Love Wimbledon

I officially completed a life goal. Never, ever did I think I would make it to Wimbledon, let alone have seats in the eighth row of Court #2. I was just hoping to go see the grounds during this trip, but Wednesday was so much better than that.

Biz and I left the flats around 4:40 a.m. to see our bus pulling away, without us on it. So we started walking to the tube and Biz hailed us a cab and we made it to Waterloo Station in time for the first train at 5 a.m. From the Wimbledon station, it was about a 30 minute walk until we found the queue and got our queue cards around 6:15 a.m.…numbers 1366 and 1367.

Then came the magic moment, the Wimbledon steward (who helped people queue) told the people in the queue behind us that the first 500 people in line got centre court tickets, the next 500 got court #1 and we got court #2! I was going to be on a show court at Wimbledon! I couldn’t believe it.

So we stood in the queue until around 8 a.m. when they gave us our wristbands for Court #2. Then it was more line waiting in the Wimbledon golf court, until we could buy our tickets and go in. After looking at the order of play, we went to the shop and then waited for the grounds to open at 10:30 a.m.

When the courts opened, we wandered through the open courts to where a few players were warming up. And who was there warming up? Oh Andy Roddick. Not a big deal at all!

After freaking out and taking tons of pictures, we wandered through the courts and grounds more, keeping our eyes open for a court that might have Venus or Roger Federer on it warming up. But we didn’t see them so it was off to court #2 to find our seats.
The seats were amazing. We were 8th row, on the side of the court. First up was Justine Henin! She won with ease. And although the tennis was great, so was all around it. there were ball boys or girls in blue Ralph Lauren polos on each of the 4 corners of the court and 2 at the net. Then there were 5 line judges on each side of the net. The judges were all dressed in cream pants (or long skirts for women) and blue button down shirts with cream hats and as each point started they would put their hands on their thighs and bend to watch the lines.

After Justine, we watched Gael Monfils and Karol Beck. It was a long match, but so good. And Monfils is such a good player! During the next match, we decided to go exploring and get the classic Wimbledon strawberries and cream with PIMMS to drink. But on our way to the food, we passed Serena and Venus’s mom coming out of centre court! She was inches from us!

We then explored centre court and to my surprise, when we asked if we could sneak in to take a quick picture, the guard let us! He even told us to go down the steps and he took a picture of us. So then we asked to see Court #1 and we couldn’t stay long, but we did see Federer on a change over!

Back at Court #2, there was a men’s singles match that we watched the end of and then it was #4 Jelena Jankovic against #60 Aleksandra Wozniak. It was actually a close match, but Jelena ended up winning. But during that match, they would show the scores of other matches on the scoreboard and that’s when we saw it….the longest tennis match ever. They were in the 5th set and had to win by 2. They ended up stopping because it was too dark at 59 games all….10 hours in. They finished the match on Thursday with a total of 11 hours of play. Crazy! And we saw them walk off court.

We went home tired, hungry and sunburned. But it was totally worth it to see the Wimbledon tournament!

“I’m yours” – Sounds like a Jason Mraz song to me

After work on Tuesday, I went to the Tate Modern because I hadn’t been back since we went in the beginning of the trip and it was still on my to-do list. Although I’m not much for modern art, it was still really cool to walk around for an hour or two. The pop art displays were my favorite. I really liked the propaganda posters and the Andy Warhol displays. But the best part was walking out and seeing this piano, just chilling at the end of Millennium bridge. It was part of the city of London festival and had the words, “Play Me…I’m Yours” painted on it. I watched as one group would go up and play around and then another group would stand nearby ready to pounce and take their turn. I finally got my turn and snapped a few pictures.

Amazing Race, Ireland style.

It began Saturday morning at 9 a.m. We met in Biz and Kamilla’s flat and walked to the Chancery Lane tube stop because our tube stop was closed. When we got to Baker Street we boarded our Easy Bus and talked to our Bangladeshi driver all the way there. Here’s what I learned:

- He was horrified when I told him that I didn’t want to leave London and go back to the U.S. and that I had never been to New York.
- He asked how close Indiana was to Hollywood and even though we explained it was far away, he wanted to know if we saw movie stars all the time.
- He thought all American roads are two lanes.
- If you compliment the city bus driver, he will let you off at a light or not a stop if you ask nicely.
Then it was off to Ryanair, which you board by going up the stairs a la important politicans on TV. When we got to Dublin, we wanted a cab but the cabbie quoted us nearly double what we were told it would cost, so we opted for the bus.

It dropped us off near the hostel and here’s what we did from there:

Day 1
-Check into hostel and almost score free tour because we are staying 3 nights, then realize we are only staying two, but decide to sign up for the tour anyway
-Walk into our 12 person room to find an American flag draped across the bunk beds and sorority letters in the bathroom.
-Go exploring to the famous Temple Bar area where we find a pub with the most amazing brazed beef stew. (It was cooked with Guinness.) We also drink our first Guinness in Ireland and watch Galic hurling on TV. (We were expecting the World Cup.)
-Continue to wander in and out of pubs to find that the Irish in the touristy areas really like to sing Sweet Home Alabama. Also we eat amazing Bailey’s cheesecake and text Lesa to hang out with us. (She never responds.)
-Go to explore Trinty College, only to be locked in and then led out by some nice Irish girl named Laura and her swipe card to the gates.
-Finish at the hostel only to have our hostel mates come in around 3 a.m., screaming “Look! The newbies are here!” Also, learn from there conversations that they wanted to smother Stephen when he snored.

Day 2
-Continue to overhear the hostel mates to find out they are from UGA, fratastic and leaving that day.
-Get on a bus with our tour guide Helen, who is Irish but lived in Texas for a while.
-Go to Glendaloch and explore the 6th century monistary. And then climb a mountain, see two lakes and a waterfall. Not a big deal. Oh and we played in the lake.
-Take the bus on an extremely bumpy road so Biz and I are jumping out of our seats
-Eat at the hostel BBQ and have burgers with American burger sauce aka Big Mac sauce.
-Go to the Jameson distillery, learn how whiskey is made, have a Jameson and cranberry juice and then watch Anna & Kamilla drink Irish coffees
-Then go explore Dublin including St. Patrick’s cathedral and more pubs. We find Lesa, her parents and Allen in a pub called “the hairy lemon.”
-Finish the night at an American style diner and then go back to the hostel and meet our roommates

Day 3
-wake up and go to full Irish breakfast with the brotrip a.k.a the four guys that replaced our UGA roommates. They were super cool and had just graduated from UCLA and were on a month tour of Europe.
-take the brotrip with us the Guinness Factory where we learned to pour the perfect pint (it’s official – I have a certificate that said I succeeded!)
-Leave the brotrip a half an hour late, luck out and take a taxi to the hostel and airport.
-Land in London to find a huge line for customs, but we are given a pass and we arrive at our bus with 6 minutes to spare
-go straight to the Globe to watch Henry VIII and eat ice cream
Race Complete.

Check, check and check

Today, my to-do list loved me. My stomach however, did not.
It all began with a traditional English breakfast, item #1 checked off my oh-my-god-I-only-have-two-weeks-left list. Danielle, Biz and I went to a little cafe across from the print shop and asked for the traditional breakfast. We got toast, hash browns, bacon (aka fried ham), baked beans, sausage and a fried egg - all covered in a layer of grease. I ate almost all of it and walking to class, my stomach felt like it was one of those oil spill covered birds minus the feathers. So much grease!

During class we watched a documentary about secret CIA prison flights and the producer came in to talk with us about investigative journalism. She was great and talked about really going after the story - never take no for an answer and to "squeeze every opportunity like a lemon"

Class got out early so we could watch the US game for the world cup. A bunch of us went to a nearby pub ad watched the game. We had fun cheering with the British people next to us who were also cheering for the US. And the game was actually kind of exciting - which is saying a lot since I normally think soccer/football is boring.

Next we went to the London Eye. Although it was raining, we had a lot of fun and London is so pretty. I took so many pictures of Parliament and Big Ben because it's beautiful! Check - item #2

Danielle and I then took the tube to Victoria & Albert museum. Another amazing museum. We started off in the Grace Kelly exhibit and walked through to see all her dresses. Then it was the rest of the fashion display - including shoes! ekk! And the architecture display, which had models of things that we saw in Rome. Plus there was the nest of books. It was a staircase that turned, so like a spiral staircase with platforms, and all around it was books - 6,000 to be exact. We were in awe and the man who was in charge of the display knew it. Are you two avid readers? uh-huh we nodded.
so there was item #3 - check.

Now by this point it was close to 10 p.m. and I hadn't ate since breakfast. And when we got back to Farringdon and to the pub to meet Tom's girlfriend who is in town, we ordered drinks. Which wouldn't be bad - but I was starving and the kitchen was closed. So it was a trip to Farringdon grill for food and then off to pack for Dublin!

So get on a train and go somewhere

So I have this secret (sometimes not so secret) obsession with trains. I sort of love them. So when I found out there was a transportation museum in London, I’ve wanted to go for the last…oh 5 and ½ weeks or so. And today, I went.

It was the coolest museum, possibly ever. First you start off in a lift aka elevator aka time machine! We got in and above the doors was the year and then as we went up to the second floor, the years rolled back to 1800 and when the doors opened, we could hear the clip-clop of horses and there were stage coaches (as I type that, I realize that’s probably the American version, but that’s what they looked like – the British called them “horse omnibuses.” But they were complete with horses and fake people riding and driving them. And this continued – with the Victorian trains and the tube from the 1970’s complete with passengers in bellbottoms and ads for platform shoes. It went all the way up to the current tube that we take almost every day. And there weren’t just trains, but double-decker buses too!

And another reason I wanted to go was for the amazing “tube art” or train posters. In one room was the coolest art display ever. It was a slideshow on a projector, but it started on the floor and raced up to the screen and was filled with art, photos and even typeface. I think I stood there for a solid 20 minutes. Brilliant!

Heaven is the 4th floor of New Look Department Store

After work today, I came home to meet Chrissy and we ventured to Oxford Circus for some intense shopping. Oxford Circus is the Michigan Avenue of London, except better because there are so many more stores where I would actually buy things. Plus the British department stores are huge. They all have like 4 levels and sometimes a place to eat. New Look had a Starbucks in it and Topshop had an EAT. How Brilliant! Also, New Look may be the smartest store of all time. The entire 4th floor was shoes and purses. (I was in love) And there were giant high heel shaped chairs to sit in to try the shoes on.

Naturally, I bought a pair of shoes. I’m actually surprised I’ve gone this long without buying shoes. Plus….they’re only size 8 thanks to UK sizes.

Later, floor 5 and Stephen went for dinner with Lesa and Allen. We went to a Japanese Restaurant at St. Katherine’s Docks by the Tower of London. It was so good and so much food! My favorite was this duck mango and rice roll (it had a real name but I have no idea what that is) and the dessert – banana and chocolate rolls with blueberry ice cream. Kamilla and Caitlin order this “flowering” tea. It was literally a flower bud that when hot water was poured on it, it opened up and the water turned to tea.

Saturday, Sunday and Monday. Oh, and Tuesday too…

Saturday was Leeds Castle and Canterbury. We got to the castle before it opened and took our time walking through the grounds up to the castle. There were birds everywhere. There were beautiful peacocks including a beautiful albino one. It was beautiful, but it kept shaking because it was angry at the pigeons nearby. (Another reason I loved it, we both hate pigeons). Inside the castle were the rooms of the royals who lived there and upstairs was decorated how it was in the 1950s when a different woman lived there. Then it was off to Canterbury. The town is known for its cathedral and the pilgrims who came there. Now, it’s lots of little shops. We ate lunch at a little pub and then Steph, Danielle and I went to the animated Canterbury Tales. It was cheesy with the people that popped up out of nowhere, but the tales were fun and it was Canterbury.

Afterward, we went back to London and watched the USA v. England Football game at a Pub. When we first walked in, all the tables were booked, but we managed to snag the couches right in front of the screen. So although it wasn’t super rowdy, we had a great view of the game. We went back to the flat and hung out, then we decided to go to Lesa and sing to her in her flat.

On Sunday, we slept in and then I decided I wanted to go to the grocery store because I was almost out of food. So Maggie and I walked to the big Sainsbury’s Grocery store, only to find out it doesn’t open until 11a.m. But we did find the Chapel street market and bought strawberries and nectarines instead. And on the way home, we bought meringue.

Then we went Spitalfields market, which might be my favorite market so far. There were so many aisles of clothes, jewelry and food. It was wonderful. We walked through most of the market and then decided to take a break and go to Brick Lane, which is known for its curry. Two of the best curry places were right next to each other and they fought to give us a good deal. We ended up getting drinks, a starter and curry with rice for £6.95. We were the only ones in the restaurant, but it was so good. Afterward, we went back to the market, finished it and made our purchases.

Later, we decided to go to mass at Westminster Cathedral. It was literally between office buildings and was brick. It kind of reminded me of a train station. But the mass was quick and we were able to look around a bit before we left.

On Monday, we had our visit to the Telegraph. I. AM. IN. LOVE. The newsroom was beautiful and arranged so perfectly. And once again the speaker was great and encouraging. Then we went to Westminster Abbey. It was one of the most beautiful places ever. I saw the tombs of kings and queens, Handel, Isaac Newton, and Jane Austen. So a-mazing. Plus we saw the coronation chair where kings and queens have been crowned since the 1000s.

Next was dinner at a Portuguese place for Steph’s birthday, followed by Les Mis. It was beautiful, but very sad and depressing. I do want to read the book now. And finally, today was work again and after work, Chrissy and I went shopping to all the different secondhand and antique bookstores. And later, a few of us met Alex Farris who has been in Spain for the last semester for drinks at a pub on Fleet Street. The street is known for journalism, so we thought it was appropriate.

Ok, so I’m finally caught up now.