masada....because you gotta

we woke up bright and early to get out of jerusalem and on with our journey. though it wasn't too bright yet. in fact while waiting on the bus for late people (they hadn't been woken up, eeep!) i got to see the sunrise out the back window. and this bus ride was pretty unfortunate; in general - because of people being sick and missing things, and having 8 israeli soliders with us, suddenly there were no longer ANY extra seats. i had been the middlest person on the bus, so i ended up grabbing the last 'window' seat (so i would have a place to lean) but it was the back left corner. so there wasn't actually a window, and there wasn't really any leg room so i ended up feeling pretty squished and not able to sleep. but any uncomfortableness i went through this morning was NOTHING compared to this afternoon.

anyways, so we drove into the desert, i was trying my best to look out the window and see everything i could, but when we got off the bus, it was incredible. just a breathtaking view, some palm trees, the dead sea, the dessert, other mountains and masada. our favorite and best 'tourguide' Michael was back and so we did another circle of name, place & something special (the two i'd used in prior circles were my hives and my love of raw garlic) and so i informed everyone about my preparedness for the day (snacks, chocolate-covered espresso beans & sunscreen).

i failed to mention the other 25 pounds worth of unknown stuff in my bag, or even to realize how bogged down i'd be eventually, but at this moment it was fine. but not for long, about halfway up the mountain i started getting tired, and i'm out of shape - but not that bad! and then about 2/3rds of the way danny grabbed my bag, gasped at the weight and proceeded to laugh at me for being such a fool. Babs had even offered to switch bags earlier and i refused. so i continued my madness and made it up the whole thing, i was practically the last person up. but it was good practice for the big hike the next day!

at the top of masada we got a mini-lecture from Michael, and i'll be honest i had heard the word 'masada' before, but i knew pretty much nothing. this just made all the information new, though also a bit over my head. someday when i'm a scholar of Masada i'll tell you everything, but that day is not today.

we went over to the southern cistern (we actually did a lot of cisterning while in israel) and it was pretty incredible. besides the amazing beauty of the place, we happened to be there at the right time for the sun to be streaming in thru the holes in the top, and it cast an awe-some light. all the better for Tamar and Mati to put on a hilarious fake meeting between King Herod and Eleazar ben Simon ( i think? someone correct me if i'm wrong!). either way, it was an informative but mostly funny argument.

then dave taught us all about pigeons and doves and dovecoats. we also got to see the ramp that the Romans had built up to the side of the mountain in their eventually winning attempt to topple the jews there/here. and seeing the ruins of roman camps is just kind of insane, especially for an ex-latin student, i know way too much about the romans. this was also the first day of Michael pimping ol' Josephus and his book the Jewish Wars (which is on my reading list now). apparently he is the only source for a lot of jewish history. going anywhere with Michael was like having a history book with us, he would tell us story after story about things that had happened to the jews, and you all know how i love history classes, it was pretty much sitting in an amazing place and hearing the stories about what had happened there, exactly where we were, but thousands of years before.

then after some free time to walk around, we all met back up, and recieved an amazing performance.

all sad rememberences

this was the day we did all the somewhat sad type things. and also lunch was bad and we had to wait so long.
but don't worry there wasn't any complaining... since we had just gone through Yad Vashem (The Holocaust Museum).

Our tour guide was a little bit rough and very conscientious of time, but overall it... well its hard to type about here. especially since i usually try and be light, humorous and a little witty (if possible). and it really isn't the joking kind of day. but there were a lot of moving moments for everyone (i think).

we followed this up by going to Mt Herzl, which was also an interesting history lesson.

We (those of us there weren't dying of the plague) then went to Tel Aviv!
One of our Israeli Soliders - Shai led us on a tour, since he lives there. There was a lot of Bauhaus Architecture there, apparently besides Gropius (who moved to Massachusetts and whose house i've seen), they all moved to Tel Aviv and built lots of stuff.

Then they took us to a mall, and we were told we could wander around the area. Babs, Danny and I decided to check the mall out first. The lack of cool stores led us to a pizza place, and we had some nice thin pizza by the slice. Then we ran into Tamar and Yifat and I was able to get descriptions on all the candy in the candy store, and get some good stuff.
They introduced us to our new security guard Emile (he was only with us for 2 days) and since he was a Tel Aviv native i asked him about which way to head. we didn't find too much, besides a sex shop, a crazy fountain, gelato and some weird sculptures. But that's not too shabby either.

The bus ride back was really nice actually. Ben, Tamar, Yifat and I all talked in the middle of the bus, while pretty much everyone else slept.

maybe the most disconcerting day on the trip

on Sunday we started off running late, since they hadn't been sure if this man was or wasn't coming to talk to us. But he ended up coming, and it was one of the most interesting and disturbing talks we had. It was a newscaster for Israeli news. I didn't actually absorb that much, from being sleepy, but also because one of the first things he told us was something involving Israel bombing Iran, with some low-yield nuclear weopons! Which i think is CRAZY talk! no one should be using nuclear weapons. They think they need to use them to STOP Iran from their work on their nuclear weapons.

But then we finally finished, which took longer than necessary because some people kept asking questions, even though they tried to get us to stop! Because it was time to meet our 8 Israeli soldiers! then onto the bus for community service. I deicided to work in the Soup Kitchen, where we started off with a somewhatn meladramatic orientation video. the founder of this kitchen had once been a homeless child, and there were some kids playing the roles of him and his sister, and lots of extremely dramatic music. Then i ended up peeling potatoes. for two hours. I didn't even get to serve anyone, or not peel anything! When i tried to switch jobs i just ended up peeling cucumbers. so now i am an expert peeler.

then we had lunch at a falafel place, and then did some grocery shopping, which was lots of fun and full of hilarious stuffs. I brought back some hilarious israeli foods for people, don't worry! Then time to prepare for THE MEGA EVENT. about which there were really only two good things.
1) Yifat saying mega event in the funniest voice ever, all day
2) seeing Rachael (Sarah's sister)

danny and i also got tested to be bone marrow donors (which was the best part of the event) there were just so many people screaming, and too much craziness and obsession with all of us moving to israel and making jewish babies. After the event we met one of the men that especially sponsors our trip, and he asked us if there was any romance on the trip. And he told us if any of us married each other he would give us a "honeymood beyond our wildest dreams"

being at the mega event was the first time i actually missed my apartment! I can't wait to cook some good food, drink tea, watch TV and sleep in my green room!

Oh also, the president of Israel spoke at the event, and earlier in the day the news guy was telling us about the scandal involving him. and that the rape charges were dropped. WHAT? oh dont worry, the rape charges were dropped, just sexual molestation. He had some hardcore body guards with him. The host of the program was some israeli woman/celebrity. who has been in TWO movies. (they told us in her introduction). Mostly to me the whole mega event was a big awkward joke. There were also lots of crazy australians running around, i didn't know there even were jews in that county.

shabbat!

so friday comes, and in some of our preparations for shabbat we go to the Shuk, an outdoor market! it was by no means a smashing success, but it was full of some hilarity, like a crazy juice man who shoved some stuff up my nose, down my throat, and sprayed something on my face! he also had some very good and interesting juices, like etrog juice! and i got a cup of kambucha! danny and i tried to find cool stores and my chocolate bar, but had some trouble. Eventually we found cool clothes, cheap falafel and wine for our family lunches on saturday.

Then back to the hotel to shower, and get pretty and dressed up for shabbat. Unfortunately any preparations were washed out a bit by the extensive amount of rain. we rode the bus to the old city, and walked thru the rain to a back-alley, alarmed, sketchy door. which led to our shabbos locale! we also made a trip to the Kotel/western wall. which because of the rain was not crazy crowded. Then more praying, singing, dinner, more singing, etc. We had to walk back to the hotel, which was kind of unfortunate because of the rain. but we all survived, and then oneg-ed it up for a bit.

the next morning we continued our rainy escapades and walked to a very cool part of town, where one of our leaders, Yifat, used to live. Her cousin has her old place, so that was our base of operations. We then had lunches with local familys. Mine was with the Rabbi's family (along with 3 other chevre) and it was great. Best meal so far, and hilarious kids.

Afterwards everyone met up, and we went to the shul for the third meal, which meant delicious pastries and stories. Then havdalah, singing and dancing. Afterwards we went into downtown Jerusalem and explored the streets. It had mostly stopped raining and it was nice to finally get a chance to see the city more on our own, than from the window of a bus! even though it is raining, its cool to people watch and get some cheap internet access

too much for one entry!

or trip! its hard to keep parting about things that happened a week ago - but i will try my best!

the second day of our trip we went for our first "hike" which was really more of a walk thru a kibbutz, and then back up and talking and then across a road and to an old farming area, where we got to see some pretty cool irrigation canals. We also talked a bunch about olives, almonds, grapes, wheat and other flora of israel.

then we had a big spread for lunch, we were denied our first taste of BAMBA and we sang happy birthday to mike. Then back on the bus and onto a bit more walking, then CAVES. really really really cool man-made caves that the jews hid in during some revolution against the romans. we also drove past the field where david fought goliath. which is pretty cool to think about.

on a side note this day was a bit of a struggle - but i peed when i woke up, and then i didnt pee again til we got back to the hotel! thats about 10 hours. which i know is probably bad for me, or whatever, but i do not like to pee outside, and i didnt have to!

the caves were super cool though, they actually were made from the water cisterns that the jews had beneath their houses and then connected thru little tunnels, and Michael (except pronouced the jewish way, duh!) called the big meeting room "the JCC", which was in the center of a bunch of tunnels and make shift living spaces.

then we got back, had dinner and then met for Shabbat preparations. but that started off as a meeting, which i slept thru (uncomfortably squished on a couch with 4 other people) and then almost went to bed. BUT I DIDNT! hooray!

because i was tired i decided to go with the singing group because i figured it would require a lot less work than the skit group and the d'var torah group. and the singing was AMAZING! the songs were so nice and we were singing in this wonderful group led by Pesach. and i know it sounds very unlike me, but it was just so fun, and lively! we sang a lot of these crazy songs called either Ni-Ni's or Niguns. and i can try and sing them for you when we get back, but i cant promise they'll be tuneful.

then i was tired ( oh so tired!) but i couldnt handle missing any more songs so i told everyone the time ELEVEN FORTY TWO! and everyone wanted to go to bed too, but Pesach said stay for just one more song, and since i'm a huge pushover i did. and then he sang a song by Rabbi Jon Bon Jovi (as opposed to the other rabbi songs we had been singing) and then we all sang living on a prayer!

THEN we went to take the elevator from our room in the basement up to our floor (the 6th) and in my elevator we all started singing on the way up, and even kept singing when the doors opened in the lobby (everyone stared at us) and then when we got to our floor more of our chevre (group/friends) were there and then we all kept singing more! and of course it was still nice and beautiful. but people kept telling us to keep it down and be quiter, so i decided that the time had finally come...BED!

jerusalem!

so far Kate is the only person i KNOW is reading - but i cannot just target it to you dearest, i will give you all the intimate details when i get home with many gifts for you on your birthday!

alright- so at first it was jujst sort of surreal that we could actually BE in another country! we exchanged our moneys, and got colorful bills and plenty of coins. the shekel is about 4 to the dollar, so i felt a bit rich. until i realized that a candy bar cost about 7.50! ew.

there are about 45 people traveling with me on general basis, 39 participants, 3 madrichs, 2 livnot leaders, 1 tourguide, 1 bus driver, and 1 security guard. i will have plenty of stories about all of them when i come home.

we started off by going straight to the old city of jerusalem. we finally all offically introduced ourselves, saw the dome of the rock, the moon rising over the city and the western wall. then we went to kotel and went to the caves beneath it, and walked past the holy of holys (holies?) and was lectured by a woman who reminded me of ariel (abra's sister). Then finally back to the hotel, dinner and rushed room picking and then sleep!


more to come!

back in action!

I'm back in my world traveler shoes! though in actuallity i am wearing much more waterproof ones this time around. I got some nice hiking SHOES at sports authority and so far they have pretty much been a blessing. kind of a christmas one if you think about the reason for the sale.

but anyways- and onto much more jew-y topics...I'M IN THE HOLY LAND!

though this whole journey started out with an epic car drive, that involved two sunrises, a crazy rest stop, big bags of fritos, lots of musicals and lots of other typical blair-ness from me.

arriving at danny's trailer was a bit of work, new jersey was sunny- and danny was there, otherwise i would have hated the state on account of US-9. but it all worked out (besides following Mr. Joe Kahn's advice and not packing my waterbottle). And then we were at the airport and then there was a huge group of people that i hadn't seen before, and ofcourse some of my typical social anxiety snapped in, i got a big hyper and freaked and felt the need to learn, meet, and remember everyone's name and figure out who they reminded me of ( which every time i cant quite place sometime [all the time] i miss Abra like CRAZY!).
we had time to bum around the airport and play guitars and be jewy at the gate. the flight was ok- not as hilarious or as calm as Virgin Airlines, also it was more confusing and full of hebrew! I did get to see The Departed, for a full 2nd and part of a 3rd time. that was nice, since i've just been telling Alain what a great movie it is.

ANYWAYS- i'm sure the reason you are all even reading this is to hear about israel! but i have to go, this instant to meet people to go back to the hotel and also to try and find ice cream! yay!


oh, so far no amazing candy stories, but i have had some great pastries. more to come!

more travels?!?

i changed the sub header, and its true, travelling does equal amazing. or wonderful, fantastic, and i could keep on going. but onto the me travelling, it is spring break (or broik, if you are laura)! and this year i am going on an awesome road trip with some great people.

between the two cars we have(in alphabetical order): cade, danielle, eileen, evan, greg, liza, and molly. we will be driving all night tonight, then arriving in south carolina at 7am to go to our first campsite. then from there we'll go further south (spend a day in savannah) and then camp a few days in florida. we each have a backpack of stuff, and one HUGE tent for all of us.

i cannot wait to just watch the ocean, and get to know it better! oh, and the SUN!!!!!!!!!

i'll update with stories and pictures when i get back!

photojournal

check out my photojournal...
http://almostblair.livejournal.com/

replies to commentors...

jon m.- you commented first, but not any other time! and i did get lots of pictures- they will be up soon (I hope)

elana- thanks for all the comments throughout, and i will share as much of my knowledge as i can with you. though really learning for yourself is half the fun. see you soon i hope

cat- i am excited for YOU! even if things get tough, i know you can do it. and i can’t wait to hear about your travels. also you win the award for best poster. especially cause they were usually about how you loved me ☺

zoe- i am glad i got to see you, and cant wait to see your photos. don’t worry, photobucket is pretty easy. hope london is going well!

laura- ah! i'm glad you've gotten to hear the real deal from me. also you should feel lucky that i shared my precious candy bars with you, fellow chef!

steven- i didn't know you spoke italian (prego!). hope all is well, can i relive my break through you. must relax!

lisee- dave is my friend from camp, and is from ireland. and i’ll be putting the photos up on my actual photojournal. i'm glad you've gotten to read about my trip! hope all is well!

danny- abra said it all in the comment, and well i said it in my Florence post as well! but hopefully we can hang out this semester, i believe elana has something in the works

hila- hope everything is going well, if you had a blog i’d probably be reading and forgetting to comment as well. but that’s ok!

mom- you finally learned how to comment, but i talk to you in my posts and in e-mail more than anyone else already. i love and miss you though!

margaret- you WILL be here this weekend, so we will hang out! And florence is great! the day it was veryvery sunny i kept being so jealous of you in advance. also don’t pee yer pants in M&S, just buy me stuff, and yourself stuff and smile like a dope!

claudia! you posted like you said, and i visited you, like i said! woo-hoo. hope norwich is being extra cool for you.

joel- i am jealous of YOU now, since you get to the reap all the benefits of a meal plan and a blair. want me to cook you dinner tonight?

megan- when you are in scotland you have to try all the chocolate bars- mmmkay? and send me some, pretty pretty pretty please!

abra- thanks for all the comments- there are some new posts up that need your lovely responses! also, as soon as you are back in london i need directions to use the callingcard so i can chat away with you! i really really enjoyed our travels. and though i extended an invitation out to everyone i hope you want to travel with me again! :D

leaving london

getting back actually turned out to be a whole lot of work. i made the bus, thankfully. so i was sort of feeling good about everything. things were going well. the newstand by the coach station had all the snacks i could need. ribena, fry's peppermint, even a drifter! then i go to the underground, buy my single fare to heathrow and hop on the subway. then i get ready to change for the piccadilly line at south kensington, and its closed. and everyone who worked there was really nice about telling me what to do, and being nice friendly brits.
UNTIL i had to interact with the meanest man in london. i don't even want to think about it anymore. but he was so mean, and rude about a very simple transaction. he reduced me to tears. and i hate crying, but he just was awful. so i was sort of happy to leave london today!

so piccadilly was closed, so there was more trainriding, and i finally got to the airport. then some waiting, and some lines and more waiting. typical airportlike things. the flight was nice, i watched some movies (wedding crashers and mrs. henderson presents) and played the on-flight trivia game, backgammon and battleship. i even got some journalling in as well!
then customs... as i was going through they asked about food. i said, oh probably a candy bar... and was waved through. ofcourse by 1 candy bar, i meant atleast 10!! oh well. no harm, no foul.

though i guess my mom would mention that all these candy bars are harming myself. but just to let you know, mom, i only gained 2 pounds on my trip. and american candy no longer appeals to me. and i have always loved chocolate and candy a lot, as any of my friends will attest! also you knew that, remember how happy i was when you gave me a box of nerds for my birthday last year!?!

so all in all, i am glad to be home. but i am sad that my trip had to end, and i will be going to europe again as soon as i can! sign up now to travel with me- or if you want to see me a bit sooner than that, make other plans with me.

the 5 people you meet on the way to norwich

in my travels here, i happened upon quite a few characters. the first is the nameless/faceless woman who sat next to me at the front on the overnight bus. all i remember of her is that everytime i realized my leg had slipped a tad too close to her and thought to move it, she was already pushing my knee. weird.

then i was sitting at the victoria coach station waiting to store my bag for 24 hours. so i had to wait till almost 10, since i wouldn't be back till then. and the girl next to me started conversation- she was pretty funny, since she was australian, from sydney, and quite pretentious. she actually apologized for all other australians. and claimed everyone from melbourne was pretentious. but she got really excited when i told her that i loved belfast. and now she is applying to queens.

the next one was a 14 year old girl who was also heading to norwich. she originally was checking out my chucks, and telling her dad she wanted a pair. then we started sort of talking, she wanted to know why my bag said 'blair!' on it, so i explained that it was actually my name, rather than a reference to her prime minister. she asked to sit next to me on the bus, and it was definitely interesting. she was strangely mature, and then strangely immature. she asked me to explain the OC, and also taught me british slang. well british teen slang. so that was fun and mostly interesting.

then i got to the bus station and found two important people! cat and kate! woo-hoo! we wandered norwich then, they showed me all the cuteness. then came the confusingness, when nobody was serving food. so i settled for spending the last of my cash on candy. but eventually we found a place, pizza express. then we found the bus, after trying for the wrong one. then we found the campus, after getting off on the wrong stop.

eventually everything worked out. i got to see and hug maggie, claudia, bobby and rebecca. and then hang out at the union pubs. yes, there are two. but in the same building, and they even have the same bar and the same bathrooms. but half is non-smoking and half isn't. but now we're back, and i shall sleep on the floor for a few hours, before cat walks me to meet my cab. then all that (hopefully)stands between the plane and myself is a busride, a tuberide and some securtiy.

'blowing' through scotland

so yesterday we left the safety of smallcity dundee and headed for the big edinburgh! well actually besides the danger of getting lost(which we did), the most dangerous thing was the high winds that were forecasted. As we were driving there it was easy to hear the wind, and when we arrived it either pushed us forward, or held us back. it was pretty crazy! you can see in the picture all these benches that were blown over. at first i thought they were placed that way though. but no- WIND!

also while in edinburgh i came to a conclusion about scotland. as a country it likes to do the same things as everyone else, BUT call it something else! so first of all, the men wear skirts. but they can't just call them what they are, skirts. its got to be KILTS. then they decorate these kilts, and also everything else (but i'll get to THAT in a second) with plaid. plaid is everywhere. but it isn't just plaid, it must be called TARTAN. and then when they want to get drunk they have whiskey. but no, it isn't just whiskey, its SCOTCH. do you see that? i guess they just think they're so special.

i guess they are though, cause everyone calls their stuff what they want us to!

oh and the tartan...EVERYWHERE. at the museum the docent/guard/supervisor guys weren't just wearing black pants (like at everyother museum in the world), they were wearing tartan pants. the next morning we went to a coffeehouse, called the tartan coffeehouse, and there they had tartan paintings on the walls. even the bus seats were covered in tartan!

we mostly were blown through the city, but we got to check out plenty of cute stores, as well as touristy ones. and we went by the castle, and princess street and the royal mile, all the way down to the scottish parliament building- where i got a darkish view of arthur's seat, its in the mountains. once i read more about the myth related to it (it should be in my scottish fairy tale book) then i can report back! then we found dinner and headed home!



the next day we actually went to the tartan coffeehouse. and it was great. between scottish tea and delicious soup i was more than happy. but then we shared a piece of millionaire's shortcake! AMAZING! i will learn to make it and then die a happy blair. ofcourse my love for it, led craig to finally tell me about the 24 hour bakery that sells it which is essentially across the street from him. but its in a little shopping area, which is why i hadn't seen it. so we stopped by it, and guess what- it is called Clark's Bakery. i wish it was, by that i mean i wish it was AT clark!

ok- well moving on we then headed to St Andrews. where the famous golf course is and i guess prince william went to school there, so its a bit posh. we checked out the cathedral ruins, which were really cool. i learned about the saltire, and we paid too much money to climb a tower. but i was cool- so i'll stop complaining! 159 steps to the top. but then we could see the whole city, and the ocean and even though it was cloudy the view was nice. by the time we got back down it had gotten cloudier and was starting to drizzle. we stopped and got ice cream at this award winning place, i attempted to get the most scottish ice cream i could- since it was my last day. we tried the IRN BRU sherbet, and then scottish tablet and then caramel shortbread. i got a 1/2 scoop of s.t. and c.s. cause the girl was sooooo nice!

then we drove past the old course, and through the town twice (again with the getting lost- though mostly just turned around!). then we headed to craig's favorite beach. it was nice, and i found quite a few rocks, and even a piece of seaglass. i wish i had a favorite beach of my own. but i guess st louis isn't really the right location for that sort of thing. then we went to craig's house and had tea with his mom. it was all quite cute. then a fancy thai dinner, and packing. and now i have to go catch my bus! another sleeper bus... i think next i will do a comparision of overnight buses to sleeper trains. except wait. there is nothing good about the overnight bus.

scotland- part dundee

so it was mostly cloudy the whole time i was in scotland- but that didn't stop me from having nice, relaxing fun and taking pictures. well actually a few things tried to conspire to stop that. my camera broke. my big beautiful manual canon ae-1.

ok, i am exaggerating a wee bit, just one pane of glass involved broke, the part of a lens that screws off and so the curved ones underneath are fine. and hopefully someone will tell me how to go about replacing it, or something like that. also my memory devices were massively full. but craig allowed me to burn a disc (and leave copies- just incase!) on his laptop. and that worked-all 846 of them are on the harddrive!



scotland started off with me putting my stuff down, checking my mail, taking a shower and just generally catching my breath! craig and i also checked out all of maria's photos. if you know who i am talking about, and you got an e-mail titled "from russia with love" make sure you check out the san francisco photos...

anyways. so after some wonderful scottish tea and biscuits we started off. walked to craig's school, and the union and then on the way to the city centre we stopped by dundee's center for contemporary arts. and saw elizabeth ogilvie's bodies of water. which i must tell you was crazy. this woman is obsessed with water. and not in the somewhat endearing way that i am. she basically filled 3 gallery rooms with this obsession. in the first there were three screens projecting what was filmed at the same time- 1) this fmaous japanese percussionist playing music 2) liz reacting to his music by splashing water in a shallow pool and 3) the pool of water, being splashed by liz and vibrated by the music. yup a whole room of that. then in the 2nd room there were two huge pools of water, on the left it was perfectly still and above it was a screen where liz had videoed 3 of the main processes of water. and then in the other pool there were lights shining on it and mirrors placed within it so they reflected the surface on the walls. and then these 'secret' pipes went through cycles of rain. then there was a third room where the viewer could interact with the water for themselves.
but i guess that is part of the reason i love modern art- the insanity within every artist.

after that craig and i walked into the city centre, saw some sculpture of a cartoon named dan and some cathedrals then we stopped in marks and spencer- i LOVE it! they have yummy carmelized nut/seed bars, and smoooothies and candy. oh and also everything else, but i only care about the foodstuffs mentioned above. then we walked a bit, attempted another museum, but guess what- it doesn't open until 2008. how far away is that!?

then craig remembered that there is actually a used bookstore (i had requested that we go to one!). and it was pretty cool, small and clean- but with a nice selection. and a whole section of scottish books, and i got a cool one about highland faerie tales! but then a strange man poked my side, on purpose, as he walked by. so we paid for our books and left!

and that was basically my first day in scotland!

bus woes

so ofcourse the train wasn't an option by the time i got there. no 14£ ticket for me. so i tried to find the coach/bus station. that took awhile and i walked around the victoria train station twice. though i didn't find any babies in handbags (sorry i've just been reading the importance of being earnest. but i finally found the national express office, and even though i had to pay 30£ to get to dundee, i only had to pay 9 to leave. so it evens out a bit. and my tickets to and from norwich were only 5£ each, so that really works well.

but my bus didn't leave till 1030pm, and it was about 1030am- so i was able to have another full day of london. i checked my bags at the left luggage counter, met a guy who told me some good places to check out and set out on my shopping day. i got to go to herrod's and camden town and covent garden and found some presents for some people, and some things for myself. i stopped and had tea at a place right next door to a place i ate at last time i was in london- how odd is that, i can remember random london neighborhoods! and eventually i even had success on my search for pad thai- when i wandered into the chinatown!

i got back to the bus station, and then took the bus- which was somewhat wretched- really, just hard to sleep comfortably. then i arrived here, and going down the stairs i took the worst spill in recent memories. it seemed like a random act of clumsiness, sliding down the stairs on my butt. but really my ass is still sore, and it has an awful bruise on it, and is somewhat of a lump. so that is just great. and so far things seem like they will be pretty relaxed here- which is good, just what i need. its especially cause craig is actually ill- he is even on penicillin!

well we're about to go on a walking tour of dundee (the city of discovery!), so i will try and write more soon/later.

tube strikes and clarkies

once i had the internet it was much easier to contact and e-mail with the clarkies already in london. so i made vague plans to meet up with brian. it was to be after dinner with abra, and i was supposed to text beforehand. but i forgot to borrow abra's cellphone and i just hopped on the tube. after wandering a bit in the right direction i found brian's place. but ofcourse i did not know the flat #. so i rang them all. and eventually brian came down.
we chatted and i met the other kids on his program and in his flat. hila came over and then other clarkies dropped by and were a little shocked to see me, so that was fun.
then i heard about the underground strike which had started at 630. being utterly tired and having no idea if i'd be able to get back to abra's i decided to sleep there. and try and catch the tube back in the morning, in time to meet abra outside during her firedrill. ofcourse sleep didn't happen for awhile- we walked hila home and talked to her and zoe for awhile. everyone seems to be having a great time and i am really excited for them all!
the next morning things went mostly well,the tube strike was only a few stations and it didn't effect my journey. it is definitely a bit weird and 95% amazing to be wandering around a new(ish) city all by yourself. today i hit the Victoria and Albert Museum, it was freeee! and had basically everything i studied in 20th century design, so also amazing. and now abra and i are about to head out to lunch, the tate modern(also freeee) and then dinner with the clarkies!
then i leave for scotland- hopefully tickets and stuff will work out.

eurocrap and the bbb

well it was basically our only option to get back to london. and it was pretty much a bust. actually i guess you could say it just didn't live up to our expectations. cost a lot more than we thought it would. we didn't get a lounge and the seats were decorated very poorly.
but i guess it got us to london. even though that just led us to the barmy badgers backpackers. the worst hostel in europe. not only were they expensive, but the woman behind the desk made stupid jokes and wouldn't take pounds from northern ireland, she said they were worth less(racist!). then our room was gross, the beds were amazingly uncomfortable and the shower was smelly and disgusting.

but then we got to move into abra's dorm/flat/place. and it was pretty swank, and there was free internet and a patisserie around the corner where we embarrased ourselves. we were greeted from behind the counter in english, and immediately cheered, "hooray! no french!" and then the other guy and him started speaking in french together. so we ordered everything in french(we're good at bakery french). and then things were ok, he even 'opened' the door for us-- it was a sliding door, so it was sort of awkward.
but yeah, london things are looking up!

lyon redeems entire country of france!

well, mostly. ofcourse there is always the possibility that if abra and i had been there for over the 15 hours that we were there then things could have gone badly. but somehow i doubt it.

after arriving around 1230am because of delays leaving nice, and just the general distance and slowness we were a bit worried. not only had we been forced to enter lyon from the wrong station, but we also had no idea how to get to the correct one, or even where our hostel was. not to mention the name.
but the information lady was nice(practically a first in france)and directed us to the metro. which was in the process of closing. the gates were open so we got in for free and the guards helped tell us how to get there. ofcourse we missed the first stop, so they told us to go back one. we got off that train, and we could see across the tracks the other metro, but we had no idea how to get there. then the conductor told us, and held the train for us. we had to run across a street! and the conductor of this train came up to show us the right way down. then we got to the other station we needed and more guards helped us/held the train. when we finally got out at the right exit, more people helped us and gave us directions to the hostel. which they had all heard about. as we left the station we realized that it had even been on the station map and there were signs up for it along the way.
but along the way was up a huge hill. so we asked strangers, and THEY knew about it too. along with this older vaguely sketchy guy, who was going there too. and kept offering to help me with my bag. but i declined(it was too heavy for me, so i didn't want to burden him). then we finally got there. its called viex lyon for a reason- its so high up, you can see a lot.
oh and guess what, random guy worked at the hostel! he was all, "surprise i'm not just staying here, i work here, hahaha". and then it a)took credit cards b)was the cheapest hostel yet and c) included free breakfast.
also there was no one in our room so we got to plan more things, abra showered and i unpacked and repacked. the next morning there was even a free candy dish at reception, which i tasted after breakfast ofcourse. but then abra and i took a walk even further up the hill before heading to the train station.
on the way there i made abra wait outside while i got surprise chocolates for the train. 2 lyon special candies(which were weird, but sort of good) 2 praline filled ones(our favorites!!!) and a special pastry/cream/praline thing that the woman recommended. oh yea, and she was really nice too!
as we took the metro there we also realized how cool and clean and nice their trains are. (oh there was another high alert for emphysema, but this one was also half abra's size, and likely had scoliosis and osteoporosis). and then the people at the train station were nice as well, and we got TGV reservations for only 6 euro total.
so all in all lyon is probably the #1 place to return to, cause 15 hours wasn't enough!

cliche cliche cliche

yes, nice was nice.
there were palm trees and pretty buildings. also the regular hallmarks of frenchtrains failing us miserably. but we got some good eats, and some cheap legwarmers.
now would also be a good time to mention the wave of emphysema that is sweeping europe. ofcourse smoking contributes to it, but also anyone with a raspy voice and a flemmy hacking cough is immediately diagnosed by abra as having emphysema and if they are especially sickly(or if we're around them too long) sometimes they even have lung cancer.
we walked around a bit, and finally found the russian cathedral. the onion domes didn't dominate the sky line, but they were pretty. we had a late lunch at a vegan restaurant, the food was good, and the woman who ran the place was originally from california(english speaker- woooo!) but when i mentioned kate, who is vegan, but is drifting away while studying in spain, the woman said that it was more important for her to remain loyal to the animals...
the train delays exposed me even more to the awful sound effects of french trains, and also to a crazy man who kept yelling nonsense, and accosting people in the train station.
so it was about time to leave nice, yet we had to wait extra for our already later than we had hoped for train.
and france lost more points...

pros and cons of overnight trains

we took a sleeper train from venice to nice on the 5th of january...
pros-
>lots of sleep, essentially 10 hours!
>nice morning views
>bottom bunks
>traveling at night leaves the day time for actually being places(time is important!)
>conductor gave us free water!

cons-
>cost more money
>wasn't all that comfortable
>in the morning the light was blinding
>bunkmates not very friendly- also we dont even know how many we actually had throughout the night
>conductor was a bit weird