London On My Mind

Home! Home!

Add caption

Sorry, had a bit of a Mel Brooks moment. As you may have seen from my many Facebook mobile uploads, I recently returned from London, England. After years and years of wanting to go to London (my senior year, my locker was decorated in pictures of ONLY British things. I think I was probably the only high school girl to have pictures of Dickens and Shakespeare pinned up) I finally made it! And it wasn't only the fact that I went to London...I also went completely and totally alone.

Sitting on Sherlock's couch

I took some wise advice from Pinterest, and did something I was afraid of. Traveling is something I love to do, but I've always been nervous of going alone. But like my girl Blanche, I've always depended on the kindness of strangers. And this time, in this particular country, it really paid off. I met a woman in the Barcelona airport on the way there that happened to be a London tour guide, and a Londoner for the past 10 years. She gave me the low down on what to hit, what to avoid, and even which bus to take to get to my hostel. (Thank you, by the way, if you ever stumble across this blog!) Because of the kindness of the people in London, my trip was a smashing success, and I'd love to share the highlights with you!

My first night in, I got to the hostel at about 1:30 in the morning. The cabby dropped me off and said, "This is a bit Harry Potter, isn't it?" Which I thought was kind of a creepy thing to say anyway, but I laughed and gave him his money. As I'm dragging my bag out behind me he yells, "Have fun at Hogwarts!!" Best introduction to London, ever. I got pretty much settled in, but I didn't really sleep very well. I woke up before my alarm at about 7 in the morning, and started to get ready for my first day. I had breakfast at the hostel, and the local chimney sweep sat down and talked with me. Not as cute as Dick Van Dyke, but entertaining nonetheless. Thus far, I hadn't really experienced London yet, but had met some wonderful people. 

Palmer's Lodge Swiss Cottage (I recommend it)

So on my first excursion, I walked down to Abbey Road, just a few blocks away. And I took a picture with the street sign since there was nobody to take my picture crossing the street. Oh well. Directly after that was my trip to 221B Baker Street. Which made me so excited I about peed myself. I bought a pipe! I sat in Sherlock's chair, saw Mrs. Hudson's room (much neater) and geeked out about the bulletin board (see picture A). If you haven't seen the new Sherlock BBC television series, stop reading this blog and go watch it now. I'll wait.

Picture A

Such a sad ending, right!? Goodness Steven Moffat, stop playing with my emotions. Anywho, whilst at the Sherlock museum, I asked a girl who worked there where her favorite place in London was. Her face lit up when she said Covent Garden. She gushed about how lovely it is with all the Christmas decorations. So I took the tube over there and wandered around until I found a little restaurant and an open window seat. I had the best hot chocolate with whipped cream, and watched a string quartet play while journaling. It was absolutely fantastic and gorgeous. I bopped around the shops for a while and continued on my journey.

Cafe Chutney is where I had the HoCho 

From that point on that day, I just wandered pretty much aimlessly around the city. I stumbled across Big Ben just as the bell was chiming (got a little teary eyed), saw Westminister Abbey, saw LOTS of red buses and phone booths. My favorite thing I stumbled past was this big iron gate. I saw the London eye from afar, and wanted to get closer, so I tried to go through a gate. The security guard asked me where I was trying to go. I replied that I didn't know, I just wanted to go that way. He chuckled and told me, "This is the back of Downing Street, love. If you want, you can go through that gate (over there) and see the front of Downing, but I can't let you through here." I accidentally tried to get into 10 Downing Street, where the Prime Minister lives and works. I did almost the same thing with Buckingham Palace. Except I didn't try to go in, I just had no clue that it was Buckingham (it's not as pretty in real life).

The gate's nicer than the façade of the building

I walked as long and hard as I could, and saw all I could possibly see. I finally gave up when I was trying to find the Globe Theatre, and even the local people around didn't know what I was talking about. So I went back to the hostel, and met a friend! Tatia, (I think...) had the bed below mine, and was alone as well. So when she went out to meet with her Brazilian friends, I tagged along and met some cool people. Although, since most of them were speaking Portuguese I tried to speak Spanish back to them, until I found a few that spoke English really well. A plate of fish and chips and a Kopparberg later, I was ready for sleep.

The second day was planned to the T, and I have four maps with arrows on them to prove it. I got up at 7am to explore the city. I went down to Tower of London first, and saw the crown jewels and all the cool historical stuff. Audio guides still annoy me, and museums are awkward when you're by yourself, but it was still really interesting. The thing that I don't understand about the crown jewels is why there are so many plates. Nobody has ever eaten off of them, and they serve no purpose. At least make something interesting...like a gold chinchilla, or shoes.  Anyway, Tower of London was beautiful and I did enjoy it, even though it was crazy expensive. I continued along the south of the Thames to Tower Bridge, where I found a clue!

A clue!!

There were tracks of Blues Clues that led down a set of stairs. Unfortunately I did not follow them down, but I did have a couple run into me, because I stopped dead in my tracks to take this picture. Priorities, people!!   I was on my way to the Globe after that, but it took a while. If you ever travel to London, and plan on seeing the Globe, take the Millenium Bridge across the Thames, because that seems to be the most logical way to do it. Only by the grace of God did I actually make it to the Globe. There were sketchy places that I had to go through to get there. However, completely and totally worth it to go! I took the tour, with a guide who was very entertaining and informative. I learned more about the first Globe, and Shakespeare than I thought I would. (I really like Shakespeare) And if K. Marshall wants any of my awesome-sauce pictures, she's more than welcome to hit me up :-)

Globe 3.0

For a geeky girl like me, it was absolutely incredible to see the inside of the theatre. Although I didn't get to see a show (the season runs in the summer, since it's an outdoor theatre) I still felt closer to the bard, and was definitely inspired. But enough about my love affair, there's more to see!

I had way more time than I thought I would after seeing those two things, so I headed all the way over to the west side of the city to try to find a TARDIS, but to no avail. I found a Cinnabon (which, I know, doesn't sound important enough to put in the blog. But seriously, it's been a really long time since I'd had one, and it was delightful.) I meandered a while to kill some time before I went to see the show. I bought tickets for The Mousetrap, and it was some of the best money I spent in London. 60th Anniversary of the show, and I was 3 away from the 25,000th performance. It brought back great memories from doing the show at NCC, but at the same time, I had forgotten some of the back-stories of the characters, so it was still very interesting to watch. (Cast & Crew, if you're reading this: Don't worry, they weren't as good as you ;) )

It will probably close soon...

So that was my London trip! In a nutshell. I absolutely adored the city, and I fully intend to go back some day and spend more than 48 hours exploring and taking it all in.

In the next episode of "Apparently" Carlee goes to Africa. 

To Eat or Not to Eat...McDonald's edition

Okay, internal struggle time. As I was in the shower this afternoon (afternoon, not morning because my sleep schedule is all over the place. At 4 in the morning my brain went "Let's Play!!!" Stupid brain...) I smelled something delicious. Fried something. Unhealthy something. Delicious something. And honestly, it kind of smelled like McDonald's french fries. I am ashamed.

I live in one of the best countries for healthy eating. Have you ever seen an overweight Spaniard? Well, I have. But they are few and far between. Most of them are slim, sexy, and smoke like chimneys. But besides the inhaling of toxic fumes, most of these people are actually very healthy. Fresh seafood is readily available, and the fresh market is filled with faces of freshly killed animals ready to be put on your plate. Although that seems gross, it's actually quite good for you. Since there are no preservatives pumped in to the meat, they just hand it to you all bloody and gross...okay, done with the graphic terms. (But really you should go sometime. It's fun)

See? That animal fed people that day.

But today, I really, really, really want McDonald's. And I'm not proud of that. Not by a long shot. But in my defense, I have been cooped up in the house eating normal food since Wednesday night. Actually, I was sick in bed Tuesday as well, so I've been stuck in the house for quite some time. And in this duration, I've been eating maybe a meal and a half a day. That is not the fault of my host family in the slightest. My sleeping schedule is off because of my ear infection, so 2pm is breakfast now. Anyway. I've been eating pastries for "lunch" because they're rather close to my house, are really cheap, and require little to no effort to obtain. But today, today I want food.

So I looked up the nearest McDonald's which happens to be in my neighborhood! (Yay Sants!) It's just a few blocks up from the street around the corner. (This is why I suck at directions. Did you read that? Did you understand it? I sure as hell didn't) Walking distance. To delicious fried food. *yay!*

But here's the funny thing: Reviews from Spanish people about McDonald's. They hate it, and it's really amusing. I'll translate some of my favorites for you:

1. Who would eat this garbage?

2. Fast and bad, you can eat it, but it's not good for you.

3. ONLY if you need something to eat quickly.

4. It would not be good for your health, but it is rich in saturated fats.

I'm not kidding. This is what Spanish people think of McDonald's. And it's wonderful. So, I'm going to go grab a McWhatzit and eat some terrible food. :-) And I'm okay with that.  

*Note* This has been edited to have correct comma usage and so-on. Also, I did not actually make it to a McDonald's today. I did however, eat at a Pans & Company, which is also fast food, but the menu is in Catalan. FTW

Statistics

Soooo, it's been brought to my attention that people are actually reading my blog. Which I never really anticipated outside of my dad and my sister. (Mom's still figuring out the internet.) But as I was looking at my stats earlier today, I was pleasantly surprised. I've had almost 850 pageviews, which seems pretty excessive. AND, this is the exciting part for me, people in 6 different countries have read my blog. I mean, the United States and Spain make sense, because I've ...lived in those places. Here are the specific stats from today:

1. United States (of course)
2. Germany (I don't speak German, aside from "mein hund steht in flammen"* nor do I know any Germans well enough for them to follow my blog. So that's curious)
3. Spain (This makes more sense, since I do have American friends here that have told me they read my blog. Thanks for the support all you SAE people!)
4. France (While I do not speak French, nor do I really know any French people besides my step-dad's cousin's wife and therefore half of their son as well I suppose, this makes sense. My former roommate, Maggie is living in Avignon, France. This is her blog bonjourdearmaggie.blogspot.com)
5. Ireland (I give this one to Maci and Kelsey)
6. Russia (RUSSIA?! I'm so confused. I know of no one who lives in Russia. The languages I speak are nowhere close to Russian. Why are Russian people reading my blog?)

My readership (that sounds way too fancy)

After all of this, I just have to ask you a few questions, dear reader.
First of all, hi. I'm very glad that you're wasting your time to read my pointless blog. (actually I have another one that's supposed to be the pointless one, but that's besides the point. ha. points.)
Second of all, where are you from? If I don't know you personally, then feel free to say in my comment box where you're from because that would be cool for me!
Third of all, if I don't know you....why are you here? I mean this in the least rude sentiment. But after a few months of being in Spain, you really learn how to be direct with people.

So I actually intended on writing about Spanish food in this blog, but stats just kind of....took over. I promise this will not happen often. I just find these little internet-y things quite interesting. And I will write more often. Especially if I'm sick, because, downtime. Bye-bye grammar. So thanks for reading, and I hope I didn't scare any newcomers! Bye!!!!

*my knowledge of German is accredited to Olivia Tarplin

Close your eyes and I'll kiss you, tomorrow I'll miss you...

Liverpool, England. The most wonderful place for a lifetime Beatles fan to go. It was very cold, very rainy, but absolutely perfect. It's exactly like I pictured it to be, but better. Am I gushing?

I got into Liverpool last Friday, and I walked off the plane wearing the sandals that had been perfectly comfortable in Spain. Let me tell you, sandals in Liverpool in October are generally not a great idea. But my wonderful friends, Maci and Kelsey from NCC, and my new friend Carly picked me up from the John Lennon Airport. (Which has the tagline of "Above us only sky" how quaint!) After changing shoes, and dropping my bags, we hit the City Centre! The centre was really cool, although the architecture in Spain is better... *cough* But one thing they have downtown Liverpool that we are missing in Barcelona, is donuts. Seriously the best donuts I've ever had in my life, four donuts for a pound fifty. Pretty much heaven. We also hit a restaurant for lunch that had amazing burgers. I haven't had a burger that good since I left the states. Do I talk about food this much in normal conversation? Anyway, they also had fantastic cider that tasted like Christmas. Thank you, Frank, for the recommendation, it was delightful. After having a great lunch with new and old friends, and buying some thicker socks from the Primark, I was reunited, dramatically and romantically, with Jessica Coffey. (You can follow her *delightful* blog here: http://jcoffeyblog.wordpress.com/)  My weekend was nothing short of incredible. It was so nice to be back with someone that knows me well. And does she know me... I think her flatmates were a little frightened of our love affair. But it was great! The four of us girls went on a much needed grocery store run, and I got some Cadbury chocolate and Earl Grey tea. When in England...gorge yourself as the English do.

The nightclub we hit the first night was much like the clubs in Barcelona, lots of scantily clad youth jiving to American music. It was great to hang out with everyone though, and I didn't have to be nearly as careful with my stuff as I do in Spain (I actually took both hands off of my purse to dance! Although I still checked to make sure it was there every 30 seconds or so.) But the nightclub to end all nightclubs was Saturday night. At the Cavern Club.

Jess and I at the Cavern Club

Four slackers in leather jackets

   Seriously, I have no idea how the Beatles wore leather jackets in that club. I was wearing a tank top and about to sweat to death...it was ridiculous. Now mostly it was old people dancing with their spouses, which was very cute. But it was also a strange form of karaoke night. The cover band played Beatles songs from the early years (which is to be expected) and they also played background for people to come up and sing karaoke. So strange...but really entertaining to watch. I did not participate, because I was still sober and sane. But I had a scotch and coke, which is what the Beatles used to drink at the Cavern, so I'd say it was a pretty holistic experience. I also managed to make it to the following famous places:

Albert Dock

Penny Lane 

The abandoned Sgt. Pepper's 

 So I saw some pretty awesome places that were important to the Beatles, and therefore important to me. But that's not even the best part about Liverpool. (Gusher warning) Even through all of the cold and the rain, I've never been to a town where the people are so open and friendly. I feel like I could be invited to dinner with any person I strike up a conversation with. The streets are covered with leaves, and it smells like home. (Sorry Barcelona, but you kind of stink.) It's just the most incredible town that has all of the city aspects that I love, and the small town feel on the outside. Jessica and I were talking about how we feel like we have a deeper understanding of the Beatles' music after having walked around Liverpool. It's a cold that is almost comforting. You know that you'll get out of it soon enough, and you can warm up with a cup of tea in a few minutes. Even though I currently have a cold and an ear infection from the English rain, I don't regret going in the slightest. The people I met in one short weekend will have a spot in my heart forever. I have no doubt in my mind that one day I will live in Liverpool. And maybe, just maybe, Jess and I will share a cozy little flat in Aigburth Park.