Aphrael (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
silverthunder) wrote2009-09-16 06:05 pm
silverthunder) wrote2009-09-16 06:05 pm
Entry tags:
(no subject)
So. Um. We got back from Europe last week. Heh. I'm lazy?
I guess the only part I haven't talked about yet is the week we spent in London. It was totally different from the rest of our trip since we weren't on a tour any more. In a way, that was really nice. It meant we could sleep in, and we could take things at our own pace. On the other hand, it meant we had to find our own way around, which was sometimes hard. Luckily, London has a fantastic underground system that was really easy to get around on.
The flat that we stayed at in London was really nice! It had everything we needed, including a full kitchen, washer/dryer, and wireless internet access. Plus, it was close to a tube station and also the theatre where we saw Wicked. When we go to the flat, Cody turned the TV on and we had the news on for a bit.
What's on the news? Well, a young couple was strangled coming out of a general store in Wooler the night before. Five minutes from the hotel we'd stayed at that night. In fact, it was the same general store we'd visited maybe an hour or two before said strangling occurred in order to get ice cream.
Creepy.
The first day in London was the day we saw Wicked. It was in the evening, though, so for the rest of the day we just went around on the tube to places that I knew the open-top bus tours didn't stop at. The day was nice; the musical was just awesome. I loved it! So funny, and the music was fantastic. Cody enjoyed it as well, and he is normally a little leary of musicals and/or plays. It was a great night.
The next day was the day we were supposed to go on our day trip to Windsor Castle, Bath, and Stonehenge. We couldn't find the coach station, and missed the coach. I called the company, crying over the phone, and the lady was kind enough to switch our tour to Monday. So, instead, we went on the open-top bus that had a live tour guide. The weather was just gorgeous, and the guide was really fun to listen to. We were able to take some great pictures, too, because we sat up top. We just went along for the ride the first time around, and then got off at a few stops the second time. At the end of the day, we went for a free 'Jack the Ripper' walking tour. The guide took us to all of the places where the famous murders had taken place and explained the history of the east end and the possible suspects in the case. It was really interesting, even if it was a horrible series of events.
On Saturday, we took a trip to the London Zoo and wandered around taking pictures of animals. It was a huge zoo! I particularly liked the monkeys and the penguins. Afterwards, we had dinner at a really nice pizza place and then went to see The Mousetrap, which was an old murder mystery play that my parents had recommended. It was excellent as well; both Cody and I enjoyed it, and we had fun guessing who the murderer was (although we didn't end up getting it right).
Sunday, we visited with Courtney and Ashleigh, co-workers of mine from the call center who had moved to London shortly after I got my new job. They're living in a very nice townhouse which is close to a convenience store and a huge park where Ashleigh takes her dog to run around. It's about a twenty minute train ride from the center of London, which wasn't too bad. We also went to a couple of pubs, including a "Canadian" pub called the Maple Leaf. It had log cabin walls and statues of bears and beavers, and it was pretty cheesy. The fish and chips were really good, though.
Monday, we made it onto the coach and did the tour out to Stonehenge. Windsor Castle was our first stop, and we took in the doll house and some of the painting collections. The changing of the guard also happened during our visit, so we got to see that (although it wasn't very exciting). Afterwards, we stopped in Bath, which is a very pretty old city. We visited the Roman Baths, which were interesting in a way but also not very exciting. I did buy some of the famous "cure all" water, although it's not for drinking - just a souvenier. Our last stop was Stonehenge, which was really neat to see. It would've been nice if we were allowed anywhere near the stones, but I guess too many tourists had helped themselves to "souveniers" and the area was roped off now. It was still cool, though.
Tuesday, our last day in London, we went on the open-top bus again, getting off at some more stops that had been on my list. One of them was the London Dungeon, which we decided to go through. It was pretty neat, and even a bit scary. The effect was somewhat lessened by the German tour group we had to go through it with, since they kept giggling and talking through some of the performances. Our last stop was the Tower of London, where we wandered around the walls and went in to see the crown jewels. An older couple that didn't speak English were in there taking pictures, despite the signs around that clearly said 'no pictures' in several different languages and with a very easy to understand picture of a camera with an X over it. It was pretty obvious that they were just blatantly ignoring it. When we mentioned it to the guard at the exit (the only way out) of the Tower, he calmly replied that they were caught on video and would be fined 100,000 pounds when they tried to leave. YIKES!
We took a short cruise down the Thames River, and then headed back to our hotel and had a toast to the last night of our vacation.
The next morning, we were out of the flat by 10am as per our rental agreement, and we headed to the airport with our luggage. The flight didn't leave until 5:40pm, so we had to sit and wait until 2pm before we could check in properly. After we got through customs, we had a late lunch and did a little last-minute shopping. Then we got on the plane home. I'd picked our seats the night before, so we had a window and an aisle seat together - no one else beside us. I ended up reading and watching two movies: Ghosts of Girlfriends Past (which sucked, just like I kind of figured it would) and The Duchess (which was depressing, but probably realistic for the time period). Midway through the flight, we had about 30-45 minutes of turbulance. It wasn't too bad, though.
After we got to Vancouver and went through customs, we discovered that the flight back to Kamloops had been oversold. Thank you, Air Canada. My seat was listed as 'GATE' which meant I didn't get assigned a seat until I went down to the gate and waited for the people sitting there to finish chatting with each other and finally give me one. Cody and I weren't originally sitting with each other, but the lady sitting in the seat next to mine was nice enough to switch so we could. My parents picked us up from the airport, and we were dropped off at home, where we both crashed. In total, we'd been awake for about 22 hours that day.
The one nice thing was that we arrived home at 11pm and were tired enough to sleep all the way through the night, so we didn't have to do much adjusting to the time zone.
In other news, apparently Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicle is ending soon. I am kind of relieved about this. I don't think they can gracefully wrap the darn thing up in two chapters, but I will be glad when I'm no longer wasting time reading new chapters and wondering what the hell is going on. I did find it entertaining, but it sure was convoluted and confusing.
I think I might like to read through xxxHolic, though. That looks to be a stronger series. It's supposed to end in December. I may wait until then to pick it up. We'll see.
I've been focussing a bit more on my wedding now that the Europe trip is over and we're more or less settled in the new house. This weekend I'm heading down to New Westminster with my mother and sister for some dress shopping, which I'm kind of nervous about. I haven't decided yet if I'm going to order my dress a size smaller to stiffen my determination to lose weight or if I'll play it safe. We'll see how I feel when I'm there.
I have been talking with a minister who said that it's likely he'll be able to perform our ceremony, and I've got a photographer, florist, and caterer lined up. I think I'm ahead of the game for now, and I'd like to stay that way, so I'm keeping an eye on my wedding checklists.
I guess the only part I haven't talked about yet is the week we spent in London. It was totally different from the rest of our trip since we weren't on a tour any more. In a way, that was really nice. It meant we could sleep in, and we could take things at our own pace. On the other hand, it meant we had to find our own way around, which was sometimes hard. Luckily, London has a fantastic underground system that was really easy to get around on.
The flat that we stayed at in London was really nice! It had everything we needed, including a full kitchen, washer/dryer, and wireless internet access. Plus, it was close to a tube station and also the theatre where we saw Wicked. When we go to the flat, Cody turned the TV on and we had the news on for a bit.
What's on the news? Well, a young couple was strangled coming out of a general store in Wooler the night before. Five minutes from the hotel we'd stayed at that night. In fact, it was the same general store we'd visited maybe an hour or two before said strangling occurred in order to get ice cream.
Creepy.
The first day in London was the day we saw Wicked. It was in the evening, though, so for the rest of the day we just went around on the tube to places that I knew the open-top bus tours didn't stop at. The day was nice; the musical was just awesome. I loved it! So funny, and the music was fantastic. Cody enjoyed it as well, and he is normally a little leary of musicals and/or plays. It was a great night.
The next day was the day we were supposed to go on our day trip to Windsor Castle, Bath, and Stonehenge. We couldn't find the coach station, and missed the coach. I called the company, crying over the phone, and the lady was kind enough to switch our tour to Monday. So, instead, we went on the open-top bus that had a live tour guide. The weather was just gorgeous, and the guide was really fun to listen to. We were able to take some great pictures, too, because we sat up top. We just went along for the ride the first time around, and then got off at a few stops the second time. At the end of the day, we went for a free 'Jack the Ripper' walking tour. The guide took us to all of the places where the famous murders had taken place and explained the history of the east end and the possible suspects in the case. It was really interesting, even if it was a horrible series of events.
On Saturday, we took a trip to the London Zoo and wandered around taking pictures of animals. It was a huge zoo! I particularly liked the monkeys and the penguins. Afterwards, we had dinner at a really nice pizza place and then went to see The Mousetrap, which was an old murder mystery play that my parents had recommended. It was excellent as well; both Cody and I enjoyed it, and we had fun guessing who the murderer was (although we didn't end up getting it right).
Sunday, we visited with Courtney and Ashleigh, co-workers of mine from the call center who had moved to London shortly after I got my new job. They're living in a very nice townhouse which is close to a convenience store and a huge park where Ashleigh takes her dog to run around. It's about a twenty minute train ride from the center of London, which wasn't too bad. We also went to a couple of pubs, including a "Canadian" pub called the Maple Leaf. It had log cabin walls and statues of bears and beavers, and it was pretty cheesy. The fish and chips were really good, though.
Monday, we made it onto the coach and did the tour out to Stonehenge. Windsor Castle was our first stop, and we took in the doll house and some of the painting collections. The changing of the guard also happened during our visit, so we got to see that (although it wasn't very exciting). Afterwards, we stopped in Bath, which is a very pretty old city. We visited the Roman Baths, which were interesting in a way but also not very exciting. I did buy some of the famous "cure all" water, although it's not for drinking - just a souvenier. Our last stop was Stonehenge, which was really neat to see. It would've been nice if we were allowed anywhere near the stones, but I guess too many tourists had helped themselves to "souveniers" and the area was roped off now. It was still cool, though.
Tuesday, our last day in London, we went on the open-top bus again, getting off at some more stops that had been on my list. One of them was the London Dungeon, which we decided to go through. It was pretty neat, and even a bit scary. The effect was somewhat lessened by the German tour group we had to go through it with, since they kept giggling and talking through some of the performances. Our last stop was the Tower of London, where we wandered around the walls and went in to see the crown jewels. An older couple that didn't speak English were in there taking pictures, despite the signs around that clearly said 'no pictures' in several different languages and with a very easy to understand picture of a camera with an X over it. It was pretty obvious that they were just blatantly ignoring it. When we mentioned it to the guard at the exit (the only way out) of the Tower, he calmly replied that they were caught on video and would be fined 100,000 pounds when they tried to leave. YIKES!
We took a short cruise down the Thames River, and then headed back to our hotel and had a toast to the last night of our vacation.
The next morning, we were out of the flat by 10am as per our rental agreement, and we headed to the airport with our luggage. The flight didn't leave until 5:40pm, so we had to sit and wait until 2pm before we could check in properly. After we got through customs, we had a late lunch and did a little last-minute shopping. Then we got on the plane home. I'd picked our seats the night before, so we had a window and an aisle seat together - no one else beside us. I ended up reading and watching two movies: Ghosts of Girlfriends Past (which sucked, just like I kind of figured it would) and The Duchess (which was depressing, but probably realistic for the time period). Midway through the flight, we had about 30-45 minutes of turbulance. It wasn't too bad, though.
After we got to Vancouver and went through customs, we discovered that the flight back to Kamloops had been oversold. Thank you, Air Canada. My seat was listed as 'GATE' which meant I didn't get assigned a seat until I went down to the gate and waited for the people sitting there to finish chatting with each other and finally give me one. Cody and I weren't originally sitting with each other, but the lady sitting in the seat next to mine was nice enough to switch so we could. My parents picked us up from the airport, and we were dropped off at home, where we both crashed. In total, we'd been awake for about 22 hours that day.
The one nice thing was that we arrived home at 11pm and were tired enough to sleep all the way through the night, so we didn't have to do much adjusting to the time zone.
In other news, apparently Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicle is ending soon. I am kind of relieved about this. I don't think they can gracefully wrap the darn thing up in two chapters, but I will be glad when I'm no longer wasting time reading new chapters and wondering what the hell is going on. I did find it entertaining, but it sure was convoluted and confusing.
I think I might like to read through xxxHolic, though. That looks to be a stronger series. It's supposed to end in December. I may wait until then to pick it up. We'll see.
I've been focussing a bit more on my wedding now that the Europe trip is over and we're more or less settled in the new house. This weekend I'm heading down to New Westminster with my mother and sister for some dress shopping, which I'm kind of nervous about. I haven't decided yet if I'm going to order my dress a size smaller to stiffen my determination to lose weight or if I'll play it safe. We'll see how I feel when I'm there.
I have been talking with a minister who said that it's likely he'll be able to perform our ceremony, and I've got a photographer, florist, and caterer lined up. I think I'm ahead of the game for now, and I'd like to stay that way, so I'm keeping an eye on my wedding checklists.