MOAR PICTURES!

Update coming soon, guys, I promise- but until then, more pictures!


Aberystwyth
Shrewsbury- all three of them
Oxford


Yes, there are only 3 pictures of Shrewsbury- it POURED rain the whole time I was there.

I live!

So that whole posting every day thing kind of went out the window, huh? Oooooh well, these things happen. And by 'these things happen' what I mean is 'I am a lazy sod'. So what has happened on my Whirlwind Adventures?

When last I reported, I had just left Nottingham in search of Shakespeare-ier pastures. And I found them!

I stayed in this beautiful little bed and breakfast called the Curtain Call, which was small and quiet and very comfortable! The only downside was that it was a 15 minute walk from town. When I read that on the website I though 'psh, 15 minutes! That is nothing, everything will be fine!'

And you know, it really isn't much, if you just do it twice a day. It becomes amazingly daunting, however, if you walk into town in the morning, then back for a nap, then have to try and convince yourself to walk back into town to get food.

Needless to say, I ended up drinking a lot of complimentary tea and convincing myself I really wasn't hungry.

My first day, I decided to be a Good Tourist. I woke up early and had a big, manly English Breakfast. You guys, these people eat TOMATOES and BEANS for breakfast, how bizarre is that? Kind of tasty, though. Thus fortified, I began my day. I had a plan. I was going to see all five of Shakespeare's houses, and it was going to be AWESOME. So I set off in search of Anne Hathaway's cottage, which was actually closer to my B&B than town.

It was SO beautiful, you guys. The gardens were like nothing I've ever seen- a 200-year-old garden, it smelled like a fairyland. Next, I trotted off toward town and towards Shakespeare's birthplace! It was pretty awesome- lots of costumed guides and people performing Twelfth Night in the garden. I tried to get into the archives they have, but apparently you need to make an appointment and I was just too lazy for that.

I wandered around the little walking mall in front of the Birthplace for awhile- there were lots of people painted like statues, and giant groups of tourists, and tucked in the corner was this funny little magic shop with Harry Potter stuff in the windows. Well, it looked like Harry Potter stuff, but everything was misspelled a little bit so they didn't have to pay anyone property rights. It was pretty hilarious.

I continued wandering and stumbled across Hall's Croft and New Place, and then to Trinity Church to see Shakespeare's grave! Which was probably my favorite part. I mean, how cheeky do you have to be to put a pagan curse on your tomb in a church? Man, that guy was so rad. The church was cool all on it's own- apparently there has been a place of worship there for over a thousand years. The chapel is actually 'new', having been constructed as late as the 1200's. The history, my mind boggles.

By the time I got back to my bed, I'd been exploring for over 12 hours. Everything hurt. So for the next couple days, I tried to avoid touristy things, and just wandered around Stratford in the sun, soaking up the atmosphere. I did manage to get a few more touristy things in before I left, however- I went to Warwick castle, which was AWESOME, except for the part where I twisted my ankle. I went to this super old manor house and wrote a little in their beautiful gardens. And finally, I went to see a RSC production.

I was a little hesitant, because they weren't actually doing Shakespeare the night I wanted to go- instead, they were doing a new play, which was an adaptation of Le Morte d'Arthur by Sir Thomas Malory. I'm so glad I ended up going- the acting was amazing (Ophelia from Tennant's Hamlet was in it! EEE!) and the adaptation was actually really well done, although it did remind me of what a giant prick Malory was. It was one of those moments, though, where I really should have been with someone instead of on my own. Because if I'd been with someone, the following interaction never would have happened.

See, the girl who played Guenivere had really, really red hair.

At the moment when Arthur finds out about her and Lancelot, I, without thinking, turned to the guy next to me.

"That just goes to show," I said, unthinking, "never trust a ginger."

He gave me a REALLY horrified look and angled himself away from me for the rest of the performance. This is why I should not be let out in public unsupervised, guys.

Next, I traveled to a tiny town called Hay-on-Wye. It was a pretty hefty day of travel- first a train out of Stratford to a train station in one part of Birmingham, then hi-tailing it to a train station in a DIFFERENT part of Birmingham, then getting on a train to Hereford, and then flagging down a bus to Hay. And I did ALL OF THAT without getting lost EVEN A LITTLE BIT. Because I am an Awesome Navigator. (The fact that there were signs everywhere is totally irrelevant, shut up.)

So why this tiny town? I'm so glad you asked! Hay-on-Wye is internationally known as the City of Books. It is this TINY little market town- population of about 1500, and that's counting the neighboring farms. And guess how many used bookstores it has. Go on, guess.

25. TWENTY-FIVE used bookstores. It was amazing. Books everywhere! It was heaven. Dusty, chaotic heaven. I was there for five days, and spent four of it sleeping in and then blissfully wandering through the cobble-stoned streets, eating ice cream from this UNBELIEVABLY good ice cream parlor, and looking at neat old books.

The fourth day, I met this carpenter named Brian and we got to talking. He asked me if I'd gone through the national park that's right by Hay, the Brecon Beacons and I said I hadn't, as I had no car. He was horrified by this, and offered to drive me through it the next day and I am so so glad I agreed- it was unbelievably beautiful. So green, and with these beautiful rolling hills and gorgeous old churches, sheep everywhere. Hands down it was the most beautiful place I've been since I've been here. Took my breath away.

You might notice my Hay commentary is much shorter than my Stratford commentary- this is because it was a week of total relaxation, so there's not really much to report.

After Hay I took myself to the capital city of Wales, Cardiff. I only stayed for a couple of days, but they were FUN days. I stayed in this very nice hostel right across the river from the Millennium Stadium, so my first night I went and walked around there for a bit. Wandered in and out of stores, got some pizza (they eat it with FORKS here, you guys, it wasn't even cut into slices. WRONG) and then went back to collapse into bed.

The next day dawned bright and sunny, and my head popped off my pillow. Why, you ask? Because it was my Giant Nerd Day! I was going to go to the Dr. Who exhibition and then go see all the places where episodes were shot, and stand on the Tourists Entrance to the hub, and basically just be a giant, ridiculous nerd person.

Something you should know- after it rained on me in London, I went out and bought myself an umbrella. It's adorable and has tiny mustaches all over it, but that is not the point. The point is, I've been hauling that umbrella around with me every day since then, and it never rained. I'm tired of lugging this thing around, I said to myself this fateful Sunday morning, I don't think I shall lug it anywhere today. I'll wear my raincoat, which I still won't need, because I'm beginning to think this whole 'Oh it rains over here all the time!' is something the locals say to scare off tourists.

I really should not tempt fate like that. When I got out of the Who exhibition, it was raining. It didn't look like it was raining very hard, so I did not despair.

The weather on this island is amazingly deceptive.

I was SOAKED in about two minutes. Or well, my trousers and head were- my raincoat works amazingly well in keeping my torso dry! So that was a plus!

To make things even sadder, most of the filming locations were MUCH farther away than I had anticipated, and I couldn't stand at the Hub entrance because the were setting up for the food festival which starts on Thursday. Also, the tower was covered in giant, multi-colored strawberries.

All was not lost, however! I did manage to find Ianto's memorial wall, which is down on the docks, and while I was down there I saw they had tours of the bay. The captain, who felt sorry for my bedraggled, pathetic state, let me sit up in the Captain's chair! I did not get to steer the boat, but it was still awesome.

The next morning I went to Cardiff castle, which has been there for over 2000 years. TWO THOUSAND YEARS. So awesome. I may or may not have climbed into the walls and pretended to be a princess, kidnapped by her horrible uncle, because I am a Mature Grown-Up.

And that brings us up to today! Which was another day of NEVER ENDING TRAVEL. And by that I mean like 5 hours. But now I am in Aberwstwth, which is this amazing town full of tiny, independent shops and music and most importantly: IS ON THE OCEAN! Oh, ocean, how I've missed you!

On a separate note, I am beginning to suspect that all those pictures of sandy, sunny, warm beaches are ALL FAKE because every beach I've ever been to is windy, cold and rocky. Beautiful! But certainly neither sandy nor warm.

End of Nottingham

And so, amidst many tears, I left Nottingham behind this morning. Well- afternoon. That's not the point.

I was very sad to leave- I had an unbelievably amazing time. Monday, Hannah, James, Mel and I went to an amusement park called Alton Towers which was AMAZING. The only amusement park I've ever really been to was Disneyland, and while Disneyland holds many keys to my heart, it's got nothing on Alton Towers. We went on rides, we picnicked, we were almost killed by a pine cone, we went on more rides. I was horribly deceived by the sweet English sun and sunburned myself. We staggered back to Mel's and collapsed by 10. DELIGHTFUL.

Tuesday was spent lazing and recovering- James came round for a bit, and then we went and lazed in the garden. Mel's Mom made Yorkshire Pudding for dinner- it is SO TASTY I am so impressed with British food. It looks bland and brown, but is in fact a PARTY for your mouth.

Today I managed to navigate: (1) bus (3) train stations and (2) strange towns ALL BY MYSELF. I am totally getting the hang of this navigating thing.

So I don't have many Nottingham pictures, because Mel was also taking them and I got lazy. But what I have are Here!

Adventures in Nottingham (Thus Far)

And so I have left the city of London behind and ventured into the country.

Well- that's misleading. I've ventured into the smaller Urban center of Nottingham!

Mel and James met me at the train station, and we went to have fabulous hot chocolate which Mel spilled all over herself. Then we caught a bus to Mel's- it's SO wonderful to have someone who knows where they're going lead me around. I met Mel's parents, who are brilliant, and then Mel took me for a walk to see this beautiful old church and a HAUNTED manor house (AWESOME) and then we went for a walk through the woods. Woods with no pine trees! How bizarre! it's so beautiful here- all green, and high grasses, and peaceful ponds with sketchy fishermen. When we got home, Mel's parents had left for their weekend away so I had a ROOM and a bed ALL TO MYSELF which was so amazing. I even got a shower with HOT WATER how rad is that.

England was playing Algeria, so Mel invited some of her friends over to watch the game. I was excited- Football! The national sport! Clearly this would be very exciting!

I was very, very wrong. Nothing happened. No one scored the WHOLE GAME they just ran back and forth and occasionally James and Mel's friend Sam would yell at the tv for no apparent reason. But it was nice to meet people, and no one took the game too seriously so that was alright. The other's left to go out at around midnight, but Mel and I crawled into bed like old people and promptly passed out.

The next day, we got a slow start but eventually managed to get dressed and made our way for a fun-filled day of Touristy Things! James was working, but Mel's friends Hanna, Lauren and Sam met up with us. We went to this place called the Gallows of Justice. IT WAS SO COOL. There were a whole bunch of actors who led you around; Mel got picked out to be a serving wench, and Sam was put on trial as Robin Hood. We were given numbers of actual prisoners and led to the dungeon to see what our crime and punishment was- I was a murderer, and was flogged, hung from the neck until dead and then dipped in Tar and my head put on a spike. Isn't Ye Olde England EXCITING?

Then we went down to the caves- there are all these super cool old man-made caves under Nottingham which have been used for all kinds of stuff over the years. Like tanning! Which we found out about, and which sounds like a truly horrible job. We then trooped off to a pub for lunch; we went to the oldest pub in Britain! It was built right into the sandstone wall, and was all narrow with a million staircases. So cool.

We decided that because we'd had lunch at the pub so late, there was no reason to do the barbeque we'd tentatively planned so instead we went and got a TERRIBLE zombie movie and vegged.

Well, that was the plan.

Instead, we got back and Mel's key would NOT work in her lock. It just turned and turned and wouldn't catch. So Mel hopped the fence to her back garden to find a spare key and try that one.

There was no spare key.

An hour later, after help from the neighbor, the owner and two of the bouncers from the club across the street, and one random guy who really wanted to kick the door in we managed to unscrew a TINY upstairs window, and Mel performed some truly amazing gymnastics to climb through and get us all in. Then we had milkshakes and watched an AMAZINGLY terrible zombie movie and fell asleep.

Today has been a lazy day- we woke up late, and then went with Hannah to some giant British department store thing, and then for a walk on a nature reserve, because it is finally sunny. Swans everywhere, it's so beautiful.

Now I must go, because Mel's parents have returned and they are taking me for tea. Hooray!

London Pictures!

This way for London Photos!
http://s163.photobucket.com/albums/t304/wotchermoony/London/

You'll have to copy and paste again, sorry about that. Nottingham Adventures coming soon!

DAYS SEVEN AND EIGHT

So yesterday I slept in so late I almost missed breakfast. But I didn't! I then decided to wander to the British Museum, which the map told me was easy to find! No way to get lost!

... I totally got lost.

BUT! I saw a large group of people in suits all walking purposefully, so I followed them and they led me to this giant market/mall/thing where I found a wireless shop and bought myself internet! The jury is still out on how effective it is- we'll wait and see how well it works when I'm not in a basement. I walked out of the market/mall/thing and found the tube station which was, theoretically, right next to the British Museum, so I plundered on with my journey.

A side note about British culture you might find interesting- jaywalking? Totally legal! Or well, I should say not illegal at the very least. This means that people are stepping into streets helter-skelter all over the place. I usually follow the people in suits- if very rich people are willing to risk it, it's probably pretty safe.

Anyway, back to my story! So I wandered around this area for a bit until some nice man with a mustache pointed me in the right direction, and finally I found the British Museum!

Guys, when the British decide to take souvenirs? They take some freakin' souvenirs. The whole museum was stuff that had been collected mainly over the golden age of the British Empire. Treasure from all over the world- Africa, the Americas both North and South, Asia, Pacific Islands, other parts of Europe, the Middle East... and I'm not just talking jewelry and vases and books and stuff, although obviously those were there in abundance. No, I mean the Brits would knock down WHOLE WALLS and then bring them back piece by piece. Or excavate a tomb and bring everything, including the floor and the walls, back. At one point? There was an ENTIRE GREEK TEMPLE they'd just uprooted and shipped back. It was pretty cool, in a colonial kind of way. Definitely made me want to hop on board a giant ship and raid an island or something.

Then I decided I wanted to take a walking tour, so I went to try and figure out where such a thing would start. I wandered around in puzzlement before realizing that the Russell Square I was sitting in and the Russell Street on the map were, in fact, two completely different places.

So I hoped on the Tube and went over to Covent Gardens, found the meeting place- and realized that for some reason, my phone was an hour off and the tour had already left. This prompted me to buy a watch- my Official London Souvenir, as it were.

So here's a history of Covent Gardens- the name is a lie. There are no gardens. There haven't been gardens there in over 500 years. A long, long time ago (like 1100 AD) there was a Covenant there, and the nuns had a garden where they grew all the fruit for the monks over at their Abby. Over the course of about 100 years, they became the main fruit supplier for the entirety of Old London, and other merchants started setting up shop. By the time good ol' Henry VIII decided to do away with nunneries, the market was already established, and there it still stands today, minus any kind of fruit. Unless you want fruit-flavored candy.

At one end of Covent Gardens stands London's Transport Museum. I went, because it made me think of my mom. ... Sorry, Mom, I'm just not that into the history of buses. It was really kind of dull. So I wandered around, accidentally found myself in the West End, found a Tube station, and went home.

This morning I woke up disgustingly early and did laundry. I met a friend in the laundry room! His name was Matthew, and he was from Perth Australia. We had a lovely chat and then I decided it was time to go Out on the Town.

The thing about the laundry is important for the following reason- the bag I use as my shopping/umbrella holder/book/extra crap bag doubles as my dirty laundry bag. So I emptied everything out of it and into my lock box and went to do my laundry. Then I came back, hung my laundry up round the room, and put some stuff back in my bag. Book, rain jacket, umbrella, postcards, notebook... do you notice anything missing?

I didn't until I got to Hyde Park and wanted to take a picture. That's right, folks, I left my camera. (Safely locked up, Mom, it's fine. Everything's still here.) It turned out to not be so terrible- I went to the National Gallery, and you can't take pictures there anyway, and then I went on two walking tours with this LOVELY girl who I will get to later, but who promised to share them on Facebook.

ANYWAY, the National Gallery was fantastic! The really cool thing about Britain is that any museum owned by the government is free to the public, so I got to go see all this incredible art for free. There was lots of Biblical stuff, and man- the Bible has some AMAZINGLY horrifying stories. Seriously.

I did see some more Van Gough and I've gotta say- I was never a big fan of his from prints, but up close? His work is hypnotic. So beautiful. Then, checking my new and shiny watch, I realized it was time to make my to the walking tour.

It was a tour of Old London, and it was so neat! Beautiful day, beautiful walk, lovely people. I was going to then go to the Tower of London, but it was 17 pounds and I was feeling cheap, so I went on a second walking tour called the Grim Reaper tour instead. This tour was of the East End of London and talked about the plague and the fire and Jack the Ripper, and was suitably creepy and fantastic. The tour guide was Scottish and very funny, but the best part was that Erica, a Canadian who had been on the Old London tour with me as well and with whom I'd talked briefly, ended up coming on this tour as well! And she was so sweet and funny, and was from right around Vancouver. Yay Northwest! After the tour we went to dinner at this posh restaurant- the food was amazing, the location was to die for, the staff were French and therefore incredibly obnoxious.

Now I'm going to go pass out, because I have to get up early tomorrow if I'm going to check out by 10.

Pictures!

Pictures! End of Paris- London is coming soon! Do the same as before- click on the first one, then click next and that way you can see my comments!

http://s163.photobucket.com/albums/t304/wotchermoony/Paris/Paris%20Day%20Three/

EDIT: Okay for some reason, the linky thing isn't working, so you're going to have to copy and past the link above into a new window.