Thursday, June 08, 2006
Things to challenge a bladder
Absolutely true story:
I left for London on Tuesday, May 30th ... the day after Memorial Day. My Secret Pal sent me an e-mail saying she had forgotten about no mail delivery on Monday and my "treat" wouldn't get to my house until AFTER I had left for Europe. The problem? She said the package would need refrigeration.
Okay, that piqued my interest, but I immediately called my dear neighbor who had agreed to tend my cat and kittens as well as pick up my mail while I was away. She said no problem when I explained I was expecting two packages - one from Amazon and one from my SP.
I got back the day before yesterday, but spent the night and next day with my parents, zoned out on jet-lag. Seriously. I got up, ate breakfast, and took a shower - checked the time and it was 3:30 p.m.!!! Not sure what really happened to that day other than I felt like crap. Soooo ... went to work from my parents house today and suffered through wearily until going home. Went to my neighbors and they had my Amazon package, mail, left-over kitty food, oh ... and one package in the fridge. Yeah!
Well, I went home and unpacked the car, all the while thinking "what did she send me???". Finally, I sat down and picked up the box. Hey, it's marked "Amazon". Was there a mix up? No, the other box is also marked "Amazon". Okay ... did my dear Secret Pal send me something from Amazon???? No. I opened the chilly package to discover a book I'd ordered. Okay. Opened the other box, there was the other book I'd ordered.
My neighbor had so nicely refrigerated and preserved .... A BOOK!
I laughed so hard and long that I was a bit afraid of bladder control. Now, this story does NOT make my SP feel good, she's trying to track down this package, and I'll be checking on my end as well. But in the mean time, everytime I look at my book, I can't help but giggle. So nice of my neighbor to keep my book from becoming all melty in the heat.
Okay. Now. About the TRAVEL!
Day One:
Leave for Europe. This entails a 2 hour ride to Raleigh. Checking in and security checks. Meeting the others on the tour. Making sure I (and Mom) remembered everything. We didn't - Mom forgot her sunglasses and when we stopped for lunch she bought another pair (she later found her original sunglasses in her suitcase). Flight to Detroit. Delay. Delay. Fly from Detroit overnight to London. Sleep badly on the plane, but am tremendously happy the medicine patch worked. No nausea. Get to Gatwick airport in England. Stand in line. Stand in line. This sucks, we stood in line for what seemed live forever. Finally, we're through.
We meet our tour guide, Bambi.
Yep. Not a nick-name. Bambi. We play "follow the deer". Bus ride to our hotel, check-in, ride the train to Victoria Station from East Croyden (where our hotel is) which is a burrough of London. Have fun trying to figure out how to turn on the lights in our room - did you know you have to put your door key card in a slot and leave it there to make the electricity flow? Oh well, onward! Take the tube to ... Charing Cross, Trafalgar Square, and Covent Garden. Meet the 20 odd teenagers and there chaperone's that I did not realize would be part of our tour group. Oi, hormones and junk food.
BTW ... Bambie can MOVE. Fast little deer even though she's 5 months pregnant. We leave Trafalgar and go to Liechester (pronounced Luster) Square where we eat ... and I kid you not ... what the Brits think of as Mexican food. This does not bode well for food in England. Sad. It was awful.
Went exploring. Visited Marks and Spencer for some shopping. We're all exhausted and it's getting dark finally. Check the watch and it's nearly 11 p.m.! It doesn't get dark til late in London apparently.
Here are some pictures from day one:
This is a view of London from the Hungerford Bridge just off Victoria Embankment. You can see the dome of St. Paul's in the distance.
King Edward the first was bringing the body of his beloved Queen Eleanor back to London to be buried. Everywhere they stopped on the journey he had a cross built in her memory. This is not the actual one, it's been moved from it's original site and it's a Victorian "copy" of the original cross.
St. Martins in the Fields just off of Trafalgar Square.
This is a bronze statue of George Washington outside of the National Galary at Trafalgar Square. It was given by the commonwealth of Virginia to England in 1921. And I love this - it actually rests upon 2 tons of Virginian soil because good ol' George had declared that he would never again set foot upon "foreign soil".
I would have loved to have taken a picture of Lord Horatio Nelson's monument in Trafalgar Square, but it was covered from tip to base (and that's HUGE by the way - only beaten in height by the spire of St. Martins in the Field - see above picture - for height) because it was been cleaned and tended. I did get to see his tomb (not on today's agenda though and no pictures allowed inside of St. Paul's Cathedral unfortunately).
Anyway, more to come later!
Lola
I left for London on Tuesday, May 30th ... the day after Memorial Day. My Secret Pal sent me an e-mail saying she had forgotten about no mail delivery on Monday and my "treat" wouldn't get to my house until AFTER I had left for Europe. The problem? She said the package would need refrigeration.
Okay, that piqued my interest, but I immediately called my dear neighbor who had agreed to tend my cat and kittens as well as pick up my mail while I was away. She said no problem when I explained I was expecting two packages - one from Amazon and one from my SP.
I got back the day before yesterday, but spent the night and next day with my parents, zoned out on jet-lag. Seriously. I got up, ate breakfast, and took a shower - checked the time and it was 3:30 p.m.!!! Not sure what really happened to that day other than I felt like crap. Soooo ... went to work from my parents house today and suffered through wearily until going home. Went to my neighbors and they had my Amazon package, mail, left-over kitty food, oh ... and one package in the fridge. Yeah!
Well, I went home and unpacked the car, all the while thinking "what did she send me???". Finally, I sat down and picked up the box. Hey, it's marked "Amazon". Was there a mix up? No, the other box is also marked "Amazon". Okay ... did my dear Secret Pal send me something from Amazon???? No. I opened the chilly package to discover a book I'd ordered. Okay. Opened the other box, there was the other book I'd ordered.
My neighbor had so nicely refrigerated and preserved .... A BOOK!
I laughed so hard and long that I was a bit afraid of bladder control. Now, this story does NOT make my SP feel good, she's trying to track down this package, and I'll be checking on my end as well. But in the mean time, everytime I look at my book, I can't help but giggle. So nice of my neighbor to keep my book from becoming all melty in the heat.
Okay. Now. About the TRAVEL!
Day One:
Leave for Europe. This entails a 2 hour ride to Raleigh. Checking in and security checks. Meeting the others on the tour. Making sure I (and Mom) remembered everything. We didn't - Mom forgot her sunglasses and when we stopped for lunch she bought another pair (she later found her original sunglasses in her suitcase). Flight to Detroit. Delay. Delay. Fly from Detroit overnight to London. Sleep badly on the plane, but am tremendously happy the medicine patch worked. No nausea. Get to Gatwick airport in England. Stand in line. Stand in line. This sucks, we stood in line for what seemed live forever. Finally, we're through.
We meet our tour guide, Bambi.
Yep. Not a nick-name. Bambi. We play "follow the deer". Bus ride to our hotel, check-in, ride the train to Victoria Station from East Croyden (where our hotel is) which is a burrough of London. Have fun trying to figure out how to turn on the lights in our room - did you know you have to put your door key card in a slot and leave it there to make the electricity flow? Oh well, onward! Take the tube to ... Charing Cross, Trafalgar Square, and Covent Garden. Meet the 20 odd teenagers and there chaperone's that I did not realize would be part of our tour group. Oi, hormones and junk food.
BTW ... Bambie can MOVE. Fast little deer even though she's 5 months pregnant. We leave Trafalgar and go to Liechester (pronounced Luster) Square where we eat ... and I kid you not ... what the Brits think of as Mexican food. This does not bode well for food in England. Sad. It was awful.
Went exploring. Visited Marks and Spencer for some shopping. We're all exhausted and it's getting dark finally. Check the watch and it's nearly 11 p.m.! It doesn't get dark til late in London apparently.
Here are some pictures from day one:
This is a view of London from the Hungerford Bridge just off Victoria Embankment. You can see the dome of St. Paul's in the distance.
King Edward the first was bringing the body of his beloved Queen Eleanor back to London to be buried. Everywhere they stopped on the journey he had a cross built in her memory. This is not the actual one, it's been moved from it's original site and it's a Victorian "copy" of the original cross.
St. Martins in the Fields just off of Trafalgar Square.
This is a bronze statue of George Washington outside of the National Galary at Trafalgar Square. It was given by the commonwealth of Virginia to England in 1921. And I love this - it actually rests upon 2 tons of Virginian soil because good ol' George had declared that he would never again set foot upon "foreign soil".
I would have loved to have taken a picture of Lord Horatio Nelson's monument in Trafalgar Square, but it was covered from tip to base (and that's HUGE by the way - only beaten in height by the spire of St. Martins in the Field - see above picture - for height) because it was been cleaned and tended. I did get to see his tomb (not on today's agenda though and no pictures allowed inside of St. Paul's Cathedral unfortunately).
Anyway, more to come later!
Lola
# posted by Qeltic @ 10:01 PM 
