Legitimate Honesty

Part of the conversation at pizza dinner last night after mass (Father so kindly paid for the group of six of us, woohoo free dinner.)  Walsingham = site of ND/University College London retreat this weekend that about 12 of us are going on - 'Father, I'm pretty excited to go up to Walsingham and see the country and how beautiful it is'... 'Oh, now don't have any hopes there, there's absolutely nothing up there.  I mean, absolutely nothing. Zero life'  

only Father John would tell someone to not be excited about the retreat, the good old Scottish man that he is

Spring Break

It's pretty hard to believe that I only have one weekend left before Spring Break.. that half of the semester is almost gone.  But at least I now have the week planned out and booked with Will.  Flying to Prague for Friday, Saturday night; Train to Berlin Sunday, Berlin Sunday, Monday, most of Tuesday.  Train to Brussels for Tuesday night and Wednesday, and then a nice little train ride to Paris for Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and fly back to Londontown on Sunday..

Candy Cakes

if you can imagine what a cupcake from the "Willy Wonka" would look like, that would be an appropriate description for the Candy Cake cupcakes we had last night.  the chocolate frosting almost looks fake, but it was easily the best cupcake I've ever had.. puts Hostess to shame.  You know it's good when you're legitimately pretty upset when there's none left

"Have fun on your holiday!"

as soon as we walked down the street from the train station this Saturday in Winchester, we were immediately greeted by a nice British woman who could tell we had just picked up a map and were finding our bearings.  She asked us where we wanted to go, and directed us quite nicely.  Not even ten minutes off the train and you knew this was a bit different than London.  We spent the day walking around Winchester, beginning with seeing King Arthur's Round Table.  That was impressively huge, weighing over a ton hung nicely up on the wall.  Winchester Cathedral is the longest Cathedral in Europe, and was a beast to walk through.  We spent easily over 2 hours in there, seeing Jane Austen's grave, a bible written by hand in the 13th century, and a variety of other amazingly old things.  We spent the rest of the day roaming the town, enjoying quite hearty milkshakes, and some street music.  A nice, cheap, interesting day trip out of Londontown.

Also, FYI, don't attempt to go to the Science or Natural History Museums of London the Friday of Mid-term break for London kids... it's an absolute zoo.  That was Friday afternoon, along with my first taste of Indian food here.  The Chicken Shashlik and Garlic Naan were quite the tasty pre-theatre meal before going to Avenue Q.  That was absolutely hysterical the first thirty minutes, but then not as funny the rest of the way, though probably worth our half-price tickets (woohoo for being a student)  

Busaba Eathai

Easily the best Asian food I've ever had this Saturday night, a cool Thai restaurant off the West End.  So authentic that we all got to experience chopsticks for the first time.  A bit surprising that we all made it through without any serious issues..  And then after our dinner experience it was off to a Blues Bar, Ain't Nothin But the Blues, to see a blues group.. That was cool, much smaller than the House of Blues, but pretty awesome.. minus it being a bit packed.  

oh, and the gelato I had in Budapest, some crazy Italian flavor, happened to be at a Cafe on the Thames.  Needless to say, jackpot when I saw that. 

Sunday was a fun day of exploring with no working tube stations, and a trip through Covent Garden's Arts & Craft market.  There I upon a wonderful little crepes place.. not exactly Waffle Sunday from back at school, but pretty close.  

The trip ended after mass with a little stop into Harrod's.. That place was massive, and you literally could buy anything you ever wanted there, though for a ridiculous price. Sadly, I did not pick up any souvenirs there, so that I can afford to eat the next 3 months

Continuation of the Friday Adventures

After a one-week hiatus, we returned to our Friday adventures after class to random old things around London.  The most recent trip was to the Tower of London, a centuries old fort and series of towers more famously known for its history of holding infamous prisoners such as Sir Walter Raliegh and Anne Boleyn and hanging them.  The Towers were pretty impressive, centuries old but still standing strong overlooking on the Thames.  We got to see the prisoner rooms, old torture devices, the Crown Jewels of the Monarchy, and go on an impressive tour of the grounds. It was a pretty sweet thing to see, even with the obnoxious lady from South Carolina so kindly inserting her opinion at every possible point (now I see why people don't like us.)  Though the funniest part of the journey was probably seeing the pub across the street titled Hung, Drawn, and Quartered.  All in all, a pretty cool trip for a Friday afternoon.  

Reason 384 why British pubs are cooler than American bars

Went to the Crown Tavern this weekend with a group of us who did not travel, and we played a full game of Scrabble (I ended up victorious thanks to a few triple word scores) followed by an amazing feat of 2-0 sweep in Guess Who?  Easily one of the greatest games of Guess Who ever played, the team of Laura and Patrick easily defeated Daniel and Tom by guessing correctly twice with multiple people left

Travel Booking

I was quite spoiled in my first weekend trip out of London with lodging and travel basically taken care of, along with a personal tour guide.  Attempting to book flights, travel to the airport, hostels, train trips, etc while on a student budget makes you appreciate some of that vacation booking back in the day

how good the food in budapest was

i realized that i missed the food this weekend from strudel to pasta to miracle dessert to the amazing fried dough creation yesterday more than i missed a working, hot shower.. to those who know of the length of my showers, that's certainly saying something

test one of umbrella

the umbrella took its first serious test today, as a minor hurricane has decided to ship through all day.  while it did get blown over a few times, the umbrella held its own and made it through the trip back from class and to the far grocery store

angry cabbies, strudel, food on fire, and 200 degree saunas

Life traveling is made much easier by having your own free tour guide for the weekend.  While I did have some issues paying cab drivers, the travel process went relatively smoothly minus an hour and a half delay because of snow on Friday in London.  

We basically walked most of the city on Saturday, from St. Stephen's Basilica (amazingly covered in gold) to Parliament to Castle Hill on the Danube.  The views were amazing, along with the strudel (my cherry sauce came on fire) and the Miracle dessert (amazingly chocolate cake with a better Vanilla cream and whip cream on the side.)  At a really nice Italian restaurant, we ordered a pasta dish where the noodles were put in a wheel of parmesan cheese that was lit on fire to melt the cheese to the noodles.  Quite tasty.  The baths on Sunday were quite the unique experience (once we found our little cabin of course.)  Sitting in 38 degree celsius water for a while certainly turns your muscles to jelly, though it feels like an ice bath compared to the 80-100 degree celsius sauna.  To top off the trip, before leaving for the airport, we walked through a classic Eastern European market and had what might have been the best food of the trip, a fried dough dessert coated in cinnamon, made freshly in front of us and handed over still piping hot.  

All in all, it was a wonderful little vacation, certainly easier and more comfortable than the rest of the trips will be... Also apparently while Jose and I are both "intelligent," I'm clearly much more of a "dude" and we are quite different people.  I'll take that as a compliment I think

pictures should be up (well those that i succeeded in taking because apparently I epically fail at taking pictures that come out well)

snow day dinner

ground beef + british cheddar cheese + Garlic salt + Oregano + George Foreman + Fresh bakery buns + toasting buns on stove + green beans = deliciousness 

also, i did real work today at BBDO, analyzing and critiquing '09 budget plans.  From what it looks like with them being down to one Finance manager in my office from 3, I'll be doing a lot more intense work.  The best chances to learn are always when it's short staffed (like KIPP) 

Our Version of a Pub Crawl

The plans for Friday night were dinner at a local pub, Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese, a pub frequented back in the day by Charles Dickens, rebuilt in 1667 after the Great Fire of London.  The pub was a labyrinth, with rooms upon rooms, staircases going further down below.  However, the place was so packed that there was no way we would be able to find a table and get food.  So, it was on down the street to try to find another pub.  A couple blocks down was another pub from the 1700's.  We were able to find a table upstairs, though we were in the middle of a music pub quiz.  Though we thought the waitress told us she was going to bring us menus, it turned out she was just bringing us the paper for the quiz.  So after enjoying the cokes there, it was on to find another place with food.  We went from pub to pub down different streets, only to be told that their kitchens were all closed.  Down a few random alleys eventually got us to the Thames, and across the bridge to finally find a pub/restaurant on the river.  Their kitchen was open for another 5 minutes, so i ordered a nice steak and ale pie.  Though we didn't finish dinner til after 10, the tour of the local pubs was certainly well worth it

Snow Day

I don't think I've been this excited since opening the #3 ND jersey on Christmas when I was like 6. Would've had class from 9-330, but a few inches of snow shuts down the city of London.. Pictures of some of the snow and the weekend should be up on Picasa