This is Suze and Bekah signing out.....we're off to Paris and Greece...thanks for following our blog. for pictures that correlate with the blogs, check out Rebekah's facebook page.
Cheers, Suze and Bekah
Tuesday 16 June 2009
Scotland....aka Freedom.
For our last weekend in the UK, we headed to Edinburgh, Scotland. Our flight was scheduled for 5:55 pm, so we requested to leave work early. We came back to the room and got everything together, leaving the nurses home around 4. Of course, then we had to take a bus followed by a train to get to Gatwick airport. By the time we arrived at the airport, it was just after 5 pm and we were starting to get nervous. We saw this huge line, or queue, that we thought was the line to get our Easy Jet plane tickets. After standing in line for a few minutes, Suze decided this was ridiculous and went to investigate only to discover that we were actually standing in line for security. We raced over to the Easy Jet counter only to have the man tell us that we were too late. The flight was closed! He referred us over to another desk to figure out what to do. We waited in another queue at that desk. When we got up to the lady and explain the situation, she responded that yes, the flight did close at 5:15 pm. It was 5:19. She called down to the gate to see if the flight was on time and if they would accept 2 passengers without checked luggage. Apparently, they said yes, and she took us back to the first Easy Jet counter we were just at. There, yet another man was to print out our tickets. He checked us in, but then couldn’t get Suze’s boarding pass printed. So another agent had to print her ticket. Meanwhile, we are sweating bullets. Suze had heard a man walking through the security line call for any passengers on our flight. So we run to the front of the line where a man says for all passengers with a 6:10 departure or earlier to follow him. He starts walking really fast towards a different part of the airport, with Suze and Bekah right behind him and another 15 people behind us. We get to the front of this emergency security line, for lack of a better term, and he starts asking to see people’s boarding passes. When the people told him that their flight was not until 6:20, he got really angry that they were so far ahead in the security queue…literally about to go through. He handled the situation really poorly and the passengers got quite irritated. They were arguing back and forth, and we were just willing the line in front of us to go faster as we were now down to about 20 minutes to take off. He threatened them that if they did not show their tickets and move out of the way to the back of the queue, then they were not flying today. He even went so far as to tell the security agents working there not to let those people through. We didn’t stick around to see what happened though, as we were rushing through security. We then began RUNNING through the airport with our carry-ons in tow. As we were running down the corridor towards our plane, we see yet another queue! We were still running though, dodging people. And then we realize, it really was a line and we were to wait in it. Despite the fact that it was now 10 minutes before take off. This line was waiting to get the tickets confirmed before we could go into that area of the airport. We waited there a good 15 minutes or so with no one giving us any indication of what was going on other than to tell us to move to one side or the other. Meanwhile, all the flights on the board for that area report that they were closing. We make it through running to the plane, only to be one of the first few people to board. Then much to our delight, our flight was delayed an hour! We don’t know why. And then on top of that we had a technical problem that also had to be fixed before we could take off. Needless to say, there was no need for us to have run through the airport as we did. (Are you exhausted yet?)
We arrived in Edinburgh shortly after 8pm and headed for the Edinburgh Backpackers Hostel. When we arrived at the hostel, we were told that our room was in another building just down the street, the random red door labeled 34A. We opened the door to our accommodation and immediately identified the dodginess. The stairs leading upwards were concrete with about every 5th one or so carpeted. Of course, our room was on the third floor. After dropping our stuff, we went out in search of food. Bekah had been craving spaghetti all week, so we went to this little Italian restaurant just down the road called La Rusticana. It was absolutely delicious and tasted like a little piece of Italy. We split a half bottle of house merlot which was quite smooth and nice. Bekah had chocolate panna cotta for dessert, which she decided was not quite as good as the panna cotta in Rome, but was still delicious. After dinner, we went for drinks at a nearby pub where we had seen they had Foster’s for less than £2. We were enjoying our drinks at the bar, when Suze tells Bekah that these guys were checking them out. They were Scottish and quite drunk. But in the end, they bought us a Kronenberg beer, even though that is not what either of us was drinking and Bekah had requested shandy.
On Saturday, we got up early and had breakfast at a little place where our hostel offered a discount. After breakfast sandwiches and coffee/tea, we headed out to face the day. We began the day at the Edinburgh castle. The weather started out quite nice, and there was even a little sunshine. We had to wait in another queue to get into the castle, and it was quite an expensive entry fee. Bekah even had to pay for the audio guide, which was usually included in an attraction’s price. Inside the castle gate, there was a mob of people watching a ceremony. Turns out, it was in celebration of the Queen’s birthday. Even though her actual birthday is in April, apparently they celebrate it in June. We toured around the castle at our own pace. It was a traditional castle with large gray stones and lots of cannons. They had a beautiful tiny chapel, a memorial to fallen soldiers, and even a cemetery for dogs! The crown jewels of Scotland were also there. Upon leaving the castle, the rain came in and sputtered on and off for the rest of the day. This turned out to be a mixed blessing for Bekah, whose allergies were ferociously attacking. After Suze purchased a teapot that she had been eyeing in one of the shops, we discovered that we were very close to our hostel. We ate lunch at a Mexican restaurant on our street and it turned out to be the closest thing to real Mexican we have had since we arrived in the UK. Next, we walked the Royal Mile, a shopping area at the foot of the castle. We then headed to Arthur’s Seat, a former volcanic formation on the edge of Edinburgh and from which you can see the whole city. We climbed up it, huffing and puffing the whole way. It was a nice view from up there and we enjoyed that the city had a bit of nature that close by. After our hike, we were hungry again and stopped for afternoon tea. We then climbed the Scott monument in the middle of town. It is a beautiful old looking building with a kind of gothic feel. We climbed up to the top (287 stairs) for 4, 360º views. The staircases were tiny and winding. We do not know how anyone who is the least bit tall or wide could make it up. At one point these two small Japanese girls passed us coming down as we were going up, and it was a ridiculous sight with us pressing ourselves against the wall for them to squeeze past. It did offer magnificent views, but was a difficult climb, one we were still feeling the next day. After the climb, we went for a pre dinner rest in our room. For dinner, Suze wanted breakfast so we went to a pub where they serve breakfast all day. It turned out to be a pseuo- American diner complete with an Arizona state road map on the front of the menu. With Suze’s meal, came haggis and black pudding. Suze was brave enough to try both. Bekah did not try either. Suze was not a fan of either. After dinner, we went back to our pub with the £2 pints.
We awoke before 6 to catch the shuttle to the airport. We made it back to London without a hitch, not at all like our last experience. After a bit, we headed out on an adventure to find Wimbledon. It took us quite some time to find the bus stop. We knew where the bus would come to take us back from Wimbledon, but when we went there we could not find a bus stop going in the opposite direction. We finally found it one street over, and waited and waited for the bus. Just when we were about to give up on it, the bus came and we hopped off at the tennis center. We then had our very last high tea in London at the café thereL. It was delicious and served on white Wedgewood china. But the place itself was not really that classy, surprisingly enough. Ta Da.
Word of the Blog:
Haggis – mashed up sheep innards
Black Pudding – sausage with blood (lots of blood)
The traditional Scottish dishes include haggis and black pudding, neither of which are too tempting or delicious.
We arrived in Edinburgh shortly after 8pm and headed for the Edinburgh Backpackers Hostel. When we arrived at the hostel, we were told that our room was in another building just down the street, the random red door labeled 34A. We opened the door to our accommodation and immediately identified the dodginess. The stairs leading upwards were concrete with about every 5th one or so carpeted. Of course, our room was on the third floor. After dropping our stuff, we went out in search of food. Bekah had been craving spaghetti all week, so we went to this little Italian restaurant just down the road called La Rusticana. It was absolutely delicious and tasted like a little piece of Italy. We split a half bottle of house merlot which was quite smooth and nice. Bekah had chocolate panna cotta for dessert, which she decided was not quite as good as the panna cotta in Rome, but was still delicious. After dinner, we went for drinks at a nearby pub where we had seen they had Foster’s for less than £2. We were enjoying our drinks at the bar, when Suze tells Bekah that these guys were checking them out. They were Scottish and quite drunk. But in the end, they bought us a Kronenberg beer, even though that is not what either of us was drinking and Bekah had requested shandy.
On Saturday, we got up early and had breakfast at a little place where our hostel offered a discount. After breakfast sandwiches and coffee/tea, we headed out to face the day. We began the day at the Edinburgh castle. The weather started out quite nice, and there was even a little sunshine. We had to wait in another queue to get into the castle, and it was quite an expensive entry fee. Bekah even had to pay for the audio guide, which was usually included in an attraction’s price. Inside the castle gate, there was a mob of people watching a ceremony. Turns out, it was in celebration of the Queen’s birthday. Even though her actual birthday is in April, apparently they celebrate it in June. We toured around the castle at our own pace. It was a traditional castle with large gray stones and lots of cannons. They had a beautiful tiny chapel, a memorial to fallen soldiers, and even a cemetery for dogs! The crown jewels of Scotland were also there. Upon leaving the castle, the rain came in and sputtered on and off for the rest of the day. This turned out to be a mixed blessing for Bekah, whose allergies were ferociously attacking. After Suze purchased a teapot that she had been eyeing in one of the shops, we discovered that we were very close to our hostel. We ate lunch at a Mexican restaurant on our street and it turned out to be the closest thing to real Mexican we have had since we arrived in the UK. Next, we walked the Royal Mile, a shopping area at the foot of the castle. We then headed to Arthur’s Seat, a former volcanic formation on the edge of Edinburgh and from which you can see the whole city. We climbed up it, huffing and puffing the whole way. It was a nice view from up there and we enjoyed that the city had a bit of nature that close by. After our hike, we were hungry again and stopped for afternoon tea. We then climbed the Scott monument in the middle of town. It is a beautiful old looking building with a kind of gothic feel. We climbed up to the top (287 stairs) for 4, 360º views. The staircases were tiny and winding. We do not know how anyone who is the least bit tall or wide could make it up. At one point these two small Japanese girls passed us coming down as we were going up, and it was a ridiculous sight with us pressing ourselves against the wall for them to squeeze past. It did offer magnificent views, but was a difficult climb, one we were still feeling the next day. After the climb, we went for a pre dinner rest in our room. For dinner, Suze wanted breakfast so we went to a pub where they serve breakfast all day. It turned out to be a pseuo- American diner complete with an Arizona state road map on the front of the menu. With Suze’s meal, came haggis and black pudding. Suze was brave enough to try both. Bekah did not try either. Suze was not a fan of either. After dinner, we went back to our pub with the £2 pints.
We awoke before 6 to catch the shuttle to the airport. We made it back to London without a hitch, not at all like our last experience. After a bit, we headed out on an adventure to find Wimbledon. It took us quite some time to find the bus stop. We knew where the bus would come to take us back from Wimbledon, but when we went there we could not find a bus stop going in the opposite direction. We finally found it one street over, and waited and waited for the bus. Just when we were about to give up on it, the bus came and we hopped off at the tennis center. We then had our very last high tea in London at the café thereL. It was delicious and served on white Wedgewood china. But the place itself was not really that classy, surprisingly enough. Ta Da.
Word of the Blog:
Haggis – mashed up sheep innards
Black Pudding – sausage with blood (lots of blood)
The traditional Scottish dishes include haggis and black pudding, neither of which are too tempting or delicious.
Windsor Castle, a little Londontown, and Tooting
This weekend we decided to stay in London. On Friday night, we laid low, going into town to a pub for some shandy, cheese fries, and WiFi. Saturday morning, we headed to Windsor Castle, which is apparently the Queen’s favorite residence. We had planned it so that we could arrive at Windsor in time for the changing of the guard. Well, we were there on time, but they did not have the ceremony that day! We still don’t know why not. The castle is huge and imposing. Made of gray stones and set high on a rocky hillside overlooking the city below. We saw Queen Mary’s doll house, which is a miniature version of a castle complete with gardens, a garage, nursery, man’s room, etc even down to the closets. It is extremely detailed and fragile. We were also able to visit the state rooms, which includes bedrooms, banqueting hall, dining rooms, and the china room. One of the most magnificent rooms was the Lantern Room, which is an octagon with beautiful wood and gold plated items lining the walls. The banqueting hall, which is long and filled with shields of family crests. After seeing all there was to see at the castle, and hearing more about the monarchy than we wished to know, we left the castle in search of food. We found a quaint restaurant called the Crooked House, which is just as it says, crooked. This was a little disorienting, especially when climbing the stairs or looking at pictures on the wall.
Once back in London, we headed for the Borough market, a famous food market. They had all nature of goodies, but we arrived only about 45 minutes before closing time. We had a few free samples, but did not eat a meal there. Everything smelled delicious and was so fresh. They had fruits, vegetables, meats, all nature of prepared foods, baked goods, just about everything. We were standing next to a baked good stand when they announced a 2 for 1 sale. Since it was closing time, they were trying to get rid of their goods. This was a deal we could not pass up, so we purchased delicious scones for just 60p. We left the market and headed towards the Tower of London. We did not go in, but took pictures of the Tower Bridge and walked along the river Thames. We crossed the Millennium Bridge, where you could catch a glimpse of St. Paul’s Cathedral and went into the Tate Modern, a museum of modern art. Since neither of us are much on modern art, we just walked around a bit. After we saw the Monet painting, we decided it was time to leave.
As we were making our way to the tube station, these people rode by playing loud music. The odd thing about this was that they rode a mobile bar with pedals. There were about 4 people pedaling on each side facing each other with a bar in between. Then there were also a few people just sitting on there. They were enjoying drinks and appeared to be having a grand time. This was quite strange and random. Earlier whilst complaining about the lack of cereal selection here, we had heard of a supermarket near the South Kensington station that sold American cereal. We went there to check it out. They carried many American foods such as Goldfish, Rotel, and Kraft Mac & Cheese. But everything was outrageously expensive! The cereal was £7! That is about $11. Outrageous! Needless to say, we did not buy anything there. For dinner, we decided it was time for Indian food again, and went back to Tooting. Here we ordered the dosa, which are like large flat (and when we say flat, think paper thin and crunchy) pancakes that you can dip in sauces. We have been informed that they are eaten for breakfast in India.
On Sunday, we decided to take a personal day and it was awesome.
Word of the Blog:
Dodgy = shady, sketchy
Wonky = crooked, cockeyed
While we thought it was dodgy that there was no changing of the guards, we enjoyed eating at our wonky café.
Once back in London, we headed for the Borough market, a famous food market. They had all nature of goodies, but we arrived only about 45 minutes before closing time. We had a few free samples, but did not eat a meal there. Everything smelled delicious and was so fresh. They had fruits, vegetables, meats, all nature of prepared foods, baked goods, just about everything. We were standing next to a baked good stand when they announced a 2 for 1 sale. Since it was closing time, they were trying to get rid of their goods. This was a deal we could not pass up, so we purchased delicious scones for just 60p. We left the market and headed towards the Tower of London. We did not go in, but took pictures of the Tower Bridge and walked along the river Thames. We crossed the Millennium Bridge, where you could catch a glimpse of St. Paul’s Cathedral and went into the Tate Modern, a museum of modern art. Since neither of us are much on modern art, we just walked around a bit. After we saw the Monet painting, we decided it was time to leave.
As we were making our way to the tube station, these people rode by playing loud music. The odd thing about this was that they rode a mobile bar with pedals. There were about 4 people pedaling on each side facing each other with a bar in between. Then there were also a few people just sitting on there. They were enjoying drinks and appeared to be having a grand time. This was quite strange and random. Earlier whilst complaining about the lack of cereal selection here, we had heard of a supermarket near the South Kensington station that sold American cereal. We went there to check it out. They carried many American foods such as Goldfish, Rotel, and Kraft Mac & Cheese. But everything was outrageously expensive! The cereal was £7! That is about $11. Outrageous! Needless to say, we did not buy anything there. For dinner, we decided it was time for Indian food again, and went back to Tooting. Here we ordered the dosa, which are like large flat (and when we say flat, think paper thin and crunchy) pancakes that you can dip in sauces. We have been informed that they are eaten for breakfast in India.
On Sunday, we decided to take a personal day and it was awesome.
Word of the Blog:
Dodgy = shady, sketchy
Wonky = crooked, cockeyed
While we thought it was dodgy that there was no changing of the guards, we enjoyed eating at our wonky café.
Monday 1 June 2009
Baath
BAATH (this is they way they pronounce it. You will be made fun of if you try and do otherwise)
This weekend, we traveled by train to Bath. It took about 1 ½ hours, and we arrived in the city around 10:30 Saturday morning. Upon arrival, we learned that we could not check into our room at the University of Bath until 2pm. So to kill some time, what else should we do but shop and eat! We went to several stores in town, and it was one of our most successful shopping ventures yet. We found two items that we had searched for in London but had been previously unable to find. Mind you, we were carrying our luggage on our backs and it was a rather warm morning. So after a bit of shopping, we decided to find a place to sit and rest. We had sandwiches, tea and scones at a tea room recommended in one of our guide books, despite the fact that it was only around 12pm…not exactly tea time but Suze was in need of caffeine. We then hit the markets, which were quite a disappointment. Next, we took the bus to our accommodation on the outskirts of the city. We checked into our room on campus, and were pleased to see that we had several amenities such as coffee and tea for breakfast, a hairdryer, and a tv. After dropping off our stuff and freshening up a bit, we headed back into town. We decided to go eat at a famous residence of Sally Lunn, who is simply famous for her creation of the Sally Lunn bun. The bun can be sweet or savory, and is so huge that they usually just sell half at a time. Suze had one with cinnamon on top, and Bekah had the traditional one with clotted cream and strawberry jam. Both were delicious especially with a pot of tea, to which we both seem to have become addicted. After our snack, we explored the Royal Cresent and the Circus – residences that were built hundreds of years ago in the typical Georgian design for which Bath is famous. Almost all the buildings in Bath are built in this style with the same color stone, making it a very uniform city. During the afternoon, we sat in the park and people watched. There were some very interesting people in the park, as it was a beautiful, sunny Saturday with temperatures somewhere in the early 20s Celsius. The people here seem to think that is HOT despite the fact that those temperatures in Fahrenheit are somewhere in the 70’s. We were particularly intrigued by this group of guys playing football, or soccer as we call it. They were dressed in all sorts of outrageous manner, not the least of which involved hot pink stirrup leggings with a matching hot pink tank top. After our rest in the park, we went to have drinks and dinner before heading to our room for the night. Coincidentally, the weekend that we were at the Uni was their prom night! They had all manner of after parties set up on campus that night. We could hear them up into all hours of the night. But it seemed a good time was had by all.
On Sunday, we slept in a bit. We had learned that the accommodation office on campus would hold our bags for us so that luckily we did not have to carry them around all day. However the office did not open until ten. We were there waiting before they opened, dropped our bags off, and hopped on the bus back into town. We went in search of a traditional English breakfast. This is a fried breakfast which consists of fried egg, sausage link, ham or bacon, toast, a half a grilled tomato, sautéed mushrooms, and baked beans! That’s right…BAKED BEANS…like the kind you would eat with a hamburger at a cookout. We found a place to eat. Suze tried to get the beans on the side as she does not like them in the States and feared they would not be to her taste. However, the lady did not seem to know how to do this so Suze went without the beans so they did not contaminate the rest of her food. We were able to sit outside for our meal, and the weather was quite pleasant. After breakfast, it was time to see THE BATH from which the city gets its name. Bath is built around the ancient Roman baths and the Bath Abbey. The bath has been there since the early first century A.D when the Roman Empire ruled. It was a place of worship to the goddess Minerva as well as a fitness center and a place to do business or just have a bath. It was built around a natural spring, which was believed to flow with healing waters. The Romans designed a clever piping system to ensure that the bath would always be full of clean spring water. There are many rooms in the bath, and when the bath was fully operating, each section of the bath would have contained water at different temperatures to optimize bathing, swimming, and spa needs. You cannot get in the bath, however, as the water is not safe. It is quite green and murky now; though we were assured that during its heyday the water would have been fresh and sparkling. After our tour of the bath, we stopped for pudding and, you guessed it, tea at the Pump Room, a classy restaurant attached to the bath. The pudding was made from bath bun, they sure do love their buns in Bath, and was served with clotted cream ice cream. The dessert was the consistency of bread pudding. Neither of us cared for the taste of the pudding too much, but we both were in agreement that the ice cream was nice. After our snack, we headed to another bus that would bring us to visit Stonehenge. This is something that Bekah, especially, was interested in but we didn’t think we were going to get to do. We hopped on a purple bus driven by our tour guide Dan and set out on our three hour tour (and no, the Skipper was not there). On the drive, we got to see some of the beautiful English countryside. We also saw some other sites along the way. Hundreds of years ago, wealthy British landowners would carve huge drawings into the hillsides. This was made possible by the white limestone that lies shallowly beneath the vegetation on the hills. We saw a gigantic white horse carving but did not get close enough to take a picture. We also saw thatched roof houses along the way. As we approached the area where Stonehenge is, close to Salisbury for all you geography buffs, we began to see signs that say “tank crossing”. This is because much of the land in this area is now owned by the Department of Defense. After passing a field of sheep, we came upon the stones. Stonehenge is mysterious and monolithic, breathtaking and beautiful. The ancient structure, purported to be more than 4,000 years old, is roped off and no one can get close enough to touch it. However, this allows for excellent picture taking without Joe Tourist blocking your view. We walked around the structure with a handheld audio guide and listened to the theories and conjecture about what the stones are doing there and how they got there. In short, no one really knows. They do know that the shape of the structure correlates perfectly with the summer solstice. After our self guided tour, we got back on the bus and returned to Bath. We went back to the Uni to collect our belongings, ate jacket potatoes for dinner, and jumped on the train back to Putney.
Words of the blog:
Pudding – British word for dessert; Nice – used to say if something is delicious. In a sentence: see paragraph above
Uni – University. In a sentence: what Uni are you from?
This weekend, we traveled by train to Bath. It took about 1 ½ hours, and we arrived in the city around 10:30 Saturday morning. Upon arrival, we learned that we could not check into our room at the University of Bath until 2pm. So to kill some time, what else should we do but shop and eat! We went to several stores in town, and it was one of our most successful shopping ventures yet. We found two items that we had searched for in London but had been previously unable to find. Mind you, we were carrying our luggage on our backs and it was a rather warm morning. So after a bit of shopping, we decided to find a place to sit and rest. We had sandwiches, tea and scones at a tea room recommended in one of our guide books, despite the fact that it was only around 12pm…not exactly tea time but Suze was in need of caffeine. We then hit the markets, which were quite a disappointment. Next, we took the bus to our accommodation on the outskirts of the city. We checked into our room on campus, and were pleased to see that we had several amenities such as coffee and tea for breakfast, a hairdryer, and a tv. After dropping off our stuff and freshening up a bit, we headed back into town. We decided to go eat at a famous residence of Sally Lunn, who is simply famous for her creation of the Sally Lunn bun. The bun can be sweet or savory, and is so huge that they usually just sell half at a time. Suze had one with cinnamon on top, and Bekah had the traditional one with clotted cream and strawberry jam. Both were delicious especially with a pot of tea, to which we both seem to have become addicted. After our snack, we explored the Royal Cresent and the Circus – residences that were built hundreds of years ago in the typical Georgian design for which Bath is famous. Almost all the buildings in Bath are built in this style with the same color stone, making it a very uniform city. During the afternoon, we sat in the park and people watched. There were some very interesting people in the park, as it was a beautiful, sunny Saturday with temperatures somewhere in the early 20s Celsius. The people here seem to think that is HOT despite the fact that those temperatures in Fahrenheit are somewhere in the 70’s. We were particularly intrigued by this group of guys playing football, or soccer as we call it. They were dressed in all sorts of outrageous manner, not the least of which involved hot pink stirrup leggings with a matching hot pink tank top. After our rest in the park, we went to have drinks and dinner before heading to our room for the night. Coincidentally, the weekend that we were at the Uni was their prom night! They had all manner of after parties set up on campus that night. We could hear them up into all hours of the night. But it seemed a good time was had by all.
On Sunday, we slept in a bit. We had learned that the accommodation office on campus would hold our bags for us so that luckily we did not have to carry them around all day. However the office did not open until ten. We were there waiting before they opened, dropped our bags off, and hopped on the bus back into town. We went in search of a traditional English breakfast. This is a fried breakfast which consists of fried egg, sausage link, ham or bacon, toast, a half a grilled tomato, sautéed mushrooms, and baked beans! That’s right…BAKED BEANS…like the kind you would eat with a hamburger at a cookout. We found a place to eat. Suze tried to get the beans on the side as she does not like them in the States and feared they would not be to her taste. However, the lady did not seem to know how to do this so Suze went without the beans so they did not contaminate the rest of her food. We were able to sit outside for our meal, and the weather was quite pleasant. After breakfast, it was time to see THE BATH from which the city gets its name. Bath is built around the ancient Roman baths and the Bath Abbey. The bath has been there since the early first century A.D when the Roman Empire ruled. It was a place of worship to the goddess Minerva as well as a fitness center and a place to do business or just have a bath. It was built around a natural spring, which was believed to flow with healing waters. The Romans designed a clever piping system to ensure that the bath would always be full of clean spring water. There are many rooms in the bath, and when the bath was fully operating, each section of the bath would have contained water at different temperatures to optimize bathing, swimming, and spa needs. You cannot get in the bath, however, as the water is not safe. It is quite green and murky now; though we were assured that during its heyday the water would have been fresh and sparkling. After our tour of the bath, we stopped for pudding and, you guessed it, tea at the Pump Room, a classy restaurant attached to the bath. The pudding was made from bath bun, they sure do love their buns in Bath, and was served with clotted cream ice cream. The dessert was the consistency of bread pudding. Neither of us cared for the taste of the pudding too much, but we both were in agreement that the ice cream was nice. After our snack, we headed to another bus that would bring us to visit Stonehenge. This is something that Bekah, especially, was interested in but we didn’t think we were going to get to do. We hopped on a purple bus driven by our tour guide Dan and set out on our three hour tour (and no, the Skipper was not there). On the drive, we got to see some of the beautiful English countryside. We also saw some other sites along the way. Hundreds of years ago, wealthy British landowners would carve huge drawings into the hillsides. This was made possible by the white limestone that lies shallowly beneath the vegetation on the hills. We saw a gigantic white horse carving but did not get close enough to take a picture. We also saw thatched roof houses along the way. As we approached the area where Stonehenge is, close to Salisbury for all you geography buffs, we began to see signs that say “tank crossing”. This is because much of the land in this area is now owned by the Department of Defense. After passing a field of sheep, we came upon the stones. Stonehenge is mysterious and monolithic, breathtaking and beautiful. The ancient structure, purported to be more than 4,000 years old, is roped off and no one can get close enough to touch it. However, this allows for excellent picture taking without Joe Tourist blocking your view. We walked around the structure with a handheld audio guide and listened to the theories and conjecture about what the stones are doing there and how they got there. In short, no one really knows. They do know that the shape of the structure correlates perfectly with the summer solstice. After our self guided tour, we got back on the bus and returned to Bath. We went back to the Uni to collect our belongings, ate jacket potatoes for dinner, and jumped on the train back to Putney.
Words of the blog:
Pudding – British word for dessert; Nice – used to say if something is delicious. In a sentence: see paragraph above
Uni – University. In a sentence: what Uni are you from?
Tuesday 26 May 2009
Eireann go braugh!
For our second bank holiday (yup, we got off just because it was the last Monday in May) we decided to go to Dublin, Ireland. While going through security for our flight, Bekah’s purse got flagged; and just in case she was a dodgy character, they swiped it for drugs. Instead of being required to take off your shoes when going through security, there is a post-security scan section for just your shoes. Suze and Bekah found this to be quite odd. The flight was a little under an hour, and before we knew it, we were in Dublin.
The city bus took us towards our guesthouse… the Elvis Presley Guesthouse that is. The directions from the confirmation email were a bit vague, and none of the bus stops were announced. Of course, we did not know where ours was precisely, and thus missed our stop. Luckily this bus mishap only required us to walk an extra 3 minutes on level surface, unlike the uphill battle we had in Oxford. After dropping off our stuff, we decided to make our way into the city for some dinner. Since we had no idea where to go, we just hopped off the bus at a stop that seemed popular. Thanks to a map we found at the guesthouse, we navigated our way to the Temple Bar area where we discovered that Dublin was an expensive place! After dinner, we headed home, stopping for Magnum ice cream bars on the way. Bekah had white chocolate and Suze had Temptation, which had caramel and chocolate pieces in the ice cream. In Dublin, it stays light really late. Despite the fact that it was after 9 by the time we were heading home, it was just getting dark.
The next morning, Suze awoke before 8, and Bekah was up shortly thereafter. We went down to breakfast, which was included in the cost of the room. Cereal and milk, tea, instant coffee, and fruit were available on the table. And our hostess from the night before offered to make us fried breakfast consisting of two fried eggs, two sausage links, cheese and toast. This was a highlight of our trip considering we were expecting just some toast. Plus, we needed to fuel up for our day of walking. We walked back into town to walk through Temple Bar which had both a food and jewelry/fashion market. After this, we headed to Christ Church, where we did not go in, but took pictures outside. We moved on to Dublin Castle, which is more like pieces of a castle that was just randomly incorporated into the city. We took some photos there, but again did not go inside as it did not open until later that afternoon. Next we walked on to St Patrick’s Cathedral. There we did go inside, and it was beautiful. It is built on the site where St Patrick is said to have baptized many people in the 5th century. After the church, we headed to the Guiness Storehouse, where they were celebrating 250 years of making Guiness! They took us through the whole process of how the beer is made. Then we went to the very top to the gravity bar which offers a 360 degree view of Dublin. There we were treated to our complimentary pint of Guiness which neither of us finished. Bekah didn’t even come remotely close, but Suze made it halfway. After this, we headed in the rain to the Epicurean market where we wanted to eat lunch. They had many different types of food represented there..Indian, Chinese, Mexican, etc. But we settled on bagels, which were soft and delicious. From there, we headed to do some shopping. We were a bit disappointed in ourselves that we hadn’t bought souvenirs for anyone yet and were hoping that Ireland would be the place. However, we were not that successful. The shopping was terrible or expensive. But we did do a ton of walking! We were really interested in finding some affordable Irish jewelry, but did not have much success, as the two stores we had heard about were no longer there. Amidst our shopping, we stopped off at an internet café to connect with the world, rest our bones, and determine if there was some great shopping area that we were missing. After a long day of walking and not so successful shopping, we were extremely tired. We decided to head to a pub for a traditional Irish meal. We headed towards the guesthouse to try a nearby pub since it would mean a shorter walk after dinner. But, when we got to there, we learned that they did not serve food. So Suze had a beer there and we watched the celebration following Leinster’s win over Leicester (a rugby championship with Leinster representing Ireland. And it is pronounced Linster). We then decided to pick up Indian food on the way home from this little take out place that smelled delicious and was close to where we were staying. We fell into bed exhausted that night while watching Britain’s Got Talent. If you want to see something strange, check out Nick Hell or Darth Jackson. (neither of which are entertaining or talented……….just bizarre. How they advanced to the semi-finals we’ll never know)
Sunday morning we slept in a bit. We had breakfast at the guesthouse, this time prepared by a guy. Suze went down first to have breakfast, and this man ate her toast. She had ordered eggs and got toast with it, but it came on a separate plate. This guy, who did not even have a plate, took a piece of her toast. She was indignant. After Bekah ate as well, we headed for the Dublin Zoo. It was on the opposite side of town from our guesthouse, and we walked about an hour to get there with some of that being uphill! At the zoo, we saw many different animals including farm animals, lemurs, African animals, penguins, and a whole lot more. With the exception of the big cats, the animals were so close, that we could have reached out and petted a rhinoceros if we wanted to! We shared a pizza at the zoo, and then headed out to, you guessed it, shop some more! This time however, we met with some success. We enjoyed the warm sunny day in Ireland, with both of us coming out of the day with small sunburn. We ate dinner that night in a pub.…Bekah had the traditional Irish stew, and Suze had a vegetable soup, which was pureed (we’re not quite sure why but it seems to be the way they prefer their soup in the UK). For beverages, one beer was over 5 euro! So expensive! After that, we headed back to the guesthouse to get some sleep since our flight was at the crack of dawn. Our taxi needed to pick us up at 4:30 a.m. We again watched Britain’s Got Talent (we only had 3 stations, but since we don’t have a tv at the Nurses Home we were quite amused). We saw Susan Boyle sing, and advance to the final round.
On Monday, we woke around 4 am. We made it to the cab, and the cabdriver was way too chipper for that early. After a short 1 hour flight, we were back in England. Following a train ride and bus trip, we finally arrived back home and both passed out!
Word of the Blog: Fringe - what we know in the states as bangs. “After going to six different places in Putney, Bekah finally got a new London-do and some full fringe!”
The city bus took us towards our guesthouse… the Elvis Presley Guesthouse that is. The directions from the confirmation email were a bit vague, and none of the bus stops were announced. Of course, we did not know where ours was precisely, and thus missed our stop. Luckily this bus mishap only required us to walk an extra 3 minutes on level surface, unlike the uphill battle we had in Oxford. After dropping off our stuff, we decided to make our way into the city for some dinner. Since we had no idea where to go, we just hopped off the bus at a stop that seemed popular. Thanks to a map we found at the guesthouse, we navigated our way to the Temple Bar area where we discovered that Dublin was an expensive place! After dinner, we headed home, stopping for Magnum ice cream bars on the way. Bekah had white chocolate and Suze had Temptation, which had caramel and chocolate pieces in the ice cream. In Dublin, it stays light really late. Despite the fact that it was after 9 by the time we were heading home, it was just getting dark.
The next morning, Suze awoke before 8, and Bekah was up shortly thereafter. We went down to breakfast, which was included in the cost of the room. Cereal and milk, tea, instant coffee, and fruit were available on the table. And our hostess from the night before offered to make us fried breakfast consisting of two fried eggs, two sausage links, cheese and toast. This was a highlight of our trip considering we were expecting just some toast. Plus, we needed to fuel up for our day of walking. We walked back into town to walk through Temple Bar which had both a food and jewelry/fashion market. After this, we headed to Christ Church, where we did not go in, but took pictures outside. We moved on to Dublin Castle, which is more like pieces of a castle that was just randomly incorporated into the city. We took some photos there, but again did not go inside as it did not open until later that afternoon. Next we walked on to St Patrick’s Cathedral. There we did go inside, and it was beautiful. It is built on the site where St Patrick is said to have baptized many people in the 5th century. After the church, we headed to the Guiness Storehouse, where they were celebrating 250 years of making Guiness! They took us through the whole process of how the beer is made. Then we went to the very top to the gravity bar which offers a 360 degree view of Dublin. There we were treated to our complimentary pint of Guiness which neither of us finished. Bekah didn’t even come remotely close, but Suze made it halfway. After this, we headed in the rain to the Epicurean market where we wanted to eat lunch. They had many different types of food represented there..Indian, Chinese, Mexican, etc. But we settled on bagels, which were soft and delicious. From there, we headed to do some shopping. We were a bit disappointed in ourselves that we hadn’t bought souvenirs for anyone yet and were hoping that Ireland would be the place. However, we were not that successful. The shopping was terrible or expensive. But we did do a ton of walking! We were really interested in finding some affordable Irish jewelry, but did not have much success, as the two stores we had heard about were no longer there. Amidst our shopping, we stopped off at an internet café to connect with the world, rest our bones, and determine if there was some great shopping area that we were missing. After a long day of walking and not so successful shopping, we were extremely tired. We decided to head to a pub for a traditional Irish meal. We headed towards the guesthouse to try a nearby pub since it would mean a shorter walk after dinner. But, when we got to there, we learned that they did not serve food. So Suze had a beer there and we watched the celebration following Leinster’s win over Leicester (a rugby championship with Leinster representing Ireland. And it is pronounced Linster). We then decided to pick up Indian food on the way home from this little take out place that smelled delicious and was close to where we were staying. We fell into bed exhausted that night while watching Britain’s Got Talent. If you want to see something strange, check out Nick Hell or Darth Jackson. (neither of which are entertaining or talented……….just bizarre. How they advanced to the semi-finals we’ll never know)
Sunday morning we slept in a bit. We had breakfast at the guesthouse, this time prepared by a guy. Suze went down first to have breakfast, and this man ate her toast. She had ordered eggs and got toast with it, but it came on a separate plate. This guy, who did not even have a plate, took a piece of her toast. She was indignant. After Bekah ate as well, we headed for the Dublin Zoo. It was on the opposite side of town from our guesthouse, and we walked about an hour to get there with some of that being uphill! At the zoo, we saw many different animals including farm animals, lemurs, African animals, penguins, and a whole lot more. With the exception of the big cats, the animals were so close, that we could have reached out and petted a rhinoceros if we wanted to! We shared a pizza at the zoo, and then headed out to, you guessed it, shop some more! This time however, we met with some success. We enjoyed the warm sunny day in Ireland, with both of us coming out of the day with small sunburn. We ate dinner that night in a pub.…Bekah had the traditional Irish stew, and Suze had a vegetable soup, which was pureed (we’re not quite sure why but it seems to be the way they prefer their soup in the UK). For beverages, one beer was over 5 euro! So expensive! After that, we headed back to the guesthouse to get some sleep since our flight was at the crack of dawn. Our taxi needed to pick us up at 4:30 a.m. We again watched Britain’s Got Talent (we only had 3 stations, but since we don’t have a tv at the Nurses Home we were quite amused). We saw Susan Boyle sing, and advance to the final round.
On Monday, we woke around 4 am. We made it to the cab, and the cabdriver was way too chipper for that early. After a short 1 hour flight, we were back in England. Following a train ride and bus trip, we finally arrived back home and both passed out!
Word of the Blog: Fringe - what we know in the states as bangs. “After going to six different places in Putney, Bekah finally got a new London-do and some full fringe!”
Monday 18 May 2009
It’s a monkeys wedding
The weather in London has been particularly nice since we arrived, that is until this weekend. The weekend we decided to stay and explore London Proper we received stereotypical pouffy weather…..overcast, splotchy rains, and chilly winds. Bekah and Suze powered through though. Saturday, we ventured out to Notting Hill, down to Portobello Road Market which was so jam packed with people you could barely get close enough to see what people where selling. The market is full of antiques, clothes, fruits/veggies, prepared food, and the best part… pastries. Due to the massive amounts of people, the only thing purchased was delicious donuts. We also took a stop at the Travel Bookstore, the one that Hugh Grant runs in the movie called, coincidently enough, Notting Hill. We then moved on to Camden Market. This is supposed to be the famous London market…My Fair Lady’s flower market was even modeled after it. However, the minute we walked out of the tube station all we could take in were the gothic/eighties clothing and tattoo/piercing shops. After Portobello Road, this market was a huge letdown. Needless to say we didn’t buy anything here either, but hey we can say we’ve been. We decided then to go to West End (the theatre district here) and see about attending a play this weekend/next week. Well as it turned out, we bought tickets for a show that night and had to rush home and back, which took approximately an hour one way. It was worth it though. We saw Joseph at the Adelphi Theatre, and it was awesome with lots of good singing and bright colors. Songs were sung in all different styles from country, Elvis, French, and 80s. Bekah has given warning to Suze that she may be singing them for the rest of the trip.
Sunday, we started again at another market, Spitalsfield. Luckily, this one was fancy….it was covered. Here, it was similar to Portobello Road, but far less crowded and with a lot more artistic and fashion booths. Suze and Bekah are apparently terrible market shoppers because, yup you guessed it. We left empty handed. From here, we were going to go see Tower of London and other British sites, but since the tubes we needed were all under construction, we decided to go shopping at Covent Market (not an actual market, but an area of town with lots of shops) and Harrods. Harrods is gigantic, practically a whole city block and 4 stories high with amazing Food Halls. They have an Egyptian hall where the elevators are that are decorated in true extravagant ancient Egyptian fashion. There was even an employee in there serenading us with an opera aria. Bekah and Suze decided they needed to partake in high tea and seeing as it was that time, they settled down in the café for their pot of tea and scones with clotted cream and jam. The Brits really do know what they’re doing. High tea was delicious and perfect for the cold wet day.
In case you are wondering, what the frack is a monkey’s wedding? Well, Bekah and Suze have discovered that in Africa this means a sunny day with rain. Strange, but true.
Also, Suze wants it to be known that Bekah drank not one but TWO shandy's when they went out with the work peoples on Friday. For those of you who dont know, the most Suze has seen Bekah drink beer was approximately 5 sips. So this is impressive.
Word of the blog: pouffy – inclement weather. In a sentence: see earlier in the blog. On Saturday, it was a bit of a pouffy day, what with all the monkey’s weddings.
Sunday, we started again at another market, Spitalsfield. Luckily, this one was fancy….it was covered. Here, it was similar to Portobello Road, but far less crowded and with a lot more artistic and fashion booths. Suze and Bekah are apparently terrible market shoppers because, yup you guessed it. We left empty handed. From here, we were going to go see Tower of London and other British sites, but since the tubes we needed were all under construction, we decided to go shopping at Covent Market (not an actual market, but an area of town with lots of shops) and Harrods. Harrods is gigantic, practically a whole city block and 4 stories high with amazing Food Halls. They have an Egyptian hall where the elevators are that are decorated in true extravagant ancient Egyptian fashion. There was even an employee in there serenading us with an opera aria. Bekah and Suze decided they needed to partake in high tea and seeing as it was that time, they settled down in the café for their pot of tea and scones with clotted cream and jam. The Brits really do know what they’re doing. High tea was delicious and perfect for the cold wet day.
In case you are wondering, what the frack is a monkey’s wedding? Well, Bekah and Suze have discovered that in Africa this means a sunny day with rain. Strange, but true.
Also, Suze wants it to be known that Bekah drank not one but TWO shandy's when they went out with the work peoples on Friday. For those of you who dont know, the most Suze has seen Bekah drink beer was approximately 5 sips. So this is impressive.
Word of the blog: pouffy – inclement weather. In a sentence: see earlier in the blog. On Saturday, it was a bit of a pouffy day, what with all the monkey’s weddings.
Wednesday 13 May 2009
Settling In
Cinco De Mayo aka Suze's Birthday!
On Suzette’s birthday, Cinco de Mayo, we decided to celebrate in true style. We invited our friend Zoe to come with us. She is an occupational therapy student from Oxford Brooks University and is originally from Mozambique (that’s in southern Africa for those of you who are geographically challenged). We went to the Texas Embassy Cantina per the suggestion of Melissa and Jenna. The restaurant was inspired by an actual Texas embassy which was established in London when Texas was its own independent republic. Since people do not seem to be too big on Mexican here in London nor do they acknowledge the existence of Cinco, we thought it would be no problem. However, when we got to the restaurant we were told it would be a 45 minute wait for a table. Since we had traveled by tube about 20 minutes not to mention the walk to the tube station, we decided to wait it out. We enjoyed chips and salsa and margaritas. However, overall the food was not quite up to par. It lacked the overall spiciness and taste that we have come to know and love back home. Especially Bekah who just came from Texas. After dinner, we went out to nearby Trafalgar Square. There is supposed to be a large fountain there, but they were doing construction on it so it was dry. However, there are these HUGE metal lions in the square. Before we ate, we had noticed many people climbing onto their backs and decided we too would do this after dinner. The lions are so massive that we required a boost in order to sit on their backs. With extraordinary effort, we were able to accomplish our goal and even sit near the lions face in his paws. We took many pictures here. It was only later that we learned that apparently this is illegal and we could have been carted off.
The land of Tolkein and Lewis:
On the weekend, we ventured to Oxford to visit with our friend Zoe who goes home on the weekends. The bus we took, the Oxford tube, has free Wi-fi so we were able to finalize our future adventures. Upon arrival in Oxford, we missed our bus stop. Luckily, we realized this and got off at the next stop. But we then had to lug our baggage up this gigantic ridiculous hill. Since we had bags full of bedding not to mention the computer, this was not fun. We met up with Zoe and had a true English brunch. This consisted of scrambled eggs, sausages, hashbrowns, a grilled tomato, and toast. There was also a side dish of what pretty much amounted to spaghetti-Os but with straight noodles –weird. After eating, we headed into town. We visited the Bridge of Sighs which is a replica of a Venetian bridge and was very pretty. We went to the library which we were not allowed to enter, much to Suze’s dismay as it is the largest library in Europe and she was really looking forward to it. We then attempted punting. This is basically poling down a river…kinda like the gondoliers in Venice. It is a lot harder than it looks. You have to propel the boat as well as steer with a long metal pole that is cold and heavy. We each took a turn during the 1 hour trip. Suze was pretty good, but Bekah was not so much. Zoe was best of all, but then she had done it before. After our boat outing, we visited one of the colleges in Oxford. Confusingly enough, Oxford is actually made up of many smaller colleges. We went in one called Magdalene’s College, which they pronounce Maudlin. We don’t know why. It was pretty and historic with lots of wisteria on the building giving off a heavenly fragrance. There is also a large deer park there. The deer are smaller than those back home and an uglier brownish color. We left the college and headed back to Zoe’s where we met up with some of her friends for dinner. We decided to go to a Brazillian restaurant. It was kinda like the churascarias in the States, but slightly less fancy and without polenta, which Bekah was very sad about. The food was overall very good. And we both ate chicken hearts!! It is not an experience we will soon be repeating. The flavor was not bad (like spicy chicken sausage), but we felt we could feel the ventricle and valves as we were chewing. The next day, we did a bit of shopping in Oxford after going to church that morning. We hopped back on the Oxford tube to London and were home at a decent hour. We were very grateful for this as we had spent the previous night on the cold hard dorm room floor.
Physical Torture:
On Tuesday night we went to kickboxing. This class is held once a week in our gym on Drapers ward. The instructor is Marvin, the aforementioned PTA on our ward. He is a cage fighter, or what we in the US would call ultimate fighter. He was even on a reality TV show in London called The Final Eight. He did not win, but the chap that he lost to did. The class was brutal. Even during the warm up, Bekah thought she might not make it. We did sit-ups and push ups galore. With some frog jumps, calf work and kicks thrown in for fun. The class in total was an hour and a half. At the end, we got to do some sparring with Marvin. Don’t worry, he wasn’t really fighting back. We are not able to move today, Wednesday and are going out of our way to avoid stairs!
Word of the Blog: jumper - sweatshirt. While we were in Oxford, Suze purchased a new jumper to ward off the English chill.
ps -- new pics are up: http://www.facebook.com/home.php#/album.php?aid=2073111&id=34104915&ref=mf
On Suzette’s birthday, Cinco de Mayo, we decided to celebrate in true style. We invited our friend Zoe to come with us. She is an occupational therapy student from Oxford Brooks University and is originally from Mozambique (that’s in southern Africa for those of you who are geographically challenged). We went to the Texas Embassy Cantina per the suggestion of Melissa and Jenna. The restaurant was inspired by an actual Texas embassy which was established in London when Texas was its own independent republic. Since people do not seem to be too big on Mexican here in London nor do they acknowledge the existence of Cinco, we thought it would be no problem. However, when we got to the restaurant we were told it would be a 45 minute wait for a table. Since we had traveled by tube about 20 minutes not to mention the walk to the tube station, we decided to wait it out. We enjoyed chips and salsa and margaritas. However, overall the food was not quite up to par. It lacked the overall spiciness and taste that we have come to know and love back home. Especially Bekah who just came from Texas. After dinner, we went out to nearby Trafalgar Square. There is supposed to be a large fountain there, but they were doing construction on it so it was dry. However, there are these HUGE metal lions in the square. Before we ate, we had noticed many people climbing onto their backs and decided we too would do this after dinner. The lions are so massive that we required a boost in order to sit on their backs. With extraordinary effort, we were able to accomplish our goal and even sit near the lions face in his paws. We took many pictures here. It was only later that we learned that apparently this is illegal and we could have been carted off.
The land of Tolkein and Lewis:
On the weekend, we ventured to Oxford to visit with our friend Zoe who goes home on the weekends. The bus we took, the Oxford tube, has free Wi-fi so we were able to finalize our future adventures. Upon arrival in Oxford, we missed our bus stop. Luckily, we realized this and got off at the next stop. But we then had to lug our baggage up this gigantic ridiculous hill. Since we had bags full of bedding not to mention the computer, this was not fun. We met up with Zoe and had a true English brunch. This consisted of scrambled eggs, sausages, hashbrowns, a grilled tomato, and toast. There was also a side dish of what pretty much amounted to spaghetti-Os but with straight noodles –weird. After eating, we headed into town. We visited the Bridge of Sighs which is a replica of a Venetian bridge and was very pretty. We went to the library which we were not allowed to enter, much to Suze’s dismay as it is the largest library in Europe and she was really looking forward to it. We then attempted punting. This is basically poling down a river…kinda like the gondoliers in Venice. It is a lot harder than it looks. You have to propel the boat as well as steer with a long metal pole that is cold and heavy. We each took a turn during the 1 hour trip. Suze was pretty good, but Bekah was not so much. Zoe was best of all, but then she had done it before. After our boat outing, we visited one of the colleges in Oxford. Confusingly enough, Oxford is actually made up of many smaller colleges. We went in one called Magdalene’s College, which they pronounce Maudlin. We don’t know why. It was pretty and historic with lots of wisteria on the building giving off a heavenly fragrance. There is also a large deer park there. The deer are smaller than those back home and an uglier brownish color. We left the college and headed back to Zoe’s where we met up with some of her friends for dinner. We decided to go to a Brazillian restaurant. It was kinda like the churascarias in the States, but slightly less fancy and without polenta, which Bekah was very sad about. The food was overall very good. And we both ate chicken hearts!! It is not an experience we will soon be repeating. The flavor was not bad (like spicy chicken sausage), but we felt we could feel the ventricle and valves as we were chewing. The next day, we did a bit of shopping in Oxford after going to church that morning. We hopped back on the Oxford tube to London and were home at a decent hour. We were very grateful for this as we had spent the previous night on the cold hard dorm room floor.
Physical Torture:
On Tuesday night we went to kickboxing. This class is held once a week in our gym on Drapers ward. The instructor is Marvin, the aforementioned PTA on our ward. He is a cage fighter, or what we in the US would call ultimate fighter. He was even on a reality TV show in London called The Final Eight. He did not win, but the chap that he lost to did. The class was brutal. Even during the warm up, Bekah thought she might not make it. We did sit-ups and push ups galore. With some frog jumps, calf work and kicks thrown in for fun. The class in total was an hour and a half. At the end, we got to do some sparring with Marvin. Don’t worry, he wasn’t really fighting back. We are not able to move today, Wednesday and are going out of our way to avoid stairs!
Word of the Blog: jumper - sweatshirt. While we were in Oxford, Suze purchased a new jumper to ward off the English chill.
ps -- new pics are up: http://www.facebook.com/home.php#/album.php?aid=2073111&id=34104915&ref=mf
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