Amanda Goes to England: 28 November

{ January 14, 2007 @ 12:39 am } · { Blogroll, England, holiday, photoblog, vacation }
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My final day. There really isn’t much to say about that. I didn’t do anything besides get up, have breakfast at the hostel (while watching some American children’s programming which had been dubbed with British voices) and got my booty to the airport. Of course, that meant another train ride for me (yay!) from Victoria station to Gatwick.

The security at the airport was pretty intense. I was patted down TWICE. There were a few problematic people going through security (large families, for instance) so I just tried to be nice and lighthearted (where appropriate) with the security people. When the big family was going through the metal detector/x-ray area, there was one member of security staff opening saying “Have I died and gone to hell?” It was funny, but not.

I so loved my plane ride back. I was in a window seat, which was nice since my flight was during the day this time. I saw Iceland from the air! And there was only one other passenger beside me, instead of three like I had on the flight over. It was just wonderful.

I had a lot of trouble at the Minneapolis airport where we had to go through passport control and such. The lines were long and my layover was only about an hour and a half to begin with. I didn’t know that we were going to have to pick up our checked luggage, go through security again with it, and then check the luggage again. I was cutting it so close that I didn’t even bother putting my shoes back on after security – I knew it would possibly make or break my ability to get on that plane. I was right. And if security had been any farther from the gate where I needed to board the plane, I would not have made it. I was essentially the last person to get on the plane and they closed the door about two minutes after I did. I was so relieved that I’d made it because I don’t know what they do for people who miss their flights on account of security delays. Plus, I knew my sister would be waiting on me in Memphis.


Welcome Home Sign

My sister wasn’t the only one waiting on me at the airport. She brought my niece! My niece was afraid that I wouldn’t know with whom I was supposed to be riding home, so they made a sign. In fact, here is a photo of the little girl with the sign, while they were patiently waiting for me to arrive. My flight was a little late AND we had to sit on the runway for a good long time before we could pull up to the gate. My sister was afraid I hadn’t boarded the plane at all.

And, that’s it’s. I went to England. I would go back tomorrow if I had the opportunity. I’m still pinching myself about the whole thing.

Amanda Goes to England: 27 November

{ January 14, 2007 @ 12:09 am } · { Blogroll, England, holiday, photoblog, vacation }
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Helter Skelter in the City


Custard Factory


Selfridges (again!)

It was such a beautiful morning in Birmingham! I had to leave for London shortly, but I took a walk down the Christmas Market again, to the Custard Factory, and the Bullring, snapping pictures all the way to and fro. I just loved my last little bit of time there in Brum. I hated to have to rush off to make my train back to London.

In fact, I didn’t do a very good job of rushing off to the station and I missed my train. A lot of things were to blame but mostly poor time management and poor weight distribution in my travel bags did me in. The extra cost for a ticket to London was £25! (nearly $50!) I was taken aback, took some time to compose myself, eat the lunch I’d bought to take on the train with me, and just had to grit my teeth and pay the £25. I told myself that, if missing a train was the worst thing that happened when I travelled 4,000 miles from home by myself, I was so bad off after all.

I sat next to a jovial sort of lady on the train to London, which made me feel better. I think it’s little things like that that can make a difference in how one handles a stressful situation.


Buckingham Palace @ Night

I made it back to London in one piece, checked back into the hostel where I’d stayed the previous week, and tried to figure out what to do with my last evening in London. Since the set-back with the train put me getting to London later than expected, I had to carry out my plans after dark. I’d planned to go by Buckingham Palace that afternoon but did it by moonlight instead. Besides feeling uneasy walking through the very dark Green Park, I thought being at Buckingham at night was super cool. There were no crowds to keep me from seeing it and photographing it the way I wanted.


Christmas-y Big Ben (though you can’t tell in black and white)

Not wanting to walk through Green Park again, I walked towards Big Ben and Parliament to see them once again before leaving. They’d been gussied up for Christmas since the last time I’d been there, which meant red and green lights on Big Ben and a lighted tree in front of Parliament.

I finally had my first curry in London that night! Sorry there’s no picture, but it was Aloo Gobi from a place near the hostel, called Malabar Junction. It was so, so tasty.

Not much else to say about that exhausting day. I just tried to get some sleep (not too successful!) since I knew the next day was going to be a long one.

Amanda Goes to England: 26 November

{ December 28, 2006 @ 5:45 pm } · { England, holiday, photoblog, vacation }
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This was kind of the day my whole holiday in England was planned around. The Wolverhampton Camera Fair.


Wolverhampton, whilst eating my first-ever pasty.

Jon picked me up, we got our train tickets (+more Ribena), and we were on our way. Once we arrived in Wolverhampton, we took a black cab up to the camera fair. Okay, it was a purple black cab, but still. I’d never been in a cab before. Neat-o.

The camera fair was very cool. So much to choose from, so little money to spend. I picked up a few bits and bobbles and only made a camera purchase at the eleventh hour (lucky me, the price of the camera came down £5 so the dealer could unload it.) The fair was a nice way to spend a couple of hours anyway and it was interesting to see a lot of cameras in the flesh that I’d only ever seen online.

Jon had to be off not long after we got back to Birmingham. I “made” him let me take his picture before he left so I could show the folks back home. What a good sport!


St. Martin’s in the Bullring


Brum Christmas Lights

Since I had the evening to myself, I went back to the Christmas market to browse around. Didn’t buy much, but I liked it. I was going to finish On the Road when I got back to the hostel, but it had disappeared. I guess some cheeky poacher had swiped it!

Amanda Goes to England: 25 November

{ December 28, 2006 @ 5:23 pm } · { Blogroll, England, holiday, photoblog, vacation }
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Garage door in Digbeth

So, this was the day that I was to meet up with Jon and he was to take me to Lichfield. And that’s what happened. He was running late but had no way to contact me (I had no mobile phone in England.) I couldn’t remember if I’d said for Jon to come inside or if I’d told him I’d meet him outside, so something in me just said “Get up and go outside!” Of course, as I was pushing the door open, Jon was pulling it open and that was that.

We went to the station, bought our tickets to Lichfield (about a forty minute journey), purchased some Ribena (my first and Jon’s treat) and immediately had camera show-and-tell when we got boarded the train (what do you expect when two people meet up for the first time and only know each other in the first place because they’re both self-proclaimed camera geeks?) It was all looking through each other’s viewfinders and explaining our gear for a bit.


Lichfield Cathedral

Lichfield itself was little, lovely and very English. We went specifically because Jon wanted to take me to the cathedral there. I’m very glad he did. Photography was not prohibited in the church! Yay!


Not a very good photo of the duck pond in front of which we had some food and fed the ducks salt and vingear crisps.

So, after Lichfield, Jon took me on a tour of the city centre part of Birmingham, including the Frankfurt Christmas Market. Very cool.

After Jon and I parted ways for the evening, I ventured out on my own to Tesco (a grocery store chain.) I love supermarkets and spent quite a bit of time in them whenever I could manage it in England. I bought the fixins for peanut butter balls, because I’d have to know that I could make those there in order to be able to live in England. I could!

(Sorry the West Midlands-related photoblogs are so verbose. There’s more to talk about when it’s not just you alone, going to museums.)

Amanda Goes to England: 24 November

{ December 28, 2006 @ 4:48 pm } · { England, holiday, photoblog, vacation }
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Me, at Tavistock Square

I checked out of the hostel, got my £10 key deposit back (I’d been waiting for that all week!), and headed towards Euston station to catch my train to Birmingham. I did stop at Tavistock Square for a bit of reflection. That’s me, being reflective in the photo above.

Have I mentioned how much I love train journeys? If not, let me just reiterate. I love trains! My train journey from London’s Euston to Birmingham’s New Street station was so lovely. I had a reserved seat, so I didn’t have to go from car to car, looking for a free seat. I could just sit back and relax. There was a guy doing his math(s) homework across from me and a couple of foreign (Spanish? Italian?) girls who ended up next to me at some point.

I had detailed instructions from my friend Jon as to how to get out of the train station, into the mall (the Bullring) and down to my hostel. Of course, I messed them up a bit and had to carry around that stupid travel bag longer than necessary. But, I did make it to the hostel in one piece. Jon had popped in there a day or two earlier to make sure I should stay there and to book my bed for me. So glad he did! It was in a weird neighbourhood but I loved the hostel itself so much more than the one in London. Ian, the man who Jon had spoken to about my room, was very nice and helpful. The hostel used to be a pub, with the rooms around the corner and upstairs and the common area being where the pub itself was. It was so cozy (cosy) and I was so tired from London, that I didn’t really venture from the hostel and wanted to curl up and sleep in the arm chair at around 6:00! I picked up a copy of On the Road by Jack Kerouac and read A LOT of it before heading up to bed. My roomies, by the way, were a bunch of Irish girls who were there for a student conference. Future physicists, I believe.

Amanda Goes to England: 23 November

{ December 28, 2006 @ 4:07 pm } · { England, holiday, photoblog, vacation }
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Happy Thanksgiving! But not for me, since I wasn’t with anyone in London who was celebrating that particular American holiday.

No, Thanksgiving was just another sight-seeing day for me. It was my last full day in London town, after all.


Westminster Abbey

The Abbey is another one of those “photography is only allowed in certain areas” places, which really dampens my spirits. In fact, while I was waiting in the queue to clear security, one of the guards felt the need to remind me of the no photography rules. Then, he commented on how unusual my camera looked (guess he’s not used to seeing people with manual, film SLRs. I even got sick of all the digital Canon and Nikon SLRs I saw people weilding!) Since I couldn’t take many photos, I just got one of the audio tours and tried to take in as much mentally as I possibly could.

This is really an amazing place. It’s hard to wrap your mind around all the history inside. All the coronations that have taken place there. The amount of influential people buried there (they’re crammed everywhere!) There’s just so, so much.

And I have a confession to make: Besides visiting Westminster Abbey, I didn’t accomplish much else. I bought my train tickets to Birmingham (!) at Euston station and got myself ready to leave the hostel.

Amanda Goes to England: 22 November

{ December 28, 2006 @ 3:16 pm } · { England, holiday, photoblog, vacation }
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This was probably the most typical, rainy day that I encountered in England. Unfortunately, the chintzy little umbrella which I’d packed didn’t really survive the winds of that first rainy night in London.


Yetunde

When I visited Fountain of Life church on Sunday, a kind lady there named Yetunde gave me her contact details and offered to have lunch with me during the week. She works at Leicester Square, so she told me to meet her at Trafalgar (since I was familiar with that area.) Yetunde came and picked me up at Trafalgar Square and we walked over to a posh location of Pizza Express. It was the nicest meal that I ate the whole time I was in England – hey, I couldn’t afford to treat myself that way! And, of course, I enjoyed the company and having a long chat with Yetunde.


The National Gallery (again)

Since I was in the area anyway, I visited the National Gallery again (I figured, how many times am I going to get the opportunity to look at works by Da Vinci and Michelangelo? Why not look at them twice while I’m in the neighbourhood?) I also visited the National Portrait Gallery for the first time. At this point, though, I was beginning to feel “all museumed out.”


Rainy Big Ben

I even walked over to Big Ben, Parliament, and Westminster Abbey again while I was there. Unfortunately, I arrived about two minutes after the Abbey closed, so I had to be content with seeing it from the outside for the time being.


Somerset House

Since I’d had my nuff of museums, I’m happy to report I had non-museum plans for the evening. I had been invited to go ice skating with Alicia, an American ex-pat living in London. I should mention that I had only been ice skating once or twice before, about eight years ago at the Mall of Memphis (RIP) indoor rink. The place where I met Alicia is called Somerset House and it was brilliant! Oh I was so, so bad at the ice skating part but I so enjoyed my time attempting to skate and hanging out with Alicia and her friend Anna for a bit. I was even bad at navigating the “practice rink” (read: kiddie rink.) When I was taking pictures, such as the one above, I had to awkwardly lean over the railing so I could somewhat look through the viewfinder. Once, one of the ice rink employees got concerned and said “Madam, what’s wrong?!” He thought I was “getting sick.” I had to admit to Alicia and Anna after the skating was over that there was just one song that played during our skating time that pumped me up so much that I actually got about two feet away from the railing (to which I’d been clinging for dear life during most of the evening.) That song: Lose Yourself by Eminem. Why can I say? We can’t always choose the things which inspire us.

Amanda Goes to England: 21 November

{ December 24, 2006 @ 11:42 pm } · { England, holiday, photoblog, vacation }
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Cue the creepy music.


Tower of London

I went to Tower of London this day. After having learned my lesson about audio tours at St. Paul’s, I splurged on the audio tour at Tower of London. It made all the difference in the world. I got more out of what I was seeing and the tour made everything extra creepy, especially when doing things such as reading quotes attributed to Anne Boleyn when it was time for her beheading. Not to mention the torturing that went on at that place. There was also something unnerving about all the weapons stored in the white tower.


Tower Bridge

Conveniently enough, just outside the Tower of London is Tower Bridge. I decided to take a walk across it, just for the heck of it. I thought it was a pretty cool structure, personally.


Coloured Windows (while looking for London Bridge)

After Tower Bridge, I thought I should try to locate London Bridge. I didn’t have much success with that. Despite being on a street called London Bridge Street, I just couldn’t find it. Good thing I was impressed with bridge I’d already walked across that day.


Piccadilly Circus

Neeeeeext, I got off the Tube at Tottenham Court Road (as I often did) and decided to go to Oxford Street (popular shopping district), which led me to Regent Street (another popular shopping district), which in turn led me to Piccadilly Circus. I didn’t do any shopping, just a lot of walking.

And that’s about it for Tuesday the 21st.

Amanda Goes to England: 20 November

{ December 24, 2006 @ 11:05 pm } · { England, holiday, photoblog, Uncategorized, vacation }
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This was my most productive day, I think.


Great Court Ceiling, The British Museum

First thing I did was to go to the amazing British Museum, which was directly across from my hostel. It’s one of those overwhelming museums, so I just mainly looked at the ancient Egypt section and the ancient Greek and Rome sections. They were excellent and really worth the time.


My one [lame] picture of St. Paul’s

I hit St. Paul’s Cathedral next. It was very nice, except for photography being prohibited. And except for the part where I somehow missed a lot that there was to see. I did learn an important lesson: get the audio tour! You can miss so much, otherwise.


V&A Grand Entrance

I headed over to the Victoria and Albert after St. Paul’s. Honestly, I wasn’t able to take full advantage of the V&A because I got there so late, I was tired, and I didn’t have the money to see the coolest exhibits (a Da Vinci exhibit, a Renaissance Italy exhibit, and a twilight photography exhibit.) I did get to see Tippoo’s Tiger!


Thai Green Garden

Made it back to the hostel after that and forced myself to have my first sit-down meal at a restaurant. It was at a place called Thai Green Garden – £10 was a hard pill to swallow – especially considering my meals were £3 or under most of the time!

I ended the night by watching a bootleg version of Borat back at the hostel. Whoa my goodness…

Amanda Goes to England: 19 November

{ December 24, 2006 @ 10:41 pm } · { Uncategorized }
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Fountain of Life PH Church

Ah, a glorious Sunday morning, made a little less glorious because of the aforementioned staying up too late at the hostel.

Thanks to the missionaries from our church’s denomination, I was able to visit a church in East London called Fountain of Life. It was possibly my favourite thing I did in London. The people were awesome, the music was awesome, the sermon was awesome. I just wanted to BE with them again and almost wished I didn’t have plans for the following weekend so I could go back there. The people there made me want to sing for them. Next time, I will forward something beforehand to the keyboard player, Kendrick, and his guitar player to accompany me with!

I had a not-so-awesome experience getting back to the tube station, but it wasn’t such a big deal (just a creepy one) and I was able to get back to the hostel in one piece.

I just spent the evening meandering (mostly because I couldn’t seem to get my bearings while I was wandering around.) What can I say? I don’t always have the best navigational skills.

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