I am on my last few days in London...I am very very sad. So I wanted to look back at some of the things I love about London/British culture and some interesting observations. Here are some random bits...
First and foremost, I LOVE TEA. I love everything about tea now, especially going for proper British tea, which I will be doing one more time with Carly on Wednesday, April 22!! Mom and Dad don't freak out when I say this, but a proper China tea set is going to be one of the first things on my wedding gift registry. I might be permanently converted from coffee, I literally could drink tea all day.
London has NO trash cans due to the Irish bombing in the 1980s...you can hold onto an empty Starbucks cup for 30 minutes before finding a trash can, especially if are venturing around in train stations.
The Tube system is the best in the world, amazingly clean, prompt, and fast. The Brisih people that complain about it have never been to Boston. And every station has a prompter that tells you exactly when the next 2 or 3 trains will be coming.
The British really are crazy about soccer and rugby. And they think that the NLF is the biggest joke ever.
British Food:
-Digestive cookies are amazing
-They are really into "prawns", which are shrimp. Prawns and mayonnaise sandwiches are very popular...I tried it but I thought it was pretty bland
-Chinese food is not good here....and no one has heard of crab rangoon :-(
-I LOVE British pub culture!! I will really miss it.
-My new favorite drink is cider (except for vodka that is...)
-Starburst Choosers are like really big "gushers" (that snack we all use to eat in 4th grade) and I have never seen them in the states
-Starbusts use to be called "Opal Fuits" here, but the company changed it to Starbursts to align with the American version
-Cheesecake here is more creamy and mousse like...to get what Americans consider cheesecake you have to look for "baked Cheesecake" on menus
-They call peppers "chili"
English (BRITISH) Language and Phrases
- "learnt" is a word here and is different from "learned", which is also a word, i think...i still don't understand the difference between them
- they spell "center" like "centre"
-"You alright?" is a phrase for "how are you?". The first time someone greeted me with this phrase at my internship i paused, looked around, and said slowly "yes, is something wrong?" hahahaha! To me "you alright?" has an urgency to it that implies something terrible has happened.
- "Bob's your uncle", a phrase that means "look how easy it is". Example: To make pasta, simply boil water, put the pasta in the water, and Bob's your uncle!
-"have a think", really popular, just means to think about something, but think can be a noun here so I find it funny. Exmaple: "I am going to have a think about my presentation"
-"proper", means the same thing but it is heavily used here
-"Cheers", used as "thanks" or as a sign off in emails, similar to "regards". Of course it is used used in the same way anyone acquinted with the Silvers is aware of :-)
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London really is the best cit in the world. It is very similar to NYC I guess with its population, geographical size, diveristy, financial districts, shopping, different nieghborhoods (Soho, Kensington, Camdon, The City, Mayfair, Knightsbridge and more). But I guess, (sorry Jimmy) its proximity to Europe gives it a slight over NYC. It also just has a history that no city in America could ever have due to the States young age as a country.
I really will truely miss London. I can honestly say that I want to live here again sometime in my life. Maybe soon, when I am young and before I have a family, or maybe later in my old age for retirement. We will see....
But I know that I will definitely be coming back <3
Saturday, May 9, 2009
Last days in London :-(
Sunday, May 3 we caught an early flight to London. We stayed in a hotel off Leicester Square which is a perfect location. We went to Camdom to see the markets there. Camdom is more of a punk rock/hipster part of London so it was really fun because it was so different. We went to horse markets where horses use to be sold but it is now filled with clothing and antique vendors.
Then we went separate ways to finish up our individual touristing goals. I headed to the National Portrait Gallery because I had not been there yet. I loved it because they had whole rooms set aside for the Tudors, my favorite ruling family! I also went for run in St. James Park. It felt so good to run again!
That night we wanted to make sure we went out properly. We headed Pizza Express for some dinner. After some pizza and wine we went to Porter House, an awesome pub that is also a brewery. They make their own beer and have awesome flavors! We split a raspberry and honey beers…we heard they had chocolate bears but we didn’t end up getting one.
We moved on to Dity Martini in Covent Garden and ordered apricot sours. Finally, we went to O’Neill’s, Hillary’s favorite. We ordered snakebite blacks and listened to a live band. It was a great night!
Monday, May 4 I felt kind of sad the whole day because it was my last full day in London. I went to Pret for breakfast and load up on croissants because European croissants are much better than those in the states. First I went to Westminster Cathedral, which had really different architecture.
Then I headed to the Transportation Museum (Hillary recommended it), it was really fun and very well done. I learned a lot about the evolution of public transportation in London and the weird ways the use to build the undergrounds.
I could have and should have done more but it was rainy and cold and I felt sad, so I went back to the hotel and rested for awhile.
However, Hillary and I had made reservations for tea (obviously I had to do it one more time) at Harrods at 4. I left at 3 and walked the whole way down from Leicester Square to Knightsbridge. It was a nice walk that took me through Trafalgar Square, past Buckingham Palace and along Hyde Park.
Tea was lovely, and very filling.
After tea we walked to South Kensington to get one last frozen yogurt from Snog.
Then we went back to the hotel to pack up one last time before leaving London….
Then we went separate ways to finish up our individual touristing goals. I headed to the National Portrait Gallery because I had not been there yet. I loved it because they had whole rooms set aside for the Tudors, my favorite ruling family! I also went for run in St. James Park. It felt so good to run again!
That night we wanted to make sure we went out properly. We headed Pizza Express for some dinner. After some pizza and wine we went to Porter House, an awesome pub that is also a brewery. They make their own beer and have awesome flavors! We split a raspberry and honey beers…we heard they had chocolate bears but we didn’t end up getting one.
We moved on to Dity Martini in Covent Garden and ordered apricot sours. Finally, we went to O’Neill’s, Hillary’s favorite. We ordered snakebite blacks and listened to a live band. It was a great night!
Monday, May 4 I felt kind of sad the whole day because it was my last full day in London. I went to Pret for breakfast and load up on croissants because European croissants are much better than those in the states. First I went to Westminster Cathedral, which had really different architecture.
Then I headed to the Transportation Museum (Hillary recommended it), it was really fun and very well done. I learned a lot about the evolution of public transportation in London and the weird ways the use to build the undergrounds.
I could have and should have done more but it was rainy and cold and I felt sad, so I went back to the hotel and rested for awhile.
However, Hillary and I had made reservations for tea (obviously I had to do it one more time) at Harrods at 4. I left at 3 and walked the whole way down from Leicester Square to Knightsbridge. It was a nice walk that took me through Trafalgar Square, past Buckingham Palace and along Hyde Park.
Tea was lovely, and very filling.
After tea we walked to South Kensington to get one last frozen yogurt from Snog.
Then we went back to the hotel to pack up one last time before leaving London….
Prague
Friday, May 1 Hillary and I caught a 10 am train to Prague. This train ride was longer than the other one – 5 hours. We had assigned seats and sat in separate cabins. At one of the stops a Chez family joined me. The mother spoke English pretty well so we chatted for a little bit. She told me that the yellow flowers we saw everywhere was planted intentionally and made into a cooking oil.
After arriving in Prague we took the underground to our hotel. The underground in Prague is very confusing. There are several different types of tickets: 20 minutes, 75 minutes, 24 hours, 3 days…and heavy luggage needed its own ticket! The system also relied on the honor system and involved validating your ticket. However, our plain-clothed cops were often in stations and would randomly stop people and ask to see their validated ticket.
The money in Prague is also weird like in Hungary. 18 Prague coins = 1 US so we had to do a lot of dividing to figure out how much things cost.
After settling into our hotel we went up to the Prague castle right away to see the big cathedrale, St. Vitus’s, before it closed. Prague was so crowded! The women on the train warned me that the first weekend in May was a big travel weekend, AND the weather was gorgeous so everyone was out and about.
We power walked all the way up to Prague castle, found the church, and waited in line to get in. The cathedral was very gothic and beautiful. Prague castle is huge and most buildings have been converted into different museums and galleries. But it was already 5 pm so many of them were closing.
Prague castle has amazing views of the city so on the way down we took an excessive amount of photos of the city.
That night we had dinner at an Italian restaurant right next to our hotel and turned in early.
Saturday, May 2 we went on our favorite NewEurope free walking tours. The tour meet in Old Town Square at 10:30 and our tour guides name was Per (Swedish name).
We saw what is left of the old town hall and the famous astronomical clock. The clock is pretty politically incorrect has figures showing death, vanity (maybe a homosexual) a man with a Turban (Turk), greed (Jewish money lender) and the 12 apostles. The clock tells normal time, old Bohemian time, Babylonian time, and the current phase of the moon. Every hour a “show” happens and hundreds of people stand around to watch. All the figures move a little bit, but its pretty anti-climatic, even more anti-climatic than the clock in Munich.
The tour guide pointed out famous buildings around the square such as the Jan Hus monument and his followers church. He told us about the multiple famous defenestration of Prague, in particular the one that started the 30 years war. Next we walked over into New Town to look at the architecture. Prague has almost every type of architecture the world. Even cubism buildings exist in Prague! Cubism was mostly popular as a painting style, not an architecture one.
The city is known as the “The city of 100/1000 towers”, depending on who you talk to…
We saw powder gate, which is an old Prague city gate that was eventually turned into a gun powder storage.
Prague is also full of creepy statues. We saw a few of them, in particular a statue of Franz Kafka in the Jewish district. Per told us that Franz Kafka wrote that he had a dream in which he rode on an invisible man’s shoulder, so they built that statue for him. For hundreds of years the Jews could only leave in that one small area of town. Most of the Jews spoke German and not Chez, because the Hapsburgs made a deal with them that if they spoke German and not Chez, they would be given more rights.
I was disappointed that the Jewish cemetery was closed due to their sabeth. It was the only place Jews in Prague could be buried for over 300 years. There are 12,000 gravestones, but an estimated 100,000 people are buried there. Because it was so small, bodies had to buried on top of each other, and extra soil and to be brought in from time to time to help. In some spots there are 12 layers of bodies. Per told us that the graveyard was an inspiration for the Holocaust memorial in Berlin I saw. I wish I could have seen it!
Next Per shows us a famous concert hall and brought us to a park with amazing views of the castle. He also talked to us about the famous Charles bridge.
Per also brought us to the John Lenon wall which was a priority for Hillary and I to find. It is a just a wall in a tucked away part of the city center with lots of graffiti demonstrating peace and understanding. It is called the John Lenon wall because it started when people were inspired by “imagine”.
Per’s stories and history about Prague really demonstrated the oppression the Chez people have suffered over hundreds of years. They were usually controlled by someone else, typically Austria, Germany, or the Russians. Their culture has gone through ups and downs to as their oppressors sometimes forced other cultures on them. But luckily, the culture has also gone through revivals and since 1989 there has been a huge revival of the Chez culture.
When the tour was over Hillary and I walked across the Charles bridge which is closed off to traffic. Venders have stands there and people play music.
Then we went back up to the Prague Castle to look around some more. I paid to walk down “Golden Lane”, a cute little street with houses and shops.
That night we had dinner at a café near our hotel and packed up to go back to London.
After arriving in Prague we took the underground to our hotel. The underground in Prague is very confusing. There are several different types of tickets: 20 minutes, 75 minutes, 24 hours, 3 days…and heavy luggage needed its own ticket! The system also relied on the honor system and involved validating your ticket. However, our plain-clothed cops were often in stations and would randomly stop people and ask to see their validated ticket.
The money in Prague is also weird like in Hungary. 18 Prague coins = 1 US so we had to do a lot of dividing to figure out how much things cost.
After settling into our hotel we went up to the Prague castle right away to see the big cathedrale, St. Vitus’s, before it closed. Prague was so crowded! The women on the train warned me that the first weekend in May was a big travel weekend, AND the weather was gorgeous so everyone was out and about.
We power walked all the way up to Prague castle, found the church, and waited in line to get in. The cathedral was very gothic and beautiful. Prague castle is huge and most buildings have been converted into different museums and galleries. But it was already 5 pm so many of them were closing.
Prague castle has amazing views of the city so on the way down we took an excessive amount of photos of the city.
That night we had dinner at an Italian restaurant right next to our hotel and turned in early.
Saturday, May 2 we went on our favorite NewEurope free walking tours. The tour meet in Old Town Square at 10:30 and our tour guides name was Per (Swedish name).
We saw what is left of the old town hall and the famous astronomical clock. The clock is pretty politically incorrect has figures showing death, vanity (maybe a homosexual) a man with a Turban (Turk), greed (Jewish money lender) and the 12 apostles. The clock tells normal time, old Bohemian time, Babylonian time, and the current phase of the moon. Every hour a “show” happens and hundreds of people stand around to watch. All the figures move a little bit, but its pretty anti-climatic, even more anti-climatic than the clock in Munich.
The tour guide pointed out famous buildings around the square such as the Jan Hus monument and his followers church. He told us about the multiple famous defenestration of Prague, in particular the one that started the 30 years war. Next we walked over into New Town to look at the architecture. Prague has almost every type of architecture the world. Even cubism buildings exist in Prague! Cubism was mostly popular as a painting style, not an architecture one.
The city is known as the “The city of 100/1000 towers”, depending on who you talk to…
We saw powder gate, which is an old Prague city gate that was eventually turned into a gun powder storage.
Prague is also full of creepy statues. We saw a few of them, in particular a statue of Franz Kafka in the Jewish district. Per told us that Franz Kafka wrote that he had a dream in which he rode on an invisible man’s shoulder, so they built that statue for him. For hundreds of years the Jews could only leave in that one small area of town. Most of the Jews spoke German and not Chez, because the Hapsburgs made a deal with them that if they spoke German and not Chez, they would be given more rights.
I was disappointed that the Jewish cemetery was closed due to their sabeth. It was the only place Jews in Prague could be buried for over 300 years. There are 12,000 gravestones, but an estimated 100,000 people are buried there. Because it was so small, bodies had to buried on top of each other, and extra soil and to be brought in from time to time to help. In some spots there are 12 layers of bodies. Per told us that the graveyard was an inspiration for the Holocaust memorial in Berlin I saw. I wish I could have seen it!
Next Per shows us a famous concert hall and brought us to a park with amazing views of the castle. He also talked to us about the famous Charles bridge.
Per also brought us to the John Lenon wall which was a priority for Hillary and I to find. It is a just a wall in a tucked away part of the city center with lots of graffiti demonstrating peace and understanding. It is called the John Lenon wall because it started when people were inspired by “imagine”.
Per’s stories and history about Prague really demonstrated the oppression the Chez people have suffered over hundreds of years. They were usually controlled by someone else, typically Austria, Germany, or the Russians. Their culture has gone through ups and downs to as their oppressors sometimes forced other cultures on them. But luckily, the culture has also gone through revivals and since 1989 there has been a huge revival of the Chez culture.
When the tour was over Hillary and I walked across the Charles bridge which is closed off to traffic. Venders have stands there and people play music.
Then we went back up to the Prague Castle to look around some more. I paid to walk down “Golden Lane”, a cute little street with houses and shops.
That night we had dinner at a café near our hotel and packed up to go back to London.
Wednesday, May 6, 2009
Vienna
Hillary and I took a train from Budapest to Vienna Tuesday, April 28 in the morning. The train ride was about three hours. We saw some pretty views of the Hungarian country side, particularly a bright yellow flower that grew in large clumps. We also saw lots of windmills.
We arrived in Vienna and were able to walk with our luggage to our hotel. We stayed in the European hotel chain “NH hotel” on the busy shopping street Mariahilfer.
Our room was huge! We joked that it was our condo. It had a seating area, a desk area, a kitchen, and a large bedroom. The TV was on a rotating piece of furniture so it could be in the bed room or the sitting area.
The hotel “continental” breakfast involved one croissant that was NOT a typical European croissant, it was bad. So I basically ran across the street and got an egg McMuffin at the most stylish McDonald’s I have ever been in. I also must say that out of all the European cities I have been in, I have seen more McDonald’s and Starbucks per area than any other city!
We went out right away to start exploring, but of course grabbed some gelato right away! The ice cream people kind of mocked our American accents though so that was not fun.
First, we went to the Vienna State Opera House to see if we could get in to see it, but they offered no tours.
I had originally planned to do a museum next, but the weather was gorgeous so we switched our plans around and headed towards the area of “Belvedere” which has lots of gardens and palaces that our now filled with art. On the way to Belvedere we stopped at Karlskirche church. It was very unique due to two columns outside of it modeled after Trajan’s Column in Rome.
The interior of the church was pretty similar to all the other church’s we had seen EXCEPT they had decided to erect an elevator in the middle of the sanctuary to a platform in the dome so that visitors could view the frescos better. It was very unique and scary. I became really nervous on the elevator and when other Americans asked me if I was afraid of heights I told them, “no, I am just afraid of metal structures suspended in mid-air” haha. After the platform, we could even climb some stairs through the dome for some nice views of Vienna.
After the church we walked up to the Belvedere palaces but didn’t go inside to the museums. We just enjoyed the sun and walked around the gardens. We saw several statues, fountains, and individual gardens. The gardens of Belvedere were filled with statues of children fighting with each other and animals, it was very weird.
That night we asked our hotel for recommendations for Italian food and they suggested a place right away the corner operated by an Italian family called Il Mare. The food was delicious and we had the best tiramisu we’ve ever had, even in Italy!
We left MTV on in the background when we were in the hotel and often saw my favorite show, The Hills! It was hilarious to watch because they had it dubbed in German! Other shows just had captions, but the Hills was popular enough to dub I guess.
Wednesday, April 29 we headed to the Kunsthistorisches Museum. The building itself was overwhelmingly, I think it was an old palace. It had a lot of European paintings and sculptures from Egypt, Rome and Greece. I saw the original painting “Peasants Wedding” by XX that my family has a print of in our TV room!
Then we headed out to Schonbrunn Palace, the summer home of the Hapsburgs, particularly Maria Theresa who made it into what it is today. The palace was my favorite palace so far in Europe, except for Versailles.
It had a great audio guide that took us through ornate and lavish rooms. After a tour of the palace we went out to the gardens. The property has extensive gardens and we climbed up a big hill to the Gloriette.
The palace had a palm house, a zoo, and maze, but the tickets to see all of them were quite expensive so we just stuck to the normal gardens. We had lunch at the palace café and I had a traditional pancake dish and we shared an apple strudel, a dessert Austria is famous for.
After the palace we went down to see St. Steven's Cathedral, very Gothic and pretty.
That night we went out to a local café for some gnocchi. It is interesting and unpleasant that people can still smoke in cafes here. Then we met up with Carly for a drink. Carly is traveling with her godmother all around Europe and was in Vienna at the same time we were! We went down to an area known as the “Bermuda Triangle” which has a lot of young people and nightlife. We met her at a bar called Excess to have a drink and catch up.
Thursday, April 30 We went to see the Imperial State Apartments. The first exhibit showed the extensive gold/silver/porcelain flatware of the Hapsburgs. It was pretty interesting until the 6th room of it. The gold table center pieces were amazing though.
Then we went through the Sissy Museum. Sissy, of Empress Elizabeth, was the wife of Franz Joseph. She was very distant from court life and felt trapped in her duties. She also had a 20 inch waist and hair down to her ankles.
We wandered around for a bit just talking in the architecture. However, we had a little break on playground! I don't think I had been on a swing set in 10 years...hah
Then we had an amazing pizza lunch and walked around till our guided tour of the Bergtheater. The two entrances were beautiful, but the theater itself was lackluster compared to the Budapest Opera House.
That night we went out for Asian food right near our hotel. It was so good! We each got a GIANT spring roll and shared these peanut pouches for appetizers. I had fried rice for dinner. The restaurant gave us free dessert of fried bananas with ice cream!
We arrived in Vienna and were able to walk with our luggage to our hotel. We stayed in the European hotel chain “NH hotel” on the busy shopping street Mariahilfer.
Our room was huge! We joked that it was our condo. It had a seating area, a desk area, a kitchen, and a large bedroom. The TV was on a rotating piece of furniture so it could be in the bed room or the sitting area.
The hotel “continental” breakfast involved one croissant that was NOT a typical European croissant, it was bad. So I basically ran across the street and got an egg McMuffin at the most stylish McDonald’s I have ever been in. I also must say that out of all the European cities I have been in, I have seen more McDonald’s and Starbucks per area than any other city!
We went out right away to start exploring, but of course grabbed some gelato right away! The ice cream people kind of mocked our American accents though so that was not fun.
First, we went to the Vienna State Opera House to see if we could get in to see it, but they offered no tours.
I had originally planned to do a museum next, but the weather was gorgeous so we switched our plans around and headed towards the area of “Belvedere” which has lots of gardens and palaces that our now filled with art. On the way to Belvedere we stopped at Karlskirche church. It was very unique due to two columns outside of it modeled after Trajan’s Column in Rome.
The interior of the church was pretty similar to all the other church’s we had seen EXCEPT they had decided to erect an elevator in the middle of the sanctuary to a platform in the dome so that visitors could view the frescos better. It was very unique and scary. I became really nervous on the elevator and when other Americans asked me if I was afraid of heights I told them, “no, I am just afraid of metal structures suspended in mid-air” haha. After the platform, we could even climb some stairs through the dome for some nice views of Vienna.
After the church we walked up to the Belvedere palaces but didn’t go inside to the museums. We just enjoyed the sun and walked around the gardens. We saw several statues, fountains, and individual gardens. The gardens of Belvedere were filled with statues of children fighting with each other and animals, it was very weird.
That night we asked our hotel for recommendations for Italian food and they suggested a place right away the corner operated by an Italian family called Il Mare. The food was delicious and we had the best tiramisu we’ve ever had, even in Italy!
We left MTV on in the background when we were in the hotel and often saw my favorite show, The Hills! It was hilarious to watch because they had it dubbed in German! Other shows just had captions, but the Hills was popular enough to dub I guess.
Wednesday, April 29 we headed to the Kunsthistorisches Museum. The building itself was overwhelmingly, I think it was an old palace. It had a lot of European paintings and sculptures from Egypt, Rome and Greece. I saw the original painting “Peasants Wedding” by XX that my family has a print of in our TV room!
Then we headed out to Schonbrunn Palace, the summer home of the Hapsburgs, particularly Maria Theresa who made it into what it is today. The palace was my favorite palace so far in Europe, except for Versailles.
It had a great audio guide that took us through ornate and lavish rooms. After a tour of the palace we went out to the gardens. The property has extensive gardens and we climbed up a big hill to the Gloriette.
The palace had a palm house, a zoo, and maze, but the tickets to see all of them were quite expensive so we just stuck to the normal gardens. We had lunch at the palace café and I had a traditional pancake dish and we shared an apple strudel, a dessert Austria is famous for.
After the palace we went down to see St. Steven's Cathedral, very Gothic and pretty.
That night we went out to a local café for some gnocchi. It is interesting and unpleasant that people can still smoke in cafes here. Then we met up with Carly for a drink. Carly is traveling with her godmother all around Europe and was in Vienna at the same time we were! We went down to an area known as the “Bermuda Triangle” which has a lot of young people and nightlife. We met her at a bar called Excess to have a drink and catch up.
Thursday, April 30 We went to see the Imperial State Apartments. The first exhibit showed the extensive gold/silver/porcelain flatware of the Hapsburgs. It was pretty interesting until the 6th room of it. The gold table center pieces were amazing though.
Then we went through the Sissy Museum. Sissy, of Empress Elizabeth, was the wife of Franz Joseph. She was very distant from court life and felt trapped in her duties. She also had a 20 inch waist and hair down to her ankles.
We wandered around for a bit just talking in the architecture. However, we had a little break on playground! I don't think I had been on a swing set in 10 years...hah
Then we had an amazing pizza lunch and walked around till our guided tour of the Bergtheater. The two entrances were beautiful, but the theater itself was lackluster compared to the Budapest Opera House.
That night we went out for Asian food right near our hotel. It was so good! We each got a GIANT spring roll and shared these peanut pouches for appetizers. I had fried rice for dinner. The restaurant gave us free dessert of fried bananas with ice cream!
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