London - Day 12

Well, this is my last day here in London :-( So here is what happened!

Liz and I slept in until almost 11:15am. It was really nice to be able to sleep in, due to that Liz has gotten my butt out of bed before 9:00am every morning...SLEEP!!!!!!!!!!

We got up, ate breakfast, and were just being lazy and relaxed today. No rush on anything! We ran to the bank, and then went to Camden Market to do the last minute gift shopping that I needed to do. It was really quiet at the Market, which is weird for the market. It is usually really busy, and loud. But not today! Then we went to turn in Liz's rent, went to campus to print my boarding pass, and then the real part of the day started!

My last part of my trip schedule was a trip on the Boat Bus along The Themes. It was beautiful! We could see all parts of London (Big Ben, The Eye, Parliament, etc.) all while the sun was setting. It was really a beautiful site to see. I got tons of pictures of the sun setting with the sites of London. We took the bus up to Greenwich, to go to the Prime Meridian.

The Prime Meridian was really cool. It was in a little exhibit of clocks and astrology stuff. But we were there to stand on the Prime Meridian and be at 0 degrees Latitude! I was finally the center of the world!!!! HAHAHAHAHA!!!!!! We then walked around Greenwich, and came back to the gangs favorite desert restaurant.

I said goodbye to everyone, and gave them a little parting gift and letter. They all deserve it for being such great friends to Liz, and even to me. They are all amazing people, and I can't wait to see them again someday!


To be continued...

London - Day 11

What an early morning today was...UHH!!!! 6:45am, and out the door by 7:15am!! But the day was worth the early morning!

We went to Salisbury, and Stonehenge. It was amazing, and so beautiful to be there! The amount of thought and process that went into building this structure is amazing. The true meaning of why these stones are there, is still unknown, but it is still amazing to think of how these stones got there and then were built. The type of stones that they are made of are only found 100s of miles away from the site of Stonehenge. So the people that built these stones structure had to bring these stones that are 10-15 tons in weight to this site. Archeologists attempted in 2000 to bring the stones from their original site to the site of Stonehenge, and it failed. They were not able to bring the stones from one place to another. How are we not able to bring stones with the technology we have, but the people of 5000 years ago were able to bring these 10-15 ton stones to this place. It was amazing to learn about the stones and how they were brought there, and the things that you couldn't see about the stones. The people who built stones, even dug a moat like structure with antlers, and bull shoulder blades that was 6 ft deep. They also dug holes for the stones to sit in, and you can actually only see 2/3rds of the stone, there is 1/3 of the stone under the ground! WHAT?!?!?!?! Also, the way that the stones on top stay is because the people designed a ball and hip lock joint contraption, that held the stones in place! How did they know that this would work way back then?! They also craved the stones with other stones to give them the shape that they wanted! I would encourage anyone, who is over here in London to go to Stonehenge because it is an experience you will never forget! Here is a link to a site of Stonehenge if you want to read a little more about it: http://www.english-heritage.org.uk/daysout/properties/stonehenge/

On the tour bus that we went on, it brought you also to Old Sarum, the old city of Salisbury. It is in ruins now, but it was really cool to be able to walk around the grounds and see the ruins. The Cathedral of Salisbury was first built here on Old Sarum, and then brought down to its location now. That was really cool to see the outline of a church that is now built somewhere!

Liz and I then walked around Salisbury for a long time and just got to spend lots of time with each-other. Which is always nice! Then we went home to London, and went to try again at the Korean restaurant for dinner.

When we got there, there was a huge line to get into the restaurant. So we decided that we would wait, and then Chris, Masha, and Hannah met up with us for dinner as well. It was really nice, with all us just sitting laughing, and eating good food. I really like Liz's friends here, they are perfect for her, and I can leave feeling comfortable that she is being taken care of by people who care just as much about her as I do.

"And they are off!" We had to run from the restaurant to the Tower of London, to get to see the Ceremony of the Keys. We got there just in time, but god that is a long run!!!!!! It was really creepy to be in the Tower of London at night, and there were not many lights either. But the ceremony itself was really cool, and beautiful. It was very rigid and was very interesting to watch this ceremony that has been done every night for over 700 years.

Then we went out for a drink with everyone, and had many laughs about stories of us being drunk, and just fun stories that made us all laugh really hard!



To be continued...

London - Day 10

I am getting lazy with writing this blog! The problem is, that I go all day long and then I just crash when I hit the bed at night :-P Ooops!

Well, today I went back to UCL with Liz and went to her classes with her. The first one that I went to was The Evolution of Cognition. I was so lost...and the amount of work that she has to do in that class is ridiculous! Its a 15 credit course and it meets once a week, WHAT?! So many credits for a once a week class!!!!! It also was a very big class for it being a Seminar class.

After that class, we had lunch with her classmates. They are an interesting breed of people if I have to say so myself. All they talk about is the evolution of primates, or something that has to do with primates. They don't talk about anything else. I tried to make conversation with them, but they weren't having it at all. All they said to me was "Hi". I also saw the competitiveness in all of them about grades and about their classes. Not ok with me!!!

Her second class was called Human Behavioral Ecology, which was all about human changing their behaviors over time and such. It was only 14 people in the class around a very small table, and it was all of her classmates in her masters program. They are just weird, they don't speak up or ask questions, or anything. They just sit there and stare at the professor speaking. Its weird...

Then we decided to go to Westminster Abbey's Even Song service to hear the Choir of Westminster Abbey. We didn't get to sit with the choir this time, but we did get to hear the choir a lot. It was really nice, and I really enjoyed being able to hear all of the music for that service.

Then we met up with Chris, Masha, and Hannah for dinner. They had wanted to go to this Korean restaurant that is really popular and good. The line to get a table was over an hour wait, and wrapped outside the restaurant...so we decided to go to another place, INDIAN food. It was really good!!!! We got lots of dishes to share with each-other and it was really nice evening.

Off to bed! To be continued...

London - Day 8/9

So sorry I didn't post yesterday about Day 8. I was super tired, and was falling asleep while trying to write the blog, so I decided to take a break!

Day 8~

Yesterday Andrew, Padraig, Liz, and I all went to the Westminster Abbey service to hear the choir boys. It costs 16 pounds to get into the Abbey when a service is not going on. Who in their right mind would pay that much to go into a church?! NO WAY!!! So we went to a service, and got in for free :-) Beat the system!!! Throughout the entire Abbey, there are many people who are buried underneath the the floor, and it says who is buried under there. Well, while we were waiting to go into the main chapel area, Liz was unknowingly standing on Charles Darwin, thinker (father according to Liz who is yelling at me to put father. I like thinker better!) of evolution. This is funny because she is obsessed with him, and is studying his work as a masters student.

After the service, we said our goodbyes to Padraig and I took him to the train station. It was so wonderful to see him while I was here.

Leonardo Da Vinci is a painter, sculptor, architect, musician, scientist, mathematician, engineer, inventor, and many other things. The National Gallery of Brittan, has collected all of the paintings, drawings, scetches, of all of Da Vinci's works. There were over a 100 of them collected into one area, and you had to have tickets and a reservation to go see it. It was wonderful to see all the works, and to see his detail into everything. All of them were the original works, and not copies, which made it even better!

Then it was time for Andrew to set off back to the USA. It was also really great to see Andrew while he was on his way home. Who goes out of their way to come see people that they love, Double H people too, and that is excatly what Padraig and Andrew did. They are wonderful people, and I can't wait to see them again soon!

Liz and I got take away food and came back to the flat, ate, and went to bed. We were exhausted!

To be continued....

Day 9 ~

Today I was a grad student, in the anthropology student! Liz had class and an exam today, so I went with her to her University to sit in.

Well...being a grad student didn't last long...her class was cancelled. So instead we went to the cafe on campus and just chatted about stuff for a long time! It was nice being able to sit and chat about things

We had lunch at a little pub and I got to eat a traditional meat pie (steak and ale pie) - which are fantastic...YUM!!!! Then I all of a sudden became super tired, and wanted to go back to the flat and take a nap while Liz was in her test...so I did! God being a grad student is so hard!!!!

I finally got to meet Chris (Liz's good friend over here) today! He seems like a really sweet guy, who genually cares about others. I felt bad for the poor guy because he has been up for almost 4 days with about 4 hours of sleep writing papers that were all due today! Liz and I thought he was drunk, but he was acutally just so tired that he seemed like he was! Sounds all too familiar with me!

Tonight was my belated birthday present and dinner, which was all French based. We went to a little French restaurant and it was fantastic! I couldn't believe how fresh and wonderful it tasted, it tasted just like France! YUM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Then my favorite part of the night came...Les Miserables. Liz got us tickets to see it months ago, and we finally were able to go see it. It's my favorite show, and I love everything about the show; the music, the staging, the costumes, everything! I was so happy that I got to share that show with Liz, cause she had never seen it before. It is such a powerful show, that just has so much meaning and depth to every character and every line of the songs. Ughhh love it!!!!!

To be continued...

London - Day 7

Wow! What a day today was!!!! So crazy and so busy!!!!

So we decided to go see a show tonight, and went to Leicester Square to go to the 1/2 price ticket booth. We weren't really banking on anything to go see, but just wanted to see a show. But we did get Chicago, in the orchestra, 6th row!!!!!! SWEET!!!!

After we got the tickets, we walked around to the big sites (Big Ben, Parliament, Westminster Abbey etc..), and then went to Portobello Street Market to do some looking and walking around.

Portobello Market is full of antiques and lots of little old shops. We didn't buy anything, but we just looked around and enjoyed the views of all the old stuff. They also had a ton of food venders, and we got a cupcake, and some pallella which were both fantastic!

Once we decided to come back to Camden Town, we went to the Camden Town Market and did some shopping there. It was a mad house there! So many people, in such a small condense area. It was really cool, because the Market used to be a horse stall building. It seems like it goes forever and ever and never ends. You can find everything from food - indian gifts - fish eating the dead skin cells off your feet. Everything and I mean everything!!!!!

We came back to the flat and had a little something to eat, and just relaxed before going out to the show. Chicago was amazing! They did such a fabulous job with the performance, and it was really sweet to be able to actually watch it and not perform it. All the performers were just amazing, and so talented. There was not one weak person on that stage!

Then we met up with Shana Summers!!! I was so happy that I got to see Shana while we were both here in London. Shana is one of my best friends from Shenandoah, and I couldn't believe of all the places that we would be in the at the same time, would be London! Just CRAZY!!!!!!!

We have an early morning tomorrow, so I'm making this one short and sweet!

To be continued...

London - Day 6

So as we decide what we are doing tomorrow, I shall write this blog...even though I am falling asleep! 

Cambridge is not the sweetest place on earth. We had decided to go to Cambridge last night at the last minute, so it was a little bit of a spurt of the moment. 

So the start of the day started with us finding out that Cambridge is not 20 minutes away. Liz had told us that it was about 20 minutes away, and it turned out to be an hour on the train. It was a magical and fun time on there, but we were not expecting to be on the train that long. Oh well, more time spent together with each-other! 

It was really funny because the walk from the train station to the center of Cambridge is almost 45 minutes. And it is an ugly walk to the center of the city. As we were walking, we began to think that the city was just this ugly boring place. It wasn't even nice to to look at, but we ended up finding the center of the city and walked around for a long time. We went to a pub called, "The Ealge" which is a famous pub, where DNA was first discussed and the idea was first thought about. It was the best fish and chips that Liz has had since being here, and I thought it was really really really really really really good. After lunch, we walked around a little more and then headed back to London. 

Once in London we walked through Regents Park and along the Canal back to Camden Town and walked through the market. That place is incredible and is huge! They have everything and anything in there. The architecture of the building is amazing and so detailed. We came back to the flat, made dinner and had a few drinks before going out for drinks. 

But to top off the day, we met up with Mr. Padraig McCain! We added to the Double H family here in London. It was awesome to see that little Irish face of his. We went out to a few pubs and then came back here where I am crashing! Paddy is also staying with us here, so we have 4 people in a very small room! Its just like camp!!!!!

To be continued...

London - Day 5

Woke up this morning, to 3 people in a two person bed! It was wonderful, but I did have a headache from all the drinking we did the night before...oopps!

Windsor Castle is the residence of Queen Elizabeth II (the current Queen), and is the largest and oldest occupied Castle in the WORLD! It is huge!!!!! But before we got to Windsor Castle, we took the train, and colored in our coloring books! But that is not really important, just some entertainment for you all! Windsor Castle is huge, and very stately. It has way too many rooms for any one person, or even a family that would live there. Even when we saw the Queens Doll House, it was extravagant! It had running water and electricy...IN A DOLL HOUSE!!!! GOD!

We had lunch in Windsor, and walked around a bunch. I have just realized that I use exclamation points way too much! I need to stop...

We came back to London, well we tried to get back. Masha went home, and Liz, Andrew, and I wanted to go to Central London for dinner. We got lost about 4 times on the Underground, thought we were on the wrong train - got off, then got onto the wrong train - got off, and then got onto the right train. It was a complicated mess, but was an adventure in itself! We walked around the big sites to show Andrew, and it was great! I love just walking around and looking at everything, and exploring.

Dinner consisted of having desert first, at this little French place, and it was amazing!! It was an art piece that was eatable, and it tasted wonderful! I just wanted to look at it because it was so beautiful.  We walked around Soho (gay district) and went Pub hopping to drink some beers.

It was a very tire-full day, with walking and exploring! So we have decided to go to bed a little early (1/2 earlier than yesterday) and tomorrow shall be another wonderful day in itself!

To be continued...

London - Day 4

Today was a day of meeting! 

The first person we met, was Masha, who is one of Liz's best friends here. She is wonderful in every way imaginable. She is studying British Law at University College of London, where Liz goes to school. Masha is a lawyer back in Russia (originally from), but wanted to get more Law experience. 

Then Masha and Liz took me on a day long walk. We walked all over the place!!!! They wanted me to see the back side of London, the part that many tourists don't see! So I was feeling like a local walking around the areas. Our first stop was at Borough Market, but it was closed. We walked along the Southwark and got to see lots of different sites and buildings. The buildings here are really spectacular! There is so much detail into what goes into the buildings, that they are like artwork. 

"London Bridge is falling down, falling down, falling down. London Bridge is falling down, my fair lady." It is really boring looking, and not that impressive. Anytime that someone said, "Oh the London Bridge!"  I thought it was some fabulous looking bridge with buildings and colorful and such. But no, it is a very ordinary boring bridge. Disappointment...

We walked down to see where the Lord Mayors Office is. Its really designed in a beautiful style. It is very contemporary structure, and is right on the water. I want an office that looks pretty!!!!!! Then we crossed the Tower Bridge, which is what I thought was the London Bridge, into the bank district. Totally different side of London, where buildings are all tall and bank like. Then camp began! 

We met Mike Lee at St. Paul's Cathedral and it was magical! I haven't seen Mike since camp ended, and of all places to see him...LONDON! He is in transit to China, where he will be studying for a semester. Then we did lunch, and crossed the Millennium Bridge and saw the Globe and the Tate. The Tate is a contemporary art museum...and I didn't understand any of it! I appreciate that type of art, but how is a square box worthy of being in an art museum? Or a crow with an arrow through it?! My 8 year old sister could do that! I don't know...weird!

Then we walked some more and walked some more down to Somerset House, and Convent Garden. All very beautiful views of London. We had some time to kill, so we decided to stop at Lamb and Flag for a drink. Lamb and Flag is possibly the oldest pub in London, with its opening in 1623! WOW!!!!! 

Then camp began again with meeting up with Andrew Varelas! We met him on the Underground at Leicester Square. He was supposed to meet us there at 4:00pm, but didn't get there until 5:30pm. So we waited, and waited, and waited, and waited on the platform. Every time a train would come, I would stand on the chair and look around for him to get off onto the platform. We had given up that he wasn't coming and that it was all a big lie. We started to play 20 questions, and I gave up standing on the chair the very next train. Not even getting through an entire round of 20 questions, we looked down the platform and there he was all smiling! Liz, Mike, and I ran down and jumped into his big bear arms! He gives the best hugs, and it was so awesome that we all were here together in London!!! 

We came back to the flat, and had a wonderful home cooked dinner with wine and beer. It was really nice cause we all could catch up and just talk with one another. We then met up with Masha again, and went to a pub called "The Worlds End" and had a few beers, and got drunk. It was wonderful in so many ways because I was with people that I care about so much, and we were all together in a whole new world, and with these people the World will never End! (Like how I used the name of the pub and put it into a tag?! HAHAHA!)

To be continued...

London - Day 3

Today I was royalty, and we visited one of my many Palaces that I own. As Liz asks, "When are you not royalty?!" But first we had to stop at Liz's campus to print out her study guide for her upcoming tests, in the pouring rain...YUCK! On her campus, they have the founder of their school on display...his actual dead body!!!! WTF?!?!?!??! Why in gods name would you want your body on display for people to see?! And to make it even worse...the guys head fell off, and was sitting on the ground of the display. They eventually made a fake head, because people kept stealing it! Why would you steal a dead head?! WHY?!?!? So the real story is, is that Jeremy Bentham was the founder, and is a famous Utilitarian. When he died, he wanted his body to be on display for all to see, and so the embalmed him. During the process, his head was not done correctly and it started to rott. YUCK! So comes the story of the stolen head.

Then we hoped on a train and went to Hampton Court Palace, home to the Tudor Dynasty (most famously King Henry VIII), and the Stuart Dynasty. It is two different palaces in one palace. King Henry VIII, had added so many wings, and rooms onto this palace, and this architecture is considered "Tudor". When King William III, and Queen Mary II moved in, they wanted to rip down the Tudor Palace, and rebuild it in a Baroque style. But, without the funds, they did not and just added onto the Tudor Palace, thus making the Palace even bigger!! The gardens were beautiful, and was overall just an amazing place! There are over 1,000 rooms, and 300 chimeys which are all different, none the same! Can't wait to move into my apartment there, they are making the Queen Tim apartments.

Then the most important meal of the day, dinner! Liz took me to this amazing place called, "Gordons Wine Cellar". It was amazing!!! It used to be a wine cellar, and is now turned into a restaurant/wine bar. It is the oldest wine bar in London, established in 1890! WOW!!!!!The ceiling is really low, and curved, and just looked like an old wine cellar. It was really really really cool! We shared a bottle of wine, and a plate of cheese for dinner. It was delicious!!

A walk was accompanied by lovely conversation along to Thames, where we were able to see everything all lite up at night. It all looks so different during the day, than it does at night. We got to see The Eye, Big Ben, Parliament, and Westminster Abbey. They were all so beautiful, and so different then what we had seen before. Fun fact of the day: Westminster Abbey has these statues of 20th century marters. Here is a link that will explain it more: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Westminster_Abbey_-_20th_Century_Martyrs.jpg

To be continued...

Day 2 - London

So I got over 12 hours of sleep...much needed!!!

The Natural History Museum was first on our list. Liz got to show, and tell me all about her primate friends! She was also studying at the same time, so I was helpful with sciency stuff. Who knew I could be a scientist?! I sure as hell didn't! We next went to the Victorian & Albert Museum, aka V&A. It was HUGE!!!!!!! So many things to look at, and so little time! They had sculptures, monuments, and exhibition on theatre & plays,  and jewelry. There were about 50 other exhibits that we could have seen, but we needed to get TEA!

We walked to Hyde Park, and saw the Princess of Whales Fountain, which is a little let down...its a circle with water...let down. But the Albert Memorial...not so much a let down! ITS GINORMOUS! The Queen Victoria built this monument, in memory of her husband, Prince Albert. She loved him so much, and wanted the world to see just how much! Well, it would cost today 10 million pounds to make! HOLY CRAP!!!! FIND ME A QUEEN THAT WILL LOVE ME THAT MUCH!!!!!

Then the estate of Queen Victoria, the Kensington Palace was next. Boy was that pretty! There are so many palaces here, that I am having a hard time keeping track of them all! This is the future residence of Prince  William and the Duchess Kate. Behind that is the Orangery where Liz and I had afternoon tea.

Afternoon tea was started by Duchess Anna Marie Stanhope so that she wasn't so hungry during the day. We had the Champagne tea, and I had Palace Earl Gray Tea. It was DELICIOUS!!!! I was so impressed with it, and I felt so fancy and British! So cool!!

After tea, we went to hunt down the Peter Pan statue and make a wish on it. Tradition is that you make a wish on it, good luck will come to you. Then we walked down to "Winter Wonderland" which is a carnival like thing based on christmas. It was really crowded but was really cool looking! Lots of beer, and fun houses = MY MIND! After traveling through my head, we went to the Marble Arch, and then to Harrods. Oh boy...its the expensive expensive expensive very expensive version of Macy's. They had every single designer named item in this store. People go in here just to look at the stuff, and there is more than 3 floors of it...its like a museum of things I can never afford!! Cry on the inside..

So to complete a british filled day, we went to see 'La Traviatta' at the Royal Opera House. It was amazing! The voices, were incredible and the opera house was just as beautiful. The singers filled the hall no problem, and it was a packed house. It was really nice to see a lot of young people there (my age), because you don't see a lot of young people going to operas. We were in the nose bleeder seats, but it was totally worth it, and I could see everything just as well. Its about hearing, and not seeing, but we got both of those!

To be continued...

A New Adventure - Day 1 London, England

This blog is a combination of Liz Casline, and myself.

A few months ago, I sent Liz an email containing some travel plans that I was taking. These plans were to visit her in London, come January 1, 2012. Liz was sitting in traffic on the Bay bridge in San Francisco. No later than, 15 seconds after I sent the email, I got a phone call from her saying "WTF?! IS THIS FOR REAL?!" Well, it sure was!

Liz is a student at The University College of London, studying Human Evolution and Behaviour (its the British spelling of the Behavior).

6 months later...

Day 1 - Arrival

After driving from Evansville Indiana all night, then getting on a plane and not sleeping, I finally got to see the beautiful Ginger Wife waiting for me at Heathrow Airport. Seeing her face in real life is so much better than over a laptop screen! Skype is now so over rated! We hugged for what seemed like 10 minutes, and then began to go to her flat in the city.

I unpacked a little, and then we were off to explore the city! We first walked down through Soho, passed Leister Square, and out into Trafalgar Square. What a site to see that was! "This is my favorite place here in London!" said Liz. She has a little coffee shop that she likes to go and study at in Trafalgar Square. We then went down to see Big Ben, Parliment, 10 Downing Street (The home of the Prime Minister). Walking through St. James park and over to see Buckingham Palace (The London Residence of the Queen!). A New Years Day parade was happening this day, so I was able to take a picture right in the middle of the street and get a cool shot of it! Its the picture that is in this blog!

After seeing the palace, we went through Green Park to go see the Queensbury Madrigal Singers sing at the St. James Piccadilly Church. The Madrigals was the select choir that I was in when I was in high school, so it was really cool to see my director and the group that I was in, sing in London. None of the kids knew that I was coming, and they were all SUPER surprised to see me there! After the service, we were able to go have a drink and lunch with Bryan Kirk, my former piano teacher from home. He was one of the chaperones, on the Madrigals trip. It was really nice because Liz had never met him before! They got along great, and we never had a quiet moment!

Then it was like typical London, and rained. So we decided to come home after lunch with Bryan, because 1. it was raining, and 2. I was exhausted!! Way over 48 hours of no sleep really can hurt at the last stretch of time! Liz made dinner when we came home, and it was delicious! We were in bed at 7:30pm, and I was passed out at 7:31pm. It was a great start to a great adventure here with the one in my life who understands everything that has happened in it!

To be continued...