London Bridge is Falling Down

On Friday night I went to visit my friend Ashley from University who's living and teaching in London.  I left after work on the train and actually managed to ride the subway (with a transfer!) all by myself.  So proud.  When I got there, we walked and subway-ed our way through London to a restaurant called Sophie's, where I met a few of her friends.  I got to see Covent Garden Market at night, which was really pretty all decorated for Christmas. 

We went to a couple bars, had some wine (go figure), AND what was even more amazing: I got to meet JIM HALPERT!  (For those of you who don't know who Jim Halpert is, he's the man I love from The Office -- and one of Ashley's friends reminded me EXACTLY of him).  It was kind of spooky in a wonderful way.

The next day Ashley took me around London to see some of the sights I haven't seen yet: we went to The Tower of London and London Bridge, and she also showed me this pretty amazing church that a satanist built, the building where all the hangings used to take place, Picadilly Circus, and Carnaby Street.  We also had lunch at a place called GBK: Gourmet Burger Kitchen (seriously the best burger I've ever had -- and I know I say that about a lot of food in this country, but seriously...better than Little Beaver).

All-in-all it was a good couple of days.  Although I definitely came to the conclusion that I am a small-town girl at heart.  Quite frankly, I was getting a little sick of riding the subway.  It gets WAY TOO hot on that thing.

Is Football the New Hockey?

I decided I needed to have a "sport" here in England; since they don't really get into the NHL here, I thought I would try football (or what we Canadians refer to as soccer) on for size. 

A fellow teacher at our school, Bayo, is literally obsessed with football, and he kindly offered to take Sabrina and I to see a game up-close-and-personal.  We went to see Gillingham, which is a team in the 1st Division. Basically it works like this: Manchester United is in the Premiere League, then there's the Championship League, and then Gillingham comes, in the 1st Division.  There are two more Divisions after that...and the Maidstone team (the town where I live) falls after that -- apparently they kinda suck.

The game was really fun, other than the horrible weather.  It was cold and windy and rainy, and Sabrina and I immediately wished we had brought a blanket.  But whatever; we had our hot chocolate to keep us semi-warm -- and we can say that we experienced a TRUE England football game, weather and all. 

The crowd at this game was actually hilarious -- they get sooooo into it.  They sing bits and pieces of songs I have never heard (clearly "football" songs) randomly throughout the game.  I honestly don't know how they get it going; it's literally everyone in the stands, as though they got a memo upon entrance that states when and what they will be singing so everyone knows.  It was pretty cool.  They also yell profanities I am not used to hearing, which is kind of funny.  Things like, "You F***ing WANKER" really made me laugh.  My favorite, though, was when a fan was caught doing something inappropriate (although I didn't catch what) and was subsequently ushered out of the stands by huge security guards, and while this was happening, literally everyone on our side of the stadium stopped watching the game and stood up and waved at the guy.  I couldn't stop laughing.  Just picture hundreds of fans waving simultaneously at some stupid dude leaving the stands.  That has never happened at any sporting event I have ever been to before.  I wish I had gotten a picture of it!

Speaking of pictures!  So before the game had officially started, during the warm up, I, of course, got my camera out and started to document my football experience.  Well!  This horrible security bloke yelled at me from the bottom of the stairs, "You're not allowed to take pictures!!!"  I was like, "WHAT?!"  I mean, it's not like these are professionals and I'm the freaking paparazzi stalking them during their personal time.  I am a fan at a sporting even for frig sakes.  Even Bayo was surprised, since you're allowed to take pictures at the Premier League games.  Obviously though, as you can see, I took pictures anyways.  I had to be really sneaky and hold the camera low and close to my body and make sure the flash was off so that I didn't call attention to myself, but there was NO WAY I was sitting through that whole game and have no proof that I was there.  And what sucked even more about it was that pretty much all the football players are super smokin' hot, and I really wanted to take up-close pictures of their sexiness, but I couldn't, because of the stupid security dude.  Seriously unfortunate.

Anyways, the Gills won 1-0 which was pretty sweet, although it would have been nice if there had been more goals.  All this game really did for me though was make me want to go see a Premiere League game, so hopefully when my parents come down in April we can do just that.  And I'm going to take LOTS of pictures!

Wonderfully Wicked

On Thursday November 12th, my surrogate father here in the UK took me to see Wicked – the Tony Award-winning Broadway musical based on the best-selling novel Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West by Gregory Maguire. Wicked tells the story of Elphaba, the future Wicked Witch of the West and her relationship with Glinda, the Good Witch of the South. Their friendship struggles through their opposing personalities and viewpoints, rivalry over the same love-interest, their reactions to the Wizard's corrupt government, and, ultimately, Elphaba's public fall from grace. The plot is set mostly before Dorothy's arrival from Kansas, and includes several references to well-known scenes and dialogue in the 1939 film The Wizard of Oz as a backstory, including just how the Scarecrow, Tin Man, and Cowardly Lion became who they are.

The show was absolutely fantastic! The set was spectacular, and the music was phenomenal, including songs such as Dancing Through Life, Popular, I’m Not That Girl, and Defying Gravity (which were among my personal favorites). The woman who played Glinda, Dianne Pilkington, did a magnificent job, in my opinion – her comic timing was spot-on, and her voice was very beautiful.

It was especially awesome because I got to see the show from two different viewpoints: first, in our original seats, we were maybe 13 rows from the front and off to the side. These seats were good, as I could see the actors’ expressions quite well, but not great, because some of the things that happened in the corner of our side of the stage I couldn’t quite see. And Kevin was just not having that. At intermission he found his friends who work at the theatre (Kevin used to be in a band and he also played in a lot of shows, so he knows allllll the right people), and they moved us to the balcony. It was pretty cool to see the show from above.

I simply cannot wait to see more shows (since I can actually afford to now)...Sister Act, The Lion King, and Les Miserables are next on the list!  I'll let you know which ends up being my favorite.

J'adore Paris

My travels to Paris were a whole other story. Cara very kindly called me a “rookie packer,” which means I packed WAY too many clothes considering I needed to lug my suitcase all over the place, including onto two trains and several subways (which have about a million stairs, by the way). Now, by this stage of the trip, Cara and I have done nothing but walk (or so it seemed). By the time we got to our hostel, Oops!, I was about ready to cut my feet off. But instead of resting, we wanted to explore, of course, and thought we’d walk to the Eiffel Tower (“it doesn’t look that far on the map!”). Oh. My. God. Two hours later we were sitting (thank God) on some steps watching the Eiffel Tower light show – which, granted, was pretty cool to see, even if I did want to die from exhaustion.

On our walk back to the hostel, Cara and I decided to make our days in Paris interesting with a little friendly competition: we called it Prowling for Points. This competition consisted of each of us taking secret pictures of hot guys – if the other person agreed that the guy was hot, they got a point. If the other person didn’t agree, they only got half a point. We did actually start to keep track, but eventually lost count. However, I would like to take credit for the best picture: we call him D&G (Dolce and Gabbana), and he was taken on our second day in Paris. D&G, though, was definitely NOT the most beautiful thing I saw that day. We went to Notre Dame first, then the Louvre (definitely my favorite part of the trip), and finally the Musee d’Orsay. It was a busy day, but I was mesmerized by the beauty of the city and the absolutely exquisite architecture that surrounded me. Everything was just so captivating; I didn’t want to leave.

That night we went to a cafe for dinner -- I have to say that I much preferred the food in Amsterdam to Paris.  All they eat is baguette and cheese, and although I like cheese, I'm not a huge fan of baguette.  It's actually quite tough, and my jaw kept cracking every time I took a bite.  Not cool.  After this, it was like people with baguettes were following me everywhere I went: literally, people just buy a huge baguette and walk around eating it as their meal...what the heck?!

The next day we went to the Eiffel Tower again because I wanted to see it during the day (although it was so foggy that morning it might as well have been night again). It isn’t anywhere near as dazzling as everything else in Paris, but it was still great to see. We then walked down the Champs Élysées and went to the Arc de Triomphe. And, since we hadn’t done any walking, we decided to climb the 286 stairs to the top (needed a few breaks throughout, I admit). It was an impressive view, although it would have been better if it hadn’t been so foggy...

Later on that day we went to Montmartre and saw the Moulin Rouge (just the outside – it cost over 60 euro to see a show). We saw the Sacre Coeur Basilica, which is this magnificent church on top of a hill -- we didn't go in, but it was so beautiful to look at - the sun had finally come out!  We also went to the Pere LaChaise cemetery, which is the cemetery where Chopin, Jim Morrison, Oscar Wilde, and Charlie Chaplin, among others, are buried. It was soooooooo beautiful: the leaves were just starting to change colour, and some were starting to fall and decorate the cobblestone paths. I loved it there; it was so peaceful, so beautiful, and great for taking pictures!

We had Chinese that night for dinner (I needed to get away from baguette!) -- and Cara gave me a very good lesson on how to eat with chopsticks...and I did it!  I am actually very proud.

On our last full day in Paris we went to Versailles which was simply immaculate. King Louis XIV wanted a palace that was bigger than the Louvre, and he got what he wanted! Again, it would have been nicer if it wasn’t such a foggy day (we had a couple of those unfortunately), but it was definitely worth seeing. The golden gates and the gardens in particular were amazing. I wish I had been there in the summer when the flowers would be blooming and the fountains up and running. Oh well.

Although I would have liked to stay in Paris, I was admittedly happy that the trip was over (I needed a break from walking and my own bed)!  I had a wonderful time on my trip, though, and I can't wait for the next one!

I Amsterdam

I love travelling to Amsterdam -- our flight was only 45 minutes!  If only all flights lasted three-quarters of an hour...

We arrived in Amsterdam around 4:30pm, and so we decided to go exploring as soon as we dropped off our luggage at our hostel, Aviengo. In the town centre near the war monument there was a rather large carnival going on with some pretty sweet rides and games. We, of course, stopped to take pictures of this.  After a bit of walking around, it started to rain, so we decided to go to Madam Tussaud’s wax museum. It was pretty cool – the wax people look so real! I especially loved getting my picture taken with Justin Timberlake, George Clooney, and Johnny Depp (xoxo).

After the wax museum we went to a bar/café called Grasshoppers and had some wine (among other things – I mean, it’s Amsterdam)! On our journey home through the carnival we decided to be adventurous and go on the gigantic swing – basically this swing was like any swing at any amusement park, with a twist: so you sit in a seat and go around in a circle...sounds familiar, right?  Only this one went up up UP super high so that you could see all of Amsterdam from the very top. At first I was freaking out because I’m not a huge fan of heights, but once I settled down, it was pretty amazing. I felt like Peter Pan flying through the sky.

When we got off, on our way back to the hostel, we stopped and got waffles, which was probably the best tasting dessert I’ve ever had in my life. And, since we were being nutritious, we also had some fries (with mayo, of course – to be truly European), which, honestly, were THE BEST fries I have EVER had in my life. Seriously – go to Amsterdam if only for their waffles and French fries.

On the walk back to our hostel we decided to go through the red-light district. THAT was an experience. Just rows and rows (and streets and streets) of red lights framing the windows of women “at work.” It was definitely worth seeing. One street we walked down, though, had hundreds of men (or so it seemed), and no women apart from Cara and I. This was a little discomforting. This was the one and only time on my trip that I felt nervous, and admittedly a little scared. Just hundreds of men staring at these women, and Cara and I trying to weave our way through the crowd. We got out of there ASAP and carried on to our hostel.

On our second day (after a horrible night sleep because of some incredibly rude roommates), we went on the Free Walking Tour. Our tour guide, Ryan, gave us a wonderfully animated tour of Amsterdam, and even expanded our vocabulary (“this is a mysterical place”). We met some pretty fun Canadians, Liam, Molly, and Enyi, and spent the evening with them; we had dinner at a really yummy pasta place called Pizza Pasta Steakhouse, went to the Erotic Museum (WOAH), enjoyed a drink and a “coffee” at St. Christopher’s Coffeeshop - ;) – and went back to our favorite bar, The Grasshopper, to finish off the evening. It was a really fun day.

Day three in Amsterdam involved the Fun Hop-On Hop-Off Van Gogh Canal Cruise. Basically, it is what it says it is: it’s a cruise through a canal on a boat, and it stops at different places and you can hop off (and then hop on) whenever and wherever you want, depending on what you want to see. The Van Gogh part just means that we got our tickets to the Van Gogh museum included in the price. So, obviously, we went to the Van Gogh museum, which was pretty sweet. We also went to the Anne Frank house – informative and depressing all at the same time.

That night for dinner we went to a restaurant called Humphrey’s (named after Humphrey Bogart) – this was one of THE BEST meals I think I’ve EVER had. It was so incredibly good, I can’t even explain it. Just food making love to my mouth. Yup – that good. We spent our last evening – guess where? – in our favorite bar The Grasshopper, with lots of wine for company. It was splendid. Oh – and we had another waffle. Just had to.