When Thayer and I vacationed over in Amsterdam and the UK I realized I'd
forgotten to bring a journel. So I started logging down my thoughts in a
series of postcards I sent to the folks back home. I numbered the postcards
(1-118), but didn't stop any sentances between any of the postcards and
tried to always send no two postcards in a row to the same household. Thus
my friends were forced to compare notes and match up cards to make sence of
the trip. Here's the whole thing concated together (except for the cards that
were missing in the mail).
The people in parenthesis after the numbers are the people the post cards were
sent to.
1 (Mike & Carolee)
Well, I've come all this way to Europe and I've found I don't have a journal
or anything to write in so I've decided to log it all in these postcards home.
Of course I won't have the space to warn each of you that I'm doing this so
I'd better send this first card off to somebody that can clue the others in.
We arrived in Amsterdam yesterday after a 10 hour flight and because of all
the activity going on, didn't get to sleep until 9pm last night. Which means
that we were up for a total of 27 hours. It's currently the Queen's Birthday
(well, yesterday). The entire...
2 (Tim)
...city of Amsterdam looks like a Seattle college town on Spring Break.
Or at least it did by the time we got there last night. We've been walking
around the park and the streets nearby and everyone has that sort of wasted,
grunge college look. The only difference is that there's more litter, the
cars are itty-bitty, all the beer cans are Heinican & everyone's speaking in
Dutch. We wandered around during the "Nacht Van Orange" (for the house of
Orange) for a couple of hours and finally just settled on any old place to
eat. We choose Alphonsoe's Mexican food. Which was kinda weird, they...
3 (Pete)
...used feta cheese in their burritos, the beans were refried, but what they
re-fried I don't know. The salsa was more like a spicy chopped salad but the
coffee was espresso and they had no problems when I asked for one with Kaluha
and Tequila in it (the bill came out as "Cafe Keoki", and I couldn't taste the
Tequila, but I was so tired I couldn't vouch for whether it was in there or
not).
We've sort of settled into our role as ugly Americans. We were originally
going to pretend we were German or Canadian, the latter being more probable
since we speak no German. But we have accepted our fate...
4 (Abbott)
...and laugh noisily to ourselves. I've just woken up and started this letter,
I think we've fallen right into the correct time zone (sleep wise) as it's
about 8am. We're just about to go out and explore the city by morning light
(as we didn't see much night-life last night) and cruise down to the museums.
I'll probably have to pick up some more postcards today as well to continue
this letter.
The parking over here is just great, everyone's piled up double and those
on the inner side just leave a piece of paper in the windshield that had their
house number...
5 (Susan)
...on it so that their neighbors can collect them when they need to get out.
Of course we were surprised when the stewardess on the airplane warned
us that the traffic and driving was just awful down (over) here in Europe,
and we were dubious that anyone could beat the Americans at something like
that, but they do. We've yet to see a traffic jam, but with their driving I
don't doubt there are accidents a plenty. I just wonder if they've got the
same problem with gawkers that we do over in...
6 (Eric)
...the states.
We've been staying in a house that's owned by two friends of Thayer's mom.
They've left for the country and were happy to get someone to water their
plants for them. It's been very kind of them and really cool for us
because now we're right downtown in the center of Amsterdam. All the buildings
are wonderfully tall brick (non-earthquake) buildings. The stairs in ours is a
feat by itself (massively steep, the owner claims there are always accidents
happening on them. We've...
7 (Craig Larsen)
...been taking it easy on them so as not to kill ourselves.
Thayer's been having problems with all the gorgeous European men (boys).
Going out last night during the festival was a blast and we were bummed we
couldn't stay up latter to see more. By 8pm it was like Cinco de Miao [sp!]
or a mild Isla Vista Halloween; but with vendors and all over the city. There
were places we had to push our way through the crowd to get anywhere. We met
one young youth who acted like he knew me and started blathering at me in...
8 (John)
...Dutch, and when I replied in English he'd claimed he was American and had
been here for quite some time and had forgotten all his English. Actually I
suspect it was the beer and other things he was on (he kept playing with his
lips) that were making his English strained. Anyway, he recommended a bar,
which we couldn't find, but we had fun trying to find it in the crowds anyways.
We finally crawled back to the house and watched a little Mtv and had...
9 (Dave Jensen)
...a break to rest up our toes. The TV (well, Mtv) over here is a little more
surreal. We then fell asleep and snoozed 'till dawn.
The next day we were planning on visiting all the museums, but got sidetracked
with walking all over down town Amsterdam. Chanced upon our first "coffeeshop"
which is entirely a misnomer. The only coffee we've found so far is bad
espresso & bad capuchino. But you find the words "coffeeshop" scrawled over
all these shops throughout the town. They're really pot-alcohol bars, which we
found...
10 (Craig Jackson)
...out when we went to the "Blues Brothers" cafe, and were promptly offered
some. There after we found we could tell when we were outside a "coffee shop"
by just testing the air. Actually this pissed us off more than anything else
because we really wanted a good cup of coffee and couldn't find one
anywhere. (Actually, last night at a pizzeria, who's German, Dutch & English
speaking waiter, who we pissed off by merely being Americans, had a tasty cup
of Capuchino). Last night we wandered around the local center looking for some
more coffee, and were prepared to be let-down once again...
11 (Tim)
...because all the "coffee shops" looked really dark, dubious and coffee-free.
We spied "cafe Dominoes", which was well lit, and our hopes rose. But alas
it was the sorriest coffee of the trip. I guess we're consigned to it now.
Been a little disappointed with all the other Americans we've been seeing
here. Well, the Ugly ones just stand out like nobody's business. Yesterday
while ordering tickets for the CanalBus, the same sharp suited greasy American
butted in line...
12 (Carolee)
...three times and demanded (well less stronger, but he pissed off the kiosk
owner) to play in American currency (which they were willing to do) at the
same exchange rates as the banks, etc...
At least we've been having a blast poking fun at these (& ourselves) and
busting a gut in public with cutting 'em down. We thought it'd make a good
coffee-table book: "Ugly Americans around the world."
We went out last night (Saturday) and the town was...
13 (Susan)
...dead except for the cafe we were planning on checking out ("Cafe Virtigo"),
but it was just too crowded so we just wandered around town looking for coffee,
watching the street jugglers (the good one was a hornless, speaking Harpo Marx)
and talking in loud NY accents. Oh well, go with it.
Today is supposed to be all closed up except for the museums, so we're
planning on going there (finally) and...
14 (Dave Uebele)
...getting a Canal-bike to cruise around Amsterdam in. We hope there's a
restaurant or two open, as we forgot to go to the grocery store yesterday.
Thayer is being thwarted by the young lovers of Amsterdam. On our first day
here we espied a couple on a bike (everyone rides a bike here, and they're just
as maniacal as the car drivers. Each bike is a cruddy 60s reject because
they're stolen so often they're considered...
15 (Teala)
...communal property, almost), and they looked so cute because the
girlfriend was sitting side-saddle on the book rack on the back, arms around
her boyfriend's waist. Since then Thay's been trying to catch them on film,
but they've been either too fast or she's forgotten her camera.
The city's a lot cleaner than it was last night for the Night of Orange.
They must have sent out the Midnight Crew...
16 (Joe & Lisa)
...to work to clean it up.
Managed to get to the Rijksmuseum yesterday & saw the "Night Watch" & the
original to the cover of the Dutch Masters cigar box. We were kind of
embarrassed to realize that we were the only ones who associated the painting
with 5th grade art class.
Also stopped by a smaller, more tourist-trappy museum called the "Tourture
Museum of Amsterdam". It was better than an American tourist trap but still
kinda hokey.
Also went out to the Amsterdam...
17 (Stan & Marisa)
...cinema and saw Clive Barker's Candyman with German subtitles
(actually they were Dutch, sorry). The theater was tiny, and there was an
intermission (which was kinda cool).
There's all sorts of cool rave advertisement posters up all over Amsterdam.
I'd try and take one home, but they've all been glued to kiosks, busses and
brick with some sort of industrial anti-solvent.
We're planning on leaving for England tomorrow night (Tuesday) so we've got
a day and a half to explore the rest of...
18 (David)
...Amsterdam. We think we've found a breakfast place that actually serves
decent espresso, so we'll be hitting that first thing today.
Had Chinese food yesterday, which was pretty decent. I had been warned
against the UK Chinese (not to mention Tex-Mex and Pizza) restaurants. Don't
know if I'll get the courage to compare.
Had a pleasant surprise with the beer over here. It's all brewed to a much
higher proof (around 10). It's very pleasant to try beers I thought I knew and
then finding out they've got...
19 (Diane)
...this whole other taste.
Today we're finally going to try to take the Canal-Bikes out for a spin.
Unfortunately we've not really thrown off jet lag & didn't wake until noon
today.
So far the weather's been just the same as Santa Cruz norm, with the most
unpleasant being last night when it sprinkled.
Found this great threat that I'll have to import back to the states:
Chocolate covered waffles. They're...
20 (Abbott)
...great. They're as heavy as lead and just a tiny one is quite a meal. They're
more akin to doughnuts than waffles, and they also come in an apple-cinnamon
flavor, which I'll try today if the circus is still in town.
It's a shame to admit it, but we've been spending most of our waking home
time spent before Mtv. It's just so different from the US. The adds seem so
much more interesting and the whole set-up is so un-American it's great.
Actually, we just...
21 (David)
...turned it to CNN to check out the news. Of course they've just had a 10
minute commercial break. Definitely some commercials & videos that wouldn't
be aired in the States.
Had a wonderful diner yesterday on a restaurant on a canal. Great big
Caesar salad with huge hairy anchovies and everything. The waiter was cute &
Thayer got his picture (she's collecting pictures of cute European guys for
her housemate). The place wins the best Hollindic Capuchino award from me.
Since we started out late yesterday, all we got to was...
22 (Susan)
...sight seeing in the little shops around town (now open since it's Monday).
Also went canal biking, which was a blast, even with the dead fish. The town
definitely looks different from down there, its really nice. We saw a couple
of other canal bike groups, but they couldn't keep up with our studly American
thighs. Actually, it was probably because they were drinking (everyone drinks
all the time here, passed a car here yesterday with an open beer can on the
dashboard). Of course it didn't stop up from poking fun at them, well, to
ourselves at least. It seems...
23 (Tim)
...they've all got the cutest little butts, both on the men & women (one way
to tell who the tourists aren't, along with Thayer noticing that no one who
lives in Amsterdam wears socks). But we thought it was funny that they can't
do anything with them (biking, canal-biking, etc...). Speaking of a country
which is so much more advanced then we are in the bicycle field, you can really
see what goes wrong when you encourage everyone to bike. Those bozos we have
that we call "sunday drivers" or just plain "stupid" they have...
24 (Dave Jensen)
...on bicycles. Yesterday we saw two bicycles collide in an intersection;
broken head-lights and everything. Also the day before that someone was trying
to navigate busy streets while carrying far too much (a huge roll of
cellophane, as big as the rider himself) and in the minute we were watching we
saw him run into both a pedestrian and another bicyclist.
Having fun noticing that all the waiters are cross matched to their
restaurants. Yesterday was a Bronx-Italian, working in a French restaurant,
in Amsterdam, speaking English, with Spanish-Marenge covers of the...
25 (Craig Jackson)
...1812 Overture in the back ground. The day before that was a German who
spoke spotless English working in an Italian restaurant in Holland serving
Americans.
I've been rationing out the "mutilated cow" jokes and telling them to Thayer
(when we remember) each dinner.
We'll be leaving for England tonight on a Ferry out of "Hook of Holland".
From now on it's trains, Hostels and Bed n' Breakfasts. Hope I can keep finding
postcard shops, at least the Hollanders have a nice sense of the absurd for
theirs.
We've packed up and done a load of laundry here at the...
26 (Teala)
...house and will probably go out and get a breakfast pastry and Capuchino
and post this load of cards.
Then head out to the center (right near the train station) shop and browse
a bit, then off towards England.
Had some more of those wonderful waffles yesterday, but this time without
the chocolate and with cream & powdered sugar. Was absolutely pancreas blowing.
Some cool rave bands over here, I've got to remember to mention "Usura"
(I think) to Carolee and Diane. Their video's a cool collection of Morphing
and other computer graphics. I...
27 (John)
...keep wondering which videos will never play over in the US because of
political or censorship. There's plenty of post cards we knew wouldn't make
it into the states.
It's kind of a bummer because I've only just gotten to the point where I
can climb the stairs here without using the hand rail.
We're at "Hook of Holland" now, planning our jaunt through England, Wales
and Scotland. Planned to take the whole day getting here & take the night
boat, and it turns out we've got 5 1/2 hours to spend in a poo-dunk little
burg. The restaurant where...
28 (Diane)
...we've spent the last two and a half hours has played some UB-40, Madonna's
Erotica and now a female cover of 60's tunes (My Guy,
Grapevine, I'Ll Be There). It's a Greek restaurant, with a
Turkish chef and a San Jose seeming waitress. Had a first cup of coffee back
in Amsterdam in a German restaurant with an Eel sandwich & onion and sugar +
cinnamon chicken breast. It was a blast, I'll make some up for you when I get
back.
So far we're making our...
29 (Stan & Marisa)
...way & path and writing it in the back of my copy of The Descent Of
Anansi. We're planning on hitting London (2 days), Cardiff, Betws-y-coed,
Carlisle, Stirling, North York Mores National Park and then back to Holland.
Hope I can keep up with the postcard count over the trip.
Just found out Stirling isn't even listed in the Let'S Go book of
Britain and Ireland. So we'll have to choose between Glasgow and
Edinburgh. It's less...
30 (Eric)
...than an hour from both of them.
Gonna have to start working on my English accent. It got really bad in
Amsterdam, as it went from my Scottish-Jamaican standard to a
Dutch-Liverpoolian-Japanese-NY Jewish drawl. This Thayer gal is having the
oddest effects on my vocals. Of course when ever I start up, she just leaps
into the thick NY vox and attitude. Worst is she's threatened to bean me
something fierce if I sing another lick of Informer by...
31 part 1 (Abbott)
...Snow.
We're thinking of cutting down on the number of days in London and spending
them in either Wales or Glasgow. Mostly because it looks so much cheaper to
stay outside of London.
Over here in Amsterdam & Hoek van Holland the night sets really late and
the sun comes up rather early. Could be because we're at the higher longitudes.
We were planning on seeing Ireland, but in a combination of lack of time and
BritRail being unaccommodating (it definitely doesn't work in S. Ireland, and
we've got two different answers to...
31 part 2 (Lori & Dave)
...whether it operates in Northern Ireland).
So I'm sitting down with my first cup of English coffee (Capuchino again,
no one knows how to make American coffee) in an London cafe, and it's not bad.
I had one from a machine at the port where we boarded/disembarked, but I
wasn't going to believe it wasn't a Hollandic machine.
Had our first Oceanic voyage last night from "Hoek van Holland". Saw the
pulling out from Holland and woke up before arriving in England.
Unfortunately our inner ears haven't recovered yet and even though its
over 4 hours since we docked. The cafe is still swimming around us. We had a...
32 (Dave Jensen)
...chance to learn some new phrases for use in our travels. "Accents Verboten!"
taken from a gangplank that really warned of not going where the crew didn't
want you to go. My penchant for strange accents has hit an all time high since
we hit shore in England. Thayer has alternated between threatening to bop me
on the head and start being an UAN (Ugly American Nerg) whenever I get started.
It's really rough to try and curtail my warbling activities.
Having a blast in this little cafe, finding out by chance that when they say
"do you want the salad in the bap?" they mean...
33 (Mike)
...putting the veggies, along with the luncheon meat inside the bun. Coffee's
so good I had to order a second cup. Too bad the place had run out of
"American Cheesecake", I was tempted to try it.
I'm glad of my decision to only bring my trenchcoat instead of the cold
weather jacket. The coldest I've been so far was out on the deck in the middle
of the North Sea; and that wasn't too bad with a shirt, sweatshirt &
trenchcoat.
We were roped into getting a berth for the passage (some regulation about
nighttime crossing), which was 112 Guilden ($65), but that turned out for the
best as we really needed...
34 (Joe & Lisa)
...the sleep. Even with what we caught (way up on the 6th floor) we were
still kind of sleepy on the train into London. It's really neat having an
efficient rail & subway system, and I wish we had one back in California, but
I still have to rate Japan's as the best to date.
The person waiting ahead of us in line at the Hostel on Oxford St. was a
Japanese student. Had a nice chat with him and told him about the trains. He
agreed; we also talked about how expensive London is and we also agreed. The
cafe is kinda cheap though; three sandwiches, two coffees and two teas for
about $17.
Well, we're getting out now...
35 (Pete)
...and going down to Good George's pub for a bitter.
Well, we skipped the pint of Bitter at Good George's and walked around town
for a couple of hours; both in order to wait for the Hostel to be ready, and
for "hope's sake" that the swaying would stop. But here we are, 7 hours later
(and an hour nap for me) and we still have the feeling like we've just stepped
out of an elevator.
So we're having dinner in a Samuel Smith's pub in Picadilli Circus, ordering
a spot of dinner, having a Samuel Smith's Museum...
36 (Craig Larsen)
...Ale and waiting for someone else to notice that the record is skipping over
and over on some 4.5 second segment of some song; unrecognizable because of
it's shortness (could be Dylan, could be Bob Marley).
But dinner arrived and we tipped off the waitress, and now we've got a fine
selection of missing 1970's music on the Juke box. Easily recognized as a Juke
box because of the universal Juke box signature of starting songs half way
through.
One great thing about pubs, everyone really looks like they could use a pint
or two. From the frumpy matrons, to the smartly...
37 (Dave Uebele)
...dressed business men, to the leather clad city/dance kids; they all look
like they could use, and thus belong in, a pub. Speaking of the suit and tie
set, the mix between proper business dress and the jeans & t-shirt set is
about the same as any computer conference. And just as stark, on the streets
of London.
Thayer tried a Samuel Smiths Cider Reserve, which I found fine (with that
standard cider over-fermented taste) and a little sweet. But Thayer found it
too sour. I approved of the mellow Museum Ale and might be a little too buzzed
to give a good description of the one I'm drinking now. The bar is really
packing it in now that the work...
38 (Abbott)
...hour is over. Thayer's commented that the other room of this pub has filled
with a large section of nice looking, suit & tie wearing, English accent
speaking men.
One of the problems with travelling abroad is that every where you look you
see someone who looks just like someone you know back at home. It's very
strange and slightly frustrating.
Just got back from a walking tour of London on the subject of Jack the
Ripper. The tours are great; you go and meet your guide (an out of work actor
or some such, who's been given events and characters to relate) at a subway
exit (along with 29 other interested parties) and then you start walking...
39 (Susan)
...through the streets of London, stopping every once in a while to hear some
other interesting tale associated with a location. The tour culminates in a
pub and you grab a pint and chat with the tour guide & the other people. Met a
couple of girls from Australia at the Pub, they'd just been in SF less than
a week before and were continuing on with globe trotting tomorrow. Thayer
didn't believe it but they'd thought my accent was Irish, so one mark for
Jason. [Boo! Hiss! - Thayer]
Back at the Hostel now, about...
40 (Teala)
...to turn in for the night. If I haven't complemented the Oxford St. Hostel,
it's great. If I have, it's still pretty cool.
The swaying stopped while I'd had a couple of drinks at lunch, returned
while we were on the tour and now have disappeared as I had a pint of
Guinness at the "10 Bells". If I'm still swaying in the morning this trip
could turn interesting.
Just got back from our second walking tour of London. This time "The Ghosts
of the West End", which I highly recommend. We liked them so much we've decided
to delay our leaving from London a little longer to take...
41 (Abbott)
...the "Life & Death in Victorian England" tour, which hops from graveyard
to graveyard to pub (as do they all finish). We might even come back for a
middle of the day tour our last day in England.
Our guide for the last tour was Scottish and we mentioned to him that we
were heading up to Loch Lomand/Stirling for 2-3 days and he gave us the
most dubious look. Later on in the pub he recommended that we should go to
the far North of Scotland...
42 (Carolee & Diane)
...for the best views and experiences of Scotland, mostly the Isle of Skye
and Mallaig. So when we sober up tomorrow we'll talk about cutting our days
in Stirling short and going to Northern Scotland.
Had an absolutely horrible time with the tour buses today, and can't
recommend them to anyone. You freeze, wait around for hours, can't hear the
prerecorded tour voice, and if you're in the lower deck you can't see a
single thing. Far...
43 (Pete)
...better to take exclusively walking tours.
Absolutely loving the pub life here. Had two pub meals today, the first
being a turkey bap with coleslaw and a coffee, the second a Sheppard's Pie
(yes, red-meat) with first a pint of Archer's Cider, then a pint of Courage's
Best Bitter. Both wonderful. The breakfast was at a little French cafe (Eva's)
that served classic English breakfast. I ordered a #3 and was promptly told
"Impossible!" when I then requested the individual items on the #3 special, all
were...
44 (Stan & Marisa)
...granted, the cook quickly ran outside, looked at the description of a #3
(eggs, oj, toast, coffee & smoked salmon) and ran back in to say it was
"Possible!".
Thayer had the standard, and I was delighted with everything that was
brought to me; except that there wasn't enough smoked salmon. It was served
cold and reminded me of salmon sashimi, only pre-cooked and smoked in an
inimitable British style. I was so releaved to continually find good coffee
that I...
45 (Craig Jackson)
...ordered a second cup right away. I've given up believing the dangerously
slanderous rumor mongers who had told me that there was no such beast as a
good cup of coffee to be found in the UK. So far all the coffee I've had I'd
rate higher than the Hollandic coffee (though not as nice as dear sweet
California).
We shove off to Wales tomorrow so I have to turn in as soon as my hair
dries. The hostel life is pretty cool, I've not had too bad a time; the worst
being that there is no hand rails/hanging-racks in the closet/showers that they
give you to clean yourself in. So you end up piling all your clothes/towels
in...
46 (Tim)
...the far end and hope that they don't get wet in the showering process.
Just doing our last shopping & lunch before heading off to Wales, so we've
stopped off in the Dicken's Tavern in Padington for a pint or two of Courage's
Directors bitter (quite good) and a plate of Fish & Chips. We're on our way
back to the Hostel (to collect our bags, we've already...
47 (Mike & Carolee)
...checked out) from the last walking tour of London, The Life And Death
Times Of Victorian England, rather a let down & I won't recommend the tour
guide (John). Of course it might just be that today was the first ever tour
by that name and the guide (much less the walk). Still hadn't acquired the
"spirit" of the thing. Especially missing was the pub visit at the end of the
walk. The guide also asked Thayer and I how the talk was and we tried to be...
48 (???)
[ lost postcard ]
49 (Diane)
...hire "dottering" old people to bus dishes for them. We've gone to two so
far which have a "live in" waiter-person who's main mode of transportation is
the shuffling walk. They seem to just perambulate around the pubs & cafes
looking for finished dishes to bus. We were actually wondering if Eva's Cafe
was named after the French chef behind the bar, the dottering old mum busing
dishes, or somebody else all together.
The fish & chips were wonderful, but again I'm a bit too buzzed to tell
you what I thought...
50 (Eric)
...of the John Smith's Bitter.
Now we're in Wales, and I can't make heads or tails of the weather. It's
always clear skies, but the weather man inside me keeps jumping up and down
shouting "It's going to be freezing". And in fact, I go outside and it
fluxuates between t-shirt and sweatshirt weather.
Had some of the local brew last night in the Gowen Inn in Cardiff (or Cyrdydd
if Welsh) called Brain SA. Again, quite good. I'll have to try the
bitter today. The SA is called the "Brain Skull Crusher" by the locals, but it
was the Red Hook...
51 (Craig Jackson)
...cider that was particularly devastating. Thayer had a pint.
It's kinda funny, we come all this way to Wales, to stay in a Hostel in
Cardiff, and my three roommates are from New Jersey, London and the sleepy
one hasn't spoken yet. Thayer's roommates are from S.F., three from Indiana
and one from Australia. And this Hostel claims most of it's tenants are from
France usually (America coming in tied for third). Oh well. One of the American
girls is actually...
52 (Dave Uebele)
...a friend of Peter and Rachael's from work. She's even worked Ren-Faire with
Thayer (not that they knew each other at the time). Her name is Ragani.
We had the Ale before eating last night and had to ask the bar-keep
directions to a good restaurant while we were fairly buzzed. He directed us
to an Indian take-out, I don't think we found the right one (there were about
six Indian/Tandori take-out in the block alone). But the food was great and
the music they were playing...
53 (David)
...sounded like Indian covers of James Bond themes. Both of us just asked the
waiter to recommend a dish, both fine. Afterwards they had Gaelic Coffee on the
desert menu. So I tried it. It tasted like coffee and vodka, topped with a
layer of whipped Bayleys and whipping cream. It was really great. By the time
we got out of there the sun was going down (must have been around nine or nine
thirty) so we made our way back to the Hostel, which we were sort of positive
where it was, but...
54 (John)
...still dubious as to whether we could find it or not.
We found it, or rather were dropped off at it by a friendly Welshman we
started talking to on the train from London to Cyrdydd. He didn't think there
was a youth Hostel in town, but when we told him the address he said there just
might be one out there and that it might be rather hard to get to by bus, and
if we wanted to his wife could drop us off. We thanked him & took him up on
his offer and went on the ensuing mad-hatter ride through the streets of
Cyrdydd driving on the...
55 (Mike)
...wrong side of the street.
Just had a wonderful time in Cardiff (Cyrdydd) and stopped by Cardiff
Castle, which was designed by William Burges over existing Roman and Norman
forts and planned it out as a Faerie-Tale castle. Quite useless for defense
(taken the one time it was attacked) but very pretty. Also went to the Welsh
history museum in St. Fagins (supposed to be very interesting, but I found it
rather dull and spent most of my time talking to a wonderful girl from
Australia who's taking off a year abroad. So we just spent most of the day
chatting. We also started up a game of Monopoly...
56 (John)
...which I had assumed was an American game originally and noted that they'd
"changed" the names on all the streets to those of London. The two Australians
(a young lad who looked a lot like Alistair & took over for Thayer when she
decided against the game because it reminded her too much of crass American
competitiveness) were quick to assure me that it was a British invention. The
game got pretty competitive and Hellan beat the pants off of us. My excuse
was that the last time I'd played it I didn't even know the words "bitch"
or "rat-bastard", let alone use them on another player. We...
57 (Joe & Lisa)
...then sat around and talked about the youth culture in Australia, the States
and the Commonwealth. She almost joined on with us for a trip up the coast to
Betws-y-coed, but it would have cost too much for her (she had to have her
money last for two more months in Scotland & Ireland before getting a
temporary job in London). We were in turn blocked from getting to Betws-y-coed
by the single train route going into Snowdonia doesn't run on Sundays (today).
So instead we're taking a train to Liverpool, but getting off early & hoping
across several others until we reach the North...
58 (Teala)
...coast of Wales and stay overnight in the Hostel in Colwyn Bay. We'll then
take a train Monday into Snowdonia and hike around; or at least I will, Thayer
is thinking that it might be better to see some of the coastal castles and
forts.
The inland areas are really plush and verdant and it's getting a little
hard to write on this train with the bumping and shaking about.
Got off the train route finally in Colwyn Bay and worked our way up to
the Hostel. The Hostel's really quite huge and quirky enough to be quaint.
The only problem is that it's a good two miles from the train station...
59 (Diana)
...and I trekked that three times the first night. The first time was with
Thayer, carrying our packs up to the Hostel. Then we found out the place was
up in plush, verdant, desolate country-side, with nothing around for
miles. Plus the hostel's dining room was closed down for these next two weeks
(before tourist season really starts) for re-modelling. So the only way to eat
was to go back into town to get food and bring back to cook in the hostel's
kitchens. I trekked down to the railroad to get the times and picked up fish
& chips...
60 (???)
[ lost postcard ]
61 (Teala)
...and had to back track to the correct path. Today's also been the first real
sampling of British weather that I've gotten, and I got hit a couple times
on the hike and once on the walk down to the rail-station.
The hike was a blast and I'd stumbled across it in a book I found hidden
away in the Hostel back at Colwyn Bay. The entire book just describes different
walks around Betws-y-coed (pronounced: "Betoos-er-koyd"). I only got lost a
couple of times (the book was written in 1986 and some recent forestry had
obliterated one of the paths). The most worried I became was when the book
directed me...
62 (Abbott)
...across a mile and a half of some farmer's sheep fields. So there I was,
picking my way around sheeps and bogs (which I mostly avoided), and
crossing stiles and wondering if some irate shepard would teach an obvious
American tourist with a shotgun. But the walk was rewarding, and when I
reached the main river near the end I had my lunch of kiwis, peanuts, an
apple, and a "Tango" soda. I've now got an hour and a half 'till the train
comes back so I'll finish off Niven's The Descent Of Anasi and write a
couple of postcards (and if...
63 (Tim)
...I'm really nice I'll treat myself to a coffee or two. Of course here in
England (or maybe just Wales), coffee only comes in Black or White. That's
half-cream or no-cream.
Our second day in Cardiff was the day of the big Wales Rugby game. The
final league game between Llanelli and some other place (I'd bothered to
memorize LLanelli because it was tough to spell, but have forgotten their
opponents because the name was too easy). Anyway, LLanelli (the double ell
(Ll) is...
64 (Carolee)
...pronounced with the same sound that a cat makes when it's coughing.
Basicly form your mouth into the shape it'd normally take to make an ell
sound and then exhale/cough), won the game. We (Hellan, Thayer and I) were
away at St.Fagins when the game was played, but managed to get back when it
was just completed. The streets were a madhouse. Hellan went back up to the
hostel and Thayer and I planned to walk to a 5:30 performance of the Sci-Fi
musical "Return to the Forbidden Planet". Unfortunately, though we got the
right day and time...
65 (Pete)
...we'd missed the performance by a month. "The Buddy Holly Story" was
currently running, and didn't look thrilling enough to see (especially for 15+
pounds). So we hung around Cardiff until the Llanelli fans (all decked out in
Red & White, the team's colors, even down to team scarves) started getting
ugly. We popped into the Rock Inn and had a pint (some of which was lost when
I sat down at the high booth and jostled Thayer and my's table, it
being about as cheesy as the bar was). It was decked out in everything someone
who's never really listened to Rock and Roll thought it was about. Greatfull
Dead next to Golden...
66 (Dave Uebele)
...oldies next to Dolly Parton. The waitress also informed me that I would have
to leave come 7 o'clock (or 1900, it seems the whole UK is on what I used to
call "Military time") because I was only wearing blue jeans and "snappy" dress
hour was from 1900-2400. It turns out that didn't matter because we wanted to
leave when we saw the food prices (and when large groups of drunken Llanelli
fans started singing, shouting across the room and generally acting like fans
world-wide get when their team wins the cup and they have a pitcher or two too
many. Of course it didn't seem too bad at the time since...
67 (Dave Jensen)
...I'd just had a Brains S.A and Theyer'd had a half pint of some cider
(I forgot which kind). With a gentle buzz on, we walked around drunken
shouting red-and-white revelers and finally ducked into a seemingly Italian
restaurant and had a curry chicken and a burger. The restaurant was actually
amazingly multi-ethnic for such a tiny little thing. We finally finished up
and came back to the Cardiff hostel to play a game of Monopoly with Helen
(please ignore the previous postcards which incorrectly spelled her name
"Hellan", I was mistaken). We...
68 (Joe & Lisa)
...would have played a game of scrabble, but the concept of three Australians,
two Americans and a Canadian all playing with their own idioms was just too
frightening. "Plugh? Yah, sure, it's Australian for, um, err, vomit."
Was just told the big game in Cardiff was for the 1993 Welsh Union Rugby
Cup. Llanelli also won it in 1992. Still have no idea who lost though (but
their colors were black and white).
Tomorrow we set off for our last point of rest before a three...
69 (Susan)
...day travel tour of Scotland. We've had some hostels and trains recommended
to us and are looking forward to it. Might stay in a B&B before doing so, that
would be in Carlisle.
Having some problems wearing out clothes. My new leather boots have a hole
in the heel by the base, and I split my jeans in Cardiff. I'm going to try and
patch that tonight, especially if I can find some remnants somewhere. This will
probably be the last stand of those green buckled pants I have and my trenchcoat has started a couple of tears (one or two by going through the London
underground at rush hour with a full pack...
70 (Craig Larsen)
...on.
Thayer was to spend the day horse back riding in Colwyn Bay. She was offered
a trip mountain-climbing by the young lad who helps run the Hostel, but she had
to back down because of her acrophobia. They've become friends though and were
up talking until 11 o'clock last night. He loaned her a walkman for the night,
since they share the same musical taste & since she's been starved for music
in the last dozen days. She's also promised to send him a Melissa Ethridge tape
when she gets back home.
Speaking of music, I've got...
71 (Craig Jackson)
...a bee in my bonnet to get the latest Shaggy and Snow albums.
I was pleased to find the insta-teller here in North Wales took my Visa
card. In Holland it was a real effort to get money out of it, except for the
few shops and restaurants that took it. The "Change" shops charged extra for
it when they took it. Those adds for American Express and Master Card
weren't lying. Master Card is accepted all over the place here.
Now that I've gotten out of the bigger cities I've been able to keep my
spending down. London and Amsterdam are really...
72 (Stan & Marisa)
...expensive.
It looks like I missed my connecting train at Llanludi Junction, so that's why
I've had time to write the last seven post cars (I wrote the previous six in
Betws-y-coed). All and all, though,today was terrific (ie: drop dead bloody
brilliant). The weather and the greenery and the hills and the travel and the
walks and the lakes and the sheep and the cheesy bread and the rain and the
hazy foggy sky and the coffee (well, a half count on that last one, but I
won't let it ruin the rest). Now back to the Colwyn Bay hostel (and thus the
two...
73 (Dave & Lori)
...mile hike maybe in the rain) and rest my feet and go to sleep.
This trip has really ruined my sleeping habits. I now go to sleep around
2300, and rise at 0700. It's really sick. I also have to take showers before
I go to sleep, so that my towel will be dry for packing when I wake.
I picked up some curry chicken and pineapple slices for dinner this
evening, only to find Thayer had also picked up a can of vegetable chicken
for the same purpose. Looks like a big chicken stew for tonight.
Upon reading todays cards Thayer remembers that Llanelli's opposition...
74 (Craig Larsen)
...was Heath. Since this was my first guess that makes it about 80% right.
One of the curious things we saw in London was one of the plaxes on the
city walls. Whenever a famous person dies, any building that had them stay
there or work there can put a plax on one of it's outer walls describing the
person and why they were there. Outside of the New Zeland building there was
a bright...
75 (Craig Larsen)
...blue plax for Ho Chi Min. He'd worked there as a bellhop while going to
school in London. One white haired American tourist let out a puff of
"Really!?"
Having an hour off of the train in Carlisle, stopping off to take pictures of
the town for Thayer's brother (Carlisle) and grab a lunch at the Two Friers
Inn. I'm chewing my way through a Murfy's Irish Stout, and Thayer's having
a Scrumpy Jack Cider (really good), while waiting for her Roast Beef.
We'll hop on the train again and stop in Lock Lomand...
76 (Joe & Lisa)
...for a day or two. It has the largest Scottish hostel, which includes
laundry, pool tables and a ghost in one of the towers.
We're now catching a ride to Glasgow and then on to Balloch (on the South
coast of Loch Lomand).
It's been three (two) days since that last paragraph, and we've done quite
a bit of travelling today alone. We stayed for two days in the Loch Lomond
youth Hostel, although we were planning on just spending the night. When we
got into Glasgow, we had to take another train/subway up to the...
77 (Mike)
...suburb of Balloch, and from there walk a good two miles on the A82 to Duck
Bay (tremorous music) along the coast of Lock Lomand. We found that all the
youth hostels in Scotland are segregated by sex, so that we'd each be staying
in our own dorm rooms. We managed to get situated, and cruise down to the
commissary after seeing the grounds before nightfall (truly spectacular; from
my room I could see all of the bottom segment of Loch Lomand and the islands).
The youth hostel itself is a castle and was an officer's hospital during
WW II. In the commissary we picked up some baked beans and chicken soup and
were in the process of cooking it up when we started talking to the young lad
who...
78 (Susan)
...was the night shift on duty at the hostel. We got to asking about the ghost
of the castle and he told us the story of the young lady, in love with a young
soldier that the family didn't approve of, who moved just down the road to live
with him, but then he died or the family dragged her back or she went insane
(couldn't quite follow all of our guide's accent). The family then locked her
up in a cell in the fifth floor of the castle, and after only the second night
of imprisonment she broke free and dove off the battlements above her room
(or was it out the window).
Anyway, her ghost is said to haunt room #27, and the young night watchman
took us outside to...
79 (Diane)
...see the window she flung herself from, the bust of her head built into the
castle wall where she hit. The bust is said to seem like she's crying when it
rains. He also took us up the deserted NW tower where her cell and room #27
were. Afterwards he was showing Thayer and I around the inside of the castle
(with all the little carved heads of anguished young women, presumably the
ghost) and some of the great fireplaces in the house when this older man came
out from a door marked "private" and asked after our interests in the fireplaces. He said that he'd discovered one plastered up behind a wall and that it
was truly impressive. He invited us back to see it and it turned out he was
the Lord of the castle. We got...
80 (Dave Uebele)
...to talking and drinking (offering a fine single malt scotch whiskey) and
we kept up a conversation (not to mention a steady buzz) until Thayer had to
retire at 3AM. He let us stay in the guest suite off his wing (although I
didn't retire until a little after 4AM, mostly because Ian & I were too drunk
to continue much talking). More on Ian in a latter post card. Needless to say,
we didn't get moving in time to make anything productive out of the next day
(although I'm sad to admit that I've been waking up with the sun rather
regularly now, and only got three hours of sleep that night).
That day Thayer and I renewed our stay in the hostel for another...
81 (Craig Jackson)
...night (and since I was up for three hours before Thayer, I dined on a fine
breakfast of more baked beans and instant coffee). We then went into Glasgow
for a day (more of a mistake than not, it took a taxi and an hour subway ride
in, and the same back), but we had some really good pub food (stuffed
mushrooms, fish and chips and I-forget-what) and managed to go to the
"Forbidden Planet" sci-fi/comic shop and pick up a next book for both of us
and find a Terry Pratchet book for David Vangerov (Faust/Eric, the
other two were still hardbound only).
That night we did laundry and I managed to mend my blue jeans (a good
thing seeing how cold Scotland's gotten). We then woke at 6:30 to catch...
82 (Pete)
...a taxi to Balloch, a subway to Dunbarten Central, a train to Mallaig, a
faere to the Isle of Sky, a bus across the Isle, another faerry to the keil
and then a train to Inverness. All in all a ton of travel for one day. The
weather also treated us to our first Scottish-feeling weather, with wind,
rain, snow and sleet all day long.
We went looking for a pub, but couldn't find any that looked natural
enough. We must be too close to the center of town. We finally decided on a
pizza joint, because everything else stopped serving food (9pm) or was way
too expensive. The garlic mushrooms were good and I had...
83 (Abbott)
...a pizza with chicken and sweet corn. Really good mix (the crust wasn't too
bad but Thayer's milk shake really sucked). The pizza places in Europe (at
least Amsterdam, England & Scotland) all seem to think that pizza's should be
served only in personal sizes.
The waitress at the place asked after the town of "Mad-ee-sen" (Madison,
Ohio) since her cousin was getting married there in October and wondered
how the weather was, when we said we'd never been there (but that the weather
should be nicer than it was outside in Scotland) she was shocked. We had to
explain to her that it was about 1500-2000 miles from us and we couldn't hop
around the US like she could around Briton.
We've been passing different...
84 (Eric)
...types of sheep every day in the train (there was a field full of them next
to the Loch Lomand youth hostel, two were even loose in the castle's yard
this morning, eating one of the trees). For some reason the word "lamblette"
has stuck with us for describing all the baby lambs that are just now milling
about (although not here near Inverness, the colder weather delaying the Spring
births a week or two behind the rest of Briton).
I was teased to no end on...
85 (Stan & Marisa)
...the bus across the Isle of Skye by a couple of nine year old school kids.
This was the first time anyone has called me "four-eyes". I did some good
natured jesting back but I'm afraid Thayer and the other travelers going from
ferry to ferry were the only ones to get some of the jokes ("You look like my
drunken grandfather." "If I was your grandfather, I'd want to be drunk." (with
apologies to Winston Churchill)). The main antagonist was a young lad who
spoke in the most ridiculous false-tone, and we had a bunch...
86 (John)
...of fun trading accents and funny voices back and forth on the bus ride. Of
course it was rather amusing that when his school chums tried to insult me
he'd insult them back, as if to say "this one is mine."
We had quite a bolloxing in Carlisle, as we were only planning to hop off
the train, grab some postcards for Thayer's brother (aka: Carlisle) and then
the next train to Glasgow. Unfortunately the inner terminal miss-platformed us
not just once, but twice (only getting off the trains in the nick of time) and
the third train was delayed by a downed...
87 (Dave Jensen)
...electrical wire on a bridge, so we spent an extra two (or more) hours in
the beautifully modern Carlisle train station.
I just realized I sent two in a row of these notebook/postcards to Craig
Larsen. Sorry guys and gals, I've been trying to keep the mystery up, but in
eighty seven cards I think I can make one mistake.
Well, I've gotten so far North they don't have coffee, not even instant.
Fortunately for me the New Zeland couple we met in Loch Lomand had managed to
stop by Hawaii on their way over to Britain and managed to be given a pre-packaged tea-bag full of coffee in their hotel room. Both being confirmed Tea
drinkers, they offered it to me when they heard...
88 (Carolee)
(The emergency back up post cards from beyond the grave. It's the post
card that haunts your dreams and swaps your children for changelings and kills
Laura Palmer. It whispers past the door when you're half asleep and sounds out
footfalls behind you in the darkened streets. It's the voice in the wind while
your on the Mores, and it's the sailor's siren call. Across the continents it's
the keening wail of the postal Banshee, lost, adrift and stuck in the quagmires
of the Civil Service that is the...
89 (Tim)
...postal office. Do not pity this card, for it does the mourning for the lost
cards of yesterday and shipments yet to come. It is the fallen Angel, decrying
the postal system even in it's use. It is the Christ-Complex-Card, offering
itself up for martyrdom. It is the Chinese alchemist, taking the best of all
worlds of Telecommunication and using only what it wants. It is the Druid post
card, written in Paragraphic woed, to do warrior battle with the system. It
is the single-god card, taking no system before it's own. It is the Buddha
card, it has the postal-nature).
90 (Carolee)
...Thayer and I talking about the woes of instant coffee. So this morning (a
little after 7am) (earlier than all save one or two at this 50+ bed hostel) I
managed to seep this coffee bag in a tea pot (I realize it's a sealed filter,
but there is no funnel/percolation device to use it the right way). And
so here I sit with a pot of coffee in Inverness Scotland. Quite a feat at 7 in
the morning, or at least it seems that way to me. Yesterday was the worst
coffee day all trip though. I'd had none the day before, but wasn't...
91 (Tim)
...suffering from a coffee withdrawal headache, and had my first cup on the
train from Glasgow to Mallaig. There were little brown lumps of undissolved
coffee floating around in grayish brown water and it tasted just like I've
described it, only it was train food. The next cup I dared was worse and was
given to me on the Ferry from Mallaig to the Isle of Sky. I could have sworn
it was instant when they made it, but when I sat down with my cheese potato
and mushroom & something soup, it had the thickest greasiest oil slick on top
of it. Well, my children, let me impart to you this little gem of knowledge
I've learned...
92 (Teala)
..."Never underestimate the power of good cream to save bad coffee."
We've yet to not confound any of the natives by wishing for bad
weather. We have to explain that we'd be glad for either poor or beautiful
weather, as we're from California and we're hoping to experience "Scottish",
"Welsh" or "English" weather first hand. The guide/hostel-runner in Colwyn Bay
was adamant that we didn't want to see the Mores on a bleak day.
Went looking for a McNab scarf...
93 (Lori)
...yesterday, but it looks like that particular clan was not too popular, and
besides identifying it's heraldic coat of arms and seeing a sample of it's
tartan, couldn't find anything made from it. I wouldn't mind picking up a
scarf, but as we're now only going to start descending in Longitude I'll have
less and less use for one. Maybe I should pick one up just for touristy
"souvenir" stuff.
God I want a mocha.
The Loch Ness tourist gimmick is strong here in Inverness (at the top of the
Loch). I can't imagine what it's like in the small towns down on the main part
of the Loch.
Just realized I skipped numbers 88 and 89, I'd make up fillers but I've
run out of post cards this...
94 (Mike)
...morning. Sorry mistake number two. I'll launch something in their place.
Well, it's been a couple of more days since the last postcard. I think the
last time I sat down and wrote was four days ago while in Inverness. Now we're
down in London proper for our last day on England's shore. We spent a day in
the Inverness youth hostel, and had to deal with a collection of boisterous
youths running about raising Hell in the hostel...
95 (Joe & Lisa)
...and all the people staying there. Well, it wasn't that bad. It seems that
all the Scottish Hostels segregate by not only sex but age, so my dormitory
only had men aged 20-90 (quite a few at the extremes there). We left in the
morn and hopped a train for Edinburgh. We'd had quite a lot of Scottish weather
for our taste (having enjoyed the loop from Glasgow to Mallaig to Skye to
Inverness mostly from the warm interior of a train) and so we spent the hours
reading. Unfortunately the Chrinchon novel I got...
96 (Dave Jensen)
...was real light read and I finished it off in Edinbough. The weather was
the worst we'd seen it so far, even splitting the braces on Thayer's umbrella.
To top it off, after we'd trudged to the Hostel, we'd found it booked up.
Fortunately the guy at the front desk recommended a guest house a short walk
into town. So we trudged further in the rain to the Cafe Royal Guest Rooms,
that started up four flights of...
97 (Abbott)
...stairs, and we found our room two flights up from there. The room was at
least better than the average hostel dorm (if not for the lumpy beds and the
extremely low door jams. Ouch). We then wandered around a bit for a pub (the
rain had let up a tad) and we're scared away from a couple where the locals
were dressed up fine. We finally found a nice place (that mostly caters
to this one hotel across the street, so they got more non-locals than not). I
forgot what led up to it, but we guessed that the bartender was from Canada...
98 (Dave Uebele)
...and were right, surprising him. We started up some conversation and spent
quite a few hours talking about England and hostels (he'd been doing the same
as us and had a few unkind words about the hostel that we'd failed to get into
in Edinburgh. He gave us a funny look when we said it looked "Hippyish" and
he recounted some of the days he and his girlfriend had to cope with in the
hostel's common room and the various artists trying to "jam"). He had a fine
time recommending Ales and single malts for me to...
99 (Teala)
...try. I also sampled the Lamb Chops and they were quite exciting. We weren't
to buzzed (to our amazement) and so we stumbled back to the Guest Rooms and
finished off our books. (After I'd crashed, Thayer went out to investigate
some live music we'd been hearing near our window, but it was a private club).
In the morning we picked...
100 (Susan)
...up a couple more books and headed off to the North Yorkshire Mores. We ended
up in Malton, but to our distress the country was completely green and pleasant
and not at all barren, desolate, ragged and romantic. So we consoled ourselves
by checking in to the youth Hostel (which gave us quite a scare because it
didn't open it's doors until 5, we arrived at 4 not knowing this). After we...
101 (Craig Jackson)
...got settled in we thought we'd just take in a movie, get an early start
the next day and visit another town.
HA!
When we got into town we were two hours early so we thought we'd visit
the Royal Oak tavern (by a strange coincidence, this is the same name as the
tavern that Thayer works at the Renaissance Pleasure Faire). We had a couple of
pints and were just leaving (asking the bar-keep where the best...
102 (Abbott)
...place to get food was, when a set of three lads (Taffy, Mark & Tommy) asked
us where we were from and started up a conversation. We were already a little
buzzed and so we sat down and joined 'em for a couple of rounds. We got to
talking about the differences between the states and England. They were
shocked that Thayer & I would be travelling together and yet not going out
together. They were also a little stunned with all the travelling we'd done.
Even with their wonderful rail system, none of them had gone any farther
than York (the nearby big town)...
103 (Craig Larsen)
...except for Taffy, who was born in Wales (thus his nick-name, Taffy, which
is what you call someone from Wales). We talked about a bunch of things and
somewhere along the line the fact came up that Thayer's been collecting shots
of European men for her housemate back home (Thayer had asked her what she
wanted from England. Jen had replied "a man"). So we all stumbled over to the
pub phone (and then, after not getting it to work), out across the street to a
pay phone. We reached Jen at home, and got...
104 (John)
...Taffy & Mark to chat her up. Jen also asked if I was there and relayed the
message that my work had been trying to get ahold of me. So I jogged down to
another pay phone, but after I reached home I realized that it was noon on
Saturday and there wouldn't be any reaching anybody until Monday. More of that
latter. We all went back to the Royal Oak, had another round of drinks and then
stumbled off to an Italian restaurant for pizza and pasta. They then...
105 (Eric)
...started the pub crawl in earnest, stopping by the "Blue Balls Inn" (which
I had to explain the American slang to them in), the "Royal Lion" and the
"King's Head" (and probably some others). During the course of the night
we talked about Boznia, drinking games, the Institute Halloween party,
Ireland, the non-sexist mix of posters in England (expecially in the pubs)
and Karen (Mark's sister, who we met in the BlueBalls Inn). We finally
stumbled back to the Royal Oak (talking...
106 (Diane)
...about Yorkshire pudding) to have a last round before going back to the
Hostel. The Hostels in N. Briton all seem to have curfews of around 11pm
or 2am. Unfortunately we managed to drink too long and missed the lock up.
God bless Mark's sister Karen, for she offered to put us up for the night. The
next morning we weren't quite up for travel (esp. Thayer who'd seriously
miss-calculated the potency of English cider, to which she'd been matching our
Ale pints too). So I booked us a room at the Brow B&B...
107 (Pete)
...and lugged our packs across town. We spent most of the day enjoying the
countryside from the inside of the B&B (I ventured out when the weather wasn't
quite so fearsome). We finally were ready to leave for London the next day, and
after getting a room at the Oxford St. Hostel (still really expensive, but we
found it cheaper than the other alternative hostels for the expenses we'd have
paid on Taxis and Tube cost) we split up.
Thayer went to lunch and
ventured around London, while I searched...
108 (???)
[ lost postcard ]
109 (Teala)
...the address for the Watford office my pen dried out (and then when I tried
to re-prime it by sucking on the tip it exploded in my mouth, blacking my
teeth. Great, now I'm a geek in two countries) anyway that's why my letters had
a crummy pen a while back. I managed to leave a message with SCO-CA, and had
to wait around until they woke up over there. While waiting I chatted with
some of the people who I'd talked to those early Tuesday mornings. I was also
surprised to see a ton of California folk over (and they were sort of stunned
to see me, on vacation, over there). I eventually got a fax from CA and read
the paper-...
110 (Susan)
...-work I had to, signed it, and faxed it back. On the trip back I managed to
get the quick express (twenty minutes instead of an hour) but was almost caught
out in a flash storm (Thunder, Lightning, Gusts, Massive rain, Horizontal rain,
all from just slightly cloudy skies in less than 15 minutes). I got back to
the Hostel and found that
Thayer had been haunted by the non-stop French-Canadian talk-a-thon
woman. In the lounge, to no one in particular "Blah Blah Blah", so Thayer leaves to make
dinner, and just as she's sitting down to a nice...
111 (John, Joe, Lisa & Ringo)
...big bowl of Ringos, in walks the non-stop-talk woman, this time in French.
That sort of irritating verbal Blitzkrieg that makes you want to stuff small
rodents in their mouths for brief respites. She (Thayer) finally gave up
and retired to our room to rest her ears. When I came back from Watford I'd
had neither lunch nor dinner so I wandered off to a small pseudo-Italian
dinner, where I had one of the best chicken and white wine & mushroom dishes
of my life. I followed it up with a sharp dish...
112 (Craig Larsen)
...of cheese. Only problem was that in all the English restaurants (and
presumably pubs) you really have to ask for water to get it. And it's never
refilled. Its constant, on going series of requests between you and the person
waiting on you.
Managed to get out of London & England in general last night. Took the
ferry from Harwich to Hook Van Holland. This time we asked for a much lower
bunk (level 4 rather than level 6) and we're currently not suffering tenth
floor elevator sickness like we were last time. Of course this time we were
stuck in the dinkiest little double-deck cabin. For some...
113 (Carolee & Mike)
...reason I can't seem to get any decent sleep on these Ferries. There was
the option this time of just taking "rest chairs" (glorified airplane chairs)
instead of the cabin, but it looked like ten hours of shifting mind-numbing
snore-resounding butt-numbing sweat-congealing boredom. We were zombies
when we boarded the train to Amsterdam and even thought it was reasonable to
take a taxi to Thayer's
family friend's house (our first experience of a taxi leading a dubiously long
journey in order to earn more money). Went for a final walk through one of
Amsterdam's open air markets. It mostly consisted of women's underwear and
bikinis, imitation blue jeans and fish-mongers. Oh well, it re-...
114 (???)
[ lost postcard ]
115 (Tim)
...been trying to guess which videos and adds over here would never be shown
in the states. Speaking of adds, there's an awesome one for Guinness beer
that's done by Rutger Hauer. It starts with the opening of a can of Guinness,
flying into the head, which turns into clouds, we dive out of the clouds into
a deserted mountain top monastery/castle and fly in the window, Rutger
(cloaked in black) slowly turns to us and says "the world spins at 1000 miles
a second" we then zoom out another window and into the clouds, they clear and
we descend onto an...
116 (Craig Jackson)
...ananlog watch face, Rutger's walking along the mechanism, raises his head
and tells us to "talk among yourselves, I may be a while", we back into the
clouds and they dissolve into the familiar clearing head on the top of a pint
of Guinness. Later on when we were back in London and walking around Soho, we
decided to take in the late show of Di Niro's Mistress (I give it a
thumbs up, of course), and see the longer, extended version of the Guinness
add, which also has him as a scarecrow in a field and inside the belly of
Jonah's Whale, playing chess with him.
We'd gotten off the streets...
117 (Dave Jensen)
...of Soho (and more notably Piccadilly Square) because we'd stumbled across
the grand opening of Shwartzineger, Willis and Stallone's Planet
Hollywood, complete with the owners and a star studded opening party. It
was a complete mob scene and we left as soon as we got there.
The next morning Thayer
was suffering from a blinding caffeine withdrawal headache. We didn't
recognize it as such because she said it hurt in a completely different
portion of her brain. But an hour or two after some strong Tea and she was
looking worlds better. It must have been that being in London had thrown...
118 (One and All)
...a little English on her headache.
Finally got to the airport after a maze of trams and trains in Amsterdam.
Boarded the tram in the rain with a fist full of change, hoping to have the
exact fare. We were stunned because there was no change machine, and the
driver ignored us blatantly. We figured it out, but will leave it to you to
go to Amsterdam and figure it our for yourselves.
10 hour plane flight.
Now, glass of Mocha, at Cafe Milano. Happy.
Love, Jason
Do they call me
Rahulio
the link that goes back to the main page?
