Christmas Cake in London

2008-04-23T03:51:00.000-07:00

St. George's Day Festival in Pinner

I am not sure what St. George really did, but in this case, the festival celebrates the slaying of a dragon. I think it's a little like July 4. People carry around flags and there are related flag kits you can buy to be more patriotic.

The main feature of the Pinner festival is a wheelbarrow race that involves running with the wheelbarrow, drinking beer, and then running some more. This is the first-place team taking an early lead.

Lots of people are gathered in the high street. Pinner is a very traditional looking town, with many of the white and dark-wood pubs and shops from the 15th/16th centuries.

Contender for the 2028 race.

St. George is now St. Georgine!
People also do traditional dances on the high street.

We missed the dragon contest, where little kids can dress up as dragons. This might have been a better choice for the little wheelbarrow racer since it's more for people in his age range.

2008-04-23T03:42:00.000-07:00

Copenhagen and Malmo

Last weekend I went to Scandinavia. It's a cute area, but boy is it expensive. I couldn't believe the prices, but then I read that Denmark is the 2nd most expensive country in the world. Everyone was really friendly and good looking, and after the first evening, the weather was pretty nice.
Copenhagen Opera House

One friend asked if I'd see a lot of windmills. I thought he had the wrong country, but apparently he was so right.

Tivoli Gardens- like a tiny, ultra-cheesy version of Epcot.

Turning Torso in Malmo. This is the tallest building in Scandinavia.

Saturday on one of the canals. The weather was very nice and everyone was crowding the cafes and the waterfront areas.

See more pictures here - Scandinavia Pictures

2008-04-14T04:59:00.001-07:00

Morocco

My trip this weekend was amazing. I can't recommend Morocco highly enough. The only real downside I saw was the food. I didn't mind it but after a few days it does get to be a bit monotonous. My friend and I ordered a salad, which has lots of little dishes like you get in Korea when you order kimchi. I am pretty sure I ate sheep brains! I do really like the little pastries and the vegetable soup, though. Plus you can get a fresh-squeezed glass of orange juice for about $.40!

My Riad (a house with an interior courtyard and terraces)
La Koutouba (the main city mosque in Marrakech)
Ouzoud Falls
Majorelle Gardens
Marrakech Museum

More photos here

2008-04-07T03:48:00.000-07:00

Snow Day

Yesterday it snowed and I went to a baby birthday party.

View from my apartment

Babies like to play with pink paper. I think he liked it more than the present itself (clothing- not a baby fav).

The baby and I are pals (with the parents looking on)

Foozeball finals- I lost in the first round girls' match. The championship boys' team won by one point. Sigh. While you can't see it from this view, the baby was not so much into the finals. He started to cry and had to leave the room because it was too intense for him.

2008-04-06T03:11:00.000-07:00

Slovenia

This weekend I went to Slovenia. It's an amazing country- lots of gorgeous alps surrounding the area and pretty lakes and streams as well. Ljubljana is a smaller city that seems pretty laid back. There isn't the rush to see things there that I felt in other areas.

My Hostel- Hostel Celica- it used to be a prison. Now the cells are individually designed and I stayed in one.
Metelkova Area graffiti- my hostel was in this area of town. It's mostly the teen/alternative area. Everyone looks like they are wearing clothing that people in my high school wore in 1993, complete with the Converse All-Stars.
Church on an island in Bled lake, a small town outside of Ljubljana.
Triple Bridge in Ljubljana

River in Ljubljana

Slovenia Pictures - click the links on the left side to see the rest of the pictures

2008-04-02T11:03:00.000-07:00

The Sabbatical Has Ended

So I have been delinquent in posting on this site since I haven't done anything at all exciting recently. Now that the third term has started, I will be traveling weekly and should have something to post on a fairly regular basis.

Tomorrow I head out to Slovenia for 2 nights and will be staying in a converted prison. Then the following week I go to Morocco and since there is no English spoken/understood there I will need to brush up on my French. I can read French with little difficulty but it's hard for me to pick out the right language from my repertoire when trying to figure out what to say.

2008-01-30T11:23:00.000-08:00

I think I've Figured Out Nagasaki's Bus System

I was pondering why the hell anyone would think ending public transport from 9-10:30 was a good idea. Who goes home at that hour on a weekend? Now that I've experienced the London drunk bus system, I get it. London is a)flat and b)has not discovered all-you-can-drink, so the puke potential is relatively low. I am sure there there is some puking potential calculator the Japanese transport systems use to decide when to shut down. Basic factors to consider in all towns-> average nomihodai start time, average # of drinks consumed per person per hour of nomihodai, time at which puking potential is reached. From here, you calculate an average bus ending time that guarantees the buses will remain puke free. However in Nagasaki, half the routes are puke-worthy even while sober so when you calculate that in it's like one 2 hours of nomihodai-ing before critical puking mass is reached and the buses must shut down for fear of being overrun by puking salarymen. Average bus end time = 9:45.

This, however, doesn't explain the trams ending at 11 or the ever popular Beer Tram.

I think London should run an experiment and run a Beer tube on the Picadilly Line from Heathrow- that tube is pukeworthy even on a good day and seems the most likely to have people wearing really strong fragrances on it, for some reason.

2008-01-15T11:37:00.000-08:00

Umbrella Death Count = 2

So far I've killed 2 umbrellas here in London- one of them wasn't mine. Whoops! I guess this is better than my Japan record where I killed 2 in 15 minutes, but really you can't feel too bad when you are spending like $1-3 a pop. I think the one I killed today was $1 max.

2008-01-12T15:02:00.000-08:00

Regent's Canal

Regent's Canal links Little Venice to the Thames. I went from Camden Lock down to Islington- away from Little Venice. One day I will go the opposite direction to Little Venice. I got harassed by some kids on a balcony on the way- great parents they had.

Lots of birds.

Crazy retro-futuristic apartments.

St. Pancras Lock

Some strange circular structure with the dome in the back that's the new St. Pancras Eurostar terminal.

Nice place with boats.

2008-01-08T13:58:00.001-08:00

I was just thinking

My salary in Japan was about $32K a year. The student budget here for 9 months is $28K. Scarcely 3 months in, people have torn through the first $14K and are broke. This is a bad, bad sign. Meanwhile in Japan I managed to save from $500-1000 a month and it is supposedly so expensive. What was I missing? Apparently the UK- no wonder my British friend was in awe of how cheap Japan was. Granted my high-end apartment at a whopping $550 a month would probably be cheap anywhere- and the average of closer to $375- my god wouldn't that be heaven right now. I'd take $550.

However, I'd miss central heat- but you know law school in Japan would be fun, right? My classmates would love nomihodai- such a deal after roughly $7 per pint when you can get a nomihodai for 3 hours at 1000 yen, or sometimes a girly rate of 800 yen for 2 hours.

I miss Japan.

2008-01-07T14:26:00.000-08:00

Dear London Airports,

Please uniformly change your carry-on policy. The one only is going to make going home a real pain in the ass because I have so much stuff and that means only my laptop. While I recognize that you aren't going to go the Rome Ciampino route and allow an unlimited number of carry ons of gargantuan size (the woman in front of me at the security check had not two, but FIVE bags total), one normal-sized carry-on and a personal item would be fantastic.

2008-01-07T12:24:00.001-08:00

Happy New Year!

I didn't get to go to Belgium, but no matter. Despite having bronchitis, I rushed around London with a friend and saw quite a few new things. I could probably live here for years and not see everything though-
The Tower of London. It's expensive to go in but worth it. We spent about 3 hours inside but I think you can spend longer if you have more time. We were there close to when it was closing and already dark so we couldn't take as many pictures as we'd hoped.

Inns of Court- this is where you live and learn to be a barrister. People training to be lawyers join an Inn and then have to eat 12 dinners at the inn with barristers from the inn, maybe. There are 4 inns. It seems much better than the US system, if you ask me. I want to join an inn and eat some dinner.

Once you join an Inn, you can go here to the Royal Court of Justice- which was featured in Bridget Jones's Diary 2. We were too cold to see her apartment and the fight scene area so I guess this was our Bridget Jones lore of the day but I WILL see her apartment before I leave London.

This is the inside of the Globe theater- it was insanely cold and windy so luckily there are no shows in the winter. Maybe when it gets warmer I will attend one though- God knows I will have tons of free time with only 2 days of classes per week.

Westminster Abbey interior- it was a very cool church. I felt like it had a lot more to offer than the Italian churches but maybe the literature was better for this than it was for the Italian churches and more importantly the heating was good so you felt inclined to stay in for a while. St. Francis' Basilica was pretty awesome though, despite needing a parka to stay in.

2007-12-25T01:53:00.001-08:00

Assisi

I had heard that Assisi was always packed with tourists, but when I went it was so dead it was creepy. It is another cute hill town with pretty city walls/fortifications and the basilica is amazing. I wish I could have photographed the frescoes inside because they were the best I've seen by far. I know the Sistine Chapel is more famous, but I preferred this. I think the town was especially creepy due to the Siesta hours. Most of the towns have them, but in the less touristy ones, there is absolutely no one outside from around 1-4.

St. Frances Basilica
Nativity Scene
Inside the basilica courtyard

View of the full basilica- so huge. I did not get to see nearly all of it. I wonder how many monks live in there?
Look, it snowed!

More Assisi Pics

2007-12-25T01:43:00.001-08:00

Perugia

Perugia is a hill town that reminds me somewhat of Nagasaki- tons of stairs and roads with no labels whatsoever that don't seem made for cars. It is not too touristy either- always a plus.

Main Plaza

Lots of hills

Stair streets!

The main stair street- why I could not take the bus to the train station with my suitcase.

Pretty church

More Perugia Pictures

2007-12-25T00:56:00.001-08:00

Florence

Florence was amazing- probably my favorite city on the trip. It was too expensive to go into all the museums, however, so I did not see all the famous things there like David. Oh well. It makes me realize how lucky we are in the US to have the Smithsonians.

Palazzo Vecchio
Duomo

Duomo and Florence from above

Arno and Ponte Vecchio

Plaza

More pictures of Florence

2007-12-24T10:35:00.001-08:00

Pisa

I was so excited to get to climb the leaning tower. I went when I was 12 and it was in a dire state and I was crushed not to be able to go in. It is a hefty 15 euro though.

Click here for more photos

2007-12-24T10:17:00.000-08:00

Rome

Since I have not figured out how to get more than 5 images to show up in here, I am posting a link to all the pictures at the bottom of each post and then picking my 5 favorites.

Rome was amazing- I went there with some friends so I saw everything in the first 3 days before one friend had to leave and then had about 2.5 days left to kill. You definitely do not need 5 days there unless you like to go into a lot of museums, I guess. My favorite things were the Vatican and the Colosseum/Forum.

I also had some amazing food, but it is sort of tucked in with crappy tourist sort of places that are not so good.

Forum

St. Peter's in the Vatican

View of Plaza in front of St. Peter's

Colosseum

Trevi Fountain

If that is not enough-
Rome Pictures

2007-11-30T02:01:00.001-08:00

Berlin

Jewish Holocaust Memorial (with high-end communist apartments in background and Lawrence)

Reichstag (Parliament)

Brandenberg Gate (divided East and West Berlin)

Charlottenburg Castle

Berlin Wall

2007-11-19T13:40:00.001-08:00

Dublin

So the weather in Dublin is as awesome as you hear about- rainy and windy and cold! I think in the summer it has to be nicer. On the bright side, it's very compact and easy to get around on foot and by bus and there are lots of places that have traditional music playing. People get very into it!
Trinity College

Cute Dublin Street

Christchurch Cathedral

Dublin Castle

Pub

2007-11-11T14:32:00.000-08:00

The Cotswolds

So I had to drive to the Cotswolds, which was traumatizing because the interstate closed and then I had to take these tiny-ass roads with 400 roundabouts on therm. As if driving on the left isn't hard enough, they can't just have a regular stoplight? Plus, what's the point of a roundabout WITH a stoplight? Isn't the point not to have stoplights? Sigh. I think living in the Cotswolds could be great but not with all these stupid roundabouts.

2007-11-08T11:01:00.000-08:00

Medicine Woes

I have found out that US Benadryl is only available as Nytol and it's behind the counter so when I run out of mine very shortly, I will need a sleep aid. I guess I do use it before I go to bed so my skin doesn't itch, but I don't think they want people to take it daily like I do.

What they call Benadryl here is actually Zyrtec in the US, making my previous statements about the unreasonableness of drug prices slightly incorrect because one tablet is around $.30, while in the US it's closer to $3 if you don't have insurance. That would be all fine and good if Zyrtec did squat for my itchy skin but I need Benadryl.

2007-11-06T10:16:00.001-08:00

While I Appreciate the Thought--

I've been seeing these strange ads encouraging people to donate to charity over the holiday season. Except that the ads are ridiculous- and I just can't really get into them. They tell you that you should buy a llama or a toilet and that it won't be forgotten, especially when your child gets a gift saying that a farmer in Bolivia got a llama instead of little Johnny getting that new Wii game he always wanted.

2007-11-04T14:15:00.001-08:00

City of London

St. Paul's Cathedral

Tower of London

Tower Bridge

Tower of London

View of City of London

2007-11-03T10:10:00.001-07:00

Walk from Westminster Abbey to Kensington

NHS-related march

Parliament

Westminster Abbey
Buckingham Palace

Royal Albert Hall

2007-10-29T12:20:00.000-07:00

They may have the NHS but...

$16 for 24 Benadryl tablets? Are you kidding me? I can get 400 generic at Costco for $3.98. It's about $3.50 for 16 Ibuprofens and $20 for 50 lactaids, which of course I totally lost. I think in the US it's around $14 for 48 generics so I guess the markup isn't too bad on that. I think I spent $6 on 6 Immodiums- but I was desperate.

2007-10-28T09:52:00.001-07:00

Thames South Bank

Some famous boat

The Globe Theatre

Part of the Louis Bourgeois Collection (didn't see the rest because it wasn't free)

London Eye

Big Ben and other buildings.

2007-10-28T02:39:00.001-07:00

Kew GardenPalm House

Kew Palace

Temperate House

Temperate House exterior

Sculpture Exhibit

2007-10-25T02:27:00.000-07:00

Traveling in the UK

I don't think it's going to happen. The hotels are just far too expensive. Relative to Japan, train travel is roughly equivalent in price. However, the hotels are just a shitload more expensive and there don't seem to be as many package deals that essentially give you a hotel room for free for a night or two once you get the train/plane ticket. In London, you'll spend about $100 for a single before you can get a bathroom, and you'll probably spend $80 in smaller cities. In Japan, I often stayed in a single that was around $50 a night.

2007-10-23T15:18:00.000-07:00

Happy Mole Day!

No, this has nothing to do with London, but judging from the shopping options in my neighborhood I'm sure that Speak Like a Pirate Day would be much more of a success in this area than a completely Geeky holiday like Mole Day. No one ever knows that such a thing exists. It warmed my heart to see someone else discuss it on his blog. I can't forget it since we had to do a Mole Video senior year of high school and mine was some instructional chemistry video where we tortured a clay mole as he "learned" chemistry- you know such things as getting dissolved in acid and getting blown up by firecrackers.

2007-10-21T09:23:00.001-07:00

Greenwich

Greenwich is the home of the Prime Meridian and the Royal Naval College and some Palaces, which was where Henry VIII had another palace. The Prime Meridian is up a hill in Greenwich Park at the Royal Observatory. I would have a picture of the marker clock, but Blogger seems to limit me to 5 pictures in one post.

Royal Navy College

Royal Navy College

View of Canary Wharf from Greenwich

Me at the Prime Meridian in 2 Hemispheres at Once

Inside of Royal Naval College

2007-10-18T09:54:00.000-07:00

A day too late

Apparently I missed my chance to see Ewan McGregor in Othello as Iago. It sold out in a day (yesterday). I didn't even know he was going to be in Othello or else I probably would have bought myself a ticket. I want to see Patrick Stewart in MacBeth at some point- hopefully that isn't sold out. I can't say I am a huge Shakespeare fan (making me the Worst English Teacher Ever), especially the tragedies, but I'll go for good actors.

2007-10-17T15:23:00.000-07:00

What is wrong with banking in this country?

Seriously- they find like a million ways to gouge you. If I buy something online, I have to use a credit card, so why charge me extra for using a credit card? Like I want to buy a plane ticket that ends up being $10 more because of the credit card charge- but what other way can I buy it? It's not like they offer direct draw from my checking account. Apparently the Visa Electron is free to use online, but typically it's used for children or people with horrible credit- so the rest of us are rich enough to pay an arm and a leg everytime we use a credit card?

2007-10-16T12:07:00.001-07:00

2 In 1 Day?

I went to catch the tube this afternoon and it was delayed due to "a person under the train" some stations down. After going to several countries that are Suicide Door Lands, I of course think that means suicide. The ride took forever and I was across from a couple who couldn't keep their hands off each other. I hate PDA- go get a room or something. Then some ashtray-smelling guy sat next to me so I couldn't look that direction either. It never fails that I either end up next to an uber religious person reading the koran, bible, or torah, or end up across from a PDA couple.

On my way home, I went shopping to buy a new coat (Thank you H&M for cheap coats. I have to get a new one each year). The stop nearby was totally closed so I walked to another one that was completely delayed only to hear that another line was totally closed because of "a person under the train"- sheesh? Was there some sort of suicide pact? Usually the delays are due to "planned engineering works" or "signaling problems" and very occasionally a strike.

2007-10-15T07:04:00.001-07:00

Camden Town Pictures

2007-10-13T12:17:00.000-07:00

Hampton Court

Hampton Court was Henry VIII's castle. It's about a 30-minute train ride outside of London. I guess it's technically still in the suburb area because it's in the London zones. Unfortunately no photos were allowed inside so I have only exterior pictures.

Hampton Court construction sign
Main gate
Courtyard
Garden
Exterior Area

2007-10-09T00:55:00.000-07:00

Credit Card Suspicions

For some reason, the UK is really suspicious of credit cards that aren't from here. Most of them have some sort of chip in them, while ours have nothing. In some stores, they simply won't take foreign credit cards at all, while others have to make a copy or take an imprint because they're afraid the credit card company won't pay. I've never experienced this in any other country. There were some differences in Japan and fewer places that took credit cards, but if a company/restaurant gave you the option of paying by credit card, it didn't matter where it came from. In the UK Ikea, you can pay the bill by any credit card, but in the delivery area they require a UK one.

Like Japan, the UK has places you can pay your bill by cash in a convenient store or grocery store. They aren't quite so nice about telling you where those stores are though. In Japan your bill will have a logo on the back for each store, here you just have to walk around trying to find a "pay point."

In other news, lots of services require a contract- phone, internet, cable. I don't remember any of those in the US requiring anything. I guess if you want a traditional landline you just have one choice, so there's no reason to require a contract there. Most people still only have 1-2 choices for internet and if you have cable you're going to go with cable and if you have something like Fios you'll get Verizon internet. What's the most annoying is that there are lots of limits- you can't get cable internet without cable TV or the broadband phone, you can't get a traditional phone line without a yearlong contract, which you need to get ADSL. So now we're stuck paying for 3 extra months of phone, but we'll try to cancel at the end and see what happens.

2007-10-07T08:12:00.001-07:00

More PicturesPrimrose Hill Area (right by where I live)
My apartment building
Hampstead Heath
Westminster
Trafalgar Square

2007-10-07T00:43:00.001-07:00

Oxford PicturesMost famous library at Oxford
Christchurch College

A pub on a canal

2007-10-06T07:57:00.001-07:00

I'm Delinquent

I just got internet installed today, so I haven't been able to update lately. Everything is finally worked out with the phone, which was so annoying to set up. Apparently they have like 15 different phone companies in the UK, 3 of which had jacks in our apartment. One may have been for the company we are using (the main provider), but we didn't actually find that jack until today because it was hidden behind something. None of the companies use the same equipment so the guy had to run an entirely new line and we have to hope that we don't get charged.

I'm living in an area called Camden, which is a bit on the funky side. It has a lot of goths and punks and lots of stores sell corsets, shoes, and bongs. I'm about a 5-10 minute walk from that area and a 2-minute walk from another area called Primrose Hill, which is very serene and yuppified. I guess sometimes you can see Gwen Stefani or Jude Law in the area. The apartment is just a one-bedroom at an absolutely ludicrous price per month. I wonder how on earth anyone affords to live here alone because a studio probably runs at least $1500+ a month. I guess they all live out in the suburbs.

2007-09-15T06:15:00.000-07:00

Apartment Hunt

The apartment hunt is supposed to be a complete nightmare. I just wish I could wake up and have it be finished. Apparently agents lure you in by pictures of cute apartments that already have contracts on them and then show you dumps within the same price range that have inflatable furniture. They try to convince you that if you raise your budget 20 pounds a week, you'll get some sort of palace.

I can't say I get this strategy. Assuming you rent the apartment out, you get the money for it. You may get more if the person rents a more expensive apartment, but you're not going to get anything if the renter gets peeved and goes elsewhere because you pick the worst apartments to show.

At any rate, my roommate is supposed to be staying with friends and distant relatives so maybe they can help us with the hunt- at least recommend someone reputable.

2007-09-14T07:41:00.000-07:00

I'm starting up a new blog for my London experience. I'll leave the old for my more general rants.