Week 10 Day 6 of 6: London Again

March 11, 2010

An extra vacation day in London, what a treat! I caught the train back down to London, King’s Cross Station. I found the luggage check and dropped my bags off. First on my to-do list was the British Museum. I found my way around the tube much easier today as all of the stations and routes were open. I started out in the Native American section of the museum. The collection had some very cool Eskimo artifacts. Next I found myself it a giant hall that was lined with cases. In the cases were books, shells, stuffed birds, and all sorts of other artifacts. On one table was an interactive display. I stopped by and pick up a dial with dates, months, astrology signs, and hours on it. There were two hands and one had Ursula Minor on it. The chap behind the desk explained that this was used to tell time and was created in very late BC or early AD. It is accurate to 15 minutes.

I continued to wander in search of something specific. I came to the British Museum to see one display in particular and I was getting anxious to see it. I went to the second floor and looked at the clock room. Then I went though some old European rooms. Finally I ask where “it” was. I was so ecstatic when I finally saw “it.” BOG MAN! Or more properly called Lindow Man. This man was petrified in a bog about 2000 years ago. The acids in the bog preserved this man who died a terrible death. Bog Man had several holes in his scull and a rope around his neck (although this may have been ornamental). This was the highlight of my British Museum trip.

After Bog Man, I found the café and sat down for a bite. I thought I was getting langoustine and salad; what I got was a clawed monster and soup. Translation issues in England? I thought they spoke English here. It was an ok meal. Next I went to see the mummies. They have some excellent mummies there. I even saw some mummified animals – cats, monkeys, baby cows.

Next stop was the Tate Modern. On the way there I saw St. Paul’s Cathedral and found a Starbuck’s. The Tate Modern was…interesting…bizarre. These bizarre things included: a canvas painted red, a canvas with a hole cut in it, a mirror, a pile of old clothes, a movie of a person tarring and feathering themselves. Art…it is everything and nothing. Now there were a few famous folks in there that I recognized. Picasso for one had several pieces there. He is not a favorite of mine, but there was another guy that I do like. Dali. They only had one painting there that I really liked, but this made the Tate worth going to.
After the Tate, I stopped and looked at Shakespeare’s Globe Theater. Then I caught the train to Heathrow and to my hotel. I have an early fight tomorrow to start my greatest adventure ever.

Is this really famous art?

Week 10 Day 3-5 of 6: Peterborough, England

March 8-10, 2010

I traveled to Peterborough late on the 7th by train. I took a taxi to the hotel and went next door to the Harvester to eat. The food was so-so. I had a pear ginger pudding with custard for dessert. This is not what you would think. Pudding is more like mushy bread and custard is more like pudding in America – soupy, sweet, and porridge-like.
On Monday I started working. Work went well through out the week. The highlights of working were the pubs and food. The first night we ate at the Black Horse. It was a traditional English pub – old, smelly, characters sitting at the bar. I ordered a lamb shank. It sounded very English to me. I’ve never seen a shank on a menu before. It was really good. I also had some fried cheese for a starter. It was served with jelly. An odd combination I thought, so I tried it. Surprisingly it was pretty good.
For lunch on Tuesday we had “real” fish and chips. It was the best fish and chips I’ve ever had, although the English put “brown sauce” on everything. I tried it but stuck with good ol’ American Heinz 57. Tuesday night we ate Italian in Stamford a very old neat town. I had a pear and spicy cheese salad. Delicious! Followed by lasagna. I commented on how the roof was bowed and ask if the buildings were ever inspected. The building was several hundred years old. The answer was no. I asked the waiter where the loo was. I walked upstairs to find it. As I walked across the floor, I laughed to myself. The floor dipped and leaned. There was one step that was 1 inch at one side and about 4 inches at the other. I was waiting to fall through the floor.

Wednesday night we traveled to Spalding another historicly splendid town. On the way there, we drove through a very little town to see the triangle bridge. The triangle bridge was build by monks in the 1300’s. It was an amazing piece of architecture, three entryways that merged in the center. The bridge crossed two streams. On the way out we drove past the church of the monks. Half of the church was missing save one huge window frame. I was told a bit of history about a guy name Cromwell that destroyed many of the monk outposts after the king separated from the Catholic Church. As we continued to drive, it was noted that the roads are all higher than the ground. This is because this area was once a huge bog that the Dutch drained. The roads were built on mats or on more solid ground. Therefore the road are not sinking, however the ground around it is sinking at a fast pace.

I was taken to an English pub called the White Horse. Patterns are beginning to merge. I commented on this and was told that pubs way back when didn’t put the names on the door; they put a picture. Why? Because people were illiterate, thus a picture served as the name. I was asked if I wanted a nasty English beer. “Of course”, I said. They laughed at how eager I was to try what they considered not-so-good beer. I was handed a Samuel Smith bitter. It actually wasn’t too bad. Next we moved on to the best English Indian food in town. Another new experience since I had never had Indian food before (from India not Native American – just to clarity). I had some kind of chicken tomato roll thing and then some grilled prawns. It was all very good. I washed it down with a beer from India call King-something.

After dinner we took a walking tour of the town. I saw the courthouse / jail. It was explained to me that the term “take him down” was used because the jails used to be under the courthouse and many still are in England. We saw the oldest house in town and a very nice church. It was a grand evening in the merchant town of Spalding.

I learned to eat the proper way according to the English – fork in your left hand and knife in your right. They think Charles is a fool for divorcing Diana; this could be due to the inbreeding that has dumbed the royalty down according to the locals. We had a 1000 laughs this week, a bit rare for my work week. The English have all sorts of corny jokes.

Week 10 Day 2 of 6: London, England

March 7, 2010

I woke up at 8:30AM after more than 13 hours of sleep. Ahhhh…refreshing! I packed all my stuff, lugged it down to the lobby, checked out, had the concierge store by bags, and headed to breakfast. For breakfast there was a wide range of things. I had some bacon/ham – one side of this looked like a strip of bacon and it was connected to a chunk of ham. They also had some raw looking eggs (poached I think), which I avoided, lots of fruit, granola, and tons of sausage (yuck!). I ate lots of toast.

Before I realized it, the time was 9:30 and the changing of the horse guard was at 10. I rushed to the bus stop and struggled again to choose the quickest route. I arrived to the Horse Guard Station at 10:15 and thankfully only half of the troop was lined up. I hadn’t missed much. Little did I know that at the changing of the horse guard, the new horse guards process down to Buckingham Palace. I raced after them when I realized this. Yes I was the crazy tourist running down the street, camera in hand, to follow the horses! I’m sure it was quite funny because people were staring. I wondered around Buckingham Palace to find a spot that I could stand to wait for the changing of the guard. I found a spot on the side of the front grounds. I had to wait about half an hour. It was hard to follow exactly what was going on. Groups of soldiers were filing in to the grounds in different uniforms with crazy bear skin hats and all at random times. Two marching band groups showed up at different times playing different songs. A soldier from this group or that group would yell some gibberish and pace around a bit. The only thing I could understand was “new guard” and “old guard” I watched this for about 45 minutes before I left. I was tired of the rude non-English speakers pushing me against the fence and elbowing me.

From the Palace I wandered up to the National Gallery. I wasn’t quite sure what I would see. Little did I know, a grand surprise awaited me inside the gallery. All I have to say is Monet! Monet! Monet! And van Gogh! van Gogh! van Gogh! They also had a few other famous guys like Rembrandt and da Vinci. I just could not believe it as my eyes feasted on the-real-deal Claude-Oscar Monet paintings – The Water-Lilly Pond (1899) my personal favorite, The Thames below Westminster (1871), The Gare St-Lazare (1877), and so much more! I wandered to the next room to find Vincent van Gogh. The gallery didn’t have Starry Night, but they did have Sunflowers (1888) and van Gogh’s Chair (1888). I stopped in the café and had a rhubarb-black current crisp. It was delicious!

After leaving the National Gallery, I headed out to find Harrods. I was told it was a must see. Harrods is a ridiculously large department store. It takes up almost a whole block and is 5 stories. It has every thing expensive you could want besides a car. Harrods had a huge section that was dedicated to pet fashion. I’m not kidding! They even had a pet dressing room. At the entrance was a huge golden statue of Diana and Dodi. I left Harrods and went to a pizza place. Yep, that’s right, pizza 2 days in a row. Again, they didn’t cut my pizza pie. I had a coke in a bottle. I haven’t seen fountain coke anywhere.

After eating I got back on the tube to see my favorite site of the trip – the Tower Bridge. This was amazing and beautiful! I walked across the bridge and learned that I could go up inside the towers for a fee. Thus far I hadn’t paid to see anything, so this was completely worth it. To get to the top, there was a series of twisty stairs. At the two landings, a screen was set up, each playing a movie about the history of the bridge. It took over 8 years to build, 423 workers, 11,000 tons of steel, and 31 million bricks. I feel like they also said some ridiculous number of bolts (2 million) were used in the bridge. I walked across the top support bridge for a fantastic view of the Thames and down the other side. Back on the riverbank the tour continued in the engine room. Massive hydraulics and steam engines are used to open and close the bridge. This was the highlight of my London adventure.

As I headed back to the hotel to collect my belongings, I began to frantically search for my luggage check ticket. I couldn’t find it. I searched my pocket and my bag many times. When I arrived at the hotel, I had to describe my bags, tell them what was in each bag, and show them my passport. The concierge verified that my name matched my baggage tags and I was on my way. Back to the bus and onto the train station. I created quite a stir on the overly crowed bus. My luggage was in the way of everyone. Oh well! I purchased my ticket for the train that too me further north in England. Then I stood and watched the display screen with tons of other people to see what platform the train would be at. As soon as the platform was displayed, there was a mad rush to the train. You would have thought it was Black Friday at Wal-Mart. Finally I was off to work for the rest of the week. Booooo! As I arrived at the train station of my destination, the sign read as follows:

London Top 5:

5. Guy with yellow jeans and cowboy boots

4. CBB (crazy British Bum)

3. The Tower Bridge

2. Monet / van Gogh

1. MIND THE GAP

Week 10 Day 1 of 6: London, England

March 6, 2010

My flight left yesterday to fly over the great blue Atlantic into Heathrow - London's airport. I tried to sleep, but had little luck. I stopped trying to sleep near day break and enjoyed the beautiful sky at sunrise. My first glimpse of land was Ireland. But I saw just a little of the coast, for the rest was clouded over. A glimpse of my week to come? I hope not too much rain. I arrived in London a bit late as the tail winds were not very stronge on the trip. Passing through customs in London was a breeze! Much easier than my last trip to Canada. I was quite surprised. My luggage arrived quickly and I found the train and hopped on. So far so good. Although I was disappointed that I didn’t see Platform 9 ¾.

Then things got a bit more confusing. The tube was closed to various routes and stations, including the station I needed to get to. From the airport the only place I could go was to Paddington Station - no where near where I wanted to go. It took me 45 minutes to figure what I needed to do and where I need to go. I listened for someone with a British accent and ask what train to take. I changed trains once and learned that the station I need was closed. I rode to the next one and then took 20 minutes to figure out the bus schedule.

Once at the right bus station, I saw my first Crazy British Bum. He randomly starts yelling at these people getting bus tickets. They ignored him, he walked around them, and yelled a bit more. When the bus arrived, the CBB jumps in front of me and argued with the bus driver about where the bus was going. I got on the bus thankful to get away from the CBB. After 2 hours, I finally made it to my hotel. Keep in mind that I had a full hiker’s pack, my laptop bag, and a roller-suitcase. I got my exercise for the day.

Once checking into my room, I dropped my bags, laid down for 5 minutes, and then off I went to explore London. Of note is that my hotel bathroom had one of those neat ½-flush or full-flush toilets. I ate at nasty McDonald’s because I was starving. Hamburgers don’t taste like they do in the US. I wouldn’t recommend them.

Back to figuring out the bus schedule. I caught the bus that went to Westminster. I walked past Big Ben as it chimed 2 PM, Parliament, Westminster Abbey, and the Horse Guard House. I road at the top of the double-decker bus to see Picadilly Circus - like Broadway in the US. Until this point, I had no idea what Picadilly Circus was. In Picadilly Circus, I may have seen the World’s Largest High Heel. I also road through Oxford and Regents Streets - super busy shopping areas with loads of people! And finally to Buckingham Palace. By this time I was wiped out. I caught the bus and headed for dinner. I stopped at Pizza Express and got a pie. They didn't cut it - weird.

Back to the hotel for a shower and much needed sleep.

Random thoughts for the day:

- London is dirty

- No one in London speaks English – not even the Queen’s English – I was hoping to hear a Cheery-O or a bloody hell

- Why did I pack my PJs at the bottom of my pack?

- Why are there 7 light switches in a room the size of a King size bed?

Day 2 to follow soon!

Week 9 Day 2 of 2: "Monkeying" Around

February 28, 2010

For school my homework was to observe two primate species and answer a bunch of questions. So off to the zoo I went. The North Carolina Zoo is located just a few miles outside of Asheboro. It is a decent size zoo with a North American section and an African section. I was exhausted this morning after spending the wee hours of the morning purging my system and thinking I was dying. I will never eat salmon again, although I’ve heard there is a stomach bug going around so maybe that was it. Yuck! I got up later than planned; got to the zoo later than planned. Upon arriving I was on a mission: go straight to the gorilla and chimpanzees, monitor them, and leave. Not the greatest start to an adventure.

I started with the western lowland gorilla. What a lonely guy! Nkosi is the lone gorilla in the exhibit. His two female companions died this past summer of cancer. Apparently there are two more arriving this spring. Nkosi was sleeping when I arrived. There were no other observers around. Let me just add that this was an excellent time of year to go to the zoo. Hardly any people there! He heard me and stirred, sat up, looked at me and turned his back to the glass. He appeared to get annoyed with me and walked away. I followed the trail around to another viewing area. Nkosi looked at me, pulled some grass to eat, and walked away again. I followed back to the previous viewing area. At this point Nkosi got smart and walked to the back of the habitat where there were no viewing areas. About 10 minutes later the zookeeper could be seen at the top of the habitat. Nkosi walked over and sat right in front of the zookeeper waiting. He knew it was feeding time. Nkosi caught the first piece of food and began munching. His diet consisted of carrots, kale, and green peppers. Nkosi loaded up his hand and mouth with food and walked bipedal to a corner. This is interesting, considering that most of the time gorillas are quadrapedal (walk on all fours).

Next I moved on to the chimpanzees. These guys were a little move active. Two of the younger ones wrestled the entire time I watched them (roughly 20 minutes). They had a red blanket that the two of them were fighting over. The adult chimps were busy grooming each other. The chimps seemed to pay no attention to the observers at all. They were much more tuned into each other. However as more people started to file in to see them, the chimps started to wander out of view. The two that had been playing got up left first. The female was leading the male with his finger in her mouth! What a strange and funny sight.

On my way out I happened to pass by the baboons. This was not a planned stop, but turned out to be my favorite. There were roughly 20 Hamadryas Baboons. They were very active. The best part was that there were two baby baboons. They were hysterical. The babies chased, bit, grabbed tails, pulled hair, and pounced on top of each other. I spent the most time here, about an hour, because it was so very entertaining. Every so often a male baboon, who I’m guessing was the father, would intervene with the babies. The parents kept watch over the babies and kept them away from some of the other adult baboons. Most of the other adults spent their time grooming each other.

I took all of the notes I needed and headed home. It is amazing to me how interesting these primates are when you have a little bit of background on them.

As a final note: "Monkeying Around" is a misleading statement. Gorillas and Chimpanzees are in the Ape family and are not monkeys. Baboons are however in the Old World monkey family.

Now for something completely random....When is the last time you saw an Orange Crush sign?