May 21-22 – Bubba, Wicked, and Mac & Cheese

Picture 1 = Nyki and I at Piccadilly Circus (looking like a posh londoner)

Picture 2 = Changing of the Guard

Alright, we are going to roll 2 days into one since I was out late last night an too tired to write anything about it.

May 21 –

In the morning, we rushed over to Buckingham Palace to watch the changing of the guard. It was cool-ish. Lots of whistles, lots of music, lots of marching… I honestly didn’t get to see much. After the entire ceremony (that lasted 45 minutes), the guards did march out of the palace gates right past me. I got some cool recordings of that.

After that we were pretty much free for the day. All the rest of the girls decided to use a day on their BritRail passes and go out to Windsor Castle. I really wanted to go with them, but I have to save my days so I can get up to Hudds. I was disappointed, but that will just give me an excuse to come back to England one day!

Instead Nykole and I decided to go to Piccadilly Circus and Oxford Circus. We needed to find her a warm coat for our trip to Scotland this weekend. It’s still in winter-like temperatures up there. We went to a store called Lillywhites. It’s basically their version of Cabellas or Dicks. We found her the cutest wool peacoat for only 18 pounds! I also found myself a soccer jersey for 16 pounds. I was so excited for it!

After that we walked around the streets for a bit. This is a really posh part of London, so we made sure we dressed like the Europeans to fit in.

After that Nykole and I went back to the hostel and made us a dinner of chicken and veggie stir-fry. It was delicious. Most of the people staying here were going to the Pub to watch a footie match, and they wanted Nykole and me to come. When we both told them we don’t drink they laughed at us and walked away, saying we were crazy. My heart bleeds for the people here. All they do is party all night and bum off in the hostel all day. What kind of life is that? Now we are known as the “Team Boring America”. I was a little bugged by that at first, but I have come to realize that it’s me who is better in the long run. I am just so glad my lifestyle isn’t like theirs.

After our lovely dinner, me and Nyki got all (as we call it) “vogue-d up” for Wicked. We put on our dresses we bought earlier, did out hair and makeup all cute, accessorized European style, took “vogue” pictures of us, and headed off for the theatre to meet our group.

Oh… my… goodness… WICKED IS AMAZING!! The costumes were brilliant, the actors were awesome… I want to go back. We had really good seats tool. We were about 6 rows from the front. It was perfect, I saw everything.

The other girls looked at Nyki and I weird at first for getting dressed up, but once we got inside the theatre and they realized everyone was dressed nicely, they felt uncomfortable. Also 2 of the girls (the ones that are always complaining) were being really immature the entire play. All they did was talk about how the hate plays; this was a waste of money, blah blah blah… They wouldn’t even clap or anything. So immature. I was really bugged by that. Why are some people so closed minded like that? I wish I could take them by the neck and knock some sense into them.

One of the most important things I am beginning to learn out here is that everyone has their own rhythms and opinions. And in order for you to keep your own rhythm, you must consider everyone else’s. I know those girls might not like theatre, but they could have at least been more mature about it all. They ARE 25 after all, you’d think they weren’t so stupid.

May 22-

Today we went to the National Gallery, National Portrait Museum, and British Museum. They were really neat and I loved looking at all the Kings and Queens, but I am really starting to get museum-ed out. I am so tired physically as well and I am getting to the point of being a zombie. I can’t enjoy museums anymore. I just wander through them mindlessly.

I did get a cute children’s book today at the National Gallery. It’s a story of 2 children walking around the sights of London. I can show my kids one day.

I am going to Scotland this weekend and leaving at 7am tomorrow morning. I won’t be able to have my computer once again, so you will get another big update on Monday-ish.

I can’t believe this trip is almost half-way over already. I am so sad; I don’t want to leave London. (But I DO want my bed and shower though…)

I love all the girls that are in my room. We are all getting to be close friends. We always have a hoot in our room together. We decided we are going to make a movie and re-create some of the funniest things that have happened to us here. I hope we will really get the chance to do it. We also made up nicknames for each other.

Corissa = Bubba
Janna = Bubba Junior
Jessica = Wendy Darling (aka always-hit-my-head-on-the-lamp)
Kim = Diva
Hilary = Jester
Nykole = Repunzel (she has really, really, really long hair)

We are just so cool.

Some funny inside jokes to remember:

~I hope V8 will sponsor a vegetable!
~White people taste like Mac & Cheese!

May 20 - Bloody Sights

Picture 1 = Tower Bridge

Picture 2 = Us with our gross flan-stuff

Picture 3 = Diane showing how it wouldn't even come out of the pan

Too funny!

Good times at the Hostel Kitchen...

Today was a day full of bloody, gruesome… gross stuff. You know, the Towers of London.

It was so cool.

But before that we went to the Old Operating Theatre. For those of you who don’t know, that theatre has been around since Shakespeare’s time. In fact, that was his theatre and where he put on all of his plays for royalty and peasants alike.

It isn’t the actual theatre, it burned down twice I think. I’m not sure when the first time it burned, but the second time it burned was around 1610. It has been around ever since, however. The seats are tiny. People back then were so small. It was pretty cool though.

Some of the girls were bored, but for a self-proclaimed thespian, such as myself, I was in awe the entire time.

The gift shop was also amazing, but way over priced. I was too cheap to get anything.

After that we went to the Towers.

On our way there we crossed the London Bridge. It was so funny, at the exact same time Hillary, Kim, Janna, Jessica and I broke out into “London Bridge is falling down…!”. You can’t help but sing it though.

It was also freezing because we were right by the Thames River, and a cold breeze was blowing. That river is the dirtiest river I have ever seen. It stunk too.

To get to the towers we also crossed the Tower Bridge. Back in even the 1700’s they hung the heads of traitors on the top of the arcs. The bridge is so clean and white, it was hard to imagine the horrible things you would have seen crossing that bridge a couple hundred years ago.

The towers were pretty neat. The best part was our tour guide. They have the Yeoman of the Guard (beefeaters) be tour guides. Our guy was hilarious. I was laughing hysterically the entire time. He made the tour even better. I recorded him so you guys can see how funny he was.

Those towers were so eerie. Even more so then Westminster Abbey. Probably because here is where they kept prisoners, tortured people, and did thousands of beheadings. It was pretty creepy.

The Yeoman live there because their sole purpose is to protect the Crown Jewels. Our guard straight out told us there are many, many ghosts there. He told us there isn’t one day that goes by where you don’t see a ghost. Wouldn’t that be creepy!?

They had the armor of King Henry VIII (is that the 8th…?) as well. He was a big guy! And fat! And, oh my goodness, his cog piece (if you catch my drift…) made me laugh. In order to make himself look more “masculine” (you know, to boost his already huge ego) he had it exaggerated for his armor. …VERY exaggerated…

I guess that shows I am still immature because I just sat there laughing at it. But then again, everyone who walked by was snickering.

We then saw the Crown Jewels!!! I was drooling… every girl was drooling…

What was so amazing though was how old those crowns were. They had Edward the Confessor’s crown, Elizabeth I’s crown… It amazes me they still have them.

There is so much history here, and I love being surrounded in it.

Paris blog is also done. I made this one short—or tried to at least—because that one was a novel. I can guarantee you will enjoy reading it though.

Diane brought some flan home from France and tried to make it for us today. The instructions were french, so she just guessed. It turned out to be some weird, gross, hard concoction that tasted like eggs and powdered flan... grossness. It was so funny, we had a big laugh about it. I included pictures at the top. :)

Sweet dreams!

May 17 - 19 - B.O. and Magnificance

Ah… Paris...

I have one thing to say prior to my tales of adventure—I wish I knew more French! It is not easy being somewhere that doesn’t speak the same language. Especially when you are trying to get somewhere. It was quite an experience, and I know I grew a lot from it.

The morning we left was only the beginning of a crazy, crazy weekend. We left the hostel at 2:45 am sharp to catch a bus. Diane had printed instructions to get there off the internet, but they soon proved to be confusing. We asked a few bus drivers if these were correct directions, and each told us differently. The few people (who were drunk) that were lagging around London at 3 am told us differently… we had no idea what to do. We finally began to wander the streets of London, desperately trying to figure out what to do. Finally we waved down this taxi.

He told us he wouldn’t take 9 girls in one cab, but Diane told him our situation and he thankfully agreed to pile us all in. He was a cool guy too, made jokes the whole way. We were all laughing the entire way.

When we got to the airport, security only permitted us one carry on. No purse, nothing. So we quickly shoved anything we could into every nook of each other’s purses. I don’t know how we did it, but we did and we made it to our flight barely on time.

When we first got to Paris we felt dazed and confused. French, everywhere… Suddenly all these French men came running to us saying, “You need ride? I have van.” We had no choice, so we found someone who spoke English, they confirmed those men worked with the airport and wouldn’t kidnap us, and we got in a van.

We arrived at our little villa, and we were taken away. It was gorgeous. It lay right along the river, and was secluded from the busy streets. When we got to the apartment we were all so tired we crashed. I had a nice nap for a few hours, and then Janna, Jessica, Kim and I decided to go explore Paris.

Thankfully Kim knows a little French, so thanks to her and all the maps, we found our way to the Arc De Triumphe. I was in awe the entire time. We walked around the streets of Paris for a few hours, rather aimlessly too. We had no idea where we were going.

We eventually decided we should find out where we were, so we started asking for people who spoke English. Many French people are rude, and they will flat out give you a nasty look and keep walking. We were so frustrated. Right when we all felt we were about to cry and be lost forever in Paris, out of nowhere two girls speaking English walked past us. We literally ran after them.

Turned out these girls were actually from Arizona on a tour similar to ours. We were so happy to find friends, so we stuck with them awhile. We went to the Louis Vuitton store—holy cow, 5 floors—and observed all the rich French. Then, of course, out of nowhere a huge clap of thunder sounded and rain came pouring down. And no exaggeration—it was pouring. The rain drops were huge! We decided to stay in Vuitton’s store while we waited for the rain to let up a bit (we did not mind that at all either).

Once it started to let up a little bit, we parted ways with the Arizona girls and ran off into the rain.

We were also starving at that point, so we decided to find food. Although euro’s exchange is cheaper then pounds, everything in France is expensive. After searching through cafés and restaurants, we finally gave up and found a McDonalds. And believe it or not, their McDonalds there are sooo good! Their burgers are like the ones you get at a sit down restaurant, but they have a dollar (or euro) menu and everything. They also put a different cheese on their cheeseburgers. It isn’t cheddar, it’s some sort of white cheese—but it is really good. Their ice cream is also thick and creamy, not the cheap watered down stuff we have. I got a kid’s menu, so I have some freaky toy. I thought it was a cool souvenir, but I have no idea what it is.

Something interesting, they don’t have Ronald McDonald as their symbol there. They have some burger-person thingy. I will have to show you, it’s all over my toy.

After that we all decided to wander down the streets and find a museum to go to. It had stopped raining by then, but we were all soaked and the paved sidewalks were really slick from the water. We kept sliding everywhere.

We finally found one museum—the National Gallery. And guess what the exhibit was….

MARIE ANTOINETTE!!

It was ah-ma-zing as well. It included all the paintings and statues of her, the furniture from her bedroom and summer cottage, some of her personal items (like her combs, nail kit, etc) and tons of other things. It was so cool. I just wish I could read French; all the signs were in French so I couldn’t read about any of the stuff. Thankfully their words are close enough that I could get the jist of it.

After the museum it decided to poor on us again. So, yet again, we found ourselves in another designer store. This time it was Gucci. It wasn’t quite as big as the Vuitton store, but it was still 3 floors. The whole time I couldn’t help but think, “I want my name to be that big one day…”

Once it let up enough to walk again, we ran for it to the nearest tube station. We were soaked, but I liked it. I didn’t get to shower the 3 days we were there, so I was hoping that would help a little. Course we just smelled like B.O. and fit right in with the French anyway.

When we got back to our cute little apartment (after quite an interesting time figuring out the metro), we were so tired we all crashed again. It was about 10 pm by then.

The next morning we didn’t wake up until 11 am—but it felt so good to get that sleep. I know I needed it. I did wake up with a huge back ache though. I couldn’t move until I did some very painful yoga stretches. This whole trip has been putting quite the strain on my back and shoulders. I am not kidding when I say I need a major massage when I get home.

Anyway, so, that day we decided to take the metro and get off my Notre Dame. That place is beautiful. We didn’t go inside because it cost about 20 euro’s, but I was just fine with that. Instead we did some shopping at the many stands on the streets.

Those shops are so much fun. They have artists selling their paintings, old books, clothes, all the usual souvenir items, and anything else you could think of. As I was gazing all the local artist’s prints, I saw one that really caught my eye. It was so unique and so beautiful, I couldn’t pass it up. I asked the artist how much, and he told me 25 euro. I only had 15 euro’s on me in cash, so I was really disappointed. But that cute little man must have seen how much I loved that print because he said in a very horrible French accent, “But for you, pretty lady, special price; now 15 euro because you love it.” I was so happy; I could have given him a big hug. The B.O. and last night’s alcohol on his breath is what stopped me from doing it. I have it all securely wrapped up, and I can’t wait to get home to frame it and show you how beautiful it is.

After we were happy with our shopping, we decided to walk along the… oh shoot… whatever that river is that runs through the middle of Paris (we called it the Ratatouille River the whole time—so just think of that movie) towards the Eiffel Tower. Now if you look at a map, the distance between Notre Dame and the Eiffel Tower is about 6 miles. We could have taken the metro right to it, but we all agreed it would be more adventurous walking there.

It took us about 3 and half hours to walk that far, but it was worth it. The streets of Paris are gorgeous. On our way there we stopped at the Marche Duex Fluers (Walk of the Flowers or something). Remember back to old movies based in Paris when you see the actors walking amongst miles and miles of flower shops? That’s what Marche Duex Fluers is exactly. It was gorgeous, and so indescribably amazing to absorb French culture. I preferred the 6 mile walk; I will never forget that walk.

By this time it was 7pm, and I we were hungry. However, the French culture is very family oriented, so only little tourist shops and small food markets are open on Sundays. All other major stores are closed, and any café or restaurant close around 5 pm. So… we didn’t know what to do about food. We finally found a little grocery store that was open, so we bought Laughing Cow cheese, a loaf of bread, and a French pastry for each of us.

Once we got closer and closer to the Eiffel Tower I got so excited. I couldn’t believe it… I was going to actually see the Eiffel Tower in my lifetime. And then, lo and behold, there it was in all its glory in front of me. It was magnificent-and HUGE! And so incredibly romantic.

Around the 4 corners there are carnival games, food stands, etc. In the middle there is music playing and you can see couples dancing. On the benches around it are couples everywhere.

It’s crazy how an odd shaped tower is so amazing, but there is just something that is so romantic about it. I kept thinking about Paris When It Sizzles and other old movies the entire time I was there.

The best part about it, however, was when it got dark. As soon as the sun set, they turned on the lights. That was breath taking! The entire tower appeared as if it were sparkling. I just sat in awe. It almost seemed like it was a dream as I sat under the Eiffel Tower eating my dinner of bread and cheese.

We then found a metro station (at this point I had become an expert at it. Trust me; I am so proud of myself. I know how the French subway works!) and I found how we could get back home.

Once again we crashed. This time it was around 12 am when we got home. I was so tired after all the walking we did, but it was completely worth it.

The next morning we got everything packed up, and came back home to London.

It’s so funny, we just call London home now. I wish it were my home…