A Farewell to Europe

Bonjour, hola, and hello!

We sit here, mourning the fact that we are within the final hours of our trip. With 3 countries visited (4 if you consider the wishes for independence of the people of Catalonia), many beds slept in, many people met, and countless sights explored, we are preparing for our travels home. But before we allow our tears to wet the keyboard, let us inform you of the exciting activities of the last few days. 

On Friday, we traveled back into Barcelona. We had received high regards of the Joan Miro museum from Liz´s dad, so we checked that out. Nestled within the seemingly neverending beautiful scene of grasses, gardens, and fountains that is Montjuic, we found the modern art museum. We really liked the large-scale exhibits they had out, like a spider web made of wire and glass balls that filled an entire room. However, Miro´s modernism and avant-garde style almost started looking like kindergarten artwork after an hour of viewing it. We walked around the rest of the park then, seeing the Olympic stadium from 1992, winding pathways lined with carefully shaped topiaries, and a great view of the city due to our high altitude. We then made our way into the main city to patronize some vintage stores, and enjoy what we thought was the last of our many gelatos we´ve enjoyed while here. 

That night, we were very excited and more than a little anxious to check out Festa Major, Terrassa´s annual town festival. All that Lissa would inform us of was that we needed to be fully covered, that there would be fire, and that it would be great. Hmmm.... Well, that turned out to mean a frenzy of what was literally dragons spitting fire, firecrackers going off every which way, men dressed as devils holding gigantic sparklers, and of course, the hoards of well-covered people that we´re dancing around the dragon in circles, ducking their heads to avoid being majorly burnt by the sparks. As terrifying as that may be, it was infinitely more fun and we could just feel the tradition and the community of Terrassa. That night, we went out with Pau and his friends, the son of Lissa and Alex´s neighbor to see the way that the young people of Terrassa celebrate Festa Major. And celebrate they did! We enjoyed the banter across the language barrier, getting to know the difference of Spaniards from Catalonians (e.g. gross guys that hit on us are Spanish; cool, funny guys are Catalon), and the masses of people partying in the park. 

All my love and hugs within the final hours of my time abroad,

Grace (and Liz)

After being up the latest we had since the begining of our travels due to the fact that in Terressa the partying doesnt start till 2 am, we took our time getting started the next morning. Alex and Lissa took us out to what it is safe to say was the best meal of the whole trip. The restaurant was a vegetarian place tucked out of the way in an alley. The only way this place is heard about is by word of mouth. The restaurant was the kind I had so longed for in Paris- it was run, cooked and managed by only several people and on a chalk board outside they prolaimed the two meal options for the day. The highlight of the meal was the chocolate chocolate cake Lissa insisted we try. It was chocolate cheesecake with chocolate sprinkles on top and drowning in a puddle of chocolate fudge- it was hormone heaven. 

The afternoon and evening was composed of more Festa Major fun. The parade in particular was spectacular, over an hour long and filled with dancers, devils, marching bands, more dragons, and kids with squirt bottles filled with water spraying down anyone who looked like they least wanted to get wet. But the highlight was without question the giant human towers that were built. The towers begin with a base of around 20 people give or take depending on the height. more and more people then climb up using the heads sholders and belt worn around the waist as stepping stones. On top is always a small child of around four who scrambles up like a monkey, raises one hand to show the tower is finished and then books it back down before the tower can collapse. One of the towers we saw had a close call that caused us both to have a minor panic attack. A women on the fourth floor of the tower started shaking like a leaf and the kids on the top had to crawl down before they could finish the tower. That evening we had again our last gelato and Grace, being adventersome, went for a interesting sounding flavor whose name we could not decipher, but thought looked intriguing since it was the only name in quotes. We still do not not wht it was but it was bright pink and filled with gummy like balls. Grace was not impressed.

+ Dancing in the fire the way the locals do
-Due to the rain, we had to sleep inside instead of on our "rooftop queendom," which makes us go a little crazy
+ Learning very amusing swear words in Catalon
- Firecrackers exploding on our feet

See you all soon!

Liz (and Grace)    

P.S. A giant thank you the height of the 8-level human towers to Liz´s real and Grace´s now adopted aunt and uncle, who generously hosted us for this week in Terrassa! It would not have been the same without them!

Bronze Babes in Barcelona

Hola to you all from Terrassa!

This is both of us and starting from where we left off, we´ll update you of our most recent happenings. Our first full day in the area was spent exploring the little town of Terrassa, where everything is very sleepy in the afternoons. From 1:30-4, all stores and museums were closed, which was of course when touristy us tried to visit them all. We walked about the area, through a gorgeous long park, and discovered that Barcelona playgrounds are very difficult to maneuver. As we were both sweating from our walk in the Spanish heat, a pool that we stumbled upon looked quite tempting. Although Lissa called it a "child´s wading pool" we went anyone and it turned out to indeed be a wading pool, with no place deeper than about 5 feet, but was enjoyable nonetheless.

That evening, we made dinner for ourselves of rice and beans. Our culinary skills really do seem to be improving, if we might say so ourselves. We also managed to eat an entire half of a Spanish melon between the two of us. Those things are quite addicting!

Now to Liz for Day 2

Yesterday was Gaudi day. We started off the morning with Sagrada Familia, which I had visted two years ago when my family and I had come to Barcelona, but the fantastic thing about Sagrada Familia is that since it is still be constructed, it was a whole new experience. We took a guided tour around the partially complete church (hopeful finish date is 2028) and were both enthralled by the way the building was so inspired by nature and also how there are 52 columns as in 52 Sundays in a year and that is a sneaky little touch. After Sagrada Familia we ate our homely packed lunches in a park than walked around Park Guill, a Gaudi designed park that was intended as a "playground for the rich," but was bought by the city for public use. The park was very Amazon-esque and we had an enjoyable though slightly dehyrated ramble through it. We ended up having to walk around an hour and a half to get back towards the center of the city since Park Guill was actually off the map so we had to do some imrpovising in way of directions. After a bit of La Rambla exploration, the main street in Barcelona that is notable for its over-priced cafes and street perfoermers, except we only saw three street performers so it was mainly a walk filled with paella advertisements. Although we did see one man selling pets on the side of the road-rabbits and hamsters and teenie tiny turtles which sent Grace into flury of PETA vengence. Dinner was a small little restaurant off the main streets where Grace had a love affair with some cheese sauce and I enjoyed my roasted veggies and goat cheese the publicly appropriate amount.

Finally we did the tourist thing and went and sawa some flamenco dancers, which was a lot of fast feet and throaty singers that sounded very reminiscent of the Lion King.

A kiss on both cheeks because we are in Spain
-Liz (and Grace)

and now to Grace- Day 3

Our Thursday was spent at the beach, which is highlighted as a definite drawing point to Barcelona. Only about an hour away from Lissa and Alex´s by train and metro, we arrived at the beach ready for a full day of sunshine and waves! The sunshine part was definitely satisfied, but much to my chagrin, waves don´t really exist on these beaches. That fact was in no way a downer for our beach day, however, as we were overwhelmed by the cleanliness and clearness of the beach. The water was so clear that I was actually able to see my feet when I was swimming out deep! The sky was equally clear, as were many of the chests of the fellow sunbathers, both male and female. We both laid there, reading our books, not quite as natural as the locals, but uttering to each other every so often of just how perfect this day really was, with the sun shining, the water warm, and plenty of people to watch (some of whom we´d rather not see in their present state-read:topless middle aged women). I went for a run along the beach, which was absolutely incredible! With the spray of the ocean on my face, I jogged down a while to find a section that was actually more nudist than ours! Certainly new sights in Spain :) Lissa advised us that we never should leave our things unattended, as pickpocketers abound, so any swimming we did was solo. It was fun in a different way, just swimming out as far as we could and floating around for a while, reveling in the fact that we were on an absoutely gorgeous beach in Spain, as I forget every so often!

We scoffed down a lunch of salad bar buffet in quite an animal-like fashion, and then headed out for some additional beach time. When we´d filled our quota of water and sun, we headed back to Terrassa for a special evening. Lissa and Alex had prepared for us and her neighbor family a delicious meal and some harpsichord pieces that she´s preparing for a concert. We had the privilege of our own private concert and I learned that the plucking of the harpsichord is a very moving thing, which almost takes you to another place. Dinner on the terrace was lovely as usual, and then we were treated to even more music from the flute-playing 13-year-old neighbor girl, and later an impromptu guitar/singing duet from Liz and Grace. I was enlightened by how music (and food) can bring people together, as we were all struggling a little bit to communicate between Catalan and English, but any barriers were broken down with melodies and arpeggios flying through the air.

Today is looking to be another day of exploring the city, and then the Festiva Major, the town festival of Terrassa begins. Lissa and Alex have been very closed-lipped about the event, only hinting that there will be lots of fire and dragons, so we are anxious and excited about what is to come!

All my love from Catalonia,
Grace (and Liz)

+ Meeting a kind, rock climbing au pair from Poland who helped us to find the right train station
- Slightly embarrassing ourselves by our loud giddiness over the incredible Spanish cheese
+ Being very entertained by the crazy, probably drunk man on the beach who treated the audience of sunbathers to a song, dance, and beer-can-crushing-on-his-head performance
- Sunburn from the intense sun
+ Showing off our ice cream scooping abilities to the dinner guests
- Not being able to take the Spanish melon back to the states

Bulls, Bolting and Barcelona

We are yet again at a new location- this time happy to be with generous and warm people we (or at least Liz) know. We have arrived in Barcelona and are enjoying her Aunt & Uncle´s company before we head off to our very own rooftop terrace for bed. But, today was not always so stress-free. We were enjoying our lunch in a plaza in Madrid before going off to catch what we expected to be our reserved 3:30 train. Liz double-checked the tickets to make sure we were on time, as it was about 2 by this point. She happily read, "Yes, the train is at 13:30 on June 25th, so we´re in good time!" At which point Grace promptly freaked out, knowing that 13:30 is in fact 1:30 in the afternoon, not 3:30 as Liz once thought. After performing the classic rushing around the train station awkwardly with large backpacks and Liz screaming "Por favor! Ingles!" we were thankfully able to procure tickets for in fact, the real 3:30 train to Barcelona, an extra 260 dollars later. Nevertheless, we are here, safe and sound, so all is well.

Now, to backtrack and update you on all of our happenings before the Hectic Train Foible. Our second day in Madrid we did the souveneir thing, picking up a lot of gifts at the excitable flea market in Madrid. There was Spanish gear, yogi pants, leather, and incense everywhere. We then met Kate Landis, one of Elizabeth´s old friends by the big horse in Plaza Mayor. Kate is spending five weeks studying Spanish in a college program at Salamanca, and we happened to be in Madrid at the same time as she was! It was wonderful catching up over gelato and pizza, and then touring the Prado Art Museum with Kate, who was basically an art tourguide herself, knowing all of the stories and techniques behind the paintings!

That evening, we met up with Kate´s host mom, who has been living in the city for three years. She invited us to the intensely cultural experience of a classic Spanish bullfight. Two vegetarians at a giant plaza, filled with people who want to see a total of six bulls being mercilessly taunted, jabbed with multiple spears, murdered, and then dragged away by a wagon pulled by three decorated horses. While it was certainly interesting to see this part of the Madrid culture and learning the history of the tradition from Kate´s host mom, it was much more heartwrenching than we had hoped, as it was too much for Liz to actually watch the bull being killed.

We attempted to rid ourselves of our post-bullfighting depression and funk by cheering ourselves up with tapas, a more humane tradition in Madrid. We got a wonderful suggestion from Kate´s host mom of a modern tapas place that had the promptest service imaginable, with little electronic remotes to cue the servers.

Now in Barcelona, we are ready to explore the city of Terrassa. We are all settled in, complete with a fridge full of fresh Spanish produce and bellies full of a wonderful meal made by Liz´s uncle. Liz´s aunt Lisa took us around this morning to the local market and grocery store, where we were delighted by the small-town feeling and friendliness, even receiving free rocks from an esoteric mineral shop that are intended to help us concentrate!

+ Sangria
-Learning how to tell 24 hour time the hard way
+ The joys of a real home, family, old friends and new ones
-Crazy Spanish television, watching what we deciphered as a vampire drama with people rising from the dead

Enjoying our final days away from the homeland!
Hasta luego,
Liz and Grace

paris and then some

Being Parsian part 2

Hola!
I shall say hola because though I will write of our final days in Paris I am sitting in a very shady Internet cafe in Madrid where everything is extremely blue, as in colored. Our Second to last day in Paris was my favorite so I called dibs in writing about it. The morning started off getting up bright and early for the Louvre so we wouldn't have to wait in line as long the idea was and haza it worked. Once in the Louvre we decided to split up with a designated meeting place for a certain time (don't worry padres we are responsible in our separation) because we were moving at different paces. I had bee to the louvre two summers before but this time maybe because I was older I found the majestic museum spectacular in particular I enjoyed The dying Slave by Michelangelo. I decided I love Michealngelo partially because it is the greatest name ever and partially because ever time I see it i can hear my father reciting part of the poem The love song of J. Alfred Prufrock "In the room the women come and go speaking of Michelangelo" that might not be exact since it is from memory but you get the gist.

We then wandered about till we came across notre dame and went in there and it was large and pretty and churchly. While we were in Notre Dame it started down pouring so Grace and I meandered about in the rain appreciating how the river looked and all the tourists crammed into cafes. After exploring the ile de st. louis, I got the I- heart -Paris -so -much -my -ribcage- is- cracking feeling Grace had the day before.

We happened to be in Paris the day a annual music festival was taking place. We traveled down to the Latin Quarter with our roommate (went on a joll as she would say) and danced it up on the crowded streets. the roads were closed off and on every corner was a different band from heavy metal to latina to a marching band. the cobblestone streets were brimming to capacity with people. we encountered some very friendly Italian guys with whom we took a jaunt down the seine as he exclaimed in that typical Italian way of the magic of Paris (pronounced pareeeeeee).

+ Asian karaoke

- Cheap wine not as poetic as we had imagined

+ our last night in a hostel

- our last night in a hostel

Sending you all bread and wine which here equals love
-Liz (and Grace)

More time in Paris (But still not nearly enough)

Yesterday we started off by a traditional and much desired French breakfast. We had incredible croissants from a local bakery- chocolate for Liz and traditionnel pour moi, along with some banging cafe creme. We enjoyed just sitting at the cafe and watching everyone walk by on their way to doing whatever it is that Parisians do. 

We then headed to the Latin Quarter of the city for another joll. Liz´s fabulous Lonely Planet book had a special Literary Loop walk, which took us past the dwellings of many a famous writer. We saw where Ernest Hemingway lived and worked and where James Joyce got his inspiration. As two interested writers, it was a very cool place to imagine doing similar things. Our loop ended at the Shakespeare and Co. bookstore, which is a charming magasin packed with new and used books of every kind, with a quaint library upstairs and an old typewriter. All of the workers there are writers and the couches in the library turn into their beds at night!  

After enjoying the words and the streets, we indulged in our last real meal in Paris. Sitting outside, we received the classic Croque Monsieurs, vegetarian-style. It was an incredible experience- toasted bread with tomato, pesto and melted cheese. A religious experience, real foodies may even claim. I eyed up the cute chien at the table next to us and wished I could pet my own not-so-little beagle.

We received our backpacks from the hostel (which somehow continue to grow in each stop) and made our way to the train station for our night train to Madrid. I will admit, I may have gotten us there a little early because I was stressed, as usual. Maybe it was just my backwards way of not at all wanting the leave the French paradise. The night train was a fun experience. We were glad we had a cabin for four people with only the two of us in it. We satisfied our chocolate craving in the cute little dining car and then jammed ourselves into the bunkbeds for the night, setting our books back every now and then because they kept falling from the jolting on the rails.

We´ve been in Madrid since 9 this morning and have been absolutely loving the hot weather! After rain and dampness, wearing tanktops and actually being warm feels incredible! We spent the day exploring the area, seeing the national cathedral, many plazas, and the royal palace. I learned that we must be very careful because the meaning of meat is very different in Spain. I made sure my salad at lunch today didn´t have meat, and was appalled when the waiter brought out lettuce and tomatoes covered in fish! It was certainly a stretching experience for me to just move the meat off the plate and actually eat it, but Liz was quite proud. Even greater is our VERY OWN hotel room, which is quite trendy, as the website claimed it would be. Being the great inventors that we are, we just finished washing up our underwears and tee shirts and such, rinsing them in the badet (yes, it´s just that fancy) and hanging them across the bathroom. The idea of clean clothes, being able to leave our passports there in a safe, and a room to ourselves is quite nice after more than a week in hostels.

 (Our room actually looks just like the one on the right!! But with a whole twin bed for each of us)

Hope that at least caught you up a little bit as to our goings-on. We are beginning to see how people could do this for long periods of time, as you just kind of fall into a routine of seeing things, enjoying the food, and finding ways to make do. The traveling is still just incredible, but I´m beginning to see how it can be a hassle, as I´m majorly stressing over the work that I was supposed to do for pre-registration for college classes and am almost missing all the deadlines! Might need to spend some more time focused on that in this very blue internet cafe, but it´s so hard when the streets are filled with sunshine and music!

+ Our final Parisian lunch (thankfully not with any of Liz´s crap cheap wine)

- Sore backs from the night train mattresses (Sorry, chiropractor daddy)

+ CLEANLINESS

- The need to be aware of pickpocketers. Apparently a very real issue. Easy to believe with the sad number of homeless people in the streets here.

Sending you all my sweaty Spanish love,

Grace (and Liz)

Midnight in Paris

Good evening! It is 10 o clock here and me and Grace were finally able to get on the computer after a kindly man showed us how to get on the Internet for free. So hooray may stinginess prevail! Paris has been amazing; Grace in particlar is gaga over the city. Our hostel is definately a change from the London one. while our last one had a thrity year old age limit this one is a free for all so a lot more families but they have a foosball table so all is good. Our roommates are an older French woman who remains unnamed since when asked her name all she says is "France" so maybe thats it... our other roomate is a 20 year old from South Africa and she is super fun.

Our first day in Paris started off with becoming familiar with our surroundings, Montmartre, through a free walking tour that included Sacre Coeur. Then was lunch of bread and cheese in a park doing it the French way. We then went down to champes elysse viewed the Arc de Triumphe and continued on to the Eiffel tower. it started raining out so we didt go up and instead happened upon a mega tv screen set up right behind the tower for the showing of the football game france vs sweden. grace and  I being the avid footie fans we are went in, got little french flags and cheered along with the locals.

+ seeing Paris in the rain
- when you are so bad at understanding french you cant tell if someone is hitting on you or asking if you had seen his five babies
+ hearing Grace speak french. that girl knows what she is doing
- After getting directions from the friendly parisian street cleaner he gives us both the sloppiest wettest kisses on both cheeks
+ bread!
- sucking at foosball

Bonsoir,
Liz (and Grace)

Bonjour, mon amies!
First, I would just like to say that I am blaming any possible spelling and grammar mistakes on the funky French keyboards-take some getting used to!
Liz was partially correct in her evaluation of our journey thus far in le belle Paris! Correct in that I am truly in love- with the language, with the slow and purposeful pace of life, with the gardens, the sights, and of course, with the food! I seriously feel like I am somehow meant to be in this city- a beautiful place with a somewhat dark past, but with lovely folklore to accompany such sad stories. But, she was much too generous in her evaluation of my mastery of le francais! I am really quite simple but she just doesn't know when I'm saying things incorrectly :)
Today started out with the continental breakfast at our hostel. Even free croissants from here outdo the breakfasts anywhere else. Then it was to the catacombs for a visit. The underground tunnels span thousands of miles under Paris and its suburbs. We arrived and saw that the queue was very long, amounting to over 2 hours. But we heard it was worth it. While we were waiting we befriended the nice Canadian couple in line in front of us and at the end the father, who works as a federal agent in international drug cartel, gave us each a pin to remember them.
Then we made our way to les Jardins de Luxembourg, which was one of my favorite things we've done so far. It was incredible to see all the locals out sunbathing, the children pushing their little sailboats in the pond and the gorgeous palace overlooking everything. We enjoyed some people watching and incredible gelato. Then satisfied yet not quite wanting to leave, we made our way to le Musee d'Orsay to look at some good artwork. We enjoyed it more than we first expected.
While I'm already kind of dreading leaving this lovely place and its breathtaking language and sights, I am trying to enjoy each moment in its cafes, along its cobblestone streets, and attemting little conversations.

+Pesto pasta in an ourdoor cafe for dinner
-Stupid computers at the hostel that have slow internet and deleted our blog-sorry if you've been worrying!
+Seeing the fine art of van Gogh in his hometown
- Enjoying the rare sunshine a little too much, equating in sunburn

Je voudrais d'envoyer nos amor aux tout le gens qui lit nos blog!

Bonsoir,
Grace (and Liz)

Not stoned or at Stonehenge

Last evening, Saturday night, Grace and Liz decided they wanted to go dancing/clubbing. But, to no avail. After a marvelous walk across the bridges over Thames and enjoying the gorgeous skyline, and impromptu shows of street circuses, they were denied entry into a popular gay bar due to it being filled to capacity. (Clarification- no lesbianism going on, just craving fun gay dancers...) While we were wandering on the streets, we came upon a group of attractive, classy looking guys and decided that they would have better tastes in the clubs than ourselves, as they had British accents and could actually be from the area. After discretely following them, they struck up a conversation with us and told us they were going to a really fun club and to come along. Desperate after literally hours of searching, and trusting their apparent class, we accompanied them to a fancy club in Trafalgar Square. It turned out we crashed a birthday party, but he was okay with that. Almost all of the other club's patrons were wealthy and intelligent people from Oxford and Cambridge. So- mission accomplished! Got our fun dancing in and with quite good company.

Today our itinerary called for us to go to Stonehenge, the massive rocks mysteriously placed in a field centuries ago. But we didn't. We instead decided to explore more of the city, which we decided always has fun things to offer no matter where we are. Grace was super psyched to go to the Olympic Stadium because London has been touting their hosting for the whole trip (and she likes tennis, Liz says). After a bus ride in which we went the wrong way, met a man from Morocco who told us we had unhealthy hair and a sad African woman who complained of her sore feet from church shoes, a kindly bus driver helped us to actually get to the Olympic Stadium. However, our excitement waned when we found out that we couldn't actually get into the Olympic Park and instead had to view the buildings from afar, from a slightly rundown part of London. But hey, when they show them on TV, we will say we were there!

Next, we stumbled upon an incredible cultural juxtaposition- two American girls in an English historical square (Trafalgar) where an Indian religious festival was taking place. The area was filled to capacity with women in saris and chanting religious people with their faces painted. Amazing vegetarian spicy cuisine was available for free, sponsored by the kind Indian folk.

Then we went to the British Museum. It was a lot of old, old stuff. The Easter Island Head was much smaller than we were expecting and not at all like the talking one  in "Night At the Musuem."

A nap for one and a long run through an incredibly beautiful Kensington Gardens for the other, were the pre-dinner activities. This evening, we went and saw the newest Wes Anderson film "Moonrise Kingdom" at the British Cinema because Liz went bonkers when she saw it was showing here and not yet in the States. It was wonderful times a zillion. Even non-movie-buff Grace quite enjoyed it.

We'll hope to update after we're in Paris. Hopefully the rest of the trip will be as positive as thus far, but we are a little nervous about the language barrier. After afternoon tea tomorrow, to the Chunnel it is for our traveling there!

But most importantly, we wanted to wish our dads a Happy, Happy Father's Day from some world class travelers! We miss you and hope our brothers made up for our absence.

+Free food for frugal females (please do appreciate the alliteration)
- We haven't yet uploaded any pictures due to short computer times
+ Getting to ride in the top of the famous red double-decker buses!
- Trying to get all of our stuff back in our backpacks- it's never as easy the second time!

Love and hugs,

Liz and Grace

Day 2 and 3 of the Brit Experience

Day 2

Greetings and Salutations!

These are the things we did on our second day in London. First off was the National Portrait Gallery that we both feigned interest in for about ten minutes, all the old English Kings look very similiar all sideburns and grizzel. There was however a portrait of Princess Di which elicited a fair bit of sighs and swoons. Next up was Buckingham palace for the changing of the guards and also to see were Will and Kate had their first kiss :). The place was absolutly packed so me and Grace decdied the best plan of action was for her to climb on my back and describe to me what was happening while taking pictures. Needless to say we made quite the scene with Grace holding onto my neck so hard I was gagging while yelling "The king! the king! I see the king! (there is no king of England which Grace now knows)"

After the changing of the guards excitment we took part in our first London rain which is wet and cold and very like Lancaster rain. We went to Westminster Abbey which was incredible and after I pulled myself together having become slightly teary-eyed over the wedding that took place there we had anouther radio tour which are the best.

I was determined to see the feeding of the pelicans at St. James park which our guide book told us was pretty great and after walking over every inch of that park which was okay because it was really pretty with flowers and foliage and the like we found the pelicans but alas Lonely planet led us astray and there was no feeding.

On our way back to the hostel we took our time exploring stores such as a Dr. Martins one, Toms one, and miscellabeous vintage shops. We decided to go cheap with dinner and cooked it our hostel which turned out to be the best idea ever because we met really fun people while cooking since everyone is going in and out of the kitchen.

The highlight of the day for both of us was definitetly that evening when we went out with our roomates one who is a fanatical football fan (yes we call it football now). We watched the game at a bar and the energy was palpable. The game was England vs. Sweden and people kept coming up to me and grace and asking if we were swedish with minimal dirty looks.

Pros and Cons

-Graces fear of pigeons and the all too friendly ones in St. James Park

+ Befriending our fantastic roomates (a 19 year old french girl and 30 year old Argentinean)

-My extreme sadness over lack of Pelican feeding

+England Won!

-our disgusting cooking we are no homemakers

Lots o' Love

Liz (and Grace)

 

Day 3

Grace here! Just wanted to check in again and try to keep up our every-other day blog schedule going.

Today, our day started out with the below-par breakfast provided by the hostel. Then we headed out to the House of Parliament for a tour. After some minor problems on the tube due to a closed line, we made it to the tour. The tourguide was so knowledgeable and the architecture and decoration was absolutely beautiful. It was interesting to learn about the evolution of parliament- from being a complete monarchy to sharing power with the House of Lords to the House of Commons, where most of the power now lies. We took in some of the history and some of the more modern political issues. We really enjoyed the fact that in order to vote, members of parliament actually have to be there and stand in either the "nays" hall or the "yays" hall. In very important bills, they will bring the MOPs in from the hospitals in beds in order to sway the vote. (Another fun fact- the "Big Ben" bell tower was originally just named for the bell because after they brought it in, they joked that it looked like Ben, one of the staff people who was short and portly, and thus came the new name, which has evolved into the name of the clocktower).

After that, back to the tube it was to get to Notting Hill-yes, where the Hugh Grant movie was shot. It was a sweet neighborhood, with a throbbing mass heading to the famous Portabella Market, which was almost a mile long of antiques, vintage clothes, lunch foods, produce, flea market, etc, etc, etc... We wandered around for a while, Liz found a leather jacket, we picked up some souveneirs for friends, and got a magnificent lunch! I was starting to get cranky from shopping and having to look at the same type of jewelry for so long so Liz very motherly promised me that we could get ice cream and sit down after we finished. After my withdrawal from lack of ice cream-my intense addiction- I was super excited. Ended up getting frozen yogurt instead, which left some to be desired but was still a lovely mix-up.

We enjoyed keeping a little French baby on the tube ride smiling back home. I then went for a nice long run along the River Thames while Liz napped. Then we prepared our dinner with our newly bought produce, meeting some fun hostel-mates along the way and trying Vegemite, which we do not recommend!

We were sad to see Santa, our sweet French roommate move back home today, but it was such a joy getting to know her! We are continuing to love the London culture and atmosphere and feel so at home here, minus the fact that clubs are entirely legal ;)

Sorry for just giving an overview, but Liz kind of hogged the computer time...

+ Discussing the British government with a guy in our hostel from Reading

- Downtown was very crowded today because it was the Queen's actual birthday

+Our homemade meals are improving

-Coffee at the hostel that leaves my coffee-conossieurness some to be desired!

Tata for now,

grace (and Liz)