England, Friday Apr 23 (day 17 of our trip)

On Friday, we got up "early" at 10:00, and went and got a full English breakfast. This includes Eggs, tomato, mushroom, sausage, bacon, beans, and toast. It's so much food! Then, we hung out with Cole, Alice, and Brook at G&D's (the place where we moo'd for free ice cream). When we finally got back home, I noticed that Marti had called and emailed to talk about stand-by flights. She said that United had added more flights to and from the UK, and our chances of getting on a plane were actually quite good! We were pretty excited, and checked United.com about a million times to see if we could check in for the next day. However, we still needed to make certain that our flights with British Air were refundable. If we went to "manage trip" on their site, the button for "cancel and refund ticket" was easily accessible, but I still had my doubts since our tickets were so cheap. It seems like refundable tickets are usually far more expensive.

So we called British Air to find out whether we really could get a refund on the flight. The first person said the tickets were non-refundable and left it at that. Then I got on the phone with another person to try to get more details, figuring we could argue it a little considering the ash situation. This lady said we could get the taxes on the tickets back (90 pounds each ticket), but that's it. Then Ben noticed that the website actually said "are you sure you need to fly? You can cancel for a full refund." So we talked to like 3 more people to try and confirm that. The general message was that they only offered refunds if you were flying from somewhere else, into the UK, because those are the most needed seats. They actually updated the website to reflect this as we talked! We did the math a dozen different ways, but in the end, we paid $1450 for the Sunday tickets, then would pay $650 for stand-by tickets, then only get $250 back from the regular tickets if we cancelled. Spending an extra $400 to save only one day just didn't make sense. And since several family members had been kind enough to help us out financially, we felt we should be as responsible as possible with that help. But it was so disappointing!

Figuring all that out took a big chunk of our morning. I thought to myself that if I had a dollar for every hour I'd spent on the computer this week, researching and re-researching, I would have about a million dollars! I forced myself to do a little Wirestone work—my goal is to have about 8 billable hours this week so I would only put 4 days under PTO rather than 5. I'm so handicapped on my computer (wrong programs and files), that it's tough to do more than that.

We finally left the house again at 7:00, after Ben took a quick nap. His sleep schedule is all messed up because he keeps waking up at night to watch hockey (the Avs are in the playoffs). We joined up with Brook, and headed towards the bar on the river where I was thinking we would read and Cole would study, but it was so late in the evening by the time we left, that we just hung out and had a drink.

We had planned to eat there, but it was so pricey we decided to head towards our next stop for the evening: the Queen's bar. This bar was quite packed because it was St. George's day (patron saint of England), and several older men were totally drunk, and wearking roses on their lapels, which is a custom for some reason. The three of us pretended to Ben that we had no idea that it was also Karaoke Night at the bar, but he didn't buy it. Ben and I got a couple drinks and brought in gyro's from the kabob van down the street, and we sat outside drinking for a bit. Once karaoke started, we put in our usual songs: Eminem for Cole, Shut Up (our favorite duet), and Love Shack (an excellent group song).

They called up Cole, then me and Cole for Love Shack immediately after. Unfortunately, I realized that this song really is better in a group, because I sounded terribly shrill singing "everybody's movin, everybody's groovin baby" by myself. I was glad when it was over! By then, Ben's occasional social anxiety had hit him full-force, and his fun factor was diminishing. We stayed until Cole and my duet, Shut Up by the Black Eyed Peas, which went quite well.

Then we went outside to grab some air. I tried to grab some drinks, but back inside about a million (seemingly) 15-year olds had packed in, and refused to move to let a person walk down the aisle, so I started to get annoyed with this place as well, and we considered leaving for another bar. Brook went ahead of us, and Ben followed shortly after. "Is Ben going to attack Brook?" Cole asked jokingly. Quite the opposite though—one of the drunk guys with the rose in his lapel had gotten up and followed Brook once she left. Ben went to check on her, but the guy had disappeared. Once we finished our drinks, we headed down various deserted alleyways to this cool place called Turf Tavern. The entrance was totally hidden away, and apparently the only way it stayed in business was through word of mouth, since you couldn't see it from any street. Sadly, it was closed, but the experience of getting there and seeing it was quite cool.

To finish out our night, we headed home and watched—that's right—Community! I showed Ben and Cole my crackerjack method for getting rid of hiccups by drinking from a cup backwards, Ben and Cole ate more kabob-van-food, and then it was time for sleep.

England, Thursday Apr 22 (day 16 of our trip)

Today was very free—no plans at all. I had to pry Ben away from his book and internet to go do something fun. Although I admit, I adore bookworm-Ben. I was craving Nando's chicken one last time before we left, so we headed to the restaurant. We looked at the menu though, and it would be 10 pounds just for a chicken wrap! That's like $30 for lunch. We laughed later, because the prices are exactly the same as the first time we went to Nando's, but 1-this is lunch not dinner so it should be cheaper, and 2-we're no longer in vacation mode!

So we walked down the street to a Greek place. We had planned to stop there anyway because they have fresh Turkish delight, and that was one of the things I wanted to try before I left. In fact, I kept telling people we hadn't left yet because I hadn't had Turkish delight, as if it was my choice to be stuck here. Sometimes it's nice to have the illusion of control. But anyway, the Greek place actually had some really reasonably priced items. We chose a chicken and beef pita, a cucumber salad, and Turkish delight, then packed it all up for a picnic.

Next, we headed towards the stream that we had punted on, seemingly ages ago. While trying to get to the little knoll, we almost entered the Oxford Botanic Gardens—which cost 2.50 each. Fortunately, we found an entrance to the trail right next to that and were glad we didn't enter since it was just patches of dirt this time of year. We headed down the path, and found a nice spot to eat. Almost immediately, ducks started approaching, hoping for food. They were not shy at all, and waddled within 2 feet of us! I was surprised that Ben keep his cool since he's afraid of birds, but we just kept a close eye on them, throwing a little pita in the opposite direction when they got too close. One particular brown duck came over and kind of hung out beside me for awhile, like "I don't want to rush you, but if at any point you find you can't finish your sandwich why, I'm here for you." I gave her a little treat for being cute.

After eating, we relocated to the other side of the trail to warm up in the sun—I swear the temperature drops 20 degrees in the shade! Ben read Harry Potter while I re-read the first True Blood book on my phone. Cole even joined us, followed by Emily, and they studied Economics. It was quite nice.

Then, we headed towards Cornmarket street (I named it walking-only street, if you've seen my map) because I was dying to get the next Harry Potter books. We ended up buying the next 2 just to be prepared, got some Starbucks, and headed home.

For dinner, we lazily ordered Indian. We watched a little Community with Cole, then American Family while we ate (didn't really get into the show, but we'll keep trying).

That evening, my friend Kadence was kind enough to throw me some actual work creating charts. I did a half-ass job (didn't have the right fonts or colors), but I think I helped her out at least a little. I also called in on a Culture Club call through Skype, simply because it had a job number that I could log time to. The meeting was about celebrating birthdays in the office. It was a good idea, but it was funny because I found out that in Sacramento and Boise they give you a t-shirt every year you're with the company! I've never even seen these shirts! I didn't bother our team though—we have a monthly cake for birthday people and call it good.

We did some more reading, and headed to bed!

England, Wednesday Apr 21 (day 15 of our trip)

Ben got up at 3am and checked the status of our flight multiple times (and also watched hockey). I kept tossing and turning, asking even after I knew, whether the flight was cancelled. I woke up thinking I didn’t want to do that again! And we may not get a chance to—later research revealed that Heathrow airport actually requested that stand-by passengers NOT go to the airport, because they were not going to be getting on a flight. I was just a little relieved. We wouldn’t be getting home early (unless they change that policy), but we wouldn’t have to check every night or spend every day at the airport trying.
We both woke up the next morning feeling pretty exhausted. We ate breakfast, then both napped. Ben couldn't seem to get up from the nap though, so I attended today's activity: croquet, with just Cole and I. We went over to St. Hilda's college, and fetched the croquet set, then met the group on the lawn. There were about 9 people, but I only remember a few names. I was paired with Jen, which I told myself was a good thing since it meant we could form new memories besides me breaking her camera. We started the game out a little rough - missing the first hoop over and over, and then being (cruelly) roqueted away from the hoop by Cole. Thus began a competition between our teams: Cole and the theater girl, versus me and Jen. The other team was far ahead. Eventually we taught Cole a hard lesson by roqueting his ball away as well. But maybe it wasn't that hard a lesson since Jen accidentally hit her foot with the mallet and barely moved his ball. Still, I think we made our point! Of course, it was all in good fun. Jen and I ended up winning by a small margin. I'm pretty sure she carried our team at the end, as I had a propensity for hitting the ball way further than intended and throwing us off track, while she had a propensity for making the ball go through the hoop. While we played, we ate cucumber sandwiches, Pimms, and fresh English strawberries. It was such a nice, British afternoon!

They day before, I had purchased tickets to see Date Night with Steve Correll and Tina Fey. It was silly but, I was happy we were here to see the movie—we would have missed it if we'd flown that day! We walked towards town at a high speed. Cole told me there was a phrase around here for people who are walking fast with a strong goal in mind, not allowing any distractions, called "mishing it." As in, you're on a mission. That is how Ben walked. When we were only yards from the theater, Cole and I had to convince him that there was no reason for us to rush, we had an HOUR before the movie started, and besides, it was assigned seating!

So, we popped into a fun little burger joint to grab some food. We got chips and salsa, as well as fries (around here those would be corn crisps and salsa, and chips) to go with our burgers, which was lovely. Then headed into the movie. Our seats were decent, but around here they actually have a section with nicer chairs and better locations, and like little rebels, we totally switched to those seats once the lights dimmed.

The movie was great, with some really strong and hilarious scenes, although a little inconsistent (like when they took breaks from the action to pull over and talk about their marriage - get on with the good stuff)! There is a scene where Tina and Steve danced together, and I about peed my pants. That's cinematic gold!

Headed home, watched Community, then sleep.

England, Tuesday Apr 20 (day 14 of our trip)

Wow, this 10-day trip is getting long! We awoke to several emails from various sources. Marti showed us the status for several flights in the next few days. They were all marked red, showing the likelihood of a stand-by passenger getting on the plain (green is best). I felt better knowing we had tickets now. Next, I created a "chip in" account online so I could beg my friends and family for money (the US embassy TOLD us to!). Although we're trying to be frugal day by day, staying in Britain is getting pricey, and the $1500 tickets were definitely an unexpected expense. While I checked online for tickets, Ben read Harry Potter. I was extremely pleased to see him reading, and captured it below for posterity:

To get out of the house, we headed towards town for lunch. We did what turned out to be window shopping, because no one carries anything that will fit Ben (shopping for him is cheap!), stopped by a travel agency to ask if there were any boats going to America (she said check the internet), stopped at a coffee shop with free wifi to try and buy a kindle book for iphone (couldn't get it working), and checked the movie theater to see if they sold matinee movie tickets on the cheap (they don't). All in all, we managed to accomplish…some exercise from all the walking.

I formed a theory while we walked that Oxford only has 3 streets, because I realized that it didn’t matter where we went, even the skating rink seemed to fit onto this little area of town! So I made this map, eventually settling on 7 official streets:

When we got back to the house, we read that British Air actually had planes leave this morning from far-off destinations headed towards Britian, in the hopes that British airspace opens later tonight, allowing them to land (yes, they do have backup plans). This daring is appealing to us, as it implies they could get their planes coming and going and clear out some of the mess before our flight is scheduled to leave. We also learned that the volcanic ash will be good for Scottish asparagus! Such excellent news.

I tried working a bit more, but had significantly less billable hours to log since I had caught up on email the day before. ‘Enjoy this time’ everyone keeps telling us. This is easier said than done when we’re stressed and poor...but yet the lazy days really have been enjoyable in themselves.

Cole invited me out to try mooing for a pint of ice cream. I said I would go, bringing Harry Potter along. When it was time to moo, Cole did an awesome impression, getting the whole warbly voice going. I almost chickened out, but then decided to do a musical version. I mooed up the octive one note at a time, and laughed at the mental picture of myself with arms outstretched and eyes closed. Cole totally one, but I’d like to think I pushed the judge in his direction by being awful!

I finished Harry Potter, then continued to the Tesco for some frozen pizza. I didn’t have a key since I had left with Cole, so I called up to Ben to get him to let me in. You don’t hear many people shouting in Britian, so I felt quite conspicuous. I tried the old ‘throw a pebble at the window’ trick, but it hit the window below ours (I have a terrible throwing arm), so I hid under the awning in case the Asain guy (only guy in the building we, and by that I mean Cole, isn’t friends with) peeked out. Luckily, a neighbour happened to look outside at that moment and let me in to the connecting building.

While eating, Ben and I read a very exciting article: the airport had opened! We decided to go for a celebratory pint, and told our news to Brook, Emily, and Cole. What a weight off our shoulders! We came home and started packing just in case we were able to get on a standby flight the next day. If the flight was un-cancelled, we would have to wake up at 3am to leave for the airport.

England, Monday Apr 19 (day 13 of our trip)

On monday, I awoke around 9:00, and did my daily rounds on the internet: checking the latest news, and reading emails the people in the states sent as I slept. I also decided to try something new: putting in a few billable hours at work to try and alleviate all the paid time off I was racking up. I wrote to people and asked them if they had any work for me—any administrative type projects that I could do in Word or PPT. The thing that's a pain is, I tried to be "responsible" before we took off, and left my work computer at home so nothing could happen to it. It's funny too because my boss is actually on vacation, so I didn't really have a manager to tell me it was ok I'm still gone…I'm just kind of not showing up and hoping it's ok. The people on my team have been very sweet though.

After a breakfast/lunch, we went towards town with Cole, and he got us into the Bodelean Library with his student ID (that thing has been super handy to get us into places the other tourists can't go!). We saw another Harry Potter location: the room where they filmed the infirmary. "This is where Dumbledore shared all those wise words with Harry every time he woke up from saving the world." Cole said.

Ben was in a good mood because the night before, the Avalanche played the Sharks in the playoffs, and our goalie blocked 50+ shots, breaking a record, then the Avs tipped in a goal after the puck glanced off a Sharks skate. Back at home, I spoke with Marti. She said that the folks at United felt that standby passengers like us were likely to wait 2-3 weeks trying to get a flight out, and we would be much better off with a paid ticket. She suggested cheapoair.com.

So, we began a long internet search. Cheapoair, then Orbitz, Priceline UK: some were too far out for a ticket, too expensive, or if we clicked on a reasonable one it would say "sorry, reservations are unavailable for this flight." We abandoned our search for the moment to get ingredients for dinner: spicy chicken spaghetti. We worked together in the shared kitchen to make the meal, which was a very nice calming activity: chopping and frying all the ingredients to make the sauce. Then Cole and Brooke joined us for a nice "family meal."

We headed upstairs after cleaning up, and continued our search for tickets. I called my credit card company and told them we were going to be making a charge to a UK company, but then tried to make the purchase and got denied! We got on the phone as quickly as possible, and told them yes, we were in control of our card, and the woman was very nice, staying on the phone while we made the purchase, and sending it through.

So we have a ticket now, it came to $1500 which is way more money than we wanted to spend, but we feel relieved that there is an end date in sight. Of course, we'll feel a LOT better when the air opens up again and we know some flights are actually going out. Cole joined us for our nightly watching of the tv show Community, and I wrote a shortened version of these blogs for my sister, to possibly appear in the Reporter Herald. Before we went to bed, we read on the news that another cloud was headed towards Britain, possibly crushing hopes that the airport would open the next day. On that low point (but with some hope), we went to bed.

England, Sunday Apr 18 (day 12 of our trip)

Sunday was Ben’s birthday. We had done some good celebrating with friends the night before, so it was more of a relaxing day. We all slept in—I got up a little bit earlier than Ben and wrote his card, placing it on the computer so he would see it first thing. I tried to convince myself to get up and get breakfast, but was still feeling a little hung over, and decided to catch a few more winks before he woke up. After he awoke, he was interested in finding out about hockey and researching the volcano information. Turns out, the worst eruptions so far had occurred the day before, and even though sources claimed that flights might resume on Wed or Thurs, it just didn’t seem very likely anymore. So, Ben and I looked at the map of the cloud, and realized that Spain was fairly nearby and unaffected. We looked up trains, and were disheartened to realize they were quite expensive—about $1500 to get from London to Madrid. Still, we were feeling a little desperate, and at that time, felt this might be the best option (especially if the cloud kept spreading!). But we had some emails out to people, including our friend who helped us get our tickets here, so decided to continue with our day before making any decisions.

I decided to try and save money by making breakfast instead of buying it, so I tripped down the street to the Tesco supermarket. I went around picking up eggs, bread, cheese, ham, and fizzy water, then went to pay. I just stood there while the lady rang up my order, and then suddenly realized I needed to bag my own groceries. Woops! So I hurredly threw my things in bags. The guy behind me was kind enough to help out, even double-bagging the fizzy water, then I headed home.

After a tasty breakfast (well it was actually lunchtime), we made plans to go ice skating: a small taste of the hockey Ben was missing. The rink didn’t have hockey skates, and all of our boots seemed to bother our feet in different ways, but we made do. I got on the ice and started taking pictures of people’s awkward first steps, and was told by an ‘ice steward’ that we couldn’t take pictures on the ice! The ice itself was really grooved and melty, so it wasn’t the best conditions...but we still had a great time. Ben and I took turns pushing the other one and ‘shooting’ them off. Me pushing him was pretty comical since he’s such a big guy. Cole and Alice had the announcer say 'Happy Birthday Ben, don't let the volcanic ash dampen your spirits.' In the end, we all got to be pretty expert skaters, and I pulled off a decent double toe loop. And by that I mean, I spun once around on the ice.

We walked home (getting pretty good at walking), stopping for some cupcakes to eat later in the day. Normally I wouldn't make the birthday boy purchase his own cake, but this had been a strange week. Then we walked home and checked for news updates yet again. We learned that, not only had there been several successful test flights, but there would be some meeting the next morning, to discuss airport closures. Airlines seemed to feel that the restrictions due to ash were too tight. Of course, they may just want to fly because of that $200 million they lose every day.

We decided to go out for some birthday dinner at Ben's "new favorite" bar (I asked him why favorite, and he said because it was around the corner). They do a special on Sunday with various roasts—we had beef and lamb. It was a pleasant meal, but we started feeling that pull to our computer again. We thought we'd do some research on the US Embassy website, and see if anyone had responded to our emails. The Embassy told us to check the airline websites, gave us European emergency phone numbers, and (I kid you not), told us to ask for money from family and friends. I wonder if it was difficult for them to hire Captain Obvious on such short notice to update their site?

To close out the night, Cole joined us to watch more Community, we had our cupcakes, and then called it a night. I promised Ben we would have a "real" birthday for him once we returned to the states, but he said it had still been nice.

England, Saturday (day 12 of our trip)

Well, it really came to us Saturday that things weren't looking so good for our flights. We were hoping to leave Sunday or Monday, but then the news reports were throwing around Wednesday or Thursday, which seemed to be code for "we have no idea." In addition, Ben read that people coming back into Britain were being told that it could take up to 9 days for their flights to be sorted out and to actually arrive back here. That seemed a little extreme to me, but goes to show what a big mess has occurred. We had breakfast with Cole - made up of noodles from the night before and rice pudding that Cole shared (it was delicious). Ben's mind was heavy that morning with the knowledge that 2 of his hockey games would probably be played without him as goalie, and his birthday was the next day. He was even supposed to attend a birthday barbecue that day at his mother's house, that he would miss. So when Cole offered to let us come feed the ducks with some friends of his, he wasn't feeling up to it.

I agreed to go, deciding to try and stay busy (plus it sounded fun). But in a group of strangers I started feeling pretty sorry for myself and missed Ben. Still, Cole's friends were super nice as usual. We got into Magdelen college (pronounced "Maudlin" around here), and went for a walk along a trail in their huge grounds. I had left my camera in our room because I was downloading pictures onto our computer, and one of our companions, Jen, offered to let me use hers. What's funny is, I made special mental note that the wrist strap didn't tighten, so I tried to wind it a little to make it tighter on my wrist. Then as we walked, I started getting all sad about our predicament, and guess what? My hand went slack, and that camera slipped right off my wrist and onto the ground, sending a spider crack through the screen. Feeling like a total idiot, I showed Jen the damage. The camera wasn't working anymore, and everyone was nice about it, but jeeze I felt awful.

Still, it was a beautiful day and I did my best to clear my mind and enjoy myself. The Magdelen grounds were truly beautiful. They actually raise deer, and have beautiful flowers everywhere, with a river running through. We learned that the balls of green in the trees were actually mistle toe, and laughed that the punters had it so easy this high on the river (note: I realized I had my iphone with me and took a few pictures with that, trying to be sneaky so as not to point out Jen's lack of camera).

After our walk along the path, we headed towards the exit, then further into town to view the Oxford castle. I hadn't realized that some sort of festival was going on, and we actually saw various groups of dancers. Some did dances with handkerchiefs, sticks, and bells. They were performed by groups of older women, or young people who had more energetic dances. We reached the castle and planned to go up a hill to get a view of the city and dancers. I'm pretty sure we all thought that there would be some sort of castle remains on the top of the hill, because we paid a pound to walk up it, and then at the top realized that it was just a hill, with not a great view. Pretty strange. Then we walked into the entrance to the castle, which was basically a souvenir shop, and were told that we could pay 6 pounds to go to the top of the tower for a great view. This time we weren't taken in. I bought Ben a birthday card, and we headed on our way.

Cole mentioned that we had planned to get tea with Alice in a bit, and the group suggested what turned out to be an excellent alternative: to get the makings for tea and eat on the lawn of St. Hilda, their college. We went to the store and Jen became a whirlwind, getting all the necessary ingredients. She decided we would have Pimm's instead of tea (Pimms is some sort of liqueur), and got strawberries, scones, and jam. I went ahead to meet Ben, who was waiting for us near the shops. When I saw him, all my emotions came bubbling up - I started crying because of our situation, and told him my idiot story with the broken camera. We walked sadly towards St. Hilda's, and since we were ahead of the rest of the group, sat huddled on the curb feeling sad. We were pretty much the most pathetic thing you've ever seen.

But Cole's group caught up with us, and we went to sit on the lawn. It was hard to stay in a bad mood after that, and the group brought us in with their chit chat and delicious "tea" (without tea). The Pimms (mixed with bubbly lemonade, strawberries, and mint) was tasty and unusual, and the scones with clotted cream and jam were heavenly, and we began to really enjoy ourselves. The sun was out, the lawn was green, the punters were punting…it was nice.

Back at home we ended up falling asleep, then woke up at 9:30, in time to go meet Cole and other friends (he has a lot!) for drinks. It was actually another guy's birthday (Aaron) the next day, same as Ben, and he and the other people in the group were very welcoming. They introduced us to the sport of "penny-ing," in which you throw a 1 pence coin in someone's glass, and say "save the drowning queen!!" The recipient then has to down their drink, and then usually saved the penny to inflict damage on someone else. Brook, Ben, and Cole all got pennied. Our friend Paul (who played cricket with us early in the trip) avoided the fate, but since he's icelandic he got harassed quite a bit about "his volcano." I asked him how to pronounce it about a dozen times, and honestly I have no memory of even a CLUE of how to pronounce it today. (below, the guy in the foreground of the 3rd photo is the Icelandic dude, Paul).

So as you can guess, many drinks were consumed, and we were feeling good. Then, Aaron made the night even better. Everyone sang him happy birthday, then shouted "speech, speech!" Aaron thanked everyone for coming, and then selflessly turned the spotlight towards Ben, saying that he was stranded here from the volcano, but it was his birthday tomorrow as well. We all sang happy birthday to Ben, and shouted "speech speech" again. Ben said "I guess if I had to be stranded somewhere, this is the place to be." Everyone said "aww," and I shed a small tear at the kindness of this group, that had showed us just a little compassion, to get us past our depression.

After that bar, we headed to another bar that stayed open late - a chinese restaurant. On our way we picked up gyros at a kabob van (kabob vans don't appear to actually serve kabobs), and enjoyed them while we walked. Then we consumed more drinks, joked around, and went home feeling good.

England, Friday (day 11 of our trip)

I'm not up-to-date on the other days of our trip, but thought I'd skip to the present given the circumstances with the volcano-------

It's so crazy that this volcano thing is keeping us stuck in England. It sounds like a bad excuse, like "my dog ate my boarding pass." We checked the internet first thing this morning, and saw an email from Marti that all flights today were cancelled. It was pretty much what we'd expected, but still a bit disappointing. We had really enjoyed our trip, but towards the end of vacation you always look forward to going home! We then had to consider what we would do with our day. We're definitely not as "go getting" as at the beginning of the trip, so we started out slow, sending a bunch of emails (including one to my work telling them I might be delayed coming home), then some journaling and reading. Cole needed to get back to his studies, counting down to exams in a week, so Ben and I went out exploring.

We walked along "old-ass building road" (Ben named it just now), and checked a few menus posted outside restaurants. That's another tradition we enjoy in Europe, menus are always posted. Strangely, Ben told me he was willing to walk around until we found the right place to eat (previously this thought had made him cranky - he's matured so much as a traveler!). We found a place that served gourmet burgers and walked inside. One of the guys working there tried talking to us, and had suck a thick British accent that I didn't understand a single word. I think I was concentrating so much on understanding that I didn't just let it flow. Fortunately Ben caught on.

We asked for directions to the museum, didn't understand a word, and headed on our way. We found it fairly easily based on Cole's directions that it was on the same street as the Kings Arms (funny that our big landmarks are pubs we've visited). It was the Natural Science and Pit Rivers museum, and was such an amazing place! The building itself was huge and open, with a glass ceiling, and inside were all sorts of animals in strange groupings. I never really understood the organization of the place, but there was some great stuff to see. A few items that said "please touch," and then a sort of back room with glass cases with drums, tobacco smoking implements, shrunken heads, etc. In other words, they were organized by subject matter rather than country of origin, it was crazy and amazing.

At one point, Ben was struck with tiredness and insisted we go out to the lawn for a nap. While walking, we noticed the museum inserted giant dinosaur tracks into the earth with concrete - so creative! Ben slept on my lap while I read Harry Potter (sorry if there are a million references to those books in these blogs :)). Then we walked back inside to view a few more animals. Ben and I spent a little time deciding which of the marsupial animals we would allow to come live with us. We chose all but 2.

We headed home and then it was my turn for a nap (this blog is so riveting right?). Then we headed out for Chinese noodle bowls. Joshua Radin was playing across the street but sold out, so we walked towards home, stopping at the grocery store for fun. We learned that grocery stores here are cheap (possibly cheaper than the US), have fun British food options, and their baskets have extending handles like rolley suitcases. We picked up some treacle tart, 10p sparkling water, and clementines that turned out to be terrible. Now we're watching Community (streaming tv on the internet) again.

You know what, a boring night can be nice in real life :)

England, Thursday Apr 15 (day 9 of our trip)

The morning came way too soon for both of us. Well, the morning had come a few hours earlier for Ben, who woke up at 4am to watch the first game of the playoffs for the Avalanche. We went to the train station and met up with Emily and Tamara. Tamara met Cole before they went to Oxford, because she just happened to live in Loveland as well, and they actually shared a plane ride here when the semester started. So we ended up talking about Loveland an embarrassing (but enjoyable) amount throughout the day. However, Ben and I didn't nap on the train like we'd planned due to all the talking, so we were pretty tired in London.

On our connecting train heading towards the Indian side of town, we heard an announcement over the loud speakers that a volcano had erupted in Iceland, and the airport was closed! This was big news since we were supposed to catch a plane home the very next day. We got off the train, then traveled down the street towards the restaurant that Cole had read about in his guide book. A few restaurant owners that we passed started harassing us to eat there—offering free bundhi and other deals. We decided that was really a turn-off more than anything, and ended up Aladdin, that boasted it had been spoken well of by prince Charles. After ordering, Ben and I decided to still walk over to the internet cafe and check in for our flight, to try and get at the top of the list of standby passengers. We didn't have our little papers with us though, so we called the US to get the code we needed. Turned out it was 6am and we'd woken her up, and later we would find out that all flights were cancelled for Friday anyway. Woops! But we returned in time for a delicious meal of Indian food. After eating, we went a little further down the street and stopped at an Indian bakery. The people we were with picked up various treats that seemed to swim in sugar. I decided all he walking around must be what keeps the people of Oxford so slim, since they loved to eat just as much as we did.

Next, we headed towards Big Ben, and the more touristy part of London. We stopped at the building that leads to Buckingham palace, guarded by traditional English guards. We felt bad for their high leg guards and low helmets that must be hard to see out of! Then we went to a nearby park for a few minutes to pass time until the traditional inspection of the guard. Ben and I instantly closed our eyes in the park—we were both so tired that day! Then we walked over to watch the inspection, which was an amusing combination of extreme formality, and smiles here and there. I think the guards realized how on-display they were, and were sort of laughing at the little play they were putting on for the tourists.

We headed a little further down the street, to Trafalgar square. It was guarded by lions on 4 corners, and a huge statue commemorating admiral Nelson from the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805, in the middle. Behind it was the English museum. Ben and I marveled at these buildings that had been built by the state, and wondered if any government still had the money or power to create such intricate, huge architectural wonders anymore.

Our next stop was a beautiful covered market (I'll have to look up these names later!). It was beautiful, with 2 open-air levels, beautiful architecture, and live performances. We stopped at a cupcake place that Alice had recommended (she's actually the Brit who gave us the loan of her room). Nearby, a street performer appeared to be getting nude in front of a wide audience. We watched for a bit, but got tired as he drew out the ending, so we never found out how far he stripped. What a strange show to put on! Then we decided to stop for a drink somewhere, and ended up outside a restaurant in a large patio area they were serving on. The days we've been here have been exceedingly warm and nice, and it was a lovely place to take a break. Behind us, a musician crooned and played the guitar, and an older lady danced interpretively behind him. We were pretty sure he didn't know she was there. I had a glass of wine and Ben had a cup of Espresso (which believe me, didn't help—by this time he was dead to the world). Then we meandered towards the train station to go home to Oxford.

On the train, we chit-chatted about all sorts of things. We talked about Cole's upcoming trip to Nigeria where he would study the film industry known as "Nollywood." Emily told us about the research work she would do over the summer in South America. Something to do with non-profits in the area. We talked about research ethics and methodology, and then I fell asleep because it was mostly over my head.

We arrived home and walked over to the Mission, a local big-burrito place that seemed to be a direct ripoff of Chipotle. Of course, it wasn't quite the same, but still very enjoyable. We watched a Community—a tv show online, then blessedly, went to bed.

England, Wednesday Apr 14 (day 8 of our trip)

I had been holding back from much shopping during our trip (except for the Guinness factory where I picked up some cool items), so we decided today would be the day. Ben isn't really a shopper so he stayed home, and Cole and I headed towards town. I started out by buying some beautiful scarves on sale (3 for 10 pounds), then continued through various shops. Ben had requested a 2X or preferably 3x shirt or hoodie if I ran across one, but we soon found out that those sizes, along with size 13 shoes, don't really exist in England. In fact, we went into Top Shop (a store I recognized from Bridget Jones books), and the men's clothing started at XS and generally ended at Medium. Hilarious. I did manage to find a shop selling the cutest teapot shaped like a phone booth, some tea, and a mini teapot by Queensware (very British-ey). We also visited the Alice and Wonderland shop, where I picked up a white rabbit snow globe for my friend's daughter.

Once we were ready for a break, we visited a shake shop that specialized in throwing all sorts of random stuff in a blender. Cole ordered the strawberry poptart shake he'd been wanting to try, and I ordered treacle tart (an item I recognized from Harry Potter) with strawberry. We agreed that his tasted like blended bread, and mine was fantastic :). Then we went to the theater to check movie times (remember, this was a sort of throw-away day to recover from the whirlwind week we'd just finished up), and called Ben to join us for How to Train Your Dragon. The screens here are a bit small, but their 3-D glasses were awesome looking, and the movie was great.

Next, we would be meeting a few more of Cole's friends at a sushi restaurant. I think that's one of the biggest bonuses of being in Oxford—Cole has all these great friends that we can talk to to gain a greater understanding of living here! The sushi place was great—they had sushi items rotating on a conveyer belt, and each plate was priced differently. Of course, it would all add up ridiculously quickly, but we're on vacation ;). Another bonus of YO! sushi was that they had unlimited water spouts, offering still and fizzy water, for a pound. For some reason, around here, asking for tap water is somewhat frowned upon, and we generally have been a bit dehydrated on the trip. So we enjoyed some spicy tuna, rainbow rolls, nearly-raw beef, refreshing fizzy water, and other great items.

Then, in following British tradition, we headed to a pub for a few drinks. We tried Fruilly, a strawberry beer, then were lead to an after-hours bar by a friend of Cole's for one more drink. Bars around here close at 11pm because apparently drinking is a bit of a problem in Britain, but apparently this Irish place was open late!

While in the bar, I made a comment about how women can multi-task better than men, so we decided to conduct an experiment in which we took turns: 2 people talking at the same time to 1 person, and then the 1 person repeating back a summary of what had been said. We started out telling stories: I mixed up an important fact about bicycles and Ben called it quits like 3 seconds in, but then I think we skewed the results because Ben started giving out hockey stats and Brooke started reciting sonnets. But in general I think Cole won the competition. Score one for the men ;)

Then we walked our exhausted bodies home. We would be meeting some other friends of Cole's at 10:00 the next morning to leave for London, so we went straight to bed to catch as many Z's as possible.

Europe, Saturday April 10 (day 4 of our trip)

As I mentioned, we woke up early the next morning, due to the bright sunlight and people talking at full volume outside our cubicle. So, we went for breakfast at a little French place down the street. They had the most wonderful water there, with mint and lemons in it. We asked for a whole pitcher, which our waiter didn't remember until the end of our meal, so I put a bunch in our water bottle. This tidbit about the water may seem like an insignificant detail, but we still tell stories about it.

Anyway, we then headed further down the street to a bus stop, where we could purchase tickets for the "Hop on, Hop off" bus, which would take us around to various tourist attractions all day long. We took our seats, and listened to the recording that described the places we would be visiting. We realized as we got off, that the "recording" was actually our driver, who spoke into a microphone as he drove. We would choose some favorite drivers later in the day, who spoke with wonderful Irish accents, and tried to pick up the lingo from them. Ben had already adopted the pronunciation of the word "Kearney's" (bar), and to that he added "Parliament." I'm not sure why, but "Kearney's Parlaiment" ended up being our favorite line, which we would quote to each other throughout the rest of the trip.

Our first stop was the Kilmainham Gaol (or Jail). Cole chose this spot, and said he felt guilty imposing his interests on Ben and I, but really we had come to Europe with no plans at all, and having Cole around would be invaluable to make sure we got the most out of each location (love you Cole!) The jail provided tours, which turned out to be a surprisingly good lesson on the history of Dublin. This particular jail is where they incarcerated the leaders of the first Irish revolutionaries. At that time, not all of Ireland was behind these men. Some people wanted to stay under British law. The first uprising was unsuccessful, and many men were incarcerated at this jail. Britain had the leaders of the campaign executed, which actually caused more Irish people to come over to their cause. They would win the next battle, freeing all but Northern Ireland to become free Ireland. We found out that the Irish flag represents Southern, free Ireland, Northern Ireland which is still under British government, and the white stripe between them representing the peace they are working towards. It was a moving tour.
 

After a long wait, we got back on the bus and headed towards the Jameson distillery. We had a delicious lunch there and photographed parts of the beautiful facility, but skipped the tour due to timing (we also wanted to head to the Guinness factory) and the surprisingly high price of the tour. But Ben still did a tasting of their whiskey. Despite the fact that he enjoys sipping on Jameson and water, he didn't seem to really enjoy much past the first shot. He was pretty much choking it down, and no wonder, since he was drinking about 3 shots of straight whiskey!

Next, we got back on the bus with the intention of hurrying over to the Guinnes brewery to fit in our tour. However, we were delayed by a march on the streets, protesting a race-related stabbing in which a 15-year old boy was killed. The marchers seemed to be mostly members of the socialist party (according to their signs), and the bus driver was kind enough to tell us the story.

This particular bus driver had a great Irish, gruff voice, and a lot to share with us passengers, but I was so exhausted I fell asleep, until he decided to make up some time taking back roads to the Guinness storehouse. As we raced over bumps in the road, and careened past people and cars that seemed only inches away, I woke right up. Before that, we drove past the Millenium Spire, but I had to ask what the driver was saying, because he pronounced it "Spar." This would be another favorite Irish term.

We weren't sure what we'd be in for, since the tour of Guinness isn't of the actual production line, but was more canned. We expected it to be cheesy, with some old casks and kettles, but the actual experience was really amazing. They took us through each of the brewing steps, with examples of hops, barley, and water used. We tasted the roasted hops that created the flavor of porter. After a tasting demonstration, we viewed the Guinness advertising through the years. It's funny how so many old products used to advertise that they were "doctor recommended." Guinness used to print "It's good for you" on every product. After 7 floors, we were at the "gravity bar" at the top of the building, which had a 180-degree view of Dublin. Here, we received a free pint of Guinness. And yes, it does taste different in Ireland. So smooth and frothy - the foam is like frosting. Yummy.

We bought souvenirs at the shop, then headed home by taxi since the tourist bus was no longer running. We took a nap, limiting ourselves to only an hour even though we probably could have slept for much longer, and then set out to find dinner. It was probably 7:00, and we weren't feeling picky, however we kept running into high prices, or the wrong menu, or one particular restaurant where they brought us upstairs and tried to broil us with heat. We eventually found a nice place, where we enjoyed our first fish and chips meal of the trip.

On our way back to the Hostel, we decided to enjoy one last Guinness at a pub where you could pour your own pint. By that time, we were all pretty tired of the drink, but there was a particular method of pouring that we wanted to try. What you do is (and we had a little placard telling us in case we didn't know), pour about 2/3 of the cup down the side, then let the glass sit for a minute while it settles, then fill up the rest pouring straight down. Then, exhausted, we turned in for the night.