Oxford

Blenheim Palace

Globe Theater

British Museum

Pictures at an Exhibition

Howdy fellow London kids!

The following posts will contain the rest of my photos from the trip. Just thought you might be interested. To all the 3-weekers: hope you're relaxin and having good summers. To all the interns: hope you're enjoying yourselves over there and I can't wait to hear all your stories!
I'll break the photos down into seperate posts with the headings describing where they are from.

Cheers!

Does Anybody Really Know What Time It Is?

Hey all!

Well, its about 1 am here, and I've just come home from our last-hurrah dinner and drinks with the intern kids who will be here for another five weeks. It was awesome! We all went to this great steakhouse in Crouch End called Monkey Nuts...yeah, weird I know, but it was really cool. They had a cover band playing that was out of this world -- everything a cover band should be. It was a bunch of old guys playing everything from Elvis to Johnny Cash to Nirvana to Led Zepplin...rock!! My roomies and the rest of my mates are still out at the moment, I ducked out early to get some sleep before our flight tomorrow and finish some last minute packing.

I spent my last day in England out in Greenwich. My friend Greg and I had been interested in going since we got here, but hadn't had the chance until today. We took something called the Docklands Light Railway out to Greenwich and walked through the adorable little town up to the Royal Observatory...home of the Prime meridian, the zero degree longitude line, and the clock that keeps the official Greenwich Mean Time. After a couple of the usual touristy photos there, we checked out the other parts of the historic observatory and the gift shop. Then we headed down into town to scrounge up something to eat. Following that, we made our way past the Cutty Sark, an old clipper ship in drydock that was pretty cool. As we were leaving, we spotted a really neat way to travel back -- a ferry. So, we paid a little extra and got an awesome view of London via a ferry down the Thames. Talk about cool -- we arrived back in Westminster right under Tower Bridge!

Well, I just wanted to post a quick update, but I'm headed to bed before our loooong flight tomorrow. Keep checkin back for a week or so as I post more photos and such from the trip. I'll leave a link back to my personal blog once I close out this one.

Thank you...and GOODNIGHT LONDON!!

All I Got is a Photograph

Hey guys!

Since I'm not out getting plastered (for once ;-) ) I just thought I'd add some of my other photos from the trip. I have tons! Some of the ones here are from my visit to the Tower of London, and a few are of Tower Bridge (not London Bridge, common misconception), and some are just some other fun ones I've taken while I've been here. I miss all you guys at home soooo much and I can't wait to see you all when I get back. I should be home Tuesday evening, as we leave London early in the morning. Woo.

Enjoy these...Cheers!

Ice, Ice Baby

Howdy!

Well, I'm finally making good on the other half of my dual posting. I had to split these up because there were so many pictures and things to talk about. You've already seen the photos from Stonehenge and Salisbury, and now you get to see what we did later that night.

One of my groovy roomies had heard about this icebar called "Below Zero" from a friend of hers who had been here and we decided that it sounded like a sweet once in a lifetime opportunity. I mean dude...a bar...made completely out of ice!! Like that scene from the James Bond movie!

And indeed it was incredible.We went to the bar and had to actually sit in a regular bar outside the ice one and wait for our turn to go in. You can only go in for 40 mins. at a time, since the icebar is maintained at -5 degrees c. When it was our turn to go, we got in the queue and attendants at the door outfitted us with parkas and gloves...then we headed inside.

It was awesome. Cover was outrageous (about $30) but it included your first vodka drink in a glass made out of ice. So, after filling up my groovy ice glass with some cranberry Absolut thing that was really good, I started snapping photos of the bar. As you can see, there were ice statues and structures everywhere and no shortage of people in their sweet parkas. Even the barmaids had parkas and little furry hats!

So, we spent the next 40 mins. chilling out (literally) in the Absolut Icebar, then headed down to the regular warm bar below that to defrost ourselves. I indulged myself a bit and had an excellent glass of champagne while we were there, so I was a happy camper.

After finishing our drinks, we headed out to the legendary London club, Fabric. Fabric is a four story dance club that is like nothing I've ever seen before in my life. It's a freakin' four story rave -- you know, one of those places with laser lights and the bass so deep it shakes your ribcage...rock. It was packed, but we grabbed some drinks and danced for a couple of hours to the blasting house music. At some point, Greg, Mariah (another cool student we met while we were here from Oregon), and I ended up dancing on this balcony overlooking one of the dancefloors below. I swear, it made you feel like you were in a movie scene...like it wasn't even real! (or maybe that was just the Jager ;-) j/k ).

Our only issue of the evening came when it was time to go home. The original group of us was six people, but when we hit Fabric we split in half. Greg and Mariah and I were in one group and my other two roomies and another guy from Oregon named Colin were in the other. Greg and Mariah and I got tired earlier and decided we'd head home. That was cool until we decided that we didn't really need a cab and were smart enough to navigate the night bus system. Wrong. We spent a couple of hours running around London in the cold, both on bus and on foot, until we got relatively close to where we lived and gave up and hailed a cab. That whole night was an adventure. Oy. Wonderfully though, we were all good sports and I give my companions a lot of credit for their patience and perseverance through the whole ordeal. The incident was really faultless, as we all contributed to the mess. I bought a round of shots for us last night and there was much cheers-ing to our directionally challenged-ness.

Well, enough babble. Have a look at my really cool (no seriously..-5 degrees cool ;-) ) photos and lemme know what you think!

Cheers!

This Ain't no PC Background

So..as you'll notice, I've split the past days activities into two posts because there is so much to say and there are so many pics to post, that I think it necessitates a dual posting.

I spent my day on Friday touring the quaint English village of Salisbury and visiting the incredible Stonehenge. Salisbury included a trip to the breathtaking Salisbury cathedral, pictures of which you can see here. This town was so adorable. This is what you think of when you read books that describe little English villages in the countryside...thatched roofed cottages, tiny shops, cobblestone streets...the whole thing.

Salisbury cathedral was, as I said, breathtaking. It had some of the most beautiful architecture I've ever seen and the history was incredible. This cathedral contained one of the original copies of the Magna Carta...in latin, of course. However, you could venture around the room that contained it and read a translation in any one of several languages. That was really cool.

Stonehenge was everything I thought it would be and more. There's such an incredible energy there and so much mystery! It's really such an awesome site to behold. And when you do, you're amazed that you're so...well...rocked by a bunch of rocks! The history of the site and its Druid worshippers is really interesting, it really made me want to learn more about it.

So, have a look at my pictures and enjoy the fact that these Stonehenge photos are no PC background...these are the real deal!

Cheers!

Elementary, My Dear Watson

Hello all!

It's been a fun few days, as usual. The sun has been out a bit more, which is nice, though its still cool temperature wise.

Yesterday I began my day by visiting the beautiful National Portrait Gallery. This enormous art museum in Trafalgar square contained everything from pictures of Tudor-era British monarchs (of course) to contemporary photographs of such important people as Judy Dench, Mick Jagger, Tim Curry, and of course, J.K. Rowling. But for the truly dedicated, the digital video piece of legendary footballer David Beckham sleeping for 67 mins. was not to be missed. There was also plenty of Andy Warhol, lots of interesting busts and a whole host of other unique British art.

Despite feeling a little museumed-out, that was pretty cool. From there, my friend Greg and I decided to return to one of our favorite places for lunch -- Leister Square's China town. After some yummy egg fried rice and a whole pot of real green tea (like, really fragrant with leaves in the bottom of the cup), we headed back to our respective homestays. I dragged myself down to the laundrette and did my final load of laundry then headed home for a bit.

Finding ourselves bored and starving later that evening, we met up again to find some dinner and wander around. The wandering strategy has worked remarkably well for me since I've been here. I think the only real way to see London is on foot. Once you learn how to get to the various segments of London via tube, walking is great. You see so many interesting things! Parks, palaces, stores, restaurants...so much fun!

So last night, after dinner we had planned to return home, however, we found a delay on the tube line that would have taken us back to our stop, so we opted to go exploring for a bit. We hopped the Bakerloo tube line and headed down to Baker Street -- home of legendary ficticious detective, Sherlock Holmes. Baker Street is in Westminster, or Royal London. It took us some time to actually find Baker street, even though we managed to walk right by it several times. However, we finally did find it and 221B, Sherlock's address. So, the black door you see in the picture is just that -- 221B Baker street.

After several very obvious tourist photographs, we took a walk through St. Mary's gardens. These gardens are absolutely beautiful and full of all sorts of ducks and geese, and as you can tell from the photograph, swans! After a brief trip through there, we hopped back on the tube and headed home. A long day, but fun.

This morning (at this writing it was 9:40am), I discovered why commuters are so crabby all the time. Public transit sucks. I hopped on my usual tube line, the Piccadilly, from my station to head out to the University of London, but heard an announcement that someone had taken ill on the train in front of the one I was on and it would be remaining on the platform for a while. I jumped off immediately and headed for one of the other lines that would get me near where I needed to go, the Victoria line. I took the Victoria down a couple of stops, intending to circumvent the delay and get back on the Piccadilly at King's Cross Station (a major intersection). The Victoria train was PACKED...like struggling to breathe packed. Oy. That was fun. So, I got off at King's Cross and hoofed it over to the westbound Piccadilly line train. I didn't even make it onto the train it was so freakin packed. About that time, the London Underground decided that since so many people needed to get Westbound on the Piccadilly line, that they'd just turn the Picadilly train on the eastbound platform around and take it west to cope with demand. I got on that one and finally got out of there, but not before they'd confused the crap out of everyone in the station. There was a lot of cursing and grumbling, but I made it here ok. Whew. What a morning.

Well, I must be off now, its the Museum of London this morning, followed by the Tower of London (the crown jewels!!) this afternoon.

Cheers!

A Few Random Bloggy Notes

Hi-ho...(kermit de frog here...j/k)...

Well, not much to report right now. We're back in class after a lovely bank holiday weekend. I've already blogged about my enjoyable Saturday night, and as for Sunday...well, after walking home at 4:30am and watching the sunrise (yes, the sun DOES rise at 4:30 over here), I took Sunday to chill out and do my school work. I finished the project portion I had due while I was here, which is due today, so no worries really.

Monday, which was bank holiday here, I stayed close to where I lived. I went to lunch with my friend Greg, then he retreated to do his project and I wandered into an area called Wood Green to do some shopping. I wound in and out of little boutiques and came out with two cute tops and the worlds most comfortable pair of linen cargo pants. It was rather fun.

After spending entirely too much money, I headed home for a bit. Then I headed out to the pub with my friends where we drank, chilled, and chatted. It was quite fun -- I love these guys, we have lots of laughs and just generally enjoy each others company.

In other news...I've learned so much about English and European culture while I've been here. I really like it. English people are pretty cool. However, their image and the image of this country is presented quite askew in the US. Thus, I present to you...

MYTHBUSTERS: LONDON EDITION
So, here are a few myths I'd like to dispel about the English and English culture.

1. Everyone dresses much more formally for everyday things -- MYTH -- think New York...everyone wears jeans and such just like we do, the style is slightly different, but the dress code is the same.

2. Beer is served room temperature -- CRAP -- I cannot for the life of me figure out where they do that. In every pub I've been to, the beer is cold. As a matter of fact, in most pubs, you can get your Guinness cold, or Extra cold. How about that?

3. The "stuffy brit" -- BS -- I might call these guys "hurried" but hurried in the same way people are in any major city. They've got places to go and things to do and have to fight their way through mass transit to do it -- of course they're a bit curt. But man, these guys know how to party -- the clubs and bars here are hoppin!

4. They English don't like being called "British" -- TOTAL CRAP -- I've read that in so many books...but its total crap! They call themselves British. It's a common term that is used all the time.

5. Tea and crumpets -- MYTH -- they drink plenty of tea, but I don't think most of the younger generation even has a clue what a crumpet is. I haven't seen one yet.

6. HORRIFIC dental hygiene -- PRETTY MUCH MYTH -- in some of the older folks, you can tell that dental care was not readily available when they were younger in that they're missing a few teeth, or that their teeth are crooked, but in the younger people, they look just like us. I've even seen a few with braces.

And there you have it! Some prominent English myths dispelled. That's really all I have for now. Included above is a picture of the entrance to the British Museum, which my roomies and I wandered through last week. I don't really have much else for pictures right now, but we have the Tower of London, Tate Modern Gallery, and a trip to Stonehenge and Salisbury coming up this week, so there will certainly be more to come.

Cheers!

UK words/phrases of the day:

Till = cash register
Bloke = guy
Bird = slang for girl (like chick)
Quid = slang for money (like bucks)

Rockin' Into the Night

Howdy! Well, I'm part way through the Bank Holiday weekend here in London. The spring bank holiday is on Monday, and we had Friday off, so we basically got a four day weekend. I've done a little basic wandering (which is so terribly easy to do in London), shopped, eaten and been to the theater.

Yesterday, my friend Greg and I went out to Leister square and got theater tickets to see "The Producers." Oh my God it was freakin hilarious. For those of you who don't know, "The Producers" is a play written by Mel Brooks about two Broadway producers who cook up a scheme that enables them to make money by producing the worst play ever. Well, combine that crazy plot with Mel Brooks and you get almost three hours of non stop laughter. It was fabulous.

Before we actually went to the play, we wandered through the famous Covent Garden market, since the theater we were going to was right near it. There were street vendors, mimes, clowns, shops, food, and all sorts of wonderful things. We ate the most interesting thing...in this country, waffles and pancakes are made into desserts. So, we got these (please don't kill me mom ;-) ) Caremel dipped waffles -- with chocolate sauce and ice cream on top. Mmmm...yummy sugar rush...I was wired for the rest of the day.

Then we went home for a bit, and then I joined some of my study abroad cohorts at our local watering hole for a drink. I ran into, yet again, my British "mates" from the first evening we went out. So our two groups hung out, drank, and listened to an AWESOME band (the played Eric f-ing Clapton!). That was really fun. Then, out of character for me, we went out to an after-hours club and danced till we dropped. That rocked. I got to drink and dance with my friends and it was simply fab. Admittedly, it was a really late night, but it was so worth it.

So, the pictures you'll find here are a few I took from the bar of me and my friends and a few other random ones. Hope you enjoy them and I'll have great stories for you all when I come home.

Cheers!