British Tour Diary

Ok, So we're back in England. The flight this morning wasn't too rough save for the fact that we literally got no sleep last night. We had to be on a bust tot he airport (which was over an our away plus take the metro to the bus) by 3am since our flight was at 630am. I don't know why I book such early flights. After some issues with the weight of my bag, we got all checked in and now we are in London again. We're at a hostel near Notting Hill Gate and we got naps on the couches so we are a little bit more together right now. We plan on venturing to the grocery store later to get some food and such. It was raining really hard earlier but I think it has let up now.

Last night was awesome though. We went to an FC Barcelona match. Our seats were really high up but then we managed to steal some other ones down closer and so we watched the 2nd half of the match from the bottom level (4 levels down from where we were). We also had a great time because Nancy and I polished off a bottle of whiskey between us. We're making our parents proud. Haha. After the game we went with some people from the hostel and got some tasty tapas at a little restaurant and then headed back to the hostel where we had to pretty much grab our stuff and head for that bus.

Overall, Spain was pretty awesome. The weather turned out to be great and it was really pretty. Plus, we got tasty falafel for cheap because the guy liked us. What more could a girl ask for?

Estoy en Espańa!

Ok, contrary to popular belief, we are not dead. We are in fact in Barcelona, Spain having a grand time. We flew here on the 22nd and nearly missed our flight. Whoever said you had to be over 2 hours early to international flights is lying because we were only about 20 minutes early. Haha. Oh well. We ran, but made it. We got to our Hostel in Barcelona right at check in time and took naps after getting some delicious falafel. We are only about a 10 minute walk from the beach so we walked there and looked at it. The water is gorgeous, but it was cloudy and cold and rainy so we didn't really stick around.

Yesterday we tried really hard to sight see but it was soooo rainy and we were really unprepared for it. I wore flip flops which proved to be challenging since the ground was very slippery. I have a nice neat red bruise on my foot to prove that it was slippery. We managed to go out a little bit though. We saw La Sagrada Familia and then got some souveniers. We then went back to the hostel for lunch and a nap. (Had to do the nap thing...its cultural) Later that evening we went on a pub crawl. It wasn't nearly as crazy as the others, but we were out from 930pm to 5am. Crazy long time.

This morning (afternoon) we saw the sun so we went out walking. We saw some of the sights via metro and then went shopping on La Rambla. Its a big shopping district. I managed to buy 3 pairs of pants today. One is comfy and will be for the flight home. And then I got a pair of jeans and a pair of cords for only 16 euro each...and they are SOOOO long. It's amazing. I couldn't pass them up. So now I don't know where they are going to go in my pack, but I will make it work because they're cute and new. We didn't go out tonight, just hung around the hostel talking to some people here and we are going to see the rest of the sights tomorrow. We may even go to the beach if its still sunny! THEN we are going to go see FC Barcelona play. I'm really excited for the game. It should be fun. The stadium is absolutely huge and seeing soccer in Spain should be unforgettable. Our flight is at 6:30 in the morning and so we have to catch a bus at 3am to get to the airport. Should be interesting since we don't really get to sleep that night. Hopefully we make it. Haha. Then it's off to London for 2 nights before heading back to the states. Sad...But exciting to be back on home turf!

burrrrrrrrlin

I want to put pictures on here but I can't. Not that there's any ones in particular to show. Haha. I feel like these entries are getting redundant. Maybe that's just because I am really tired right now. Nancy and I are doing Laundry. Kind of boring, but it will be nice to have clean clothes. Last night we went on the pub crawl. It was interesting because we got there and including our group of four, there were only 6 people. We joined another crawl though and then there was a bigger group. It was a lot of fun and a lot of alcohol for very little money. It was €10 to join the crawl and then I had to buy drinks and 2 places to get the free shot, so for a total of about €15, I had 12 drinks. Haha. So, as you can imagine, it was a good time, and I am tired today.

Yesterday we also saw the TV tower. It is pretty tall. I don't know what else to say about it. Haha, but when we were over by it, we got 'Californian Burritos.' They were similar to burritos from Chipotle, but it was nice to have a burrito...haven't had one in a long time. It was funny to see a 'Californian Burrito' place in Berlin. I drank my tea from Starbucks and ate my burrito...I felt very American.

Today we are just doing laundry and hanging out. I might catch a nap after our stuff is finished in the washer and dryer and then we may go bother Tor later and play some ping pong. We are getting lazy about getting out and seeing things. It's weird though because Berlin doesn't feel like its a place to go and look at things...but it does kind of feel like home. Not in the sense that it looks like California or anything like that, I just feel really comfortable here. It's nice. Nancy and I were discussing how it feels like We live at our hostel and Tor lives over at his and we just take the metro to our friend's house. It sure would be nice to have a metro....

It's still cold today. 40s and 50s. Yikes.

Berlin!

Alirhgty...We're in Berlin. Our Rail passes have expired so our country jumping has slowed down significantly. So far we haven't done anything too exciting here. The first night we pretty much showered and went straight to bed because the train ride the night before was killer. Then the next day we met up with Tor (our kiwi friend that we met in köln and then hung out with again in Amsterdam) and he showed us part of the Berlin wall and then we walked around, went back to his hostel and tried Berliner (beer of course). We played ping pong and darts and hung out with smoe other people at his hostel. Yesterday we had high hopes of pub crawling but everything was conspiring against us. OK, that's not entirely true. We were lazy in the morning. This was mainly my fault because I didn't sleep well since my cough got worse and throat has been sore due to that. We got a late start going out and then went shopping. Nancy got a new coat and scarf and I got some sweet boots. I was feeling really defeated though because I have monster siyed feet and so its difficult to find shoes in my size, let alone cheap and attractive ones. Anyway, by the time we got ready, got lost twice and then got to Tor's, we were too late for the püub crawl so we drank and watched German TV there. Good stuff. Today we're going to go look around and give that pub crawl another go. Hopefully it works out.

I got to use a hairdryer today sdo it should be a good day!

Kassel

After 19 hours on the train we have arrived in Kassel. Not too many opinions about it yet since we got here super early and nothing was open. We managed to lock up our stuff and get to the tourist office so we could get a map and then a trip to the internet was in order since Nancy needed to look up her dad's old address. I'm hungry right now but at 12 theres a lunch buffe at pizza hut..I know, I am really getting into the culture. Whatever, I have a week to stuff my face with half meter brats and currywurst.

Good news: I went to the 'Apotek' (pharmacy) and managed to communicate to get some nasal spray that cleared up my congestion! Now I have no fears of flying. Plus, they gave me a free pack of tissues! Yay. Anyway, I don't really have anything to say and I'm kind of out of it from being on trains for so long.

PS- Christina: I don't eat scrambled eggs, but I do enjoy fried rice from thai places with them in it and hard boiled eggs in potatoe salad & other salads and also eggsalad sandwiches. Maybe someday I will be into scrambled eggs....if they have cheese on them....and I get bacon too.

2 posts in one day!

I know, I know...this is really exciting for you all. Anyway, it gets dark really early here and so Nancy and I are saving the real sightseeing for tomorrow. Thus, you get 2 entries but this one is probably not going to be that interesting. Perhaps I shall divide it up into two parts.

Part one: Things I do now, that I didn't before
1. Run up stairs with more than 30lbs on my back and be out of breath for less than 5 minutes. This has been achieved by running for trains (that are sometimes not there to begin with) and trying to get on them in time.
2. Eat Breakfast. I love Breakfast. Before, I hated it. I would rarely eat it and if I did I wouldn't have much now I eat tons for breakfast because most of the time its free in the hostel and that means that it may or may not be the only thing I eat that day depending on the amount of trains we're on.
2a. Cereal WITH Milk. I know, shocking...no more dry cereal for me. I'm all about cornflakes with milk right now. Delicious.
2b. Drink Orange Juice. For the longest time I wouldn't drink it, now I love with with my cereal and milk.
3. Order Drinks at the bar. Not that I didn't do this before, I just didn't like to. Now I know it means I get beer faster.
4. Eat Lettuce on Burgers and sandwiches. This started because I didn't know how to say 'no lettuce' in various languages but now I like it.
5. Put mustard on my Brats. I know mom, your mind is probably exploding right now. By the way I also now eat mushrooms, pineapple, and various other foods that i didn't before.

Ok so there's more than that most likely but I can't think right now so moving on to...

Part Two: Things I miss (people not included because that's a given)
Hair straightener, showering without shoes on, hair dryer, full size bed, korita potatoe chips, del taco, in n out, mashed potatoes, my shoes, my clothes, coats, my gloves (I lost them somewhere), cold solda, root beer, cheap prices, an income, my computer, staying in one spot, driving, new tv shows, movies that arent dubbed, reeses, cheap peanut butter, nail polish remover, pumice, bacon, pancakes r us, the doxies & reagan, not having a lockout time, not having to carry all my stuff on my back, being able to not have to guard my purse with passport at all times, dresses., cold medicine/antibiotics..this list could go on but I will stop it here.

Ok, yeah so I'm loving free internet right now. This hostel is awesome.

SWEEEEEEEEEEEEDEN!

Nancy and I just got to Sweden...we haven´t really seen anything but our hostel, but the hostel is so precious. It has the cutest decorations and its super clean. we actually are going to book another night a skip out of Norway and then spend some time in Kassell where Nancy´s dad lived in Germany instead. Our country count will be lower but I get more time in the homeland this way and since its gets dark so damn early this high up in the world, we can see more. We´re going to head out soon to see some stuff around here and then tomorrow we´re going to hit up the free museums and such. So exciting! But....yikes only 2 more weeks left I think. If today is the 13th and we leave on the 28th....sad. I´m looking forward to pj pants though...and more than just my trainers for shoes. And del Taco...and in n out...and people...and my phone, i miss my phone...

In the Homeland!...Scandinavia!

Currently I am in Copenhagen, Denmark. We got here this morning around 10am after a night train from Bruges, Belgium. Bruges was gorgeous. We walked around (sampled the beers...of course) and were in awe of the place. On the morning before we left, we laid in the sun in the town square for about 3 hours. It was really nice. Our hostel had a bar and restaurant and if you ate dinner in the restaurant, you got a 3 beer sampler for free. So, I had a delicious pizza and 3 beers for €10. Awesome. Then we hung out with a guy in our dorm and had a couple beers in the bar. Bruges is beautiful though...go there.

Our night train was alright. I'm not going to complain too much about it because it was only €4 for the night and we chose to sit in chairs rather than get couchettes. But the trains before were fun. On our 2nd train (from Brussells to Cologne, where we got the night train) we met some canadians and they shared a bottle of wine with us. Also, one the train employees said to me (in German) "Please move, Alabaster Lady." I was reaching up to get my bag and apparently he thought I was super pale. What else is new? Anyway, the night train would have been fine but there were 2 more people in our little room and they were drinking the whole time and taking up space. After they got off though we got some solid sleep. For some reason they were only on there from 1230 to 6am. Oh well.

Today we have walked all around Copenhagen and are planning on going to Stockholm tomorrow. I have an address of some family in Sweden but I don't have a phone number so that is probably out. We have a hostel though. We're going to stay there one night, go to Oslo the next morning and then get the night train out of Oslo back to Sweden before hopefully heading to Kassel, Germany and then getting to Berlin on the 17th. We are going to be in Berlin until the 22nd when we fly to Barcelona. We will be in Barcelona until the 26th when we head back to London before flying to NYC for one night of mayhem and heading back home. The trip is winding down. I'm pretty bummed about that, but I think Barcelona and Berlin are going to be a lot of fun.

Owned.

Amsterdam is owning me. We did a pub crawl last night which was out of control. Too many bars and drinks, not enough sleep. I managed to get about an hours worth of a sleep and a cold shower (not by choice...hostel shower sucked) before checking out fo our hostel an hour late. Also, I got pooped on my a pigeon.

I don't think Amsterdam likes me. That's ok though. I don't know where we're going tonight. The plan was Bruges, but now we're going to hang out with our new friend Tor at 3 so I don't know if we will get there. I don't know...its like a mystery suspense story! You don't know where we will end up. Hopefully the city will start liking me a bit more. Haha.

We booked tickets from NYC to California on the 29th though....so we're definitely coming home. Also, we are going to fly from Barcelona to London on the 26th. I don't know how we're going to get to Barcelona...should be interesting!

Amsterdamaged..

So I'm in Amsterdam right now but here's what's happened since then. Nancy and I went to Oktoberfest. That was one interesting place. Oktoberfest is pretty much like the OC fair + liederhosen and LOTS of beer. We got there around 11am and then walked around kinda of confused as to what was going on since there were already people stumbling all around. We walked into a couple tents..(you have to be seated at a table in the tent to be served beer) and while we were standing in the Hofbrau house, some Italian guy asked us to sit with his friends. Naturally we knew this was probably a bad idea...but beer is 10.50 euro a stein (1 litre) and we figured we could get some free beer out of it. Anyway, the guys were sleazy but we each got two steins and then ditched them. Hooray for free beer!

Here's the math on that one:
2 steins each at 10.50 = 42 euro which is approx $65!

Ok, so after we ran far far away from the sleazy italians, we managed to find our way into another tent and each buy another stein. We were sitting with some Australians who told us the Aussie lyrics to the Prost song that gets played constantly in the beer tents. (I'm aussie, I'm aussie, I'm drinking a stein!) Trouble sets in right about now...3 litres of beer means you need to pee...I went to the bathroom and returned, Nancy went, and never returned. I waited and waited, and wandered and called and waited and then finally I walked around, took some photos, got a brat (sooo good!) and then some crepes (delicious!) and then sis and interview of myself on my camera. (Awful) and then I called her some more and then finally around 10pm (after being searated for almost 5 hours) I got on a train to Salzburg. Some woman puked on the train and a man in liederhosen kept taking up all the room in our compartment. Gross.

ANYWAY! Nancy did return the next morning and she said that she spent the evening walking into every tent asking if they had seen her friend. But that was all the description given. Haha. She also missed the last train and had to spend the night in the train station and then go back in the morning. All worked out! We went back the next day and bought some souveniers and then headed back to salzburg and went to bed early.

After Salzburg, we went to Cologne, Germany. Nothing too interesting happened there. Of course we sampled the local beer and went to dinner with one of the guys in our hostel and I tried Currywurst. It was good...kinda like BBQ sauce on a big hotdog. Haha. The next day we walked around a bit of Cologne and then headed to the timeshare in the Netherlands.

The Netherlands is awesome. We have this cute cabin in the woods and we've been eating and resting (in attempts to thwart our illness....not working) and watching TV in ENGLISH! They have 2 movie channels that show awesome movies allll day. Love it. Today we're in Amsterdam because our attempts to get to Bruges were killed when a woman told us that no trains were going out...some strike or something. We've already seen some titties in the Red Light District. Amsterdam is an interesting place. Haha.

The Hills are alive...I guess..

So we are in Austria after another AMAZING trip to Switzerland. Seriously...I love Switzerland. We went canyoning for Nancy's birthday which is torture but oh so fun. You repel down cliffs, jump off of them into water, climb, slide (in my case, fall) and swim through essentially melted snow. It was so cold and so awesome. We had to gear up with a wetsuit, boots, 2 wetsuit jackets, lifevest, helmet, harness and all of them were still cold from the day before. It was so cold and so fun. It was also the last day of the season so it was probably colder than usual. The guys that take you are incredibly strong. One guy picked Nancy up with one had by pretty much a flick of the wrist. Then later when we saw him in the bar, he picked me up too. I am not a small person and he did it with one hand. Canyoning makes you strong apparently...I know I'm sore. Anyway, point of the story: Switzerland is my favorite country.

We got to Salzburg last night and got some food at our HUGE hostel. We even saw a guy that was at the same place as us in Rome. Kinda funny. This morning we are at the train station and found a semi cheap internet cafe and so we're just here til our train to Munich arrives. We should get to Munich around 10:30am or so and then hit up the tents at Oktoberfest...Hopefully we get in. You have to be seated in order to get served so we're going to do our best.

Anyway...I guess that's all for now.

Sorry these aren't going the right way..I don't understand Italian Computers.

Sorry for these going the wrong way...but you're lucky to have them...the internet is expensive. Haha.... (Also, theyre out of order.)


Before running off the mountain in Switzerland. Kinda scared.

Paris...at the Eiffel Tower.

Nancy and I before going Paragliding. At the Base camp.

In the Sistene Chapel

With some giant Head

The cars are sooo tiny! Its awesome. (In Rome)

Tea for 2 in Venice. So Awesome.

1.50€ fruit cup! Delicious. (Venice)

Heading back to Switzerland..

So, Nancy and I have some time before our train to Switzerland so we stopped at an internet cafè we found and we get to catch up on stuff before heading out. You might ask why we're going BACK to Switzerland and there are two answers to that.

1. Switzerland is absolutely beautiful and we LOVED our hostel when we were there. There's a bar IN the hostel that has an awesome happy hour and the staff was awesome. Also, Nancy wants to go canyoning for her birthday since we didn't get to go last time. We went paragliding instead.
2. Finding lodging anywhere within 100 miles of Munich on a weekend during Oktoberfest is impossible. We're going to stay in Switzerland for the weekend and then head for Salzburg on Monday and go to Oktoberfest from there. Nancy doesn't get to spend her birthday AT the festival but it will be celebrated by going TO the festival. It works out.

Let's see.... Highlights that I might have skipped out on recently.

Paris: Went to see the Arc, Eiffel Tower, etc. Didn't go to the Lourve but that's ok. Paris is very pretty and very expensive. We did a lot of pedestrian sightseeing and it was fun.
Switzerland: Met some awesome people at the bar in our hostel. We hung out with them both nights and had a great time. We went paragliding over Interlaken and then went to Bern (the capitol) to walk around. Switzerland is beautiful
Bolzano/Nova Levante: The place was beautiful. We had to hike to it and there was this amazing view of the mountains but it wasn't near anything so we went to Venice and Rome for during the week. We did spend 3 nights there though and cooked some delcious pasta there last night.
Venice: We didn't have a place to stay but we found a place and it ended up being really nice. Like I said before, the reception man made me tea and let me use his video player. I paid way too much for coke there though. Oh well.
Rome: When we go to Rome, we just thought it looked like LA meets Mexico. Kind of disappointing. We walked to the Colosseum on the first night and then walked around a bit more and then went back for dinner. Free dinner at a hostel is a brilliant idea. On the next day we walked to the Trevi fountain, made wishes...got some gelato and then made our way over to the Vatican. We walked through St. Peter's and then got lunch before going to the Sistene Chapel. You can't take photos of that super famous fresco...but its small. After, we headed back and had dinner. A bunch of people in the hostel were going to go on a pub crawl and Nancy and I decided by literally thr flip of a coin that we would go too. We went to a total of 3 places and got as much beer as you could drink at the first place for an hour, then a shot at the next and then just went to a club. It ended up being a lot of fun. You got a free tshirt too! We went with 2 Aussies, 2 girls from Spokane, Wa and a guy from Norcal. I think I speak for both of us when I saw it made Rome a hell of a lot more fun.

Now, we're just waiting for Switzerland, like I said. If anyone is willing to donate to the "Mallory wants to go canyoning but also wants to eat for her last weeks in europe fund" please let me know. Haha.

bounjourno from italia

ok, so i'm really bad about the pictures thing but i might be able to get some on later. We're in italy right now. we went to the timeshare that nancy's auntgot us...it was absolutely beautiful but it was in the middle of nowhere. so we stayed there for 2 nights and then headed off to venice and then rome. we're in rome right now. venice was pretty awesome we stayedin this hostel and had our own room. i'm getting sick and on the second night we had nothing to do so we asked the front guy what to do and he loaned us his dvd player and the devil wears prada. it was aweosme. then he actually brought me tea! amazing. today, we're in rome and our hostel feeds us dinner! we got salad and pasta and wine. AND we get breakfast!! Friday we travel back to nova levante to the time share for the last night and then we are going to head to salzburg and use that as our base for oktoberfest.

sorry that these entries arent enthralling but i've only been getting about 15 min total of internet usage and ive had to use it for booking hostels and such. we're halfway through the trip though. i really do miss everyone and the foodof california. i need to get me some late night in n out or del taco. everything closes early. its killing me! also, i have gotten better at climbing tons of stairs and running with a 30lb pack on to catch a train. painful...but good since my diet is pretty much bread and currently gelato is replacing beer...probably only because im sick and beer sounds bad when your nose is running. gelato always sounds good though.

til next time! yay.

switzerland...yay

just leaving switzerland to go to italy this morning. Yesterday we went paragliding...we run off one of the mountains and then floated down to interlaken. it was pretty awesome. pricey though. we have an 830 train that switches about 5 times before we get to italy. hopefully we dont miss anything. no pictures as i cant plug my camera in, but i did get a lot from the paragliding. perhaps better interweb in italy.

Bonjour from Paris!

ok so im on some weird french keyboard and so the letters are out of order and the punctuation is in wierd spots.

anyway... today we went to the eiffel tower and such.. no lourve though. this is a pain in the ass trying to type on the keyboard so im going to make this short. we are going to go to switzerland tomorrow if we can make it on the train.

we have now been gone a month now though! 5 more weeks. i am beginning to miss everything but i am still looking forward to everything. nancy and i have a nice room in paris though. we were booked for a 6 bed dorm but we got our own room with shower! pretty cool. i cant take any more of this keyboard though. sorry.

Glasgow by foot

Band playing in city centre, the one guy had crazy arms!

On the way to Glasgow University

Inside the University. It's beautiful and people still go to school there!

Look's like a scene from Harry Potter! I wanted Ron Weasley to magically appear---Didn't happen.

The view of Glasgow from the University. I believe that is an art museum...It was actually really clear! I don't think we would be able to see that much on another day.

So Yesterday was our second day in Glasgow, but we did nothing on the first day so it was our first day exploring. We started out he day heading to the city center (the picture on the last blog of glasgow). It is this big pedestrian area where there's a mall, shops, restaurants, etc. It was pretty neat. One of the "bargain" fashion stores with really cute clothes actually had a tall section! I *almost* bought some new jeans. They were £25 which is about $50 so they wouldn't have been too outrageous, but I stopped myself. Boy, do I miss all my clothes/shoes at home and shopping. One month without them and I'm kinda going nuts! After leaving one of the stores, I heard some drumming so I went to investigate. There was a Scottish Band playing in the streets. Drums, Bagpipes, Kilts...It was awesome. We stayed for a bit and watched them and then headed off to get a snack. After getting some cookies and diet coke (my now usual £1.20 snack), we tried to find Glasgow University. It was a bit of an uphill (beautiful) walk but we finally got there. The school is unreal. It looks like something straight out of Harry Potter and people still go to school there! We hung out there for awhile and sat in the sun. It was actually sunny and kinda of warm! The first day without rain, cold and wind since we got here! We walked to go look at museums but fond out they closed at 5pm so we went to the grocery store and bought some dinner and headed back to Stevie's flat. After awhile, we went to the pub for a couple drinks, came back, and waited for Stevie. I think today we are going to go to the museums and then I don't know. Eventually he's going to take us to the countryside where his parents live and some other things. Should be fun!

Photos from London...Update: Dublin to Scotland

On the tube to London after our redeye...I was tired

Big Ben and houses of Parliament in London

Changing of the Guard or something in front of Buckingham Palace

Having a pint with Duncan in London

Our Hostel in Dublin. There were a ton of bed, but it was clean and cheap!

At The Temple Bar in Dublin

Certified Jameson taster. I have a certificate to prove it!

Outside of Dublin Castle...SUPER GREEN grass.

Some swans in a channel that we found while lost in Dublin...We made it back though.

Glasgow...on the way to get some dinner..

So there's a couple pictures from London. I'm in Glasgow, Scotland right now at Stevie's flat. We haven't really done anything today except get up really early to catch a bus, plane and then train to get here. Anyway...

The rest of London was fun. We had a traditional Roast dinner made by Duncan's Stepmom and we all ate together at the table. It was really nice. Good food and then we had apple crumble for dessert...mmmm. On our last day, we went to Buckingham palace and saw some sort of commotion, I'm going to assume it was the changing of the guard but Duncan didn't know either. We walked through the mall, saw Trafalgar Square, had a couple pints, then went to the tube to head back to his dad's place. We played a nice mix of games including but not limited to guitar hero and pass the pigs. We also played a drinking game around 3pm and then went to the pub. We had some really good curry for dinner and then had and early flight the next morning to dublin.

Dublin was nice. It was rainy and cold, but the city is beautiful and the grass is an unreal shade of green. I don't quite know how it gets so green. We stumbled upon a castle after checking into our hostel and then walked all around Temple Bar and ended up getting a couple pints at THE temple bar and listened to some awesome Irish music. Some Hungarian guy bought us half pints of Murphy's and then we ditched that place. The next day we walked around a lot, went to the Jameson Distillery and then went to another pub. Nancy and I are official Whiskey tasters. We volunteered to sample the whiskeys and give our opinions on Jameson, Johnny Walker and Jack Daniels. Then we got another drink. Nine Euros well spent. We watched the tail end of a soccer game in a pub and then headed to bed for our flight to Scotland this morning. We haven't done much here but nap and cook dinner. We are waiting for stevie to get back from work. He's got some good plans for us though so I'm looking forward to it.

LONDON!

I'm not quite sure on days right now, but on Friday we got up early and went to the limo place to get our shuttle to JFK. We spent a long time in the airport listening to a bunch of coeds talking about going to spin for their years abroad... Our flight was supposed to leave at 6:15, but we didn't take off until a bit after that because there was even traffic on the tarmac in NYC. Our plane was nice, we each had our own tvs, toothbrushes, eyemasks, socks, blankets and towels. Trouble set in though when the man in front of me wanted to lean his seat back and then got mad at me when my knees were sticking in his back. He wanted me to somehow shrink. Whatever. He kept telling me to move, but I couldn't really do anything for him. (I made it a point to stand up really tall when next to him..he was tall, but not as tall as me.) We got to london at about 6:30am London time. We walked around the airport, igured out the currency (exchange rate is AWFUL) and then got tickets to the tube. We got to Duncan's around 9:30am and then watched to British TV before heading out in the cold, wind and rain for our personal tour of london. We took the tube into town and then saw the London Eye (Its cool, but too expensive!) and then houses of parliament, bridges, the tate museum, and plenty of other things I can hardly remember because I was falling asleep. we got a couple pints and then headed back to take naps. After getting up, we ordered pizza, had some cider and watched an american movie classic, Volcano...such a bad film. We heded to bed around 11 and then didn't get up until 10:30 this morning. Its about noon now and maybe we can survive without a nap today! More sightseeing later. I don't feel like putting pictures up, sorry.

One Last time in the US

Since getting back from DC, we haven't done too much but it has been nice. Yesterday we went to Gillette Castle. Its a place in Hadlyme, CT where the guy that played Sherlock Holmes in all the stage productions through the 20s lived. It was a sweet castle...Not nearly as big as hearst castle, but it had an awesome view and looked more like some of the stone ones I'm hoping to see in Europe.

Today, we didn't do a whole lot of anything during the day. We went to WalMart and the Grocery store to get the treats for Duncan and Stevie. We also FINALLY got Quiznos. Tonight we went to see A Midsummer Night's Dream in Hartford. It was a fun production of it. One of the fairies creeped me out but they put a 1950s twist on it with the costumes and the actors were great. It was fun. Now, we're just doing laundry and preparing for leaving tomorrow. We are leaving the house early tomorrow even though our flight isn't until 6. We have to get to the Limo place by 11 to that the limo to JFK which could take up to 3 hours. Then we have to check in and such. Our flight leaves at 6:15pm Friday (Eastern Time) and arrives in London at Heathrow at 6am (London time). We are planning on taking our time getting to the tube (the subway system in London) and then going to Duncan's house. We willl be in London until early Tuesday morning when we fly to Dublin. The on The 11th we fly to Glasgow.

I don't know when I will get another post in, but we'll see.

DC and Philly

Pictures completely out of order:` Mr. Bacon and Monsieur Tofu battle for the White House
City Hall in Philadelphia
Not me, Not Hermione, YOU!! (Playing Wizard's chess in Philly)

In front of the Capitol in DC...So Humid!!
In Case you didn't know, I think Lincoln is creepy.
Apparently Kevin often gets mistaken for being a Baldwin. Who would have thought??
Me, Brittany, Nancy and Anne after and evening at Tom Tom's in Adams Morgan
National Monument

So...this weekend we went to DC. It took FOREVER to get there. Apparently the US open is going on right now and everyone and their mom was in NYC trying to drive over the bridge. It took us nearly 5 hours to get out of Manhattan. REDICULOUS! We were going kinda nuts in the car. But, Nancy had fun driving in the city. Haha. We left at 10am and didn't get to DC until 9:30. (It's only about give or take 350 miles between Norwich and DC). Anyway, we got there and Kevin showed us his homeless shelter. There were cats and mice everywhere. It was gross. Not really, he has 3 cute cats and they have toy mice and his place is really nice. We went out to dinner that night and then the next day we nearly died in the humidity. We went to a market and then to the capitol, air & space museum, natural history museum, some art museum and then took the metro back to his place before going out to dinner with Anne & Brittany and then to Adams Morgan to get drinks. The next day we walked around for a bit, got lunch and then Nancy and I went to see the Lincoln Memorial, Vietnam Memorial, WWII memorial, National Monument and then White House. Then we walked back to Kevin's he cooked us dinner and then some of his friends came over and we went to a club to go dancing. Although, I think we waited in line longer than the time dancing but it was fun. We got some food at like 2am (Kevin wanted to go to bed because he's old so he was whining) and then went headed back. Yesterday we left DC around 1pm and headed to Philadelphia. We walked around for a bit. Saw city hall and some cool sculptures and got some dinner. Traffic wasn't nearly as bad on the way home. Yay!

Today we are laying around and doing nothing. We got Grinders earlier and we're going to get some dinner with Carl and Elaine later. We might go to the pool...I don't know. Kinda nice not to do anything. Also, we got replacement tickets on british airlines and so we are staying a week longer but we still dont know if we are going to get a refund and we need to find flights back from NYC but we're happy with it for now.

For your viewing pleasure... This first is after 30 minutes in Traffic in NYC. We didn't know we would still be stuck 4 hours later. The second Video is me complaing about more heat in DC. Apparently I talk about how hot it is a lot.

I HATE ZOOM AIRLINES

So I went to bed around midnight since we had to be up early to drive to DC early. Nancy woke me up around 1am to tell me that....

Our flights to and from Europe were cancelled because the airline went bankrupt. I didn't know what was going on and I felt sick to my stomach. The email simply said to apply to creditors to get refunds and they were sorry.

Sorry?? Our flights were CANCELLED!!! We didn't know what to do and after some talking with the credit card (nothing can be solved til the morning) and some searching online. We have now booked flights on British Airways to go to London. Problem is, we now need a way back from New York to California. PLus, we still need to get the money refunded from the other flights.

Let's just hope tomorrow goes better because this was not fun.

Encountering the Atlantic!

Mr. Bacon in the AtlanticPlymouth Rock is small and caged.I don't fit on the Mayflower.Still don'tPuritans lived a shitty life but they had a great view!

Downtown Provincetown, MassachusettsLighthouse on the Cape

Nancy and I sitting on the observation deck by the lighthouse. Nancy beat me down the cliff.
Down the cliff of Cliff Walk Newport, RI
Firestation in Jamestown
Playing in the water by a lighthouse in Jamestown

We've been quite busy the last few days. On Tuesday we headed up to Cape Cod. Along the way, we went to Plymouth Rock, The Mayflower II and Plymouth Village. Plymouth rock is interesting. You would think that for being such a famous rock, it would be large. But, its only about 5 feet long and its in a cage. Well right now it is a rock in cage, under scaffolding. behind plexiglass. You can barely see the thing unless you hike down to the shore and then look from there. After seeing this famous stone, we went to climb aboard the Mayflower II. It's not the orginal (obviously) but its replica that was built and sailed in 1957 [hey mom, you're as old as the mayflower!]. There was an attractive pilgrim aboard the mayflower and a really clever one down below deck. Let it be known that I would be one unhappy person if I were sailing on the mayflower because I couldn't stand up below deck. After the mayflower it was only natural that we should head to Plymouth Village and see where the pilgrims lived. The village was a lot like Sturbridge, but set in the 1700s instead of the 1800s. We got to see more people in this village. First, you go to a wompanoag villege and see real life Native Americans performing daily tasks that would have happened at the time. They were cooking and building and such. Then, you walk forever to the pilgrim village and see their houses. There were people there talking about their lives and some of the visitors were being super ignorant and asking them stupid questions. It was kind of annoying, but I liked the experience. After, you could go to a crafts area and see all of the "products" being made. After the village, I was pretty tired and hot. We headed to our hotel in Falmouth, Massachusetts next. The hotel was really cute. We had a balcony that looked out over the harbor and the room had a kitchenette. It would be a cute studio apartment. We found a place to eat dinner (the British Beer Company) and headed out. I got a delicious wrap called The Fireman's Favorite or something. It had thinly sliced steak, blue cheese and grilled onions all wrapped in a wheat tortilla. So good! After dinner, we all went backt o the room and took naps. We got up for ice cream later and then Nancy and I watched TV til really late.

The next morning, we got up to head out to Provincetown, Massachusetts. We were staying in the armpit of the arm of Mass, and Provincetown it on the fist. We walked around for a bit and went in all the shops. Provincetown is a predominantly gay community and so there were fun kid's shirts that said things like "I love my two moms" or "I <3 my dads." We ate at a place called Clem and Ursies. I had a delcious wedge salad and Nancy and I got into a food fight. She somehow dropped part of her bean burger on my foot and I managed to hit her with lettuce and flick blue cheese dressing on her face. Not entirely my fault, I was manuevering a wedge with plastic cutlery. After lunch we walked around for awhile and then headed to a light house. Lighthouses are pretty neat. After going back to the room, we decided we needed snacks, so nancy and I went to Rite Aid to get those and then we relaxed the rest of the evening.

Today we did so much that I don't even know where we were or what we did. We started out in Falmouth and went to a couple shops around there. After, we headed to Newport, Rhode Island to drive down Bellvue Avenue and see the HUGE mansions that the rich from NYC used to Summer in during the 20s. (Think Gatsy-ish) The places are HUGE! After, we went to the Cliff Walk in Newport and climbed down a cliff to the water. It was fun. Then we went to Jamestown Island to see another lighthouse and to walk around some shops. Nancy and I played in the water by the lighthouse a bit. It was cold, but we searched for shells and skipped rocks. After, we went to Warwick to visit Carl and Elaine. We walked to the beach from their cottage and then went to the shops in Warwick. Nancy's Aunt bought us some used books for the flight to London and then I got some new cheap earrings (I lost one of my other cheap ones). We went to Dinner at Gregg's and then headed back to Norwich. Nancy and I ave been preparing for our trek to DC in the morning. We're doing laundry and getting our stuff together now. Should be fun!

Sturbridge Village, Massachusetts

Baby Cows
One of the barns with a garden
Dying Yarn...smells bad!
Trying on shoes from the 1800s
Cute Pig
Chickens in the barn perched on some farm equipment.

Today we went to Sturbridge Village in Massachusetts. Its a village that is still stuck in the 1800s pretty much. You can go in all the buildings and see people doing what the people of the time would do and such. It was neat. The 1800s smelled awful though. That was my best memory of there. Haha. I like it though. We got to see yarn being dyed (smelly!), hats being made, tin pots made, a black smith, cows, horses, pigs, chickens, sheep (nothing that much different than menifee) and more. It just made me feel like I never learned anything in school because all of it was new to me! Oh well. We did get some tasty fudge though. On the way home we picked up some really good pizza from Mr. Pizza.

Also, today Nancy's Aunt booked us another timeshare. We are spending a week in the Netherlands! Yay! I'm pretty excited about that.

Roses, Cemeteries and Gorges, Oh my!

So today we went to lunch with Carl & Elaine (Nancy's Grandma's niece and her niece's son...confusing) and then we went driving around Norwich, CT. We went to the house that her grandma used to live in and where her dad and aunt grew up. It was built about a billion years ago, but it still looked really nice. We also went to where her grandma was buried. I actually walked ina cemetery. Like...walked around the graves to look at all of them. I think this is different than ones that I have been to in the past because the graves are mainly from the 1800s and such. Then we went to a park ....I think the Mohegan reservation something or other? But there was a rose garden and then some really pretty trees and then we went to Indian's Leap. Its a really pretty gorge-like thing with a bridge and such. The guy that was standing on the bridge lived at the house overlooking it. I was kinda jealous. He has a sweet view. After, I had the choice between seeing an old covered bridge or going to one of the oldest cemeteries in Norwichtown and I chose the cemetery. Weird, right? Anyway, you can barely read the gravestones there. One said at the bottom "Death is a debt to nature due, we have paid and so will you." Kinda bitter. But its the one that I am pictured with. You might be able to see it if you enlarge it. There was a bunch of babies buried there...lots of toddlers and younger. I'm just surprised that I went trompsing through and effing graveyard in my damn flipflops. One small step for mankind, one HUGE step for Mallory.

Anyway, we ended the evening with delicious ice cream and some romantic comedies. Delightful. Tomorrow we are going to Sturbridge Village (an old place that is still like a working colony) and then going to Massachusetts to head to Cape Cod. Wee!