Whirlwind London

Whew! I feel like we haven't had time to relax in days! Two days in London is SUCH a tease. I need to come back. . .and just live here for a summer. . .and work on some awesome theatre. Anyways, we arrived in London on Tuesday morning, and Jordan and I split from Kelly at the train station. We took the tube to meet our friend Joanna (from our theater class at ucla), who is currently performing in a show on the West End and has a lovely little flat outside the London center. She lives in this lovely area with lots of space and quiet houses. We set our things down, cleaned up a bit, and headed back into the center for some sight seeing. Jordan is going to be Tobias in Moonlight amphitheater's production of Sweeney Todd when we get back, so we started at St. Pauls and then headed to Fleet street (as in the demon barber of). We wandered and found the churchyard and building that was supposedly where Sweeney lived - and is the setting of the musical. Jordan was SO EXCITED and we took lots of pictures and ordered iced lattes from the coffee cart in the churchyard (which is apparently a thing here?). After that, we got pasties for lunch, and ate them in a little park, where everyone was gathered enjoying the sunshine. It was HOT! Over 80 degrees -- it feels like July again! Our pasties were delicious, and then we wandered through some lovely streets -- all decked out for the olympics -- and did some shopping. I got a theatre outfit, which I desperately needed, as I only have travel clothes at this point! Then Joanna headed to the theatre to get ready and Jordan and I met up with one of his friends from high school for a delicious fish and chips dinner. That night, we saw Joanna's show. She understudies the female lead of "Thriller Live," which is essentially a concert of Michael Jackson songs and dances. Although she's the understudy, she goes on at least a couple times a week and requested to go on the night we were there. She was absolutely phenomenal. It was surreal to watch one of my classmates perform in a professional production in London -- and she was so brilliant. The show itself was a ton of fun and an experience, as the theatre didn't have air conditioning, so it was sweltering hot. We definitely got ice cream at intermission. After the show, we grabbed ciders at the pub across from the stage door and headed back to Joanna's place to go to bed.

The next morning, we had a lovely breakfast with Joanna -- eggs on toast and English Breakfast tea for me. Then Jordan and I went into town to try to get five pound tickets for Matilda the Musical. They have a limited number of 5 pound youth tickets that go on sale at 10am, so we were determined! Unfortunately, we did not get there early enough (before ten, but not before others!) and did not get tickets. The entire show was sold out, so I suppose I will wait until it comes to New York. Undeterred, we headed to the Sweeney Todd box office and snagged cheap day of tickets for the front row. SO EXCITED! This production stars Michael Ball (original Marius in Les Miz) an Imelda Stanton (Professor Umbridge in the Harry Potter films) and we get to see them LIVE in the front row! Jordan was especially thrilled in anticipation of his own production. Pleased with our success, we split up so that Jordan could go to the Tat modern and I could go to the British Museum. It was nice walking through the city while it was morning and uncrowded. Everything is looking its best for the Olympics and it was just fun to soak up the feeling. Once I got to the British Museum, I stepped inside and was taken aback by how....majestic? it is. High ceilings, full of natural light.... Oh it was so cool. They are currently have a Shakespeare exhibition in collaboration with the World Shakespeare festival, so naturally that's what I went to go see. It was a well done exhibit on Shakespeare's world and the world/themes of the plays. I especially enjoyed the smartly placed high-def projections of actors performing monologues. Miraculously, I didn't buy anything from the museum store -- it took all my restraint. Jordan and I met up again to have a cheap, pasty lunch with his friend (We went to Greggs. Such good pasties). Then his friend went back to work and Kelly met us to do some sight seeing. We went over to parliament and took touristy phone booth pictures with big ben. It was SO HOT, so I got a delicious iced blended coffee and we wandered along the other side of the river for a while. Eventually, we made our way to Baker Street and the Sherlock Holmes museum. We didn't go into the museum, but the shop was quite fun! The ambience was great AND the subway station had Sherlock Holmes outlines everywhere. It was great. After that, we walked down Regent Street and then Oxford street, looking at shops and trying to find some theatre clothes for Jordan and Kelly. We had a wonderfully ridiculous time going in stores. Including this unbelievable toy store, which had the most beautiful Harry Potter things we had ever seen. It had every wand -- even the Patil twins. Then we went to Top Shop (my friend, Julia's favorite) for the first time, which was a bit of an overwhelming experience. This store had a cupcake shop, restaurant and salon amongst its five stories of clothing and accessories. It was insane. After shopping we rushed over to Sweeney Todd and changed into our theatre clothes. The show was AMAZING. Absolutely phenomenal in every way.... And we saw it from the front row. We gushed all the way to the pub where we met Joanna -- and then some more once we got to this little Chinese place in China town (omg such good food). We said our goodbyes to Kelly (last time I'll see her in Europe) and headed back to Joanna's. The next morning, we had a nice breakfast and headed to Bath! Onwards with our U.K. adventure!

Three Americans in Paris

Currently I am flying through the French Countryside on the Eurostar to London (we haven't reached the English Channel yet). Kelly and I arrived in Paris the day before yesterday and found the apartment we were staying in without much trouble. We had rented a room from a young couple in Montmarte -- very nice people, and a lovely apartment. Kelly and I arrived around 5pm and weren't expecting Jordan for another three hours, so we wandered, found crepes and went to a grocery store to get some salami, cheese and bread for a picnic dinner. Then we went back up to the apartment to wait for Jordan and relax after our long travel day. I sat on the balcony and waited... but Jordan didn't come. 8pm, 9pm. . . 9:30. Did he get lost? If he got lost, he would have figured it out by now. . . What do we do? Luckily, Priscille and Marc came home around 10 or so and figured out how to track his flight. He was supposed to land at 6:30, but didn't end up landing until 10! Phew! Our worries assuaged, we at some more bread and cheese and kept a look out in the balcony. Finally, I saw him turn the corner...and go the wrong way. Kelly and I tried hailing him from the balcony, which only confused him, so Kelly ran down and got him. Reunited at last! Once he got up the five flights of stairs to the apartment, he explained that it had been a ROUGH travel day and proceeded to take off two sweaters and a pair of jeans to reveal a long sleeve shirt and ANOTHER pair of jeans underneath. Apparently, the airline only allowed one personal item and to check a bag would have cost 20 euro (if anyone is wondering, that's about 7 boxes of homemade chocolate from Belgium). In order to conserve space and smash his messenger bag into his backpack, he piled on clothing. On top of that, his flight was delayed, because it was too windy to take off in Florence, so his entire plane was BUSSED to Pisa, and naturally took off late. Happy to see each other again, we stayed up late swapping travel stories (Jordan has been working on a farm in Italy two weeks) and planning for our one day in Paris.

We woke up early the next mornig, so we could be at the Louvre when it opened. The morning was bright and sunny and Kelly and I were elated that it felt like summer again! FINALLY! We got off the metro a couple of stops before the Louvre and took a nice walk through a garden on our way. When we reached the palace, there was a HUGE line out the pyramid and it wasn't even 9am yet. Being savvy travelers, we went and got pain au chocolates and coffee and then munched before we entered from the subway entrance -- still a line, but a shorter one. We bought our tickets and saw all the greats: venus de milo, winged victory, the five leonardo da vinci paintings, Louis XIV's crown jewels, and more and more and more. The hoards of people were a sight unto themselves and sometimes I found myself just marveling over the waves of people instead of staring at the art. We finished our visit in the statue garden -- my personal favorite, as it is naturally lit, quiet and pretty -- and then headed out in search of a picnic. We went to Rue de Cler and purchased brie and a hard cheese at a formagerrie (omygod so many gorgeous cheeses), cherries and apricots at a produce store and a baguette and quiche from a bread place. Armed with the makings of a delicious French picnic, we claimed a place in the park in front of the Eiffel Tower and sat down on the grass to enjoy. It was an incredibly lovely picnic, amongst locals and tourists a like. Also, the food was incredible. The baguette was so soft and the cheese so creamy!!! After that, we walked down the river Seine all the way to Shakespeare and Co. -- a very famous English language bookstore opened for a lost generation of expats after WWI. It is stuffed to the brim with old books and new books, and there is a piano upstairs. It was so calming and wonderful. After browsing for a long while, and refilling our water bottles at their fountain, we crossed the bridge to stare at note dame for a little while (and I read fun facts about the church aloud). By this time, our feet were incredibly sore, so instead of doing the walking tour we'd planned, we walked among the old book and print merchants along the river and then ventured into Le Marais to people watch and find crepes. Eventually we found a small park to eat out crepes and rest our feet. As we watched the people around us, we realized it was very much a "canoodling" park, which was rather hilarious, and wonderful. Soon, we were off again to the arc de triumph and then a stroll down Champs-Elyses. We had planned to climb to the top of the arc, but the entrance fee was highway robbery! So, we got macarons from Laduree instead (I was thinking of you the whole time, Julia!) I got simple raspberry, chocolate and vanilla, but Kelly got a variety of interesting flavors: lime with basil, orange blossom, and a min one that tasted like real mint leaves. They were extraordinary! Then we headed to Sacre Cour to end our lovely little day in Paris. We went into the church, saw the view and then headed home. Kelly and Jordan went and got the fixings for a pasta dinner, while I went back to video chat with Sarah Ellis (my future roommate in NYC) who is finding us an apartment this week! We had a pleasant dinner, packed our things and went to bed.

This morning, we gathered our bags and headed to the train station. We had our last French pastries and boarded our train to London! I can hardly believe that we will be in a place where people speak English! I'm looking forward to the U.K., but I'm sad that I'll be saying goodbye to Kelly, as she is staying in London for a week and then going home, while Jordan and I only have two days here and then we're making our way through England. I can't believe it's time to say goodbye already -- it's been an adventure thus far =) Ah! Looks like we'll be in London in a few minutes. Until the next train ride!

Chocolates, Beer and Bike Rides

After blogging on Friday night, we video chatted with Sharon (which was great fun) and then headed to dinner. We found L'Estaminet in the Rick Steves guide, and we immediately highlighted it, as he described the pub as "Tolkien chic." Naturally, we had to go and he was not wrong -- Tolkien chic is an apt description for this fantastic little pub. The inside was covered in Sherlock-esque wallpaper (the TV show....google it) and old pictures. Old lamps and candles lit the room, and there were hops hanging from the ceiling (I can identify hops now!). The bar was small, and next to it there were shelves of vinyl and they played awesome music all night. Our waiter was incredibly nice and all smiles. We ordered small spaghettis (finally, a reasonable proportion in our price range!)and I ordered a Frambozen (raspberry beer), and Kelly ordered a sweet, dark beer at the recommendation of our server. The spaghetti was baked over with cheese and delicious. Surprisingly, my beer was awesome as well! I usually hate beer, but this smelled like beer, and tasted like a sparkling raspberry drink. So delicious. I even tried another beer after that! Belgium is great! We thoroughly enjoyed the atmosphere of the pub -- and watched a group of friends pull together a bunch of bar stools and crowd around the small bar. It was possibly my favorite place we've eaten in terms of ambience. On our way home, we stopped at another small pub that was down a teeny tiny alley of a street and I got a beer that tasted like strawberry jam, and Kelly got the house beer that you can only get there. Bruges is gorgeous at night. The canals are lit up, and we watched swans swimming, and took pictures of the bell tower reflecting in the water. They were playing music in the markt again, and it was pretty ridiculous and fun.

The next morning, we had a lovely breakfast, as usual. Maggie made us delicious crepe-like pancakes and told us about her garden and two birds who live there and follow her around when she takes the dogs on a walk. Have I mentioned that Maggie is the greatest? The weather was still clearing up from raining all night, so Kelly and I did our shopping around town first. The boy from Dumon recognized us and helped us with our chocolate needs =). The family is so nice! And their chocolate is so gooooooood. We also took a long walk to the train station and an incredibly helpful ticket man helped is find a way to Paris on a Sunday without reservations. He was the nicest person we've encountered working at a train station. I love Bruges. After gathering postcards, chocolate and travel plans, we headed back to unload our burdens and then set out in search of bikes. We rented two nice bikes at the student rate-- Kelly was excited, because hers was actually her size -- and started to see Bruges like the locals (who all ride bikes). We rode through town and went to check out the four windmills at the edge -- so cool. The bike paths were delightful, and we just followed the tree-lined canal all the way to Damme, where we stopped and had sandwiches for lunch. The English menu had "tuny-fish salad" (which I got) with salad and eggs included (which means lettuce and other veggies were on the sandwich). We rode past Damme's working windmill and into the town to the sound of bells. Bells had been going off all day -- I think because it was Belgium's independence day. They don't really make as big of a deal about independence day as we do, but I think the bells were a part of it. Anyways, from there, we rode onto Holland, because we could. The canal led straight to Sluis, on the border, so we did! We took a small detour (turning left instead of going straight at one point), but we really didn't mind, because it was the most beautiful bike ride of our lives. The glassy canal was line with tall, lush trees, and after that it was just countryside and cows, horses and sheep. We even saw geese that actually looked like mother goose. We passed families fishing in the channel, and a couple people swimming! There were no cars, it was a lovely biking/walking path. We were passed up many a time by actual racing bikers, who were very intense. We worked off all the waffles and chocolates by pedaling against the wind and taking a couple detours. We got to Holland, rode a little further and then headed back to Bruges. It was a glorious, and delightful bike ride (saw more windmills too!) and we ended up riding over 20 miles total. As we were riding back into town, we heard the music in the Markt again -- earlier this time in celebration of Belgian Independence -- basically this guy was doing covers of 80s hair bands. It was hilarious. We went to watch for a while, and left right as he started on AC/DC. We went back to our room for a little bit, and Maggie gave Kelly a glass of wine and me a sparkling lemonade (so good) and then we went to dinner. We went to another one of Maggie's friend's places and ordered soup (can't afford a three course meal!) and waffles. We sat in the back room with a couple who had an adorable dog with them (sleeping under the table) and watched a 12 or 13 year old boy run back and forth from the kitchen, full of purpose (it was just him and the owner waiting on people). The soup was alright, but the waffles were perfect in every way. Perfect texture, taste and perfectly ripe strawberries. I also love that in Belgium, they actually melt chocolate as a topping instead of using a sauce. After that, we headed to our room with the intention of just taking a break until going out again, but Kelly totally passed out, so I packed and wrote postcards. I finally had to break out my duffel, so I could fit the chocolate that I bought. Oh well, it's a worthy cause and I've only used a backpack for more than half of my trip, so I'd say that's an accomplishment. And it's not even a backpacker's backpack! Anyways, I got ready for bed and fell asleep, but Kelly got up and went back to the Markt for music and beer. Apparently it was packed and they were playing ABBA this time -- go figure.

This morning, we got up and had our last breakfast with Maggie. I asked her how she ended up in Bruges (as she is clearly Scottish). She said that her mom encouraged her and her siblings to travel, so her brother was working in Bruges. She was 22 (my age) when she visited him and met her husband (a Bruggian) and now she's lived there over 30 years! "You never know what's going to happen!" she said, "look at you -- you think this is just a trip, but who knows!" (mom, dad, don't worry, I haven't fallen in love with any Belgian men). Apparently, her mom used to do antiques, so Maggie opened an antique shop at her house, and stopped only a few years ago. After breakfast, we played with the dogs and gave Maggie huge hugs, as we set off to the bus stop. Whenever I come back to Bruges, I am definitely staying with Maggie. Definitely my favorite place we've stayed. Now we're on one of our four trains to Paris. I'm looking forward to Crepes and meeting up with Jordan! Finally, our trips come together now! I will certainly miss Bruges, but I'll be back. Onwards to France and the U.K.!

In Love with Bruges

I am in love with Bruges and here is why: everything is made out of brick - beautiful brick, with cobblestone streets. There is not a lot of cars, and biking seems to be the predominant mode of transportation. There is a trend among cafes/smaller restaurant to be "breakfast, lunch and tearoom." Delicious waffles are sold as snacks. There are handmade chocolates for cheap EVERYWHERE. There aren't a crazy amount of tourists, and everyone just seems calm. There are bunches of quirky stores and antique shops and most people speak English, Flemish and French (or a mix). I love it here. Did I also mention that there are picturesque canals with swans? Yeah, that too.

Bruges is an incredibly lovely, walkable, charming city. We got into the train station around 11am and took the bus to our b&b. Our host is named Maggie, who is Scottish and absolutely lovely in every way. "Now this place is a good full meal. I know how girls are on holiday, a little here, a little there, but here you'll get a good meal and it'll be good for ya." She led us up to our beautiful blue room with twin beds (I think for the first time for a while) and a shower in our room (first time since cinque terre). We immediately went and found sandwiches and then Kelly bustled off to do laundry. I wandered around Bruges by myself for a bit, which was quite nice. I went into some lovely coffee and tea stores (and had to remind myself that not only was that lime green espresso maker out of my price range, but I would never get it home). After a nice walk, I got a latte at a wonderful little tearoom that was softly playing, "night and day" in the background. I sipped my latte, and read another chapter of Lord of the Rings before meeting up with Kelly again. Naturally, we grabbed waffles -- chocolate and banana -- and they were phenomenal. We wandered along, enjoying our waffles and the fact that it was actually sunny. After putting laundry away, we started our traditional walking tour (amusingly enough, Maggie was like, "Do you have rick steves' book? Do his tour, it's brilliant" "yup. We do one in every town..." We walking toured for a couple hours -- with on and off sprinkling of rain. Highlights of walking tour: very old, dark, caverny church and a chapel with a relic that was said to have held Christ's blood (dried up by the 13th century). The Crown Plaza hotel is actually on the site of the oldet building in Bruges -- and in the basement you can see the walls and artifacts from 900AD. So that was pretty cool. We wandered across canals, and along pleasant streets. Ultimately we ended up at Minnewater, which is a park with a nice lake and huge swans....huge. We wandered some more and helped two sets of tourists find their way places (we're so good at this) and then found our way home before it started pouring. We also got our first handmade chocolates (SO GOOD AND SO CHEAP!) and savored their excellence. We took maggie's recommendation and went to a lovely dinner of soup, fish, a delicious salad, and naturally, fries.. We ran into other guests of Maggies -- three gregarious and friendly Scots, who gave me lots of advice about Edinburgh and were generally fun to talk to. We talked to the boy waiting on us for a while, seeking recommendations for pubs, but he was rather difficult to understand when he spoke Flemish. He was funny, though Bruges is not his favorite place, "i hate Bruges. Where I'm from, there are trees." Kelly and I just looked at each other. There are about 80 times more trees here than in LA. We ended up trekking across town in hopes of going to a bar with a large selection of beers, but it was closed (it's closed for the entire week we're here). When we headed back towards our place, we got caught in a downpour and were soaked. That was enough for me. I went to bed, but Kelly went to the oldest pub in Bruges (just down the street) and had a nice time.

This morning we had a lovely breakfast, chatting the the Scottish couple (their friend left early) and Maggie. We played with Maggie's dog, Jake and she gave us more restaurant recommendations and extra croissants for later (love her). Then, we headed out. First stop, Dumon chocolates: a family owned chocolate shop in a little brick building off the markt. "Where are you from?" "Los Angeles" "Oh! Do you know Rick Steves?" Anyways, we were served by the owner's nephew who explained each chocolate to us. He apparently eats a small box of chocolates every day, although he looks very fit. 100gram bags in hand, we walked over to the Half Moon brewery for our tour. The tour was quite enjoyable and we learned about how beer is made and why it is a necessary part of your diet =) We also got complementary beers at the end: the Bruges Zot (the crazy Bruges). It was full of spice and I could taste the barley. I drank about half an then passed the rest off to Kelly. Each beer in Belgium has its own special glass. Even our water at lunch had glasses to match -- it's rather fascinating. It was pouring rain when we left the brewery so we finally broke down and bought umbrellas -- Yellow ones with tulip handles -- and were immediately so much happier in the rain. We peeked into the church of our lady to see the only Michelangelo sculpture to ever leave Italy in his lifetime, but it had been sectioned off into the museum (read ticketed) part of the Church. We wandered more and then settled down at a random bar and had mussels for lunch. Incredibly delicious mussels. Omygoodness. Although, I must say, it is proving hard for us to find cheap eats here. There are three course meals for a fixed price, but Kelly and I can't afford that (and it's wayyy too much food). We're hoping that pubs will be more reasonable. Again, the mussels were amazing (cooked with veggies) and we both were shocked at how full we were. After a break, we headed to our second chocolate shop (which Maggie says is better and leas expensive than Dumon) of the day. De clerck was basically like a Wonka candy shop and we got 100 grans of handmade chocolate for under $2. Delicious. After a chocolate and some coffee (me) and tea (kelly), Kelly went back to rest and I wandered through town a bit more. Currently we're both relaxing until we find a pub for dinner (and beer, Kelly is so excited about beer). Tomorrow we're planning on bike riding to the windmills on the side of town and then maybe onto Holland, who knows! Let's hope the weather holds!

Less Than 24 Hours in Brussels

Kelly and I arrived in Brussels at 1:30pm yesterday and are leaving at 9:50am this morning. Highlights of the city:
The grand place is a cobblestone square surrounded by gorgeous buildings. It was bombed by Louis XIV I want to say? And rebuilt even grander than before -- it's pretty cool and people were picnicking in the cobblestones which was fun.
Waffles are an afternoon snack here (much like crepes in Paris) an they are delicious. So were the frites.
The most DELICIOUS smelling chocolate is everywhere! But we're waiting for Bruges -- cheaper and better chocolate.
The city as a whole is rather rough around the edges -- and has a lot of statues of people spitting or peeing etc (their mascot is a statue of a little boy peeing). Kelly and I weren't huge fans of the main touristy areas. We wandered into the gay quarter and one point and that was pretty cool -- lot's of little restaurants and awesome street art. They are very serious about comics here and it shows. Both tin-tin and the smurfs were created here (lot's of cool, but fairly expensive tin-tin stuff). Around 630 we were able to get into the apartment we were staying at -- a room in a Belgian architect's flat. He was very helpful and the apartment was very centrally located. We relaxed a little and then headed out in search of healthy food. We've been eating so much meat and bread, we needed produce! As we searched, we found our favorite part of Brussels. Past Anspach (where we are staying) is an awesome neighborhood where actual Bruxians live. We walked through awesome looking bars and restaurants where groups of friends were meeting and clearly having a wonderful time. It was a fun area and definitely our favorite -- which is surprising, as we usually feel out of place in the areas of cities where people actually live, but not so here. Definitely our favorite part of the city. We found a hip organic place and got salads and smoothies for dinner and then sat an people watched for a while. After that, we did a walk of uptown -- the more art-noveau part of town -- which was nice, until it started raining. We also stumbled upon a collection of funny sculptures of Brussels in the park (see picture of stork carrying a giant brussel sprout). Anyways, we ended up passing out before 10:30, which was actually really nice -- the weather has been taking a toll on us. This morning we got up and discovered that all the crazy people are out at 8am. We were fine, but it was weird. We ended up getting fresh croissants at a little place not far from our apartment. I had a nice cup of coffee and Kelly had absolutely phenomenal hot chocolate. It started to rain again as we walked back, but luckily stopped for our walk to the train station! I hope this weather melts off for Bruges. Rain, rain, go away! I don't have clothes for you! All in all, Brussels was an experience. Happy to be heading to Bruges =)