So for the last 11 days I've been off cavorting around London, Dublin, Limerick and Cork. This was by far the most amazing and memorable part of the trip so far, and I'm keeping our London itinerary in front of me so I can remember all we did.
Thursday, 14/2
After dinner on Thursday we flew out of Dusseldorf/Weeze airport just across the border in Germany. We flew into London-Stansted, which was about 90 minutes from the hotel. A bus connected us, and by the time we got to the hotel, it was nearly 11.
The hotel was (many would use a harsher word) modest, but we were downtown right by the tube and a place to sleep. Also: free breakfast. There was a breakfast caste system going on. We could only select from the continental breakfast side (rolls and cereals) while other guests had access to a full English breakfast of fried eggs, baked beans (in tomato sauce), sausage, bacon and the like. I don't know who was expecting the Ritz, but they were surely disappointed.
Friday, 15/2
Today was a bit of a (non-alcoholic) hangover day, beginning with a morning walking tour around Westminster Abbey and Buckingham Palace followed by a rather lethargic tour of the British Museum. It was cold as balls outside, so the walking tour--given by Castle faculty, as were the museum tours of the trip--was pretty short. The museum trip was interesting but I didn't have much mental energy left, so I didn't get too much out of it. I did see the Rosetta Stone, though.
That night we went to a bar called The World's End. Really cool place. A drunk Rastafarian tried to sell us plastic jewelry. No sale. After that, my friends went to a club, but I went to sleep. We each had a night like this over the break where we, more than anything else, needed to sleep. We did have to get up at like 8:30 each of the mornings in London, so our sleep was limited.
Saturday, 16/2
Today, Sunday, Monday and Tuesday we signed up for our events instead of moving as a huge blob. In the morning I went to the National Gallery. The coolest thing I saw there was probably the paintings by Georges Seurat, the subject of the Stephen Sondheim musical Sunday in the Park with George, which I have listened to quite a lot lately. Pointalism. Like impressionism with poking stokes instead of sweeping ones. Very striking.
I had fish and chips for lunch. They served them with sour cream (or relish-less tartar sauce, I guess). Then we had gelato that cost way too much money. And it was way too cold out. And I was way too full to eat it. But I did, and it was freaking great.
That afternoon I went to the Tate Museum. There was a lot of Classical Age sculpture and bas-relief there. The Greeks are actually still pretty peeved about it. They want their stuff back.
That night was tried to get tickets to a show, failed, and subsequently crashed from disappointment. Balls.
Sunday, 17/2
Today I'd signed up to go on a daylong (10 a.m.-7 p.m.) tour of Shakespeare's birthplace, Stratford-Upon-Avon. It was optional and they guilted us into signing up for the damn thing (which was really damn annoying), but I didn't go. I have to sit captive in front of my crazy, senile magazine writing teacher twice a week already, which subject myself to a full day's dose of her ramblings? Instead, I slept in a little and went on a Beatles walking tour with a few of my friends.
The tour guide was interesting, but there were no bells and whistles, just the sites and stories of the Beatles in London, including Abbey Road and the Abbey Road Studios, Paul McCartney's record label's offices, the offices of Apple Records (the Beatles' label), the townhouse on the roof of which the band played their final and most infamous concert, the theatre where "Beatlemania" began, Yoko Ono's art studio (where she and John Lennon met), and some other cool stuff, too.
That night, we went to see one of Ben's favourite (when in Rome on the "-our") musicians, Kaki King. That girl can do some awesome stuff with a guitar. Damn, son. Before the concert, I went with two of my friends to try to get tickets again for Billy Elliot: The Musical, and we were triumphant! I got an obstructed view ticket for about $34 (which wasn't obstructed after I contorted my spine to see the stage). Billy Elliot's moving to Broadway in a year or so or something, so we were very excited at our luck!
The exchange rate on the British Pound, by the way, made me want to die. Math-impotent Emersonians failed to understand that 1 Pound has always been more valuable than $1, and that a currency like the Yen, although in smaller increments, can still "beat" the dollar. I've said that Emerson students should be accomplished enough in math to understand how in debt they'll be after graduation, but we can't move past exchange rates. END OF DIGRESSION. Ok. 1 pound=$2. London=exorbitant prices. Terrible.
That night we went out and looked for a club or something but didn't find anything and stumbled back to the hotel. It was still really fun, though.
Monday, 18/2
This morning we toured Westminster Abbey. By this point, we were quite tired, but I'd say this was the most impressive part of the London trip. There is so much to describe and the building is so vast. Most distinguished Britons are buried there, and the artwork and architecture are staggering. Good stuff.
That afternoon was a tour of "the London of Dickens and Shakespeare." The tour was given by a quaint British woman. She was, as Meg put it, "precious." She really was. We saw the old moorings of London Bridge; the new London Bridge; the prison where Dickens father was interned; the site of the old Globe Theatre (it burned down); the new, replica Globe; and a lot of other really cool things in that neighbourhood, including the outside of St. Paul's Cathedral.
That night we went to see Billy Elliot! It was very good. I have some issues with the show (it's no Sondheim), but it was really quite good. The experience was well worth the money, exchange rate or no.
All in all, over the 11-day trip, I spent $520 dollars (about $47/day). That's a small fortune, but significantly less than others spent and I could have spent myself. We spent the entire break in cities and had to pay for our own housing after London and most of our own food. None of that helped.
Tuesday, 19/2
Last day in London. Our flight to Dublin was at 5 p.m. That morning we went to the Docklands area--London's (much large and more impressive) version of Boston's State Street financial district. Our faculty guide was reading off a printout and clearly didn't know much about the area, and she, like us, had a flight to catch, so we were done by noon thirty. We crossed London via tube back to the hotel, grabbed lunch and headed to the train that would take us to the airport. I validates my Eurail pass that day, so the ride was free for me.
We had some issues with carry-on luggage and were scrubbed pretty hard at security and our flight was delayed an hour, but we made it to our hostel in Dublin around 10 that night. We had a big Italian dinner (always check the specials board, folks, not just the menu), had a drink at a very Irish pub and passed out for some well-earned sleep.
I'm very tired of writing and have some other urgent matters (such as watching a movie for fun) to do. I'll write about the rest of my trip maybe tomorrow.
Sunday, February 24, 2008
Monday, February 11, 2008
Munster!
It was a really fun weekend. Ela and her friend (to be honest, I didn't get the pronunciation down. She didn't speak English so we didn't interact very much. I think it was like [Ahn-tee-tee] or something) picked Ben and me up Friday night and we drove back to Germany in Ela's Uncle's Benz.
It was the first time she'd been to the Netherlands, which was a little surprising to me, but understandable. Rhode Island is only, like what, an hour twenty from home, and I've never gone there out of my own sovereign desire.
It was about a two-hour drive, which was broken up by a trip to McDonalds. I think that eating at a German McDonalds very much counts as a cultural experience. That ketchup packet (one real big one!) they gave us was frigging exotic. The food was 98% the same as in America, and just as delicious.
When we got to Ela's house, we were--immediately after hellos were exchanged--offered a beer. They had a pretty cool innovation for people like me who think that beer is gross: they put soda in it. It tasted good. Like, I didn't want to spit out each sip I took good.
We were tired, so we stayed in and watched The Departed. I take back anything and everything completely non-glowing I've ever said about that movie. It's really quite brilliant.
We got up around noon (shut up) Saturday and ate a breakfast of rolls, cheese and meats, jellies, tomatoes and a bunch of other glorious shit.
Then we went into Munster (by an about 15-minute train ride) and were given the key to the city / were led around on a very impressive and entertaining grand tour by Ela. The city is old and quaint and a far cry from Amsterdam's ever-present sense of OH MY GOD WHAT IS GOING ON
Ela tried to give us diabetes, and we offered no resistance. We went to a candy shop and had amazing German chocolates and then went to a dessert cafe' and had gelato. Friggin yah, man. Balls it was good.
We went back to Ela's town (Davensberg) by train and ordered pizza. Some of their roads are very thin; so thin that we would have to pull onto the shoulder so cars going the other way could pass.
That night we went to a club in Munster. Dancing is huge there, and so is bad 90s American music. Rock on Sum 41, Backstreet Boys and N'Sync! We got back to Ela's around 4 and then slept until noon again.
Breakfast was the same as Saturday but with Nutella and apples and no tomatoes (Ela found it very odd that I put Nutella on apples. whatever girl i do what i want). We drove into town and walked around a little bit, took a train back to Holland and took a bus back to the castle.
I watched I Am Legend last night and was underwhelmed. Smith's performance was impressive, but I didn't like the direction. Sequences were either drawn-out or harried. Nothing seemed to snap into place. They should've gone much more psychological with Smith's character. He was all-too mechanical for the last man on Earth, and his emotions were not accessible to the viewing audience. I got really bored towards the end of the movie, which is saying a lot because the movie was only 100 minutes long. Also, the cinematography was pretty uninspired. This movie just should've been much cooler.
This week has a fair amount of work, but it's all writing, so most of it is enjoyable or at the least, somewhat rewarding. We fly to London on the first travel excursion Thursday!
Go Celtics! Big win last night. And we can tack on two more before the All-Star break.
It was the first time she'd been to the Netherlands, which was a little surprising to me, but understandable. Rhode Island is only, like what, an hour twenty from home, and I've never gone there out of my own sovereign desire.
It was about a two-hour drive, which was broken up by a trip to McDonalds. I think that eating at a German McDonalds very much counts as a cultural experience. That ketchup packet (one real big one!) they gave us was frigging exotic. The food was 98% the same as in America, and just as delicious.
When we got to Ela's house, we were--immediately after hellos were exchanged--offered a beer. They had a pretty cool innovation for people like me who think that beer is gross: they put soda in it. It tasted good. Like, I didn't want to spit out each sip I took good.
We were tired, so we stayed in and watched The Departed. I take back anything and everything completely non-glowing I've ever said about that movie. It's really quite brilliant.
We got up around noon (shut up) Saturday and ate a breakfast of rolls, cheese and meats, jellies, tomatoes and a bunch of other glorious shit.
Then we went into Munster (by an about 15-minute train ride) and were given the key to the city / were led around on a very impressive and entertaining grand tour by Ela. The city is old and quaint and a far cry from Amsterdam's ever-present sense of OH MY GOD WHAT IS GOING ON
Ela tried to give us diabetes, and we offered no resistance. We went to a candy shop and had amazing German chocolates and then went to a dessert cafe' and had gelato. Friggin yah, man. Balls it was good.
We went back to Ela's town (Davensberg) by train and ordered pizza. Some of their roads are very thin; so thin that we would have to pull onto the shoulder so cars going the other way could pass.
That night we went to a club in Munster. Dancing is huge there, and so is bad 90s American music. Rock on Sum 41, Backstreet Boys and N'Sync! We got back to Ela's around 4 and then slept until noon again.
Breakfast was the same as Saturday but with Nutella and apples and no tomatoes (Ela found it very odd that I put Nutella on apples. whatever girl i do what i want). We drove into town and walked around a little bit, took a train back to Holland and took a bus back to the castle.
I watched I Am Legend last night and was underwhelmed. Smith's performance was impressive, but I didn't like the direction. Sequences were either drawn-out or harried. Nothing seemed to snap into place. They should've gone much more psychological with Smith's character. He was all-too mechanical for the last man on Earth, and his emotions were not accessible to the viewing audience. I got really bored towards the end of the movie, which is saying a lot because the movie was only 100 minutes long. Also, the cinematography was pretty uninspired. This movie just should've been much cooler.
This week has a fair amount of work, but it's all writing, so most of it is enjoyable or at the least, somewhat rewarding. We fly to London on the first travel excursion Thursday!
Go Celtics! Big win last night. And we can tack on two more before the All-Star break.
Friday, February 8, 2008
Ela yah!
This week was exciting, eventful and quite exhausting. Too bad about the Pats. The game didn't end until 4:20 a.m. I also stayed up until 5 a.m. Tuesday night to watch the returns come in from the Super Tuesday primaries.
The Democratic race could not be closer, and despite what people are saying about how the quick resolution of the Republican primary, I think it will help the Democrats by extrapolating the current trend: obsessive media coverage of the Democratic race and comparatively sparse attention paid to Republicans. Obama and Hilary showed in last week's mano-a-womano debate that they can and will play nice for the sake of their party. On this, Romney and Giuliani failed. They failed to win the nomination and splintered a base that will now succumb to an energized, purposeful Democratic votership. Sen. McCain can bark up the "unity" tree all he wants, but it won't amount to anything. Liberals are more united under their two candidates than Republicans ever will be under McCain.
GObama tomorrow in Louisiana, Nebraska, Washington and the Virgin Islands! I'm not sure which of these primaries are open, but independents could start gravitating to Democratic ballots in an effort to make their votes meaningful. One this might help Obama, but we can never be sure.
Castle life is good. I sleep until like 11:30 on Mondays, Wednesdays and Thurdays, and if I actually go to bed before 5 a.m. I can get full nights of sleep!
I watched No Country for Old Men this past weekend. Make it the next movie you rent. See it.
Sucks about Schilling. But really, we'll be fine. I said to Ben this week, "You never have enough pitching until you have too much." We thought we had too much, but now we'll use it.
Beckett
DiceK
Lester
Wakefield
Buckholtz
(Tavarez and Snyder for spot starts)
We'll be fine.
Ela's coming to pick up Ben and me at the castle in a few hours! How balls is that? I submit very balls. We're spending the weekend at her house in Davensberg, Germany. Davensberg...it sounds like we're going to Pennsylvania, or something, not Germany.
I'll try the beer, but I'm pretty sure it will still taste like beer, and ergo, taste like pee. Blargh. Davensberg is next to Munster, which is famed for its cheese and chocolates. I think I'll mostly stick to that.
Have a good weekend, everyone!
The Democratic race could not be closer, and despite what people are saying about how the quick resolution of the Republican primary, I think it will help the Democrats by extrapolating the current trend: obsessive media coverage of the Democratic race and comparatively sparse attention paid to Republicans. Obama and Hilary showed in last week's mano-a-womano debate that they can and will play nice for the sake of their party. On this, Romney and Giuliani failed. They failed to win the nomination and splintered a base that will now succumb to an energized, purposeful Democratic votership. Sen. McCain can bark up the "unity" tree all he wants, but it won't amount to anything. Liberals are more united under their two candidates than Republicans ever will be under McCain.
GObama tomorrow in Louisiana, Nebraska, Washington and the Virgin Islands! I'm not sure which of these primaries are open, but independents could start gravitating to Democratic ballots in an effort to make their votes meaningful. One this might help Obama, but we can never be sure.
Castle life is good. I sleep until like 11:30 on Mondays, Wednesdays and Thurdays, and if I actually go to bed before 5 a.m. I can get full nights of sleep!
I watched No Country for Old Men this past weekend. Make it the next movie you rent. See it.
Sucks about Schilling. But really, we'll be fine. I said to Ben this week, "You never have enough pitching until you have too much." We thought we had too much, but now we'll use it.
Beckett
DiceK
Lester
Wakefield
Buckholtz
(Tavarez and Snyder for spot starts)
We'll be fine.
Ela's coming to pick up Ben and me at the castle in a few hours! How balls is that? I submit very balls. We're spending the weekend at her house in Davensberg, Germany. Davensberg...it sounds like we're going to Pennsylvania, or something, not Germany.
I'll try the beer, but I'm pretty sure it will still taste like beer, and ergo, taste like pee. Blargh. Davensberg is next to Munster, which is famed for its cheese and chocolates. I think I'll mostly stick to that.
Have a good weekend, everyone!
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