Friday, August 3, 2007
Day 7
Friday August 3
9:30am GMT - woke up around 8, finally got down to breakfast - same as yesterday of course - and made it out about 9:30. We walked a few minutes to the square to catch the famous Tram 28. Got on easily with our LisboaCards, just had to pass it over a thing at the entrance, and got on for a ride. Well, I thought the ride was short, but it took us practically all over town, up and down steep streets, barely missing parked cars, throughout all the different neighborhoods of town, etc. We got to a point high up and the tram ended, she made us all get off, but luckily it was turning around. Instead of sitting on it the whole entire time, we got off earlier and took the subway the rest of the way, which was fast, easy, and clean.
11:45am - after finally getting to the right place, we got the bus up to the castle, which is high up at the top of the Alfama district - the bus was small and veeeeerrrrryyyyyyy crowded, but still better than walking. We went to the castle and spent some time walking around looking at the viewpoints. Worth the 3.50 euros fee (discount with the LisboaCard) to see the views. I wasn't so fond of the really high up views, but what else is new. It was a perfect day, a bit hazy, but you could see the whole city (see photos). Pretty amazing.
1:30pm - Following the Rick Steves Alfama walking tour we made it down to the Largo Santa Luzia lookout where we found a decent but probably touristy and overpriced outdoor café for lunch called Miradouro de Santa Luzia. We got some olives and fruit salad, and I got a "tomato salad" which turned out to be a plate of tomatoes (see photos). It was quite tasty tomato, but still just a plate of tomatoes, LOL. Oh well, live and learn. The olives were, of course, QUITE tasty, though. Yummy :p
2:15pm - Time to descend the Alfama to get to the water. It is a maze of staircases, narrow cobbled "streets" which are really more like sidewalks, no way a car could get down most of the streets. On one little square, some photographers were taking pictures of someone. Interesting. We wandered for a bit til we found the main street, where there are a bunch of fado restaurants. If we have a chance I'd like to take a bus over there to try one of them out, but we'll see if we make it back. We caught a bus back to the square outside our hotel, which was much nicer than walking. Thank you LisboaCard!
4:30pm - finally back at the hotel for a while, we are sitting in the lounge which is nice and cool and the wireless signal is much better down here. Finally I was able to upload all of my pictures from yesterday. So enjoy.
5:45pm - took the metro from the station that is just a few steps from our hotel a few stops away to Parque Eduardo VII a big park in the newer area of town connected by this long tree-lined street called Avenida da Liberdade. The Parque's metro station was BLUE, all BLUE. Wacky!! So we had a hard time actually getting into the park but once we found the entrance, it was nice. Great views down to the Baixa and the river. We continued down the Avenida all the way back to the square where our hotel is.
6:45pm - After a couple days of grilled meat for dinner we decided to have italian. Found an Italian pizzeria type place on the main restaurant street just a couple min from our hotel called Locanda something. It was pretty busy, probably of all the non-Portuguese people who wanted stuff LOL. I had a pizza con salame, aka pizza with salami. It was pretty good, thin crust and cooked in a wood-burning oven - huge for 7.50 euros. I also ate the olives they put on the table and of course paid a euro for them but who cares :p olives twice today woohoo! We were sitting outside a huge window into the restaurant's kitchen. It was pretty cool to watch them make all the stuff - he smiled and nodded at us a couple times when he saw us looking. Very clean kitchen, you would have been proud mom ;)
8:00pm - because we had pizza and it went pretty fast, we were done about 8pm and decided to just have an early night because we are going to Sintra tomorrow. On our way back, we unfortunately had to pass through the sea of restaurants, which unfortunately meant dealing with the pushy guys out front with the menus. One of the more aggressive ones from yesterday who had stopped us like three times sadly recognized us and was so rude he stood in front of me and was like "you promised you'd eat here!" I was like "we are here for a couple more days" to try to get rid of him, anyway he was so rude I'd never in a million years consider eating there and I wish I knew the name because I'd tell other people to avoid eating there too. What a total asshole!
9:30pm - so now we are back in the lounge just chilling. Full day planned tomorrow so we will try to get to bed a bit earlier tonight.
9:30am GMT - woke up around 8, finally got down to breakfast - same as yesterday of course - and made it out about 9:30. We walked a few minutes to the square to catch the famous Tram 28. Got on easily with our LisboaCards, just had to pass it over a thing at the entrance, and got on for a ride. Well, I thought the ride was short, but it took us practically all over town, up and down steep streets, barely missing parked cars, throughout all the different neighborhoods of town, etc. We got to a point high up and the tram ended, she made us all get off, but luckily it was turning around. Instead of sitting on it the whole entire time, we got off earlier and took the subway the rest of the way, which was fast, easy, and clean.
11:45am - after finally getting to the right place, we got the bus up to the castle, which is high up at the top of the Alfama district - the bus was small and veeeeerrrrryyyyyyy crowded, but still better than walking. We went to the castle and spent some time walking around looking at the viewpoints. Worth the 3.50 euros fee (discount with the LisboaCard) to see the views. I wasn't so fond of the really high up views, but what else is new. It was a perfect day, a bit hazy, but you could see the whole city (see photos). Pretty amazing.
1:30pm - Following the Rick Steves Alfama walking tour we made it down to the Largo Santa Luzia lookout where we found a decent but probably touristy and overpriced outdoor café for lunch called Miradouro de Santa Luzia. We got some olives and fruit salad, and I got a "tomato salad" which turned out to be a plate of tomatoes (see photos). It was quite tasty tomato, but still just a plate of tomatoes, LOL. Oh well, live and learn. The olives were, of course, QUITE tasty, though. Yummy :p
2:15pm - Time to descend the Alfama to get to the water. It is a maze of staircases, narrow cobbled "streets" which are really more like sidewalks, no way a car could get down most of the streets. On one little square, some photographers were taking pictures of someone. Interesting. We wandered for a bit til we found the main street, where there are a bunch of fado restaurants. If we have a chance I'd like to take a bus over there to try one of them out, but we'll see if we make it back. We caught a bus back to the square outside our hotel, which was much nicer than walking. Thank you LisboaCard!
4:30pm - finally back at the hotel for a while, we are sitting in the lounge which is nice and cool and the wireless signal is much better down here. Finally I was able to upload all of my pictures from yesterday. So enjoy.
5:45pm - took the metro from the station that is just a few steps from our hotel a few stops away to Parque Eduardo VII a big park in the newer area of town connected by this long tree-lined street called Avenida da Liberdade. The Parque's metro station was BLUE, all BLUE. Wacky!! So we had a hard time actually getting into the park but once we found the entrance, it was nice. Great views down to the Baixa and the river. We continued down the Avenida all the way back to the square where our hotel is.
6:45pm - After a couple days of grilled meat for dinner we decided to have italian. Found an Italian pizzeria type place on the main restaurant street just a couple min from our hotel called Locanda something. It was pretty busy, probably of all the non-Portuguese people who wanted stuff LOL. I had a pizza con salame, aka pizza with salami. It was pretty good, thin crust and cooked in a wood-burning oven - huge for 7.50 euros. I also ate the olives they put on the table and of course paid a euro for them but who cares :p olives twice today woohoo! We were sitting outside a huge window into the restaurant's kitchen. It was pretty cool to watch them make all the stuff - he smiled and nodded at us a couple times when he saw us looking. Very clean kitchen, you would have been proud mom ;)
8:00pm - because we had pizza and it went pretty fast, we were done about 8pm and decided to just have an early night because we are going to Sintra tomorrow. On our way back, we unfortunately had to pass through the sea of restaurants, which unfortunately meant dealing with the pushy guys out front with the menus. One of the more aggressive ones from yesterday who had stopped us like three times sadly recognized us and was so rude he stood in front of me and was like "you promised you'd eat here!" I was like "we are here for a couple more days" to try to get rid of him, anyway he was so rude I'd never in a million years consider eating there and I wish I knew the name because I'd tell other people to avoid eating there too. What a total asshole!
9:30pm - so now we are back in the lounge just chilling. Full day planned tomorrow so we will try to get to bed a bit earlier tonight.
Thursday, August 2, 2007
Day 6
Thursday, August 2
9:00am GMT - woke up a little while ago, slept pretty well considering the hardness of the bed. I must've turned the a/c too low because it was freezing. Oops! Found the hotel's wireless, even though it's kinda weak. It will do the job for a few days. We made it down to breakfast shortly before 10am. The breakfast room was bright and lively, with lots of the portuguese tiles. Really cute little room in fact. The breakfast however, not so cute. The coffee was fine but the OJ was bizarro. The food consisted of a couple cereals, nice crusty fresh portuguese rolls and butter, and a couple of weird-looking meats and cheeses. They also had tea and yogurt. Anyway I didn't imagine it would be an earth-shattering breakfast, and alas, it wasn't. lol.
10:30ish GMT - making our way out into the town to do a walking tour of a couple neighborhoods, I asked the guy at the hotel front desk how to get to the Elevador Gloria to get to the Barrio Alto neighborhood… well, it's closed. So we got a bit lost and finally found where it would have been and decided to walk up the hill anyway. NEVER AGAIN I SAY. Anyway we made it to the top only to find the first stop on the tour - a park with great views of the city below - CLOSED. :( But then we followed the tour through the Barrio Alto to the Sao Roque church (see photos - amazing stuff inside), into some shops and just really exploring the streets and Lisboan life. Happily the tour was almost all downhill from there. We made it down to another neighborhood, the Chiado, and found the main drag - the Rua Garrett. Lots of shops and cafes, with a vast square at one end and a shopping mall at the other. We went into the mall and checked out Portuguese mall stores and after walking around had some lunch in the food court. See the pictures for the great views of the castle from the food court and the BATHROOM. HAHA! Great stuff :p
3:00ish pm GMT - We decided to keep walking down towards the River Tejo and through the Baixa district - at the top of which is where our hotel is. It was hot - probably well over 30C (90+F), but the main street through the Baixa from the water up to near where we are staying is the Rua Augusta, which is pedestrian only and full of shade. Hooray!! We meandered, looked at restaurant menus, window-shopped, and made our way back to the hotel around 4pm for a rest. I took a shower and we just relaxed a bit til going out again.
5:45pm GMT - went out to find dinner. On our way back to the hotel, we discovered why the street our hotel is on is called the "eating alley" - we hadn't yet seen the entire thing and it really is filled with restaurants with patios, all of which have men outside who speak many languages trying to lure you into their establishments. So when we set out to pick one of these places to eat, we knew we had to be careful LOL. We were even given a few business cards, some were quite nice and just explained their menus and asked us where we were from, etc. And others were bizarre and down right pushy. I'm like, why would I want to eat at your establishment if you need to be a jerk to get me in the door? We walked down some of the streets in the Baixa that run parallel to the Rua Augusta we had walked earlier, looked in some shop windows, etc. Didn't really find a whole lot interesting, but we looked at some more menus.
We tried a local drink from a little counter selling the shots in plastic cups - it's apparently made from sour cherries, so I thought it might be good. It is called Ginjinha, and it is disgusting. Sorry, I can't really say much more than that. But it's not sour and it doesn't taste like cherries. And that's all I have to say.
6:45pm GMT - after continuing to wade through pushy waiters, one of which was particularly annoying, telling us something about Mr. Bean and practically shoving us into a table, we decided to go back to one of the places further down, closer to the river and a bit away from the real deluge of restaurants all with similar menus. We decided on one called Restaurante-Grill Vossamerce. The waiter outside remembered us, but was not pushy at all. I had grilled t-bone, which came with, what else, fries and rice, and also some lettuce and really delicious tomato. The steak was a little thin but really tasty and tender. I was stuffed. Yum.
8:45pm GMT - after sitting and chatting for a while we finally asked for the check and wandered back to the area around our hotel. We were looking for some kind of desserty thing, but it seems like most of the pastelerias are closed by the evening - I guess they don't have pastries for after-dinner dessert. We'll have to try one for a mid-afternoon snack or something I guess. Off to the side of the main square by our hotel we found a little gelado shop open til midnight so we got some and it was quite tasty.
10:30pm GMT - came back to the hotel to take a load off and do some laundry. Gee, so fun. The connection seems to be too weak to try to put up my pictures, so I'll have to try taking the laptop downstairs sometime tomorrow to get them up because there are some really nice ones :)
9:00am GMT - woke up a little while ago, slept pretty well considering the hardness of the bed. I must've turned the a/c too low because it was freezing. Oops! Found the hotel's wireless, even though it's kinda weak. It will do the job for a few days. We made it down to breakfast shortly before 10am. The breakfast room was bright and lively, with lots of the portuguese tiles. Really cute little room in fact. The breakfast however, not so cute. The coffee was fine but the OJ was bizarro. The food consisted of a couple cereals, nice crusty fresh portuguese rolls and butter, and a couple of weird-looking meats and cheeses. They also had tea and yogurt. Anyway I didn't imagine it would be an earth-shattering breakfast, and alas, it wasn't. lol.
10:30ish GMT - making our way out into the town to do a walking tour of a couple neighborhoods, I asked the guy at the hotel front desk how to get to the Elevador Gloria to get to the Barrio Alto neighborhood… well, it's closed. So we got a bit lost and finally found where it would have been and decided to walk up the hill anyway. NEVER AGAIN I SAY. Anyway we made it to the top only to find the first stop on the tour - a park with great views of the city below - CLOSED. :( But then we followed the tour through the Barrio Alto to the Sao Roque church (see photos - amazing stuff inside), into some shops and just really exploring the streets and Lisboan life. Happily the tour was almost all downhill from there. We made it down to another neighborhood, the Chiado, and found the main drag - the Rua Garrett. Lots of shops and cafes, with a vast square at one end and a shopping mall at the other. We went into the mall and checked out Portuguese mall stores and after walking around had some lunch in the food court. See the pictures for the great views of the castle from the food court and the BATHROOM. HAHA! Great stuff :p
3:00ish pm GMT - We decided to keep walking down towards the River Tejo and through the Baixa district - at the top of which is where our hotel is. It was hot - probably well over 30C (90+F), but the main street through the Baixa from the water up to near where we are staying is the Rua Augusta, which is pedestrian only and full of shade. Hooray!! We meandered, looked at restaurant menus, window-shopped, and made our way back to the hotel around 4pm for a rest. I took a shower and we just relaxed a bit til going out again.
5:45pm GMT - went out to find dinner. On our way back to the hotel, we discovered why the street our hotel is on is called the "eating alley" - we hadn't yet seen the entire thing and it really is filled with restaurants with patios, all of which have men outside who speak many languages trying to lure you into their establishments. So when we set out to pick one of these places to eat, we knew we had to be careful LOL. We were even given a few business cards, some were quite nice and just explained their menus and asked us where we were from, etc. And others were bizarre and down right pushy. I'm like, why would I want to eat at your establishment if you need to be a jerk to get me in the door? We walked down some of the streets in the Baixa that run parallel to the Rua Augusta we had walked earlier, looked in some shop windows, etc. Didn't really find a whole lot interesting, but we looked at some more menus.
We tried a local drink from a little counter selling the shots in plastic cups - it's apparently made from sour cherries, so I thought it might be good. It is called Ginjinha, and it is disgusting. Sorry, I can't really say much more than that. But it's not sour and it doesn't taste like cherries. And that's all I have to say.
6:45pm GMT - after continuing to wade through pushy waiters, one of which was particularly annoying, telling us something about Mr. Bean and practically shoving us into a table, we decided to go back to one of the places further down, closer to the river and a bit away from the real deluge of restaurants all with similar menus. We decided on one called Restaurante-Grill Vossamerce. The waiter outside remembered us, but was not pushy at all. I had grilled t-bone, which came with, what else, fries and rice, and also some lettuce and really delicious tomato. The steak was a little thin but really tasty and tender. I was stuffed. Yum.
8:45pm GMT - after sitting and chatting for a while we finally asked for the check and wandered back to the area around our hotel. We were looking for some kind of desserty thing, but it seems like most of the pastelerias are closed by the evening - I guess they don't have pastries for after-dinner dessert. We'll have to try one for a mid-afternoon snack or something I guess. Off to the side of the main square by our hotel we found a little gelado shop open til midnight so we got some and it was quite tasty.
10:30pm GMT - came back to the hotel to take a load off and do some laundry. Gee, so fun. The connection seems to be too weak to try to put up my pictures, so I'll have to try taking the laptop downstairs sometime tomorrow to get them up because there are some really nice ones :)
Day 5
Wednesday August 1
Not too many pics from this day, check out the ones I got here
7:50am BST - woke up after not a great night's sleep. Don't know why. Anyway today we are on our way to Lisbon. Of course, the flight leaves at 5pm but we have to be out of the B&B at 10am, so we will get to the airport SUPER DUPER EARLY. If there was something left to do in town then I'm sure we could've left our luggage there for a while, but really, there wasn't. LOL.
10:30am BST - So after breakfast we finished packing up and quickly walked to the store for some lunch food and we were on our way. Got a ticket for the Birmingham International - the airport's train station. Had to get off at Birmingham Moor Street and walk to Birmingham New Street to get a 10 min train to the airport station - the walk was only a few min between stations. I am thinking that my Keen shoes will end up being a lot more comfy than my Adidas ones because yesterday in my Keens we walked all over Chipping Campden and my feet were ok but today just a little bit of walking and my feet started to hurt!
12noon BST - made it to the Birmingham International train station. It was so quiet we figured it'd be easy to eat our lunch there than at the airport since we didn't know what would be available to us at the airport but outside security. So we ate for a while and took the 2 minute monorail-type thing from the train station to the terminal - it was quite easy really. I realized that even though it might look silly, pulling the straps tighter on my backpack makes it hurt less on my shoulders. So hopefully that will be a bit better from now on.
1:00pm BST - so we check in, get our seat assignments, etc., and have 4 hours until our flight leaves LOL!! I just think to myself that I hope checking in so early won't increase the likelihood that our luggage would get lost since they won't immediately have the plane to put it on. Oh well. So we ended up finding a big food court area outside security where Amanda could finish her beloved Diet Coke LOL.
2:00pm BST - decided to finally go through security, where my silly can of mixed nuts alerted them. The security guards and us had a pretty good laugh about it. Once we figured out it was the can of nuts in my backpack that was setting off the security, I opened the can and offered the security agents some LOL!!! So when we get to Lisbon tonight I think I will transfer them to a ziploc bag to avoid having that problem again ;) the departure terminal at the Birmingham airport is interesting - it is like a circular mall area with some shops and food places and the gates all branch out in wings off the center area. TV boards all over the place give the departure and gate info. It's so early that our flight doesn't even have a gate assignment yet LOL. So we figure out that we have just over 1.50 pounds left and that we shouldn't waste it, so we walked around to find what that would buy us. Of course along the way here I am walking with my passport and boarding pass in my hand and I look down and see my passport in my hand but not the boarding pass. Swears start flying out of my mouth and amanda looks back a few feet and sees it on the ground. Thank god!! I decided to put it in my bag after that ;) So then we found that for 1.45 we could get a chocolate muffin, so we got it and split it and it was quite tasty. Now we have about 13 pence to our name. Not too shabby.
9:30pm GMT - finally arrived in Lisbon. LIS Airport is a wacky place, considering it is a major city. There was no jetway, we had to walk down the stairs, then we were whisked away by bus to the terminal, which at about 8:30pm was dead as a doornail. The guy at passport control literally just stamped our passports and shoved us through. Got our luggage really quickly, hooray! Went to the tourist information desk and bought our LisboaCards for transportation and admission into a ton of museums. She gave us the student price even though I wasn't a student aw how nice! We asked about the Taxi voucher and she said it would be more expensive than just going out in the taxi line, so we did that, but it ended up being 22 euros or about 10-12 more euros than we thought. So like we get out of the cab and there is this mass of people around Hard Rock Cafe. Limo and cameras and crowds. I live right near freaking Hollywood and can't see a celebrity and I'm in Lisbon for about 15 minutes and I see some celebrity, possibly named Hugo, arriving with a pretty woman. We'll just say for the sake of arguing that it was TEH FACE.
10:00pm GMT - finally made it to the Residencial Florescente - looks very nice in the lobby, got our key and went up. The halls are narrow and lined with the typical Portuguese tiles - very nice. The room…is nicely-sized and thankfully off the main street on a little quiet courtyard (see pic of the staircase on an adjacent building), but it is a little ragged around the edges. The bathroom is big, but a little bizarre. The beds are quite hard but not too bad, there is enough light, and even some places to sit. The TV is small and hung up high on the wall, and thankfully gets CNN International and Eurosport. There are plenty of outlets to charge and use things, and the a/c is controlled via remote and it works quite well, thankfully. It is missing some small touches like a clock and tissues, but other than that for 80 euros you can't really beat it. We are tired, but we are hungry, so we set out in our area to find some place to eat.
11:30pm GMT - after wandering aimlessly around to see most places closing and putting their patio tables in for a night, we finally found a place near us to eat called Sol Dourado - our waiter was Carlos and he was nice and spoke English hooray! We didn't want anything too heavy so I had the grilled chicken. It was a half a chicken with fries and rice. VERY TASTY mmmmmmmmmmm. After waiting quite some time to finally get the check, we got it and managed to make it back here. We were soo tired so we went to bed. We are glad that all our other flights are earlier in the day so we won't waste a whole day and arrive to the next place so late. It was a waste of a whole day and kind of a drag.
Not too many pics from this day, check out the ones I got here
7:50am BST - woke up after not a great night's sleep. Don't know why. Anyway today we are on our way to Lisbon. Of course, the flight leaves at 5pm but we have to be out of the B&B at 10am, so we will get to the airport SUPER DUPER EARLY. If there was something left to do in town then I'm sure we could've left our luggage there for a while, but really, there wasn't. LOL.
10:30am BST - So after breakfast we finished packing up and quickly walked to the store for some lunch food and we were on our way. Got a ticket for the Birmingham International - the airport's train station. Had to get off at Birmingham Moor Street and walk to Birmingham New Street to get a 10 min train to the airport station - the walk was only a few min between stations. I am thinking that my Keen shoes will end up being a lot more comfy than my Adidas ones because yesterday in my Keens we walked all over Chipping Campden and my feet were ok but today just a little bit of walking and my feet started to hurt!
12noon BST - made it to the Birmingham International train station. It was so quiet we figured it'd be easy to eat our lunch there than at the airport since we didn't know what would be available to us at the airport but outside security. So we ate for a while and took the 2 minute monorail-type thing from the train station to the terminal - it was quite easy really. I realized that even though it might look silly, pulling the straps tighter on my backpack makes it hurt less on my shoulders. So hopefully that will be a bit better from now on.
1:00pm BST - so we check in, get our seat assignments, etc., and have 4 hours until our flight leaves LOL!! I just think to myself that I hope checking in so early won't increase the likelihood that our luggage would get lost since they won't immediately have the plane to put it on. Oh well. So we ended up finding a big food court area outside security where Amanda could finish her beloved Diet Coke LOL.
2:00pm BST - decided to finally go through security, where my silly can of mixed nuts alerted them. The security guards and us had a pretty good laugh about it. Once we figured out it was the can of nuts in my backpack that was setting off the security, I opened the can and offered the security agents some LOL!!! So when we get to Lisbon tonight I think I will transfer them to a ziploc bag to avoid having that problem again ;) the departure terminal at the Birmingham airport is interesting - it is like a circular mall area with some shops and food places and the gates all branch out in wings off the center area. TV boards all over the place give the departure and gate info. It's so early that our flight doesn't even have a gate assignment yet LOL. So we figure out that we have just over 1.50 pounds left and that we shouldn't waste it, so we walked around to find what that would buy us. Of course along the way here I am walking with my passport and boarding pass in my hand and I look down and see my passport in my hand but not the boarding pass. Swears start flying out of my mouth and amanda looks back a few feet and sees it on the ground. Thank god!! I decided to put it in my bag after that ;) So then we found that for 1.45 we could get a chocolate muffin, so we got it and split it and it was quite tasty. Now we have about 13 pence to our name. Not too shabby.
9:30pm GMT - finally arrived in Lisbon. LIS Airport is a wacky place, considering it is a major city. There was no jetway, we had to walk down the stairs, then we were whisked away by bus to the terminal, which at about 8:30pm was dead as a doornail. The guy at passport control literally just stamped our passports and shoved us through. Got our luggage really quickly, hooray! Went to the tourist information desk and bought our LisboaCards for transportation and admission into a ton of museums. She gave us the student price even though I wasn't a student aw how nice! We asked about the Taxi voucher and she said it would be more expensive than just going out in the taxi line, so we did that, but it ended up being 22 euros or about 10-12 more euros than we thought. So like we get out of the cab and there is this mass of people around Hard Rock Cafe. Limo and cameras and crowds. I live right near freaking Hollywood and can't see a celebrity and I'm in Lisbon for about 15 minutes and I see some celebrity, possibly named Hugo, arriving with a pretty woman. We'll just say for the sake of arguing that it was TEH FACE.
10:00pm GMT - finally made it to the Residencial Florescente - looks very nice in the lobby, got our key and went up. The halls are narrow and lined with the typical Portuguese tiles - very nice. The room…is nicely-sized and thankfully off the main street on a little quiet courtyard (see pic of the staircase on an adjacent building), but it is a little ragged around the edges. The bathroom is big, but a little bizarre. The beds are quite hard but not too bad, there is enough light, and even some places to sit. The TV is small and hung up high on the wall, and thankfully gets CNN International and Eurosport. There are plenty of outlets to charge and use things, and the a/c is controlled via remote and it works quite well, thankfully. It is missing some small touches like a clock and tissues, but other than that for 80 euros you can't really beat it. We are tired, but we are hungry, so we set out in our area to find some place to eat.
11:30pm GMT - after wandering aimlessly around to see most places closing and putting their patio tables in for a night, we finally found a place near us to eat called Sol Dourado - our waiter was Carlos and he was nice and spoke English hooray! We didn't want anything too heavy so I had the grilled chicken. It was a half a chicken with fries and rice. VERY TASTY mmmmmmmmmmm. After waiting quite some time to finally get the check, we got it and managed to make it back here. We were soo tired so we went to bed. We are glad that all our other flights are earlier in the day so we won't waste a whole day and arrive to the next place so late. It was a waste of a whole day and kind of a drag.
Stratford-upon-Avon wrapup
Besides the fact that I am a big Shakespeare fan, I figured it would be nice to start my long trip in a place where it was a little smaller and quieter, so that I could ease in to the whole thing, adjust to the time zone, in a little more relaxed environment.
When I went to the Fodor's message board originally many months ago to get advice on my proposed itinerary, people said that even though Stratford-upon-avon is a smaller town, it is still really busy and touristy in the summer. Perhaps because of the recent flooding the week before we arrived in stratford, it wasn't nearly as busy as I expected. We had no trouble at all getting into restaurants, the walking tour we went on only had 8 people on it, the streets were busy but nothing at all even remotely annoying or clogged, shops were almost quiet, etc. it felt like being in a real working town where they just happened to have something that attracted some tourists. I think it was the right balance really.
Instead of a crowded, tacky, and touristy place, what I found was a small city that had mostly retained its historical charm - even starbucks was closed by 7pm or so when we walked by a couple times - and instead of being so in your face that you felt like they were taking advantage of those who come to experience shakespeare's hometown, you instead got the impression that they were proud of it. The locals we met were kind, helpful, and happy to be from Stratford-upon-avon. Putting the horrible exchange rate aside, I didn't find it to be that terribly expensive. We didn't spend more than 10 pounds on any meal and we ate perfectly well, in the oldest pub in town, a nice Italian/pizza restaurant, and of course fantastic fish and chips. Besides using a credit card to get the train tickets into and out of town, and charging the one lunch in chipping campden, we used cash everywhere, and including my half of the cost of the B&B, I spent just about 150 pounds - not bad for 3 days in an expensive country where the exchange rate sucks - $300 for a little over 3 days of time including a top-class B&B is pretty cheap, really. Sure if you went into a lot of the sites like the Shakespeare properties you would spend more money, but still, it is doable on a budget.
The unexpected side trip to Chipping Campden in the Cotswolds was quaint, charming, and enjoyable. Sure, the few hours we spent there were more than enough, but it was nice while we were there. The architecture, small size, grazing sheep and stunning views made for a really different and unique experience.
Are these the most exciting places in the world or even on my trip? No, but it was the perfect start and exactly what I was looking for. As I go on to bigger and more exciting places with better sights and better food, I think I will still be glad that I decided to begin my trip in the lovely Stratford-upon-Avon, and although I probably won't go back anytime soon, if ever, I thoroughly enjoyed the town and its people and all it had to offer.
When I went to the Fodor's message board originally many months ago to get advice on my proposed itinerary, people said that even though Stratford-upon-avon is a smaller town, it is still really busy and touristy in the summer. Perhaps because of the recent flooding the week before we arrived in stratford, it wasn't nearly as busy as I expected. We had no trouble at all getting into restaurants, the walking tour we went on only had 8 people on it, the streets were busy but nothing at all even remotely annoying or clogged, shops were almost quiet, etc. it felt like being in a real working town where they just happened to have something that attracted some tourists. I think it was the right balance really.
Instead of a crowded, tacky, and touristy place, what I found was a small city that had mostly retained its historical charm - even starbucks was closed by 7pm or so when we walked by a couple times - and instead of being so in your face that you felt like they were taking advantage of those who come to experience shakespeare's hometown, you instead got the impression that they were proud of it. The locals we met were kind, helpful, and happy to be from Stratford-upon-avon. Putting the horrible exchange rate aside, I didn't find it to be that terribly expensive. We didn't spend more than 10 pounds on any meal and we ate perfectly well, in the oldest pub in town, a nice Italian/pizza restaurant, and of course fantastic fish and chips. Besides using a credit card to get the train tickets into and out of town, and charging the one lunch in chipping campden, we used cash everywhere, and including my half of the cost of the B&B, I spent just about 150 pounds - not bad for 3 days in an expensive country where the exchange rate sucks - $300 for a little over 3 days of time including a top-class B&B is pretty cheap, really. Sure if you went into a lot of the sites like the Shakespeare properties you would spend more money, but still, it is doable on a budget.
The unexpected side trip to Chipping Campden in the Cotswolds was quaint, charming, and enjoyable. Sure, the few hours we spent there were more than enough, but it was nice while we were there. The architecture, small size, grazing sheep and stunning views made for a really different and unique experience.
Are these the most exciting places in the world or even on my trip? No, but it was the perfect start and exactly what I was looking for. As I go on to bigger and more exciting places with better sights and better food, I think I will still be glad that I decided to begin my trip in the lovely Stratford-upon-Avon, and although I probably won't go back anytime soon, if ever, I thoroughly enjoyed the town and its people and all it had to offer.
Tuesday, July 31, 2007
Day 4
Tuesday July 31
9:05am BST (thanks for the correction Jo ;)) - we were woken up by the alarm at 8:15 for our 8:30 breakfast… Whoops! LOL. Breakfast was "smaller" today in that there were less eggs so we finished, but I am still just as stuffed.
10:30am BST - After breakfast we went down to the River Avon again and took some pictures of the major Shakespeare statue and the four littler ones around it. Pretty nice, and it looked beautiful under the clear clean blue skies. Then we walked back up and stopped in some of the clothing stores having sales that day. But it was all either ugly or still expensive. Plus it's not like I have tons of room for clothes (actually I guess that's a good thing LOL)
11:00am BST - found Adam, and finally experienced riding in car driving on the other side of the road. Absolutely bizarre experience LOL!!!!! Somehow (thankfully with his GPS and the help of a nice man who came out when we turned into his driveway to turn around) made our way to the northernmost town in the area called the Cotswolds - a lovely little town named Chipping Campden. Once we finally found it, we parked and tried to find the town Center, which wasn't so hard since, yeah, it is pretty tiny. We went into the tourist information office and for 50p bought a local brochure. It had a walking tour where you could walk outside the town and see great views of the city. Well, we tried two of them and failed following the directions so we kinda just gave up (it would've helped to know what a "stile" is and even the British among us did not know… and it would've helped if more things would be labeled, not point in telling you to go through a gate with a particular name IF THE GATE IS NOT MARKED!!). Anyway, Chipping Campden is an old medieval wool town, there's kind of one main street with some shops and restaurants, some neat houses, a couple churches, and well, a whole lot of sheep. Very cute, never seen anything like it I suppose. It's kinda what Lynnfield would look like if it were from the medieval 1500s instead of Colonial America, I guess.
1:00pm BST - We walked up and down the main street, had some pasta for lunch in an italian restaurant in a 16th century or so building, which seemed really out of place, but it was quite tasty and quite frankly the "authentic" British places/pubs didn't look all that great. Today was Amanda's birthday so I bought her lunch. Tried to pay for Adam too since he spent the time and effort and expensive gas coming from London but he wouldn't let me. At least he can't complain then ;) So after lunch we were like, what do we do?! So we walked out to the main church a couple blocks out of town - St. James's - apparently one of the regions oldest and biggest "Wool churches" - not sure what that is but the church was beautiful. Earlier we had tried to find this "Dover's Hill" so we looked at the map in the guide I bought and then we drove up to the big hill. There was a parking area right at the entrance and oh man, the SHEEP. HUNDREDS AND HUNDREDS OF LOUD BAAHHHHINNNNNNNGGGGGGG SHEEP!!! I've never heard or seen anything like it. They didn't even really flinch when people walked by. The views were freaking unbelievable (see pics) sheep that had vast views of the valleys below. Simply stunning. I played around with the camera and took some shots in a panoramic ratio, I don't know if they actually look any better, but they don't look worse so it was a little experiment I suppose. We walked around a bit - carefully avoiding the copious sheep shit, and started to head back to Stratford. Along the way, we encountered absolutely stunning views of the town below, so we stopped to snap a couple pictures. Then we just came back here and relaxed for a bit. Looked through my pictures and they came out stunning, the day was absolutely beautiful, perfect really. So we just chilled for about an hour before dinner.
6:00pm BST - going out to dinner. On the way to the fish and chips place, I saw this sign above a private garage that we had probably walked by 5 times but hadn't noticed before, and OH MAN HAHAHAHAHA (see pics ;))
6:30pm BST - Chicken and Chips mmmmmmmmmmmmm. Some of the best fries I've ever had let me tell you. See the pic. We took it across the street to the park on the Avon and just sat on a bench in the shade on an absolutely picture perfect evening and just ate there. It was great, just people watching, eating our cheap food, etc. Stopped at the ATM on the way back and I got a cone of yummy chocolate ice cream and that's about it for today! Check out the lovely pics and also look at the 3 videos I took in Chipping Campden all from Dover's Hill - of the sheep and some panoramic views.
9:05am BST (thanks for the correction Jo ;)) - we were woken up by the alarm at 8:15 for our 8:30 breakfast… Whoops! LOL. Breakfast was "smaller" today in that there were less eggs so we finished, but I am still just as stuffed.
10:30am BST - After breakfast we went down to the River Avon again and took some pictures of the major Shakespeare statue and the four littler ones around it. Pretty nice, and it looked beautiful under the clear clean blue skies. Then we walked back up and stopped in some of the clothing stores having sales that day. But it was all either ugly or still expensive. Plus it's not like I have tons of room for clothes (actually I guess that's a good thing LOL)
11:00am BST - found Adam, and finally experienced riding in car driving on the other side of the road. Absolutely bizarre experience LOL!!!!! Somehow (thankfully with his GPS and the help of a nice man who came out when we turned into his driveway to turn around) made our way to the northernmost town in the area called the Cotswolds - a lovely little town named Chipping Campden. Once we finally found it, we parked and tried to find the town Center, which wasn't so hard since, yeah, it is pretty tiny. We went into the tourist information office and for 50p bought a local brochure. It had a walking tour where you could walk outside the town and see great views of the city. Well, we tried two of them and failed following the directions so we kinda just gave up (it would've helped to know what a "stile" is and even the British among us did not know… and it would've helped if more things would be labeled, not point in telling you to go through a gate with a particular name IF THE GATE IS NOT MARKED!!). Anyway, Chipping Campden is an old medieval wool town, there's kind of one main street with some shops and restaurants, some neat houses, a couple churches, and well, a whole lot of sheep. Very cute, never seen anything like it I suppose. It's kinda what Lynnfield would look like if it were from the medieval 1500s instead of Colonial America, I guess.
1:00pm BST - We walked up and down the main street, had some pasta for lunch in an italian restaurant in a 16th century or so building, which seemed really out of place, but it was quite tasty and quite frankly the "authentic" British places/pubs didn't look all that great. Today was Amanda's birthday so I bought her lunch. Tried to pay for Adam too since he spent the time and effort and expensive gas coming from London but he wouldn't let me. At least he can't complain then ;) So after lunch we were like, what do we do?! So we walked out to the main church a couple blocks out of town - St. James's - apparently one of the regions oldest and biggest "Wool churches" - not sure what that is but the church was beautiful. Earlier we had tried to find this "Dover's Hill" so we looked at the map in the guide I bought and then we drove up to the big hill. There was a parking area right at the entrance and oh man, the SHEEP. HUNDREDS AND HUNDREDS OF LOUD BAAHHHHINNNNNNNGGGGGGG SHEEP!!! I've never heard or seen anything like it. They didn't even really flinch when people walked by. The views were freaking unbelievable (see pics) sheep that had vast views of the valleys below. Simply stunning. I played around with the camera and took some shots in a panoramic ratio, I don't know if they actually look any better, but they don't look worse so it was a little experiment I suppose. We walked around a bit - carefully avoiding the copious sheep shit, and started to head back to Stratford. Along the way, we encountered absolutely stunning views of the town below, so we stopped to snap a couple pictures. Then we just came back here and relaxed for a bit. Looked through my pictures and they came out stunning, the day was absolutely beautiful, perfect really. So we just chilled for about an hour before dinner.
6:00pm BST - going out to dinner. On the way to the fish and chips place, I saw this sign above a private garage that we had probably walked by 5 times but hadn't noticed before, and OH MAN HAHAHAHAHA (see pics ;))
6:30pm BST - Chicken and Chips mmmmmmmmmmmmm. Some of the best fries I've ever had let me tell you. See the pic. We took it across the street to the park on the Avon and just sat on a bench in the shade on an absolutely picture perfect evening and just ate there. It was great, just people watching, eating our cheap food, etc. Stopped at the ATM on the way back and I got a cone of yummy chocolate ice cream and that's about it for today! Check out the lovely pics and also look at the 3 videos I took in Chipping Campden all from Dover's Hill - of the sheep and some panoramic views.
Monday, July 30, 2007
Day 3
Monday July 30
7:30am GMT - woke up shortly after 7. Woke up once around 3am and though I was screwed, but managed to fall back asleep so all in all not bad! My shoulders kill from my backpack and my butt hurts from sitting on the plane so long, but otherwise I feel better than I expected to. Unfortunately last night I had uploaded the day's pictures and was just about to submit them on Flickr when the internet died and is still dead. Not sure what the problem is, I hope I didn't do something to mess it up LOL! I wasn't doing anything except uploading pictures, I swear! :P
Our room faces the back, so it's really quiet, even now on a Monday morning.
8:30am GMT - breakfast was lovely. Fresh OJ, some fruit, cereals, etc. The coffee was made fresh for each table with a french press and was delicious. We both had scrambled eggs, which were good but A HUMONGOUS portion, and hashbrown patties. Amanda had toast and her beloved mushrooms, I had "bacon" but it wasn't bacon. It was some kind of ham that had been fried, and it wasn't very good. So I won't get it tomorrow, and we asked for half portions of eggs. No need to waste! It was really really filling though, which was cool because then we spent very little on lunch.
9:00am GMT - went on a walk, the gift shop at the Shakespeare birthplace was open so we browsed and were amused at all the different Shakespeare paraphernalia. I bought a hilarious magnet that is like a little shakespeare - really funny. Then we found and walked down to the street where there are a lot of restaurants and down to the river, which was all apparently flooded a week or so ago but was fine today. Just walked across the footbridges and took some nice pictures. We sat by the Swan Fountain til the guided walking tour at 11.
11am-1pm GMT - Town walking tour - for 5 pounds, our guide John took us on a 2 hour tour all throughout the town. He was quite funny and informative, showing us the really old buildings and all that stuff. We went into the big church where Shakespeare is buried - quite beautiful really. Because of the tour, going to the grave was only 50p instead of 1.50 pounds. Hurray for saving money (plus we would've gone to the church anyway so it was as if the tour cost just a little bit less, I suppose)! Then we were hungry
4:30pm GMT - So like I said, after the town walking tour, we went in to this little supermarket (which is the only one besides convenience stores that we've even seen!) and got some light stuff for lunch and went back to the little free public gardens at New Place (see the pretty pictures), next to John Nash's house where Shakspeare had once owned a house but it was torn down at some point. We had a little picnic and enjoyed looking at and photographing the interesting statues depicting scenes from Shakespeare plays. We wandered a bit more, looked at a few menus for our remaining meals and came back to the B&B for a bit of a breather before setting out in a while for dinner. And the internet works again! Woohoo! Maybe it's just at night when the owners turn off their computer or something. aaaaaanyyyyyyhoooooo
8:45 GMT - at around 6pm, we went to dinner at a little Italian place in the town centre that was recommended by Keith, the owner of the hotel. We had marinated olives mmmmmmm. And each had a pizza. Was pretty good, normal really thin crust made in a wood oven. Total was 19 pounds for 2 people so can't complain. Not really a whole lot left to do so we came back to the room and are just catching up and watching tv and relaxing. Earlier after the walking tour and lunch, by the time we got back to the B&B my feet were really starting to hurt, but after we relaxed for a couple hours and I changed shoes, I felt ok. Plus tomorrow and the next day shouldn't be huge huge walking day so I should be good to go for heavy duty walking through Lisbon's old streets on Thursday!
7:30am GMT - woke up shortly after 7. Woke up once around 3am and though I was screwed, but managed to fall back asleep so all in all not bad! My shoulders kill from my backpack and my butt hurts from sitting on the plane so long, but otherwise I feel better than I expected to. Unfortunately last night I had uploaded the day's pictures and was just about to submit them on Flickr when the internet died and is still dead. Not sure what the problem is, I hope I didn't do something to mess it up LOL! I wasn't doing anything except uploading pictures, I swear! :P
Our room faces the back, so it's really quiet, even now on a Monday morning.
8:30am GMT - breakfast was lovely. Fresh OJ, some fruit, cereals, etc. The coffee was made fresh for each table with a french press and was delicious. We both had scrambled eggs, which were good but A HUMONGOUS portion, and hashbrown patties. Amanda had toast and her beloved mushrooms, I had "bacon" but it wasn't bacon. It was some kind of ham that had been fried, and it wasn't very good. So I won't get it tomorrow, and we asked for half portions of eggs. No need to waste! It was really really filling though, which was cool because then we spent very little on lunch.
9:00am GMT - went on a walk, the gift shop at the Shakespeare birthplace was open so we browsed and were amused at all the different Shakespeare paraphernalia. I bought a hilarious magnet that is like a little shakespeare - really funny. Then we found and walked down to the street where there are a lot of restaurants and down to the river, which was all apparently flooded a week or so ago but was fine today. Just walked across the footbridges and took some nice pictures. We sat by the Swan Fountain til the guided walking tour at 11.
11am-1pm GMT - Town walking tour - for 5 pounds, our guide John took us on a 2 hour tour all throughout the town. He was quite funny and informative, showing us the really old buildings and all that stuff. We went into the big church where Shakespeare is buried - quite beautiful really. Because of the tour, going to the grave was only 50p instead of 1.50 pounds. Hurray for saving money (plus we would've gone to the church anyway so it was as if the tour cost just a little bit less, I suppose)! Then we were hungry
4:30pm GMT - So like I said, after the town walking tour, we went in to this little supermarket (which is the only one besides convenience stores that we've even seen!) and got some light stuff for lunch and went back to the little free public gardens at New Place (see the pretty pictures), next to John Nash's house where Shakspeare had once owned a house but it was torn down at some point. We had a little picnic and enjoyed looking at and photographing the interesting statues depicting scenes from Shakespeare plays. We wandered a bit more, looked at a few menus for our remaining meals and came back to the B&B for a bit of a breather before setting out in a while for dinner. And the internet works again! Woohoo! Maybe it's just at night when the owners turn off their computer or something. aaaaaanyyyyyyhoooooo
8:45 GMT - at around 6pm, we went to dinner at a little Italian place in the town centre that was recommended by Keith, the owner of the hotel. We had marinated olives mmmmmmm. And each had a pizza. Was pretty good, normal really thin crust made in a wood oven. Total was 19 pounds for 2 people so can't complain. Not really a whole lot left to do so we came back to the room and are just catching up and watching tv and relaxing. Earlier after the walking tour and lunch, by the time we got back to the B&B my feet were really starting to hurt, but after we relaxed for a couple hours and I changed shoes, I felt ok. Plus tomorrow and the next day shouldn't be huge huge walking day so I should be good to go for heavy duty walking through Lisbon's old streets on Thursday!
Sunday, July 29, 2007
Day 2
Sunday July 29
Went to sleep around 11pm LA Time, woke up around 10am London Time - that means I got app. 3 hours of restless sleep. I am tired. In the AM, started watching Night at the Museum with Ben Stiller but when they start the descent they close off the whole media system so I didn't get to finish. Luckily it was another one I had downloaded so I can just finish it whenever. They served this croissant with egg and cheese thing for breakfast. Needless to say I didn't eat it, but I did eat the fruit and stuff that came with it.
11:50am GMT - Plane lands nearly 1 hour early!!!! It's not raining!! In fact it appears to be a rather lovely day in London with puffy clouds and bright blue skies. Thank you!!! Now stay like this for 3 more days please! :)
12:55pm GMT - on the train to London with luggage in tow. Took a couple of neat-looking pictures of the station in the airport. We'll see how they come out. The worst part of the whole airport experience was the walk from the gate to the baggage area, I think I got on about 10 of those moving walkways in a row, they felt like they were never-ending!! Passport control was nothing, she just asked me a few questions about where I was staying, for how long, and where I was going next. I asked if she wanted to see my ticket to Portugal and she said no. That was that. Painless and easy. Then I got to baggage claim and I kid you not, I had my bag in literally 5 min. Followed the signs for people who had no goods to declare, bought my 6.90 pound Heathrow Connect ticket from a machine with my fee-free CapOne card. I don't really understand why anyone would bother paying more than double to take the Heathrow Express - it is only about 10 min shorter. I suppose I could've made the earlier train to Stratford had I taken the Express, but the Heathrow Connect was perfectly smooth and comfortable - like a fancy brand new subway almost. Anyway, got to Paddington station and found the line for the tube to take me a measly 2 stops to Marylebone station where I will get the train to Stratford-upon-Avon - buy a single tube ticket for 4 pounds using easy-to-use machine. Used my shiny new 5 pound notes. Yes, that's 8 dollars to go 2 subway stops. WELCOME TO LONDON. Obviously if you travel a lot it is much less but for one ticket, yep. Ouch. If I had known another way to get there I would have but the website said it was an 18 min walk. So, no thanks.
1:35 GMT - Get to Marylebone, the escalator from the Tube is so long it feels like it'll never end. Seriously. I just kept telling myself. Look straight ahead look straight ahead. Anyway it did land and then I am instantly glad I took a small suitcase. Even though it's heavy and so is my backpack, pulling it up about 20 steps was so much easier with the small size than if it'd been bigger. So anyway, I find the ticket window. Didn't want to try my luck at the machines this time since I needed to get to a particular place and whatnot. The man was nice but of course, I had just missed a train to Stratford, I figured as much. But I had planned on taking the 15:33 train all along anyway, so the fact that I was here with about 2 hours to spare when all along I had worried about potentially missing it was fine. So I sat and ate some of my food (and threw away the perishable stuff that was out all night). Ticket was 14.90 pounds, got some kind of discount rate. Had no problem using my CapOne card to buy it. So the total to get from Heathrow to Stratford will end up being about $52. My oh my. Again, welcome to London and thank you US Dollar *rolls eyes*
2:20pm GMT - so here I am at Marylebone train station writing this and all of the above. I wandered around, used the (pretty nasty) restroom, bought a bottle of water for 60p (which seemed relatively reasonable for that matter, considering the smallest water bottles were more than double that even if you figure in the exchange) at a posh-looking little food mart in the station, went outside the station and snapped a couple pictures of London in action as it's my only time to see it I suppose, and now I am just going to rest my back and neck (heavy backpack:( ) for an hour or so til the train boards, etc. My computer's picking up all kinds of wireless signals but they don't appear to be working. Oh well!
My cell phone is showing "no service"… NO SERVICE IN LONDON??????????? Maybe this thing really IS a piece of crap. If I get to Lisbon and it still has no service I guess I will have no choice but to find some kind of SIM Card locally that will roam. How odd. Oh well, luckily I don't need it at the moment. Will deal with it later.
So I guess the plan of attack is to try to stay awake until a reasonable bedtime hour. Hopefully I will be able to fall asleep then, at say 10pm GMT, even though it will feel like 2pm to me LOL. Then I can adjust pretty quickly.
I must say, in all my research for my trip, all I read were horror stories about Heathrow - lost and stolen luggage, long lines, horrible this, awful that, blahblahblah. I guess I am now ruined because of the horror that is LAX, I got really lucky today, or I was really smart by intentionally arriving on a Sunday (when, as I had suspected all along, it was really just plain quiet throughout the entire airport). My guess is a combo of all three, and my advice to those who might be reading this who might be planning a trip to Europe through Heathrow - ARRIVE ON A SUNDAY! Seriously, I had ZERO trouble whatsoever. Seriously, my bag came out so fast I had to check it 3 times to actually believe it was mine. It just was totally smooth and painless. So for those who have had trouble, that is my advice. Take it or leave it I suppose :P But I can't imagine doing the trips I did today through the tube and up stairs and all that on a busy weekday or something. No way.
6:50pm GMT - Sitting in the B&B Lounge. on the train ride, I figured out why the phone wasn't working - it was set to the frequency for US bands only, so I changed that and picked up UK service, phew. The rice on the train was beautiful once it got out of London - rolling hills, animals (horses and sheep mostly), some cute towns here and there, and some remnants of the recent flooding. I just kept marveling over the clear clean blue sky dotted with white puffy clouds. The train moved relatively slowly, so I was even able to get some nice pictures.
Now on to the B&B, after a short couple minutes' walk from the train station I reach the guest house, ring the bell, and I am greeted warmly by Val and her Husband. They are so sweet, he sat me down and showed me everything I need to know, including a map where all the stuff is, an idea of a walk by the water, restaurants/pubs, etc. So helpful and so nice. Then they showed me around my room, which to my surprise was up two very steep windy flights of stairs. But Val the sweet thing that she is carried my suitcase up for me. Mom you would not like it at all. The room is teeny but adorable and clean. Took a couple pictures of it. Pretty much has anything I can imagine I'd need. The little lounge here is great, very "English" and homey with a nice couch to sit on, which is where I'm typing this. They even gave me a "breakfast menu" to have us fill out for tomorrow. Pretty cool eh.
Hey, someone just walked into the lounge, he's from NYC to see his son graduate from Oxford. We're chatting about flight lengths and jetlag and stuff, this is great. This is why I took this vacation. Day 1 isn't even over and it's awesome already.
10:37pm GMT - Amanda came shortly after I stopped writing earlier, showed her the room and we set off to wander and find some food. Found the Garrick, or something like that. The oldest pub in Stratford. For us all that mattered is that 1) it was open and 2) it had decent-sounding options cheap. I had some chicken finger appetizer that was really tasty - chicken fingers in fish n chips type light batter, and we split an appetizer of little balls of bread in a garlicy/herb sauce with tasty olives and cherry tomatoes on top…mmmm… and I tried a Pimms and lemonade at Amanda's advice. QUITE tasty indeed. But "lemonade" is not like our lemonade. As Amanda described, it is basically 7up or Sprite, aka lemon soda. Came back here, settled in a bit, figured out the wireless (WOOHOO!) and gonna try to sleep soon!
Day 1
Saturday July 28
2:25pm Pacific - Prime Time Shuttle guy comes right on schedule. His english is so bad the other woman in the van and myself couldn't understand a word he said. Oh well, he was taking me to the airport, he was right on time, and I was the last stop. Can't really complain. The other woman was quite nice, she was flying to London then to Munich to meet some family for a week in Germany.
2:50ish pm Pacific - get to Terminal 2, at Virgin's departure terminal, the International Terminal. It looks really quiet from the outside, but when I walk in, I see the zoo. First, I go to weigh my luggage. The suitcase is about 32-33 pounds, well under the 50lb limit. My carry on is about 18-19 pounds, so she tells me I have to move some things out into my suitcase. Anything electronic is just simply out of the question. So I moved some of my guidebooks and maps. I don't need any of them til later anyway and I am just simply counting on them to get my stuff on the right plane and off the right place so I get it at Heathrow tomorrow with no problem! :p
3:15 Pacific - I'm through security - wasn't too terribly bad, about 20 min or so. Because my backpack is so full and heavy it was a bit of a pain taking out the laptop and baggie of liquids and taking off my shoes, but I'll live. I'm just really paranoid about misplacing something, forgetting where something is and freaking out, losing something, etc. I am trying to keep things in the same place so that every travel day I remember where they are. We'll see how well that works - HA! At least from now on I'll be taking less food on the plane with me, that will help with the weight. But I wanted plenty of good snacks like nuts and some bread, a couple of protein bars, etc., because it's such a long flight and I don't even think they give us breakfast tomorrow! Geeeeez, 10 hours and hundreds of dollars and they can only spare one meal. Oh, and the lady didn't even weigh my backpack. But I didn't really put anything I REALLY need into my checked bag anyway, so I guess it's not a big deal at this point. I just hope I haven't gotten so frazzled that something got lost. But I just don't see the need to limit carry-on weight. Or I think you should be allowed a total weight per person. Like I could have checked 2 bags weighing 50 pounds each, but I only checked 1 bag weighing about 35 pounds. Shouldn't I be able to add that weight to my carry-on weight? I mean, I'm just carrying a backpack. Seriously. As long as it fits in their size restrictions I don't really see the point. But whatever, it will be a moot point if I get my bag as planned and still make the train I want to make tomorrow out of london to stratford. Let's hope.
After getting through security I walked around and found my gate - I'm so early (nearly 3 hours til departure) that my flight isn't even on the screen yet. So I sit for a few to catch my breath - it's a particularly hot day in LA and the a/c in the airport is lacking - and then I wander trying to find what the food options were because I am so thirsty. A BOTTLE OF WATER IS ALMOST FOUR DOLLARS ARE YOU SHITTING ME. Sorry, just had to get that out. It's not this bad in the LAX domestic terminals. WTF? A pizza at "Wolfgang Puck Express" is $9.60 my lord. Talk about highway robbery…high air robbery? Sorry, I know that was bad. So I settled with some water fountain water - at least it was relatively cold.
3:45pm Pacific - I found an outlet and here I am typing away. Is the timestamp style of blogging a good one? I read a trip report on a message board that was timestamp style and I liked it a lot because I almost felt like I was taking the trip with him. I will try to do it this way as long as my memory allows me to remember the times I do things. I figure it also might help me pay close attention to the times and whatnot so that I won't forget what pictures I take and of what. I remember a lot of my pictures of london, by the time I got home and developed them, I forgot what half of them were of. That was one of my main reasons for bringing my laptop in the first place :) Also, if I think about it linearly at the end of each day, I am less likely to forget something! And I definitely don't want to forget anything.
I actually slept surprisingly well last night - considering I don't usually sleep well the night before going away, and this is the king of all imaginable trips. After thinking about this for so long, and all the planning and waiting, I can't believe it's finally here. It almost seems a little surreal. Even sitting in the airport right now, I fly often enough so that it just kinda feels like another trip home or wherever - I flew to Texas and back in the span of not much more than 24 hours just a couple weeks ago. I think once I get on the British-based Virgin plane I will really realize that this is actually happening!!
Don't board for another hour plus. Not sure what to do with myself really. Don't want to waste what's on my ipod because I'll get sick of it with all these plane and train rides every few days LOL. No internet so I have nothing to really do except keep typing. But I don't really have anything else to say right now so I will stop for the time being, relax for a while, get something to eat at these exorbitant prices and hang tight til they board. Even though none of you will read this til after I've arrived overseas - please pray for my luggage LOL. Til later!
……
9:25pm Pacific / 5:25am London - So here I am a little cramped on the plane, watching Music and Lyrics (I had downloaded it to watch sometime on the trip anyway). Already watched Blades of Glory LMAO HAHAHA. This is a very interesting airline. Everything is all brightly colored - purple (duh.), red, blue, yellow, etc. The flight attendants are so lovely, and it is the biggest airplane bathroom I've ever SEEN!! You can actually like, WALK in it. Actually, this is the biggest airplane in general I've ever been on. It seems never-ending man! Dinner was….. Airline food. Chicken, some nasty rice and stuff, a really horrible roll, a decent salad, some crackers and cheese, and a really yummy piece of Oreo Cheesecake. It was funny because the airline is so british yet the food was all so American (cheese from wisconsin, pepperidge farm crackers, land o'lakes butter, and chicago cheesecake). Hey, they even served a little glass of wine with dinner, if you wanted it.
I'm sitting next to this lovely old British lady who is just so sweet. Not much more to say, she's adorable. The media center thingy that is at each seat is quite frankly RIDICULOUS!! It's like a crazy remote control where you can pick one of a bazillion movies, one of a bazillion tv shows, music, news, maps, travel guides and hell, even games. They also have this water fountain so you can get water whenever you want it. I think that's a nice little touch - they also give you this little thingy with socks, an eye shade, even a toothbrush and toothpaste. Kinda cool I suppose. Well, I guess I will just watch the end of this movie and stop trying to mess with my computer that doesn't really fit in the spot when the person in front of me has their seat reclined. In fact, I can't quite see what I'm typing! :P
I've never been in this weird limbo of not knowing what day it is - is it 9:30pm or is it 8 hours later and the next day? I have no idea how I'm going to sleep at all, but I suppose then I'll just be so exhausted that I won't have trouble falling asleep tomorrow night in England! Til tomorrow!
Friday, July 27, 2007
Sunday, July 15, 2007
"Europe" in LA? 2 weeks! ...and other random musings
2 weeks from today I will touch down in London...WOOHOO!!
I needed some stuff at Target so while I was there, I stocked up on the rest of the things I can think of that I might need for the trip - from special blister products to travel tissue packs and bug spray and a little spray stain removal thingy... all those little things that are way more expensive and tougher to find over there that I will probably need at some point or another in the span of 6 weeks. I feel like I have pretty much everything I need. But looking at the pile of crap in my room that I have thrown together to pack right after my exam, I'm starting to have serious doubts about my ability to fit everything into my little carry-on and still have a little room left. But I have to. I'm not taking anything bigger than that little case. I know I will be thankful later on when I don't have any trouble on the trains and subways. So I will do it, somehow!
Reserved my final trains in Italy - saved 20% on top of it, which is always fantastic! I probably could've waited til my arrival in Venice, but why not have one less thing to worry about - it's done, I have my seats (hopefully window) and got a discount on top of it.
Now all I need is for the damn bar exam to be over!
Recently found out about a couple of events in Florence and Rome while i'll be there - religious or city festivals (I figure i'll take the time to read about them when I have more time... while i'm en route or some evening when i'm overseas). It was such a nice surprise to find out about things like that! So, cool! even more things to look forward to!
I realize this is a blog for my trip but my trip hasn't started yet and as this is tangentially related, I will post it. Because it's my blog and I can!
Today I needed a change of scenery in my studying so I went over to this street called Larchmont. It is like a little street with all kinds of cafes, shops, drug stores, a couple of salons, some financial things, you name it, it's on this little street - the area is called Larchmont Village. It's probably my favorite street in LA, but I don't go there much - I just forget - and it gets so busy. So as I am sitting there in Peet's Coffee (I had to try it for my building manager Sally - hi Sally!) with my iced latte (yes you were right, it was very tasty!) and study materials, I can't help but let my mind wander that if there is a place in LA that's "European," it must be this street.
No (or at least very few) tourists, families are just out enjoying the beautiful Sunday morning. The woman at the table next to me was breastfeeding, I'm pretty sure. Lots of families and animals, lots of kids, and even a little - but amazing - farmers market on Sunday mornings in one of the parking lots, selling everything from amazing organic fruits and veggies to baked goods, flowers, and everything in between - most of whom offered delicious samples. I couldn't help but think to myself, if Europe met LA, this is what would result. Lots of different languages were even being spoken, the line in Peet's was long and a bit chaotic, the tables were full, and unlike Starbucks, they were even playing classical music in the background. Of course, I know there are no lattes in Europe, but still - it fit my mental picture of what Europe is going to be like. I guess we'll see how right I turn out to be and just how different each place in Europe is, too.
So anyway, I loved it. It was awesome. If only I didn't have to study or I would have sat and people-watched for hours. This experience today reaffirms my belief that I will enjoy sitting in cafes people-watching just as much as holing up in a museum looking at paintings on the wall all day. Just taking the time to slow down and sit outside and not care if it costs more to drink the coffee sitting down outside but just doing it and sitting there for 2 hours and experiencing it is one of my main goals for this trip (which I think I will try to think about and write up after my exam but before I leave). I can't stand these people on these travel message boards who are what I have to call "List Tourists" - they read the guidebooks and just want to do everything on the lists - stay at the hotels on the list and pay way too much for it, eat at the restaurants on the list and pay too much for it, see all the museums not because they care but because they think they should, etc. Pretty lame if you ask me.
As an aside - forecasts seem to be showing that it is in the 90s in Vienna, and nearly 100 in Florence. Dear god, I hope it cools down by the time I get there. and who'd imagine this, but it's been raining in England!
I needed some stuff at Target so while I was there, I stocked up on the rest of the things I can think of that I might need for the trip - from special blister products to travel tissue packs and bug spray and a little spray stain removal thingy... all those little things that are way more expensive and tougher to find over there that I will probably need at some point or another in the span of 6 weeks. I feel like I have pretty much everything I need. But looking at the pile of crap in my room that I have thrown together to pack right after my exam, I'm starting to have serious doubts about my ability to fit everything into my little carry-on and still have a little room left. But I have to. I'm not taking anything bigger than that little case. I know I will be thankful later on when I don't have any trouble on the trains and subways. So I will do it, somehow!
Reserved my final trains in Italy - saved 20% on top of it, which is always fantastic! I probably could've waited til my arrival in Venice, but why not have one less thing to worry about - it's done, I have my seats (hopefully window) and got a discount on top of it.
Now all I need is for the damn bar exam to be over!
Recently found out about a couple of events in Florence and Rome while i'll be there - religious or city festivals (I figure i'll take the time to read about them when I have more time... while i'm en route or some evening when i'm overseas). It was such a nice surprise to find out about things like that! So, cool! even more things to look forward to!
I realize this is a blog for my trip but my trip hasn't started yet and as this is tangentially related, I will post it. Because it's my blog and I can!
Today I needed a change of scenery in my studying so I went over to this street called Larchmont. It is like a little street with all kinds of cafes, shops, drug stores, a couple of salons, some financial things, you name it, it's on this little street - the area is called Larchmont Village. It's probably my favorite street in LA, but I don't go there much - I just forget - and it gets so busy. So as I am sitting there in Peet's Coffee (I had to try it for my building manager Sally - hi Sally!) with my iced latte (yes you were right, it was very tasty!) and study materials, I can't help but let my mind wander that if there is a place in LA that's "European," it must be this street.
No (or at least very few) tourists, families are just out enjoying the beautiful Sunday morning. The woman at the table next to me was breastfeeding, I'm pretty sure. Lots of families and animals, lots of kids, and even a little - but amazing - farmers market on Sunday mornings in one of the parking lots, selling everything from amazing organic fruits and veggies to baked goods, flowers, and everything in between - most of whom offered delicious samples. I couldn't help but think to myself, if Europe met LA, this is what would result. Lots of different languages were even being spoken, the line in Peet's was long and a bit chaotic, the tables were full, and unlike Starbucks, they were even playing classical music in the background. Of course, I know there are no lattes in Europe, but still - it fit my mental picture of what Europe is going to be like. I guess we'll see how right I turn out to be and just how different each place in Europe is, too.
So anyway, I loved it. It was awesome. If only I didn't have to study or I would have sat and people-watched for hours. This experience today reaffirms my belief that I will enjoy sitting in cafes people-watching just as much as holing up in a museum looking at paintings on the wall all day. Just taking the time to slow down and sit outside and not care if it costs more to drink the coffee sitting down outside but just doing it and sitting there for 2 hours and experiencing it is one of my main goals for this trip (which I think I will try to think about and write up after my exam but before I leave). I can't stand these people on these travel message boards who are what I have to call "List Tourists" - they read the guidebooks and just want to do everything on the lists - stay at the hotels on the list and pay way too much for it, eat at the restaurants on the list and pay too much for it, see all the museums not because they care but because they think they should, etc. Pretty lame if you ask me.
As an aside - forecasts seem to be showing that it is in the 90s in Vienna, and nearly 100 in Florence. Dear god, I hope it cools down by the time I get there. and who'd imagine this, but it's been raining in England!
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