I was running late to catch my train to the internship but by some miracle the train was delayed...that hadn't happened before. lol, God's provision or just luck? Also...I was so tired after just getting back from Barcelona the night before that I was falling asleep the whole train ride there...and on the way back too. Actually, when I finally got to the end station on the way back I was staring off into space so badly that I had no idea everyone else had gotten off and the train had been stopped for quite some time. HAHA! One of the security guys came and knocked on my window to get my attention. Whoops!
Wednesday
We met at a gallery at Somerset house for my Art class...mostly impressionist and post-impressionist work. I'm mainly familiar with Renaissance painting, but we're beginning to look at other eras and more modern stuff. I like it...most of the time. :) lol, sometimes I just don't get how some things can be considered art. But I really like the sketchiness of Impressionist paintings. I want to try it myself sometime. :)
Thursday
that night after classes the two Kristens, Jess, and I decided to go eat our first fish and chips.
We had heard that there is a good 2 for 1 place on Strutton Arms but when we walked to the end of the street we thought the place didn't look very legit (how wrong we were...my parents and I just ate there and it was delicious!) so we went back up to the street and ordered it in the Strutton Arms pub.
It came with your choice of mushy or regular peas.
And the fish was huge...like a "whole" fish....except part of the reason it looked so large is because half of it was breading. :( dislike! I mean, it tasted okay...but there was so much breading and it was a little too gooey on the inside...I kind of felt gross eating such a greasy thing too.
Friday March 4
Greenwich Day Trip!!
Mark and Beth made us tradition Bacon Rolls (basically just a bacon sandwhich...lol) for breakfast before walking over to the Westminster docks to get on our Thames river boat.
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| Our river boat |
The boat ride was neat. We were happy to see that it was enclosed in glass so we didn't freeze to death or anything of that sort. :) We took the river boat to Greenwich and the guide told us about different locations along the river and about each of the bridges that we went under. The "real" London Bridge, where the Mayflower set sail, etc. Cool stuff!
When we got to Greenwich we walked through the lovely bright green Greenwich park, up the hill to the observatory.
When we got to Greenwich we walked through the lovely bright green Greenwich park, up the hill to the observatory.
Assignment 5: Greenwich & Docklands: 80’s Bust, 90’s Boom and 2000 Millennium
At the top of the hill in Greenwich park, I got my first view over London since I’ve been here. You could see for miles!...lucky it was a sunny, clear day! I saw the O2 building for the first time as well…basically a large domed tent with spikes coming out of it that is used for concerts and other entertainment. It used to be called the “Millennium Dome”…a controversial subject for various reasons, but is now successful in the hands of the phone company O2.
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| this picture is too small to see it, but the O2 building is on the far right |
The observatory at the top of this hill was pretty awesome! We got to straddle the two hemispheres of the world!! The Royal Greenwich Observatory is the “actual demarcation of Greenwich Mean Time…separating the Eastern and Western Hemispheres! (in other words…it’s the Prime Meridian)” Not something you get to do and see everyday. : ) I think I heard someone say that there is a laser running through the exact divide that you can see at night…? Anyway…we went inside the observatory (founded in 1675 by Charles II) and browsed through the small museum of the development of navigational techniques. It had a lot of historical measuring instruments that they used. It was pretty neat! I love old telescopes and stuff like that even though I never use them. Haha!
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| straddling the two hemispheres! |
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| National Maritime museum |
After that we went down the hill to the National Maritime museum. It seemed rather small, maybe the group I was with missed part of the building or something…either way, we were all really hungry and kind of breezed through the museum. We didn’t read a lot of the information but it was all about boats/ships in the history of England. This included “Britain’s navel traditions and achievements and even colonizing America.” I also enjoyed the room with toy ships. : ) The building next to the museum was the Old Naval College, an 18th century classical “architectural masterpiece…it looked sweet! I didn’t get to see the Rococo Chapel or the Painted Hall…sadly. Maybe I’ll need to visit again sometime. : )
Next the girls let me take a quick peek around the Queen’s Gallery. It is also called the “Queen’s House” (designed by Inigo Jones in 1616 for Anne of Denmark, James I’s wife) and now is an exhibition space. It is another classical architecture building…I loved the staircase (very P&P). We took a brief look around inside at the various paintings in the collection. There were a lot of water/ship paintings. I'm inspired to paint the ocean now! :)
After that we went to eat. Mark recommended that we eat at a Mexican restaurant called "El Sol."
Let me tell you:
We have missed our Mexican food!!!
Kristin, Jess, and I split a margarita and I ordered my usual: fajita taco salad. The salad was alright....not as good as El Charro...but alright.
We were a little disappointed that they didn't give us free chips and salsa like they do in the states....I was so looking forward to it too. :( But the food was still pretty good. :)
That night the two Kristin's, Jess, and I got all dolled up and went out on the town....Kristin wanted to meet some boys. lol
I got to wear my little black dress. :)
We finally ended up just going to the student hangout bar at ULU...in the cafeteria area. lol. I had a Malibu Lemonade...really light. We just found a table and sat for awhile but quickly got bored. On the way in we had seen people going into another room with loud music playing. It said D&D over the doorway...which means "Dungeons and Dragons" where we're from. haha! We decided to check out what was going on. It was another bar and this place was hoppin! There was a dance area and some students were up there breakdancing and such. They even played some American music...usually ruining it with a techno bit...but still! It got busier the longer we were there.
And Kristin got what she wanted. haha! She met a guy from Poland named David and they chatted the rest of the night. He even got her to dance (which was funny to watch...lol, shhh, don't tell her I said that)! The other girls and I just sat there and enjoyed people watching and bobbing our heads to the music.
A couple other guys came up and talked to Jess and Kristin...who were sitting on the opposite side of the table. I found this particularly funny because I had watched them plotting with each other for some time...getting up the courage to come over. haha! Apparently they were from New York...so they may have heard our accent and wanted to come talk, I don't know. But it was funny.
During all this I got a tap on the shoulder...you know how it goes.
I turned around and there was a guy behind me that said it was the bloke on the other side of me...but when I turned that way there was no one of course.
Later on...this same guy came right up to me and started going on about how he noticed all I had done was sit there looking miserable for the last three hours (Miserable? Not even! And we hadn't been there that long...but according to him we had). He said that if we're from America, why don't we just let loose and have fun while we're here.
According to his definition of fun: we must drink alot and dance like it's the end of the world.
Not my definition...but he didn't understand that.
(What he really wanted was to dance with me...but no, he couldn't just ask me that...)
So he proceeded to try and make me feel bad for coming to this bar and not dance or drink...like I'm not having fun if I don't.
What a bunch of bogus! We tried to tell him we didn't want to dance but he wouldn't take no for an answer and kept talking.
I was getting very annoyed!
But apparently my "I'm not interested" body language and words didn't penetrate his thick skull...and I can get pretty blunt when I want to.
Finally we just got up and left....guh.
Some people...
sure, he was probably intoxicated...but still...
That's all for now my lovelies. :)
~Merely Mortal~
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| the Queen's Gallery |
Let me tell you:
We have missed our Mexican food!!!
Kristin, Jess, and I split a margarita and I ordered my usual: fajita taco salad. The salad was alright....not as good as El Charro...but alright.
We were a little disappointed that they didn't give us free chips and salsa like they do in the states....I was so looking forward to it too. :( But the food was still pretty good. :)
After that we went shopping around Greenwich.
Greenwich has more of a "village" feel even though it's a part of London...I really enjoyed that. It was fun to look around the little shops...I even found a pair of shoes!! Some gray vintage shoes that don't completely kill my feet? Score!! lol :)
We also went to the Greenwich market before heading home.
On this day they were selling mainly antiques.
I saw a dessert booth and couldn't resist the lemon tart. Mmm, it was so worth it. :)
We took the DLR (Docklands Light Railway) to Canary Warf and continued on the tube from there.
Canary Warf is the latest booming financial part of London. Taking the DLR was supposed to give us a view of the docklands and this industrial area...but I feel like we couldn't see much. There were a lot of new buildings like skyscrapers and such...but we didn't see much besides that. |
| cuties!! |
I got to wear my little black dress. :)
We finally ended up just going to the student hangout bar at ULU...in the cafeteria area. lol. I had a Malibu Lemonade...really light. We just found a table and sat for awhile but quickly got bored. On the way in we had seen people going into another room with loud music playing. It said D&D over the doorway...which means "Dungeons and Dragons" where we're from. haha! We decided to check out what was going on. It was another bar and this place was hoppin! There was a dance area and some students were up there breakdancing and such. They even played some American music...usually ruining it with a techno bit...but still! It got busier the longer we were there.
And Kristin got what she wanted. haha! She met a guy from Poland named David and they chatted the rest of the night. He even got her to dance (which was funny to watch...lol, shhh, don't tell her I said that)! The other girls and I just sat there and enjoyed people watching and bobbing our heads to the music.
A couple other guys came up and talked to Jess and Kristin...who were sitting on the opposite side of the table. I found this particularly funny because I had watched them plotting with each other for some time...getting up the courage to come over. haha! Apparently they were from New York...so they may have heard our accent and wanted to come talk, I don't know. But it was funny.
During all this I got a tap on the shoulder...you know how it goes.
I turned around and there was a guy behind me that said it was the bloke on the other side of me...but when I turned that way there was no one of course.
Later on...this same guy came right up to me and started going on about how he noticed all I had done was sit there looking miserable for the last three hours (Miserable? Not even! And we hadn't been there that long...but according to him we had). He said that if we're from America, why don't we just let loose and have fun while we're here.
According to his definition of fun: we must drink alot and dance like it's the end of the world.
Not my definition...but he didn't understand that.
(What he really wanted was to dance with me...but no, he couldn't just ask me that...)
So he proceeded to try and make me feel bad for coming to this bar and not dance or drink...like I'm not having fun if I don't.
What a bunch of bogus! We tried to tell him we didn't want to dance but he wouldn't take no for an answer and kept talking.
I was getting very annoyed!
But apparently my "I'm not interested" body language and words didn't penetrate his thick skull...and I can get pretty blunt when I want to.
Finally we just got up and left....guh.
Some people...
sure, he was probably intoxicated...but still...
That's all for now my lovelies. :)
~Merely Mortal~
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