friday was another trip to london with the art class. we went to the tate modern and the tate britain, which are two separate galleries of the same museum. once again, we were hustled past the interesting exhibits (specifically a huge section of pop art a la andy warhol) and instead had to spend an inordinate amount of time reciting what we learned in class about those paintings. however, at the tate britain we were play with the art trolley and make tissue paper flowers. it was also interesting to see some images that i really liked from class, mainly Samuel Palmer and the sublime paintings by Turner, despite the fact that we really hate him and do not like the majority of his work.
saturday we went to cardiff, which is in wales. it was a long bus ride to get there, which meant more time to nap for me! my group wandered around for a while, and saw some really interesting buildings and shops. the castle cost too much money to go in, so instead we just walked down the street and found this really beautiful park. we took a million pictures near the lake, and near the mini stonehenge that we found. after that the film kids did some work for beowulf, so jason, jess and i just pretended to be homeless people sitting on the side of the street eating pasties.
today just a few of us went on the trip, which was a tour of cotswold villages. that basically meant we stopped at 5 different town centers for varying amounts of time. most of the towns had secondhand stores, bookshops, various restaurants and tea rooms, etc etc. in one of the villages there was a craft fair that we spent a lot of time in, and also had a lot of ducks and ducklings along the river. our second stop was at a really beautiful river with really scenic bridges and a cute little gift shop attached to a fish hatchery. it was just a really nice day, despite being long and all of us being exhausted.
06 April 2008
all you need is love...
and in the end
the love you take
is equal to the love you make
we went to abbey road! it was amazing. we took a bunch of pictures of the street, the signs, and the graffiti. i added my own signature, and someone had spray painted a rose really similar to my tattoo on the wall, which was incredible! this afternoon we saw a production of blood brothers by willy russell. it was basically a play with music, as opposed to a musical. the characters were very well portrayed, and their voices were lovely. however, sara gelpke got really sick about a third of the way through, so i went outside with her where a really nice supervisor sat and helped us out. they ended up moving us up to the balcony level as opposed to front and center on the floor.
the love you take
is equal to the love you make
we went to abbey road! it was amazing. we took a bunch of pictures of the street, the signs, and the graffiti. i added my own signature, and someone had spray painted a rose really similar to my tattoo on the wall, which was incredible! this afternoon we saw a production of blood brothers by willy russell. it was basically a play with music, as opposed to a musical. the characters were very well portrayed, and their voices were lovely. however, sara gelpke got really sick about a third of the way through, so i went outside with her where a really nice supervisor sat and helped us out. they ended up moving us up to the balcony level as opposed to front and center on the floor.
02 April 2008
TRAVEL BREAK 2008
alright, so sara gelpke and i went together on travel break. we flew out from gatwick airport to barcelona on the 21st, and back on the 25th. then we flew out to dublin for the 26th-29th. this is our story:
our travel break started off pretty crappy. our flight ended being delayed almost two hours because of problems, and then when we finally started moving we had to stop because of a passenger who was too nervous to fly and had to get off. so, we ended up leaving gatwick at 9, which is when we were supposed to land, and we didn't land in barcelona til midnight. the buses had stopped running, so we had to take a cab to our hotel, which was expensive. however, the hotel was absolutely beautiful. we were at the catalonia aragon, and our metro station was named clot. we went to pretty much every site imaginable: placa catalunya, the museu de la xocolata (chocolate museum), las ramblas (the main walkway, with tons of shops, restaurants, statue-people, street vendors, etc), parc de la cuitadella (beautiful place with palm trees, perfect for napping), la mercat boqueria (the biggest market of fresh produce, fish, nuts, wines, etc), the arc de triomf (again with the palm trees), barceloneta beach (where we met american boys from new jersey who are doing a semester abroad in liverpool!!), la ribera (another main walkway), and so much more! we ate some incredible local foods like paella and tapas, and drank some really incredibles wines and sangrias, and i actually got a little bit of sunburn from the beach!
the interval between the trips is worth mentioning. we spent fourteen hours in the airport. i really don't recommend this to anyone. it was worse for sara, because i was at least able to sleep for a bit. we ended up storing our suitcase with all our summery gear, but we still had backpacks and purses with us. we spend a few hours sitting on the floor near the check-in stations where i managed probably an hour of sleep. then we moved upstairs and found some semi-comfortable chairs in a coffee shop, where i got a few more. around this time, sara realized that her camera wasn't in her purse. we checked all of our bags, and the suitcase, and finally decided that it had been stolen in barcelona. we think it was in the metro when we were heading to the airport. so that's why i have pretty much no pictures of myself in barcelona :(. we were able to check in for the flight really early, so we got into security and just hung out til the flight for dublin was called around 10am.
we landed in dublin and took a bus straight to the hotel because we were so exhausted. we stayed at the mespil hotel, which was about 15 minutes outside of the city center. once again, an absolutely beautiful hotel. i absolutely recommend going to a travel agent, especially when they don't charge commission for customizing a package deal. in dublin we went to: st stephen's green (this beautiful park right near our hotel), the guiness brewery (INCREDIBLE!), grafton street (local and well-known shops, as well as gift stores), the gardens of remembrance (for the war), the james joyce statues and museum (because he's one of my favorite authors), fleet street and the market area (tons of vendors, amazing nightlife), the castle, various examples of really amazing architecture, and so many things that i can't even remember! we flew back to gatwick and were able to catch an earlier bus back to banbury so we didn't have to spend another night in the airport. got back at around 3am, and i slept for 16 hours.
our travel break started off pretty crappy. our flight ended being delayed almost two hours because of problems, and then when we finally started moving we had to stop because of a passenger who was too nervous to fly and had to get off. so, we ended up leaving gatwick at 9, which is when we were supposed to land, and we didn't land in barcelona til midnight. the buses had stopped running, so we had to take a cab to our hotel, which was expensive. however, the hotel was absolutely beautiful. we were at the catalonia aragon, and our metro station was named clot. we went to pretty much every site imaginable: placa catalunya, the museu de la xocolata (chocolate museum), las ramblas (the main walkway, with tons of shops, restaurants, statue-people, street vendors, etc), parc de la cuitadella (beautiful place with palm trees, perfect for napping), la mercat boqueria (the biggest market of fresh produce, fish, nuts, wines, etc), the arc de triomf (again with the palm trees), barceloneta beach (where we met american boys from new jersey who are doing a semester abroad in liverpool!!), la ribera (another main walkway), and so much more! we ate some incredible local foods like paella and tapas, and drank some really incredibles wines and sangrias, and i actually got a little bit of sunburn from the beach!
the interval between the trips is worth mentioning. we spent fourteen hours in the airport. i really don't recommend this to anyone. it was worse for sara, because i was at least able to sleep for a bit. we ended up storing our suitcase with all our summery gear, but we still had backpacks and purses with us. we spend a few hours sitting on the floor near the check-in stations where i managed probably an hour of sleep. then we moved upstairs and found some semi-comfortable chairs in a coffee shop, where i got a few more. around this time, sara realized that her camera wasn't in her purse. we checked all of our bags, and the suitcase, and finally decided that it had been stolen in barcelona. we think it was in the metro when we were heading to the airport. so that's why i have pretty much no pictures of myself in barcelona :(. we were able to check in for the flight really early, so we got into security and just hung out til the flight for dublin was called around 10am.
we landed in dublin and took a bus straight to the hotel because we were so exhausted. we stayed at the mespil hotel, which was about 15 minutes outside of the city center. once again, an absolutely beautiful hotel. i absolutely recommend going to a travel agent, especially when they don't charge commission for customizing a package deal. in dublin we went to: st stephen's green (this beautiful park right near our hotel), the guiness brewery (INCREDIBLE!), grafton street (local and well-known shops, as well as gift stores), the gardens of remembrance (for the war), the james joyce statues and museum (because he's one of my favorite authors), fleet street and the market area (tons of vendors, amazing nightlife), the castle, various examples of really amazing architecture, and so many things that i can't even remember! we flew back to gatwick and were able to catch an earlier bus back to banbury so we didn't have to spend another night in the airport. got back at around 3am, and i slept for 16 hours.
15 March 2008
09 March 2008
being unable to communicate is not a fun experience
6 march:
so our weekend in paris began in the most delightful way: leaving the abbey at 2am on thursday morning. it was actually well planned in that we would be able to fall directly asleep on the coach and nap until we got to paris. however, being on a coach with 50+ other people isn't exactly silent, so i didn't sleep enough at all. we stopped at several WWI sites on the way to paris, which was hard to manage because everyone was exhausted. we were supposed to get to our hotel, the grand hotel du havre on rue d'amsterdam, at 3:30. however, the coach got lost and we didn't get there til closer to 5...not cool. i was rooming with lisa, which was awesome, so we moved all our stuff in and just bummed out for a bit. french cartoons are hilarious, especially pokemon and inspector gadget! we went walking around the area looking for dinner, and ended up at this amazing place, Pizza Firenze, where i got a delicious margherita pizza. after that we sort of wandered around, learned that most shops and supermarkets close at 9pm, and got a beer from the local bar before turning in.
7 march:
we woke up in the morning and ate breakfast at the hotel before getting on the coach tour of paris. i saw a whole lot of sights including the obelisk, the musee d'orsay, the eiffel tower, and so many more that i can't even think of to name! the coach dropped us off at notre dame, which was great. we had a lot of fun wandering around the side streets in that area and exploring some of the shops and whatnot. i got a cheese crepe for lunch, and while it was delicious, it really wasn't what i was craving and i didn't end up getting more while in paris. we walked along the seine toward the district of st. michel's, where we looked at the pantheon, the sorbonne, and then escaped to the jardin du luxembourg. the gardens were absolutely beautiful despite the fact that it was winter, and there were kids racing toy boats in the fountain, and ponies, and so many other cool things despite the beauty of the flowers themselves. we walked back up the seine toward the louvre, since it was free for under-26s after 6pm. we saw the mona lisa (somewhat disappointing) but jason and i had a great time in the egypt exhibit. we took the metro back to the hotel's area, and got sandwiches for dinner.
8 march:
the longest day of our trip, i did so much! we started off the day by walking to montmartre, which is also known as the red light district. it was full of the seedy sort of stores and bars and whatnot, but also several classier establishments. we stopped at a street vendors to buy scarves (mine is a blue-green silk with embroidered flowers) and i also bought a pin in the shape of france for my bag. then we walked up the neverending stairs to Sacre Coeur. i felt very awkward walking around this church during services, and they said it was perpetual worship, but i still worried that we were being disruptive. anthony got yelled at for taking a picture, because no photography is allowed in the church. we walked through the artists corner, where a lot of artists were at work painting, sketching, making silhouettes, etc. if they weren't so expensive, i would have had one done, but they were ridiculously out of my budget :( we bought paninis off the street for lunch, mine was supposed to be chicken and ended up only cheese but it was still good. the weather was beautiful so i bought an ice cream cone and ate that as we walked around. we went to the dali exhibition which was incredible. he's definitely in my top 5 favorite artists. on the way back through montmartre to the hotel in the afternoon we stopped for a bit at the musee l'erotisme which was...interesting, to say the least. we rested for a bit at the hotel because everyone was tired, then we met up and looked for dinner. however, we were interrupted because there was a demonstration by a large group of Palestinians about the shooting in Israel this weekend. i'm talking full, armed police escort blocking off the streets to all cars. we were a bit freaked out so we continued moving. we found this cute little italian restaurant, where sara and i split an amazing four cheese penne dish. afterwards, we walked to the arc de triomphe to see it all lit up at night, which was incredible. then we took the metro up to montmartre again to see the moulin rouge. i wish we'd been able to see a show, but again, they were like 100 euro a seat or something equally ridiculous. then we got back and anthony and i watched cartoons until i fell asleep.
overall, i think i like london a lot more than paris.
so our weekend in paris began in the most delightful way: leaving the abbey at 2am on thursday morning. it was actually well planned in that we would be able to fall directly asleep on the coach and nap until we got to paris. however, being on a coach with 50+ other people isn't exactly silent, so i didn't sleep enough at all. we stopped at several WWI sites on the way to paris, which was hard to manage because everyone was exhausted. we were supposed to get to our hotel, the grand hotel du havre on rue d'amsterdam, at 3:30. however, the coach got lost and we didn't get there til closer to 5...not cool. i was rooming with lisa, which was awesome, so we moved all our stuff in and just bummed out for a bit. french cartoons are hilarious, especially pokemon and inspector gadget! we went walking around the area looking for dinner, and ended up at this amazing place, Pizza Firenze, where i got a delicious margherita pizza. after that we sort of wandered around, learned that most shops and supermarkets close at 9pm, and got a beer from the local bar before turning in.
7 march:
we woke up in the morning and ate breakfast at the hotel before getting on the coach tour of paris. i saw a whole lot of sights including the obelisk, the musee d'orsay, the eiffel tower, and so many more that i can't even think of to name! the coach dropped us off at notre dame, which was great. we had a lot of fun wandering around the side streets in that area and exploring some of the shops and whatnot. i got a cheese crepe for lunch, and while it was delicious, it really wasn't what i was craving and i didn't end up getting more while in paris. we walked along the seine toward the district of st. michel's, where we looked at the pantheon, the sorbonne, and then escaped to the jardin du luxembourg. the gardens were absolutely beautiful despite the fact that it was winter, and there were kids racing toy boats in the fountain, and ponies, and so many other cool things despite the beauty of the flowers themselves. we walked back up the seine toward the louvre, since it was free for under-26s after 6pm. we saw the mona lisa (somewhat disappointing) but jason and i had a great time in the egypt exhibit. we took the metro back to the hotel's area, and got sandwiches for dinner.
8 march:
the longest day of our trip, i did so much! we started off the day by walking to montmartre, which is also known as the red light district. it was full of the seedy sort of stores and bars and whatnot, but also several classier establishments. we stopped at a street vendors to buy scarves (mine is a blue-green silk with embroidered flowers) and i also bought a pin in the shape of france for my bag. then we walked up the neverending stairs to Sacre Coeur. i felt very awkward walking around this church during services, and they said it was perpetual worship, but i still worried that we were being disruptive. anthony got yelled at for taking a picture, because no photography is allowed in the church. we walked through the artists corner, where a lot of artists were at work painting, sketching, making silhouettes, etc. if they weren't so expensive, i would have had one done, but they were ridiculously out of my budget :( we bought paninis off the street for lunch, mine was supposed to be chicken and ended up only cheese but it was still good. the weather was beautiful so i bought an ice cream cone and ate that as we walked around. we went to the dali exhibition which was incredible. he's definitely in my top 5 favorite artists. on the way back through montmartre to the hotel in the afternoon we stopped for a bit at the musee l'erotisme which was...interesting, to say the least. we rested for a bit at the hotel because everyone was tired, then we met up and looked for dinner. however, we were interrupted because there was a demonstration by a large group of Palestinians about the shooting in Israel this weekend. i'm talking full, armed police escort blocking off the streets to all cars. we were a bit freaked out so we continued moving. we found this cute little italian restaurant, where sara and i split an amazing four cheese penne dish. afterwards, we walked to the arc de triomphe to see it all lit up at night, which was incredible. then we took the metro up to montmartre again to see the moulin rouge. i wish we'd been able to see a show, but again, they were like 100 euro a seat or something equally ridiculous. then we got back and anthony and i watched cartoons until i fell asleep.
overall, i think i like london a lot more than paris.
02 March 2008
CONTACT!...london, BCFC game, and warwick castle
this was the most intense weekend ever, which was not a good thing considering how much work i have to do right now. week 7 essays are right around the corner and i need to be done all those before MEG GETS HERE!!! between that and regular work for tutorials i'm slowly going insane. but this weekend's trips were pretty fab for the most part.
friday was a trip to the national portrait gallery in london with the art class. again, it was a long day of listening to the teacher drone for about 4 hours with a little bit of free time to explore. however the rain made us not want to be outside and instead we got tea and browsed around this cute little bookstore for a bit. it was a nice small trip which meant i had the entire seat to myself on the way back and i took a nap :)
saturday was the birmingham FC football match that everyone had to go on for inter. it was so much fun!!! despite the fact that we knew absolutely nothing at all about either team, everyone at least wore the colors in support (blue and white for BCFC). at least 20 of us bought jerseys from banbury, and some of the boys painted their chests to represent. originally the bus was going to let us off in the visitor lot because they hadn't planned on us dressing up (apparently we're the first ones ever to do so!) which would have been a bad idea and ended up with all of us dying. i ended up in a front row seat, A36, and i was basically eye level at the field the entire time. we took so many pictures because the entire thing was so amazing! i wish i could go back to another game....
today we went to warwick castle. the entire place was so incredibly beautiful i ended up taking over a hundred pictures! i ended up walking around with sara and jason and it was really nice to be in a small group. we went up on all the walls and were able to look out over the surrounding town and forest. there was a large peacock garden with a few dozen peacocks, male and female both. we even got to see the males try to entice the females into mating. we also got tickets to go on the ghost tour. it was only about 10 minutes which was kind of pathetic, but they definitely managed to scare us a few times. we were originally supposed to leave at 5, but as a group decided we didn't need that long and could leave at 4. i was upset because i had planned in time to walk around the grounds of the castle outside the walls, but we got a call at around 3:40 that everyone was at the bus and wanted to leave. so we ended up leaving without getting that chance :(
friday was a trip to the national portrait gallery in london with the art class. again, it was a long day of listening to the teacher drone for about 4 hours with a little bit of free time to explore. however the rain made us not want to be outside and instead we got tea and browsed around this cute little bookstore for a bit. it was a nice small trip which meant i had the entire seat to myself on the way back and i took a nap :)
saturday was the birmingham FC football match that everyone had to go on for inter. it was so much fun!!! despite the fact that we knew absolutely nothing at all about either team, everyone at least wore the colors in support (blue and white for BCFC). at least 20 of us bought jerseys from banbury, and some of the boys painted their chests to represent. originally the bus was going to let us off in the visitor lot because they hadn't planned on us dressing up (apparently we're the first ones ever to do so!) which would have been a bad idea and ended up with all of us dying. i ended up in a front row seat, A36, and i was basically eye level at the field the entire time. we took so many pictures because the entire thing was so amazing! i wish i could go back to another game....
today we went to warwick castle. the entire place was so incredibly beautiful i ended up taking over a hundred pictures! i ended up walking around with sara and jason and it was really nice to be in a small group. we went up on all the walls and were able to look out over the surrounding town and forest. there was a large peacock garden with a few dozen peacocks, male and female both. we even got to see the males try to entice the females into mating. we also got tickets to go on the ghost tour. it was only about 10 minutes which was kind of pathetic, but they definitely managed to scare us a few times. we were originally supposed to leave at 5, but as a group decided we didn't need that long and could leave at 4. i was upset because i had planned in time to walk around the grounds of the castle outside the walls, but we got a call at around 3:40 that everyone was at the bus and wanted to leave. so we ended up leaving without getting that chance :(
29 February 2008
friendsss
so when we went out to arabesque two weeks ago i met this kid mike who was very cool and very fun to talk to. then when we went out last thursday i got a chance to meet up with him again and hang out some more which was nice. he's a really awesome person and he has this gorgeous tattoo on his arm inspired by the early november and he recommended a good place to get a tattoo done in banbury. and he said that if we go there, he'll come with and hold my hand! and if i'm lucky, he's going to try to stop by wroxton sometime before we leave for paris this thursday morning :) xx
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