Let It Snow

If you thought snow days in Canada were sometimes unnecessary then you've never experienced a winter in England.  I am currently sitting on my couch enjoying (surviving...) my THIRD snow day in a row and I have to tell you, this country, when it comes to snowy weather conditions, is slightly pathetic. 
It started to snow on Monday evening - just a light flutter of the fluffy stuff which melted as soon as it hit the ground.  There was probably less than a millimeter covering the sidewalks on Tuesday morning, but some schools, including Marks, decided it was too dangerous and closed. 

Since my school was open I made my usual journey down Tonbridge Road, slipping and sliding, nearly falling, cracking my head open and killing myself, since apparently no one here has considered following the intelligence of the Canadian system by salting their sidewalks.  The snow continued to fall all day, and even though you would laugh at how little snow there actually was, it was quite a lot in England standards.  Every teacher at my school left the building immediately after the students; I was lucky enough to find a ride home, since all the trains were cancelled.  I have to admit, I was panicking slightly during my last lesson about finding a way back to Maidstone.  Luckily I did.

The next morning I woke up and was broken-hearted to see I had not received a text informing me of my school's closure.  So up I got, into the shower, and had just started to get ready when Britny yelled at me from her bedroom, "Holmesdale is closed!  Holmesdale is closed!"  I raced into her room, still in my towel, and saw that Holmesdale was on the BBC radio website for school closures.  I was still not convinced, though, since I hadn't received the text (my school always sends text messages in situations like this).  We decided to check the Holmesdale blog too, and low and behold, there is was, the message we had all been waiting for: "1st December, 2010, Holmesdale Technology College will be CLOSED due to extreme weather conditions."  Well, I'm not sure about the extreme part, but I'll take it.  After calling every single one of my co-worker friends and doing a little happy dance, I went back to bed and didn't get out from my cocoon of comfort and warmth until lunch time.
That afternoon we met everyone at Society Rooms and got a little drunk.  My new drink of choice: "HC and a B" - commonly known as Hot Chocolate and Baileys.  A couple of those and a bottle of wine later and we were ready for bed, and it was only 7pm!  We left the bar though, since we didn't yet know if we would have to work the next day.  Almost as soon as we walked in the door, however, I got a text telling me the school would be closed again the next day.  Hallelujah! 

Thursday was quite a bit worse, weather-wise, so I have to give England a little bit of credit.  It's mostly just the side-streets; the main roads are fine since they are being driven on all day, but since they have no means to get rid of the snow, all the roads less travelled are absolutely covered - about a foot of the stuff to be exact!  That afternoon we made our way for the second time down the snow-covered sidewalk into town, and I spent the day helping Britny and Mark, seperately of course, buy Christmas presents for each other.  I really should take some kind of commission for this.  We also bought a bottle of Baileys and some hot chocolate in order to make our own HC and a B at home. 

They were a fantastic two days, especially since I am actually getting really sick and tired of my school at the moment.  But oh, I am not finished.  Thursday evening I received another text informing me that my school would be closed again on Friday.  Now, I am not usually one to complain about five day weekends, but I am home alone today and am quite bored.  Also, I just found out that I may not be getting paid for these days which is a huge kick in the rear.  Please keep your fingers crossed for me, and I will keep you updated.

England VS Samoa

On Saturday November 20th a bunch of us went to the England/Samoa rugby match in Twickenham, which is just outside London.  I was pretty excited for the game since I have never seen a professional rugby match before, and my ticket was only £20.00 thanks to Mark and the deal he got from his school. 

Sarah, Simon, Kari and I went to Twickenham at about noon even though the match didn't start until 2, and thank goodness we did.  The crowds were actually unbelievable and if we had gone later the transfer trains would have been ridiculous.  We met Britny, Mark, and a few of his friends at a pub called The Cabbage Patch, in which I experienced a mild case of claustrophobia, and had a few drinks before making our way to the stadium.  We had a few more drinks on the block-and-a-half journey to the stadium, and were very much on our way to being completely intoxicated by the time we found Gate F. 

Our tickets were great - we were sitting in the first bowl and were only about fifteen rows from the action.  Rugby, as you probably know, is an incredibly violent sport.  These guys are just SO strong; they have to be, as they literally get the crap pounded out of them.  It was a fantastic time; songs were sung, waves were (somewhat successfully) attempted, hats and scarves were thrown about, and beer was poured on the heads of unfortunate spectators, including Britny and myself.  Regardless of that, we had a really wonderful time.  England won 26-13, and even though I don't exactly know all the rules of rugby, I felt like I belonged there.

After the game Britny and I stood in the que for the shop just outside the stadium and bought ourselves some Christmas presents - a peeeeeeeeerfect opportunity.  We then walked for what seemed like forever to a pub just outside Twickenham, had a couple more drinks, and then drunkenly made our way back to Maidstone (stopping for my first McDonalds meal since the summer on the way - glorious).

I really enjoyed the rugby match, and I hope that I will be able to get equally cheap, equally good tickets for when my family comes to visit in the spring - I'm sure my dad and Mike would get a kick out of it (no pun intended).

Broadway: my "Problem-Free Philosophy"

Ever since I was twelve years old and my mom took me to Toronto to see my first broadway show, Beauty and the Beast, I have been obsessed with theatre.  One of the musicals that I have longed to see since that time is The Lion King; perhaps this was because of my (sometimes unhealthy) love for Disney, but nevertheless, I knew that I just had to see this show.  I remember my brother's class one year went to see it for a school trip.  My mom went along and I suffered a ridiculous wave of jealously, the kind that only siblings can have for one another.  Afterwards, they both boasted about how incredible it was, which I was sure was their way of rubbing it in my face.  Not fair at all.  It wasn't until ten years later that I was finally able to join my mom and brother in the vast audience for one of the most breathtaking musicals of all time.

On Sunday November 7th a bunch of us journeyed to the Lyceum Theatre in London.  I knew the show was going to be brilliant - I had no doubt that my very high expectations would be met - however, reviews and photos seen on many types of media could not prepare me for the absolutely, overwhelming awe I felt while sitting in the audience during the opening scene where they sing Circle of Life.  I felt like I was going to cry.  The singing was completely African; it was so passionate and powerful, I couldn't help becoming emotional.

The set and costumes, too, were unbelievable.  I have since done some research on the costume designer, who is amazingly also the director, Julie Taymor.  She said that it was very complicated at first, trying to come up with a way to make the animal costumes realistic.  It was after much thought that she decided not to hide the humans underneath: "my first hurdle was how to deal with a story that is all animals, but is in essence a human story - am I going to take great actors and hide them in animal suits? 

This duality between the human and animal became the philosophy behind the costumes, masks, puppets, even the staging; [I decided] the human and animal would both be seen, and celebrated, at the same time. In all cases, the actor would be the force behind the stage magic, and he or she would be visible to the audience.  I thought, what if I create these giant masks that really are clearly Scar and Mufasa, but then the human face is revealed below, so that you’re not losing the human facial expression, you’re not hiding the actor?"  Aside from the obvious symbolism here, which I love (come on, I am an English major, remember?) I think she made the right decision, as does pretty much every important person in the industry.  Julie Taymor has won several best costume and best director awards for her work, and the musical itself has been equally successful, winning multiple awards for five consecutive years after its debut.

Now, in terms of rating The Lion King in comparison to all the other shows I've seen, it was definitely not the best (I think Wicked and Billy Elliot take my top two places).  There were a couple slow parts, I have to say, and I didn't particularly care for the actors who played Simba, Young Simba and Nala (there were several understudies performing the day we went, including those three), but the music and costumes certainly made up for those few faults.  Not surprisingly, I was singing Hakuna Matata all the way home.

Sexy Italian Vacation

One of the countries at the top of my list before I moved to England was Italy and this October half-term I finally got to cross it off! Kari, Matthew and I left on Saturday October 23rd for Rome to start off our sexy Italian vacation. Now before I begin, there are ten things you should know before reading about my trip to Italy:

1. none of the men are attractive

2. I barely ate any cheese or pizza or spaghetti

3. or drank any wine

4. we didn’t walk hardly at all

5. the cities are horrendously ugly

6. it is super cheap

7. every picture I took was permitted

8. the shopping sucked – I didn’t buy anything leather

9. there are no artists or singers or vendors on the streets

10. all the toilets are very clean and easy to pee in

Now that you are up to speed about all that, allow me to begin. We arrived in Rome at about 5:30 in the evening and made our way to our hostel, which was conveniently close to the train station. Since it was later in the day we just spent the night wandering around the city, getting our bearings, and went out for our first of many Italian pizza dinners in an area of the city called Trastevere, across the Trevere river. All the rumors about the scrumptiousness of Italian pizza are true, by the way – I don’t think I have ever heard three people ooh and aah about food like the three of us did that night. After our dinner, as we made our way back to our hostel, we stumbled upon Santa Cecilia church and decided to go inside. There was a youth group there offering people candles to light, and if you so chose you could write a prayer on a piece of paper and deposit it into one of several boxes, based on the language written, at the altar. There were three girls playing piano, guitar, and violin off to the side, and accompanying the instruments with absolutely beautiful singing. The church is dedicated to the patron of music, who was martyred there in the 3rd century A.D, so I supposed it was quite fitting. It was incredibly peaceful there, and although I am not a religious person and did not light a candle or make a prayer, I sat in a pew and just absorbed the extraordinary atmosphere of the place. It was overwhelmingly serene and I probably could have sat there for hours.

We began our next day by purchasing tickets for the Hop On Hop Off Bus Tour so that we could get to Vatican City and buy tickets for the next day. The Vatican is closed on Sundays (for obvious) reasons and we were recommended by several people to get our tickets in advance to avoid the massive ques. The weather was positively gorgeous and so we sat on the roof-less second floor of the double-decker bus and soaked in the sun as we were driven around Rome. On our way to the Vatican we drove by many things that we later visited (and so I will write about them later), but one of the sights we did not have a chance to visit in person was Circus Maximus, the location of partial filming in the movie Ben Hur, and the grounds where actual chariot races used to take place.

After we bought our tickets for the Vatican we were lucky (not sure of the word choice here) to have the opportunity to witness a Catholic funeral commencing right outside Vatican City. There were hundreds of people all dressed in purple and an orchestra following a magnificently adorned casket hoisted by some very important looking pallbearers. It was quite the thing to see. We decided to walk around the rest of the city instead of taking the bus since it was such a beautiful day. We strolled along the busy streets of Rome, stopping for our first of many gelato breaks (strawberry and lemon for me), and making our way to the Pantheon. The word Pantheon translates to “temple of all gods” and is the best preserved and most elegant ancient building in the city (and arguably the world). The building was very impressive; the floors are marble and show a pattern of circles and squares, shapes which, as depicted in Leonardo’s drawing of the Vitruvian Man, the human body most naturally occupies. To demonstrate this I decided to lie down in one of the circles in the formation of the Vitruvian Man. I am such a scientist/artist/comedian.

Trevi Fountain was next on our list. This is Rome’s most celebrated fountain and we visited it three times; once during the day, once at twilight, and once in the pure darkness of the night. It was recommended to us to visit the fountain at night because of the floodlights, which make it look cleaner and doubly spectacular. This was probably one of my favourite sights in Rome; it was so gorgeous I didn’t even mind the ridiculous number of people in my way while I tried to take a picture. My other favourite sight in Rome, which we saw next, was the Colosseum – the Flavian amphitheatre whose initial function was as a theatre for slaughter. It is absolutely mammoth in size, and could seat 65,000 Romans during games that could last days to weeks at a time.

The history surrounding the Colosseum is very interesting; as I’m sure you know, gladiators would fight lions to the death, hoping to someday win their freedom. What you may not know, however, is that in the 400 years that the Colosseum was used for this ‘sport’ fewer than 100 men actually ever succeeded. I was amazed by the figure; the way these events are portrayed in movies, it seemed to me like there would have been way more successes (although I should have assumed Hollywood wouldn’t accurately portray this kind of thing…). We headed back to Trevi Fountain for our nighttime visit and had dinner afterwards at a spaghetteria called L’Archetto. This is by far one of the best restaurants I have ever been to, and if I had went back to the Santa Cecilia church I would have written my prayer as follows: “Please please please make this restaurant a chain and bring it to Canada, about a block from my house. Thank-you.” The menu at this place was just immeasurable – I don’t think I have ever seen so many options at one restaurant before. I am telling you, there were probably 50 or more spaghetti options and probably the same number of selections for pizzas. It took us about a half an hour the first night to decide what we wanted. I say “the first night” because we went back there the next day. The food was just too delicious to ignore, and it was cheap and offered fantastic wine too; what more can you ask for?

It rained on our last day in Rome, but it wasn’t that big of a deal because we spent the day in the Vatican Museums and inside St. Peter’s Basilica. The museums were a little boring, I have to admit. There are only so many sculptures of old naked guys that you can look at before it becomes a bit blasé. The only two parts of the museum worth mentioning, in my opinion, were the Lacoon and His Sons statue and the Sistine Chapel which showcase Michelangelo’s famous frescoes on the ceiling. It was really cool to actually see with my own eyes The Creation of Adam – it is actually a lot smaller than I imagined it being; again, probably because of the way Hollywood portrays it. The evening of our last day in Rome was spent walking down the Spanish Steps (made by the French…in Italy…) and eating another incomparable meal at the spaghetteria. Goodnight!

On day four we made our way to Florence on the train, and since Pisa is on the way (kind of), we decided to stop off there for a few hours in order to see the Leaning Tower (Torre Pendente). Trust me, if you ever go to Italy (which you definitely should) and want to see the Leaning Tower, do it – but under no circumstances stay the night in Pisa. There is nothing to do there, really, apart from pretending to push over/kick down/hold up the tower, which we spent probably about an hour doing.

It was great fun, trying over and over again to figure out exactly where to stand/hold the camera in order to get the right angle and thus the perfect picture. It was interesting to learn, also, that the reason the tower (the bell tower to the cathedral Duomo) is leaning is because it was built on sinking subsoil. It began to lean almost immediately after it was built, and after much reconstruction over the years, now leans only 14ft. After our laughter-infused photoshoot, we had lunch and then boarded the train to Florence.

When we arrived in Florence our first stop was the Piazzale Michelangelo, a grand balcony that overlooks the entire city and is also the home of San Miniato al Monte church, the most spiritual of Florentine churches. Benedictine monks still live here and there was a service going on inside that was really humbling. The view was simply stunning, and although it was freezing cold up there, it was definitely worth the trek. That night for dinner we were in need of a break from pizza and pasta, so we went to an American-style restaurant and had hotdogs and hamburgers to satisfy our cravings.

The next day we toured all of Florence, starting with the The Museo dell'Opera del Duomo and the Cattedrale di Santa Maria del Fiore (Duomo), which are one of Europe’s most majestic museums and cathedrals. The cathedral is the symbol of Florence and has a very interesting exterior: part church, part candy cane, part zebra – showcasing stripes of marble-white, bottle-green, and pink. The Ghiberti’s Doors, at the Battostero San Giovanni which is across the small street from the Duomo, are world-famous and are said to mark the start of the Renaissance. They are real gold and depict scenes from the Bible, from the Garden of Eden to Moses parting the water. The Duomo and the doors were one of my favourite sights in Florence.

We made our way to the Accademia museum to see Michelangelo’s David, which is absolutely huge, by the way. It was incredible! I didn’t expect it to be so massive and have such marvelous detail. I took a picture even though I wasn’t supposed to (such a rebel).

We then ventured to the Piazza della Signoria (not before a little gelato break – Kinder Egg and cookie dough this time), which is known as the “monumental heart of Florence.” It is an open-air museum which is home to a replica of the statue of David as well as Giambologna’s Rape of the Sabines and Cellini’s Perseus holding the severed head of Medusa (I liked this one the best, as Medusa is my favourite myth from highschool). We walked along the Ponte Vecchio which is the city’s oldest bridge and is entirely made up of shops – the shops were originally occupied by blacksmiths and butchers but are now stores for solid gold and silver jewelry. The leather markets, too, are hugely vast and unbelievably cheap (considering it’s all genuine Italian leather). I have never in all my life wished more that I was a millionaire.

That afternoon we went to the Palazzo Pitti, a 15th century Medici palace. We saw the gardens only and nearly had the most excellent find of our lives when Matthew noticed a 500 euro note lying on the ground. Alas, it was fake, but for a mere three seconds all our dreams of owning some of that Ponte Vecchio jewelry came true.  On day six we arrived in Venice, the last city of our sexy Italian vacation. The afternoon we arrived we took an hour-long gondola ride, cruising on the Grand Canal under Rialto’s Bridge, passing under the famous Bridge of Sighs, and through a number of picturesque waterways. It cost a pretty penny, but I could not go home without doing it – why else go to Venice!? Our gondolier was very nice, fluent in English, and educated us enormously about the history of Venice. I found it very interesting that there is only one female gondolier, for example.

After our extremely romantic gondola adventure, we went to a Baroque Opera concert. We tried to get tickets to see an actual Opera at La Fenice, the most famous opera house in the world, but there were no tickets available for either night we were there. The show we saw, though, still gave us a taste of Italian Opera and didn’t entirely bankrupt us. I even recognized one of the songs that the baritone sang – “Figaro, Figaro, Fiiiiiiigaro!” – it is probably familiar to you too.

The next day, sadly our last, we spent some time in the Basilica di San Marco in Piazza San Marco, the square known as the heart of the city. We also decided to do the tour of the inside of La Fenice opera house (took some more pictures that I wasn’t supposed to), and walked across the water to the Santa Maria della Salute church - or church of the plague. This location offers the most beautiful view in Venice.

Sadly though, we are dumb and didn’t get to go in the church as we arrived there during the three hours in the afternoon that it is closed. We went back across the river and had a lovely lunch and some wine and, feeling a little tipsy, wandered around the Rialto Bridge window shopping at all the amazing glass-blown knick-knacks. Venice has a massive glass-blowing industry, and also has a ridiculous amount of stores selling Venetian masks (because of their annual Carnivale), so it was great fun to look around at everything they make.
We had a very early night our last day, as we had to get up at 5am to catch our water-bus to the train station in order to get to the airport in time for our flight. It was a sad moment, saying goodbye to Italy. I can’t even put into words how much I loved it there. It is definitely at the top of my list of countries I have visited since moving to the UK. I hope one day I can return, and pray that when I do, it is on my honeymoon with my very wealthy husband.

Stomping Around Bath

This year at my school we are doing what are called Twilights, which means we have after-school-hours workshops from 3:30 to 4:30 on five different days but we get a few Fridays off to make up for the extra hours – not a bad deal if I do say so myself. Our first day off was Friday October 15th, and what better way to celebrate than to go on a trip!? So on Friday afternoon Kari and I made our way to Bath – I was super excited, not only because tons of people have told me how beautiful Bath is, but also because I have lived here for over a year and have yet to see very much of England. What a great opportunity. The trip to Bath only takes three and a half hours. You go to Victoria station in London, take the underground a few stops to Paddington, and then another train for an hour and a half to Bath. We had a half an hour to spare at the Paddington train station so we went to Starbucks and had a tea – and almost missed our train (and then feared that we got on the wrong one)! It was a little hectic and slightly worrying, but we made it!

We stayed at this adorable Bed and Breakfast owned and operated by an older lady that was about a ten minute walk from the centre of Bath and the train station. The room was very nice; clean, comfortable, and quite big, with a nice ensuite bathroom to boot!
The night we got there we did some exploring of Bath, got our boundaries and did a little reading up on the city and all the touristy things we could do. In the morning we feasted on our yummy continental breakfast and were out the door by 9am – got a chai tea latte from Café Nero (necessary!) and were off. We started off on a Free Walking Tour which started outside the Abbey, except we got the guy who was training another guy, who was waaaaaaaay too quiet and also very boring, so we ditched that quickly and went to the Roman Baths. The baths were super cool and interesting – in 836BC the Romans, led by King Bladud, discovered that there was seriously hot water under the ground and so they built the baths and used them for healing purposes – it was believed that the hot springs had healed the King, and so they were thereby known as the “sacred springs.” People would come from far and wide to bathe and seek healing through prayer, and they would be cured of whatever ailments they were suffering from. Now the baths are a tourist attraction, and they tell you that you shouldn’t touch the water because it is not cleaned, but obviously we did anyways. It is really hot, too – anywhere between 64 and 96 C, depending on the time of year.

After the baths we went for a Thai food lunch which was absolutely to die for, and headed to the top of the town (only a thirty minute walk from the bottom) to see the Palace Circle which is just what the names tells you – a palace in the shape of a circle. I have to admit, it did look way more spectacular in the photos. After that we walked to the Fashion Museum which we only paid a pound to enter (we got a deal with our Roman Baths ticket). I didn’t really know what to expect of it, but it was really fascinating. They had a special Princess Diana exhibit with ten of her dresses on display and explanations of where she wore them and how she became a fashion icon – I am totally in love with her and her clothes!

After the fashion museum we went to a comedy club called Komedia. We got tickets to the comedy show on the main floor, close to the stage, and dinner for only ₤26.00 – steal of a deal, I thought. The food was great, I had a lamb burger and Kari had a squash and chili lasagna which just made love to my taste buds, and the show itself was hilarious – three comedians over the course of two and a half hours, and a fantastically funny MC that kept the show rolling between intermissions. It was a really fun night, but Kari and I were exhausted by the time the show ended at 10:30 – we had been out for fourteen hours! We made our way back to the B&B and crashed for the night.

The next morning we decided to head back to London – we had done everything in Bath we wanted to do and we found last minute tickets to see Stomp for ₤25.00, so we bought those and took the 12:00 train to Paddington. While we waited for the 6:00 show time we decided to go to Abbey Road, which neither of us could believe we haven’t done yet. It is so close to the West End and is super easy to find. Walking across that short section of pavement made me feel closer than ever to being a true movie star (hah!) – although it was way too cold to pull a Paul McCartney and go barefoot. Kari and I just had to laugh, too; I can’t imagine living near Abbey Road and having to drive by it every day. There were so many people and they (we) just completely stopped traffic. Cars were lined up all down the street waiting to drive by while countless Beatles fans strutted their stuff back and forth across the road. You would have to go insanely early in the morning to get a picture without other people in it.

After Abbey Road we went to the West End, had Indian food for dinner (scrumptious!) and then made our way to Stomp. This show, I have to say, is one of the best I’ve ever seen, and it isn’t even a musical. It was incredible, the music those eight people could make with the most random props. They started off with brooms and their feet and hands, and then there were matchstick boxes, basketballs, sinks hanging from their necks by chains (yup, sinks), paint cans, tin trash cans, martial arts sticks, lighters, the list goes on and on. And man, was it ever funny! The performers don’t actually speak or say any lines, but their facial expressions and body language does enough talking and they made the audience roar with laughter. It was incredible how they could interact with us so much without saying a word. Kari and I absolutely loved it.
I got home at about 10pm on Sunday night and fell right to sleep. It was a fantastic weekend – Bath was beautiful and super interesting, Stomp was hugely entertaining, and I got to be a Beatle for about five seconds. I can’t wait to see what my next long weekend has in store for me!

(S)Prague is Cool

Last but not least: Prague. I have wanted to go to Prague since I arrived in England nearly a year ago now, and it didn’t disappoint. Although our hostel was not in the best area (and again, about a 20 minute walk from the old city center), the architecture and history of the city itself made up for it. One of the first things I noticed about Prague was how cheap everything is. I’m talking dirt cheap. Like the equivalent of $0.30 for a beer; $5.00 for a massive pizza, etc. It was a great way, money-wise, to end our trip.

On our first day in Prague we went on two tours, a free walking tour and a paid castle tour. Our tour guides for both tours were great, especially the free walking tour. The guy was incredibly animated and did a fantastic job telling us all about Prague. My favourite part of his story was when he told us how the people of Prague would handle disputes back in the day, during the 30 Year War. Any guesses? Interestingly, instead of using knives or guns or hangings or anything like that, the Czechs would throw people out of windows. Yup. And if the window wasn’t high enough to ensure death upon landing, they would place spears in the ground so that the poor guy thrown out would land on it and die that way. Lovely mess on the ground outside the buildings I’m sure.

On the tour we saw and learned a lot; I can’t even begin to remember everything, especially with all the German history floating around in my brain as well, but I have come to understand that Prague is a city rich with history, both glorious and tragic. The buildings, monuments, streets, and personalities of Prague tell a captivating story – such buildings etc include the Astronomical Clock (a clock that has both numbers and astronomy symbols to tell the time), the Jewish Quarter and the Old New Synagogue (yes, Old + New) , Jan Hus Statue, Charles’ Bridge, the Estates Theatre and much much more. We ended the tour lying on the grass with everyone from our tour in a park beside the Charles’ Bridge, thinking about everything we had just heard and hoping we could remember it all (which, as I already mentioned, I unfortunately do not).

About a half an hour later we embarked on our Prague Castle Tour – there was a charge for this one, but I guess we had to pay for some stuff in Prague. On this tour we went to The Garden of Eden at the Wallenstein Palace and I saw one of the most interesting walls I have ever seen. It is called The Grotto, or the Dripstone Wall. It is a humongous wall made of artificial rock, or dripstone, the purpose of which was to create a secretive and mysterious area in the garden that brought artificial and real living nature together to mingle and contrast. Don’t ask me why the dude who lived here wanted to do that but he did. You could actually see if you looked very closely the startling images of frogs, snakes, lions, and a variety of monsters and grotesquely formed faces that had been formed out of the dripstone on the wall. It was creepy but cool.

After the garden we took a tram up the mountain to the Strahov Monastery and Brewery, where monks continue to live and brew the “finest beer in Prague.” Too bad I don’t drink beer or I would have tried one. Smelled good though.

I have to say, the Prague Castle was pretty disappointing. It doesn’t really look like a castle, at least not compared to other ones I have seen. We were lucky enough to catch the changing of the guards though, which was cool considering every time I’ve been at Buckingham Palace when they are changing there are too many people’s heads in the way, blocking my view. The castle is the home, though, of St George’s Basilica which is a very fascinating church, so I guess travelling all the way up that mountain was worth it. Thank god we took the tram, that’s all I have to say.

After the tour Sarah and I had dinner and wine/beer at a nice restaurant in the center of the city and slowly wandered back to our hostel. We were exhausted at this point; it was another long day that involved hours of endless walking. My body didn’t know what hit it on this trip!

The next day was cloudy and cool, but we had planned to meet up with one of Sarah’s friends from a camp she worked at a few years ago in Canada. Her friend, Simona, is Czech and very kindly took us out for lunch at a traditional Prague restaurant. It was a very good meal and a good visit for the two of them. After lunch Sarah and I spent the rest of the day shopping since the weather was pretty crappy and we had already done most of the sightseeing we could. We spent all our Czech money (what would we do with it all!?) and lugged our bags back to our hostel for an early night. We had to wake up at 6am the next morning and head to the airport for home. I was happy to leave, actually; I was sick of sleeping on horrible beds and showering in public showers and I longed for a home-cooked meal. The trip was fantastic though, and it excites me to no end that I get to cross off four more countries from my list. Where to next? Who knows! (Although I’m hoping it’s Italy…).

Kissing Vienna

The scenery during the train ride from Germany to Vienna was spectacular. It was definitely a ride worth taking; looking out the window for hours at the magnificent mountains, gorgeous lakes and luscious greenery, I can easily say that this train ride was the ride of my life.

When we arrived in Vienna we took it easy again that first night, walking into the old city center and mostly getting our bearings. The next day we walked for an astonishing seven hours straight before taking a nap and then walking for another three hours. We started off walking down the street our hostel was on, and I was lucky enough to find a hat for only €9.00 (I have been wanting one forever)! The walk to the old city center was about 20 minutes, but once we got there it was well worth it. We spent hours taking in all the amazing architecture of the hundreds of buildings. Most of them have been turned into government buildings and museums which you can enter for an absurdly large sum of money. We didn’t do any indoor touring on this particular day; the weather was so beautiful we didn’t want to waste it. Instead we wandered aimlessly, taking pictures and drinking ridiculous but necessary amounts of water.

At the Parliament buildings we were approached by a guy dressed in a rather silly costume who was advertising for a Mozart concert later in the evening. We politely declined but decided to ask for directions to the Belvedere Museum (or Castle Belvedere) which Sarah really wanted to see and that we were planning to go to the next day. Oh dear. This guy and his friend fell madly in love, or so they said, with the two of us, and asked us to meet them later that night, at 9 o’clock. They told us not to eat dinner because they were going to take us out for spaghetti and wine. We agreed (why not?) and carried on our way.
We walked through Volksgarten, a very beautiful garden that sits in the middle of the old city. We walked along the water and accidently stumbled upon a fair going on – I can describe it best as a smaller version of the Western Fair; lots of fun little rides that cost an arm and a leg to go on. We carried on and eventually made it back to the city center where we had lunch (pizza and salad), and then carried on to our hostel for a little nap and a shower before our big date that evening.
When we met “Baily” and “Dashy” we were confused to hear that they were planning on taking us back to their house for champagne. Um, no, we never agreed to that. They couldn’t seem to understand why we refused to go back to their house, and after much arguing they got the picture and we started another very long walk to a bar that they promised was a good time. When we arrived at the bar (which was made into a beach, with sand and everything – pretty cool), they went to get the drinks, leaving us chillin on the sand in our beach chairs. Well, they returned with drinks…for themselves. They said that the drinks here were too expensive to buy for us too.

 Sarah and I exchanged glances and telepathically communicated with one another that this was a big waste of time. After about half an hour or sitting there while they drank their drinks, we decided to take off. They couldn’t understand why we were leaving, and kept texting me all evening wanting us to come back: “I was just going to buy you a drink but you left, please come back.” Um, again, no. At this point, though, we were starving. It was about 11 o’clock at night and we hadn’t eaten anything since mid afternoon (as we were promised dinner). We stopped at McDonalds, unfortunately the only place open at that hour, and ate our Royale with cheese while laughing about Pulp Fiction (watch the second scene if you don’t understand that reference) and the unbelievable evening we just had.

The next day was very cloudy and promised rain so we went to the Belvedere Museum, home of the famous painting The Kiss by Gustav Klimt. That particular painting was very beautiful, but that’s about the only thing worth mentioning at that museum. A lot of portraits of people’s faces which, in excess, is not very exciting. After the museum it had started to rain so we did some shopping (I got a full-wrap scarf which I have also wanted for a long time, so the shopping in Vienna was very successful) and then went to see Inception at an English theatre in the city. Loved it, by the way. The next day we were off to Prague, the last stop of our journey.

MmmmMunich

When we arrived in Munich we were pretty tired and our hostel was about a million miles away from the city center, so we did a little bit of wandering but nothing too major. That evening Sarah and I had our first of three fantastic German dinners. We both had traditional German sausage with mashed potatoes and sauerkraut. I didn’t particularly care for the sauerkraut but the meat and potatoes were divine.

The next day was when the Germany adventures began!

We did the New Munich Dachau Concentration Camp Memorial Tour which was such an incredible experience I can’t really describe it properly. Dachau, if you don’t know, was opened in 1933 and was the only concentration camp to remain active during the entire Third Reich period, until 1945. More than 200,000 prisoners from more than 30 nations had been imprisoned there. We had a fantastic tour guide who took us on the underground and a bus, about an hours worth of travelling altogether, to the site. The tour included access to and information about Dachau, including the barracks, crematoriums, gas chamber, former SS training camp, Roll Call Square, Administration building, prisoner’s arrival at the camp and their living quarters, religious memorials, and the experiences that the prisoner’s lived through while kept there. I can’t say this was a fun or enjoyable tour, but I learned so much and I am very lucky to have had the chance to visit such an emotion-infused historical site. It was extremely overwhelming walking around the square where prisoners were forced to work without a reasonable amount of food or water and where they were endlessly tortured, and as my tour group entered the crematorium wherein stands the gas chamber, silence overtook us all and I know that at least one person there was quietly paying her respects to all those who died there. I believe that Dachau is one of the most important centers of remembrance, contemplation and learning in Germany today, as I was promised when I signed up for the tour.

That night for dinner we decided to have a repeat of the night before, only this time a little more exquisite. I ordered a sausage platter which had four different kinds of German sausage on it. There were a couple I have never heard of before, and I can’t remember the names of any of them, but one in particular stands out in my mind. It was kind of rectangular shaped and it was a white-grey colour. It was very yum! Not to mention the mountain of mashed potatoes on the plate. Needless to say, with the prices of food in Switzerland which resulted in Sarah and I embarking on a kind of famine, we were in heaven!

When we got back to our hostel we discovered that our pajamas were missing from our beds…and that is a whole other story that I’m sure you will enjoy and that I will write about later entitled Hostel Hell.

The next day we went on the Neuschwanstein Castle Tour; this is the castle that inspired Walt Disney’s famous castle that you see at the beginning of all his films. Naturally I was stoked to see it. It took two hours on train to arrive at the location, but it was definitely worth it. The scenery was breathtaking; as we walked off the train we were surrounded by the stunning Bavarian countryside and Alps (I may be dumb, but I didn’t have a clue that there were Alps in Germany…). Anyways, the castle towers over rocky cliffs at the foot of the German Alps and the tour really was a fairy-tale adventure. We had a very good tour guide again who supplied us with endless information about the epic story of “Mad” King Ludwig and his castle – in all its magic, romance, and absurdity. It was a great day, and we had wonderful weather for such an occasion too.

We met a few girls from LA on the tour and went out for dinner that night at a beer garden near our hostel. I had beef this time (wanted to try something other than sausage, hahaha), which came with roasted potatoes and spinach. It was very good, but I have to say I prefer their sausage.

The next day we went on the free walking tour but, for the first time on our trip, our tour guide was horrible. He talked a lot about himself actually, and was not very good at explaining the things I actually cared about learning. So Sarah and I ditched that tour and took it upon ourselves to visit everything in the city centre of Munich that we wanted to. We saw the Glockenspiel (apparently voted the second most disappointing tourist attraction in Europe – I don’t agree really, but whatever), the Church of Our Lady, the Old and New Town Halls, the New Synagogue, and much more. We both really liked Munich and didn’t really want to leave; we could have easily spent another day there, especially if it meant the opportunity to eat more cheap and delicious sausage. But we had to head back to our hostel in the early afternoon in order to catch our 3:30 train to Vienna. Onward we go!

Swiss Skydiving

The day after school ended for summer holidays my friend Sarah and I didn’t waste any time getting out of the UK – on Saturday June 24th we were off to Geneva, Switzerland to start our European adventure! Our first full day there we spent our time wandering around Geneva since, unfortunately, there was not much touristy stuff to do there. Actually, scratch that – there was absolutely NO touristy stuff to do there. And even if there had been we wouldn’t have been able to afford any of it. Man, Switzerland is expensive! I’m talking the equivalent of TEN Canadian dollars for a hotdog! Yup, ground up animal leftovers cost as much as one third of my weekly groceries. Ridiculous. Oh, but just the wiener is only $5.00, so I guess that’s okay. After being kept awake all night long by the restaurant right outside our hotel room window, though, we needed a pick-me-up; we bit the bullet and spent an outstanding $7.00 for a tea at Starbucks. Gulp, indeed.
Even though there wasn’t much to do, it was a beautiful day, so we walked around for most of it, and even rented paddle boats for an hour and paddled around the water. Unfortunately nearing the end of the day we stumbled upon a beach, right in the middle of the city! That would have been good to know earlier in the day. Oh well.

The next day we were off to Interlaken via train; it didn’t take very long to get there, and after we found our hostel, and wandered around for a bit, we decided we had better have a drink. An hour later we were surrounded by two groups of guys, one local, one from Manchester, who seemed to be battling for our attention. Both groups were buying us drinks (what a shame), and I was even given a white rose by my German admirer, Eric, who, bless him, struggled to speak English so that we could have a conversation. It was a really fun night – an old drunk man named Peter (totally harmless by the way) taught me a song that we sang for hours: “There are nine million bicycles in Beijing. It’s a fact that you cannot deny; it’s a fact I will love you till I die.” Ever heard of it? Didn’t think so. I am not entirely convinced that it’s a real song – I must remember to look it up.

As we became bored with the pub our Manchester friends invited us back to their campground for more booze, and who are we to pass that up?! Off we went in a taxi to god-knows-where, just in time for a massive rainstorm. We drank in their porches and drunkenly accepted the fact that we would have to stay in their tents – it was pouring rain and we had no idea where we were. Kindly the guys offered us one of their tents and we spent the night in it, shivering in the cold and laughing hysterically every time one of us fell off the twin-size blow-up mattress, which was about every 45 seconds. It was an interesting night, and we took off early to try and catch a few winks before our skydiving adventure. Um, yes, you read that correctly: we went skydiving after a night of no sleep and with an ever-so mild hangover.

Let me concentrate on the skydiving though. We went with a company called Skydive Switzerland; they picked us up at our hostel at noon and drove us to their building where we got dressed in our jumpsuits and were given the 10 minute training on what to do when we jump. I decided to jump first as I didn’t think I would be able to watch Sarah fall through the sky without passing out.

As we rose into the air in the helicopter, attached to our jumping partner, and I watched all the houses and things get smaller and smaller, I started to wonder what the hell I was thinking. But there wasn’t much time to second-guess my decision as before I knew it Hank, my jumping partner, told me to open the helicopter door and stand on the ledge. I thought I would throw up but off I went and did as I was told. I held on to my harness, arched my back, rested my head on Hank’s shoulder as instructed, and closed my eyes. Thankfully Hank didn’t count to three or anything stressful like that; I simply felt myself no longer on the ledge and flipping through the air. Almost immediately Hank was tapping my shoulders which meant that I could let go of the harness and enjoy the free-fall. I opened my eyes and couldn’t believe it – the sights were unbelievable and I really cannot describe how I felt as I was falling through the sky overtop the Swiss Alps. It was actually kind of hard to breathe – you’re just falling so fast and the air is going into your mouth as you try to scream, which is also impossible. After the 45 second free-fall Hank tapped my shoulders again which told me it was time for the parachute to be opened. I grabbed hold of my harness again and felt a pretty intense jerk as the chute opened (thank GOD).

For the next 8 minutes I gracefully floated to the ground and came to a rather abrupt stop on the grass, landing onto top of Hank (don’t worry, he’s used to it). Sarah landed less than a minute after me and almost the first thing we did was call our parents. I woke my mom up (kind of forgot what time it was in Canada) with my news, and both she and my dad called me crazy a number of times. For the rest of the day though, I just had the most amazing feeling. The jump gave me such a tremendous adrenaline rush and I forgot that I hadn’t slept at all the night before. Sarah and I celebrated by travelling 10 minutes on a bus to this beautiful lake and spent the rest of the afternoon and evening swimming and relaxing on the grass.

The next morning we took a journey to Trummelbach Falls, the only accessible, mountain-interior glacier falls in Europe - meaning they are the only water falls that are located inside a set of caves.  The tour consisted of seeing ten different glacier waterfalls tumbling within a mountain and which you could only access via a tunnel-lift.  It was very cold inside those caves, and the pictures didn't turn out very good because it was so dark, but it was a pretty amazing sight to see.  We then took the cable cars to Schilthorn, home of the second highest mountain in Switzerland.  We should have been able to see the Eiger, Monch and Jungfrau mountains from there, but unfortunately it was so cloudy that when we reached the top nearly the only thing we could see was an endless skyline of white.  It was really disappointing as I'm sure the views would have been absolutely breathtaking.  But alas, we froze our buts off for no reason (it was less than 6 degrees at the top and we were in our summer clothes!).  Oh well.  We laughed about our bad luck and took a picture of our sandled feet in a pile of frozen snow and made our way back down to the warmth of the land.  The next morning we woke up and made our way to the train station, ready and anxiously awaiting our arrival in Munich, Germany, for the next stop on our journey.