Europe

I usually don't write about my travels until I am to my actual destination, but I felt the need to start now with this trip. I woke up this morning excited, scattered, and a little tired to boot. I should have been packing at least a few days ago but that didn't happen. Erick decided to get a last minute hair cut, and since Tony and Guy is closed he invited the technician to the house. Very good idea except he had his hair cut in the kitchen, and so as not to get hair on the floor put down towels everywhere. He promptly, like a good boy that he is, put the towels in the washing machine. Well, nice try--- but hair not only went everywhere, but it is now embedded in the towels, and has been a Beeeesh to get out of the machine. After 3 washings he figured out the hair was transfixed and the only logical solution would be to dry the towels out and then shake out the hair-- then repeat the washing. Right now they are in the drying stage so the outcome is yet to be determined.

As for me-- I keep going in and out of my closet not knowing what I need to pack. In my mind layers of clothing sounded like the best option to beat the variety of weather changes, but this is proving to be easier said then done.

I am also still trying to figure out which tickets I should get to avoid lines at the Louvre, and how to work skype.

I figured out the Louvre Tickets! Don't wait in line-- by online!
http://www.louvre.fr/llv/pratique/billetterie.jsp


Saturday

Made it here all in one peace, always a blessing to be thankful for. The plane ride over was quite turbulent which did not help with my inability to sleep anywhere that is not home. Customs was a breeze, there was hardly anyone in the airport at the time we landed. Next was figuring out the underground to get to our flat. Our line to Piccadilly was closed from the underground so we had to get on the Heathrow express and change trains 3 times to get to our destination. This is the part where I must tell you, traveling, as great at is it, is not for the faint of heart. All this maneuvering would not have been a problem if we were not minute by minute turning into sleep deprived zombies. While on the train I took up the sport of people watching. There were many different kinds of people from all over the world. One girl in front of me was wiping away tears, and I wondered what here story might be. Another family was traveling with their daughter, and they all seemed happy even to be on the train. I watched one person after another, and once I had taken inventory of everyone I tried to figure which sly looking person might be a vampire. I chalk this up too much Twilighting. From the train we walked to our flat. It was not too easy to find, but at the same time not to difficult either. The flat owner was nice, and told us we should stay awake until night to beat jet lagging and time zone changes. I smiled politely, and once they were gone I ran to the bed. I had a few hours sleep and I feel 40% back to normal.

Later
After a nap we ventured down the street to find food. I wouldn't have bothered except my stomach would not be happy until satiated. So out the door we went looking place most likely to serve us fastest. We happened upon and Indian Restaurant that looked like just the ticket. Unfortunately as we neared we found a closed sign in the window. Disappointed we moved past and looked for more options. Nothing came close to looking as good so we circled back around to take one more look, magically the sign had been flipped to open. As we went in we were greeted by tempting aromas that assured us we had made the correct choice. First came the Samosas, then butter chicken and tandoori prawns, and lastly rusmalai (an Indian dessert like a little cheese cake floating in sweet milk) and chocolate ice cream. In short we left with stomachs smiling.




I have to tell you --> the clothes here are all so cute. I am not even a shopper and I could hardly restrain myself. Cheap chic clothes is a combo I could not resist.

Sunday

Woke up early in the Am- 7:30 here. To me that's damn early. I'm not sure what we will do today. Venturing out the door would be a good start. I am particularly pleased that I found the food network here. Nothing says home like Ina cooking on TV.

For breakfast we went to a place called Maxwells I had fruit and a sinful side of Pan o Chocolate (Chocolate croissant -- french spelling may be off) and English eggs benny for E. I can say that I have had no bad food since I have been here. I have always heard the food was terrible in London, but not the case for me.

We crossed the river today and saw all kinds of crazy things. There were street artists (artists always crazy right...), trick bike riders, strange gold people, and a guy who swallowed a sword.

We also went into the Dali "exhibit" -- I can tell you to save your money. All works there were lithos. Dali did speak to me while inside-- his voice came through loud and clear. He said, Miss Semone, Art is a game, and if you are not having fun, you are not in the game! This alone was worth all my money.

I officially <3>

The "Underground"

My first encounter with the subway, as I mentioned before, was on my way in town from the airport. Tired as I was the impression it left on me was faint. My cousin Sarah lives in Northwood, an hour or so out of London. Getting to her house required another good old rail trip, this time in the opposite direction. Having ridden the line before, albeit in a hazy state, I figured it should be no problem. Wrong. We took Piccadilly line to get off at Bakerloo, instead of finding the Bakerloo line we went back in the opposite direction on the Piccadilly line. End result, we went back to where we came from. You would think one mistake would be enough to set us back in the correct direction, but no we had to do it two times. Once in the right direction we sat facing three men. For the sake of this story I will say they were Albanian and they were all gum chewers. All three where laughing and having a good time all while chomping away on their gum. One gum chewer smacked with his mouth open in such a way that it looked like the gum would surely fly out soon. After watching this on and off for a few minutes I decided the best thing to do would be to take out and gnaw on a gum of my own. I also gave a piece to E so we could effectively become the gum section. We finally made it and had a wonderful visit. We said our goodbyes and back to the rail we went. This time it was about 10:30 at night and I noticed some things were different. First, the train was maddeningly bumpy, I figured it was because there were so many fewer people and less weight. Next, the people in the day riding the train are different from the ones at night. The travelers at night reek of alcohol and some talk to themselves. One Rastafarian man in front of me played air guitar in front of his private parts, I tried not to notice... One man ate an ice cream bar. Another thing was the fabric on the seats, who picked out these funkarific prints? Lastly I noticed all the british stations had names evoking something proper. Notting Hill Gate, Tottenham Court, Paddington, were just a few with names of words we have heard before but never used.

Monday: Leicester Square, Piccadilly Circus, Buckingham Palace, and Italian Food

Italian here, Italian there, Italian everywhere! Of all the restaurants I have seen in London, Italian outnumber the rest by far. We like Italian food in the states, but Londoners must love it. For every eatery I see, three more are trattorias. I of course can not complain, and with all the visual persuading pizza, tomato basil soup, and caprese salad became lunch for today.

After lunch we walked around, a mode of transport particulary good for combating vacation eating. In Leicester Square we saw masses of people all swarming around. Upon nearing we found it was an opening for Johnny Depp's new movie Public Enemies. I was lucky enough to see the side of Johnny's head.

From Leicester square the next stop was Piccadilly Circus and Buckingham Palace.

Tuesday

Museum day. The plan was to tackle the Tate Modern, National Portrait Gallery, and Saatchi... The reality was we barely made it the full way through the Tate. Going to there on the heels of having been to the MoMa was like having the best meal of your life, then having a pretty good hot dog. We all know a good hot dog is good, but it ain't the best meal of your life. The collection was good and I saw things I had no idea exhisted, like a Picasso sculpture. There was one intstallation that was really impressive to me. Anselm Kiefer's Palm Sunday. The pictures does not do it justice.

I was really surpised though by the hanging of work in their permanent collection. There was no rime or reason to it whatsover. There were Miro's hanging above Pollocks. None were hung in Gallery fashion, there were some walls with three or four rows of art, some hung eight feet high. Bizarre to say the least. The more I see it in person the more I am becoming more of a fan of Lee Krasners work. My advice is to also bypass the food there.

Wednesday

Eating, Eating, Eating

Thursday

First thing lined up today was to eat Kebob from a good street vendor and revisit the Banoffy ice cream at Hagan Daas. There was no disappointment.

On the advice of friends we went and checked out the National Portrait Gallery. We were not disappointed. The gallery housed portraits of people from all eras, sadly lots of them were by artists who were unknown. Even if it matters not to the artists who have been gone long ago, seeing such beautiful works with no credit given to the creators bothered me. The most fascinating of the exhibits in the gallery was the 2009 portrait competition where modern day artists competed for a grand prize. The works were stunning, but like with most art I could not figure out how the winners were picked.

The rest of the day was passed by walking mixed with a small amount of shopping. I am scared to know what my suitcase weighs at this point. Towards the end of the evening a small sidewalk cafe seemed to have two seats with our names on them. We sat and soaked in the hustle bustle of the street nearby as we enjoyed our meal.

Where We Stayed

We stayed in a cute little flat in Covent Garden. It was right in the middle of a shopping district so there are tons of places to eat within walking distance. We had all the comforts of home and it was especially nice to be able to wash our clothes. There is no air conditioning here as most of the rentals and houses in London-- it takes a bit of getting used to for American tastes but is not that big of a deal really.

Here is a link to the flat http://www.homeaway.com/vacation-rental/p91503?uni_id=78119