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.

Europe, Friday April 9 (day 3 of our trip)

After only a couple of days in England, we headed out to see more of Europe. Dublin would be first. We had trouble with the printers at Cole's house, so he went to his college to print our boarding passes. Unfortunately, he logged in about 10 minutes too late, and Ryan Air charges a 40 pound fee if you don't print your passes 4 hours in advance! We hoped to argue our way out of the fee. Keep in mind that Ryan Air is a super-cheap airline, and our tickets were only 30 pounds! We would soon find out that they try to make up more money however they can, including peddling stuff in the aisles of the plane.

Anyway, we headed to the airport by train, which is a very smooth ride by the way, and checked in. We ran over when they announced the gate, because seats are first-come, first-serve, but still had to wait in a long line. Checking bags are another way they try to make up their money, so we made the decision before leaving, that we would travel to our other destinations carrying just backpacks. The attendants still made us put our bags into a box to make sure they were small enough. The front pocket of my bag was so full it got stuck, but fortunately the lady was distracted while I swore under my breath and pried it out.

We arrived in Dublin after only an hour, and noticed a bunch of people outside the airport. They were all rowdy, with flags and matching yellow and blue jumpers (yes, that is a british-ism). We found out later that they were French, and had turned out to root on their rugby team. I was actually surprised that Frenchmen get riled up like that - you hear they're snooty and rude, and then find out they're normal people. Didn't see that coming. The Irish fans had white flags and clothing.

My impression on the bus to Dublin, was that the city was actually a bit worn down. It didn't feel all that "Irishey" to me - could have been any city really. I'm not sure what I expected, more rolling hills I suppose, but we would need to leave town to see those. Maybe on our next trip. Anyway, we walked for what felt like ages, until we arrived at our hostel, which was near the center of town. Our beds in the hostel were on the very top floor, and I don't think we ever climbed those stairs with less than a pint of guinness in us - it got tiring. The large room where we would be staying held 20 beds, but was split into little cubicles of 4 beds each. Funnily, the 4th person in our cubicle would turn out to be from Colorado Springs! Small world.

Well, we headed out for a late lunch. I take that back - first we went into a very sketchy pub with 10-15 locals, and nervously drank our first guinnesses. I don't know if we enjoyed those as much as ones we'd drink later, because we were overwhelmed and being stared at. Then we really needed to eat. We tried to limit ourselves to something authentic, but eventually caved when we smelled the sweet aroma of pizza. We went inside, and laughed as we noticed that the flavors offered were East Indian (curry and other spices), but the visual theme was American Indian. Would the people of Ireland really not notice the difference? Were they just too lazy to figure out what American Indians would put on pizza (the answer being: buffalo and corn)? We took photos.

Next, we wandered around and did a bit of sight-seeing, and I pushed for a little shopping. However, despite it being a Friday when you'd think people would be out and about, all of the shops closed between 5-6! So most of the places were closing their doors. Cole said that Britian was the same way. It didn't matter what kind of job you had, 5:00 is quitting time. I like that policy, and yet I like shopping after work. Tricky. I didn't mind much though, because all of these stores were international, and I can go to a mall in the US. We decided to throw in the towel and go to another pub. Which I think, is also the national policy of Britian and Ireland.

We each had another pint of Guinness, and then got around to asking some people where we could watch the game. The 2 women we talked to suggested Sinnick, where the downstairs was filled with big screens. We found our way to the pub, and it was definitely the place to watch the game. It was packed with fans, and the excited mood was infectious. We (especially I) didn't understand all the rules of rugby, but were impressed by things like: a tackle would occur, and 10 men would be piled on top of each other, and yet the play would continue! Somehow, someone always seemed to get the ball and just keep running! We saw how they lifted a man up to catch he ball when it was thrown in from the border line, how they did a "scrum" where they huddled up and tried to push the other team, and learned that you can pass backwards but kick forwards.

Due to all the guinness, I took a trip to the bathroom. Each one had an attendant. Ours was talking on her cellphone when I finished washing my hands, and handed me a couple squares of toilet paper. As I tried to swipe the tiny pieces off, I made the decision to save the Euro in my pocket for someone else. I still feel guilty for not tipping.

The game went on, and we were extremely excited when the Irish team won by 1 point - despite the French team being favored to win! The bar erupted in shouts. By this time, we were pretty amped up, and decided to continue our night of fun with a dance place. Ben got out-voted on this decision. We ended up at a place called "Club War." One of their gimmicks was to put war paint on you if you so desired - and we did obviously. We eventually found out that it was GLS night, but that made it all the more fun - great dancing and crazily dressed people to watch. We danced the night away, and then on our way back to the hostel, picked up late-night gyros at "Abra-kababra."

I jumped in the shower when we got back to the Hostel, since I was sure the bathroom would be crazy the next morning. We decided we would sleep in the next day - little did we know that Hostels are a terrible place for sleeping. Even though that's their whole function ;)

England, Day 2

Yesterday, Ben woke up bright and early, and headed out for coffee. I still felt a bit sleepy and jet-lagged, but dragged myself out of bed. After breakfast, we headed out for a busy day, which would include a local sport, "punting." But first, we did a bit more sight-seeing. We started out at Queens college, a beautiful place with a cool chapel, but it was under a lot of construction so we headed on to New College. "So it's the newest one on campus?" Ben asked? "Well, it was built in the 1200's replied Cole." And that's something that makes an impression on you around here. Everything is so OLD! It really puts into perspective how young our country really is.

New college was amazing and beautiful, but I have to say I was extra excited because there was a courtyard with a huge tree, where in Harry Potter, Mad-Eye Moody turned Malfoy into a ferret. You could totally recognize the spot too.

Then we headed into the New College gardens, which in Cole's words, is very "Wonderland-esque." In the middle of the garden though, is this weird mound with many many steps leading up, which we couldn't associate with anything except Mayan human sacrifice! The top of the mound didn't give us any better clues - it was just a platform. At that moment, I wished for a table and a sword so we could re-inact a head chopping for the camera. Maybe better that those items weren't available.

Our next stop was at the punting rental place. Punting is a sport where you push a boat along from the back, similar to the Venetian gondolas. It sounded very ideallic and fun, and with very little instruction, we hopped on, with Ben taking the "wheel" first. We would be punting around a small island: down one side and up the other, and we rounded the first side within about 10 minutes, so we decided to be adventurous and continue down, floating toward the Thames. We almost made it to a second, miniature island, when we realized we At  were actually off the map, and had better turn around and head back.

That's when the trouble started. When you push from the back and the current comes from the front, it is very easy for the current to spin you around just when you think you're situated! We were turned around once, and straightened ourselves with some tree branches. Then twice, and straightened ourselves with the wall on the other side of the stream. Then the guide came floating by heading up-river like a pro. "We can't seem to get in control!" we cried, "what should we be doing?" First the guide just said "well try not to cut me off here, try not to cut me off!" All of the people in our boat were thinking "didn't we just say we're not in control?" Then he said that there was a number we could call to arrange a pick-up, and to watch what he was doing as he left us in the dust. He was putting his pole into the water, then pushing off it in a very straight line. It wasn't very helpful since obviously, that's what we'd been going for as well.

So, we called the number. Basically, their message was "ok, you need to turn around, and head up river." What great advice! But, although they didn't offer to pick us up, they seemed ok with us coming in late since we'd called in. At that point the boat was backwards, with the punting platform in the front. Cole was on that end as well and said "well I haven't tried punting yet, I'll just do it from here." So he started pulling us from the front, rather than pushing from the back, and if you think about it—when you're fighting a current this is really the best way to keep on course. Ben rowed like a pro from the back, and I was the "cheerleader" in the middle. At one point, we passed an embankment where dozens of people were enjoying the sun and watching the punters. We started talking about how much we missed our homeland of Canada, and how beautiful Vancouver and Montreal were this time of year. This became an ongoing joke to avoid proving ourselves to be "stupid Americans."

Our very last hurdle was a concrete tunnel that we needed to go through, then turn left to park the boat. Unfortunately, the tourguides who sat only a few feet away offered no help whatsoever, and before we parked we nearly plowed into a young family. But eventually we got out of the boat (to our great relief). Cole walked confidently up to the window and said "we got here on time. We just had to wait to park." I think his confidence confused them and they gave us the 1 hour rate without argument. As we walked away, Ben said "Well, I'm glad we did it…but I never want to do it again."

We decided to have a pint at the King's Arms to simmer down a bit. We sat outside and enjoyed Strongbow, a tasty cider. Then, we headed over to the Oxford athletic club, where we would be meeting friends of Cole's for some Cricket. Tom, Paul, Emily, Shro, and Chin all came along, and the more experienced people showed us how to pitch the ball. You have to keep your arm straight as you pitch, and take a running start, then bounce the ball once before the batter hits it. For Cole, Emily and I, it was a comic attempt at concentrating on too many things at once. Ben picked it up much more easily, and was soon making decent pitches, then even took a turn at bat. Cole, Emily and I ended up standing on the sidelines chatting and admiring the advertisement hot-air balloons.

Once we finished, we went out for pints at the pub called "On the River." It was beautiful, and we were surprised that such a swanky place was like any other pub, and there were no servers. We met Cole's friend Mfundu, who told us about her experience with baboons attacking her picnic in South Africa, and Ben picked Tom's brain (the only Brit in our group), to try and wrap his head around the fact that Whales, Northern Ireland, Scotland and England are sort of separate countries, but yet under the UK. Emily explained that it was sort of like states all under the United States - and although these are separate countries, they share just one seat in the UN.

Our final stop of the night was a restaurant called Checkers. It too had a gorgeous interior, and totally surprised us in that it was still considered a pub, and therefore had no waiters. I ordered Chicken Tikka Masala, and the guy behind the counter laughed, saying I pronounced it very posh. I still don't get the joke!

A quote from Ben-----
As an aside, when you go to a pub, there is no wait staff so you always have to go to the bar to order. Food, drinks, everthing. I had a british man straight up laugh at me when I asked if we would get a server at our table. You also don't tip bartender at all. The first night here I put a pound down after being served my drink and was told by another bar patron to take it back. When I said I was leaving a tip he said "You dont tip a bartender!". So that saves a little money.

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!

There's a snake in my bed!

So the other day, Cory jumped out of the bed where he enjoys warming himself under the covers, but all I noticed were the blankets slithering around. I started just as Ben walked into the room, and he asked what was wrong, and I told him I swore there was a snake in the bed! He informed me in a formal manner that despite what I knew from real life, the Bible says that snakes can't climb trees anymore.

"Anymore like, compared to 10,000 years ago, which you remember well?"

"I'm just saying, a snake couldn't possibly be in your bed because they're doomed to crawl the earth on their bellies or whatever!"

"I can't believe you just made a biblical reference to support a totally illogical point! I'm so proud of you."

"Yeah we should tell that one to your parents."

The Hoover salesman

So, a guy just came to my door and said "I'm going door to door just trying to get answers to a couple questions." "ok..." "Do you use this product in your home? (holds kleenex box up)" "Not really" "Ok well this is for you, and I'll be right back" (thinking to myself...what??)

"I see you have some carpet over there, can I set up there?" "Um ok (I really just wanted to get inside from the cold doorway)." The guy started to open up the box and makes small talk. I try to imply that my roommate is right downstairs, as I have just realized that I've allowed a strange man into my house while I'm all alone.

So the guy opens up the box and I ask, "Is that a vacuum cleaner?" "Yes it is" "Um ok well we just bought a vacuum and we're pretty happy with it so I don't want you to waste your time..." "well my boss pays me to just open this up and push it around, do you think I could do that for you?" "I'd rather not, I'd prefer to just get back to what I was doing you know?" The guy argued a little more, and I kept insisting that although I was sure Hoover was a fine brand (thinking all the while about my parent's heavy clunky stupid Hoover), I wasn't interested, wasn't interested, but was still polite but NOT INTERESTED. "Are you sure?" the guy asks..."Um YES I'm fucking sure, Mr. Hoover salesman masquerading as a Kleenex rep and/or statistics gatherer! Get out of my house!"

Actually my real life response was much less bold but if I could do it all over again that's what I would say :)