europe: back in the UK

january 29th
thursday morning we got a bus to the beauvais airport and after a few minor delays, were thrilled to make our flight out of paris. we spent the afternoon at the airport in glascow before getting our flight to london (i highly recommend yates where buying cheap food will get you hours in their big comfy couches). we got into london stansted about 9:20pm and got the bus to finchley road where we met matt geirhart, a great guy with a big flat and a roommate away in switzerland. it was so nice to have this place to stay while we were in london!! we meant to go to bed right away, but the energy from our laptops was enough to keep us awake another few hours. ha.

january 30th
on friday we decided to hit up some museums. first was the national gallery where we took our time roaming through rooms of rembrandt, vermeer, da vinci, turner, and claude, then had to practically run through degas, cezanne, monet, manet, renoirt, van gogh, and picasso as the museum was about to closing. we could have spent quite a while longer there. then we moved on to the british museum and went through the roman and greek sculpture halls and the parthenon galleries (where, sadly, many people and horses are missing appendages which are still currently back in athens). amazing. we spent the last of our time in a special exhibit on "death and dying." intriguing to see a secular museum deal with so spiritual an issue. makes me realize you can't get around hoping there's more to life than here and now. on that note, i saw a london bus go by with these words blaring from the side: "there's probably no god. so stop worrying and live your life," ah. a blog on that might follow at some point.

january 31st
we had planned saturday to be our "london sights" day -westminster, st. pauls, big ben, covent gardens, trafalger square, etc. -but then matt (whose flat we were staying at) mentioned a market down the road in camden and we decided to walk by, our "walk by" turned into a day spent roaming through hundreds of stalls selling everything from elephant candle holders and flower/vine lamps to chinese dresses and vintage converse. i've never seen so many people at one market. lizzie found a gorgeous blue chinese birthday dress and i got a yellow hat to replace my lost green one -apparently yellow is the new green (among other things). that night we went to indian food with matt -a very nice place where you had to know which fork to use first. oh dear. i watched elizabeth and matt carefully and didn't make too big a fool of myself. that night i made cinnamon rolls for lizzie's b-day (feb. 1st), so that they were ready to pop in the oven the next morning.

february 1st
sunday morning dawned and all lizzie's dreams came true when she smelled the cinnamon rolls. actually i burnt the tops and though they were ok smothered in cream cheese frosting, i promised to make them again at home (where ovens cook evenly). at 11am we left to get the bus to oxford and were in one of our favorite places by 2pm. we oohed and awed over our first sights of oxford from the windows until we got to gloucester green and were allowed to step foot on that blessed soil. we went to sunday tea at crick (the house where we lived when we were there), were greeted by jonathan (our old junior dean), and jade (our third roommate) even joined us for a few minutes when jonathan found her on skype! we drank cup after cup of tea -"fat cows" for us -with sugar and milk. that evening jonathan made an amazing three course meal for us -i have an entire paragraph describing it in my journal, but i'll spare you for now. we hung out in the crick kitchen talking for hours -just like old times -had a snowball fight out in the street at about midnight, and walked back to our hostel through falling snow. it was wonderful to be back again and lizzie and i felt like we could fit right back in with hardly a glitch.

february 2nd
we spent monday roaming around oxford and visiting all our old haunts (most of which we couldn't go in because we're no longer students with ID cards). we had tea at frewin court with simon (who was there when we were), got a warm cookie at "ben's cookies," a sausage in the covered market, pasties at cornwall, saw the radcliffe camera, the bodleain, history and english faculty libraries, the alternate tuck shop, etc. etc. nothing much had changed. before leaving oxford met jonathan at blackwells (my favorite bookstore!) and chatted it up over mochas. at 4:30 we got our bus back to london and were back at matt's flat by 7pm. his roommate, josh, was stuck in geneva because of snow, so we got the bed another night. yay!

february 3rd
tuesday arrived and we stormed the castle -the tower of london, that is. jayne had bought us tickets for lizzie's birthday, (a surprise to lizzie) so we enjoyed a day spent on the snow covered grounds of the castle. after a photo with 2 beafeaters, we got a tour from the only female beafeater and learned about those held in the tower -sir thomas moore, anne and jane bolyn, lady jane grey, jane seymour, (a lot of women, it seemed) were among them. we marveled at the crown jewels (and rode the belt past them at least 5 times), walked along the tower walls, and stood in the very square where executions took place. that evening we met up with laura and gillian, friends we met in korea who are now living in london, for dinner. it was great to catch up with them, (and get our bangers and mash in at the same time). at 7pm we rushed to apollo victoria theatre for our scheduled entertainment -"wicked!" the musical tells the story of glynda (the good witch) and elzeba (the wicked witch of the west) in their pre "wizard of oz" days. it was a fabulous show full of funny lines, great choruses, and impressive dance steps. we enjoyed it to the fullest. after he show, since the night was still young at 11pm, we went over to kings cross station to get our train to hogwarts. there at platform 9 3/4 we pushed and pushed, but unfortunately the weasley family was not there to help us and we never got through. however, we got lots of great pictures in the process.

february 4th
wednesday morning we got up early ready to get an early start to cambridge. but because of snow, we were delayed at most every point. what should have taken 2 and a half hours ended up taking over 5 hours and we didn't get into cambridge until after 3pm. we quickly checked into our hostel and made the most of the little remaining daylight. we galavanted through the peterhouse college grounds, which were beautiful covered in snow. then we continued on and found kings college just in time for evensong. it was sweet to get to be there for a service -the chapel was gorgeous and we got to sit right behind the choir, so we would have known if they were off key at all -and believe me, they were not. we made dinner and a chocolate chocolate cake to share with our hostelmates, did laundry, and went to bed semi-early.

february 5th
thursday morning, after trying 3 different showers and finding them all cold, i gave up on being clean for the moment. we had our first full english breakfast at the hostel, and set out with full tummies. we got the train to wales, and due to more snow delays, didn't get to caernarfon (in north east wales) until 6pm. our hostel there was a very cute place just inside the city walls -a big house converted into a hostel by a family who now runs it. we drank lots of tea and watched our first movie of the trip there (it was VHS) -notting hill. quite appropriate as we had just been in london.

february 6th
we bundled up and set out for the castle (a 3 minute walk from our hostel!) friday morning. caernarfon castle was built in 1283 by edward I, and was one in a series of castles he built along the coast in snowdenia after he took over wales. caenarfron is the biggest and was intended to be the main castle. edward II was born in the eagle tower and was there crowned the first prince of wales. as it was a semi-dreary february day, we pretty much had the whole castle to ourselves. we took full advantage of this and romped about like little kids -climbing up all the towers and going through every hall and checking out every nook and cranny we came across. and of course, we played some hide and seek. seriously, this would be an amazing place to play sardines. we got lost a few times without even meaning to. my brothers, ben and soren and haddon would have a hay day there! we spent the rest of the day roaming the streets, drinking tea back at the hostel, and catching up on our journals with"mulan" playing in the background.

europe: swiss miss to ah pari

[written jan. 30th]

sunday, jan. 25th
we had a modest goal for switzerland -hot chocolate. so during our 40 minute break between trains in zurich, we quickly found a cafe and got to work. the hot chocolate wasn't like you normally get at starbucks or somewhere, but came with a glass of hot milk and a package of cocoa you stirred in yourself. it mixed in without a lump and was the smooth like syrup. we sat there in our window seat acting like we always paid 4.70 for gourmet hot chocolate during our train breaks. ha.

we got our train at 5pm and slept a bit, but mostly did sukoku until we got to milan about 7:30pm. so there we were sitting in the milan train station when 2 boys, about 16 or 17, came up and asked us for money. after a minute or so they finally left, and i turned around and something was not right. "elizabeth, where's my bag?" i asked in total disbelief. i was ready to laugh or cry at the empty spot where my bag had been right beside me, and since crying was too messy, i laughed. it was, and still is, the most ridiculous thing i've ever heard of. my GIGANTIC pack which weighs about 2.7 tons, had been sitting next to me on the bench, touching me -and it was gone, just like that. we were flabbergasted (i hardly ever get to use that word. fun.). We soon realized the boys were just a distraction while a third guy took my pack and hurried out of there. i walked all over in search of anything to do with it, but of course, found nothing. i filed a police report and lizzie and i raced to catch our train to milan, only to find out it would be 25 pounds to ride the night train to paris.

so there we were in the milan train station (my least favorite station in the world as i know it), just robbed and with nowhere to go. we sat on a bench, mad at the world ready to go home and just be done. after freezing for awhile, we found the waiting room which was a bit warmer and camped out on a piece of bench for the next 6 hours with our bags practically tied to us and lizzie's blanket snuggled around us. now we can relate to homeless people a little better.

monday, jan. 26th
6:40am finally came and we got the train the paris and spent the next 6 hours sleeping and trying to get good pictures of the alps out the window (more difficult than you might think). we got into paris at 2:20pm, got a baguette and free wifi at a street cafe (my first attempt at french failed miserably), and found our home for the next 3 days -the peace and love hostel. by that time it was too late to go out and we were exhausted, so we relaxed that evening and went to bed at 8:30pm.

tuesday, jan. 27th
we slept hard until 9:30am (that's 13 hours of sleep -wow) and showed up sparkling clean, our tummies filled with nutella sandwiches and yogurt, for a walking tour of paris at 11:30am. we walked all over the city -starting at st. michel's, going through notre dame cathedral , shakespeare and co. (bookstore where hemingway and james joyce hung out back in the day! if you buy a book there, they stamp it with "ground zero" because it's just across from notre dame where napoleon crowned himself, thereby the area became the center of the world, according to him). karen, our tour guide, took us all over and told tons of fun stories about the city and its history. we went by the louvre, the palais royale, the victory arch, a couple of churches (of which i can't remember the name), and much more. the tour ended at the big palace and the little palace (english translation, i can't remember the french names) where we learned that hitler had hated paris and when he thought he might lose the war, he sent one of his men to make sure it was destroyed before the allies got there. but this guy (deitrich ________) fell in love with the city and couldn't bear to see it destroyed so he lied to hitler and bought time until the allies came and freed the city. thank you deitrich -without you we may have missed out on beautiful paris. after the tour lizzie and i went off with 2 girls (ali from seattle and hillary from london, ontario, there were 5 of us from WA staying at the hostel!) to walk the beautiful boulevard toward the arc de triomphe. after seeing it up close and personal we went on to the eiffel tower and got there just in time to see it sparkle (which it only does on the hour at night)! it was gorgeous. we went up to the 3rd floor and were there to see it sparkle again -up close this time. it was magical. we headed back to the hostel after that and had pasta and went to bed early, again.

wednesday, jan. 28th
wednesday morning we went to the catacombs with ali and hillary. we climbed down down down and walked through hall after hall after hall of bones -just right there lining the walls. 6 million people were moved from various cemeteries around paris in the late 18th and early 19th centuries and buried there in the catacombs. it was quite an experience, one that i wouldn't want to do alone. afterwards we walked to sacre' coure (church of the sacred heart) which is built on the highest point in paris. after touring the beautiful church, we walked around in search of moulin rouge, which we knew was somewhere nearby. we passed many street artists and eccentric shops and eventually found what we were looking for -windmill and all. we went back to the hostel for a quick dinner (we've decided kitchens make the hostel) and lots of coffee in preparation for tackling the louvre. wednesday night is "cheap late night" (remember that for your trip) -just perfect for us. we started with a visit to ms. lisa, of course, then wandered through hall after hall admiring raphaels, botticellis, da vincis, etc. etc. we went through the roman sculpture rooms and had fun identifying all the greek myths we could and learning new hair styles inspired by the goddesses. i think our favorite was eros and psyche -a gorgeous limestone that stretches across with cupid holding psyche back against him, her hair falling on his knees. lizzie decided such an inspired work of art would be perfect for her future home's entryway. we continued through the european sculpture halls and were about to venture through a picasso exhibit when the clock ticked 9 and we were suddenly surrounded by herds of men and women in navy blue uniforms herding us out of the museum. we took the metro back to the hostel and feasted on carrots and peppers with hummus and baguette with fondue. yum! to break the pattern, this was a late night and we paid for it the next morning. goodbye paris!!