Rounding Second and Heading for... Western Europe

Well we've passed the halfway point of our semester here in London. Pretty hard to believe. With so much travel coming up in the next month and a half, time promises to move even more quickly. It's been a while since my last post, and much has happened - so I am warning you ahead of time that this will likely be a very long entry.

Last week was another normal week of class. Jillian and I had to turn in a ~5 page write-up of our presentations for Art History, but besides that, it was pretty much business as usual. Ashley arrived in London on Friday and stayed with a friend - her night was apparently highlighted by her meeting of P Diddy (Diddy, Puff Daddy, Sean Combs, whatever he likes to call himself these days) at a club. On Saturday she headed over to our part of town in the afternoon, and even though we weren't able to introduce her to any celebrities (or even flatmates for that matter, since they were all out of town), we had a good time. We planned to meet up with some friends at a pub, and even though it ended up just being the three of us, it was a good night. We capped it off with our first trip to McDonald's in hopes of McFlurries, but we (mostly the other two) were devastated to find that they were not being made when we got there. Jillian suggested we walk to the "other" McDonald's to check to see if they had them, but when I realized she meant Oxford Street (and a solid 20 minute walk each way), I politely nixed that idea. Two of us settled for double cheeseburgers, while one went for the Big Mac AND fries (not the breakdown you'd expect - I'll just say I had a double cheeseburger while the smallest person present did not).

The next morning, Ashley left for her train back to Manchester as Mom and Dad arrived from their hotel after stowing their luggage, but before their room was ready. Jillian, Mom, Dad, Ashley, and I talked briefly in the Schafer Lobby in a combination of people not ever likely to take place again. After Ashley took off, Jillian and I showed bleary-eyed Mom and Dad our flat and hung out for a bit before they could check into their hotel (well, Jillian, Dad, and I talked while Mom sprawled out on my bed and passed out). After an unsuccessful venture for lunch at Pret (closed on weekends... never crossed my mind to check), we got sandwiches from Sainsbury's and sent them on their way back to their hotel for a nap: it sounded as if they got about 3 hours of sleep on the plane between them. We met up around dinner time and headed over to Russell Square for an Italian dinner at a restaurant called Ciao Bella. Joining our group was one of Mom's coworker's son, another Zach. He's studying abroad in London as well, although much closer to Parliament/the Thames. The food was decent, but nothing special, and afterwards we (minus Zach #2) headed back to Mom and Dad's hotel to figure out our plan for the next day. After brief deliberation, Mom and Dad decided against staying up to watch the Oscars (running from 2-5 AM here). We settled our plans for the next day, and headed back around 11 or so.

When Jillian and I headed over to meet them at their hotel on Monday, M & D came downstairs with bloodshot eyes and tired looks on their faces. Turns out they had changed their minds and watched the ENTIRE awards show. Surely that helped with their jet lag. Mom had expressed interest in a day trip to Bath, but Dad wasn't interested, so as a compromise we all headed out to Greenwich. We grabbed some lunch at a small cafe/sandwich shop in town before visiting all of the historical buildings. We first checked out the Maritime Museum, which had a cool room with Admiral Nelson (yes, I know who he is now! That one-armed dude at the top of the statue in Trafalgar) stuff, including the actual uniform he was wearing when he was killed at the Battle of Trafalgar. He appeared to be quite the little man. Next we hiked up an enormous hill to look at astronomy stuff and the Prime Meridian deal, but I was unimpressed. It's the division between the Eastern and Western Hemispheres because we say it is. It's completely arbitrary, and just a big line. Big deal. Mom and Dad enjoyed all of the stuff about the longitude problem, and although I wasn't particularly interested in the scientific details of how it was solved, it was interesting to see the history of how sailors struggled before the solution. Anyway, we got some good pictures, and Dad seemed very excited to get a machine-printed certificate of some sort ("Dad do you want a picture?" "Why would I need a picture? I have a certificate.") Two certificates, in fact. We headed back to our respective rooms to relax a bit before dinner, which we had at our nearby Indian restaurant, which was again reasonable and delicious. After dinner the tired duo headed back for an easy night of relaxation.

On Tuesday, Mom and Dad caught up on sleep while Jillian and I had our big day of class. They both slept 12 hours, I believe, which as Dad said, is usually about 2-3 nights' worth for him. We met up for dinner at an Italian restaurant called Prezzo near their hotel (we had heard about it from Rosie) and had our best Italian meal of the trip. Plus, it's very reasonably priced and has loads of coupons online, so I'm sure Jillian and I will be returning. After dinner the four of us headed into Leicester Square and saw Sherlock Holmes, which was OK. Robert Downey Jr. was great, and he and Jude Law played off each other well, but the storyline was mediocre at best. The theater was interesting; it probably had only ten rows of seats. But that didn't stop the prices from being outrageously expensive (even the Bridge in Philly pales in comparison). That wrapped up a long day on Tuesday, which had started more than 12 hours before with our early class.

On Wednesday the four of us met up after our two hours of class (the second of which was the make-up for our professor simply not showing up a few weeks ago) and went down to Harrods for the afternoon. We walked around the food halls and got some lunch - Mom, Dad, and I settled on rotisserie chicken that thoroughly disgusted Jillian. Steinberg/Slate family, you're missing out on a whole world of deliciousness of meat with bones. Jillian instead had a turkey sandwich which she said was good. That turkey once had bones and skin, though. After lunch we walked around the store a bit, although with different goals. Mom wanted to peruse the items in the store, while I looked for the most expensive price tag I could find. The early leader was a crystal statue of a dolphin (a hefty £39,000), until Dad upped the ante with some sort of weird statue weighing in at a cool £59,000. We both agreed that if I knocked over one of the statues I would probably just sit down and start to cry. We also checked out the Princess Diana and Lover memorial (I can't remember his name, but apparently his family owns Harrods?), which Jillian and Mom agreed to be tacky. It seemed fine to me. We stopped by the food halls again on our way out, and each got some delicious gelato for the road. We also got a few other goodies to bring back to the hotel/dorm for later - one of the cheese/sesame/onion baguettes that we got last time for Jillian, Dad, and myself, some cheese and bread for Mom, and a fruit tart for Jillian and me. We headed out from Harrods and walked to the nearby Victoria and Albert Museum. We had about 45 minutes before it closed, so we walked around a bit to check out some cool sculptures. Mom wanted to see some paintings, but we didn't have a map and never found our way to the paintings section - she was happy just to have made it in the museum for a bit, though. After it closed, we trekked a little further and walked about 35 minutes to Notting Hill. It was cold and we were a bit tired, but most of the walk was spent crossing Hyde Park, which we had never seen before, so that was nice. Dad hung out in a warm hotel lobby while the rest of us walked along Notting Hill Gate Road and checked out the neighborhood. It was a nice area, but there was nothing noteworthy about it. We headed back to campus after a good but tiring day to meet up with my friend Travis and get some dinner. We had more touristy plans for the next day, and a tentative plan to go to Bath for the three of us on Friday. It was hard to believe their trip was winding down already.

We met up on Thursday after our pointless Psych seminar, and took the tube (we probably took it more this week than the entire semester combined leading up to it) to see St. Paul's Cathedral. It was MASSIVE, and very pretty. I didn't know how big it truly was, and it made even St. Vitus in Prague seem small. We hiked up a dizzying spiral staircase (it really did make me dizzy) to the "Whispering Gallery" high above the ground floor, and then Jillian, Mom, and I continued even further up for two great outdoor views of the city. Lastly, we walked through the crypt in the basement and saw, you guessed it, Admiral Nelson's tomb. After St. Paul closed, we took the tube into Leicester Square to get theater tickets for that night. It worked out perfectly, and we got half-priced tickets (good seats, too) to see The Little Dog Laughed, a satiric comedy about Hollywood. We had some time to kill before dinner, so we took Mom and Dad into nearby Trafalgar Square (we needed one more glimpse of some form of Admiral Nelson). In similar V & A fashion, we went into the National Gallery with about 30 minutes before closing time. We saw a different part of the museum than we had been to for class, and saw some Van Gogh, Manet, Monet, Degas, Renoir, and others. We then hurriedly headed to the Renaissance section and showed them the two paintings we had presented to our class. Next up was dinner at Wagamama's, which was again delicious. A noteworthy dessert - ginger and white chocolate cheesecake. I thought it was great, but Jillian was not a huge fan. But apparently a big enough one to eat half of it. Our schedule for the day worked perfectly, and we headed over to the theater, about two minutes away from the restaurant, for the show. It was pretty amusing, and all of us had favorable reviews after.

Which brings us to yesterday, our final day. We had, as I said, planned on going to Bath, but when we looked into train tickets, they were a fortune. And considering how rushed the trip was going to be (squeezed between class and trying to get back for dinner with Dad), we decided to postpone the trip. Mom is returning in September, so she will probably go then, and Jillian and I will go later in the semester. Instead, after class, we had lunch at and walked around Borough Market. It was MUCH less crowded this time on a cloudy Friday as compared to the sunny Saturday when we went last time. There were TONS of free samples, and we snacked on a variety of cheeses and such. I had a couple delicious chicken empanadas for lunch, and Jillian had a grilled cheese that smelled and tasted like feet (seriously - she threw away the rest of it because I didn't want to eat it... a rarity). We got some homemade chips and salsa (hard to find here except for Doritos brand) to bring back, and also some white chocolate covered cashews and bananas, and cheese covered cashews. Those snacks, combined with the goodies Mom and Dad brought over from the US (gummy bears, jelly beans, Lipton's soup (!), Kraft mac and cheese, etc.) has the shelf above my desk looking like I'm preparing for a nuclear attack. Mom and Dad seemed to particularly enjoy the market, and I'm sure we will return with Sheri when she visits. The market is close to the river, so we walked a few minutes so we could cross London Bridge. Mom took a few (a lot) of pictures, before we headed back to campus. We met up again for a late dinner since we were still full from lunch, and, in truly American style, dined at TGI Friday's. This was our first chance to eat a restaurant we had previously been to in America, and it was amazing how much smaller every portion was. I still maintain that Friday's mozzarella sticks are hard to beat. It was a good meal, and nice way to wrap up the trip. On the way home, we spotted the location for the future Chipote (!!!). Hopefully it stays on track to open before we leave. Mom and Dad also graciously stocked us up on some groceries for the week. We parted ways, until this morning, when Jillian and I woke up early to meet them at Euston Station for a goodbye. Mom said her computer had crashed, so hopefully she can get it fixed. They are probably somewhere over the Atlantic right now, but are safely on their way home.

It was really good to see them, and it's a bit odd getting back into our normal routine without them here. The visit flew by, and although it was definitely a busy week, I think we all had a great time. Mom and Dad were incredibly generous throughout, and have even decided to help us fund a trip to Copenhagen, which we likely would not have been able to take otherwise. But I think the visit was a good balance between seeing new stuff in London that they hadn't seen before, and not doing anything too ambitious or rushed. I realized partway through the trip that this was the first time I had really ever hosted them somewhere, since I haven't had the traditional visit-from-the-parents at college. But the trip went smoothly, and it was fun to be able to show off our London expertise. Thanks for everything, Mom and Dad, I had a great time!

Well, I know that was a lengthy recap, but I wanted to be detailed for my own sake, if nothing else. As Grandpa Ed wisely advised me, it will be nice to be able to reread these entries in the future and reminisce. So if you made it this far, congratulations!

In other news, both Michigan and UC basketball were on the wrong end of lucky buzzer beaters this week, likely ending their shots at NCAA Tournament bids. Oh well, I've been disconnected from the college basketball season the entire time anyway. We have another busy week coming up - our second-to-last of classes, included our last trip to the National Gallery. On Monday we are taking a train to Oxford for a day trip, which should be fun, and on Saturday we take our recently planned trip to Copenhagen. We'll be there until Monday, so we will get almost a full three days in. It should be a good (but very cold) trip. Other than that, it's just time to settle back into a routine (sort of... with all of this traveling) before Sheri comes to visit. Hard to believe she'll be here so soon! Jared has also decided to come visit at the end of April, he just doesn't know it yet.

Back to cooking, classes, and the rest of the routine. If anyone would like to Skype tomorrow or this week, just email me.

Well, I'm all blogged out. It's time:

Cultural Difference: When we took a bus in from the airport after our trip to Eastern Europe, I couldn't figure out how the people on the bus in front of me were getting off. I could see that there were fewer people, but the door hadn't opened. Then I realized that here, people get off buses on the left. Very strange to see, even if it makes sense.