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