Sore throat, fever, achy… I felt great. So not only is it the best weather London has seen since I have been here, I am sick as well. The conditions were perfect to have international guests for the week! Can you feel the sarcasm? The next item on the list for Tuesday was Madam Tussauds wax museum. This had to be one of the better parts of the day. When you first walk in there is a hallway of panels that light up like camera flashes from the paparazzi. I of course felt completely at home with this: “Thank you, Thank you… No no, you are too kind… Sure I can sign an autograph.”. When we got inside the first room, it was amazing. You didn’t know if some of them were actually real people posing they looked so lifelike. Of course, Brad (Pitt) was there to meet me. We posed for a few photos together! Erin & Hugh (Grant) as well. George Clooney asked me to marry him, I had to turn him down though. It was so much fun. After walking around in there for about 2 hours or so, we made our way to Kensington Palace to see a tour or a museum. By this time, I feel like crap (achy, stuffy head, fever…) and what does it start to do? Snow. Right. As we make our way into Hyde Park, with it’s never ending hills and paths, we pass a large black gate with gold at the top. Should have set off something to the three of us. Perhaps, oh I don’t know, a Palace? Nah, lets keep walking to the other end of the park. We finally stop to ask. What’s that you say sir, the palace is at the entrance with the large black gate with gold at the top? Splendid. By the time we get back there, it’s closed. Which is alright, we were pretty tired and I don’t know if we could muster up the energy to walk through a museum. We did get some wonderful pictures of a little garden and pond, and some snow as well. We decide to continue onto the next leg of Tuesdays never-ending schedule: Harrods. Hooray! I bought a pair of fuzzy leather boots for ₤59. They were originally ₤120. That was the best deal I have found so far and imagine that, at one of the more expensive stores in London. I forgot to mention of the millions of boots that I have tried on since I have been here, let alone the amount I tried on Sunday after the show. So it was quite the accomplishment for me. Anyway, we navigate our way through Harrods into the designer likes of Versace, Gucci, Pucci, Stella McCartney, PRADA (yay!)… and many others I have never heard of nor can remember the names. We found ourselves surrounded by shirts and jeans priced at ₤500. You can see why the boots were such a stellar purchase. After we wandered on the 5 or 6 some floors of the store, we made our way outside to the street and decided to eat somewhere. The thing about London, which I am sure it’s like this in many large cities, is that the restaurants signs don’t do justice to the actual interior of it. We found a large, yellow sign reading “Great Italian Food” or something of that matter. You go downstairs and enter into a very quaint setting with candle lit tables with white linens. You would never imagine it to look so nice from the poor advertisement. After dinner, we found that our tube station that we intended on taking was closed and needed to be at the Shunt Vaults for Tropicana by 2030 to pick up our tickets. As usual, we are running behind with time. And now that the damn tube station was closed, we were forced to take a taxi (I’m really not sad about this; it’s my preferred method of travel. Makes me feel like I have a personal driver!) We made it to the performance on time (surprisingly enough) and I think it was even better the second time seeing it. I’m telling you, this theatre group is amazing. I know that Erin & Lora enjoyed it as much as I did. On our way home that night, Erin & I ended up crying on the tube. Crying from being sad your thinking… More like crying because Lora is so flippen hysterical. There she is on the other bench of seats across from us between to men, talking to us but only we can see her mouth moving. We can’t hear a word she is saying. So there she is looking as sweet as always just talking away – oh how the tears fell with laughter. I think everyone on the tube witnessed this. I love these ladies. Ok, lets see: we are on to Wednesdays trip. We went to Stonehenge & the Roman Baths. By far, this was my favorite thing. We got up nice and early at 0730 so we could take a train at 0930. Ok, so we got to the train station at 1030… This was my first time on a train, a real train – not like the one that goes around the zoo – and it was so nice. I wonder why people don’t travel like this more, it seems so easy. Maybe I am not aware of the train system in the US; perhaps I will look into this when I get home. Ok, perhaps everything is just better over here because I am in Europe; the trains at home are probably over priced and not as nice. Anyway, we arrive in Salisbury and take a bus to the Stonehenge site. I do have to point out that it seems like we were constantly paying for everything we did on this day. Paid for the train, the bus, and entrance into Stonehenge, the train to bath, entrance into the Roman Baths… I think it turned into a very expensive day. Should also mention that this day could have been the coldest. Here we are, standing in the middle of nothing – looking at the old stones with nice gusts of arctic wind ripping through our coats and into our bodies. Felt lovely, really did. After taking at least 50 pictures from every angle I could, we found our way to the warm gift shop. Oh, look at that will ya, we have spent so much time in the gift shop we have missed the bus. They come every 50 minutes or so, so we waited it out for the next one, mostly inside the shop… shopping… Once the bus arrived, we took it back to Salisbury and then grabbed the train to Bath. It was nice to take a little break. I think we were all relieved to be out of the weather and inside the train. Once we got to Bath, we found the Roman Baths rather quickly and went inside to the self guided tour. I should mention here that the town of Bath is beautiful. Old cobble stone streets and cream colored buildings everywhere. I feel bad that we got here so late because after the museum, there wasn’t much time to do anything else (shops and stores closed, it was dark out). Anyway, inside the Roman Baths were the original ruins from the first one built. Pillars with roman writings on them, old mosaic tiles, check out the web shots to see what I am talking about. The best part though was the large spring surrounded by statues of the roman gods and teal colored water with steam rising from it. I think I could have stayed there for hours just sitting and looking at it. Lora & I did something bad though… It says clearly that you aren’t supposed to touch the water, why would you post that? Just like a little child is told that the stove is hot and not to touch it, the bath water is sacred and you can’t touch it. Right… See picture below! After touring this place, we found a little Thai restaurant for dinner. Then we had to make a decision to walk around Bath in the dark seeing probably nothing or catch the next train back to Salisbury. We decide to do what, I don’t know, but miss the train anyway. So we find a little coffee shop and have some hot chocolate until the next one. Once we arrive in Salisbury, we missed the train to London by, ready for this, 2 minutes. So we decided to go to a pub and get some tea. Yes, tea. Not a beer. Amount of nights we ventured out into the nightlife of London = 0. We are getting so old! So we find a pub called the Cat Tavern. Funny name because when we walked in we found a black dog on the couch. We ordered our tea and sat down, the 5 or 6 locals that were in there drinking promptly left on our arrival, so we had the little pub/bed & breakfast to ourselves. Guess who joined us – Rosa. The adorable black dog on the couch. We sat and cooed over a dog like we had never seen one before. I think all of us miss having animals since we can’t own one in our current living situations. Although (cough, cough..) I am going to have to work on Bonnie once (cough, cough) getting home. I need a dog, it’s settled. Anyway, there we are drinking tea, Rosa sitting on a chair like she was one of us, trying to warm up from the chilly day. It was a really nice end to Wednesdays trip. We then caught our train home and reminisced about high school for the next hour. About how we became friends and what we had done in the summers. Shall I say it again, I love these ladies. By the time we got home (at least 2330) we were exhausted. I don’t think we had too much of a problem laying down and relaxing. I was supposed to go to class on Thursday so the girls had planned a day of things that I have already done or could do on my own, so I wasn’t going to miss much. They left for the day and I slept the entire day. I was still feeling sick and I think it all caught up with me. I had little errands to do when I got up (which didn’t include class… ugh, I really should get back into that routine of going… I took a little holiday for the week, ok!) That night when they got home, we had planned to go to a nice dinner. Unfortunately it rained the entire day for the girls and I was still feeling yucky, so we made the decision to be gluttonous with Burger King. Lora & I walked to the store and stood in line to order. They don’t take VISA. So we get out of line and get some money out. I then try to order for Erin (she stayed at the house, we each had a bitchy day and this was hers, so we let her stay in) (oh, mine was Tuesday because I was sick and then Lora’s was on Friday… she couldn’t get her contacts in and that started the whole day off for her) anyway, I attempted to tell the man behind the counter that I needed a whopper with “no lettuce or tomato”. I was met with a puzzled look. I said it again, this time much slower. He nodded his head in what I thought was an understanding. He then repeats to me “whopper with no cheese”. What the %$^&! Side note: you think it’s bad in the US… Hah. I dare you to try and “have it your way” like the damn slogan suggests! I correct the man behind the counter a few more times and it seems he understands. Keep in mind this entire time, there is only one man cooking, one man manning the chips and one man taking orders at the counter. Apparently at this BK they don’t have the convenience of the “no specific item on your burger” key on the computer. Because each time we ordered, he would have to run into the back and tell the manager/cook. Ok, next up, I order – which seems to go off without a hitch. Then Lora orders. Oh boy. When she changed the order, he gave her a dirty look and said that his manager was going to get mad at him. We just looked at each other in disbelief. The entire time this is happening there is an English guy next to us trying to return his meal because he said the chips suck. We then repeatedly tried to ask the man who took our order for ketchup. We got 4 packets. We just placed 3 orders. The guy next to us laughs and says “You’re going to need a lot more than that for these chips”. We make the decision to go to the grocery store right next door for a bottle of ketchup. What an experience. One I would rather not have again. I should remind you again that we do have a kitchen in our flat, but it is so disgusting that I can’t even begin to imagine cooking in there. I went in to wash some coffee cups so we could have some tea and it looked as if someone pasted some corn flakes on the outside of the dishes and then took a blow dryer and fused it on there. Again, see below – there are pictures. Ugh.
Ok, here we are to Friday, the day we were, are you ready for this one? On time. I know, you need to read that sentence again. I will just type it for you: We were on time. We got to the Tower of London a little early, had a traditional English breakfast than took our tour. We were met by a man dressed in all red and black with E II R on his chest. He was one of the ‘beef eaters’ that protect the tower. Come to find out that they are retired British military Sgt’s that actually get to live in the tower itself. Very educational. He proceeded to tell our group about the history of the Tower, of all the Kings and Queens who lived there, the prisoners that were held, the torture performed, the murders, the escapes, the ravens, etc. It was very interesting. The story of the raven is that if the ravens were to ever leave from the tower, the monarchy will fall and the tower to crumble. So they keep the birds in cages so this doesn’t happen (makes sense right?) He also told us about the nick name beef eater that they were given. He said that it was never confirmed nor is there anyone who really knows the true story, but that they are called beef eaters because of the times when there was no meat for the towns folk and the protectors of the tower were paid in rations of meat. This upset the people and they coined the derogatory term beef eaters. Great theory, right? Later that night my friend Karen came upstairs and told us that she had went to the same tour earlier in the week with her parents (who where here visiting her) and her guide told her that the reason they are called beef eaters was because they had to try the meat for the royalty to make sure it wasn’t spoiled or bad. What? So who was telling the truth here? Our guide said no one really knew and Karen’s guide was very sure of his story. Ugh, bloody liar! And I gave him ₤2 as a tip after the tour because he was so thorough. Oh well, who knows what the true story is, how they get things right that happened over 1000 years ago is beyond me anyway. After that we were allowed to roam the grounds on our own. On of the buildings were protected by the guys in the furry hats; this is wear the crown jewels are held. Oh Boy, were they dynamic to see. You don’t believe they’re actually real because the jewels are so large. We were sort of rushing because there was so much to see, we were supposed to go to West Minster Abbey after this. I told the ladies to just go on with out me and we’d meet up at the London Eye later at the scheduled time. I can go their anytime on my own and I’d already paid for the Tower of London, so I wanted to take my time and walk around. It was great though, so much history inside this place. After a while of walking around by myself, I made my way to the London Eye to meet the ladies. For those of you who don’t know what it is, it’s the large Farris wheel looking thing that takes 30 minutes to get all the way around. It gives you a 360 degree view of London. All of London. It’s really nice to see everything, but of course, it was cloudy and gloomy which brought on fog to most of the views. No worries though, it was just one of those things that you ‘have’ to do when you visit London. After this, we made our way to Buckingham Palace. One of the guards that were guarding the tower of London was wearing a grey uniform. We thought they wore red, but thought maybe it was just he guards at the tower. When we got to Buckingham Palace though, these guards were also wearing grey. We decided that it is their winter outfit and that the red ones were for summer and fall?? Oh well. When we made our plans to see the palace, we thought we were getting a tour of the inside. Wrong, we were getting a tour of the Queens art gallery. The royal family is living there right now and the tours for it don’t begin until August. Windsor Castle is open now for the tours. Things that would have been helpful to know before hand! It was ok though, we toured the art gallery (rather quickly I might add) and found a pub to have dinner at. Lora ordered fish & chips (& mushy peas!) and Erin & I ordered the best food I have eaten here so far; steak & ale pie. OMG. It was pot pie with a dark brown gravy with steak inside, with a side of mashed potatoes and green beans. I can’t wait to have it again, it was smashing. And to think, I hate eating stuff like that at home! After that we pretty much just went home, so tired from the long day. On Saturday Erin & Lora made plans to go to Wimbledon and I made plans to not go. I repeatedly asked Erin if she minded because this was what she most wanted to do but I just wasn’t that into it and wanted to try and make the arrangements for next weekend’s trip to Scotland and arrange the cab ride to Heathrow for the next morning. Am I a horrible friend? Rhetorical question.. Anyway, they went off to tour the tennis museum and I discovered that I had a virus on my computer. Stellar. Could things be any greater than this? I downloaded McAfee Virus Scan and it went ahead and confirmed that my computer is sick. I don’t know what is going on with it. Erin’s boyfriend Alex is a computer guru and gave me an ad-aware program to also install. After a billion virus scans and ad-aware scans later, it still says I have a virus. Great. I think I am going to pack it up and take it to one of the huge Dell stores downtown. I will set it on the counter and tell them to “fix it”. They will probably look at me and say “um, doesn’t really work that way love…” Anyway, we make plans to meet later in the day in Oxford Circus so they could do some last minute shopping and we would have a nice dinner. Ok, shopping – completed. Dinner – oh lord. We find a really cute bar/restaurant with really red interior and lots of candles. We go inside and sit down at the bar area at a table. Most of the places we go to eat at have additional seating upstairs or downstairs. This place appeared to have only the tables by the bar. We sit down and order our drinks. I don’t know if the bartender was mad because we sat upstairs and ordered food or she was just rude because the drinks came 20 minutes later (including the water we ordered). Then Lora’s dish arrives, 15 minutes before me & Erin’s dish. What the hell. This is why tipping in England is optional. So much for a great last meal. By the way, she didn’t get a tip, just incase you were wondering if we felt bad and left one anyway. We went home that night and the ladies got their suitcases in order and set the items out for the next morning because we were leaving at 0400 (the cab was calling us when it was time to go outside). The alarm was set for 0245. Guess what happened…. Com’on, you know how the story is going to end up. I’ll give you a second to think about it just incase you aren’t quite sure………………………….
Yep, the cab calls at 0400 – we are still sleeping. I think we all shot straight up out of bed and said “What the @#%*!!, what, the alarm, great, ugh, didn’t go off, crap, get my, move, let me by the sink, is this yours or mine….” It was complete mayhem. We got out the door though 10 minutes later and piled into the waiting taxi downstairs. The tube isn’t running this early in the morning and the bus system is for those who know how to read the bus map. I can’t do it, I’ve tried. I refuse to learn it, I think. Why? When it’s so easy to just put your arm in the air and wait for your personal driver?? Oh well. We get to the airport and of course, nothing is open. Nothing, that is, except Burger King. Lora gets a cheeseburger and chips for the plane (if you have been paying attention thus far, you will note that it is 0600 in the morning by this time). We take her to the security gate and of course, I cry. Then Erin & I have some tea & scones at the food court area that had finally opened. We then walk around and shop for a little while. Ok, I shop for a little while; Erin just walks around with me. Her flight wasn’t until 11ish. Have I mentioned the fact yet that we are totally obsessed with the monarchy? King Henry VIII and his six wives? We googled different things every night when we got home, trying to figure out the royal line and how they were all connected. I can see why some people dedicate their lives to being a historian. You would almost have to. We actually took a quiz to see which queen we were.
Here is the part where the link is supposed to be; but my computer is being difficult.....
"Anna of Cleves got the royal shaft. She came all the way to England to become the fourth wife of Henry VIII. Once married to Anna, he refused to consummate the marriage, and called her the "Flanders Mare". Talk about a burn, considering that by this time, Henry was the fattest man in England and had a rotting syphilis sore on his leg. Anna was miffed, but she was too sensible to let it ruin her fun. She was given an annulment and a fat yearly allowance, and she threw extravagant parties and dined on delicacies for the rest of her life."
Hello! I am Anne of Cleves. Married to Henry VIII for only 3 months or so, they got divorced and she lived off his wealth and threw lavish parties for the rest of her life. Guess that quiz could be pretty dead on!!
Not that this has anything to do with the monarchy, but we also took another quiz: Yes, I am Carrie Bradshaw. For any of you that had a doubt…
Anyway – back to Sunday morning. I found a book about all of the Kings and Queens of England dating back to the very first King. King Egbert (802-839). So Erin & I sat and read through parts of the book while we passed the time until she had to go. When I walked her to the security check point, I could already feel the tears welling up in my eyes. Great, now I am crying like a baby. We kind of quickly say goodbye because goodbye is just too hard to drag out. I then go through the airport with red eyes and tears streaming down my face (just like I did when I left Erie). Who do I decide to call? My Mum. Only, it’s 0500 in Beaver Center at the time. I hear a faint “H ello” on the other end of the phone as I start crying. “Mummy, (sniffle, sniffle) they just left… I (sniffle, sniffle) hate being here alone…) And that lasted all about a few hours. Not the missing Erin & Lora part, but the hate being here part. I don’t hate being here, I am moving here. I just miss my family and my friends. It was so nice to spend a week with these guys that it was hard to let them go. I know I will see them again when I get back home, I’m just so emotional sometimes.
Are you still awake? That was long wasn’t it… Sorry about that. See what happens when I am gone for just one week. Ugh. This was typed out in word and it is 7 pages long. Good grief.
I am leaving Thursday night for Ireland with Karen & Dayna. We nixed the Scotland trip until maybe after spring break. I can’t wait to travel. There is just so much to do here in London that you feel like your missing things when you do leave. I need to start doing day trips and museums on my own. Just easier that way. This London Metropolitan University thing is really hindering my plans. Ugh, I just thought of something, I need to pack for this trip. Although, it’s only Monday. I supposed I have some time still.
Alright – I have some “school” work to do. See ya soon!
posted by Jamie at 2/28/2005 04:32:00 PM
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