Trippin'

SO sorry it's taken me about 14 years to post again but I've been crazy busy and, more honestly, lazy.  I've done quite a bit of excursioning since last post.  The weekend after the V&A extravaganza, Accent had hooked it up so the Wash U kids studying here this semester went on a day trip to Greenwich, which is further south on the Thames.  (Thames was actually pronounced THames until one of the kings that was brought over to continue the monarchy--a German cousin--was unable to pronounce the "th."  Of course, no one wanted to insult the king by correcting his pronunciation, so it became Temz.)  Anyway, we met at the Westminster tube stop to take a boat down the river to Greenwich.  Accent hired this tour guide, Angie, to take us around and I'm basically obsessed with her.  She knew SO much stuff and she was basically the most charming woman.  I really loved how she knew about everything and talked about the royals like she knew them all and they kicked it on the weekends.  (She is why I know about the Thames pronunciation.)  We kicked off with this building that was built for the retired navy-men.  There is this magnificent dining hall that was designed by Christopher Wren (the same guy responsible for St. Paul's--that's why you recognize those domes on top.  He was always trying to redo the whispering galleries from there.  Those happened completely accidentally in St. Paul's.  And he was never able to make that magic again.)  Anyway, the same guy who did the painting at St. Paul's (Sir James Thornhill) did all the painting for the Great Hall, which was meant to be the dining hall for the retired seamen who would be living there. Everything is hand painted and has so much dimension it's really awe inspiring. Unfortunately, when the work was finished, the higher ups deemed it too grand for the seamen and they were not allowed to eat there.  Ain't that a kick in the groin?  After we spent some time at the Royal Naval Hospital we broke for lunch.  Sadly Angie ate her yogurt in the park solo and we younguns went off in search of eats in town.  We ended up going to Noodle Time and had humongous dishes for £2.80!  £2.80!!  So delicious.  Anyway, after that we all met back up and we climbed to the top of this hill behind one of the Queen's palaces to see the Prime Meridian.  The view once we got to the top was really quite breathtaking.  It was so clear: a perfect day to be there.  Apparently they used to be worried that developing the other side of the Thames would destroy the view from there but I think it looks okay.  (Then again, I don't know what it looked like before..)  Anyway, that tall building is the tallest building in London.  And if you look to the right in the distance you can see the view that I see from my dorm window.  It's marked by what locals call "The Erotic Gherkin."  For those of you who don't know what a gherkin is, it's "the small, immature fruit of a variety of cucumber, used in pickling."  I didn't know when I got here.  Mary from my flat explained it as "it's a cucumber but it's not.")  

Apparently there used to be magnificent gardens between where we were standing and the Queen's palace, which is the simple white building nearest the camera.  But Queen Mary was such a miser she had them all taken out when she gained possession of the palace.  (The gardens were designed by the same guy who did Versailles, but Mary took them out because she didn't want to pay for their upkeep.  Fool.)  Angie then said we could splitskies or stay together.  You can guess which I convinced her to do.  So she took us through the Royal Observatory and attached museum after giving us a detailed history of John Harrison and his long journey towards inventing the marine chronometer.   This led to the development of longitude, as if you didn't know...  Anyway, it was really interesting

and she told us that she was really upset with the renovation of the exhibit because it made it seem like everyone was rooting for Harrison, when they really weren't and tried to stop him from managing to succeed.  They wanted the royal scientists to figure it out and did everything in their power to slow his roll.  Anyways, it wasn't the most interesting of museums but I enjoyed Angie's bits of info.  We saw the Royal Observatory where the Royal Astronomer (John Flamsteed) never missed a night for forty years.  He spent practically his whole life in this octagonal shaped room.  Christopher Wren designed the building for him, in case you were wondering.  Don't worry I'm including a picture of me double hemisphering that ho:

After that Angie really did peace out and we walked back down the tremendous hill to go through Greenwich Market.  It was ooookay.  But I prefer Borough Market or any of the others I've been to.  It was nice, but a lot of it was really just regular stuff being sold at a table.  The two girls I went through the market with got Brazilian "Churros."  I put it in quotations because that's what their sign said.  Anyway, this stand would fill the center of the churro with caramel or chocolate.  I wasn't interested because I was drinking a banana honey thing, but the girls I was with were totally diggin it.  They didn't, however, get any fillings.  Pansies.

On Tuesday last Vicky and I went to the Tower of London.  We really enjoyed our tour guide: a beefeater.  He wasn't exactly sure why they were called beefeaters, though.  He said it may have come from the days when food was rationed and only the nobility was given beef.  Therefore, the title has somewhat derogatory origins.  We really wanted to take a picture with him but I don't know what happened to that.  We asked and he said "Yes, but I have some tasks to finish" and kept walking.  Oh well.  He recommended we see Beauchamp Tower (pronounced Beecham) so we made sure to do that.  Beauchamp was where they kept prisoners and they filled their time by creating intricate carvings in the stone walls.  At first I was flabbergasted

 by the amount of detail of each one and then I realized their creators probably didn't have a whole lot of other stuff going on.  Still, it was neat to see.  We also made sure to see the crown jewels, and those are ridiculous.  They have these obscene settings for coronations made of gold.  The oldest piece is the Anointing Spoon, which was made for Henry II or Richard I (the Lionheart).  I guess it all just sits there until coronation time and then they come pick it all up?  Don't know.  On the walk back Vicky and I discussed taking a trip during reading week, which is this upcoming week.  So, when we returned we booked flights to Dublin and to Berlin.  Look out!

Wednesday I got to take three of my Brits (Jen, Adam, and Jeev) to dinner with Accent fo' free at Wagamama, which is a chain of Japanese restaurants here.  It was good fun and the threes of us were supposed to go out afterwards but guess who forgot her I.D.?  C'est moi!  We returned to the flat.  And I was ashamed.  Thursday I met up with Kawai who was in town for a football game.  We went to Starbucks (though I protested) and then went shopping because she said she needed a dress for going out that night.  I, too, came away with a dress and then hotfooted it to class.  Friday night I went to dinner with two Wash U girls and one two other Americans one of them knows at this Korean restaurant (Assa near Tottenham Court Road).  The food was good, but the wait was ridiculous.  I mean, people were lined up outside for this one room place.  Insane in the membrane.  After dinner all the girls wanted boba, so we trekked over to this place called Cafe de Hong Kong so they could get their fix.  Boba's not really my thing so I got this "mango pudding."  It was good but they probably didn't need to cover it in condensed milk.  And I'd also say it was more of a mango flan than pudding, but who's keeping track?  When I got home I realized I should probably start packing for my weekend trip and so did just that.

I was in bed at midnight and set my alarm for 2 a.m. so that I could catch a 2:52 night bus to Elephant and Castle to transfer to a bus to Marble Arch so that I could get a bus to Luton Airport to make my morning flight to Galway, Ireland.  I did so without any hiccups except that Elephant and Castle is super sketchy at that time and while I was walking between the bus stops some guy said, "Excuse me, miss" to me and I almost stopped but then I realized that the first rule of self defense is to NOT be a complete fool and to slow for nothing.  So I kept moving.  Anyway, I got to Galway without problem.  First time on RyanAir and it was oookay.  The plane I was on was the most obnoxious McDonald's bright blue and yellow and the lights are practically fluorescent so that you have to will the light not to peek through your eyelids.  Luckily, as most of you know, I've never really had a problem falling asleep on planes.  Good thing too because the woman seated next to me was obnoxiously large with a larger case of B.O.  Anywho, after the plane landed the horn came over the loud speaker to announce that the flight had landed on time.  Rude awakening.  As soon as I stepped onto the tarmac, I thinks to myself, I say, 

"Self, this looks like Ireland."  It was lovely.  Even though it proceeded to rain the entire day.  Allison met me at the bus stop that brought me from the Shannon airport to Galway and we walked around Shop Street and Quay Street.  We were going to walk along the water, but the wind was like a wall and it was physically impossible to walk against it.  Anyway, Galway's really beautiful and I could tell it would be really enjoyable when it's not raining.  After a certain amount of time, however, I said we should throw in the towel and just go back to her apartment.  We ended up watching St. Elmo's Fire,  which was ridiculous (I think that video pretty much sums it up) and then Little Rascals was on.  I ended up falling asleep for a bit while Allison showered.  When I awoke we put on dry clothes and went out to a dinner of fish and chips.  I also had mushy peas.  Numnums.  After dinner we went back to her apartment to wait a while until we and some of her American chums with whom she's studying went out to a pub.  We ended up meeting a bunch of people from Bordeaux and I was able to use my French!  I was so excited.  Anyway, that pretty much sums up the night.  We woke up in time for me to get ready and catch my bus back to the airport. Unfortunately, both of us were unaware of the time change and so I was at the airport and hour earlier than necessary and could have spent more time in rainless Galway.  Because, of course, it stopped raining as soon as I stepped onto the bus.  Fantastic.  I took some pictures from the bus.  Sorry they're tinted strangely, but I tried to fix them.