Tonight I get to see Phantom of the Opera and I am so ridiculously excited it's not funny!! I'm gonna start getting ready at like 5 or 5:30 so that I can leave here by 6 or 6:30 and the show starts at 7:30!! Whoo hoo!! Tomorrow is my last full day in London before my trip, I shall spend it doing laundry and packing and going to the post office to send home all the stuff I won't need for the rest of my trip and the lighter souvenirs that I've picked up. I may even catch a movie or something. Then on the 2nd I leave here and go to the hotel the rest of the Contiki group is meeting at, drop off my luggage and wander around until the group meeting at like 6 or 7 that night (have to be out of the hostel by 10am). I leave for the continent at 6:45am on the 3rd of June.
Last night was fun, went out with Belinda and Henrique (learned how to spell his name properly today) and had dinner at my fav restaurant that I've found so far. It was lovely, right across from the Globe Theatre, on the Thames. We just had great food and great conversation and didn't end up back at the hostel until about 12:15. Got some amazing pics of St. Paul's Cathedral all lit up at night. Very cool!
My day today will be quite low key until the play. Still trying not to overspend, so I'll just be going out and having a meal around 4ish or something, as well as getting my money and stuff together for the continent (going to be changing over my pounds to Euro's). Oh yeah, and I'll have to make some definite decisions on what I'm doing with my last week. I'm sorry to say Dave, that the place with the Oblivion roller coaster is not at Wimbledon, it's in the middle of the country and will cost me over 30£ to get in, plus whatever it would cost me to get there by bus...so no roller coaster for me :( I'm very sad about this. Okay, truly off to get things organized for the end of my vacation. Miss you all,
hugs, Mel
Thursday, May 31, 2007
Wednesday, May 30, 2007
Theatre Bliss
As you can probably tell from the title, the Lion King was absolutely amazing!! And guess where my seat was??? FRONT ROW!! I didn't know that until I got to the theatre...it was so very cool!! I could almost touch the amazing costumes, especially when they leaned out over the audience. It was very much the coolest performance I've ever seen. They had lots of moments when the cast (who play the animals) were amongst the audience, parading past, flying birds over our heads, it was so very cool!! And the woman who played Rafiki (the baboon for all of you who have only seen the Disney and aren't big enough fans to know all their names) was phenomenal!!! OMG!! I loved it, loved every moment of it. The music was great, it has more songs than the disney movie, Timon and Pumba are fantastic, the song and scene for "can you feel the love tonight" is sort of abstract and cool in order to work around the fact that they are playing animals and their headdresses are too big to mimic our traditional stage impressions of love. It was just - wow - I may have to come back and stay in London for a few days after my tour to see the Lion King and Wicked one more time each, and just spend three days in Scotland instead of 6. Those two performances have been some of the highlights of my whole trip. And for the record, the Lyceum theatre where the Lion King was staged has to be one of the most beautiful interiors I have ever seen. It's really every cherished idea of an old school theatre or opera house. There's nothing plain about the interior - it's all murals and crown mouldings and pillars and rich curtains and reds and golds and balconys and the ceiling is so elaborate, it was just...sigh...you get the idea I hope. It was such a good show I didn't even notice the time passing. Usually in full theatres in which the seats are close together (which is every show I've been to so far) at some point you feel the pain in the ass of sitting still so long, or the people next to you distract you somehow, but I was completely oblivious to all that during the whole thing. I was grinning almost the entire time, except of course when Scar was being evil or the stampede scene. Oh!! The stampede!! Let me just tell you about that cuz it was one of the things I was curious as to how they would stage it. So they have the large pieces of scenery on runners and stuff, and they had the red cliff walls pulled out in successions so that closest to the audience was the largest, and it went back and had smaller and smaller parts until at the back, there was a projection scren between the cliffs faces that showed the wildabeasts grazing on the field at the top of the cliff. When Simba roared and they started the stampeded, the screen changed and you could see the tiny wildabeasts running down the cliff face like in the movie, then in each part starting from the back there were mechanized rows of wildabeast that looked like they were running towards you. Each row had several wildabeast and they worked on a circular system so it looked like they were bounding towards you. Each layer closer, the mechanized beasts were larger in size, so it looked like they were getting closer and closer. At the level Simba was on, he began running in place and other actors in costume as wildabeasts ran up beside him and then another group with the largest costumes of all filled in the front so that it looked like they were overtaking Simba!!! IT WAS SO COOL!!! I really hope you can get some sort of mental picture from that, it was just amazing. Anyways, I got two items from the show, a program outlining who was in it and the scenes and numbers and stuff, and another one with lots of pics from the cast performances and stuff, so you can get a better look later.
The last few days at the hostel have been pretty nice. I really like the roommates I have now. Mostly Auzzies, three at the moment actually. The girl from Alabama left this morning, as did our guy roommate from Brazil named (spelled phonetically for how you pronounce his name) hen-hee-kay. The Spanish equivalent would be Enrique, but the Portuguese pronounciation is apparently different. Anyways, the Auzzie's are great. Belinda's been here for a few days already and is very friendly, has been travelling the world, been to Tailand, is a personal trainer and just very interesting to talk to. The guy who just arrived yesterday is named Lee. He's lived most of his life on the ocean, is a boom operator in comercials (as only Jeff will be likely to know what that means, I shall explain. He's the guy that holds the pole with the fluffy black mic on the end of it), and is travelling the globe. He's been all over and has a month left before he goes home. Very nice guy, in head over heals in love with a girl who organizes travel excursions in Egypt, but hasn't seen her since he left home 7 months ago. Between Belinda, Enrique, Lee and I, we've spent the better part of the last two days in conversation about almost every topic imaginable. Surfing, of course, the world politics, what it's like in our countries having both previously been British Colonies, relationships, quantum physics, tourist stuff (where we've been, where we're going), tattoos (have had a handful of people wanting to know about mine, which is cool), everything. It's been pretty cool. One of those true, touring around, meeting new people and sharing different experiences kind of times. We seem to be all leaving London around the same time, we'll all be gone by this weekend. So it's cool to have good roommates until I'm done here. I still have nice time to myself though, cuz they all like to go out and party, so it gives me a chance to read Sherlock Holmes or Charles Dickens :D
Okay, that's been a ridiculously long post, so I think I'll leave it for now. Today I shall be looking up my options for my last week after my tour, checking on costs and stuff, so it shall be a long computer day. Ah well, got nothing but time this afternoon anyways. My only venturing out shall be to dinner later, in an effort to under spend in my last few days.
Love and miss you all!! Thanks so much for all the comments, no joke, they make my day!!
xox Mel
The last few days at the hostel have been pretty nice. I really like the roommates I have now. Mostly Auzzies, three at the moment actually. The girl from Alabama left this morning, as did our guy roommate from Brazil named (spelled phonetically for how you pronounce his name) hen-hee-kay. The Spanish equivalent would be Enrique, but the Portuguese pronounciation is apparently different. Anyways, the Auzzie's are great. Belinda's been here for a few days already and is very friendly, has been travelling the world, been to Tailand, is a personal trainer and just very interesting to talk to. The guy who just arrived yesterday is named Lee. He's lived most of his life on the ocean, is a boom operator in comercials (as only Jeff will be likely to know what that means, I shall explain. He's the guy that holds the pole with the fluffy black mic on the end of it), and is travelling the globe. He's been all over and has a month left before he goes home. Very nice guy, in head over heals in love with a girl who organizes travel excursions in Egypt, but hasn't seen her since he left home 7 months ago. Between Belinda, Enrique, Lee and I, we've spent the better part of the last two days in conversation about almost every topic imaginable. Surfing, of course, the world politics, what it's like in our countries having both previously been British Colonies, relationships, quantum physics, tourist stuff (where we've been, where we're going), tattoos (have had a handful of people wanting to know about mine, which is cool), everything. It's been pretty cool. One of those true, touring around, meeting new people and sharing different experiences kind of times. We seem to be all leaving London around the same time, we'll all be gone by this weekend. So it's cool to have good roommates until I'm done here. I still have nice time to myself though, cuz they all like to go out and party, so it gives me a chance to read Sherlock Holmes or Charles Dickens :D
Okay, that's been a ridiculously long post, so I think I'll leave it for now. Today I shall be looking up my options for my last week after my tour, checking on costs and stuff, so it shall be a long computer day. Ah well, got nothing but time this afternoon anyways. My only venturing out shall be to dinner later, in an effort to under spend in my last few days.
Love and miss you all!! Thanks so much for all the comments, no joke, they make my day!!
xox Mel
Monday, May 28, 2007
Wow, I didn't think I had this much left to do!!
So today was crazy busy!! Wait, first, must say how happy I am that there are so many of you reading and posting on my blog!! It truly makes my day to read your comments, feels like little touches of home. Auntie, tell Ali to quote Shakespeare at Armon next and say tis "better to be a witty fool than a foolish wit" and then repeat the teamwork thing ;) Hope the boys are both doing equally well with all their ventures (sports and school). I have many many many more pics than I ever intended on taking, but most of them are so beautiful I wouldn't delete them. Jen, may I suggest that you pack your own soap and toilet paper, both those things seem to be lacking here in Europe. Dez, it's over half way, and you know it's all downhill from there...and I'm sorry to tell you that you almost got a present today, but I couldn't justify spending the money. They had this amazing bookmark at the British Museum, it was a really beautiful metal with turquoise markings Auk (you know, the Egyptian symbol you want the tattoo of, which I'm sure I misspelled), but for the tiny thing they wanted 10 pounds!! Eesh, it's the thought that counts right? And, in the absence of Eggos, why not just eggs? Hey Norma, so good to hear from you! I was sure I sent you my blog address when I started it, but I may have typed your address wrong...Okay, to one and all, let me also say that I am finally starting to coquer my cold!! Way less blowing of the nose today, no more sinus headache, and no more cough! Whoopee!!
Alrighty then, on to my crazy busy day. Sarah (Alabama girl) and I went out on the town together (that is to say, we did touristy stuff together). First we went back to the Parliament buildings, Big Ben and Westminster Abbey, got more pics, picked up some postcards etc. Then we walked over to Covent Garden and did the most wonderful thing, we shopped for tea!! That's right, tea!! I only spent 10 pounds, you should be so proud!! And all the kinds of tea I got were: moroccan mint, peach (for you Grandma!!), english breakfast, scottish breakfast, white, and green (for you Dad!!) and two containers for all the loose leaf tea leaves I have. Not too shabby, eh? Then we had some lunch at Subway to save the £'s, walked lots more, and ended up at the British museum. Saw lots of amazing Egyptian, Myaan, Japanese and Chinese stuff before we left, and one gorgeuos Michelangelo drawing! Then we got some more post cards from there, and I bought a "little book of treasures" that highlights and explains their best items at the museum...oh yeah, and for all you history majors that care...I GOT TO SEE THE REAL ROSETTA STONE!! THAT'S RIGHT!! OH YEAH!! For those of you who don't know, it's an ancient stone that has Hiroglyphics, Demotic, and Coptic Greek written on it - it is basically our only source to understanding hiroglyphics because each of the sections on the stone repeat the same words, so from the greek and the demotic we were able to begin decoding the hiroglyphs...there are no words for how amazingly fantastically momentously important this one stone was to all of human history and understanding. Ah, history bliss...Anyways, we also stopped for a nice cup of tea as it was so very extremely cold out, and raining real big raindrops and being windy!! Oh my goodness we were wet and cold. An umbrella was useless because the wind blew them inside out all the time...yeah...ewy...Oh!! And we sidetracked ourselves and randomly went to the Charles Dickens museum!! It was so cool, cool like the Sherlock Holmes museum. Only there were copies upon copies of his works dating back to when he first published them till now, including orginal handwritten documents that you could buy!!! So, be very proud, I refrained from whipping out my visa and going nuts on the authentic 19th century editions, and instead only bought a single book: Charles Dickens' Christmas Stories ( not a Christmas Carol) published in 1907 for 15£...so happy, wonderful old book!! Eventually we made out way back to the hostel, stopping to buy a waffle for our evening snack/meal. I am finally warm again sitting in the overly warm computer lab, so that's good. It's going to be a semi-early night for me again, and tomorrow is the Lion King!! Whoo hoo!! I really plan on sending home a box of stuff on like the 1st of June, so hopefully it will be back home by the time I am, and it will have most of the stuff I've picked up in London so I won't have to pack it in my luggage. It's not as much as you'd think, a good box full though. Oh my...this has been a much longer post than I originally intended, ah well, you enjoyed it right?? I think I'll cut it off for now and let you all get on with your days!!
Love and miss you all lots and lots,
Mel xox ("we can't all travel by bubble" one of my fav lines from "Wicked")
Alrighty then, on to my crazy busy day. Sarah (Alabama girl) and I went out on the town together (that is to say, we did touristy stuff together). First we went back to the Parliament buildings, Big Ben and Westminster Abbey, got more pics, picked up some postcards etc. Then we walked over to Covent Garden and did the most wonderful thing, we shopped for tea!! That's right, tea!! I only spent 10 pounds, you should be so proud!! And all the kinds of tea I got were: moroccan mint, peach (for you Grandma!!), english breakfast, scottish breakfast, white, and green (for you Dad!!) and two containers for all the loose leaf tea leaves I have. Not too shabby, eh? Then we had some lunch at Subway to save the £'s, walked lots more, and ended up at the British museum. Saw lots of amazing Egyptian, Myaan, Japanese and Chinese stuff before we left, and one gorgeuos Michelangelo drawing! Then we got some more post cards from there, and I bought a "little book of treasures" that highlights and explains their best items at the museum...oh yeah, and for all you history majors that care...I GOT TO SEE THE REAL ROSETTA STONE!! THAT'S RIGHT!! OH YEAH!! For those of you who don't know, it's an ancient stone that has Hiroglyphics, Demotic, and Coptic Greek written on it - it is basically our only source to understanding hiroglyphics because each of the sections on the stone repeat the same words, so from the greek and the demotic we were able to begin decoding the hiroglyphs...there are no words for how amazingly fantastically momentously important this one stone was to all of human history and understanding. Ah, history bliss...Anyways, we also stopped for a nice cup of tea as it was so very extremely cold out, and raining real big raindrops and being windy!! Oh my goodness we were wet and cold. An umbrella was useless because the wind blew them inside out all the time...yeah...ewy...Oh!! And we sidetracked ourselves and randomly went to the Charles Dickens museum!! It was so cool, cool like the Sherlock Holmes museum. Only there were copies upon copies of his works dating back to when he first published them till now, including orginal handwritten documents that you could buy!!! So, be very proud, I refrained from whipping out my visa and going nuts on the authentic 19th century editions, and instead only bought a single book: Charles Dickens' Christmas Stories ( not a Christmas Carol) published in 1907 for 15£...so happy, wonderful old book!! Eventually we made out way back to the hostel, stopping to buy a waffle for our evening snack/meal. I am finally warm again sitting in the overly warm computer lab, so that's good. It's going to be a semi-early night for me again, and tomorrow is the Lion King!! Whoo hoo!! I really plan on sending home a box of stuff on like the 1st of June, so hopefully it will be back home by the time I am, and it will have most of the stuff I've picked up in London so I won't have to pack it in my luggage. It's not as much as you'd think, a good box full though. Oh my...this has been a much longer post than I originally intended, ah well, you enjoyed it right?? I think I'll cut it off for now and let you all get on with your days!!
Love and miss you all lots and lots,
Mel xox ("we can't all travel by bubble" one of my fav lines from "Wicked")
Sunday, May 27, 2007
Hello one and all!
Hey everyone! Mom, what was your prize for being a good flier?? Do you think Mindy misses me? You will have to let me know how the open house goes, and as for having to eat out, I'm more than looking foreward to a home cooked meal when I get back...that is, if home will still be there when I get back...I guess my first home cooked meal when I get back could be in my new home..weird...anyways!! Sounds like you had a blast in Ottawa, very happy to hear it. Today I didn't do much. Had a shower, it's always good to be clean. Last night I didn't end up going for tea or out to take pics. I was pretty tired, and I'm still sick with this ruddy cold, so I opted out, especially when they started talking about wanting to go out for Indian food first. Not that I have anything against Indian food, but I'm trying to spend under my budget for the rest of the time I'm here to make up for over-spending my budget while Brandon was here. So yeah, spending money on more food when I wasn't even hungry was not an appealing idea. So I opted out of the evening. Turns out it was a good thing not only for the money reasons...they didn't get back until about 2 or 3 this morning cuz the photographer girl was so unorganized it took forever to get set up and take the pics at the 2 places they were going to take them!! GAH!! I would have snapped. Plus, I had gone out with her earlier in the day and if she had walked any slower I would have snapped on her!! Eesh...but yeah. Instead I had a nice quiet evening in, read some stuff, and had lots of sleep in an effort to conquer my cold. Tonight, Sarah and I are definitely going out for tea, so that shall be good. And I have decided to go out to the British Museum, the Tate, and maybe even the Tate Modern tomorrow. Those are some of the few places I still wanted to go to, and tomorrow is as good a day as any. On the 29 I see the Lion King, and on the 31 I see Phantom!! Woo hoo!! Then it's off to Europe, so my time is really flying by over here. I'll be home before ya know it!! Side note, Pirates 3 is awesome!! Oh, and it's really cool that Becca gave you my blog, David. I'm hoping to help you out for the Guys and Dolls performances. Okay, that's really all for now.
Love and miss you all lots and lots!
PS-really really, let me know how the open house goes!! love you guys the most!
Love and miss you all lots and lots!
PS-really really, let me know how the open house goes!! love you guys the most!
Saturday, May 26, 2007
Rainy Day
Several things: one, when it rains here it doesn't rain like it does at home...it sort of, drizzly mists, so after an hour of walking in the "rain" I'm about as damp as I'd be after spending a good amount of time in a sauna, but way way colder! I did laundry today, talked to a South African girl and an Aussie, the South African is here working for a few years but can go work other places too cuz she has an EU visa. The Aussie has been here two years, staying at this hostel with her partner and working. I can't believe she's been here that long!! Crazy!! Finished laundry, made plans to have tea with the two Alabama girls later tonight (at least one of them is named Sarah, the one I walked with today I couldn't tell you here name, but she's a photographer and has carted way too much stuff with her for her 7 week vacation). After tea tonight we're going to take pics of some stuff at night, mostly for our photographer friend's benefit. Tomorrow I am definitely going to see Pirates, after laundry and our other plans I ran out of time for today. Ah, right...another weird thing here. The bathrooms in the hostel are messed up. Most are missing essential parts. Some just have toilets and sinks, some have toilets and showers but no sink, lots don't have mirrors, , all but one don't have soap, and the taps are set up so that there is hot water on one side and cold on the other, but they don't connect at all so you can't have just a mix of them for WARM water to wash with, you must choose one or the other, AND there are no plug-ins anywhere near mirrors in the whole building!!! It's bizzare!! My roommates and I were ranting about it last night and I don't think I had posted to tell you guys about it yet. It's a darn good thing I brought my own soap with me over here!! Weird, crazy Europeans...anyways...yeah...what else is weird here...oh, there are signs everywhere in the underground walkways saying "keep left" so that people don't walk against the flow, there are signs painted on the ground at intersections informing those who wish to cross which direction to look for oncoming traffic, left or right (very handy, I expect many tourists' lives have been saved this way!). I can't really think of any other weird things here, but thought I'd update you all on the strange every day occurances of my trip here. I shall soon be sending a care package home, but you won't be allowed to open it until I get back because nothing is wrapped or anything and most of it will be gifts for all you guys and you won't know what's for who!! So nyah! OH!! Cole!!! Guess what I saw today??? Three Asian guys on the underground next to me in Naruto hidden Leaf Village garb, including the head bands, and they all had bokens so they had been somewhere practicing their swordplay like ninjas in the Naruto stuff!! Was so cool!! Okay...that really is about it for today! Miss everyone, thanks so much for telling some of what you've been up to :D
Love and hugs, Mel
xox
Love and hugs, Mel
xox
Friday, May 25, 2007
Bards and Battles!
Well, today was another fun filled day of touring. I got to go to Stratford, see where Shakespeare was born and buried and all that, the Costwolds (very cute, green, villagy areas in Britain), Warwick Castle, and a bunch of other stuff!! More and more pics for everyone to see when I get back. Must say, Warwick castle was awesome!! It's very possibly the most intact, still standing, medieval castle on the planet!! It's really super cool. I got to climb all over the battlements and see in the rooms and.........................WATCH A TREBUCHET GET LAUNCHED!! It was so very extraordinarily cool!! They shot a flaming projectile like 250 metres!! Very spiffy, caught the whole thing on tape!! I got quite a few more knick-knacks today, but mostly post cards and stuff. Found another thing perfect for Dad that will make Dave equally as jealous as the last thing I got Dad, even found something for Daniel as recompense for rubbing in all the plays I'm gettting to see (if he's not reading the blog, could you tell him he gets a consolation prize please Cole?) Luckily my cold was ever so slightly better today. I was still pretty tired, but at least I didn't have to blow my nose ALL THE TIME!! The tour guy was fantastic today, if I started trying to tell you all the cool facts he told me, there just wouldn't be enough internet time. It made the history loving part of my brain very happy!!
So, for the next few days I'm gonna lay pretty low. Got laundry to do, some more pics to print off, finally gonna put together a care package to send home so I won't have to pack it all around, probably going to go and see Pirates 3, read some more Sherlock Holmes, maybe even some Paradaise Lost (bought that at the British Library over a week ago), and just relax and recouperate so that I'm not still sick when I go to Europe. My next play is on the 29, Lion King, and Phantom on the 31...wow, that's coming up fast...:D cool though
Anyways, I'm going to end this blog with a request, could all you posters (besides mom and dad who already do this most of the time) throw in some more details about what you've all been up to? I miss you guys!!! Okay, that's all for now, tonight shall be an evening of rest!
Love and hugs, Mel
So, for the next few days I'm gonna lay pretty low. Got laundry to do, some more pics to print off, finally gonna put together a care package to send home so I won't have to pack it all around, probably going to go and see Pirates 3, read some more Sherlock Holmes, maybe even some Paradaise Lost (bought that at the British Library over a week ago), and just relax and recouperate so that I'm not still sick when I go to Europe. My next play is on the 29, Lion King, and Phantom on the 31...wow, that's coming up fast...:D cool though
Anyways, I'm going to end this blog with a request, could all you posters (besides mom and dad who already do this most of the time) throw in some more details about what you've all been up to? I miss you guys!!! Okay, that's all for now, tonight shall be an evening of rest!
Love and hugs, Mel
Thursday, May 24, 2007
Just say "no", right?
Well, I'm trying desperately to do what my Dad always tells me to do, "just say 'no'!" to getting sick...however, the cold is giving me a run (literally from my nose) for my money. Yesterday would have been perfect if not for this confounded cold!! (I really like that word, 'confounded' and Watson uses it in Sherlock Holmes!). So, fist let me say that I enjoyed the second performance, In Extremis, that I saw at the Globe much more than Othello and I love Shakespeare!!! It was a fantastic performance, witty, thought provoking, all those great things!! I loved it enough to go and buy a written copy of the play from the gift shop! Actually, I've been buying a lot of stuff for myself lately, must stop and save some money. I bought some fridge magnets, one from the Globe with the quote "Love is but a madness" and one with Stonehenge on it. I bought some jewelry stuff, not that I needed more jewelry, but I got a hematite ring that is just a plain band but it matches the ring mom and dad got me from Alaska, as well as a pendant from the Chalice Well at Glastonbury Abbey.
So my tour yesterday was wonderful (but imagine this whole story with me having to stop at every possible point to blow my nose and restock on tissues because I just couldn't hold enough in my purse :S) It was not the Bards day tour, but instead I had to go early on the Magical Day tour as all my other possible days were already booked up...So, I got up at 6:30 and was gone by close to 8 as the bus was a bit late. The tour driver and guide were both great, funny and very informative! It was one of the most perfect gorgeous days yesterday!! Blue, with fluffy white clouds!! Our first stop was Stonehenge, which was everything I hoped it would be except that the closest we got was about 10 feet away. Still, it was amazing!! Bought the magnet and some chocolate to keep me going until lunch (no time for breakfast that morning as I was waiting for the bus). Then we went on to Glastonbury and did something I have dreamed of doing since I first read The Mists of Avalon, we climed the Tor. It was breathtaking, you could almost see the processions of priestesses walking the slopes! I was in a very happy place! For all those who don't know, Glastonbury is one of the biggest spiritual centers on the planet, with one of the largest amalgamations of faiths journeying there. For centuries it was an island, until the people drained the water in order to farm. The Tor itself is a very tall, steep hill, with a large bell-tower like thing at the top. Then we journeyed down into the Chalice Well Gardens. These were beautiful as well, and another pilgrimage point. The Chalice Well is a natrual spring that predates Arthur, it has never been known to run dry, and people believe both that it is the resting place of Arthur and Excalibur and that it has healing properties. Very cool, stunningly beautiful spot. Don't worry, I have lots of pics of yesterday. From there we toured around the Abbey, more pics. Then we all went for lunch (only about 9 of us on the bus in total, including the guides). Then we journeyed to Averbury, another stone monument sight, about 10 times the size of Stonehenge (just smaller stones) Stonehenge could fit inside just one of this sights innner circles. It was very spiffy. The town of Averbury was built inside the Henge.
After all the wonderful day, I still had to make it back home before 7 if I were to have any chance at making Les Mis on time....lemme just say that I walked into the room with all the seats to find mine Row K Seat 4 just as an announcement came over the speakers saying "Ladies and Gentlemen, please take your seats, the performance will begin in 1 minute's time"...so yeah, had to run a lot to get there on time from Gloucester Underground, five stops to Picadilly Circus, then running down the street to collect my tickets and go through the door...whew!! Les Mis was also fantastic!! I loved it!!
But now I'm just finishing this as fast as I can so I can go out and meet my next bus to go on my Bards and Battles Day tour today...when I get back I'm just going to do my laundry and go straight to bed...I'm exhausted (but very happy) and just want to beat back this cold!! Miss you all!! Love and Giant Hugs,
Mel xox
So my tour yesterday was wonderful (but imagine this whole story with me having to stop at every possible point to blow my nose and restock on tissues because I just couldn't hold enough in my purse :S) It was not the Bards day tour, but instead I had to go early on the Magical Day tour as all my other possible days were already booked up...So, I got up at 6:30 and was gone by close to 8 as the bus was a bit late. The tour driver and guide were both great, funny and very informative! It was one of the most perfect gorgeous days yesterday!! Blue, with fluffy white clouds!! Our first stop was Stonehenge, which was everything I hoped it would be except that the closest we got was about 10 feet away. Still, it was amazing!! Bought the magnet and some chocolate to keep me going until lunch (no time for breakfast that morning as I was waiting for the bus). Then we went on to Glastonbury and did something I have dreamed of doing since I first read The Mists of Avalon, we climed the Tor. It was breathtaking, you could almost see the processions of priestesses walking the slopes! I was in a very happy place! For all those who don't know, Glastonbury is one of the biggest spiritual centers on the planet, with one of the largest amalgamations of faiths journeying there. For centuries it was an island, until the people drained the water in order to farm. The Tor itself is a very tall, steep hill, with a large bell-tower like thing at the top. Then we journeyed down into the Chalice Well Gardens. These were beautiful as well, and another pilgrimage point. The Chalice Well is a natrual spring that predates Arthur, it has never been known to run dry, and people believe both that it is the resting place of Arthur and Excalibur and that it has healing properties. Very cool, stunningly beautiful spot. Don't worry, I have lots of pics of yesterday. From there we toured around the Abbey, more pics. Then we all went for lunch (only about 9 of us on the bus in total, including the guides). Then we journeyed to Averbury, another stone monument sight, about 10 times the size of Stonehenge (just smaller stones) Stonehenge could fit inside just one of this sights innner circles. It was very spiffy. The town of Averbury was built inside the Henge.
After all the wonderful day, I still had to make it back home before 7 if I were to have any chance at making Les Mis on time....lemme just say that I walked into the room with all the seats to find mine Row K Seat 4 just as an announcement came over the speakers saying "Ladies and Gentlemen, please take your seats, the performance will begin in 1 minute's time"...so yeah, had to run a lot to get there on time from Gloucester Underground, five stops to Picadilly Circus, then running down the street to collect my tickets and go through the door...whew!! Les Mis was also fantastic!! I loved it!!
But now I'm just finishing this as fast as I can so I can go out and meet my next bus to go on my Bards and Battles Day tour today...when I get back I'm just going to do my laundry and go straight to bed...I'm exhausted (but very happy) and just want to beat back this cold!! Miss you all!! Love and Giant Hugs,
Mel xox
Wednesday, May 23, 2007
Okie dokie
So clearly I was very tired last night as I don't remember posting that blog that I pretty much reiterated today...ah well, sleeping in today was good too! So Becca, I shall definitely try and find Postman's Park for you today. I've got nothing else to do until In Extremis at the Globe tonight, so I shall do my best to find it. Tomorrow I get to see Les Miserables!! Whoo hooo!! Annnnnddddd...tomorrow is the opening of Pirates 3!! Guess what I'll be doing? Lol, can't believe I'm spending this much of my travel time at the movie theatre, but movies are so much a part of my life I can't help it, and I feel justified as I missed the last 3 episodes of Survivor!! I really hope that mom and dad taped it for me!! So yeah, In Extremis tonight, Les Mis tomorrow, Bards and Battles Day tour on Friday, and possibly another tour on sat or sun, but I'll have to phone and book the place first. Dunno what I'll do on the 28 yet, perhaps go and see St. Paul's Cathedral, or go back to the British library and take out an ancient copy of Shakespeare or something :D Then the 29 is the Lion King, I'll be packing on the 30, seeing Phantom on the 31, getting everything organized for my tour on the 1st, and heading over to join up with the rest of the group on the 2. Almost every day has something for me to do! But I think I'm going to run away now as it is about a bajillion degrees in this computer lab, and other blue blazer day here in London!! I even put on sun screen :) Love and miss you all, ta ta for now
Mel xox
PS-mom, dad, no i haven't heard from the phantom...
Mel xox
PS-mom, dad, no i haven't heard from the phantom...
Shakespeare
This is just a quick post to say that as my English Professor Dr. Dickson would say, "Shakespeare...is a GOD!!" Seeing Othello performed at the Globe theatre was amazing! I was in a very happy place! The longest performance I had ever been to by far, just over three hours. So by the time the play was out it was 11 o'clock, and the play house is a bit of a walk from any underground and the underground stops running at midnight and I'm on the other side of London from my hostel!! But don't worry, clearly I made it through the streets of southbank, over one of the bridges to the nearest underground and home safe and sound. London is a very different place at night than during the day, and I like both ways pretty well. Oh, and in other news, I have a new roommate from Alabama. She's very nice, and is going to be here about a week, so that's cool. I may have someone to meander with whenever she's not doing her tourist stuff. Oh, that's the other thing. Besides my tour days, I've pretty much seen everything in London I wanted to see, so my time now is full of relaxation and books and stuff, YAY!! 10 Days until I leave for Europe!!
Tuesday, May 22, 2007
Most interesting of days
Well, today many things happened. I got up, had breakfast at the hostel, checked emails and such, went to my room to read some Sherlock Holmes and fell asleep again!! I was so very tired, had not had a real chance to catch up on sleep and rest since I left, and as I'm developing a bit of a cold, I thought it couldn't hurt to lay around a little extra. However, my laying around went too long, so that I couldn't make the 2 o'clock performance at the Globe!! No biggie though, I just thought I'd pass the time away until the 7:30 show. So as it was a fantabulously gorgeous day here (i'm talking, blue skies with not a cloud in sight) I decided to take my Sherlock Holmes, some water and a snack to Hyde Park so that I could bask in the sun and read. I wasn't there long before I had the most interesting encounter. An elderly East Indian man came by and started chatting to me (it seems quite common for viable strangers to stop for brief chats here in London), he was incredibly nice, a Buddhist actually. However, the common brief chat went way over time. I think he stayed talking to me for over an hour and a half. It was extremely interesting. He seemed to think that I was a particularly neat person, said my aura was very friendly, healing, and apparently purple in colour. I admit I was a bit dismayed by that, would have preferred green or something, but stil, at least it wasn't pink right? After some time I said I should get going, and he insisted on walking with me all the way out of the part, and I only managed to shake him off when I said I was staying in an opposite direction. He did manage to get me to exchange emails with him, doubt I'll keep in touch, but yeah. It was weird, and kinda nice. Just this really friendly guy stopping to talk about life and spirituality in the park, without pushing any of his philosophy on me or trying to convert me in any way. When I got back to the hostel I had a new roommate from Alabama, she's very nice and came with me to Southbank to book tickets for the Globe. She left though, cuz her tickets are for tomorrow, and I stayed to watch Othello which was fantastic¬!! I've never seen Shakespeare done professionaly before and it was so great!! Definitely going back for more. Anyways, just about out of time here, so goodnight all!! Love and Giant hugs!!!
Mel
Mel
Sightseeing
Ya know, seeing actors naked on stage is quite a sight! Yes yes, all you obsessed David Radcliffe people (*cough*tabatha), I saw him naked on stage last night. First, let me say that the play was pretty good. It really starts to mess with your head a bit in the end, not so much with what happens with the boy, his messed up psyche gets explained, but with the whole process of psychiatric analysis and what it potentially harms rather than fixes. It was pretty spiffy, I didn't expect to be made to think that much afterwords, so I deem it a good play. For the record, he spends most of the play in a tee-shirt and jeans, or just jeans. It isn't until his finaly breakdown in the psychiatrists office that he gets naked. And he's not really "in" the psychiatrists office, what happened to get him committed into the pyschiatrists care is being re-enacted for the audiance like a dream sequence. So he meanders over the stage (they are supposed to be in a barn), him and a girl get naked, almost has sex onstage with the girl, but is unable to do it because the horses (which he worships as gods) are watching, so he snaps, tells the girl to leave and never tell anyone about what had happened up to that point, and proceeded to burn out the eyes of the 6 horses who were in the stables at the time. It's messed up, and sad, and strange. The sexual aspect of it is all twisted around, because for the boy, it should have all been directed at the horses, but with a naked girl in front of him, he seems to get torn between the only thing he ever worshipped, and a new possible object of worship. Very strange, very powerful theatre. And seriously all you who want the details of Daniel Radcliffe naked, it truly isn't that spectacular or special a thing to see. He looks just like any other naked guy. I'll grant him this though, for a 17 year old, he is very nicely toned. There, hopefully that satisfies everyone on that note.
Today I'm going to the Globe, which I think is much more exciting than Equus!! It's even a nice sunshiney day for me to go! Whoo hoo!! Oh, and on another happy note, I managed to spend UNDER my budget yesterday!! Am hoping to do the same today, tomorrow and the next day, but then I know I'm gonna overspend cuz i'm doing a Bards and Battles Day tour that will take me to Stratford and a bunch of other places, and the tour's gonna cost over 60£ to begin with. Ah well, wouldn't miss it for the world!! My next day trip shall be to Stonehenge, and then to Canterbury/White Cliffs of Dover!! Miss you all, love and hugs,
Mel :D:):D
Today I'm going to the Globe, which I think is much more exciting than Equus!! It's even a nice sunshiney day for me to go! Whoo hoo!! Oh, and on another happy note, I managed to spend UNDER my budget yesterday!! Am hoping to do the same today, tomorrow and the next day, but then I know I'm gonna overspend cuz i'm doing a Bards and Battles Day tour that will take me to Stratford and a bunch of other places, and the tour's gonna cost over 60£ to begin with. Ah well, wouldn't miss it for the world!! My next day trip shall be to Stonehenge, and then to Canterbury/White Cliffs of Dover!! Miss you all, love and hugs,
Mel :D:):D
Monday, May 21, 2007
First alone day
Hey there everyone. It's approx 2:15 in the afternoon here, and I have finally bothered to get myself ready for my day. I refused to get up early today, except to rise and say goodbye to Brandon and give him a hug. Then I went strait back to bed. After a while I was irrefutably awake, so I got sort of up, grabbed my complete collection of Sherlock Holmes, and read an entire story! Very happy about that, it was a good story. Then decided I should probably get ready for my day. For the first time since I left, I took my sweet time getting ready. I had breakfast of orange, tea crackers (which are like digestive cookies and very yummy), raisins and water, very good for me (protein will have to wait for my evening meal all you worry worts over my eating habits). Then I brushed my teeth, my hair has finally decided to cooperate in the humidity (YAY), put my face on (aka putting on some make-up for all those not into the jargon used in the Parks' household), put on something semi-nice as I'm going to a play later, and headed down here to check the blogs and post my own. It's been a very nice lazy day so far. I'll prob make my way over to the theatre district so that I won't have to travel far for the play, and just hang out there, maybe catch a movie before going to the play. It seems I could afford to go to a movie and a play everyday plus the cost of one good meal, and that sounds lovely to me. So for now, I shall finish with the computer stuff and begin my single wanderings around London. It's kinda wierd and kinda cool to be on my own for the first time since I left home. Sadly, it is an ugly London day, very gray and rainy, but I shall make the best of it.
PS-fogot to mention on an earlier post...the day we went to the London Dungeon and there was all the fun of the actors including me in the show and threatening to shoot me in the face and such, well we had a similar day when we went to the Edinburgh dungeon, only they picked on Brandon. The judge managed to get him to admit that his name is in fact Shirley, and that he's also in fact, a little-girlie!!! It was so funny!! Never gonna let him live that one down, and of course he'll never admit to it ever happening!!
Love and miss you all,
Mel xox
PS-fogot to mention on an earlier post...the day we went to the London Dungeon and there was all the fun of the actors including me in the show and threatening to shoot me in the face and such, well we had a similar day when we went to the Edinburgh dungeon, only they picked on Brandon. The judge managed to get him to admit that his name is in fact Shirley, and that he's also in fact, a little-girlie!!! It was so funny!! Never gonna let him live that one down, and of course he'll never admit to it ever happening!!
Love and miss you all,
Mel xox
Sunday, May 20, 2007
Brandon's Last Day
Well, today has been a pretty lazy day. Brandon said he wanted to relax for the most part, and relax we have. We didn't head out till around noon, then we just went to Embankment station to go to North Gate park, where we both sat and drank coffee stuffs from Starbucks and he smoked one of his cigars. It was nice, a lovely day to sit out in the parks. Eventually we decided we should watch a movie, went and saw Shooter, which was much better than we had any hopes of it being, so that was good. Then we had to come back to Bayswater to get our pics from the 24 hour photo place. I now have over 500 pics to bring home, and I've only been gone like 3 weeks...If i keep this up I'm gonna need like 6 photo albums to fit them all. The good news is that I've kept them all pretty organized so far, so I may even be able to tell you all where they all came from when showing them. Never expected me to take that may pics. And I even go through them all at the end of the days and delete all the bad and repeat pics so that there won't be as many...what can I say? I love my camera!! It takes fantastic pics and I don't have to do any of the work.
So yeah, after that we both went back to our rooms for a little rest. He got everything he hadn't already organized together so that he won't be rushed in the morning. I went through my pics and pretty much finished getting the care package I'm mailing home ready to go. It just needs packing foam, a lot of tape, and an address and stamps. Then Brandon came by and we went back to Kensington Gardens/Hyde Park and played with the novelty flying disk (aka frisbee) and drank Coke from glass bottles!! And not the dinky little glass bottles, but full sized Coke bottles that were glass. So old school, so very enjoyable. Then we came back into Bayswater, had some dinner, and now here I am. Filling you in on a rather uneventful day in as many words as possible. :D:D:D
My usual roommates are all gone now, the girls from Alberta left this morning. I'm stuck now with this big guy named Ash...who's kinda weird and mumbles a lot so I have to keep asking 'what?' I'm hoping for newer better roommates soon. Anyways, I should probably go and keep Brandon company as he's leaving me tomorrow. It's been such a great time having him here with me. Don't know what I would have done without him for these first 12 days, he's really helped me out. Gonna miss that guy :)
Okie dokie, that should be enough for now, I'll let you all go and tell you more after I go to Equus and possibly some performances at the Globe!! Love ya,
Mel
So yeah, after that we both went back to our rooms for a little rest. He got everything he hadn't already organized together so that he won't be rushed in the morning. I went through my pics and pretty much finished getting the care package I'm mailing home ready to go. It just needs packing foam, a lot of tape, and an address and stamps. Then Brandon came by and we went back to Kensington Gardens/Hyde Park and played with the novelty flying disk (aka frisbee) and drank Coke from glass bottles!! And not the dinky little glass bottles, but full sized Coke bottles that were glass. So old school, so very enjoyable. Then we came back into Bayswater, had some dinner, and now here I am. Filling you in on a rather uneventful day in as many words as possible. :D:D:D
My usual roommates are all gone now, the girls from Alberta left this morning. I'm stuck now with this big guy named Ash...who's kinda weird and mumbles a lot so I have to keep asking 'what?' I'm hoping for newer better roommates soon. Anyways, I should probably go and keep Brandon company as he's leaving me tomorrow. It's been such a great time having him here with me. Don't know what I would have done without him for these first 12 days, he's really helped me out. Gonna miss that guy :)
Okie dokie, that should be enough for now, I'll let you all go and tell you more after I go to Equus and possibly some performances at the Globe!! Love ya,
Mel
Saturday, May 19, 2007
"No Dancing"
"No dancing", that was the phrase I heard the most yesterday. What can I say, I was in a danc-y mood and Brandon would have none of it. But yeah...yesterday was an adventure and a half, lemme tell you:
First, alarm clocks suck ass and never work when you need them to. Nevertheless, we managed to be just on time for the train rather than the 15 min early we planned on. It was a pretty long train ride to Scotland, full of sleep, and eventually a whole car full of girls going out for a "hen party" which is the English equivalent of a Bachelorette party. I was stuck in a car with almost literal barbie dolls. They were almost all blond, and the one across from that talked to me was even wearing giant pink accessories!! A belt, a bracelet, hoop earings, and she was constantly applying perfume and lip gloss. Oh my GOD!!! It was okay overall though, she was very nice and talked to me about travelling and such. Anyways...on to the big event!
Scotland we weren't in the country 10 min and I can safely say that I am absolutely one hundred percent, totally and completely in LOVE with Scotland!! I am most definitely going back there for my last week overseas, Ireland will have to wait. It was so beautiful, so green, so everything I ever dreamed it should be like over here. The entrie center part of the city of Edinburgh, which is dominated by the castle which is up on a hill, is old style brick buildings, cobblestone streets, green parks and walkways, bridges and the like. In London the new and the old have started to mix together everywhere, but Edinburgh is mostly the old, with some new appliances and stuff on the ground floors. I think I took over 100 pics just in Scotland. We went for lunch at this little pub, which was awesome (for the record, when you order lemonade over here, they give you sprite with lemon in it) then we did some shopping. I finally got something for Dad!! Can ya guess what it was given where I was??? Huh??? Lets just say I found to coolest little "variety pack" that will put him in the lead over Dave for their "collection", if not for what kind it is, but at least for where it came from!! Mom, I got some traditional Scottish cookbooks, they look very spiffy. I got myself a pocket map book so that I can figure out where I'm going when I go back there later. I even found something there for Cole!! Be excited Cole, not everyone is getting touristy items, and this was just totally perfect for you!!
So we toured around Edinburgh for the day, and everything was wonderful. We saw the castle, drove all around the city, took lots of pics, toured the dungeons (which were similar to the ones in England, but with some of their own unique torture methods and such), and saw the best name for a store ever!! I hav e a pic, will show it to you all when I get home...plus I can't remember the name right now...am still exhausted from yesterday. When I go back, I am so touring the children's toy museum!! I wanted to when we were there, but we didn't arrive until just before noon and had to be at the train station by just after 5.
Onwards!! The train ride home...at first I thought it was going to be the longest trip ever, and it was!! But not at all the way I expected it to be. At first our train car was full of all these rowdy Scotsmen who were kinda rude to a group of special needs adults who had been on tour in Edinburgh. There was confusion in the seating in the train, and a bunch of people had been double booked in the same seats, while a bunch of other seats had no bookings. It eventually got worked out, but the Scots didn't want to move from their comfy table seats, though they had been reserved for the special needs group. Anyways, that whole thing made me a bit grumpy, plus I was tired from the very very long day. So the Scots continued to be rowdy for the trip. For all of you who have seen Robin Williams' Live on Broadway, he was definitley NOT exaggerating in the least in his impersonation of a drunk Scot telling a story. I shall choose not to repeat most of the language they were using, and the swear words were generally the only ones you could pick out. However, about an hour, maybe and hour and a half into our journey our train stopped. Apparently there was a problem with the brakes...THEY WERE STUCK ON!! And get this, no one on our train knew how to fix the problem!! We were stuck there for like 2 and a half hours wiaiting for a guy to arrive from another train to come and fix the problem. Hell and a half....but thennnnnnnnnnnnnnn.............................................................The Scots picked up the mood in the train. They started...get this...singing!!! A train load of drunk Scots singing the most ludicrous songs, it was like our own personal radio station. They sang everything like "I would walk 1000 miles" "American Pie" "Yellow Submarine" "My Ding-a-ling" and countless others. It was so hilarious!! I got some of it on video camera and Brandon had threatened to put it on YouTube when we get back. After all the singing, some of the guys started talking to us and one of the Scots had been to Prince George!! Of all the random places in all the world, he got sent to PG to fix ATM machines!! He knew where I lived!! So weird, and cool. Then a younger guy started talking to us and filled us in on some Scottish slang...new favourite inappropriate thing to shout out at a bar "Get your tits out!!" Imagine that with a Scottish accent!! Could not stop laughing. They were all great, and they encouraged everyone to sing and be merry, so they more than made up for their earlier rudeness. Apparenlty this group of guys (there were like 12 or 14 of them) go on a guys weekend at least once or twice a year, and this weekend they're going to Newcastle. By the time they got off the train we all felt like pals. Several of them shook hands while they left, and the one guy who knew good old PG shook my hand and gave me a kiss on the cheek! Such a cute old guy, he was so excited over that random coincidence.
Wow, this has been a long post...sorry guys...but Scotland was by far one of the best days I've had so far! I am definitely going back!! So the phrases of the day were "No dancing" and "Get your tits out" - oh my...weird. The rest of my day today will be spent organizing what's left of my time in London. Booking my little tour days, seeing what days I'll go to the Globe, and I may even mail a bunch of stuff home so that I'll have room to repack my stuff when I come back. Love and miss you all, thanks so much for your comments, they make my day every day!!
Hugs from Scotland's #1 fan!!
xox Mel
First, alarm clocks suck ass and never work when you need them to. Nevertheless, we managed to be just on time for the train rather than the 15 min early we planned on. It was a pretty long train ride to Scotland, full of sleep, and eventually a whole car full of girls going out for a "hen party" which is the English equivalent of a Bachelorette party. I was stuck in a car with almost literal barbie dolls. They were almost all blond, and the one across from that talked to me was even wearing giant pink accessories!! A belt, a bracelet, hoop earings, and she was constantly applying perfume and lip gloss. Oh my GOD!!! It was okay overall though, she was very nice and talked to me about travelling and such. Anyways...on to the big event!
Scotland we weren't in the country 10 min and I can safely say that I am absolutely one hundred percent, totally and completely in LOVE with Scotland!! I am most definitely going back there for my last week overseas, Ireland will have to wait. It was so beautiful, so green, so everything I ever dreamed it should be like over here. The entrie center part of the city of Edinburgh, which is dominated by the castle which is up on a hill, is old style brick buildings, cobblestone streets, green parks and walkways, bridges and the like. In London the new and the old have started to mix together everywhere, but Edinburgh is mostly the old, with some new appliances and stuff on the ground floors. I think I took over 100 pics just in Scotland. We went for lunch at this little pub, which was awesome (for the record, when you order lemonade over here, they give you sprite with lemon in it) then we did some shopping. I finally got something for Dad!! Can ya guess what it was given where I was??? Huh??? Lets just say I found to coolest little "variety pack" that will put him in the lead over Dave for their "collection", if not for what kind it is, but at least for where it came from!! Mom, I got some traditional Scottish cookbooks, they look very spiffy. I got myself a pocket map book so that I can figure out where I'm going when I go back there later. I even found something there for Cole!! Be excited Cole, not everyone is getting touristy items, and this was just totally perfect for you!!
So we toured around Edinburgh for the day, and everything was wonderful. We saw the castle, drove all around the city, took lots of pics, toured the dungeons (which were similar to the ones in England, but with some of their own unique torture methods and such), and saw the best name for a store ever!! I hav e a pic, will show it to you all when I get home...plus I can't remember the name right now...am still exhausted from yesterday. When I go back, I am so touring the children's toy museum!! I wanted to when we were there, but we didn't arrive until just before noon and had to be at the train station by just after 5.
Onwards!! The train ride home...at first I thought it was going to be the longest trip ever, and it was!! But not at all the way I expected it to be. At first our train car was full of all these rowdy Scotsmen who were kinda rude to a group of special needs adults who had been on tour in Edinburgh. There was confusion in the seating in the train, and a bunch of people had been double booked in the same seats, while a bunch of other seats had no bookings. It eventually got worked out, but the Scots didn't want to move from their comfy table seats, though they had been reserved for the special needs group. Anyways, that whole thing made me a bit grumpy, plus I was tired from the very very long day. So the Scots continued to be rowdy for the trip. For all of you who have seen Robin Williams' Live on Broadway, he was definitley NOT exaggerating in the least in his impersonation of a drunk Scot telling a story. I shall choose not to repeat most of the language they were using, and the swear words were generally the only ones you could pick out. However, about an hour, maybe and hour and a half into our journey our train stopped. Apparently there was a problem with the brakes...THEY WERE STUCK ON!! And get this, no one on our train knew how to fix the problem!! We were stuck there for like 2 and a half hours wiaiting for a guy to arrive from another train to come and fix the problem. Hell and a half....but thennnnnnnnnnnnnnn.............................................................The Scots picked up the mood in the train. They started...get this...singing!!! A train load of drunk Scots singing the most ludicrous songs, it was like our own personal radio station. They sang everything like "I would walk 1000 miles" "American Pie" "Yellow Submarine" "My Ding-a-ling" and countless others. It was so hilarious!! I got some of it on video camera and Brandon had threatened to put it on YouTube when we get back. After all the singing, some of the guys started talking to us and one of the Scots had been to Prince George!! Of all the random places in all the world, he got sent to PG to fix ATM machines!! He knew where I lived!! So weird, and cool. Then a younger guy started talking to us and filled us in on some Scottish slang...new favourite inappropriate thing to shout out at a bar "Get your tits out!!" Imagine that with a Scottish accent!! Could not stop laughing. They were all great, and they encouraged everyone to sing and be merry, so they more than made up for their earlier rudeness. Apparenlty this group of guys (there were like 12 or 14 of them) go on a guys weekend at least once or twice a year, and this weekend they're going to Newcastle. By the time they got off the train we all felt like pals. Several of them shook hands while they left, and the one guy who knew good old PG shook my hand and gave me a kiss on the cheek! Such a cute old guy, he was so excited over that random coincidence.
Wow, this has been a long post...sorry guys...but Scotland was by far one of the best days I've had so far! I am definitely going back!! So the phrases of the day were "No dancing" and "Get your tits out" - oh my...weird. The rest of my day today will be spent organizing what's left of my time in London. Booking my little tour days, seeing what days I'll go to the Globe, and I may even mail a bunch of stuff home so that I'll have room to repack my stuff when I come back. Love and miss you all, thanks so much for your comments, they make my day every day!!
Hugs from Scotland's #1 fan!!
xox Mel
Thursday, May 17, 2007
Interesting Day
Well, so far today I have been threaten to get shot in the face...twice...been told I smell like I bathed in my own urine, and been hit on by a French guy attempting an English accent "Cheers, Baby"...very much fun overall!! Of course, the getting shot in the face and urine bits were addressed at me while touring the London Dungeon, and I was picked on by the actors at several stops throughout the tour. It was pretty cool, one of the only things that has been close to worth the amount of money you pay to see. It was a good hour and a half tour through the dungeons, with little ride bits and actor tour guides. It was very spiffy, no pics of the inside though, just the outside entrance. The French guy just so happened to be walking down the street in the opposite direction of Brandon and I as we walked home from dinner tonight.
In other news, we went to see London Tower as well today. That was very awesome. It was sort of like stepping back in time. I got lots of pics of the keep, and some cool ones of weapons and stuff. King Henry VIII's walking staff is a pretty wicked looking stick, spikes all coming out of the end of it. It was a very neat touristy thing for us to do today, and not uberly expensive. I've been getting into places a bit cheaper than Brandon cuz I'm a student, so that's cool. Although I do make up the price difference by purchasing guide books and stuff while entering and Brandon doesn't usually do that. We've almost done everything I wanted to do here in London, but there's still the Globe and most of South Bank and the City, so I won't be bored when Brandon's gone.
We leave for Scotland at 6:30 tomorrow morning on the train!! So excited!!! We won't get back until pretty late, but still. Going to see Edinburgh castle and some other sights. Then when we get back we may go to Wimbledon to go on the #1 scary roller coaster!!! Dave, you jealous?? So yeah, got lots of pics, gonna have to unload them again before I got to Europe, I can tell. Miss you all, love and hugs,
Mel xox
In other news, we went to see London Tower as well today. That was very awesome. It was sort of like stepping back in time. I got lots of pics of the keep, and some cool ones of weapons and stuff. King Henry VIII's walking staff is a pretty wicked looking stick, spikes all coming out of the end of it. It was a very neat touristy thing for us to do today, and not uberly expensive. I've been getting into places a bit cheaper than Brandon cuz I'm a student, so that's cool. Although I do make up the price difference by purchasing guide books and stuff while entering and Brandon doesn't usually do that. We've almost done everything I wanted to do here in London, but there's still the Globe and most of South Bank and the City, so I won't be bored when Brandon's gone.
We leave for Scotland at 6:30 tomorrow morning on the train!! So excited!!! We won't get back until pretty late, but still. Going to see Edinburgh castle and some other sights. Then when we get back we may go to Wimbledon to go on the #1 scary roller coaster!!! Dave, you jealous?? So yeah, got lots of pics, gonna have to unload them again before I got to Europe, I can tell. Miss you all, love and hugs,
Mel xox
Tuesday, May 15, 2007
Fun Fun Fun!!
So the last couple of days have been pretty full of fun and just getting all the sights in possible. Brandon and I went to the museums yesterday, which was exhausting, but quite cool. The natrual history museum was kinda smaller than we thought it was, but free admission so no worries. We got to see Dinosaurs!! Yeah!! It was pretty spiffy. We also went to the Victoria Albert Museum, which is basically an 'art in many of its forms' museum. We got to see a lot of cool metal, glass and woodworks. There were so many iron gates and old fashioned locks and stuff. I was in a heavenly past. I wish we would have taken more pics, but we were worried that it wouldn't be allowed in the museum, so we only took a few. I think everyone I know would have enjoyed something in that place. It was very cool. Mark, I wish I could have taken some pics of the acheivements in carpentry and carving. There was one room you could go into that used to be an anti-room in some nobleman's house. It was entirely wooden. The walls, the ceiling, the floor, and every surface was more than just one form of wood laid down and carved or shaped fancy. Every panel on the walls was of the same kind of wood, but each one had a different pattern or picture inlaid into it in another kind of wood! It was absolutely stunning, and I couldn't get over how much time it must have taken for that one room to be completed...oh my...anyways, the one really cool exciting thing about that museum yesterday...I got to see and get a picture of the Statue of David!!! I was so surprised!! Apparently an Italian collection of marble carvings is on tour, and so I got to see the REAL satatue of David in some random room in the museum where it was just being held until one of the wings was prepared for the tour exhibit!!! IT WAS SO COOL!! Who knew?? I was expecting to see it in Italy, if we hadn't of gone to that one museum, I never would have gotten the chance. I can't imagine how many people are in Italy pissed that the statue is on tour. Ah well, lucky me.
Today has been very busy too. We went to Madame Toussades Wax museum and I got a lot of cool pics! I don't know if it was worth the 25£ entry fee, but it was still really cool! Dad, I so got a picture of the Duke for you. Mom, one of John Travolta. There were so many really cool ones there! Robin Williams, Sean Connery, Spider Man, Nelson Mandela, Ghandi, Steven Speilberg, a bunch of the Royal family, existing and from the past, William Shakespeare...oh so very cool. We also went to the Sherlock Holmes museum!! I got some cool pics there, including one of me and an actor playing Watson in Sherlock's study!! And just for fun, I bought a complete works of Sherlock Holmes, cuz it was 12£ and to buy them separately would have cost anywhere from 30-45£. I'm excited to read them, I've only ever read part of one of his stories for a children's lit class. It was an extremely well put together little museum there at 221 Baker Street (real address!!), and only 6£, best deal we've found yet!!
Tonight we went to see Wicked!!! Let me just say for the record, it is a fantabulous, awesome, totally WICKED play!! I absolutely loved it!! I want to buy the soundtrack, it was fantastic!! I was in a very happy place! Got a nice souvenir program for it, so that's cool. I wish I could go again, but once will have to do. There was a very nice Scottish lady sitting to one side of me, and she highly recommended that if we got the chance we should make it up to Edinburgh for the day. We were sort of planning on it anyways, just checking out the prices and such. It sounds like it's going to be a bit pricy to make any kind of one or two day trip up there, but she was very helpful by explaining just how worth it it would be. Of course, she was very bias, but in the same way that I'm bias towards BC, so I think it will be great!! She also said that we could see enough to be satisfied in a day or two, as Edinburgh and the surrounding countryside isn't nearly as big as London. So yeah, sounds like we're gonna make that trip happen for sometime near this weekend.
We finally made it to the Parlaiment buildings at night, got some beautiful pics of that, and now I'm back 'home' and it's past midnight. Time for little Melissa's to go to bed, got laundry to do tomorrow if I want to wear anything clean for the rest of the week. Miss everyone back home, can't wait to share the pics and things with you all!
Love and Hugs, Mel
PS-can someone remind me what day in June is Father's Day??
Today has been very busy too. We went to Madame Toussades Wax museum and I got a lot of cool pics! I don't know if it was worth the 25£ entry fee, but it was still really cool! Dad, I so got a picture of the Duke for you. Mom, one of John Travolta. There were so many really cool ones there! Robin Williams, Sean Connery, Spider Man, Nelson Mandela, Ghandi, Steven Speilberg, a bunch of the Royal family, existing and from the past, William Shakespeare...oh so very cool. We also went to the Sherlock Holmes museum!! I got some cool pics there, including one of me and an actor playing Watson in Sherlock's study!! And just for fun, I bought a complete works of Sherlock Holmes, cuz it was 12£ and to buy them separately would have cost anywhere from 30-45£. I'm excited to read them, I've only ever read part of one of his stories for a children's lit class. It was an extremely well put together little museum there at 221 Baker Street (real address!!), and only 6£, best deal we've found yet!!
Tonight we went to see Wicked!!! Let me just say for the record, it is a fantabulous, awesome, totally WICKED play!! I absolutely loved it!! I want to buy the soundtrack, it was fantastic!! I was in a very happy place! Got a nice souvenir program for it, so that's cool. I wish I could go again, but once will have to do. There was a very nice Scottish lady sitting to one side of me, and she highly recommended that if we got the chance we should make it up to Edinburgh for the day. We were sort of planning on it anyways, just checking out the prices and such. It sounds like it's going to be a bit pricy to make any kind of one or two day trip up there, but she was very helpful by explaining just how worth it it would be. Of course, she was very bias, but in the same way that I'm bias towards BC, so I think it will be great!! She also said that we could see enough to be satisfied in a day or two, as Edinburgh and the surrounding countryside isn't nearly as big as London. So yeah, sounds like we're gonna make that trip happen for sometime near this weekend.
We finally made it to the Parlaiment buildings at night, got some beautiful pics of that, and now I'm back 'home' and it's past midnight. Time for little Melissa's to go to bed, got laundry to do tomorrow if I want to wear anything clean for the rest of the week. Miss everyone back home, can't wait to share the pics and things with you all!
Love and Hugs, Mel
PS-can someone remind me what day in June is Father's Day??
Sunday, May 13, 2007
Quicky
Hey there! This is just a quick post to say that STOMP is absolutely amazing!!! I printed off over 200 pics already and burned the rest onto a disk so I can take more pics!! Pure juice is saving my life since water is scarce that isn't carbonated! Tomorrow I get to see some museums and maybe even the British Library!! And by thursday or friday Brandon and I will be in Scotland!! Other than that, HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY MOM!!! LOVE YOU LOTS!!!
xoxoxox Mel
xoxoxox Mel
London Calling
Well, today shall be another fun filled day. First, we got woken up by the fire alarm, don't worry, there was no fire, probably just burnt toast in the kitchen. However, they didn't seem to be too knowledgeable on how to shut it off properly, it kept being off for a min or two or five or ten, then would go off for a few more seconds. Extremely annoying at about 7 or 8 in the morning when everyone was up partying until about 2 or later last night. Eeesh...ah well, Brandon and I need a semi-early start so we can go and see the changing of the guard this morning. It's gonna be really cool. Yesterday we went to Hyde Park and Kensington Palace and pretty well had a lazy day. It was nice though, I absoluetly loved the park, got lots of pictures. It was beautiful, perfect in every cherished dream of an English park. I'm definitly going back for a quiet reading day in the shade of one of the giant trees. Also today we're going ot the Aquarium and Stomp, so that should be good. I'm kind of excited right now cuz I figured out three day tours I want to do that pretty well cover everything in this one brochure I found except for Bath, Windsor Castle (which Brandon and I will go visit anyways one day) and Brighton. I'm pretty happy. One of the tours will take me all around stuff to do with Shakespeare and Stratford and everything, one to Canterbury Cathedral and the White Cliffs of Dover, and one, very exciting, that will take me to Stone Henge, Glastonbury Tor, Arthur's Avalon, his burial site, and many other 'magical' places!!! Plus, they're all day tours, so It'll take up some of my time once Brandon leaves me. Tomorrow I think Brandon and I will do a museum tour, that should be relaxing, then Tuesday we see Wicked, and I think wed-thurs at least we'll be heading up to Scotland!! Then we'll need friday to recouperate, find stuff to do sat sun mon, then he leaves tues and I go to see Equus!! Busy busy busy!!! Then I have the tours I want to do after he leaves, plays to see on the 24 27 and 29, and then I join the Contiki Tour on the 2nd!! Still have no idea what I'm gonna do with my last week. Think I'll wait to see if anyone I meet on the Contiki Tour will be hanging around after, maybe join up with them, or if not, I still might want to go to Ireland for four days or something.
Oh, the reason most people here were up until past 2 last night was because they were having a Traffic Light party down in the bar (there is a bar downstairs). Now, I had no idea what one of these parties were until one of my roommates described it to me. Apparently everyone at the party has to wear a different coloured badge that indicates their relationship status. Red-means you're taken or in love or whatever, yellow-means you're not necessarily free, but looking anyways or at least interested in finding something new. At this point I just had to ask "so, does green mean that you're easy??" Sam (roommate) just laughed and was like "Uh-huh!!" Wow, she's something else...crazy albertans (sorry all family from alberta, but so true in this case)
Anyways, I'm off to have some sort of breakfast, and the best orange juice of my life!! Mmmmmm, so good, get to watch them squeeze the oranges right in front of you...yay!! Reason for my joy in regards to this juice...it seems that in London, they feel it is necessary to sweeten almost any fruit beverage with sweetner, which has aspertame, which gives me a wonderful headache while it slowly kills me...anyways, infinitely happy to have found pure wonderful juice!!
Oh, and as a side note, went to a Moraccan place for dinner one night or two ago, which was basically a hole in the ground, but very cozy on the inside. It was there I had some of the best tea of my life, Mint, with honey to sweeten, served from a sterling silver tea pot in thick, decorated glass-very very cool, and the best tasting tea i've had in a while!! Okay, really going to have food now...
Miss you all, Love you!!
Melissa
Oh, the reason most people here were up until past 2 last night was because they were having a Traffic Light party down in the bar (there is a bar downstairs). Now, I had no idea what one of these parties were until one of my roommates described it to me. Apparently everyone at the party has to wear a different coloured badge that indicates their relationship status. Red-means you're taken or in love or whatever, yellow-means you're not necessarily free, but looking anyways or at least interested in finding something new. At this point I just had to ask "so, does green mean that you're easy??" Sam (roommate) just laughed and was like "Uh-huh!!" Wow, she's something else...crazy albertans (sorry all family from alberta, but so true in this case)
Anyways, I'm off to have some sort of breakfast, and the best orange juice of my life!! Mmmmmm, so good, get to watch them squeeze the oranges right in front of you...yay!! Reason for my joy in regards to this juice...it seems that in London, they feel it is necessary to sweeten almost any fruit beverage with sweetner, which has aspertame, which gives me a wonderful headache while it slowly kills me...anyways, infinitely happy to have found pure wonderful juice!!
Oh, and as a side note, went to a Moraccan place for dinner one night or two ago, which was basically a hole in the ground, but very cozy on the inside. It was there I had some of the best tea of my life, Mint, with honey to sweeten, served from a sterling silver tea pot in thick, decorated glass-very very cool, and the best tasting tea i've had in a while!! Okay, really going to have food now...
Miss you all, Love you!!
Melissa
Friday, May 11, 2007
London Baby
Hey everyone!! This has been my second full day in Lodon, and it has been great so far! Already saw my first play, Chicago, and it was fantastic! Dez, you would have loved it, it was the old school version! Brandon and I are already masters of the tube station. We hardly even look up at the signs already. I'm gonna go tomorrow and buy a week long pass instead of paying for a day at a time like we've been doing, it's cheaper that way by about one or two pounds a day. So yeah. We're hanging out with two of my dorm mates, Sam andMegan, both girls, both from Grand Prairie. They're pretty cool, Megan plays crib, and they both know card games. They'll be here about as long as Brandon, so that'll be fun. We're going with them out to Stone Henge and to the Lodon Dungeon in the next couple of days. Oh!! And Brandon and I did get tickets to go see STOMP, that's on sunday. Gonna be a blast. Got some great pics from the London Eye, and just been wandering around the city a lot. Gonna have to send Brandon something when I get home, he keeps buying me food and stuff, won't let me pay, so I'll have to get him a big thank you of some kind. I already got touristy items for some people, Dez and possibly Grandma. Oh, and the only other dorm mate I've met is a guy named Wade from New Zealand. He seems pretty cool too. He originally came here to work for the summer, but now his plans have changed and he'll be travelling around Europe with a bus pass. The two French speaking dorm mates i haven't met, but heard them talking when they came in last night. Other than that, not much to tell so far. It's just nice, got all the time in the world to get around and do stuff. On the tour to Stone Henge I'm gonna get to see the place where Harry Potter 1 and Pride and Prejudice were filmed!! Woo hooo!!
Anyways, love and miss you all, but it's off to bed for me!
Anyways, love and miss you all, but it's off to bed for me!
Wednesday, May 9, 2007
Last Canadian Post
Hey there! This shall be my last travel blog from Canada. I leave for London later today, and leave NFL at 2. It's been lots of fun here, got to meet some really cool people, and it sounds like they will all be reading my blog in future to keep up with my London doings.
Went to Spider Man 3 last night, and it was very entertaining! Probably the cheesiest one they've done so far, but that's fine with me because I remember the comics and cartoons as being very cheesey, so it's about time the movies matched them. Other than that, the only bit of excitement was that I put on my jeans yesterday and they ripped!! So I now have a hole in the leg of my ONLY pair of pants!! Went for a quick shopping trip last night after the movie, got some new jeans, and am picking them up from the sewing place on the way to the airport. Yeah, they have no Warehouse One here, or apparently any stores that sell petits, so the pants were about a foot too long. They're being hemmed and should be ready by 11 today, so we're getting them on the way to the airport. What an adventure. Who knew that pants would cause my first problem on this trip??
Anyways, talk to you all again from London!! Miss ya lots!!
Love Melissa
Went to Spider Man 3 last night, and it was very entertaining! Probably the cheesiest one they've done so far, but that's fine with me because I remember the comics and cartoons as being very cheesey, so it's about time the movies matched them. Other than that, the only bit of excitement was that I put on my jeans yesterday and they ripped!! So I now have a hole in the leg of my ONLY pair of pants!! Went for a quick shopping trip last night after the movie, got some new jeans, and am picking them up from the sewing place on the way to the airport. Yeah, they have no Warehouse One here, or apparently any stores that sell petits, so the pants were about a foot too long. They're being hemmed and should be ready by 11 today, so we're getting them on the way to the airport. What an adventure. Who knew that pants would cause my first problem on this trip??
Anyways, talk to you all again from London!! Miss ya lots!!
Love Melissa
Tuesday, May 8, 2007
Screeched In!
I am now officially an honourary Newfoundlander!! Last night we went out to get me screeched in. We went down to George Street, which I think I've mentioned before. Christian's Bar was supposed to be the oldest and most famous for screech-ins, but when we got there, the sign said they only did them wed-sun!! Gah!! Very disappointed...however, we got pointed down the street to another, much more sketchy bar called Trapper John's. We got in and asked about the screech-in thing, the lady behind the bar said they were waiting for some people to get there and would be screeching in a small group of us in about a half an hour. So we had to sit there and wait. Chris, Aaron and Rebecca and I just had to pass the time. Not a good way for me to go into the screech thing. I just sat there getting more and more nervous. We all had to print out our names for the certificate and donate five dollars to the children's hospital, which was fine. Finally, at about 11 or something like that, the lady began the screech in. There were four of us in total, me and three other guys. We had to stand at the bar and introduce ourselves and where we were from. Me, Melissa Parks from BC, and the three guys (whose names I can't remember) who were all from Calgary. I said "Ha!! I came further than you did for this!!" It was funny. I got to wear the had, which you'll see in the pics when I get home. Then we all had to repeat the oath, which was basically Newfoundland slang (which I'll never remember) that translated to "May you have good wind in your sails and a long and happy life" or something close to that. Then we all had to take a shot of screech (burned ALL the way down) and instead of kissing a cod (which they didn't do at the bar we were at) we had to kiss a Puffin's ass!! Very funny watching those guys pucker up!! Then we all got our certificates and were free to go. I made those Calgary guys get a picture with me so you can all see that later. Must say though, we didn't get screeched in until around 1030 or 1100, and I hadn't eaten anything since around 500...and you all know me, I don't really drink. Well, that screech burned all the way down, then instantly warmed me from the inside out, and I was dizzy!! Not spinning and stumbling dizzy, but I could feel my head spinning whenever I turned it. Weird feeling....So we had to go somewhere and get some food after. We all ended up going to Subway for sandwiches, with an addition of the other Chris. Lots of fun, very cool experience.
Anyways, today we went to the Rooms, which is the museum here in St. John's. I got some pics for everyone to see later. Now i'm just waiting at Chris's house for him to get back from a work meeting. Then we're having turkey sandwiches for dinner and going to see Spider Man three tonight. It's my last full day here, and I think it's going to be the most relaxing. Tomorrow I'll have to be at the airport for 12 or 1230 because my flight leaves at 2. Sigh...It's been oodles of fun so far, but I must say that I'm so very excited for London!! First play on may 11, Chicago!!
Oh, and as a side note, today we went to a place called the Bagel Cafe. Very cute, tiny little cafe, that served almost anything on a bagel as well as a whole bunch of other good stuff. It was very cosy, very different from anywhere I've ever been before.
Miss you all, Love you lots!!
Melissa
PS-Mom, Dad, I love you and am sending you a giant imaginary hug!!
Anyways, today we went to the Rooms, which is the museum here in St. John's. I got some pics for everyone to see later. Now i'm just waiting at Chris's house for him to get back from a work meeting. Then we're having turkey sandwiches for dinner and going to see Spider Man three tonight. It's my last full day here, and I think it's going to be the most relaxing. Tomorrow I'll have to be at the airport for 12 or 1230 because my flight leaves at 2. Sigh...It's been oodles of fun so far, but I must say that I'm so very excited for London!! First play on may 11, Chicago!!
Oh, and as a side note, today we went to a place called the Bagel Cafe. Very cute, tiny little cafe, that served almost anything on a bagel as well as a whole bunch of other good stuff. It was very cosy, very different from anywhere I've ever been before.
Miss you all, Love you lots!!
Melissa
PS-Mom, Dad, I love you and am sending you a giant imaginary hug!!
Monday, May 7, 2007
More Sightseeing
Today we went all over St. John's seeing the touristy sights. I got to tour around MUN - memorial university of newfoundland. For the record, it's GIGANTIC!! Not kidding, huge campus. Probably bigger than UBC. It's library has at least six levels, three or four of which are just the stacks. It's set up like a staircase, with the widest level at the bottom, going up a step and ever so slightly less floor space with each one. The front of the library is almost entirely glass, and the rooms behind them are no more than 10 feet wide. They are the absolutely no noise reading rooms. So very cool, I have a pic of that. Anyways. All of their buildings on campus, or almost all, are connected by sky walks or underground tunnels. Most of those long walks and tunnels are lined with the student's lockers. Very very interesting. Anyways. On to bigger and better things. In NFL they have weird road signs. They have to be the worst drivers in Canada, which I think i've mentioned before, or at least that they are statistically supposed to be the worst, and I now have first hand experience, and they very well could be. Not entirely the point however. Roadsigns. Their roads really dont help improve their driving stats. There are litterly signs that read "Hidden Intersection Ahead" and "Dangerous Intersection Ahead" I have photographic evidence of both these things. Absolutely crazy!! Later we went on the Signal Hill and Cape Spear, the first was where a fort was constructed, along with the defense battery and a bunch of other cannons. Signal Hill got its name from the way it functioned in pre-war times. Ships, merchant vessels and the like, that were headed towards the harbour would be flying flags. The lookouts on signal hill would observe the flags, signal back that they were seen and allowed to pass into the harbour, while simultaneously signalling into the harbour to let that ships shore crews know of their arrival so that the cargo could be quickly unloaded and sold. I thought that was really cool. Very interesting. I have pics. Cape Spear is the most easterly point in North America, I have a pic of me next to the sign that says so. It also was designed for defence. It has giant guns on it, I have one pic. It also has tunnels dug into the side of the cape for the soldiers. Needless to say, the NFL's were prepared for anything around WWI and WWII, even if nothing realy ever happened. However, they did stop a U-boat from entering the harbour because of their excellent strategy of extending a giant net from one side of the harbour to the other. Simple yet efficient. Then we drove back to the Goulds through Petty Harbour, very pretty little twon. Got lots of pics today. Have no idea what we're doing tonight but I'm sure we'll do something. Only one more full day to go, I have to be at the airport around noon on wed. Miss you all, Love ya,
Melissa
Melissa
Sunday, May 6, 2007
Driving
Today we went for a very long drive. I mean over 500km....yeah! But there was some very beautiful scenery so it was all good. It originally started as a trip to go Flea Marketing, and on the way we saw a sign for an Ecological Reserve...so we followed the sign wanting to see the provincial bird, called a Puffin (oh such a cute name, and I thought that they were talking about a bakery item at first :S) After about an hour of driving we saw another sign pointing us in the right direction for the reserve. Four signs and about a dozen small comunities later, we realized that the whole sign thing had to of been some sort of sham. So we ate lunch in a town called Placentia (which i think is kind of an icky name) and drove home on the highway. Our way there was very wind-y and backroad-y. Anyways, that was about all we did today. Oh and Dez, we played Mario Cart!! I'm not so deprived after all!! Tonight we may be going bowling, but that's still a possibility only. So yeah. That's about it, miss everyone,
Love Mel
Love Mel
Saturday, May 5, 2007
Good times
So last night I went to Chris's best friend's b-day party. It was interesting, considering that I don't really go to too many parties. I am yet to get screeched in, because the guy who was supposed to 'bring all the stuff' (absolutely terrifying combination of words in regards to an event that I beleived involved simply taking a shot of some vile alcohol) never showed. So apparently sometime in the next few days we're going to George Street, the street with the highest concentration of pubs/bars in North America to find a bar that still bothers to follow all the 'proper procedures' for screeching someone in. Must say, getting very nervous about the whole thing, but they keep assuring me it's not as bad as it sounds.
Anyways, back to the party. It was very slow at first, only five people there including the birthday girl. Her name's Alicia. Very red hair, just like you, Dez. I think I may have found my replacement for you while I'm here (wink wink) I don't think I've ever had someone tell me they love me so many times in so short a span before. Lol. Obviously, she was very drunk by that point, but still, nice to know I'm popular here after only one day! :D I of course didn't know anyone there, but by the end of the evening I now know Alicia, her boyfriend Mark, and some of the other guests such as Stephanie, Kristen, two more Melissa's, and Becca, who is coming to play Candy Poker tonight. Have I not explained cany poker yet? Basically our chips are being replaced with different kinds of candy, that's all. So way more of a sugar buzz, way less money going down the tube. I'm pretty psyched for that!!
After some pretty entertaining performances by Mark and his band, Chris, Becca and I had had enough, so we started to walk home. Now, by this time it was about 130 in the morning (sorry mom, but no worries, NFL is crazy friendly) And we weren't heading strait home. On the way we had to stop at Keith's. This is not another friend's house, it is in fact like a little diner. But Keith's is special, and not just any diner. It specializes in fisha nd chips, it is apparently the best place for fish and chips in all of NFL. And lucky for us, they're open until something like 3 in the morning. So we get to Keith's, and THEY WERE OUT OF FISH!!! I know!! How does a fish and chips place run out of fish??? Okay, they weren't really out, but what they had was frozen and wouldn't be brought out until business started again around ten this morning. So very sad, but I have been promised that we will go back soon. Made it back to Chris's house by about three or three thirty. Now he's at work until 4:30 ish, so I'm going to finish this blog, have some breakfast, and walk down to the rec center where he works to watch their afternoon activity of "children in motion" which I kind of hope will involve 5 or 6 year olds being taught yoga!!
Goodbye for now all, Love you lots!!
Mel
Anyways, back to the party. It was very slow at first, only five people there including the birthday girl. Her name's Alicia. Very red hair, just like you, Dez. I think I may have found my replacement for you while I'm here (wink wink) I don't think I've ever had someone tell me they love me so many times in so short a span before. Lol. Obviously, she was very drunk by that point, but still, nice to know I'm popular here after only one day! :D I of course didn't know anyone there, but by the end of the evening I now know Alicia, her boyfriend Mark, and some of the other guests such as Stephanie, Kristen, two more Melissa's, and Becca, who is coming to play Candy Poker tonight. Have I not explained cany poker yet? Basically our chips are being replaced with different kinds of candy, that's all. So way more of a sugar buzz, way less money going down the tube. I'm pretty psyched for that!!
After some pretty entertaining performances by Mark and his band, Chris, Becca and I had had enough, so we started to walk home. Now, by this time it was about 130 in the morning (sorry mom, but no worries, NFL is crazy friendly) And we weren't heading strait home. On the way we had to stop at Keith's. This is not another friend's house, it is in fact like a little diner. But Keith's is special, and not just any diner. It specializes in fisha nd chips, it is apparently the best place for fish and chips in all of NFL. And lucky for us, they're open until something like 3 in the morning. So we get to Keith's, and THEY WERE OUT OF FISH!!! I know!! How does a fish and chips place run out of fish??? Okay, they weren't really out, but what they had was frozen and wouldn't be brought out until business started again around ten this morning. So very sad, but I have been promised that we will go back soon. Made it back to Chris's house by about three or three thirty. Now he's at work until 4:30 ish, so I'm going to finish this blog, have some breakfast, and walk down to the rec center where he works to watch their afternoon activity of "children in motion" which I kind of hope will involve 5 or 6 year olds being taught yoga!!
Goodbye for now all, Love you lots!!
Mel
Friday, May 4, 2007
NFL
Hey there!! I'm in NFL now, soon to go out to Chris' best friend's b-day party. Tomorrow we're going flea-marketing and eventually playing Candy Poker, which i'm very excited about. I managed to striaghten my hair with success today, despite the fact that there are no eletrical outlets near a mirror in Chris' house. :S Tomorrow shall be another fun filled day, sorry to all those for making it hard for you to publish without an account, that's fixed now so everyone I said could comment can. Love you all,
Mel
Mel
Hey everyone, I'm in Newfoundland
Hello, this is my first post just to let everyone know that I'm safely in NFL. This will be the blog I post on for the duration of my trip. Hope to be hearing from all of you soon. Love you all, Mel
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