Friday, June 24, 2011
The real backpacking begins!
I was spoiled last week to have such luxuries of fellow native english speakers (even though I sometimes still needed a translation) but after only an hour's worth of sleep last night, a 2:30am night bus full of annoying drunks, a train ride, a budget airline flight, a shuttle ride that took twice as long as it needed because my driver didn't know where he was going. I have arrived in Turkey!!! It's nothing like I imagined. The views are unreal! And the mosques are very interesting. I can actually see the Blue Mosque from the window of the hotel room right now. Beautiful! Marnie and I went in to have a look, and wrapped ourselves up in scarves to cover our hair and our knees. It's neat to experience such a different culture. We also toured Aya Sophia, built several times and has been both a Christian Church and a Mosque, very unique that there are symbols from both religions there. We leave shortly for an overnight bus to Cappadocia, going out to enjoy the rest of the time we have here now!!
Thursday, June 23, 2011
You know I like my chicken fried, a cold beer on a Friday night
...or a warm vodka drink on a Wednesday night. The Europeans are not a lover of ice. I think my mother would die here.
Speaking of my mother, aka my #1 blog fan, she told me that my pictures weren't opening, so I was able to fix them this morning and they can now be seen. :) I might be able to load a few more pictures tonight as Meg and I trade our pics from the week, so stay tuned...
Yesterday was a late start, but I made it to the museum. I thought I'd make it into more than one, but it was a no-go. I spent the entire day in the Natural History Museum, and loved every minute of it. Can we say field trip next year....????!! I could have probably spent even more time there, and then would have happily moved on to the others, but we needed to shop for dinner and try to make it to Hyde Park in time to see Zac Brown Band. We didn't see his entire set, but we did catch the last couple of songs. I'm sure the mood was nuts when he played Chicken Fried at Kenny last weekend, but the London King's of Leon fans, didn't quite have the same reaction. I loved it though. I'm also pretty sure that's probably what they probably closed with on Saturday, but last night they closed covering Limp Bizkit. The Brits seemed to enjoy that one a bit more than Chicken Fried. We had a legit picnic for 5 packed. Blankets, cheese, bread, dips, veggies, chips, vodka in water bottles, it was great. Nicole spent almost an hour trying to find us since Meg gave her a poor location on our blanket, and almost left, but we finally got a hold of her. The concert was PACKED!!! I only knew about 2 of their songs, but it was a good time still. I enjoyed myself a lot.
Today's agenda is an interview at Hogwarts with Professor McGonagall, maybe I won't be coming home after all :). One-Nil. A bit of shopping at the Camden Market, and the pound shop (K, No Holla Dolla's over here!) Next, going to hit up a British museum, as I think that would be most appropriate on my last day in London. Taking Ed downtown to River Thames tonight so he can have a few photo ops, and then dinner with Meg and Nicole on the river. My flight leaves tomorrow morning at 6:30 (it's in military time again, but I think I can handle this one) so I'll be public transporting in the wee hours on not too much sleep. finally meeting Marnie tomorrow and starting our Turkish adventures!
Speaking of my mother, aka my #1 blog fan, she told me that my pictures weren't opening, so I was able to fix them this morning and they can now be seen. :) I might be able to load a few more pictures tonight as Meg and I trade our pics from the week, so stay tuned...
Yesterday was a late start, but I made it to the museum. I thought I'd make it into more than one, but it was a no-go. I spent the entire day in the Natural History Museum, and loved every minute of it. Can we say field trip next year....????!! I could have probably spent even more time there, and then would have happily moved on to the others, but we needed to shop for dinner and try to make it to Hyde Park in time to see Zac Brown Band. We didn't see his entire set, but we did catch the last couple of songs. I'm sure the mood was nuts when he played Chicken Fried at Kenny last weekend, but the London King's of Leon fans, didn't quite have the same reaction. I loved it though. I'm also pretty sure that's probably what they probably closed with on Saturday, but last night they closed covering Limp Bizkit. The Brits seemed to enjoy that one a bit more than Chicken Fried. We had a legit picnic for 5 packed. Blankets, cheese, bread, dips, veggies, chips, vodka in water bottles, it was great. Nicole spent almost an hour trying to find us since Meg gave her a poor location on our blanket, and almost left, but we finally got a hold of her. The concert was PACKED!!! I only knew about 2 of their songs, but it was a good time still. I enjoyed myself a lot.
Today's agenda is an interview at Hogwarts with Professor McGonagall, maybe I won't be coming home after all :). One-Nil. A bit of shopping at the Camden Market, and the pound shop (K, No Holla Dolla's over here!) Next, going to hit up a British museum, as I think that would be most appropriate on my last day in London. Taking Ed downtown to River Thames tonight so he can have a few photo ops, and then dinner with Meg and Nicole on the river. My flight leaves tomorrow morning at 6:30 (it's in military time again, but I think I can handle this one) so I'll be public transporting in the wee hours on not too much sleep. finally meeting Marnie tomorrow and starting our Turkish adventures!
Wednesday, June 22, 2011
ogre's, summer solstice, and Wimbledon, oh my!
"Shrek was well good, daddy" That's what we overheard the little girl in a princess crown say, and she was right!!! Our proper Sunday roast was well good, too! Meg's English friend spent her entire day cooking a whole chicken, veggies, potatoes, yorkshire pudding, gravy, fatty deliciousness! Not quite as big as a Thanksgiving Dinner, but certainly more than anything I'd like to cook on a hung-over Sunday. We spent the evening eating and drinking and chatting around the table in an adorable little English row home, my favorite kind, painted a plain color with a brightly colored front door! :)
Monday I did a day trip to Stonehenge and Bath. Stonehenge was gearing up for a big day, since the Summer Solstice was taking place on Tuesday. Thousands of people would be showing up for a huge festival. 2 years ago the solstice fell over a weekend and 30,000 people came to Stonehenge for this event. If I had planned it better, I would have stayed overnight for it, too, but we got out of there before too many people arrived. It was neat to see especially so close to the summer solstice, which is when the sun lines up perfectly with the stones. The Roman bath's were neat too, but I really like the city better than the actual baths. All the buildings in the city are made of local limestone and the consistency of the building materials makes it quite beautiful. The rain didn't start until it was almost time to go, so the day was quite nice. It was also nice seeing the country side on the way home. We rode through Pennsylvania. It consisted of 21 homes, a bed and breakfast, and a gas station. Since my bus home dropped me off at King's Cross, I stopped by platform 9 3/4 so that Ed could get a pic. It was a bit disappointing compared to the last time I went, since the station is under construction. No doubt it's a MUST for HP fans, but I hope the sticker of fake bricks is temporary and they open the old one again soon.
Yesterday was a busy day to say the least!! I was up and out the door again with Meg, but I was on my own with public transportation for the day. I rode out to Greenwich, which was adorable!! I was there before everything opened, but it was great to walk around the town and the park, they had great views and it was a really nice day. Greenwich keeps the official time and is home to the Prime Meridian, so I checked those out and the museum once everything opened. A trip on the tube and a train ride later, I was in Brighton Beach. Brighton is very busy with a long pier, rides, arcades, etc. It reminded me some of OCMD, Meg says it reminds her of Coney Island, you get the picture. The most interesting part about it though, is that instead of sand, the shore is made up of stones. After Brighton, another train and tube ride (With switches and everything-I'm getting really good at this) I met back up with Meg, and we were off to Wimbeldon for day 2 of the 125th Championships. The queue to get in was estimate 1-1.5 hours...!!! We went for it. It was moving the whole time at a good rate, it was just THAT long. We made it in in just under an hour. The grounds are BEAUTIFUL. We only got grounds tickets, but we were able to sweet talk our way into one of the bigger courts. We had strawberries and cream with wine for dinner and saw a good match. We then wandered out and sat in the grass to watch another match on a big screen that they had set up. While we were there, I saw some guy with a Phillies shirt on and went over and talked to him, but he was from Africa and had no idea who the Phils really were. Oh well, it was funny still. As it was the longest day of the year, and England is quite north, it still wasn't completely dark at 10! Crazy!
Today's plans include museums and Kings of Leon in Hyde Park. Zac Brown Band is one of their opening acts, so I'm excited about that! The concert's outside, so keep your fingers crossed for no rain! Tomorrow, I'll be getting everything wrapped up and an early night, since I have such an early flight on Friday morning. Marnie's already on her way to Turkey!!
Monday I did a day trip to Stonehenge and Bath. Stonehenge was gearing up for a big day, since the Summer Solstice was taking place on Tuesday. Thousands of people would be showing up for a huge festival. 2 years ago the solstice fell over a weekend and 30,000 people came to Stonehenge for this event. If I had planned it better, I would have stayed overnight for it, too, but we got out of there before too many people arrived. It was neat to see especially so close to the summer solstice, which is when the sun lines up perfectly with the stones. The Roman bath's were neat too, but I really like the city better than the actual baths. All the buildings in the city are made of local limestone and the consistency of the building materials makes it quite beautiful. The rain didn't start until it was almost time to go, so the day was quite nice. It was also nice seeing the country side on the way home. We rode through Pennsylvania. It consisted of 21 homes, a bed and breakfast, and a gas station. Since my bus home dropped me off at King's Cross, I stopped by platform 9 3/4 so that Ed could get a pic. It was a bit disappointing compared to the last time I went, since the station is under construction. No doubt it's a MUST for HP fans, but I hope the sticker of fake bricks is temporary and they open the old one again soon.
Yesterday was a busy day to say the least!! I was up and out the door again with Meg, but I was on my own with public transportation for the day. I rode out to Greenwich, which was adorable!! I was there before everything opened, but it was great to walk around the town and the park, they had great views and it was a really nice day. Greenwich keeps the official time and is home to the Prime Meridian, so I checked those out and the museum once everything opened. A trip on the tube and a train ride later, I was in Brighton Beach. Brighton is very busy with a long pier, rides, arcades, etc. It reminded me some of OCMD, Meg says it reminds her of Coney Island, you get the picture. The most interesting part about it though, is that instead of sand, the shore is made up of stones. After Brighton, another train and tube ride (With switches and everything-I'm getting really good at this) I met back up with Meg, and we were off to Wimbeldon for day 2 of the 125th Championships. The queue to get in was estimate 1-1.5 hours...!!! We went for it. It was moving the whole time at a good rate, it was just THAT long. We made it in in just under an hour. The grounds are BEAUTIFUL. We only got grounds tickets, but we were able to sweet talk our way into one of the bigger courts. We had strawberries and cream with wine for dinner and saw a good match. We then wandered out and sat in the grass to watch another match on a big screen that they had set up. While we were there, I saw some guy with a Phillies shirt on and went over and talked to him, but he was from Africa and had no idea who the Phils really were. Oh well, it was funny still. As it was the longest day of the year, and England is quite north, it still wasn't completely dark at 10! Crazy!
Meg and I enjoying strawberries and cream, a Wimbledon must.
At Wimbledon on the grassy hill.
(Yes it really is cold enough to wear jeans and sweaters, even during the day.)
Today's plans include museums and Kings of Leon in Hyde Park. Zac Brown Band is one of their opening acts, so I'm excited about that! The concert's outside, so keep your fingers crossed for no rain! Tomorrow, I'll be getting everything wrapped up and an early night, since I have such an early flight on Friday morning. Marnie's already on her way to Turkey!!
Sunday, June 19, 2011
I missed my first flight to London....one-nil!
One-nil is a game that Paul Morris taught me last year. Paul Morris is Meg's bf, and Meg is a sorority sister that I'm staying with while I'm in London. One-nil is played by saying something everyone knows not to be true, and then when a person responds with a comment that seems to say: you're so dumb, how could you possibly even think that to be true, you respond with "one-nil" and then they're the dumb one after all. It's quite silly, but it keeps you on your toes.
So, I apparently can't read military time, and my flight was NOT scheduled to leave at 11:35 like I originally thought, but 21:35....BIG difference!!! Luckily our plane was late, so I was still able to check in and make it. It was a close one though!! Whew!
Since I've gotten to London, there's been a lot of catching up with Meg and Nicole. Nicole is another one of my sorority sister's that is working and living in London. They were my London reps when I did my Flat Stanley Project this past year, but didn't realize Flat Stanley was supposed to be colored....duh! Ed TheClam has now been making his way around town, so be on the lookout for him. :)
We went on a day trip to Windsor Castle yesterday. My favorite part was the doll house!! (Poppop, I'm ready to start making one, this fall!) Today's agenda includes Shrek the Musical and a Sunday Roast. the rest of this week will include Kings of Leon concert in Hyde Park, and Wimbledon at the very least, more I'm sure! The weather has been quite rainy and chilly. Luckily Meg's got warm clothes and umbrellas for me! Hoping it gets nicer soon.
Happy Father's Day!!!
XO
So, I apparently can't read military time, and my flight was NOT scheduled to leave at 11:35 like I originally thought, but 21:35....BIG difference!!! Luckily our plane was late, so I was still able to check in and make it. It was a close one though!! Whew!
Since I've gotten to London, there's been a lot of catching up with Meg and Nicole. Nicole is another one of my sorority sister's that is working and living in London. They were my London reps when I did my Flat Stanley Project this past year, but didn't realize Flat Stanley was supposed to be colored....duh! Ed TheClam has now been making his way around town, so be on the lookout for him. :)
We went on a day trip to Windsor Castle yesterday. My favorite part was the doll house!! (Poppop, I'm ready to start making one, this fall!) Today's agenda includes Shrek the Musical and a Sunday Roast. the rest of this week will include Kings of Leon concert in Hyde Park, and Wimbledon at the very least, more I'm sure! The weather has been quite rainy and chilly. Luckily Meg's got warm clothes and umbrellas for me! Hoping it gets nicer soon.
Happy Father's Day!!!
XO
Thursday, June 16, 2011
Today's the day!!!
....The sun is shining!!! The tank is clean!!
Waking up this morning was like Christmas, but I hadn't bought all of my presents yet...or wrapped them! There was no going back to sleep once the alarm went off. I ran around all day running errands, unpacking and re-packing, etc but I think I actually pulled everything off...and then some! Had a great visit with Mommom and a lovely lunch with the Nash's.
Waking up this morning was like Christmas, but I hadn't bought all of my presents yet...or wrapped them! There was no going back to sleep once the alarm went off. I ran around all day running errands, unpacking and re-packing, etc but I think I actually pulled everything off...and then some! Had a great visit with Mommom and a lovely lunch with the Nash's.
(I take after my mother)
My nerves have calmed and I'm ready to roll!! Packing the car, and shutting down...Next stop, London! See you soon Meg and Nicole!!!
XO all!
Wednesday, June 15, 2011
Just another American (Wednesday) night!
My nerves are starting to set in, now that I'm so close and I've had some time to think about it!!
The paper (and everything that goes with it) is finally finished!! My pack is full to the seam, even with some last minute cuts.
Sorry Elmo, I don't think TSA is going to approve!!
My last night in America for 6 weeks, and what am I going to do?! Kickball and the Italian Festival of course!!! If I didn't get to say bye yet, come find me tonight!!!
Thursday, June 9, 2011
T-one week to go!
This time next week I will be starting my voyage across the pond!! Backpack arrived this week, school ended, and summer has officially begun!! Went to the Greek festival last night (after a HUGE win, shout out to the kickball team!), and headed to the Italian festival next week, can't wait for the real deal!!!
My report is getting closer to being finished, and the packing list (well the initial draft) was made. I'm trying to make last-minute plans to see everyone before I go, but I still have SO MUCH to do!!!
I'll try posting pictures before I go to make sure I can do it without a problem. Hopefully you can meet Ed the Clam before I head off. Maybe I'll even find time (yea right) to try loading videos with the flip camera too!! (great win on that one Dad! Jimmy would you like to be the featured act on my video trial?!?)
I'm going to try to load up my mom's kindle before I head out, please leave good book recommendations!! :)
My report is getting closer to being finished, and the packing list (well the initial draft) was made. I'm trying to make last-minute plans to see everyone before I go, but I still have SO MUCH to do!!!
I'll try posting pictures before I go to make sure I can do it without a problem. Hopefully you can meet Ed the Clam before I head off. Maybe I'll even find time (yea right) to try loading videos with the flip camera too!! (great win on that one Dad! Jimmy would you like to be the featured act on my video trial?!?)
I'm going to try to load up my mom's kindle before I head out, please leave good book recommendations!! :)
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