Wales: Complete

It has been ages since I have posted--I apologize to my avid readers--but I intend to fill you all in with the many adventures I have had this past month--starting off with the family coming and heading off to Wales. On the day of family arrival, I got up at 6:30 am on a Saturday morning to make it to Victoria Station to catch the Gatwick express. When I head for down the Northern Line to the Victoria, a straight shot to Victoria, I realized that Victoria wasn't running on the weekends. Nice, it as a terrible start to the day. Instead of taking me 20 minutes, it took me an hour just to get to Victoria. Got on the Gatwick express with seconds to spare, and met my Father, Aunt Kathy, and Aunt Julie, right out of the terminal. Not bad I thought. We made our way to the rental cars at around 10 or so, and headed north on the M4 to hit Wales. The drive up was interesting...I was kinda nervous for the first hour or so from my family driving on the side of the road that is unfamiliar to us. But all turned out well--a think we only got a few honks. :)

Our arrival in Wales was warm and welcoming--I got an immediate hug from Gwilym, Maryam, and Gwen--I felt as if I immediately acquired new family members, and really, by the end of the trip, I had. But, first night was nice. We all enjoyed a well-deserved dinner after driving for so long. And the cabin, although, not quite what we had bargained for was quite cute and quaint.







The next morning after sleeping in until about 8, lol, we decided to head up to Snowden to catch the train up the mountain, but only after Gwilym took us up some old mountain path--some old NARROW mountain path. When we got to the top we had quite a nice view. I even became quite close with a lone sheep wandering about. Before long we made it up to the Mountain tourist center and headed up the mountain by steam train. Silly me forgot to bring a coat, despite the fact it was about 70 degrees in the valley. It was a big mistake when we made it 3/4 of the way up the Mountain. I remembered that I got off the train excited to see the awe-inspiring sights, and then wanted to get right back on, fearing the loss of my feet and hands, lol. It was sooo cold! I mean, we were all in so much pain after being outside for like 10 minutes. The sights were worth it though. An hour later we were back down to the store to meet up with Gwilym, and then we headed over to the Estate.






Here we got a chance to walk through the older house on the property--not the one where my ancestors worked--but where the owners originally were housed, I believe. This was truly incredible. The restoration work they went through to put this place in living condition was astounding. Not only had they had to completely renovate the place, they had to do so under strict guidelines. Despite this, the house really looked livable, not what you would expect from a medieval/castle restoration. Anyway, it was quite a treat.










From there we went to visit a friend of the family's and a Welsh government official! He had wonderful stories to tell about the estate and even about his cat, that took quite a liking to me.

I believe later this day, we went to meet Kevin and his family for dinner at a pub in Portsmahog which reminded me of a kinda resort-ish town in the Adirondack Mountains. Quiet and beautiful. I even got to play a bit of futbol with Daniel and Sian--oh how I miss it. But we had a lovely dinner and a lovely drink back at their place.

The following day we went to Caenarfon to shop. I could tell Gwilym was more excited about this day than any other...following the women into the shops looking for Welsh souvinors. Hahahaha. It was the first really rainy day of the entire vacation, so we figured it would be a good day to get the painful stuff overwith. When we were shopped out from Caenarfon we went to "llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch"--I think this is spelled right---all from memory--to shop some more. Gwilym was kind enough to make a video of him pronouncing the name for all us Floridans that are Welsh pronunciation-inept, which I will post shortly.






The afternoon was still rainy so we decided to head back to T'yn Rhos and check out the old school house and train Nian used to take. There I had another wonderful encounter with an animal--a horse to be exact--that took to me immediately and to Julie's coat with fervor. We were covered in Horse snot after the ordeal, lol. Up the road we headed to the cemetery to see where some of my family and ancestors are buried. On the way back we were met by a few sheep, that assumed we were going to give them some food--not happening. Later that evening I met Iona, and Gwilym's sister's family for some Chinese food...in Wales, lol. The food was good, the company was better. We even got a chance to see a picture of Gwilym with long hair--hard to believe! hahaha!

The following day we made our long trek out to Aberdaron, to meet Morvid, a direct descendant from Harry Parry, the sea captain. It was a lovely experience to meet her and enjoy tea, sandwiches, scones, and fly cakes--which look as they sound. After playing with her dogs a bit, we said goodbye, and headed over to a small cottage where I believe, I may well be wrong, Nian lived for a short period of time. We only found out later that this cute little cottage was not what we thought. Nice, Gwilym. On the way back we hit Penbryn Bach, another location which has ties to the family.











Overall, Wales was an amazing experience I hope to enjoy again and again. I want to thank Maryam, Sian, Gwen, Iona, Kevin and his family, and all the others that shared time with me and my family. I especially want to thank Gwilym for taking so much time to cart us around Wales, which meant shopping and touristy sight seeing, and most of all, for sharing Alan with me. I have never been so touched by someone I have never met. I love him as I love all of you. Thank you for that. Now, I can proudly state on everyone's behalf, that Wales--the beautiful countryside, the great food, and the welcoming people that opened their lives to us--will forever be remembered.

Amanda

So my friend Amanda, the OBGYN student, invited us all to a concert where she would be playing.

Amanda plays the violin. And while she and the pianist were amazing, the others were not, lol.

Chiara, our Italian friend, recorded Amanda's piece and the pianist before her and put them up on YouTube. Check them out.



Czardas, Amanda accompanied b Cat - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OKZKdMt8S3E

Chopin, played by Cat Mactier - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-yxNz_ZgaZg

Last bit of Ketchup--training

This past Saturday was fun. After having problems convincing a couple of girls to go running with me earlier in the year, I convinced them that I could act as a trainer to them, which is free, vs. going to the gym and paying.

My scheme worked quite well. On Saturday, we had our first workout. I was training five girls in Regent's park.

I didn't realize how small London really is until we walked to the park from my hostel. The other side of Regent's Park is...you guessed it...Regent street, which is where my school is. It would take me about an hour and a half to get to school walking slowly. Not too bad, right. Attainable. I was really surprised.

Anyway, had a relatively easy workout. Relatively, as in I wasn't really tired, lol. But it was really great. Got to go to a park and run for a bit, then we did some abs in the grass, being careful to watch for droppings, and finished off with a few sprints. Nice, right?

I liked seeing all the dogs, honestly. I will never bring Kathy to a park here. There are just too many dogs. We wouldn't be able to get anything done! Cat and I actually went out for a run on Tuesday and a couple of times the dogs just came right up to us. So sweet.

Monday night me, Cat, and Amanda ran to Primrose hill--very safe, lots of lights and opens to the street on all sides--unlike the heath at night, which I hear has been a well known male prostitution spot? Oh the irony. Anyway...Primrose hill is beautiful, you get to the top and you see the entire skyline of London. It was stunning at night.

Back to Saturday--we pretty much spent most of the day working out--felt it the day after--and then watched Sex and the City at bedtime. It was me, Amanda, and Rebecca...the girls I am closest to at the hostel...and we were downstairs watching the first season of the show. Well, the nun's kitchen connects to this great room and we were sitting with our backs to the door. Well the sweetest of all nuns comes in right after a nude scene and we nearly crapped ourselves. She didn't notice, but did tell us to be careful watching movies at night because it is bad for our eyes when there is no light on, lol.

Anyway...fun times...

Even more...

I think we have made it to Wednesday the 18th. I went to the Tate Modern to meet up with my Creating Writing in London class. I met up with a guy named Mike who was dressed in a plaid flannel shirt with a florescent orange down puffy vest, jeans, and neon Adidas high tops--he wants to be comedian, lol. He is really cool actually. We had an assignment the week before to come up with 6 word stories.
Mine was:
He dribbles, he shoots, we lose.
(oh how optimistic of me)

His were:
Met some cannibals in the jungle.
AND
I died alone, surrounded by friends.

It was a fun assignment. Try it. It is tough.


Uh, anyway, met up with him at Blackfriars tube station so we could walk along the river to the Tate. It was cool, we walked along the Thames path and over a modern bridge to get there. Once we did, and got together with our class, our assignment was to go into 3 different rooms in the Tate and write a love story influenced by the three rooms, art pieces, or sights. Honestly, I didn't finish the assignment, but the experience was cool.

I walked into a dark part of a giant room and heard water dripping and rain and lightning, so I started my story there. After that I went upstairs, into this very graphic room that had some pretty disturbing images--I will spare you the details of the pictures, but it quite turned me off to a love story. I moved on to the impressionistic part of the museum, which inspired me to write another component of my story. It was a piece that was a collage of papers painted black and neon. It reminded me of a city, somehow. Finally, I went to the surrealist portion of the museum, a floor up and was quite surprised what I saw. Not really graphic in a bad way...just strange...manipulated, hard to interpret. I was told modern art is really quite hard to like from my friends. But I found it was actually quite easy. It isn't so much about a story or a message, even though a lot of them included these, it is more about emotion--the impression you get when you initially see it. I had quite an experience at the Tate, because I am so affected. But some feelings were better than others. Personally, I found that I really enjoyed impressionism and realism--not so much surrealism. I had a great time.

After, I walked down with a group of guys and had lunch at EAT. From there I walked back with one of them, a guy from the Jersey Shore...enough said...and headed home for the day. (He was actually quite nice, superficial, but nice)

Saturday, Julia and I were going to meet and go to Borough market--the large food market in London. Well, me not paying attention to the tube line closures realized I was stuck at the Embankment station--right in front of the London Eye. I ended up walking down the Thames South Bank for 45 minutes to get to where Julia was. It wasn't actually as bad as I thought though. I got to walk to my destination as opposed to just showing up in front of it, which made me stop and see where everything was. It made me realize how close everything really was.

When Jules and I finally met, we headed to Borough market to pick up some food for Sunday's brunch at Speakers corner. I am not gonna lie. It was pretty miserable. The place was packed. And even though there was so much to do and try, once I got there, I wanted to get out, lol. Regardless of my insomnia, we did walk around a bit and see and experience some new types of food. There were different cheeses, artisan breads, baked goods, olives, salami's, indian food, middle eastern food, hummus, vegi burgers, oysters, seafood, meat, smoothies..anything you could ever want.
It was pretty cool. Jules and I walked out with bread, cheese, and olives.

Later that night Julia, Clif, and I meet up to see Taming of the Shrew at Novello Theatre. It was not what I was expecting at all. Seeing the modern interpretations of it clouded the entire misogynistic message. Men ARE the superior species.

KATHARINA

Fie, fie! unknit that threatening unkind brow,
And dart not scornful glances from those eyes,
To wound thy lord, thy king, thy governor:
It blots thy beauty as frosts do bite the meads,
Confounds thy fame as whirlwinds shake fair buds,
And in no sense is meet or amiable.
A woman moved is like a fountain troubled,
Muddy, ill-seeming, thick, bereft of beauty;
And while it is so, none so dry or thirsty
Will deign to sip or touch one drop of it.
Thy husband is thy lord, thy life, thy keeper,
Thy head, thy sovereign; one that cares for thee,
And for thy maintenance commits his body
To painful labour both by sea and land,
To watch the night in storms, the day in cold,
Whilst thou liest warm at home, secure and safe;
And craves no other tribute at thy hands
But love, fair looks and true obedience;
Too little payment for so great a debt.
Such duty as the subject owes the prince
Even such a woman oweth to her husband;
And when she is froward, peevish, sullen, sour,
And not obedient to his honest will,
What is she but a foul contending rebel
And graceless traitor to her loving lord?
I am ashamed that women are so simple
To offer war where they should kneel for peace;
Or seek for rule, supremacy and sway,
When they are bound to serve, love and obey.
Why are our bodies soft and weak and smooth,
Unapt to toil and trouble in the world,
But that our soft conditions and our hearts
Should well agree with our external parts?
Come, come, you froward and unable worms!
My mind hath been as big as one of yours,
My heart as great, my reason haply more,
To bandy word for word and frown for frown;
But now I see our lances are but straws,
Our strength as weak, our weakness past compare,
That seeming to be most which we indeed least are.
Then vail your stomachs, for it is no boot,
And place your hands below your husband's foot:
In token of which duty, if he please,
My hand is ready; may it do him ease.


Yeah. I tend to disagree with this interpretation. Tend to. Anyway...Sunday.

I met up with Clifton and Julia in front of Marble Arch and there we saw a man standing on a stool behind layers of books placed in a pattern on the ground before him. He called: "Calling all Women....Calling all Women." I looked over. Julia looked over. "Calling all Women, Go BACK TO YOUR KITCHENS, tend the fire, and listen to man, as he is your savior."

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!

Clifton laughed. I laughed. Ignorant man. That is all you can really do.

We walked over to a bench in Hyde Park and ate our humble meal of bread, cheese, olives, and Clif's contribution, jam. I looked out onto the park where guys were playing football. I felt sad. :(

It was a rather nasty day. Saturday, I could have worn short sleeves it was like 58 or something. Sunday, it was like 38 or so. Windy, gray, and cold. When we finished our lunch we went over to listen to the speaker--which wasn't really speaking. He brought up a topic--Creationism, I believe, and some guy in the audience was supporting evolution. He must have been a science teacher because he was rambling on about genes and cell development to prove his point. It was more the audience talking than the actual speaker. We didn't stay long because it was cold.

When I got home that day, I worked on a paper for class due that week and that was about it. Another busy weekend.

Yeah, so the last several weeks?

So I am going to trek all the way back to the 13th of Feburary. Friday the 13th. Actually, it wasn't that bad. Can't remember seeing any black cats or anything weird. But I do remember I spent the greater part of my day with Clif. I met him at his place around lunch time to...eat lunch--I made the infamous tuna sandwiches. After, we headed toward Houseman's Booksellers. Clif had told me about it before--it was a radical book, book shop. Cool, right? After scouring through loads of books both new and old, and not being able to find an old leather bound copy of Capital by Marx (it would have been only 1 quid), we went to Starbucks. Nothing really special about this. Quite predictable really. But--not for long. Clif spotted a man sitting on the other side of me reading The Fountainhead! Yay, for Ayn Rand! Her individualist ways are infiltrating the English socialist system! That called for a celebration. I was beaming. Clif looked at me like he made a mistake telling me. lol. On my way home, Kaley, my friend that is over here from the states, gave me a call to see if I wanted to hang out later that night. Of course I said yes...and as I said goodbye to Clifton, I headed over to Kaley's.

I spend an exorbitant amount of money going to see Kaley's roommate's band play--Target 9--for about 5 songs before we headed over to her friend Paul's place. Paul is cool--very quiet, philosophical, theatre-y, type. I actually enjoyed this stop of the evening the best. We met some fun people and talked about Capitalism and Socialism as entities with moral bounds. For, me, this is awesome. Everyone else seemed really into it as well. Quite the conversation at a birthday party, don't you think? hahaha. We stayed here till about 11, and then headed over to a rave. Kaley's roommate Phil, got us into this student-night rave for free! We have all the connections. We practically walked past 300 people and went straight to the front of the line. Nice, right? Well when we got in we were a bit taken aback by the coat line, so we walked about to see if we could find Phil. The first room we went through was the foam room, where they played pop music while machine spit soap suds at you. It was wet and everyone smelled like dog. Not nice. We walk into the next room where we see a mechanical beer bottle being ridden by teens...again, not our cup of tea. The last room was the UV room which was just a light show thing. They played a genre of music I was looking forward to hearing--drum n' bass. Not quite as bad. We stayed here for the remainder of the night and danced. We left pretty early, it was after all a student night and I was getting bored with so much irresponsibility compiled in one place.

That pretty much ended my big party-hoping night. And I think I only had a glass of wine. Not as bad as you all thought, right? Nah.

The Saturday was V-day, I believe. I got together with a big group of girls and we basically ate pizza and ice cream and watched the cheesist chick flick on the planet--P.S. I love you.

Wow. Enough said?
I love the girls at the hostel, they really are fun. I am enjoying myself here soooo much.


Sunday night we went to Hampstead to get crepes in a little shack by a gay pub. Awesome. I think it was 9 or 10 and there was a queue all the way out to the street--prob about 30 people in front of us, maybe more. We waited 30 minutes for a crepe--but it was soooooo worth it. I mean, I was in line with about four people from the hostel, one which could count as 10 persons, she is just so loud and outgoing and crazy. Her name is Siobhan (Sha-ban) and she is from Essex--thus she has a strong accent and vibrant personality. She is an actress and is known to perform Romeo and Juliet, both parts, on tubes, lol. Quite the character. Remember, too, I am the youngest. So, between Siobhan's acting and gossip from school, the time really went by. I ended up getting a Carribbean Crepe concoction. It had dark chocolate (which is so much darker than the states--like 70-80% cocao), bananas, coconut, rum, and cream. OMG, between the rum and everything else, I couldn't even finish it. But it was pretty amazing.

We went back on Tuesday, believe it or not, since it was Pancake day--over here they are not publicly religious like our presidential candidates in the states, yet, they still maintain old religious traditions. Pancake day is the day before lent where everyone would get rid of their fatty foods-- milk, cream, eggs, sugar (and flour)-- and make pancakes. Anyway, I decided not to go so heavy on the crepe this time and I just got chocolate and hazelnuts. AMAZING! Heavenly, even. hehehe.

Some catching up...

So, I haven't really been on here in a while--I have been occupied, I suppose. After Scotland, I had to catch up on some sleeping, lol.

Let's see, Thursday night was interesting...Eda and I found a Turkish Restaurant not too far from where we live. So, before dinner, we decided to go and get some coffee. Well, Eda realizes that the waiter and chefs speak Turkish, so you could see how happy she was. The waiter ended up inviting Eda and I to share dinner with him and one of the chefs. They brought out like 5 different dishes and kept piling food onto my plate! I couldn't believe how hospitable they were. After a while, the owner came in and started talking to me and Eda...It was so much fun...I sat and talked politics with him for like 2 hours. It was great. All this while being served lots and lots of wine. We ended up staying at the place from about 4 till close at 11. We had a three course dinner with more desert a couple of hours later and between Eda and me probably a bottle and a half of red wine. When we all got up to leave--our bill was on the house. Today, I might actually go back to join a book club they have at the place--I was told there would be lots of lawyers there that I could network with. :) These are the experiences you remember most, I believe.

Saturday I hung out with Clif in Covent Gardens for most of the day--they have a market and street performers on weekends, so it was packed. We went to the Texas Embassy for lunch in Trafalgar square--which was quite an experience. An entire restaurant devoted to cheesy country music and tex-mex. Then we tried to waste some time before going to see "A Mid-summer's Night Dream" at the Novello Theatre. I have now realized why there are so many restaurants in London and why there is a sit-in charge. NO ONE WANTS TO BE OUTSIDE FOR MORE THAN 2 MINUTES AT A TIME. I mean it is just so unpleasant...even if you are bundled up, your face feels like it is about to fall off. So Clif and I were jumping restaurants to get tea and little things like that, just so we wouldn't be outside. We finally made it to the theatre at around 6:30 to see the show at 7:15. I was pleasantly surprised by this performance. It was a modern rendition of MSND, which I thought would be awful, but it really was one of the funniest plays I had ever seen. It was only 5 pounds which I couldn't believe--cheaper than they 12 pound MOVIE tickets and soooo worth it. I think I will see Taming of the Shrew within the next few weeks.

After the play I went to celebrate a birthday of one of the girls at the hostel at a club/bar down the street. It was really fun, I got a chance to meet a lot of people at my place and become better friends with them. It was really nice.

Sunday, I went to the Brick Lane market again with Beth, Julia, and Clif--mostly to get food--I have refused myself from buying anything else, lol. So I got lamb and prawn dumplings again, which were quite good, and a crepe with banana, nutella, and coconut. I was quite tempted to buy some books--I love books--and at the markets you can usually get them quite cheap. I walked by this one stand that was selling all this rebel propoganda---oh I wanted several badly--some anarchist works, communist works--but they were a bit too pricy--about 15 pounds. Another stand I found actually had a lot of stuff that I would have liked to get. It was a guy selling his book collection. He had Kerouac, Kafka, Camus, Sartre, some communism books, some libertarian books and Rand. :) Didn't end up buying anything, though.

Later that night, I joined up with the girls from Bartrams again and we walked to the BAFTAs. Which is the British equivalent to the Grammys, I was told. It was miserable. They put up walls so we couldn't see the red carpet and the closest we got to actually seeing stars was through their cars. We all lined up along the road where they were dropping everyone off. I saw Meryl Streep. That was it. Everyone else had tinted windows. And it was a miserable day. I mean cold and rainy. GROSS. It was the most miserable weather I have EVER been in. My hair was all misty and my fingers and toes were numb. And I mean it was just good enough to be bearable, but teetering on the edge of unbearable. SO AWFUL.

We took the bus back home and I got a nice warm shower.

Yesterday I went to my fun class with Juliette and today I am writing in my blog waiting for it to snow again.

So...until anything else exciting comes up...I am out.

Scotland and it's Highlands

I am going to try and sum up this entire weekend on one blog post, so try and bear with me, lol.

Thursday had a pretty terrible start. I had a morning class--Comparative European Politics--which was very difficult to get through, the lecturer was monotone and the seminar leader didn't know what he was doing. The next class was a bit better--Britain in Decline: 1920's to modern day--the lecturer was a fun guy...seemingly cold and bitter but witty...like Dr. House toned down. We watched a movie for the seminar, for which I had an older gay atheist seminar leader that was ever so pleasant. I think the 6 hours of straight lecturing and listening was what made the day so long. When 10:00 rolled around, I was excited to get my butt on the bus.

Julia meets me at the tube station a bit late, so we have to jog over to the bus station that isn't too far away. We are the last two to get on. Julia hands over the tickets to the driver and he says, "This is for tomorrow, not tonight." Julia nearly screamed at the guy thinking that is was possible she made a mistake. But he was pulling our leg. Wonderful big British bus drivers. They know how to lighten a situation. So we get on the bus and after the driver tells two guys that they cannot sit behind him, he asks us if we would like to. Hahaha. We politely declined. While he was giving out instructions some idiot was making noise, so he got up and kicked him off the bus...without warning. Wow. This was the start to an interesting bus ride. The guy was power hungry. We got to a part in the road where 3 lanes had to merge into one and our bus driver was driving in the middle of two lanes to prevent people from getting over. Lol. The rest of the journey was long and tiring...got a little sleep here and there.

When we arrived in Edinburgh it was early. So we headed to the hostel and dropped off our luggage. There we met a Canadian called Jezebel that wore a kilt and had tattoos. Nice. We got breakfast downstairs, where I convinced Julia to try Marmite the dreaded cousin to Vegimite. So gross. It had like layers of awfulness. That ruined the appetite, lol, so we went outside to explore. This is when we found Hume's grave. Around 11, we did a free walking tour, which was great. Learned that there is a lot of history in Edinburgh and it has a dark past. For a snack we got a haggis appetizer--Haggis, tatties, and neeps--which is haggis, potatoes, and butternut squash--so surprisingly good and warmed up with a hot toddy--hot whiskey with clove, cinnamon, honey, and lemon. Once the tour was over we went to a famous cheese shop and bought a few cheeses to eat with bread and wine, for a late lunch. One was a Garlic Blue cheese, another was a sharp cheddar, and the last a slightly tangy milder cheese made from sheep's Milk. It was all quite good. Got some baguettes and Devil wine--Castillio de Diablos--and enjoyed a nice, simple meal. Later that night we went to a place that sold mussel pots--where you buy a kilo of mussels and have them cooked however you want. We got the traditional--white wine with shallots, garlic, and cream. So good. Shared this and a Creme' Brulee for about 15 pounds. Cheap! On our way home, we heard some music and decided to stop in. It was cool. Everyone in Scotland is so friendly...or maybe it was because we were American girls. lol. We were talking to guys for about two hours or so while we listened to some traditional folksy music. Julia ordered us the local drink--15yr old scotch with a little water--very strong. But good. It was a good ending to the long day. When we got home, we crashed.

We got up at 7 to head over to catch our tour into the Highlands. The tour guide was so cool. He knew so much, but was also very fun. He told us stories about the Haggis animal which is a small creature that on one side of its body has shorter legs so, it only moves in counter clockwise circles, lol. Silly, gullible tourists. Or how everyone is Scotland has a tree outside their window that prevents bad fairies from getting inside. He said he saw a documentary on this and told his parents only to find out that they had planted one outside his room when he was a boy. He told us the history of William Wallace and Braveheart and where battles were fought and why. We even made our way to Loch Ness, where, unfortunately I didn't spot Nessie. On the way home Kevin, the tour guide pointed out to me the hunting Lodge in Monarch of the Glen. I couldn't get a pic, unfortunately, but it was cool, I promise. Then we watched Braveheart on the way home. What an awesome ending, right? This really was the highlight of my trip to Scotland, I felt so alive, so awe striken by everything, by every battle, by every mountain. It is steeped in so much tradition and sense of heritage; it was moving. When we got back, Julia and I finished off the bread, cheese, and wine and added some meat and olives and enjoyed some whiskey at the bar downstairs before going to sleep.

Sunday was our last day and after several days of walking and sleep deprivation, we just decided to take it easy and shop. Got a few things, a traditional shawl, another coat, and Scotland Mugs for the Starbucks collectors. Got some traditional food as well today--Scotch pie which consisted of "meat, fat, and spices...", A Mexican hot chocolate drink at Chocolate Soup, and a Vegan Baked Potato with curried corn topping.

After we got our luggage, we headed back to the bus station to catch our London National Express. I swear, Julia and I must have GULLIBLE tattooed to our heads because THIS bus driver tried to pull the same..."oh you have the wrong day here", we told him it has already been pulled on us, lol. Oh well, fun times. On the way home we started getting snow...I didn't realize it would continue. When we arrived in London 8 hours later, snow covered the ground. Apparently this is rare--only happens once every 5 years or so. Because of this, everything has shut down. I was getting ready to get on my tube and a lady came on and announced that all bus services are canceled, and 12 tube stops and like 6 lines were closed. Nice, right. Thankfully, mine was still running. But man...the entire city. Closed. I had a snow day today. I have never had a snow day, lol.

It was funny, I was going to head out to get food since I didn't have anything...and sister Patricia stopped and and pleaded with me not to go out in the snow. She made me go downstairs with her and she MADE me lunch. I got tea, sugar, milk, bread, butter, cheese, and tomato. Oh my goodness, I felt overwhelmed with gratitude. She went through all this so I didn't have to go out, lol. So, dad, there you go. I didn't go out, I have been in all day resting. I met up with another nun and she said "Oh, Megan, be careful if you go out in the snow; Put lots of clothes on."

I love this place!!! I feel like I am living with a bunch of Bongas, lol.


Okay, so, here is the deal with pictures. I am making a myspace site where you can access many more of my photos at once. I will email you the username and password of the account so you can see the photos.