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, 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 Day 1

So, I generally use this blog to convey funny anecdotes from my life, but I'm on vacation and usually try to journal what I do each day when I travel, and I thought, why not do it here?

 Our trip (as most do) started at the airport. My mother kindly dropped us off, which was a leap of faith since we were flying standby. After going through security, we still had 1.5 hours until the plane left. When the gate agent arrived at his desk, we went up to let him know we were standby, and Ben asked how far down we were on the list. "Pretty far" the gate agent told us. Ben and I freaked out a little at that point. Through the extreme generosity of friends, we had these cheap tickets, but had to fly standby. However, we found out an hour later that the gate agent was messing with us, and we were the second couple called to the desk! As an added bonus, we were able to sit in business class.

Business class was as wonderful as you've heard. We had an amazing British stewardess who kept refilling our glasses (beer for Ben, champaigne for me!), and would often say "cheers"when she served us, in the most endearing way. She recommended that, when we arrive, we should try to stay up until nightfall in order to avoid the worst of the jet lag we would encounter. We did our best to sleep through the night: I got about 5 hours while Ben got only 2 or so. We arrived a bit early and couldn't get Cole's number to work (Cole is our host in England), but eventually he walked through the doors and we headed home to Oxford.

We dropped off our things at his place, which is a house, but each room has an individual lock, and there are two shared kitchens and bathrooms. We changed, and then headed out on the town. This city is awesome because you can walk just about everywhere, and it's all so beautiful! And my dad will enjoy this: our room overlooks the field where Roger Bannister first ran the 4-minute mile.

The university is intermingled with the shops and things, so Cole pointed out all sorts of colleges with beautiful arches and spires, most of which I'll have to ask him the name of again. We walked by the famous Radcliff Camera library, then took a tour of Christ Church, which was so amazingly beautiful, and - bonus - was the location of Hogwarts in the Harry Potter films! So we went through and pointed out areas we thought we rememembered from the film. Most of it appeared smaller than it looked in the movies, but still surprisingly recognizable.

We stopped for some meat pies, then a delicious cookie (best in England, according to Cole, although my orange-chocolate-chip one was a little strange). We also got our cell phone working, and saw some other places...it's a bit of a blur. Silly Ben wore shorts though and no jacket, so we cut off our tour a bit early to go home and get warm. Shortly after calling family members on skype, Ben looked and sounded like he was about to drop dead, so we decided on a nap. We managed to wake ourselves up after about 90 min, through some miracle, and it actually revived us nicely so we could stay awake until it was actually night time. So, we headed out to a pub around the street (Oxford Blue), to watch the soccer game with England versus Germany. It was a pretty exciting game with lots of goals scored at the beginning. England appeared to have won 3-2, but apparently the score is an aggregate with another game so really they lost. Too bad, but still fun.

We ate cheese fries and bangers and mash, and Cole's friend Leah joined us. After the game, we played Taboo, a game offered by the bar. It was funny because we group of Americans (and one Romanian), had to skip many of the cards with "British-isms." It was boys versus girls: boys won, but fun for all.

Random note: one of the differences here that we've come accross, is that the faucet is always split between hot and cold heads, so you can't adjust the temperature - your left hand burns while your right hand freezes! So funny :)

Lots of fun plans in the next few days: stay tuned!