Below is some footage I took of the Changing of the Tower Guard. Basically it's the inspection of the new guards and then they march off. I was really excited to see it. It just randomly started taking place and I got all excited and fished for my camera in my purse. I like when they stomp around.
Hope you enjoyed that.
Pip Pip Cheerio!
Sunday, February 21, 2010
Markets and Towers and Planning, O MY!
Thursday we kicked off our weekend by going to Tortilla, our favorite little burrito stop in town, right after class. We stayed in that night to watch Atonement and plan trips. Well Bailey and I are really bad about planning trips so we can just forget about that. Now, if you haven't seen Atonement, it is a really sad and depressing movie. No matter how many times I tell people, they don't believe me until they see it. I personally love the movie. It's very well acted and directed, but the story line is extremely sad, and should not be watched by the faint of heart.
Friday we got down to business. Sort of... We did accomplish two of the walks in my 50 Walks of London guide. At around noon Bailey and I went to the Tower of London. It cost us about £13.50 (Look! I found my character palette!) It gave us about three and a half hours of entertainment. I was amazed at the inside of the fortress. I wish I would have taken more pictures of the inside. It looked like a walled off village. I am not sure what I was expecting. Probably something less quaint, and community like, and more severe. There were roads and walk ways, and flats that I think people actually live in today. It was quite an experience. While we were there we walked around the fortress wall, went inside the White Tower (that's the one the place is famous for) and inside the Bloody tower, where traitors and heretics were kept and tortured. it was a good chunk of history. We also got to see the Crown Jewels. Man, the other half lived goooooood. There were diamonds the size of baby's fists. One crown held over 3000 diamonds. We also got to see the changing of the Tower Guard. I got a video but it's taking a long time to load so it will eventually be posted on here.
From the tower, we went up to Tower Bridge and paid the £5 it cost to go up to the top. There was an "exhibition" there. The view was incredible. You could see all of London. The only way up was through stairs, so needless to say, that acted as our workout for the day. But once up there, it was totally worth it. I got some great pictures.
We didn't spend too much time in the Tower Bridge because once you got your pictures and marveled a bit, what else is there to do? Bailey and I hit the streets to make our way to the Burough Market. It's a gourmet food market. We had to go through a creepy tunnel to get there, but once inside, the smells of deliciousness reached my nose. I had to try really hard to avoid the sweets. Not having a lot of money in my pocket made it easier. It was situated nicely next to a cathedral which made it very picturesque. They had a lot of food to offer, but sadly I didn't get any of the free samples that others got when they visited. This market was very similar to the Farmer's markets that I am used to back home.
After the market we found the pirate ship The Golden Hind to satisfy another one of my geeky loves and then headed back to Vandon House where Bailey and I really got down to our planning stages. We booked our coach to Paris for next weekend, and began looking at hotels, but we didn't actually book the hotel until Saturday morning. We decided to go hotel over hostel because it was cheaper and had a better location. Double bonus!
Saturday all we did was go to the Museum of London. It was for an assignment because normally it's really cool and interesting. Right now, however, 3/4 of it is under construction. All the cool interesting stuff is under construction! We learned how London came to be from the Neanderthals to the Romans to medieval times, but that was very short, and could have been more extensive. We were there maybe an hour. I was a little disappointed that we couldn't see the meat and bones of the place. Apparently they want it ready by the Olympics so they are fixing it up now.
After the museum we tried to go to the London Eye, but the queue was huge. We will have to go back in the morning sometime. We watched Notting Hill to end the night. Sooooo cute, and based really close to us. Just a few tube stops away. I also think that Bailey and I found our Spring Break destination. I won't say more until I've met with the travel agent, but I may now have some cash to spare for other trips!!! Maybe one a little further south (wink wink).
Pip Pip Cheerio!
From the tower, we went up to Tower Bridge and paid the £5 it cost to go up to the top. There was an "exhibition" there. The view was incredible. You could see all of London. The only way up was through stairs, so needless to say, that acted as our workout for the day. But once up there, it was totally worth it. I got some great pictures.
A view from the Top!
Lucky for us it was a clearish day.
They had games at the Top. I totally pwn'd Bailey. Xs rule!
We didn't spend too much time in the Tower Bridge because once you got your pictures and marveled a bit, what else is there to do? Bailey and I hit the streets to make our way to the Burough Market. It's a gourmet food market. We had to go through a creepy tunnel to get there, but once inside, the smells of deliciousness reached my nose. I had to try really hard to avoid the sweets. Not having a lot of money in my pocket made it easier. It was situated nicely next to a cathedral which made it very picturesque. They had a lot of food to offer, but sadly I didn't get any of the free samples that others got when they visited. This market was very similar to the Farmer's markets that I am used to back home.
Nice location, don't you think?
Saturday all we did was go to the Museum of London. It was for an assignment because normally it's really cool and interesting. Right now, however, 3/4 of it is under construction. All the cool interesting stuff is under construction! We learned how London came to be from the Neanderthals to the Romans to medieval times, but that was very short, and could have been more extensive. We were there maybe an hour. I was a little disappointed that we couldn't see the meat and bones of the place. Apparently they want it ready by the Olympics so they are fixing it up now.
After the museum we tried to go to the London Eye, but the queue was huge. We will have to go back in the morning sometime. We watched Notting Hill to end the night. Sooooo cute, and based really close to us. Just a few tube stops away. I also think that Bailey and I found our Spring Break destination. I won't say more until I've met with the travel agent, but I may now have some cash to spare for other trips!!! Maybe one a little further south (wink wink).
Pip Pip Cheerio!
Wednesday, February 17, 2010
Pancake Day!!!
Can you believe there is a whole day dedicated to Pancakes here? Sounds like heaven right? I will get to that in a sec, but first I have let you know about Monday.
Monday was a very blah day for me. I got up early to go to work. We had our weekly breakfast in the Clerkenwell Kitchen. I really love the people I work with. They want to help me have the best experience inside and outside the workplace. We talked about travel and good things to do in Paris, which I hope to visit next weekend. When we got back I got my first assignment of the week. I am to write a awards entries for few packages tdg did last year.
An hour or so after we got back from breakfast, the power went out. Apparently the construction that is going on at the nearest tube station knocked out the power within a few blocks, but thankfully the tube was still working so I had a means to get back. I learned that rolling blackouts have been predicted throughout England for some time now because they can't supply enough energy for themselves at the moment. England imports excess nuclear energy from France. I guess you learn something new everyday.
We decided to abandon ship because without power there is no internet, and without internet, we really can't do much. How sad is it that today's workplace is so centered around the internet that we literally can't work without it? This meant that I was back in my room at Vandon House by 1:30pm with my work but no motivation to do it, so I took a nap. The rest of the day was more of me avoiding work, and sharing my computer with Bailey since her computers motherboard fried on Vday.
I did finish my though, and got up bright and early the next morning with a little hop in my step as I set off for work. It was Pancake Day in England. It's the same as Fat Tuesday in the States, but instead of eating whatever they want, they stuff themselves with cakes and pancakes. Everything was fine until I got off the tube and realized that it was raining and I had forgotten my umbrella. That meant I had to walk 10 minutes in a near down pour with only a free Metro paper to cover me. Did I mention that my hair frizzes when it gets wet? Anyway, the day went well. I turned in my assignment and it got "good job" but I needed more information to really complete it, and I would get that next week. For lunch we decided to check out a new startup food spot called Poncho no.8, the gourmet burrito kitchen. It was good, but I still prefer Pancheros. They are basically the same thing. The burritos were so big that we were stuffed when we were done and decided not to get cakes from the cake man down the street from our office. Hopefully I will meet him next week.
When we got back I chatted with Suni about some of the research that I had done, and my new assignment is to look at how people package things that have a lot of information to display. This means I get to go shopping. Woot! At 4:30 Patrick took me too a Pizza shoot that was taking place right down the road. I am not kidding you when I say it takes food photographers and a whole crew 3 days to get the perfect 6 photographs of a pizza for promotional and packaging usage. It really was an experience. I met a lot of different people at the shoot including a creative director. He was such a nice guy and showed me a whole bunch of stuff having to do with what it takes to get a final product out on the market. From there I went back to Vandon House.
It was an exhausting day. Today was class day. I had advertising in the morning and Art in the afternoon. We went to the National Gallery and looked a some Renaissance Christian art. I got to see works by Raphael, Bellini, and more. Sadly we weren't allowed to take pictures but maybe I will find some on the internet and share. I have a funny credit card story coming next. Stay tuned...
Pip Pip Cheerio!
Monday was a very blah day for me. I got up early to go to work. We had our weekly breakfast in the Clerkenwell Kitchen. I really love the people I work with. They want to help me have the best experience inside and outside the workplace. We talked about travel and good things to do in Paris, which I hope to visit next weekend. When we got back I got my first assignment of the week. I am to write a awards entries for few packages tdg did last year.
An hour or so after we got back from breakfast, the power went out. Apparently the construction that is going on at the nearest tube station knocked out the power within a few blocks, but thankfully the tube was still working so I had a means to get back. I learned that rolling blackouts have been predicted throughout England for some time now because they can't supply enough energy for themselves at the moment. England imports excess nuclear energy from France. I guess you learn something new everyday.
We decided to abandon ship because without power there is no internet, and without internet, we really can't do much. How sad is it that today's workplace is so centered around the internet that we literally can't work without it? This meant that I was back in my room at Vandon House by 1:30pm with my work but no motivation to do it, so I took a nap. The rest of the day was more of me avoiding work, and sharing my computer with Bailey since her computers motherboard fried on Vday.
I did finish my though, and got up bright and early the next morning with a little hop in my step as I set off for work. It was Pancake Day in England. It's the same as Fat Tuesday in the States, but instead of eating whatever they want, they stuff themselves with cakes and pancakes. Everything was fine until I got off the tube and realized that it was raining and I had forgotten my umbrella. That meant I had to walk 10 minutes in a near down pour with only a free Metro paper to cover me. Did I mention that my hair frizzes when it gets wet? Anyway, the day went well. I turned in my assignment and it got "good job" but I needed more information to really complete it, and I would get that next week. For lunch we decided to check out a new startup food spot called Poncho no.8, the gourmet burrito kitchen. It was good, but I still prefer Pancheros. They are basically the same thing. The burritos were so big that we were stuffed when we were done and decided not to get cakes from the cake man down the street from our office. Hopefully I will meet him next week.
When we got back I chatted with Suni about some of the research that I had done, and my new assignment is to look at how people package things that have a lot of information to display. This means I get to go shopping. Woot! At 4:30 Patrick took me too a Pizza shoot that was taking place right down the road. I am not kidding you when I say it takes food photographers and a whole crew 3 days to get the perfect 6 photographs of a pizza for promotional and packaging usage. It really was an experience. I met a lot of different people at the shoot including a creative director. He was such a nice guy and showed me a whole bunch of stuff having to do with what it takes to get a final product out on the market. From there I went back to Vandon House.
It was an exhausting day. Today was class day. I had advertising in the morning and Art in the afternoon. We went to the National Gallery and looked a some Renaissance Christian art. I got to see works by Raphael, Bellini, and more. Sadly we weren't allowed to take pictures but maybe I will find some on the internet and share. I have a funny credit card story coming next. Stay tuned...
Pip Pip Cheerio!
Valentine's Day FAIL + Camden Market
I hope you all had a good Valentine's Day! Mine wasn't so hot. The title says it all. I will try not to vent on here too much, I mean I have had a few days to cool off from. Here it goes...
Bailey and I had big plans for Valentine's Day. We were going to finish all of our homework for our British Experience Seminar which was to visit the Museum of London and and two major markets. AFter sleeping in for the first time in a while, we set off for Camden Market with Abbey and Jessica. Let me tell you, Camden Town is crazy. It houses such an eclectic group of people. There are super fashionable people, goths, druggies, and "normal" people all walking up and down the street window shopping and such. For some reason I thought that Camden market was going to be a whole neighborhood deal, like the downtown farmers market in DM, but it wasn't. It was instead a small uber cramped inlet, packed with people and clothing booths. There were some really really cute items there, but there were no prices listed and no real comfort to look at them because it was so crowded. At one point we couldn't move at all while we were trying to get out.
After escaping the market we wandered the Camden Street. On both sides of the street stores had step up onto the sidewalks, and in that respect it was more like the markets I am used to. We saw the outside of the British MTV Centre. I haven't heard much about it, but I wonder if they do event like the American MTV station. I would love to go to one.
After going to the market Jessica and Abbey went to Picadilly to see the fountain, that supposedly changes to red on Valentine's Day, while Bailey and I go see all that we wanted to see. Our first stop was the Angel tube station. We thought there was longest tube staircase there, but there wasn't, only the longest escalator which we had already seen. then we went to King's Cross to get our picture taken at platform 9 3/4. We got there just in time. As we left, three asian girls came screaming around the corner to see it. Yes, I will admit to being a freak about Harry Potter stuff, but at least I keep myself in check in public places.
From there we wanted to go to the Barbican tube station for the Museum of London and then onto the Liverpool tube station for more markets, and we thought it was possible. All the maps said the tube lines we needed were open, but when we got to the platforms, the we discovered that public transit had it wrong. Everything they said, the opposite was true. We still could have made it to our locations, but now we weren't in the mood. Couples were making out everywhere, pink and red were adorned on all the walls, and I was growing sick of all the love in the air, and we decided to call it a day.
But the fun continues. Not long after we got back the fire alarm sounded, but less than a minute later it turned off. We didn't see people leaving but power was off in parts of the building. After about 10 minutes I got a text from our roommate. Apparently we were supposed to evacuate the building. When we got to the lobby, a fireman was there to scold us a bit. Oops! The alarm really wasn't on long enough for us to think EVACUATE! Turns out the wiring in our building is old and we had too many fridges plugged into one circuit, which led to a wire bursting into flame. Its all good now, and they returned power to the fridges so we wouldn't lose our precious food. What we did lose though was the internet. It took over an hour to get our internet straight again. Not a fun ordeal.
Needless to say I had the Valentine's Day blues. It's just one of those moods where you're sick of society and want to throw a rock as hard as you can. My dinner consisted of a 10 pound (meaning money, so the equivalent of $16 basically) burger at pub that was full of couples, and then walking home in the rain. Thanks God! Way to kick me when I'm down! Of course the best remedy for a sad soul is friends, chocolate and wine. We had a little single girls youtube get together in our room to end the night.
"At least if we are all alone, we're all together in that too" - Kathy Bates in P.S. I Love you.
Sorry! I went a little emo on you there. I think it was warranted though. That night the motherboard on Bailey's computer died, which meant no more computer for Bailey. See what I mean? Awful, AWFUL day. Anyway, besides Vday, everything else has been wonderful. Updates on the rest of this week will be next.
Pip Pip Cheerio!
The infamous Camden Market
The MTV Centre
After going to the market Jessica and Abbey went to Picadilly to see the fountain, that supposedly changes to red on Valentine's Day, while Bailey and I go see all that we wanted to see. Our first stop was the Angel tube station. We thought there was longest tube staircase there, but there wasn't, only the longest escalator which we had already seen. then we went to King's Cross to get our picture taken at platform 9 3/4. We got there just in time. As we left, three asian girls came screaming around the corner to see it. Yes, I will admit to being a freak about Harry Potter stuff, but at least I keep myself in check in public places.
Be jealous!
But the fun continues. Not long after we got back the fire alarm sounded, but less than a minute later it turned off. We didn't see people leaving but power was off in parts of the building. After about 10 minutes I got a text from our roommate. Apparently we were supposed to evacuate the building. When we got to the lobby, a fireman was there to scold us a bit. Oops! The alarm really wasn't on long enough for us to think EVACUATE! Turns out the wiring in our building is old and we had too many fridges plugged into one circuit, which led to a wire bursting into flame. Its all good now, and they returned power to the fridges so we wouldn't lose our precious food. What we did lose though was the internet. It took over an hour to get our internet straight again. Not a fun ordeal.
Needless to say I had the Valentine's Day blues. It's just one of those moods where you're sick of society and want to throw a rock as hard as you can. My dinner consisted of a 10 pound (meaning money, so the equivalent of $16 basically) burger at pub that was full of couples, and then walking home in the rain. Thanks God! Way to kick me when I'm down! Of course the best remedy for a sad soul is friends, chocolate and wine. We had a little single girls youtube get together in our room to end the night.
"At least if we are all alone, we're all together in that too" - Kathy Bates in P.S. I Love you.
Sorry! I went a little emo on you there. I think it was warranted though. That night the motherboard on Bailey's computer died, which meant no more computer for Bailey. See what I mean? Awful, AWFUL day. Anyway, besides Vday, everything else has been wonderful. Updates on the rest of this week will be next.
Pip Pip Cheerio!
Sunday, February 14, 2010
Travel Plans
I'm going to try and keep this short, but I seem to have a problem with that here. Here it goes.
There is a lot I want to do while in the UK and Europe, and most of them revolve around travel. Last night we sat down and planned our trip to Dublin, Ireland. Bailey, Abbey and myself will be going in the last weekend in March. It's Bailey's half birthday and Abbey's real birthday that weekend so we plan to live it up. Our whole trip, round trip flights and hostel, is costing us just over $100 and that's for 3 days and 2 nights. Not bad if you ask me.
Other trips Bailey and I plan to go on are: Paris, Berlin, Scotland and Spring Break which will possibly be in Barcelona. Not entirely sure on that one yet.
If I am lucky I will get to go to Newcastle, England and Geneva, Switzerland with my internship.
Places I want to go but still need someone to with include Rome, Greece and Wales. Not to mention Day trips I'm interested in. Rome is really the place I want to go, so if anyone else is interested please hit me up.
Look, I kept it short. That's all for now.
Pip Pip Cheerio!
There is a lot I want to do while in the UK and Europe, and most of them revolve around travel. Last night we sat down and planned our trip to Dublin, Ireland. Bailey, Abbey and myself will be going in the last weekend in March. It's Bailey's half birthday and Abbey's real birthday that weekend so we plan to live it up. Our whole trip, round trip flights and hostel, is costing us just over $100 and that's for 3 days and 2 nights. Not bad if you ask me.
Other trips Bailey and I plan to go on are: Paris, Berlin, Scotland and Spring Break which will possibly be in Barcelona. Not entirely sure on that one yet.
If I am lucky I will get to go to Newcastle, England and Geneva, Switzerland with my internship.
Places I want to go but still need someone to with include Rome, Greece and Wales. Not to mention Day trips I'm interested in. Rome is really the place I want to go, so if anyone else is interested please hit me up.
Look, I kept it short. That's all for now.
Pip Pip Cheerio!
Stonehenge & Bath
As I stepped outside the door yesterday morning, I could just tell that it was going to be a good day. The sun was shining and the air felt crisp. Bailey and I briskly set off towards victoria station to meet our coach for our tour. We didn't look at our departure point before that morning, and we quickly learned that that was a mistake. Victoria Station has three parts; underground, train, and coach. The coach station is in a completely different building, and when we got there we found a gate that looked like our tour and went there. But it didn't feel right so I went back to look at the departure board and Bailey asked information for help. That was the best move because they told us that our pick up point was on the other side of Victoria station in off street. GREAT! It was quite a fun power walk to get over there in time.
My favorite pic!
When we approached Stonehenge everyone's head started to bob in anticipation. Everyone wanted to be the first to see it. This may sound strange, but it was both bigger and smaller than I expected. The stones are of course HUGE and awe-inspiring when you think of how they were assembled, but the monument also took up less space than I expected. We only had an hour there, but it was enough. The openness of the field in which the stones lay and the fact that it was on top of a hill helped the bitter cold wind whip around the inhabitants who were on the walking path around the stones. We were freezing. It's a good thing we visited Stonehenge this year though, because in 2012 the site will be much more controlled. People will only be able to see the stones from a small train. LAME. That's so much less personal.
After some coffee and a light snack we got back on the coach and headed towards Bath. O Bath! How I love thee. As we drove up, I was shocked at how big it really was, and it was all beautiful. Bath stone makes up 99% of the buildings in Bath and it gives the city a very elegant and cohesive look, which is so different from London. In London adjoining houses may be made of different materials, and where your house may look good by itself, and your neighbors house might look good by itself, but together it looks really bad.
Part of the Circus.
Bath was also really different from London in a few other respects. In Bath there is a lot of congestion, but it's limited to people congestion. The sidewalks are crowded but the streets were not. Motor transportation was not as prevalent. There were also way more street performers in Bath. I think that's because there is so much foot traffic.
The Roman Baths
Me looking pensively over the bath
Sunset as viewed from the coach.
Pip Pip Cheerio!
Friday, February 12, 2010
Greenwich
I woke up bright and early this morning. Well, only if you consider 8:45 bright and early. Our program director and assistant director made us breakfast of bacon butties. It was basically buttered bread with bacon on it. Have I ever mentioned that bacon in the UK is way different from bacon in the states? The bacon here is more like ham. I believe it's from the same part of the pig, just cut thicker. It was a really good breakfast. I had two helpings.
At 10:30 we set off on our ferry ride down the Thames river towards Greenwich. Bitter cold wind whipped around us, and I forgot my gloves back in my room. I tried to stay outside as long as possible to take awesome pictures but my hands weren't having it.
The ferry arrived around 11:15 and we set off for the Royal Observatory in Greenwich Park. It was on the top of the a pretty tall hill, but the view from the top was amazing! You could see all the way across London. At the Royal Observatory there was the prime meridian lies. I got some cheesy pictures of me there.
Abbey, Jessica and myself posing over the Prime Meridian.
It looks like I'm petting the Queen's house. The Maritime Museum is on the left and the Naval College on the right if I remember correctly.
Also in Greenwich is the Maritime Museum, the Royal Naval College, and an old Queen's House. Abbey, Jessica and myself palled around and we stayed the longest in Greenwich. As we were making our way back we stopped in a few shops. I bought myself souvenir shot glasses and a gift for my brother. We also found the Greenwich Market which had food vendors and craftsmen alike sharing the same small space. It was very unique to walk through. A shop along the Market is called Mr. Humbug's Sweet Shop. The man inside was anything but a humbug. He was sweet and very busily working around the shop to fill candies. When he heard us speak he was surprised to hear an American accent. He said we looked so British. "Americans have the best street wear," he said. That made it almost sad to hear that we looked british even though I've been striving to blend in this whole time. I bought some Chocolate covered peanuts even after I got all my chocolate from my parents the other day. I couldn't help it. He was so nice, and I love chocolate covered peanuts. To end our trip we took the pedestrian subway under the Thames. So officially I have been at the highest and lowest points in London. Impressive right?!
National Maritime Museum.
Greenwich, although still a part of London, is quite separate in culture. Our director, Mark, said that is was more like a country town than the outskirts of a big city, and I agree with that. The buildings were styled in an older fashion, and the parks made up more of the area. The people were very friendly from what I could tell, except for one older lady. It had more of a community feel than central London.
Tomorrow Bailey and I are going to Stonehenge and Bath, so to prepare we are watching Pride and Prejudice.
Pip Pip Cheerio!
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