So, I apologize if this is uninteligible. I Just woke up, and I'm writing in Word pad which has no spell check. Lovely thinking there on my part. But its too late now and I'm too lazy to open word, and you are intellegent, so I'm sure you'll be able to figure it out!
Anyway, so Scotland! Yay! Scotland was fun and beautiful. I don't think it was my favorite trip, but there were a lot of little things which contributed to that. Mostly I think it was that I really just didn't want to travel anymore. I kind of consider London a home now and its nice to get to spend time in a familiar place. Also, about the last 6 weekends prior I had been travelling. Paris, Germany, Italy, Wales...the list goes on and the night before it was probably 11oclock and I was sitting in my room trying to decide if I even wanted to pack...lol It was a 3 day trip and in my unamused mind I was considering wearing the same thing for 3 days. Ultimately though, I did pack. And I did wake up at 4 or 5 ish the next morning to get to the train station, even though while walking there I really thought about turning around and going back to bed. (Just so you know, this weekend I stayed in London and it was lovely.)
Then we made it to the train station and found some train station take away breakfast...mmm...not. I think we got cinnamon rolls which actually weren't terrible. After checking in, we had to wait a bit as our train didn't leave until 8. They wanted us there really early since the people on this trip have a habit of showing up about an hour late for things.So we got on the train and I tried to sleep, but since it was 8, the sun was already up and I couldn't pass up the beautiful scenery that I kept seeing. (At this point in my life even trees and grass make me really happy because all I ever see in London is concrete. They have parks and stuff, but you go there and it feels very artificial. The grass is mowed, the ponds all have concrete edges and the trees are clearly landscaped. Its nice for a break, but it just doesn't feel natural. Scotland helped with that a lot. It was gorgeous there.
The further north we went, we started to see coast. I'm not sure if it was an ocean or a sea or a lake, though it was definitely very massive and surrounded by these beautiful cliffs. Every so often there would be a cute little light house. It wasn't actually a bad train ride. It was 4 hours long though.
So, we finally arrived in Edinburgh (Edinboro for pronounciations sake). There we met our tour guide who did wear a kilt the whole time. He was a pretty nice guy most of the time, though he didn't like it when people talked over him or would listen to their ipods while he was talking and he would occasionally tell us to shut up. He did it in a funny way, but after a while I got tired of listening to the other kids complain about him. They really didn't like him. I thought he was interesting, though he was a bit long winded. He would occassionally talk for an hour about what could have been said in 10 minutes or so. That really seemed to bother everyone else. But what started out as a curiousity for us, became very hysterical, and then evetually got quite annoying was his Scottish pride. He was very Scottish. His accent was very Scottish, and he had the pride to go with it. Everything came from Scotland. Everything originated in Scotland. Everything is the best in Scotland. The ones that stick in my mind the most are that Scotland has the best bridge in the world, and Scotland has the biggest dolphins in the world. Somehow, I don't think either are true, but I do think he absolutely believed they were.
So, we went to our hostel in Edinburgh and then got a short quick walking tour of the city. We learned about old Edinburgh and new Edinburgh and why they made the new city, and then we got the change to explore around. We mostly walked through old Edinburgh and saw the castle, the palace, the pub where JK started writing Harry Potter. It was all in a really cute little town. We went to a pub for dinner and had been told to try a local ale that is actually pumped from the tap. What I mean is that beers in America you pull the handle down and stuff pours out. All the local ones have to be pumped and aren't carbonated. Anyway, so Alan decided to be adventurous and try some and it actually turned out to be green, which we think was left over from St. Patricks day the tuesday before. It wasn't very good, but it was pretty cool. The food was amazing though.
I forgot to mention that before our dinner and after walking around we climbed this mountain. It was awesome. Not the climbing, but the views. We didn't climb to the very top, but we made it to the top of a ridge that was high enough up that when I sat down and dangled my feet off the edge Alan about had a heartattack because he was so scared for me. :-)
So yeah, explored, climbed, ate some food, the we got some ice cream, and went back to the hostel because we were tired from getting up at 4 in the morning. The next morning we were up pretty early again. We got some breakfast and were off to the bus. Once there we drove for a bit through some really pretty scenery in Scotland and made our way to the William Wallace memorial momument thinger. It was another hike up another mountain, but it was pretty cool once we got up there. After that we made our way to the Scottish highlands (according to the tour guide, the ONLY wilderness left if Europe. Its that pride thing again. By the end of the trip we figured the Scottish kids probably have a class in primary school on how to be proud). It was beautiful though. We stopped a bit in to pet and feed a scottish highland cow (hairy coo, if your a scotsman) His name was Hamish which translates to James and he was cute! If you put the carrot in your mouth he would give you a kiss, but I wasn't quite that daring. He was pretty slobbery.
So then we ate lunch at this tiny little rest stop thing which kind of operated highschool cafeteria style. I didn't realize how far removed I was from that until I got there and forgot how cafeteria things like that work...yeah...But the food was good. It took me agood ten minutes at the rest stop t o find a store that sold water. I was thirsty pretty much the whole trip and I eventually had to go to this camp like store place thing. They sold firewood and stuff because nearby there is a trail that takes about a week to hike and they sell supplies for the campers. But as a result, they didn't sell anything in sizes under a liter. I felt like I was in America for a bit and proudly carried my liter of water with me...till I drank it about 2 hours later. :-)
In the highlands we passed about 60 different lochs and they were all really beautiful. It really is unspoiled nature out there. There were little streams from the melting snow that made waterfalls at the cliffs, every mountain had a name. It was really just a nice place. We made a photo stop at a place called the 3 sisters, which were 3 mountains with this gorge thing running up the center. It was really quite lovely and everyone took a pipcture of themselves pretending to jump off the cliff that was there. And we saw some deer! Yay! lol I mean it really isn't that exciting because they are everywhere in PA...but I haven't seen one in oh...forever.
Then back on the bus and off to Loch Ness, where I saw Urquart Castle Ruins and Nessie (jk, I didn't see her, but we do have a prettyfunny joke about it). Loch Ness was beautiful. The water is so deep, and it was this dark blue color. It was surrounded by trees and hills and other lovely things and the ruins were really picturesque. I told Alan to take a picture of me with Nessie, but when we looked at the picture, Nessie just wasn't smiling. So, we had to delete it obviosly. Josh said we should have had some keys or a little yellow bird to jingle at her...but she just wasn't cooperating. According to the tourguide there is overwhelming amounts of scientific evidence that point at some rather large fish creature in the loch, but because it is so deep and so dark no one really knows what. He seemed to think it was an extraordinarily large carp. I think it is definitely a prehistoric dinosaur fish monster. And, it probably eats people.
I stuck my hand in Loch Ness though and then it was back on the bus to Inverness, where we spent the night. We went out to a Weatherspoons while we were there. They serve really cheap food and 99 p drinks. The food was actually pretty decent as far as 6 pounds was concerned. By 6 pounds I mean 6.99 ish for both Alan and me. Afterwards we headed to a more expensive bar, club, pub place, where there were so many people you acutally couldn't move. But we went because they were supposed to have some good folk music and such. We hung out there for a while, until I got hiccups which lasted for about an hour and made me miserable. So, we left and headed in for the night. We were up early again the next morning, and off the to bus again.
The first stop of the day was a giant battle feild where the Scots fought the English...and lost pretty terrible. We watched and made fun of this ridiculous 3d video thingy of the battle and then I went to the gift shop and Alan went to play with the replica muskets.
Most of the rest of the day was spent on the bus. We made a stop at a tiny little town for lunch and no one had any time and we were all late. After that we stopped at a whiskey distillery, and got a tour which was a fiasco because apparaently once the people had a group of french students steal a bunch of stuff and put pebbles in the toilets so now they don't like students and didn't want to honor our reservations. Our tour guide ended up arguing with the lady for like 20 minutes, and we did eventually get the tour and a free sample, but they weren't exactly pleasant people and we didn't get a chance to visit the gift shop because they sent us away. They really didn't like us...whatever.
Well, because of all the delays, we ended up getting a late start on the road to the train, and had to sprint to catch the train. I actually mean sprint. I'm not exaggerating. Our tour guide ran ahead to find out which train we had to get on, and then we sprinted. We made it though, with like 30 seconds to spare.
The train ride back was ridiculous. What was a 4 hour ride there, was a 7 hour ride back with a bus transfer in the middle. That was the train ride where my roommate told everyone how I had ruined her life, so I ended up getting really angry and moody and just refused to talk to any one or look at any one and our school accompany person really pissed me off and eventually left Alan and I behind at the one train station. We had our tickets, but still, as the group leader your supposed to keep everyone together though. She tends to be very much like a teenager though still, and is really good friends with our roommates who hate us. She was walking around telling everyone that she really wanted people to try to stay together, and even though she thought 45 people was too much for the one car we should all try to squeeze on. But when she got to Alan and I who were standing a bit further away from the group, but close enough to hear everything, she said "I think 45 people is a but much for one train, you can try to squeeze on if you want, but I don't think we will all fit." She then proceeded to tell us all the times that the trains came through going to London for the half hour or so...basically, what she was saying is we aren't all going to fit. You guys should catch a later train. She told everyone else that she would wait if there were people left behind, but when the next train came she jumped right on despite the fact that we were still standing there. We got an email the next day asking if we made it home ok, saying she would have stayed but thought we wanted some privacy. Which I only wanted because I was about ready to punch someone. They would have deserved it.
So yeah, that was my Scotland trip. Despite the ending, it really wasn't bad. It was nice to get out of the city for a bit, and the landscape was quite beautiful. I could have done without the rest of the kids on the trip, but it was still nice. I had a good time. I would really like to go back without the rest of the people, but then again I have said that about every place I have been.
The week after we got back was just class again. Then Saturday, Alan, Brittany, and I went to a Football Match. The game ended in a disappointing tie, but it was fun to watch. I don't understand football. Its very much like soccer, which I also don't understand, but there is a lot more pushing, shoving, pulling, and tripping involved. It was pretty rough and a couple guys got hurt. One got carried out on a stretcher. American soccer isn't that rough. I enjoyed myself though, and got some pretty cool pictures. Afterwards we went home and made Stromboli and it was delicious.
The next morning was daylight svaings time, and I forgot. I ended up over sleeping for an hour. It sucked. But we met up with Brittany again and went to speakers corner. We listened to some really crazy religious nuts up on their step ladders ranting about everything. The audiance was just as fun to listen to. It was free though, and considering the number on my bank statement, that was nice. I had a great time just listening to them. After that, we had planned to get some starbucks and then go see the Oxford, Cambridge crew race on the Thames. It has been a long standing tradition and Cambridge was going to see if they could maintain their victory status. Unfortunately, we got talking in Starbucks and ended up losing track of time, and missed the race. We made it down to the river, and there was a pretty happening party going on, but there were no boats and no rowers. I was sad, but not a lot. It was still an experience. When we went home, we made left overs for dinner, and I cleaned my room. Then Alan did some applications for jobs, and then we went to bed. Now, it is today, and I have class in about an hour and shouldn't be sitting here writing this, but I am. Oh well.
Later!
Monday, March 30, 2009
Thursday, March 19, 2009
Wales, Day 2
So, the next morning we woke up and got some free breakfast. By breakfast I mean toast and croissants and tea and jam. It was good though. Then we got on the bus and drove for a bit to Big Pitt Mining museum. Big Pitt is an active coal mine in South Wales, but it is also a museum. The tour guides are all miners who have worked in the mine and know the history of it. We all got hard hats with lights and belts with heavy battery packs and oxygen thingers.
So we go down 300 ft into the ground in a rattling elevator in the dark. Brittany and I were reminded of the scene from October Sky, except that we couldn't look up at the stars cuz the elevator was inside...and it was day light. Anyway, the tour was interesting and I think I learned a bit more than the last time I was in a mine. The worst problem was that all of the ceilings throughout the mine were about 4.5 ft high. So any time we were walking places we would have to be ducking and it got a bit uncomfortable. But we saw the stables underground and learned about ventilation systems and other things. It was pretty cool.
I was never so happy to come back up to the ground. The mine was cool, but it was also dark, damp, and difficult to walk through. I do sympathize with the miners who worked there for their whole lives. But after we got out we went to the gift shop and bought some post cards and I got a mug and I got Alan some recipe thingers. I had a good time and my mug is awesome because it has the Welsh flag on it and their flag is an awesome dragon thing.
So after that, we got back on the bus to drive to this adorable little town where we got lunch. We didn't have much time to walk around and explore, but we did get to see a 13th century bridge and eat some delicious Sunday roast. It was kind of buffet style which was interesting because I haven't seen anything like it here yet, but the food was good and we really enjoyed ourselves.
After lunch we speed walked ourselves back to the bus and then realized it wasn't necessary because we had to wait forever for these 3 girls who were getting icecream. When we finally got moving we were off on the last leg of our journey. Following the path of the Wye River we made our way through some beautiful landscapes. Our destination was the beautiful Tintern Abbey.
Tintern Abbey is a ruin that stands in the middle of a small town. When it was built, however, it was entirely secluded from any civilization. The monks wanted their solitude and built their abbey in the beautiful landscape. It was really cool to see what was remaining of the abbey and what had been lost forever. The scene was really impressive, as the monks would have built nearly everything by hand (as much as possible of course) and I just didn't expect it to be so large. To have seen it in its entirety would have been magnificent. It was really a beautiful place.
So from there we journeyed home. It was a several hour bus ride and we were all a little tired. The best part of the ride home was undoubtedly the Badgers for 2 Miles sign...its whole purpose to warn people of the badgers that could make their way on to the road. It was glorious. :-)
But we finally got home and it was nice to be back. Alan and I, being stuffed from our amazing lunch still weren't hungry enough for dinner, but eventually went and bought some frozen food from the 24 hour store below our apartment. It wasn't great but it got us by.
Right now, I am supposed to be researching Paul Nash, a British war time and surrealist artist. I have a paper due about him on Tuesday which involves me critiquing 3 pieces of his artwork that I see in person in a museum here in London. I mentioned it was due Tuesday, right, because tomorrow at 7:15 in the morning I'm getting on a train and heading to Scotland where I will see Edinburgh, Inverness, Loch Ness, and the Highlands. It promises to be a beautiful trip with impressive landscapes. Unfortunately, it also means I won't be getting back until late Sunday night, leaving me Monday to write my 6 page paper...including seeing and critiquing the art...did I mention I have class on Monday. Its right in the middle of the day too, from 1:30-4:30 and all of the museums are a good half hour or more away from school. I'm pretty much screwed. But rest assured. I will succeed. It will be finished by 10:30 am Tuesday morning if it kills me. It's all good. No worries.
Anyway, I still have yet to pack for tomorrow morning and it is almost 9:00 pm here. I'm actually really tired of packing. I want to go on this trip. I'm really excited. But part of me just wants to keep my clothes on their hangers and out of a bag, to sleep in my own bed, to not have to wake up super duper unreasonably early, and to just stay put. Its awful to say, but I'm really tired of traveling. But don't get me wrong. I want to see Scotland. Just have to take the good with the bad, ya know. I can't have everything.
On that note, goodnight.
So we go down 300 ft into the ground in a rattling elevator in the dark. Brittany and I were reminded of the scene from October Sky, except that we couldn't look up at the stars cuz the elevator was inside...and it was day light. Anyway, the tour was interesting and I think I learned a bit more than the last time I was in a mine. The worst problem was that all of the ceilings throughout the mine were about 4.5 ft high. So any time we were walking places we would have to be ducking and it got a bit uncomfortable. But we saw the stables underground and learned about ventilation systems and other things. It was pretty cool.
I was never so happy to come back up to the ground. The mine was cool, but it was also dark, damp, and difficult to walk through. I do sympathize with the miners who worked there for their whole lives. But after we got out we went to the gift shop and bought some post cards and I got a mug and I got Alan some recipe thingers. I had a good time and my mug is awesome because it has the Welsh flag on it and their flag is an awesome dragon thing.
So after that, we got back on the bus to drive to this adorable little town where we got lunch. We didn't have much time to walk around and explore, but we did get to see a 13th century bridge and eat some delicious Sunday roast. It was kind of buffet style which was interesting because I haven't seen anything like it here yet, but the food was good and we really enjoyed ourselves.
After lunch we speed walked ourselves back to the bus and then realized it wasn't necessary because we had to wait forever for these 3 girls who were getting icecream. When we finally got moving we were off on the last leg of our journey. Following the path of the Wye River we made our way through some beautiful landscapes. Our destination was the beautiful Tintern Abbey.
Tintern Abbey is a ruin that stands in the middle of a small town. When it was built, however, it was entirely secluded from any civilization. The monks wanted their solitude and built their abbey in the beautiful landscape. It was really cool to see what was remaining of the abbey and what had been lost forever. The scene was really impressive, as the monks would have built nearly everything by hand (as much as possible of course) and I just didn't expect it to be so large. To have seen it in its entirety would have been magnificent. It was really a beautiful place.
So from there we journeyed home. It was a several hour bus ride and we were all a little tired. The best part of the ride home was undoubtedly the Badgers for 2 Miles sign...its whole purpose to warn people of the badgers that could make their way on to the road. It was glorious. :-)
But we finally got home and it was nice to be back. Alan and I, being stuffed from our amazing lunch still weren't hungry enough for dinner, but eventually went and bought some frozen food from the 24 hour store below our apartment. It wasn't great but it got us by.
Right now, I am supposed to be researching Paul Nash, a British war time and surrealist artist. I have a paper due about him on Tuesday which involves me critiquing 3 pieces of his artwork that I see in person in a museum here in London. I mentioned it was due Tuesday, right, because tomorrow at 7:15 in the morning I'm getting on a train and heading to Scotland where I will see Edinburgh, Inverness, Loch Ness, and the Highlands. It promises to be a beautiful trip with impressive landscapes. Unfortunately, it also means I won't be getting back until late Sunday night, leaving me Monday to write my 6 page paper...including seeing and critiquing the art...did I mention I have class on Monday. Its right in the middle of the day too, from 1:30-4:30 and all of the museums are a good half hour or more away from school. I'm pretty much screwed. But rest assured. I will succeed. It will be finished by 10:30 am Tuesday morning if it kills me. It's all good. No worries.
Anyway, I still have yet to pack for tomorrow morning and it is almost 9:00 pm here. I'm actually really tired of packing. I want to go on this trip. I'm really excited. But part of me just wants to keep my clothes on their hangers and out of a bag, to sleep in my own bed, to not have to wake up super duper unreasonably early, and to just stay put. Its awful to say, but I'm really tired of traveling. But don't get me wrong. I want to see Scotland. Just have to take the good with the bad, ya know. I can't have everything.
On that note, goodnight.
Monday, March 16, 2009
Wales: One More Adventure...Day 1
Today is Monday, which means last night I returned home from Wales. Wales was a nice break from London and the other cities that Alan and I have visited so far. There were green hills, full grown trees, grass, and sheep. Lots of sheep. In fact, Wales reminded me a lot of Central PA, if you replace all the cows with sheep. And maybe add twice as many.
We left London pretty early after stopping to pick up some kids from other study abroad programs. On the motorway, we stopped at a reststop, which pretty much killed every American reststop. We got really tasty breakfast sandwiches there and some food for Lunch. Then we got back on the bus and drove towards Caerphilly. Once there, we ate lunch and then got a tour of the castle and some time to explore. It was a pretty cool castle, and fairly intact, despite spending much of its time not in use. Our tourguide was friendly and knowledgeable and told some interesting stories about the place and the people who had stayed there. The weather was beautiful, and we were all pretty sad to get back on the bus.
We didn't have nearly enough time to explore as I would have liked, and the happened pretty much everywhere we went on the trip. We spent far too long on a bus, and the weather was pretty enough to make me really want to be walking outside. But we did get to see a lot of different places that I wouldn't have seen otherwise. In the gift shop at Caerphilly, I bought an air freshener made from sheep poo paper. Its pretty sweet!
Anyway, after Caerphilly, we went to an outdoor museum of Welsh life. It was kind of like Williamsburg or a tour of the Amish community or something similar, as houses and business from ancient to modern Wales had been transported there. All the houses were decorated appropriately and had people working in them to explain things. There was also a sheep farm and because its spring there were lots of baby lambs! We got to watch one stand up for the first time and they were adorable!!
After our trip to the museum, we headed to Cardiff, the capitol city of Wales. This was the only place where we had a sufficient amount of time to explore. We walked around the city a bit before finding a place to eat. We ate in a nice little pub called the Goatmajor, and it had pictures of goats on the wall and stuff, which I find appropriate considering the number of sheep in the country. The people who worked there were really nice and the food was very cheap and delicious. There, Brittany ordered a half pint of Brains, the Welsh beer that everyone there drinks. She let me try a sip, and it reminded me of the Paulner beer from Munich, but I wasn't a big fan. Instead, Alan and I got, on her recommendation, half pints of Strongbow, a cider that is actually really good. We sat there and talked for a while, watching a bit of the Rugby on TV.
The rugby was cool. The Welsh are really big into it and their team had played and won a game earlier in the day. So, the whole city was out celebrating in Rugby shirts or costumes or drag...yeah, I dunno. But the city was pretty wild with excitement, and we watched some of the Irish-Scottish game. I don't really understand the rules, but it was fun to watch.
After dinner, we walked around some more down to Cardiff's main stadium, and then we headed back to the hotel, where Brittany and Alan tought me to play rummy. We played one game and I won!! Yay, beginners luck! It was pretty exciting. I should mention the hotel though. It was an interesting place. I shared a room with Brittany and the room had bunk beds. But they weren't normal bunk beds. The bottom bed was a double bed, and the top bunk was turned the opposite direction, sideways above the double. Brittany offered to sleep on the top, so I got the double bed, which to my surprise was far too big. I've become so used to sleeping in tiny little hostel beds or my twin bed here that a bed that size was just too much. It was also hard. It was a foam mattress, like one that you leave an indent in after you have sat in one spot for a while, but at first didn't give at all. I layed down without realizing and it was like laying on the floor.
The toilet was also weird because it was in a closet. A teeny-tiny little closet that I bumped my elbows on everytime I tried to move. And the light reminded me of a spotlight on stage. It was awkward. Not as much so as the shower though, which I didn't use. The shower was attached to the main room, not separate. It had a frosted glass swinging door, so you could kind of see in from like the beds or sink or stuff. It wasn't a big deal, it was just unusual.
So, we went to bed and that was the first part of my journey in the beautiful country of Wales. I have class soon, so I'll give you the info on day 2 a bit later.
We left London pretty early after stopping to pick up some kids from other study abroad programs. On the motorway, we stopped at a reststop, which pretty much killed every American reststop. We got really tasty breakfast sandwiches there and some food for Lunch. Then we got back on the bus and drove towards Caerphilly. Once there, we ate lunch and then got a tour of the castle and some time to explore. It was a pretty cool castle, and fairly intact, despite spending much of its time not in use. Our tourguide was friendly and knowledgeable and told some interesting stories about the place and the people who had stayed there. The weather was beautiful, and we were all pretty sad to get back on the bus.
We didn't have nearly enough time to explore as I would have liked, and the happened pretty much everywhere we went on the trip. We spent far too long on a bus, and the weather was pretty enough to make me really want to be walking outside. But we did get to see a lot of different places that I wouldn't have seen otherwise. In the gift shop at Caerphilly, I bought an air freshener made from sheep poo paper. Its pretty sweet!
Anyway, after Caerphilly, we went to an outdoor museum of Welsh life. It was kind of like Williamsburg or a tour of the Amish community or something similar, as houses and business from ancient to modern Wales had been transported there. All the houses were decorated appropriately and had people working in them to explain things. There was also a sheep farm and because its spring there were lots of baby lambs! We got to watch one stand up for the first time and they were adorable!!
After our trip to the museum, we headed to Cardiff, the capitol city of Wales. This was the only place where we had a sufficient amount of time to explore. We walked around the city a bit before finding a place to eat. We ate in a nice little pub called the Goatmajor, and it had pictures of goats on the wall and stuff, which I find appropriate considering the number of sheep in the country. The people who worked there were really nice and the food was very cheap and delicious. There, Brittany ordered a half pint of Brains, the Welsh beer that everyone there drinks. She let me try a sip, and it reminded me of the Paulner beer from Munich, but I wasn't a big fan. Instead, Alan and I got, on her recommendation, half pints of Strongbow, a cider that is actually really good. We sat there and talked for a while, watching a bit of the Rugby on TV.
The rugby was cool. The Welsh are really big into it and their team had played and won a game earlier in the day. So, the whole city was out celebrating in Rugby shirts or costumes or drag...yeah, I dunno. But the city was pretty wild with excitement, and we watched some of the Irish-Scottish game. I don't really understand the rules, but it was fun to watch.
After dinner, we walked around some more down to Cardiff's main stadium, and then we headed back to the hotel, where Brittany and Alan tought me to play rummy. We played one game and I won!! Yay, beginners luck! It was pretty exciting. I should mention the hotel though. It was an interesting place. I shared a room with Brittany and the room had bunk beds. But they weren't normal bunk beds. The bottom bed was a double bed, and the top bunk was turned the opposite direction, sideways above the double. Brittany offered to sleep on the top, so I got the double bed, which to my surprise was far too big. I've become so used to sleeping in tiny little hostel beds or my twin bed here that a bed that size was just too much. It was also hard. It was a foam mattress, like one that you leave an indent in after you have sat in one spot for a while, but at first didn't give at all. I layed down without realizing and it was like laying on the floor.
The toilet was also weird because it was in a closet. A teeny-tiny little closet that I bumped my elbows on everytime I tried to move. And the light reminded me of a spotlight on stage. It was awkward. Not as much so as the shower though, which I didn't use. The shower was attached to the main room, not separate. It had a frosted glass swinging door, so you could kind of see in from like the beds or sink or stuff. It wasn't a big deal, it was just unusual.
So, we went to bed and that was the first part of my journey in the beautiful country of Wales. I have class soon, so I'll give you the info on day 2 a bit later.
Friday, March 13, 2009
Spring Break, Part 2, Rome
Well, its been a whole week since spring break and I have yet to tell you all about the last half of my journey. During my last four days of break I found myself in Rome, Italy. We left the apartment at 2 in the morning to get a bus to get to the train station to get another bus to get to the airport. Yeah. Anyway, needless to say we were really tired when we finally got to Italy. But on the flight, it was a beautiful and looking out the window I could see the Alps and really cool other landscapes.
Ok, so we got to Italy and had the best experience with customs that we have ever had. The man didn't even say anything. He just looked at our passports and stamped them and handed them back. No questions or comments. No hassle. Beautiful. The airport we flew into was kinda sketchy. We thought it was just because it was Rome's small cheap airport, but it turned out that actually that is the way that most of Rome is. We asked information how to get to where we were going and purchased the cheapest public transportation that we yet have!
When we got to the hostel, it ended up being kind of like the airport. It was on the second floor of some random building, and it was dirty and we were tired and we just didn't want to deal with it...but we found out later that all of Rome is like that. So, we got a map...after finding out that our hostel didn't provide any pamphlets for tours or anything... We decided to just find our own way. We walked and saw some ruins and walked toward the Colosseum, saw it and the forum and some other things. We got our first gelato and generally just walked around until around 8:30 ish. The best part of the day was that weather was warm and beautiful.
The following morning I got a shower. The water barely came out. The drain flooded. It was so small I could barely move. But for 60 euros for 2 people for 4 nights, why am I complaining. But I refused to take a shower the rest of the time, and used my towel as a blanket, since I also refused to use those!
After getting ready to go in the nasty hostel we left to walk to the Vatican. The previous day we found information for a free tour there. First we walked up to the Spanish steps and threw coins in the Trevi Fountain and saw the Pantheon. We arrived in time, after getting gelato and pizza and other delicious Italian foods (excepts mostly gelato and pizza). Our tour guide was a group of seminary students from America who were studying in the Vatican and they knew pretty much everything about St. Peter's. In fact, our tour was a 3 hour tour only of St. Peter's Basilica. It was fascinating. I loved it. It was the greatest tour we had there (and the only tour). I learned a lot.
Afterwards we wanted to visit the Sistine Chapel, but it was closed, so we walked to get more gelato (we tried about 25 flavors between the two of us by the time we left). Then we went to tried to find a restaurant that we looked up on the internet the night before. But it turns out that Italians shut down their restaurants between about 2/3 o'clockish and don't open again until 7:30. It's really unfortunate because we eat a lot earlier than 7:30 and a lot later than 2:00...
So, instead we walked around Trevi Fountain and went gift shopping and got more gelato and found a different restaurant. The last 3 days ended up being a lot better than the 1st one. We still retired early though and went to bed for the next day of walking. Which we did.
The next morning we bought breakfast...as in a giant pastry roll thing from the convenience store next to our hostel. We toured the Sistine Chapel that morning in the gorgeous sun. The we walked down to tour the Forum and Colosseum which had been closed in the morning. We did the Forum first and walked around until it closed. Then we walked down to see Circus Maximus, as the Colosseum closed before we got there. Then we got dinner, and walked up to the Popolo. We met a random salesman guy to whom we pretended not to speak English. Then we went home for bed.
The next morning we woke up and toured the Colosseum. After that we got on a train to go to Ostia Antica, which other than the Vatican was the best part of the trip. It was a gorgeous day and we toured the ruins in this city and it was glorious. I could have walked around all day. The ruins were phenomenal! After that we got back on the train and went to the beach. The sand was black, and also dirty. It was the off season and the beach hadn't been combed in forever. It was gross and we had to jump some barricades to get in. But there were some surfers there too so we weren't the only one who jumped it. It was too cold to swim, but I stuck my hand in the Med and picked some seashells. We went back to Rome for the night and got dinner and our last Gelato of the trip. Then we packed our bags and headed to bed.
The next morning we flew back to London, and were never so happy to be home in our lives. We got real showers and real beds and it was phenomenal. This weekend we are heading to Wales, so I'll update you on that when I get hope. Sorry I didn't write more about this, but my roommates are drunk and loud and I'm distracted...yeah. Anyways, later!
Ok, so we got to Italy and had the best experience with customs that we have ever had. The man didn't even say anything. He just looked at our passports and stamped them and handed them back. No questions or comments. No hassle. Beautiful. The airport we flew into was kinda sketchy. We thought it was just because it was Rome's small cheap airport, but it turned out that actually that is the way that most of Rome is. We asked information how to get to where we were going and purchased the cheapest public transportation that we yet have!
When we got to the hostel, it ended up being kind of like the airport. It was on the second floor of some random building, and it was dirty and we were tired and we just didn't want to deal with it...but we found out later that all of Rome is like that. So, we got a map...after finding out that our hostel didn't provide any pamphlets for tours or anything... We decided to just find our own way. We walked and saw some ruins and walked toward the Colosseum, saw it and the forum and some other things. We got our first gelato and generally just walked around until around 8:30 ish. The best part of the day was that weather was warm and beautiful.
The following morning I got a shower. The water barely came out. The drain flooded. It was so small I could barely move. But for 60 euros for 2 people for 4 nights, why am I complaining. But I refused to take a shower the rest of the time, and used my towel as a blanket, since I also refused to use those!
After getting ready to go in the nasty hostel we left to walk to the Vatican. The previous day we found information for a free tour there. First we walked up to the Spanish steps and threw coins in the Trevi Fountain and saw the Pantheon. We arrived in time, after getting gelato and pizza and other delicious Italian foods (excepts mostly gelato and pizza). Our tour guide was a group of seminary students from America who were studying in the Vatican and they knew pretty much everything about St. Peter's. In fact, our tour was a 3 hour tour only of St. Peter's Basilica. It was fascinating. I loved it. It was the greatest tour we had there (and the only tour). I learned a lot.
Afterwards we wanted to visit the Sistine Chapel, but it was closed, so we walked to get more gelato (we tried about 25 flavors between the two of us by the time we left). Then we went to tried to find a restaurant that we looked up on the internet the night before. But it turns out that Italians shut down their restaurants between about 2/3 o'clockish and don't open again until 7:30. It's really unfortunate because we eat a lot earlier than 7:30 and a lot later than 2:00...
So, instead we walked around Trevi Fountain and went gift shopping and got more gelato and found a different restaurant. The last 3 days ended up being a lot better than the 1st one. We still retired early though and went to bed for the next day of walking. Which we did.
The next morning we bought breakfast...as in a giant pastry roll thing from the convenience store next to our hostel. We toured the Sistine Chapel that morning in the gorgeous sun. The we walked down to tour the Forum and Colosseum which had been closed in the morning. We did the Forum first and walked around until it closed. Then we walked down to see Circus Maximus, as the Colosseum closed before we got there. Then we got dinner, and walked up to the Popolo. We met a random salesman guy to whom we pretended not to speak English. Then we went home for bed.
The next morning we woke up and toured the Colosseum. After that we got on a train to go to Ostia Antica, which other than the Vatican was the best part of the trip. It was a gorgeous day and we toured the ruins in this city and it was glorious. I could have walked around all day. The ruins were phenomenal! After that we got back on the train and went to the beach. The sand was black, and also dirty. It was the off season and the beach hadn't been combed in forever. It was gross and we had to jump some barricades to get in. But there were some surfers there too so we weren't the only one who jumped it. It was too cold to swim, but I stuck my hand in the Med and picked some seashells. We went back to Rome for the night and got dinner and our last Gelato of the trip. Then we packed our bags and headed to bed.
The next morning we flew back to London, and were never so happy to be home in our lives. We got real showers and real beds and it was phenomenal. This weekend we are heading to Wales, so I'll update you on that when I get hope. Sorry I didn't write more about this, but my roommates are drunk and loud and I'm distracted...yeah. Anyways, later!
Sunday, March 8, 2009
Spring Break, Part 1, Germany
So, It's about that time again. Time to tell you all about everything I have done for the last week. I was really nervous about everything working out, but as it turns out, everything went surprisingly well. I did plan it that way, but I was shocked really. We'll start around 9 pm last Thursday, February 26th. Our bags were packed and ready to go. We had wanted to sleep but never got around to it. We walked out the door to get on the Tube. We got to the bus stop really early and finally got on the bus to go. It was just us and one other guy, and we tried to sleep a little. We got to the airport as scheduled, but as scheduled happened to be the night before our flight was scheduled to leave. So we found a comfy bench at Burger King, and I slept a while, while Alan watched the bags. Around Midnight or 1 am, a man came by and told us we had to move cuz they were closing that section of benches. So we moved to a table inside. Inside burger king there was a TV playing World News Tonight, and I was never so excited in my life to hear an American voice! Unfortunately, that voice stopped me from sleeping any more...so I bought a cheeseburger. At 1 in the morning. At an airport. In England. Win.
After that we gave up sleeping in burger king and went to find out terminal. On the way we found a nice billboard-y thing that showed like departures and stuff and I slept under there for a while. When I woke up, Alan slept for a while. Then we went and checked in and went through security with no problems, except Alan's belt which continually gave us problems. Through securty, we waited in the departures area for which gate our plane was leaving from and Alan slept on a more comfortable bench (it had padding!!) until the sun came up. We finally found out which gate was ours and headed out. We got on the plane and were off to Munich.
We arrived in Munich and made it through passport control ok (which by the way, is the scariest thing ever any time we enter a country!). We left the arrivals area and found an information booth. There, I got to speak my first German since high school...to a German Person. :-D I was really excited! Anyway, she told us how to get from where we were to where we were going by S-Bahn (like a metro or tube or subway). We got off the S-Bahn and found our way to the hostel, where we checked in and found our room. The room was large and full of 20 beds, but they were clean and the people were nice. The bathrooms were also clean, and after locking up our stuff we left to go exploring.
The day was a bit chilly and foggy, but the city was great. We stopped and got Bratwrust and Mezzo Mix which is a Coke brand soda that is like Orange soda mixed with Coke. So good! Then we walked around a bit and went exploring. We saw the Rathaus and the Viiktualienmarkt (spell check anyone?). The city is not eye catching in the way that Paris or parts of London are. It is all very modern, considering that it was bombed to the ground during WWII. But it has charm and appeal and I absolutely fell in love with it. If I ever move to Europe, you will find me in that city.
We walked down around some monuments and listened in on a tour for a minute. I liked what the tour guide was talking about which was lucky because we had him as a tour guide the very next day! We made our way to the Englischgarten, trying to find a chines tower thing (which is actually a bier garten) on the map. It turned out that because of the snow and rain, the whole park was slushy and wet, so we didn't end up finding it. But it was beautiful and on the way there we got our first Barvarian Pastries and Pretzels. Delicious.
As it was starting to rain, we headed back to the Hostel. There we asked for a suggestion on a good place to eat, and found our way to the Augustiner Braeu Haus. They brew their own bier there, but we only got water (which I rather regret now). Their food was good though, and the place had charm. We had English menus and an English speaking waitress, which was nice, though some things still got confused. Like tip. Apparently, they don't do that. Oh well.
After that we went to sleep, since sleeping in an airport isn't the most restful place, and we were tired. The following morning we woke up to go on a free walking tour. We picked up the tour in our Hostel and walked down to Marienplatz, the town center where the Rathaus is. There we met our tour guide, Matt, who I had seen the day before. He was really nice, really funny, and really knowledgeable about the city. He was from California and had been living there for 2 years, so he spoke fluent English and German. The tour was a great 3 hour non-stop exploration of the city, from memorials to monuments, churches and markets. It was glorious and I loved the city even more. The weather was beautiful and over all it was really great.
During our tour we stopped at the Viktualienmarkt, which was much busier on Saturday than on Friday. There, we bought a pastry called a Splitterbomb. Think softball sized, marshmallow filled cream puff coated in chocolate entirely. A-mazing. Nonetheless, after the tour we were hungry, and proceeded to buy food from a stand we had seen other guides getting food from before the tour. It was called Rischart, and kind of like a pastry, ice cream, German pizza, pretzel take away store. We both got Hawaiian pizza like thing-ys and they were delicious. We had walked up onto this raised platform overlooking viktualienmarkt to eat and on the way down passed a gift shop kind of thing that had the cheapest prices we had yet seen. Alan got a super cool mug, ya know the ones with the metal tops. Its neat.
Then we went to find some Saft (juice). We found some. Fresh pressed, by which I mean we watched them do it, strawberry-orange-pineapple. With our Saft in hand, we had a bit of time and decided we would pay € 1 each to climb to the top of St. Peter's church steeple, called Alter Peter by locals (meaning Old Peter since a church has stood on that spot since something like the 1100s). (BTW- munich is the most catholic city in Germany and is in fact the only city in Europe allowed to fly the Vatican flag on religious holidays other than the Vatican). So yeah, climbing to the top was interesting because they only have one staircase that is only wide enough for one person, and people have to go up and down, and so many people were there (because the weather was so beautiful) that you could barely move once you got to the top. But, looking out, you could see the peaks of the Alps, and it was gorgeous. Really Really beautiful.
Like I said, the city itself isn't much to look at. Its very flat, very modern, and very nice. But there are some eye catching structures you can see from atop, such as the Rathaus, built to look really old. The Olympic stadium, where the Olympics were held in the 1970s I think. The Frauenkirche, one of the only buildings to survive WWII, simply because the allied planes needed its steeples to know where they were! And of course the landscape, which is absolutely amazing.
Anyways, we made it up, around, and down, and headed back to the Hostel to drop off stuff. We got more pretzels and went back to Marienplatz to pick up another tour. This was pretty cool cuz it was a Bier and Brewery tour. We learned about the ancient bier making stuff and toured a micro brewery where the bier never leaves the building. Its made there and served there and no where else. We got free samples and it was ok, but the food was really amazing. The Schneider Weisse bier was better though. It was wheat bier and decent, especially for someone who doesn't like bier. Then we went to the Hoefbraeuhaus, which was originally the royal brewery of the city. We went in, but didn't drink anything and left pretty quickly. It was fun to go inside though!
The next morning we woke up to go on a tour of Dachau, the original concentration camp of the Third Reich. It's now a memorial to all the people that died or were forced to live there. The history was amazing, and our tour guide was Matt again! When we got back, it was too early for dinner, and we wanted to explore the city some more, so we took a trip up to see the Olympic stadium and BMW World. That night we went to eat at the Schneiderweisse. We got Radler, which is half beer, half lemonade and very delicious. This was a fantastic night because I made it 90% of the way through dinner only speaking in German to the waitress. I was so disappointed when I didn't understand what she said once and so she spoke in English the rest of the time, and I so could have done it too. :-(
The next day we took a trip to Neuschwanstein, the castle. There, we saw the Alps and Austria, and the castle where I snuck some illegal pictures. The tour guide was not Matt, and very not as good. The trip was really good though, and when we came home we ate at the Ratskeller. It was underneath the Rathaus and our waiter had the most perfect monopoly man mustache! He was funny! It was great. On our way back to the Hostel, Matt was there (the tour guide) and we overheard him saying he was getting up really early, and we made the comment that so were we! It turned out that he was going to the airport too, and we got cheap tickets with him for the next morning! It was all very serendipitous!
So we made it to the airport, with time to spare, got our last German pastries, and the biggest and most delicious millka bar I have ever eaten. We got on the plane, and the captain came on and told us that our flight had been delayed. We sat on the airplane for like 2 hours playing clapping games and other things to pass the time. When we finally got to London, we had missed our bus back to the tube station and had to wait for another one. We finally got home and we were exhausted and Alan didn't feel well. So I made pizza for dinner while he slept, made sure everything was packed up, and headed out at 3 am for our next bus to the airport.
After that we gave up sleeping in burger king and went to find out terminal. On the way we found a nice billboard-y thing that showed like departures and stuff and I slept under there for a while. When I woke up, Alan slept for a while. Then we went and checked in and went through security with no problems, except Alan's belt which continually gave us problems. Through securty, we waited in the departures area for which gate our plane was leaving from and Alan slept on a more comfortable bench (it had padding!!) until the sun came up. We finally found out which gate was ours and headed out. We got on the plane and were off to Munich.
We arrived in Munich and made it through passport control ok (which by the way, is the scariest thing ever any time we enter a country!). We left the arrivals area and found an information booth. There, I got to speak my first German since high school...to a German Person. :-D I was really excited! Anyway, she told us how to get from where we were to where we were going by S-Bahn (like a metro or tube or subway). We got off the S-Bahn and found our way to the hostel, where we checked in and found our room. The room was large and full of 20 beds, but they were clean and the people were nice. The bathrooms were also clean, and after locking up our stuff we left to go exploring.
The day was a bit chilly and foggy, but the city was great. We stopped and got Bratwrust and Mezzo Mix which is a Coke brand soda that is like Orange soda mixed with Coke. So good! Then we walked around a bit and went exploring. We saw the Rathaus and the Viiktualienmarkt (spell check anyone?). The city is not eye catching in the way that Paris or parts of London are. It is all very modern, considering that it was bombed to the ground during WWII. But it has charm and appeal and I absolutely fell in love with it. If I ever move to Europe, you will find me in that city.
We walked down around some monuments and listened in on a tour for a minute. I liked what the tour guide was talking about which was lucky because we had him as a tour guide the very next day! We made our way to the Englischgarten, trying to find a chines tower thing (which is actually a bier garten) on the map. It turned out that because of the snow and rain, the whole park was slushy and wet, so we didn't end up finding it. But it was beautiful and on the way there we got our first Barvarian Pastries and Pretzels. Delicious.
As it was starting to rain, we headed back to the Hostel. There we asked for a suggestion on a good place to eat, and found our way to the Augustiner Braeu Haus. They brew their own bier there, but we only got water (which I rather regret now). Their food was good though, and the place had charm. We had English menus and an English speaking waitress, which was nice, though some things still got confused. Like tip. Apparently, they don't do that. Oh well.
After that we went to sleep, since sleeping in an airport isn't the most restful place, and we were tired. The following morning we woke up to go on a free walking tour. We picked up the tour in our Hostel and walked down to Marienplatz, the town center where the Rathaus is. There we met our tour guide, Matt, who I had seen the day before. He was really nice, really funny, and really knowledgeable about the city. He was from California and had been living there for 2 years, so he spoke fluent English and German. The tour was a great 3 hour non-stop exploration of the city, from memorials to monuments, churches and markets. It was glorious and I loved the city even more. The weather was beautiful and over all it was really great.
During our tour we stopped at the Viktualienmarkt, which was much busier on Saturday than on Friday. There, we bought a pastry called a Splitterbomb. Think softball sized, marshmallow filled cream puff coated in chocolate entirely. A-mazing. Nonetheless, after the tour we were hungry, and proceeded to buy food from a stand we had seen other guides getting food from before the tour. It was called Rischart, and kind of like a pastry, ice cream, German pizza, pretzel take away store. We both got Hawaiian pizza like thing-ys and they were delicious. We had walked up onto this raised platform overlooking viktualienmarkt to eat and on the way down passed a gift shop kind of thing that had the cheapest prices we had yet seen. Alan got a super cool mug, ya know the ones with the metal tops. Its neat.
Then we went to find some Saft (juice). We found some. Fresh pressed, by which I mean we watched them do it, strawberry-orange-pineapple. With our Saft in hand, we had a bit of time and decided we would pay € 1 each to climb to the top of St. Peter's church steeple, called Alter Peter by locals (meaning Old Peter since a church has stood on that spot since something like the 1100s). (BTW- munich is the most catholic city in Germany and is in fact the only city in Europe allowed to fly the Vatican flag on religious holidays other than the Vatican). So yeah, climbing to the top was interesting because they only have one staircase that is only wide enough for one person, and people have to go up and down, and so many people were there (because the weather was so beautiful) that you could barely move once you got to the top. But, looking out, you could see the peaks of the Alps, and it was gorgeous. Really Really beautiful.
Like I said, the city itself isn't much to look at. Its very flat, very modern, and very nice. But there are some eye catching structures you can see from atop, such as the Rathaus, built to look really old. The Olympic stadium, where the Olympics were held in the 1970s I think. The Frauenkirche, one of the only buildings to survive WWII, simply because the allied planes needed its steeples to know where they were! And of course the landscape, which is absolutely amazing.
Anyways, we made it up, around, and down, and headed back to the Hostel to drop off stuff. We got more pretzels and went back to Marienplatz to pick up another tour. This was pretty cool cuz it was a Bier and Brewery tour. We learned about the ancient bier making stuff and toured a micro brewery where the bier never leaves the building. Its made there and served there and no where else. We got free samples and it was ok, but the food was really amazing. The Schneider Weisse bier was better though. It was wheat bier and decent, especially for someone who doesn't like bier. Then we went to the Hoefbraeuhaus, which was originally the royal brewery of the city. We went in, but didn't drink anything and left pretty quickly. It was fun to go inside though!
The next morning we woke up to go on a tour of Dachau, the original concentration camp of the Third Reich. It's now a memorial to all the people that died or were forced to live there. The history was amazing, and our tour guide was Matt again! When we got back, it was too early for dinner, and we wanted to explore the city some more, so we took a trip up to see the Olympic stadium and BMW World. That night we went to eat at the Schneiderweisse. We got Radler, which is half beer, half lemonade and very delicious. This was a fantastic night because I made it 90% of the way through dinner only speaking in German to the waitress. I was so disappointed when I didn't understand what she said once and so she spoke in English the rest of the time, and I so could have done it too. :-(
The next day we took a trip to Neuschwanstein, the castle. There, we saw the Alps and Austria, and the castle where I snuck some illegal pictures. The tour guide was not Matt, and very not as good. The trip was really good though, and when we came home we ate at the Ratskeller. It was underneath the Rathaus and our waiter had the most perfect monopoly man mustache! He was funny! It was great. On our way back to the Hostel, Matt was there (the tour guide) and we overheard him saying he was getting up really early, and we made the comment that so were we! It turned out that he was going to the airport too, and we got cheap tickets with him for the next morning! It was all very serendipitous!
So we made it to the airport, with time to spare, got our last German pastries, and the biggest and most delicious millka bar I have ever eaten. We got on the plane, and the captain came on and told us that our flight had been delayed. We sat on the airplane for like 2 hours playing clapping games and other things to pass the time. When we finally got to London, we had missed our bus back to the tube station and had to wait for another one. We finally got home and we were exhausted and Alan didn't feel well. So I made pizza for dinner while he slept, made sure everything was packed up, and headed out at 3 am for our next bus to the airport.
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