London Day 6

7:57 AM August 23,2011 Gatwick Airport Boarding Area

It's pouring rain outside.

Last day in London :(

I am reluctant to go home.

Spent the last day waking around Oxford and Regent Street. I did get myself a dress from Top Shop.

Watched Les Miserables (again) because Chelsea hasn't seen it. As always, AMAZING show! It was sold out. There were 2 famous people on the show: Alfie Boe, a Classical/Opera singer, and Matt Lucas, the actor from Shawn of the Dead and he played Twiddle-dee/dum from the new Alice in Wonderland. Also, actress that played Elphaba and Fiyero in Wicked 3 years ago played Eponine and Eljoras. Cried the entire time.

Despite being tired, had a great time these past few weeks :)


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London Day 5

11:50 PM August 21, 2011

Went back to Victoria and Albert Museum today. The exhibit I wanted to see, history of fashion, won't reopen until spring next year :/
It's a lot of design exhibits, ranging from theater, furniture, ceramics, etc. They also have statues and paintings and such. I did enjoy the theater and performance exhibit which shows the techniques and methods of how a show gets produced. They had a Kylie Minogue's dressing room and a costume Mick Jagger wore and costumes from Lion King and set designs.

Afterwards, we were going to go bike riding in Hyde Park. The bike sharing system in London is fairly simple, it's the actual acquiring of the bikes that's difficult. The code locks are picky and the bikes are hard to get off the lock. After several frustrating tries, I gave up (Chelsea and Alvaro got their bikes already). I decided to walk and look for the Princess Diana memorial fountain and the Peter Pan statue. Found them both. The Diana fountain isn't actually a fountain, but like a small lazy river that runs around a small mound where you can dip your feet or walk along it. The Peter Pan statue was further away, but I found it (finally! Didn't find it 3 years ago). It's a pretty tall statue, but Peter himself is pretty small. He is portrayed as a young child blowing a horn.

Supposed to go to The Tower of London, but we missed the last entrance. It's not a big loss to me because I've been before. I just felt bad because Chelsea hasn't been. Oh well. Next time. But, we did wall across the Tower Bridge and that was cool.

Jack the Ripper tour was awesome! We took a tour stoic the area of White Chapel where Jack the Ripper murdered his victims. Obviously it's very different from what it was in the 1870s, but it'll always be a mystery who Jack the Ripper was. It was kinda scary because the tour was at night and all the info and places we saw were facts. And now I hope I don't get nightmares.

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Paris Day 4

8:30 PM August 19, 2011 Eurostar back to London

Last day in Paris :/

Chelsea and I went to go check out the Catacombs. Longest line ever. We waited about 1 1/2 hours to get in. I suppose it was so that it won't be crowded inside. It used to be a quarry and they turned it into a mass burial ground before the French Revolution because the grave yards were full. It's 2 kilometers long (according to the museum information). It's cold, dark and damp. Near the end, you enter the "Empire of Death" where the bones are laid out and arranged. Some of the arrangements are more artistic, the other arrangements are just piles of bones neatly stacked. It's cool, and creepy at the same time.

Last minute shopping at the Galeries Lafayette and I got me some LONGCHAMP LE PLIAGE! Yay!




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Paris Day 3

12:21 August 19, 2011

Busy busy day 2. I'm tired

Today we went to Versailles. Finally! It's just a short train ride from Paris. The Versailles train station is just a short walk to the actual Chateau. To say that it's huge is an understatement. There is a specific path that you go through to see the exhibitions. But it was awesome. Good thing we went early so it wasn't too crowded. The gardens are AMAZING! It's so big! We didn't really wander around it. I think if we did we'd get lost. I really just wanted to see the fountain at the end, which is of the Greek God Apollo rising.

There is a cafe on-site. It's pretty good.

When we got back to Paris, we went to Musee d'Orsay. Love it!!! A lot of impressionism! <3 a="" actual="" again="" ahhh="" also="" amazing="" an="" and="" anymore="" architecture="" at="" back="" bar="" based="" be="" because="" being="" building="" but="" champagne="" cloudy="" come="" crowded="" eiffel="" especially="" excited="" finally="" first="" garnier="" go="" got="" grumpy="" happened="" here.="" historical="" house.="" how="" i="" inside="" is="" it="" kind="" last="" love="" more="" nbsp="" not="" of="" on="" one="" opera="" p="" phantom="" production.="" regretted="" s="" so="" station.="" story="" t="" that="" the="" then="" things="" time="" to="" top.="" top="" tower="" train="" unlike="" used="" want="" was="" wasn="" watch="" we="" went--more="" went="" whatever.="" why="" windy="">
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Paris Day 2

12:21 AM August 18, 2011

Busy busy!

Is it me or is Paris more crowded that ever?
Le Louvre was horrible (ok, it was horrible everywhere). The lines were so long and people were rude...Bleh! Well, it only bad in the main floor, where Mona Lisa was kept. She's alright. I go to Le Louvre for the Greek statues, especially, Cupid and Psyche.

After Le Louvre, we headed over to Ile-de-la-cité. Saint Chapelle. Finally got to go inside! It's small church that was built as a palace chapel and originally housed the crown of thorns (now in Notre Dame). Very gothic--late gothic with it's huge stained glass windows that depict genesis to apocalypse and its vivid colors on the vaulting. It's awesome.
Notre Dame. Line was huge! Well, it moved quickly. My favorite :)

Afterwards, we went on a boat tour on the Seine. Another favorite thing to do, plus you get to see all the cool bridges.

Montmartre. Took the cable car up. That was pretty neat. I saw the set of stairs we'd have to climb and decided it was for the best that we don't climb it. It was neat to see it at nighttime. It was still crowded, but it wasn't stifling. Had escargot for dinner. They serve it in the shell and I had to learn how to use the tools to eat it. There's this shell holder (it looks like those things you use to break crab shell with) and you use a little fork to get it out of the shell.
It was good. It's not as chewy.

Arc du Triomphe. Climbed all 200+ steps to the top (and most of it was a spiral stair). Great views, especially of Paris at night.



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London Day 4

So, I'm back in London.

OMFG! Got tickets to the sold-out show, "Much Ado About Nothing," with David Tennant and Katherine Tate and it was AMAZING! Hilarious!!!! Katherine Tate's character, Beatrice, was kinda chav and David Tennant was speaking I his Scottish brogue! I die!!!!! Awesome team!
Unfortunately, they left right after the show, so I didn't get them to sign my program (apparently, David and Katherine had a "previous engagement"). However, I did get the actor who played Claudio to sign my program. He is a hottie.

It was a slow day(?)....and by that I mean we weren't running around town trying to do everything. Chelsea and I met up with Alvaro and we went to the art museum at The Somerset House. It was pretty small museum but they had great stuff--a few Van Gogh, Monet, early Picasso, Rodin, Gaugin....afterwards, we went to the Victoria and Albert Museum but we got there at closing time and so we were only there for a few minutes. And then, it was show time. :)



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Amsterdam

1:43 PM August 16,2011 Thalys train to Paris

Amsterdam was interesting. Once we got to the city, it smells...differently. The city itself is interesting due to the fact that majority of the city is built on reclaimed land and make due with what little land you have, and canals! Ok, you can say it's like Venice, bit not really. Venice is built on a lagoon and is sinking, Amsterdam is built near a river (near the North Sea[?]) which water pumps working to keep the water out (those would be the windmills, actually). Buildings have cool gables with hooks on them. This is used to get furniture up the building through the widows because the door would be too narrow, and do you really want to haul furniture up stairs?

Dutch architecture is really cool (and continues to be cool, Rem Koolhaus and OMA, Coop Himmelblau anyone??). It's gothic, but instead of using marble, they use brick and the skinny houses with big windows and gables.

Did the Canal tour. It was very relaxing and it was pretty. I feel asleep for the last part of it, but Chelsea said I didn't really miss anything, so that good haha

Van Gogh Museum. That was awesome! My favorites were the Apple Blossoms, Iris, and The Bedroom. I had to stop myself from making Doctor Who references hahaha

Met up with Yolanda and Sebastian at night and did what young people (and not so young) do in Amsterdam.

I suppose I should talk about the Red Light District. It's pretty interesting at night. It's packed with people, mostly people who are curious and want to see women sitting in shop windows, barely clothed. There were a lot of neon lights advertising for sex shows, sex stores and brothels. It didn't seem seedy either. There were a lot of bars, coffee stores and fast food (not fast food chains). I'm guessing fries are the drunk food of choice in Amsterdam because there are fries shops and stalls everywhere! They're really good, really hot.

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London Day 2 and 3

5:05 AM August 15, 2011 Gatwick Airport on the way to Amsterdam

They've change Gatwick Airport! It's so much nicer! More shops and places to eat, clearly marked signs, nice lighting. It's so much better from what it was 3 years ago!

I love traveling, but it's rather difficult when you have to lug all your shit everywhere. How do they do it? I'm a horrible packer.

Anyway, London Day 2.
Changing of the Guards. That was awesome! I enjoyed all the pomp and circumstance of it all. What I did not enjoy are the people who don't follow directions as simple as "don't block the walkway," "keep moving" and "don't stop." Seriously, how hard is it to follow directions, especially from a police officer on a horse?!? But anyway, it was cool.
London Eye. Well worth the price. It was AWESOME!!! And that's saying something because I hate ferris wheels. You can barely feel it move and when you get to the top, the views are amazing, especially on a sunny day.
Tea Time at St Paul's Cathedral. It was alright. The scones were a bit dry. It's no Mock Turtle in Brighton.
St Paul's Cathedral. It was closing when we got there, but we got to go in for a bit. Very pretty. Very baroque, but in a British way.
Walked across the Millennium Bridge (a personal fave) over to the Tate Modern Museum. It was...umm very interesting. It was very modern...and some of it I did not understand, but some were really cool.
The Wizard of Oz The Musical. Andrew Lloyd Webber, you've done it again! Amazing, amazing show! It's still based on the original movie, but ALW added new songs and music to the score. It was fantastic! Michael Crawford (the original Phantom) played the Wizard. Got pictures and autographs from the cast! Yiiiiiiiiiiiii!!!!

Day 3:
London Boat Tour. We got the combo deal with the London Eye. I love boat tours because it's a different view of the city. Plus it's a great way to see the city without walking hahaha
British Museum. Greek antiquities and Parthenon frieze and pediments, Egyptian mummies, Assyrian gates, Rosetta Stone, and the best part is that it's all FREE! I love British museums for this reason. But I do love British Museum. I love the "Enlightenment" section, which is basically a giant library with the world's knowledge and a bunch of cool Greek or Classical statues.

Paris Day 1

11:02 AM August 17,2011 in line for Le Louvre

I hate people and long lines. It's crowded and hot and I should have woken up earlier. Whatever.

Anyway, we got in to Paris Gare du Nord around 7:30 PM. After checking in and taking showers, Chelsea and I headed out to Champs-Elysees.

I love Champs-Elysees at night. Even though majority of the stores are closed, the lights are awesome. And it's not as crowded at night.

Went back to the same restaurant from three years ago, Chez Clement. It wasn't as great of an experience as it was then, but it was still pretty good (right on the sidewalk of Champs-Elysees and a view of Arc du Triomphe, hello!).
Duck confit. To die for. So tender, and pretty much falling off the bone. Crispy skin. Yum!

After dinner, Chelsea and I went to see a cabaret at the Lido. That was really cool. I felt like I stepped back in time to those movie-musicals set in the 1940s or something. Very glitzy. Plus it didn't hurt that our tickets came with a bottle of champagne ;)


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London Day 1

7:55 AM August 13, 2011

Pints of strongbow and pitchers of pimms did me in...and a couple of shots of sambuca. To be fair, we started at 6 before dinner. Ok, here's the story. We get a message from Alvaro to meet up by the London Eye because everyone was there. Chelsea and I walked from Trafalgar Square to meet up. We find Alvaro and Pete at a pub, Tessie and Katie and everyone were in line for the London Eye. Alvaro said line was WAY too long so Chelsea and I decided to stay at the pub. At the pub we met this couple asking us about American politics and they bought us drinks. And kept buying us drinks. They were really cool, really nice people. After the pub, we had dinner and met up wit Alvaro's friends. And went to a bar...for some pimms. Both favorite drinks in one night....oye.

We were productive prior to drinkfest. Since we are staying at Piccadilly Circus, we are SUPER close to Chinatown. So, for brunch Chelsea and I had a shit-ton of chinese. Ok not really a shit-ton just fried rice, chow mein, ha gao, spring rolls and some other dim sum noodle dish. And it was HEAVEN! I've been craving rice for so long!

Afterwards, we did the Westminster thing: went to Westminster Abbey, Buckingham Palace, St James' Park, Trafalgar Square, National Gallery and National Portrait Gallery, and walked Whitehall (and that is where we found Alvaro and Pete at a pub).

We paid the entrance fee to Westminster Abbey and it was worth it. You can see the progression of British Gothic Architecture throughout the abbey. AND poet's corner is awesome! All these people in literary history are buried or have a plaque in their honor.

We didn't really go inside Buckingham Palace. It's about the same price and you can't take pictures and it's only the state rooms. The Queen wasn't home. She's hanging out in Scotland right now. Walked The Mall to Trafalgar Square, passed Clarence House (I was looking for Harry. He wasn't home).

National Museum was cool. It's pretty much a bunch of paintings from 1500-1900s.

National Portrait Museu has a new exhibit up: Hollywood Silver Screen from 1920s-1960s. It was awesome!!!! <3 also="" and="" br="" harry.="" le="" of="" portrait="" sigh.="" wills="">

Hello London!

1:52 AM August 12, 2011

London, finally!

Hostel situation: meh. I'm slightly disappointed because our room looks nothing like the rooms on the website. The website rooms have art on the walls and the seem a little bigger; our room looks like an old dorm room. It's decent enough. It's right on Piccadilly Circus so I'm not complaining.

Chelsea and I have a dilemma. How the hell did we accumulate so much stuff? And how are we going to drag it around??? Must find solution.

But anyway, I'm glad to be back in England. I've missed it so much.


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Last Day in Rome

6:56 PM August 11, 2011. Fuimicino Airport, Rome.

Got back from Salzburg yesterday via Berlin (yes, that is the other direction. Our flight connected to Berlin). Since we had a 6 hour layover, Chelsea and I explored Berlin for a little bit.
We went on a boat tour of the river Spree(the river that runs through Berlin). We also had sausages and a stein of beer.

Now, sitting at the airport waiting to check in. They are now telling us we can't check until 7:30 :/

I'm ready to leave Rome. I had a great time, but it's time to leave. Most people were nice, others were very rude, but that's how it is in most places.

I'm over the cobblestone streets that hurt your feet and make car/bus rides very bumpy. I don't want to look at pizza and pasta for a long time. I want rice that isn't arborio. Damn it, I want soy sauce that doesn't cost €6 for a little bottle.

Yes, it's time for something new. And I am so excited to he going back to England, even if it's just for a little bit. I feel like I'll be coming home (plus I can wear more clothes).

Yes, there is turmoil around England--Liverpool, Manchester and London. And I'm staying in London. However, the riots in London are in East London and I won't be going anywhere near there. I just need to excise more caution. Anyway, I can't wait to go back!

Salzburg: The Sound of Music

11:00 PM August 9, 2011

Going on The Sound of Music tour was a dream come true. I've always wanted to go see Salzburg ever since I can remember (since the first time I saw the movie).

We didn't get to see the front and back of the house (they're both private property) but we did see the front of the house from far away through the tree-line way from where Maria sang "I Have Confidence" and the Von Trapp children were hanging from trees.

We got to see the lake behind the house where the children and Maria fell out of the boat.

We went to the little town of Mondsee to St Michael's Church where the filmed the wedding scene.
AMAZING apple strudel! With warm vanilla sauce. DIED!

The tour was a great way to see the hills and lakes outside of Salzburg.

I also bought me some dried edelweiss. The story with edelweiss is that a man who likes a girl is supposed to give her edelweiss. The catch is that edelweiss only grows on the tops of the alps around Austria.

We also went to the garden where many of the scenes of "Do Re Mi" were filmed.
After the tour, Chelsea and I went up the hill to Nonnberg abbey where the real Maria Von Trapp was studying to be a nun and where the movie filmed all the abbey scenes. It's still a nunnery today.

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Salzburg Day 1

11:40 PM August 8, 2011.

It had been a long day. Like I said in the last blog, we took the night train from Venice to Salzburg. I was in and out of sleep on the train and for the last hour I couldn't sleep. We got to Salzburg before 5 AM. I informed the hostel that we were to arrive at 5 and we got there, we couldn't check in yet (and they were fully booked for the night so our beds weren't ready). Chelsea and I slept on an L-shaped couch in the corner of the lounge room until it was check in time. We were knocked out! Once we checked in, took showers and got the day started (at 2PM).

I've said previously that I like European rain, I take it back. Rain in Salzburg is COLD. It felt like winter in San Diego. We weren't prepared for cold, so first order of business was to get warm. I bought a cheap pair of flats and leggings to go with the clothes I brought (only dresses). Once that was settled, we went about our day.

Salzburg is a very pretty small city built on the foothills of the Alps, in between Germany and Italy. It's very green. Its famous for music--not just The Sound of Music, it's the birthplace of Mozart and the Salzburg Music Festival.

We just walked around Salzburg Old Town (where majority of the historical and tourist things are located). We had lunch near Mozartplatz. I had goulash--like a tomato-based beef stew and potatoes. A welcomed break from pasta and pizza.

We also visited Mozart's birthplace, where they have some of his instruments. That was pretty neat. Then we had tea at Cafe Tomaselli where Mozart used to hang out at. We took the cable car(I believe it's called festungsbahn) up the top of the hill to the Salzburg fortress. It had great views of the city and the surrounding hills.





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Venice: Day 2

9:47 PM on the night train to Salzburg

Funniest thing, I'm sitting next to a priest in our little 6 person cabin. It feels like hogwarts express and I half-expect someone with a cart to sell me a chocolate frog. And 2 girls from Manchester.

The day's mission was to buy real Venetian masks and a Murano glass piece. Met up with Tessie, Huber and Pete at Realto bridge. It's neat, it's a bridge that has shops and stalls on it and the shops and stalls extend throughout the street. It's not a converted old bridge, it was always this way. Saw the most amazing Murano light fixture...€1000. :| At least they'll ship it to you and would be insured.

We took a gondola ride. Chelsea and I never thought we'd get to ride one because it would be too expensive to split it between us (we didn't think people were gonna come with us to Venice). It was AWESOME!!!!! I don't care that it's touristy and kitschy, it was fun! I was holding on for dear life on the part where we were on the grand canal because the boat was tilting side to side (grand canal is the main thoroughfare for boat transport). The gondolier sang to us! Hahahahaha! We got to go under bridge of sighs (yea!) and the gondolier said that Venice is not sinking, but the water level is rising (still sinking). THEN, it rained. The rain made it funner! The gondolier sang 2 lines from "Singing in the Rain." The rain reminded me of punting in Cambridge when it started to rain haha
I don't care, it was still fun. Summer rain is fun in Europe because it's refreshing.

Chelsea and I successfully completed our mission after about 15 mask stores. We found reasonably priced masks that are hand made in Venice. And they are amazing and beautiful! We also bought Murano glass rings and I got a Burano lace fan.

I enjoyed Venice lots.

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Venice: Day 1

11:32 PM August 6, 2011

Venice is beautiful. You get out of the train station and you are facing the Grand Canal. And no, it didn't smell. Rumor has it that Venice smells bad in the summer.

You can easily get lost with all the narrow streets and bridges crossing the canal and the streets with no names. We got lost looking for our hostel--the directions the hostel people gave us was confusing.

As I've said before, we were tired, so it was awesome getting to our room and lying down for a bit. AND there was tv. We watched the Italian version of Maury show--hilarious!

We had lunch next to a small canal by our hostel. I had a typical Venetian dish--spaghetti with cuttlefish cooked in its ink. Ok, I was very afraid of this dish but comes highly recommended by Anthony Bourdain and Andrew Zimmern. I mean, the sauce is black and made with ink! However, it was very, very delicious. It did not taste inky at all. I don't know how to describe the flavor, but it was savory. And the cuttlefish was fresh! Not chewy at all! Yum.

Afterwards, we made it to Piazza San Marco taking the water bus. The water bus is a pretty cool way of seeing the city from the water. We went to Palazzo Ducale, or Doge's Palace. It's where the ruling families of Venice would live and it was the government center of Venice during it's hay day. The cool part was we got to cross the Bridge of Sighs from the court chambers to the prison! Very extensive prison complex. I was just sad that the bridge of sighs and it's surrounding facades were covered because they are going through restoration. Restoration is good, but I just wanted to see it. I got a small book about Casanova and a small Venetian cook book. The Venice book I wanted was way too heavy to bring back home.

We were going to go inside Basilica San Marco but it closes at 5. We went around the shops looking at Murano glass and Venetian masks and the original, hand crafted ones are beautiful. I'm not leaving until I buy some. Had dinner in some small piazza. I had the grilled giltfish. Again, so fresh! It tasted like tilapia, but it didn't look like tilapia.

After dinner, Chelsea and I went back to Piazza San Marco to feed the birds (and yes, the Mary Poppins song was playing in my head as I did so). It was very frightening because there are sooo many pigeons! One landed on my arm and one landed on my head. It was very scary! They didn't poop on me, so that's good.

We took the water bus back to our hostel. Venice at night is just unreal. Very romantic :3
Got caught is a storm walking back to our hostel. It was very strange because it just came from no where! It felt nice since it had been hot all day, but still. No one wants to look like a wet rat.

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Rome: The Final Week

7:39 AM August 6, 2011 on the train to Venice.

I am delirious and tired. I look like a monster with red eyes and dark circles. I couldn't sleep last night because I kept thinking about how the hell am I going to lug ALL my shit throughout Europe. Anyway, I left my big luggage at Chelsea's apartment because they have until the 11th, when we leave for London.

Anyway, majority of the week was spent working on our project.

As it was our last week and we still had things we wanted to see, we decided to go check them out.

Coliseum: it's smaller on the inside. It's still pretty impressive, but the facade makes it look like it would be bigger.

Palatine Hill and Roman Forum: a lot of ruins. Still pretty cool to see.

Vatican Museum and Sistine Chapel: I hate people who use flash photography in museums. It ruins the colors. Oh! And this one mother fucker touched a 500 year old tapestry! WTF! The oils on your hands will ruin it! Anyway, the museum has a great collection of Greek statues and a decent Egypt collection. Rafael frescoes! Sistine Chapel was amazing. Except for the part where people don't know how to keep quiet.

Galleria Borghese: Love love LOVE the Bernini sculptures! They are sexy! Also alot of Caravaggio pieces. The frescoes on the ceilings are amazing!

On our last day of class (presentation night), our profs invited us to their place and they made us dinner. If only every presentation was like that: food and booze and very informal. Drinking with your professors = good times.

Found a bar on the way home (ok direction of home, but we didn't exactly wanted to go home). Got an Italian ice tea...it's just like a long island, but it has disarono instead. A lot more sweeter than a long island.
Found the RANDOMEST bar afterwards. It's this tiny, tiny room (about the same size as a bedroom), completely packed with people dancing, playing popular hip hop songs. Naturally, we had to get in. I was basically squished between everyone. Still got my dance on hahaha!

The second part of class continues in 2 weeks when we get back to San Diego.

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