I Just Wrote about Hyde Park

On a Saturday in Hyde Park:

Rollarblading practice is in session.
Team work and individual.
Weaving in between cones and skating backward instruction included.
A whole gang of them really, the rollar-blader lady a.k.a. rollerblady would be in heaven.
I only wish I had Ally and the classic skating krew so I could join them.

There was also football practice going on.
Fubol Americana.
Actual football with pads.
Or as the Beatles Magical Mystery Tour Guide called it,
Rugby for Girls.
But then again, in England they think of women like this:

and not so much like this:

There were also two Americans running in the park. How did I know they were American? Tthey actually passed a hello.

 

Here's Some More

Friday.
Portmouth.

The Victory.
Our racist, maybe Agentinian tour guide was the highlight of the port.  We learned that the term son of a gun, came from the ship because occasionally, a woman would have a baby on board, and if it was born in between the cannons, yep, you nailed it, son of a gun.
Who knows if we can believe him? He lied to the nuns about the occupation of the women on board.
Oh yes, the Victory is the boat the English fought with during the Battle of Trafalgar and is the oldest ship in existence.

Cadbury Chocolate Outlet. No mini-eggs which I am thinking is a great thing.
Brighton Pier. Fun. But more fun when you're with your parents.

Preston Temple. Best part of the day. Some of us brought skirts, hoping we'd be able to get in to do baptisms. We did. And the worker was right when he said the drinking fountain had the best water in all of England. Blessings in every form.

Saturday.
Wrote an essay in the morning.
Left for the rest of the day to explore.
First Borough Market. I had a Greek wrap. I love these kinds of things. Crowded with people, it was like a glorious farmer's market.

Next, a museum just in time for Halloween. The Operating Theatre of Old St. Thomas Hospital. It had weird things from medicine in the 1800s like amputation instraments and also an ampetheatre where medical students could watch an operation being performed.

Stopped by a Cathedral by choice. It was close.
Went over to my favorite, Covent Garden and walked around the market there before going to the Transportation Museum. The two Asian girls took pictures at every carriage, bus, and taxi, so I decided to do the same–just self-timer mode. Who doesn't love the Underground and double decker buses?

Met the girls, who'd given up on doing homework, at Wagamama's in Leicester Square for dinner. I had curry and it was good. It had the feeling of Whole Foods but less snobby. I think I like the neighborhood Thai place better.
The plan to ride the London Eye got cancelled as we figured it'd be better to do it when they finish putting the Christmas lights up all over town.
Back to the Center!

I Haven't Blogged Because

I've been busy.
This week I've:

Discovered that I have a relative named Thankful Frisbee.
Attended a Ballet.

Walked the English countryside with some "real" English people. They were three brothers in their 70s. They have three more brothers  and they recently got back from a 5 week trip from Australia to Las Vegas.

Attended the Joshua Radin Concert. The crowd hushed us loud Americans, but that didn't stop Joshua from dedicating a song to two of the girls in our group. He also played his encore in the crowd–just about four people in front of me.
Froze at the Sandham Memorial Chapel, while viewing the artwork of WW1 artist Stanley Spencer.
Became polished at Jane Austen's House.
Went to Salsbury Cathedral. This time it wasn't just another cathedral. I like this one mainly because it had an awesome baptismal font.

Finally, Stonehenge. Not just a pile of rocks. A mystery. I quite enjoyed it. We had clear skies and it was a bit freezing.

As far as action words, I don't know if this would pass on a resume,

but alas, it's only Wednesday and there are more adventures in the works.

She went to Paris.

20 Is Old

It was my birthday
and it was fun.

A surprise party at midnight
bringing in the new year.

Nice decorations and candles from mother.

Portobello road in the morning.

Les Miserable in the afternoon

Nandos for dinner.

A special thanks to Devri for putting it all together.

Also, the best birthday present of 2010

http://we-have-a-blog.blogspot.com/

 

Bonjourno!

From Rome

All the Polo Ralph Lauren models are from Italy. American brand or not.

That being said, if I weren't so set on marrying a Polynesian, an Italian would do.

At the bus station with all our baggage, the women standing next to tried to tell us something in Italian, but when our faces looked blank, she said, "warning." That was understood better when two men began to quarrel and almost full on fight. Hitler and Mussolini were involved but that's all I got.

I know more Thai words than I do Italian. I was pretty lost on the language.

I don't think Europeans can help that they smell bad. I found myself a victim of the smell following my same home routine . Could that be said about Daniel's Portugal books? Probably not.

If an Italian tried to speak to us but didn't know english, they'd try spanish. They know all the languages of  neighbors, why don't we?

I thoroughly enjoyed the Canadians in our Vatican tour. They were Indian who lived in the Big Apple for a while where they made a lot of money.

I liked the yogurt in glass cups. What's up Yoplait.

Italians are really small. And dark. You can imagine how out of place I felt.

They really do play accordions there.

We wore translations headsets during church. If I were the missionary, I would say all sorts of things.

I finished packing up my stuff, and three hours later I was on a plane for Washington DC

Where I met up with this keeper

and we did just about everything there is to do in Washington DC.

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Thursday
It was hot.
Toured the Capital. There is a statue of Brigham Young.
Senate Gallery. Disorganized. The senators were late, and coming and going. I wished they'd focus a bit more. They voted on Elena Kagan becoming a Supreme Court justice and they senate pages practically begged us to go.
It poured.
Supreme Court.

Natural History, Art History, and American Smithsonian.
China town.

Friday
Biked to the city on the Mongoose.
Thomas Jefferson memorial.
FDR memorial.
Lincoln memorial.
Vietnam.
WWII.

Washington Monument.
White House and visitor's center. Every Boy Scout in America was there.
Holacost museum.
The Mint visitor center.
Air and Space Museum.
Kabab Palace.
Concert on the lawn of the Airforce Memorial.

Saturday
Eastern Market with Kim. We ate Blue Buck pancakes and say Emily and Linda Dunn.
Library of congress.
Mt. Vernon and picnic.
Kayaking Potomic river.
Georgetown cupcakes.
Walking Ghost tour in Old Alexander.
Drove to Washington DC temple
Rode the largest escalator in the western hemisphere.

Sunday
Arlington Cemetery
Church with delicious pumpkin bread made by Annette.
Holocaust Museum.

A special thanks to Annette for letting us barrow her bikes, making us lunch, and letting me sleep at her house. Hooray for the lentil boy.

And also for David for coming and putting up with me acting five years old. Tired and you blew up the air matress. Hungry and you bought museum food. Thanks for a great weekend.

As my time was winding down in Boston I figured I better do some last minute touring.

And some last mintue getting lost in a big city.

So I had a nice run around here

I visited the Freedom Trail again.

Went to FHE for the last time. Followed by a failed attempt at a run to Target. Turns out I don't know how to get there from the church. You don't have to read this but

I mean, I was driving around in downtown Boston at night! I came upon a toll booth and swerved out of the express lane and stalled trying to merge back into the cash lane.
I came upon a second toll booth and only had my silver dollar out of the $1.45. I asked the toll booth lady what I was to do if I didn't have the money and she said I'd have to fill out a form to be billed for later. I looked all around the car for change and she said it'd be fine if I was 10 cents short. I looked around with a car full of inpatient people behind me and came up with $1.44. Long live the toll booth lady.
It doesn't stop there. I now had to take the windy side roads to avoid the toll roads and the lines dividing the street are non-existant. I got honked at twice and every time I made a quick stop, the fire truck toy in the back seat would set off a siren. Oh yes, the GPS began to die so getting home was the least I could do.

But I did make it to Target the next day and I stoped at a Marriot to get instructions. I feel like I can do that with J.W. Marriot speaking at Daniel's graduation and all. I actually went into two Marriots that week. The other while on the Freedom Trail. That time I was lost as to how to get to the T. Then I got on the wrong one but found a friend from church to talk with until I found the right one. The mom was impressed that I'd only been in Boston for two months and I could run into someone I knew in the city. Go YSA.

Back to what you should read,
I went back here, the MFA

And had to say goodbye to this little guy.

Rewind

What remains to be said about Martha’s Vineyard. . .

One of my favorite things to do was talk to people on the bus. I met a nice lady from New Hampshire that has a house on 20 acres of land. She has two donkeys, six geese, chickens, and a dog. She was a real gem and knew it was funny to have donkeys as pets. I wanted to invite myself to visit her sometime.
Another man I met has visited 46 of the 50 states. He has Alaska, Hawaii, Nevada, and Utah to go. He’s from New York I believe, the same town that Jimmer Ferdette is from.

I had lunch with a 55 year old woman from church. She’s a mix between Julie Andrews and Princess Diana. She found it hard living on the Vineyard because it’s hard meeting Mormon single guys, you know? But other than that, "it’s diamond."

The bus drivers on the Vineyard are really nice.

I ran into a competition called, The Biggest Catch, while wondering around Oaks Bluff. It was raining but a large crowd gathered to watch fishermen bring in their biggest shark catch. Most of the sharks were Threshers and weighed 200-300 pounds. Then they’d slice it up right there. I don’t know what the people do with all that shark. I guess eat it. But there was a lot of shark laying around and a lot of knives for that matter. The knives used to cut the sharks had to be switched out every two sharks because they’d get dull from the course skins. It didn't seem like it should be legal catching and cutting up all that shark, but there they were.

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It was at that competition I learned that every fisherman stereotype is real. The full-faced beard, rubber jumpsuits, anchor tattoos, and rubber boots are all very real.

I left the Vineyard that Saturday that marked three weeks, and took the boat to the main land, then took the bus into the city. There I met up with Ashley for the rest of the weekend and particularly to get gelato and cannolis in the North End. We ran into a festival while we were there and celebrated a saint with the rest of the Italians.

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After the North End we went over to Holly's house to play games. It was more than just games as her performing arts school friends were there to give us a show. I really should have got their autographs. It was "choir kid" behavior at the college level which means it was extreme, but almost professional. I hope one day to see them on the center stage.

I slept on the futon again and then went to church at three in the afternoon the next day.

 

Martha's Vineyard: Scene One

The first week.

We arrived on the island and I was welcomed with a lobster role for dinner and a beautiful sunset.

Sunday morning, I woke up for church. I got on the bus and sat by the driver, who I became good friends with for the next three weeks, so we could figure out where exactly the church was. Bernie, what a nice guy. He radioed the other buses asking if anyone knew where the Mormon church was, no, not the Episcapalian church, the Mormon church. With the help of bus driver from route 13 and the man that we picked up along the way, we were able to locate the church and Bernie practically droped me off at the front door. I gave him a Book of Mormon.

I had my first lobster dinner that night with an instrucational lesson on how to eat it.

I made a friend at church who was a nanny with a car. I was able to hang out with her all of Monday. We visited the town of Oak Bluffs, ate a sandwhich on the public beach, and looked around at the gingerbread houses.

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The week was full of spending time at the beach, running and sweating like a Gatorade commercial, and trying to read my Jane Austen book.

Friday I ventured to the town of Vineyard Haven. I went to an expensive store that one of the siblings of James Taylor owned. Some of James' siblings live on the island and their music, along side the Weapies and Jack Johnson, are always playing on the radio. I mostly though how much Natty Boo would like it. I also got a dessert at the classic Black Dog bakery and ate it while watching the Italian group of women in brightly colored swimsuits and unhealithy tanned skin, enjoy their picnic on the shore.

Saturday I visited Edgartown. Prepy. Khaki shorts, matching belts and lofers, polo shirts, sweaters draped over shoulders, and if you're shoping there they have additional sizes in the back. No, I don't fit into a size two. I ate clam chowder and ice cream on the dock. You also might think there was an EFY stationed there, but my guess is the parents of the dozens of teens thowing pops at each other's feet, were back at the house sipping wine and throwing their heads back in laughter, allowing the packs of kids to wonder freely. Actually, I imagined Rosie spent most of her summers in those teen packs.

I got off the bus way past the driveway of the house so I had to walk a bit to get back to the house. It was eleven at night and with no streetlights on the island, it was really dark. There was also no cell phone coverage. I walked rather quickly making that the foolish thing I've done this trip because I really should have gotten off earlier. But I did notice the nice stars out that night and the mom waited up for me to make sure I got home.

My favorite thing of the week was using the outdoor shower. Everyone should be able to shower in an outdoor shower. It's great.