Pictures!

I finally got my pictures all commented and online.

Once they finish uploading, my London pics will be here:

http://panders.nwhhc.org/pics/London/

And my party pics will be here:

http://panders.nwhhc.org/pics/Transmission/

The Wales pics have yet to be commented, so they will come later. Most of them are of family history sights, and I'm not sure if there are any that would be of much interest to non-family people.

Heading home

In a few hours my plane leaves for Seattle, so the vacation is officially over.

I took hundreds of pictures while here, so hopefully once I get home and get them sorted I'll post some of the highlights.

Thanks for reading, hope it's been educational and/or entertaining.

Packing it all in at the end

This morning I got up with no idea what I was going to do, yet I managed to completely fill the day, and see a ton of cool stuff to boot. I had been accumulating free meal coupons at my hostel, so I ate breakfast (and lunch later) there. I get one coupon per day, but I've rarely used them since I'm usually in a hurry to get out in the morning, and too busy during the day to make it back. After breakfast I got online and looked up prices, directions, and hours of a few tentative sights.

First off, I went up to Oxford Street to stop in at a couple shops and see if I could find a good/cheap record bag to help me bring back the records/souveneirs I've bought. I couldn't find anything I liked enough to pay for, so I moved on. I surely wish I had bought of the Slammin Vinyl record bags at the rave, but I figured IMO Records would stock them.

I then headed out to St Paul's Cathedral. I had ducked in after their normal hours earlier in the trip, but my sister Taryn had told me that you can climb to the top, and the view is amazing. Early in the morning seemed like an ideal time for city landscape photography. I paid my £7 to get in, and spent awhile wandering around admiring the breathtaking architecture, then going downstairs to the crypt and seeing the graves of many famous political, military, and religious figures. Much of the church was sectioned off and/or under construction, as they remodelled to prepare for their 300th anniversary. Because of this, I feared that they weren't letting people go to the top, since I couldn't find the way anywhere. Just as I was giving up and heading out the door, I heard the pastor (or reverend or whatever) announce they were going to have a prayer. I decided to sit in for this, which is a good thing because as I was I noticed the entrance to the stairway up to the top.

Photography isn't allowed anywhere inside, but I went crazy once I got outside on the first level of the dome on the church. The wind was blowing like crazy, but it was an amazing view (which is a good thing, because the several-hundred-step staircase had seriously winded me). Another stairclimb got me to the very top, and from there I could see just about the entire city. Absolutely amazing.

Just acrossed the thames from St Pauls is the Tate Modern, as well as Shakespeare's Globe Theater. To go inside and take a tour of the theater cost more than I was willing to pay, so I just snapped a few pictures outside, then went nextdoor to the Tate Modern. I have to admit that I really don't have a sufficient appreciation for art, most especially modern art. But, it's a famous thing to go to, and it gave me a good excuse to walk acrossed the newest bridge in London, the Millienium Bridge.

Once there, I spent just under a half hour wandering around, looking at the modern art, which was sometimes strange, shocking, and often downright wierd. The only real highlight to me was the building, which I heard someone say was the old power plant or something. It's absolutely cavernous.

I got the heck out of there, with the original intent to walk to the Imperial War Museum. But, as I made my way, hunger was starting to really kick in, so I instead got on the tube and went back to my hostel for lunch. I had this great sausage in mashed potatoes lunch, with a dessert of a chocolate pastry thing in custard. It's worth mentioning that I'm just now getting it through my head that British desserts are just as big (or bigger) than the main course they serve you. Rather that just a small thing to top off the meal like in america, you could eat well just by ordering a dessert item. I can never finish them when I order them, which is always heartbreaking because they are delicious.

Once fed, I got back on the tube. Tate Brittain was on the way to the Imperial War Museum, so I stopped there to see London's gallery of classic art. I spent significantly more time here, as I can appreciate the classic stuff more. In fact, I really enjoyed it there, and stayed for over an hour (longer than almost anything else I did today, since I was trying to cram it all in).

After that, I got back on the tube and rode to the Imperial War Museum. I REALLY wish I had been able to spend half a day here, rather than one hour. There is so much to see here, and so much to learn. I have a real interest in WW2, so I focused my visit on those exhibits - every war and/or battle of the past century or so has it's own exhibit (or section, for larger wars). I got to touch a Sherman Tank, a Japanese "Zero" fighter plane, and a German V2 rocket. I went through their amazing holocaust exhibit, including countless pictures, videos, interviews, tons of artifacts, and a huge model of the german Auschwitz concentration camp. I also went through their big area on D-Day, which was great.

They kicked me out at 6pm for closing, and since nearly all the museums and things were now closed, I decided to take another look at Piccadily Circus, and see if I could figure out why we couldn't find Tower Records on our first stop.

Once I arrived, I wandered around, hung out by the fountain, took another stop in Virgin Records, and finally asked someone where Tower Records was. It turns out it closed about a year ago, which is a shame (and a suprise) because it was a major tourist stop at Piccadily Circus.

I then walked down to Trefalgar Square, hung out for awhile, and took a few more pictures of details I hadn't had a chance to see/photograph on my first whirlwind pass through.

As darkness fell, I started to get hungry again, so I headed back to the hostel to blog and eat. My plane leaves tomorrow for Seattle at 3pm. I haven't planned anything for the day, except to wash my clothes, pack, and get to my flight ahead of time. If I do find myself with some extra time, I might take another walk through Regents park and see if I can find one of the pubs on the north end of the park that might serve spotted dick, since it's one of the last things I'm wanting to try.

Back in London

I have to say that as I left Cardiff, I was wishing I could have spent more time there. But, I think it was mostly because I was so busy doing family stuff that I hadn't gotten a chance to do anything *I* wanted to do. One of the best record shops in England was just a couple blocks from me, but I never got to go!

But, it's good to be back in London. I really kinda like it here. I dunno if I'd want to life here and all, but it's certainly nice to visit. There is UNENDING stuff to do, and it's very easy to get around.

This morning I got up and went to do the London Eye, trying to beat the crowd. I had heard the lines there get nasty later, so I tried to be there early. There was no line when I got there at 10am, but by the time I left at 10:45 there was already a long line forming.

The London Eye is a HUGE, slow ferris wheel that gives you a great view of London. It's quite breathtaking, which tons of things to see. From the top, you can see all sorts of palaces, parks, chapels, churchs, monuments, etc.

I'm starting to really run out of funds, and the London Eye was just about the last thing on my list to do with the big, touristy price tag. All the museums here are free, so that's what the remainer of my trip will be. I headed to Greenwich for the Maritime Museum, not quite realizing all the other things to do there. There's the Cutty Sark, which is an old clipper you can tour. The tours cost money, so I admired from the outside, then went and ate at an authentic pie shop recommended in one of my books. The place was opened in the late 1800s, and they brag that the menu hasn't changed since. And, it was cheap! I had a Sheppard's Pie, which was very good and filling, though with too many onions for my taste. I also had an apple crumble with custard, which wasn't as sweet as I expected, but way more filling (I couldn't finish it). I also managed to leave my guidebook here, the very one that recommended the place.

I then walked up to the hill in the nearby park to the Royal Observatory, which had all kinds of great displays and artifacts from England's history of keeping accurate time, measurements, and starcharts. It's also the home of the prime meridian, which is quite cool. I then went down to the Maritime Museum, which has tons of exhibits, artifacts, etc on England's nautical history. No photography allowed, unfortunately.

They kicked me out of there at 5pm for closing, so I road the tube up to the Library to have a second look at it. I had really rushed through before, so now I took my time. I made notes of everything I saw, since they wouldn't allow me to take pictures. I saw all kinds of famous old documents relating to almost everythign you can think of: religion, music, science, etc. Much of the library is off limits unless you have a pass, so I spent my time in the exhibit where they have all their rarest bits.

After that, I came back to my hostel, grabbed some dinner at the grocery store acrossed the street, and decided to catch up on my blog.

I've got one more full day in London, and I'm not quite sure what I'm going to do with it. Without my guidebook, it's tough to get suggestions. Probably some museums and things, but I'm not sure which. We'll see.

Wales part three

I could see before I even did anything that there was no way I was going to get to everything my mom had laid out for me to do Monday. I was supposed to drive north 30 miles to Merthyr Tidfill, which is where the bulk of my Welsh ancestors had lived, died, married, etc. At 10am I was supposed to be at the graveyard to meet with the foreman and have him show me some of my family's graves. Then, I had a TON of various houses, shops, churches, etc to find, film, and photograph.

I left Cardiff at 9am, but still managed to not get to the cemetary until 10:30, mostly because Merthyr proved even harder to navigate than Cardiff. I get the idea that it's a small enough town, that they just assume that everyone knows the streets, because there were maybe a half dozen street signs TOTAL anywhere in the town. Rediculous. And, trying to find a particular number once you are on the right street is just as hard, because nobody bothers to number their door.

Anyhow, we had five graves to find at the graveyard, which took a bit of research since my mom hadn't given all the proper information. The foreman had to call into the city Burials Department to a lady named Debbie that my mom had been in contact with for weeks, and have her look up the proper sections at the graveyard.

He took me around to the five different sites. Only one of the had a headstone, as the others had been to poor. He said it was quite common to not even had a headstone if you were poor. They would just dig a hole, and drop you in.

At the last site, I pointed out a rock sticking up out of the ground, and the foreman dug in with his hands and pulled it out. It turned out to have been the old marker that they had put at the head of the grave, and at one point probably had something written on it. 200 years had erased whatever it was.

After the graveyard, I had no idea where to go. I was supposed to go to St Tidfill's church in town, but it turns out there are several old churchs in town, and the foreman had no idea which was St Tidfill's. I was also supposed to go up to some area above town that had been an old farmstead WAY back, but there's supposedly nothing up there now, so nobody knew where I needed to go.

After driving around randomly in town, I got out and walked around a bit to get my bearings. I found a very old gentleman waiting at the bus stop, and asked him about the church. He gave me perfect directions, and I was on my way. After finding the church, I parked and took some video of it. After that, I was completely lost. I was supposed to look for several old buildings that family had lived in and had shops, and they were all along High Street. As it turns out, there are several sections to High Street, all through town. The cemetary was even on High Street, out on the edge of town. I wandered around and wasted well over an hour. I was getting mad that I couldn't find anything, and very frustrated by the sheer volume of paperwork and maps my mom had sent with me. There was so much, that I could hardly digest it and make any sense. I spent most of the time wandering around Lower High Street, which is right in front of the church, and is now a major shopping area.

Some old man took pity on me, wandering around very confused, looking at maps. He made some remark about an old building, and so I asked if he knew the area. He said he had spent the entire 84 years of his life in that town, so he knew it very well. I told him I was looking for some family history sights, and he pointed me up a street to the City Hall, or a bit farther to the Mormon Church. I also asked him about the Thomastown cemetary (Thomastown is just on the other side of the canyon, maybe a half mile away), which he had never heard of. He said there was a cemetary up the hill a ways, but had never heard of anything called the thomastown cemetary.

Being mormon, my first instinct was to go to the church for help. I was just passing the City Hall when I realized the burials office must be in there, and at the burials office was Debbie, who had been VERY nice and helpful to my mom over the previous several weeks. I went inside only to find she was out at lunch for an hour. So, I went and wandered about some more. I made my way up to the cemetary the man had talked about. The signs and plaque there called it the Cholera Cemetary, though it was just a part now, with grass and a paved path. My mom had told me the cemetary I was looking for had had all the headstones ground up and grassed over, but for some reason it didn't click that this was it. I think mainly because none of my relatives that were burried there had died of Cholera.

After wandering around, I managed to meet Debbie. She was very busy, but still took some time to point me where I needed to go, and get me directions there. After talking to her, I was much more confident. The maps and things were starting to click. The high street area that I was looking for was the area right in front of the church, and the cemetary was the Cholera Cemetary.

I bought a phonecard from the post office, and called my mom back home to get a bit more enlightenment on the layout of things. After this, I went back to the cemetary and filmed and took a bunch of pictures. I then went back down to high street and found the area that had once been a relative's shop. I also managed to find two exact spots that had been my ancestors little houses for years. One was now a hip clothing shop (but was still the original building!), while the other was now a vitamin store (though, this looked like a new building). Very exciting stuff. I then drove down another street that had one been a neighborhood that a bunch of my family had grown up on back in the 1800s. After talking to my mom on the phone, I managed to find another as well. I'm not much of a family history nut, but I must admit that it was quite exciting.

After that, I had 45 minutes to get the car back to Cardiff in time for me to catch my train in time to checkin at my hostell. Unfortunately, I didn't count on the rush hour traffic coming into Cardiff. All I can say is that whoever decided it was a good idea to put roundabouts out on the freeway is a certifiable retard.

I got back to the car place about 20 minutes after they closed, but luckily there was still someone there. They took the car from me, and even gave me a ride back to the train station, saving me the cab fare. I was too late to catch the first train I had been shooting for, but I got on the next one, and a call ahead to my hostell had me checked in. Disaster averted!

Wales part two

Time to try to play catch-up on my blog, now that I'm back in London...

Luckily my first full day in Wales had a fairly laid-back itinerary. At noon I was supposed to go to the Llanishen church (Llanishen was a little town, that's now a suburb of Cardiff) to photograph/film. This gave me a little more than an hour to wander up from my hostell to Cardiff Castle. It seemed very small and quaint after seeing places like the Tower of London, but it was still quite interesting.


I didn't have much time there, because I knew it would take some time to find the Llanishen church. In 1761 I had some ancestors get married here, so my mom wanted me to film/photograph it. I bumbled all over the area, and finally stumbled onto it a little bit before noon. At noon the church let out, and the Reverand invited me in. I expected him to be able to show me around, but he was incredibly busy. Luckily a lady (I think her position was church warden, or something) was very kind, and told me everything I needed to know. She had a ton of information on the area.

I told her I was there because of a wedding that happened in 1761, and she said "Oh, well, would you like to go back and look it up in the church archives?" Would I! They only had xeroxs of the original papers, because the city came and took all the originals. But, I managed to find their copy of the original church record of the marriage, which nobody in our family has ever seen. This was very significant for a few reasons, most notably because we surmised that they had been illiterate, yet they had signed their own names. Unfortunately, they wouldn't allow me to photograph it, but we hope to be able to get a copy from the city.

She also told me that in 1761, only a small section of the church had been built, and the rest was added on later. We hadn't known this before. So, I took lots of pictures and videos, thanked her, and headed to my next destination. A little farther north is the city/area/county (whatever they call it) of Rhondda (pronounced Rhontha). This was a coal mining town, and I was there to go to the Rhondda Heritage Park, which had a great tour of the old coal mine. We were trying to get as munch info on Welsh coal mining as possible, since nearly all of my Welsh ancestors were either coal miners or farmers. I took the tour, and filmed the whole thing, which was quite interesting. It was guided by an old coal miner, that had actually worked at that mine before they closed it in the 80s.

After that, I made my way back into Cardiff. I went to the local internet cafe and called home to tell them of my findings, then went back to the hostel to go to bed early. Tomorrow looked to be rediculously busy.

Long Journey

I'm tired, worried, scared, and lonely. Today hasn't been the best.

I woke up this morning at 5:05am to one of my roommates poking me to wake me up, since my alarm clock going off for several minutes didn't. Woops. I bumbled all my stuff together, bought an underground ticket to Padington station, and made it there 15 minutes before my train to Cardiff was supposed to leave. The problem was that none of the ticket booths were open yet, which meant I had to use an automated things, and I had really no idea what I was doing. Asking around didn't help any.

I ended up buying a one-way ticket for way more than I had expected, and jumping on the train just as they locked the doors and it took off. I spent the nearly two hours going over some of the family history paperwork my mom had sent with me. I arrived just before ten, and grabbed a sandwich to eat. I then spent the next hour trying to figure out their horrid bus system to figure out how to get to my car rental place. I stared at their maps and posters for the entire hour, as well as my maps and things, and it made no sense to me whatsoever. None of the numbers and stops on one map would coorelate with another. I finally asked a bus driver on his break to help me, and he got me on the right bus and told the driver which stop to let me off at.

Once I was all settled in my seat, I noticed it had a sign next to it that it was supposed to be reserved for elderly or handicapped. Well, there were no elderly or handicapped on the bus, so I didn't feel so bad. Of course, the first stop was at the Cardiff Elderly and Handicapped home, and they all came pouring in. Awkward.

So, I finally get to the car rental place, where I am charged way more than I expected (noticing a theme yet?) for a Vauxhall car, which looks/feels/drives exactly like a VW Golf.

Driving here is absolute hell. It's like I'm having to drive in a mirror: everything seems backwards and/or upside down. But, that I can deal with. What I cannot deal with is driving AND navigating. The british/welsh have never had the bright idea of streets at 90 degree, or even consistent street signs. Their signs, rather than on a post at every corner, are up at SOME corners, back on the buildings. Unless they aren't. So, I study my maps before I take off, but while I am driving I really have no way to tell where the heck I'm at. So, I make some random turns that vaguely resemble the directions I was supposed to turn, then I get lost and pull into a lot to look at the map. Rinse and repeat.

Somehow, I stumbled onto the street my Hostel was on. I parked the car, kissed the ground, and walked around until I found it. I've got a top-story room with a neat view. The hostel is clean and small, and the people are friendly.

After checking in, I was supposed to go to the Welsh Folk Life Museum to film/photograph... Welsh Folk Life. After studying the map, I set off. The museum was supposed to be about three miles from my hostel, but it took me over twenty minutes to get there. At one point, I was on the freeway. Another point, crossing some bridge downtown. I stopped and talked to some girl on the street, who seemed very scared by me, but gave me directions.

I got there 2.5 hours before they closed. I had grand plans to see the whole place, and film/photograph it all. About an hour later, I had to change plans, and started running around like a madman, trying to get everything that was relevant. At the last I made a mad dash for the giftshop. They were locking the door as I ran up, but I begged and pleaded to be let in. They wouldn't do it, so as they were locking that door, I ran around to the back door and rushed in before they could lock it. I grabbed a thing or two that looked interesting as I ran by, paid for it, and left. Then I repeated the whole driving thing to get back to my hostel.

I didn't bother to go inside, but instead went down the street to a cybe cafe (the one at the hostel as retarded calculator-button style keyboards), emailed my mom in hopes of hearing some kind words to relieve the stress, then went out to find a record shop that was supposed to be in the area.

It turned out to be closed, but I did manage to find the center of the Cardiff nightlife. High Street is quite the place to be on Saturday night. All kinds of people, in their best duds, going here and there, with clubs, restaraunts, and pubs all along. I found some little Indian shop and bought some Curry Chicken (the only thing I've had since the tuna sandwich at 10am). After eating, I decided to blog then sleep. And, so I sleep.

Journey to Wales

I'm tired, worried, scared, and lonely. Today hasn't been the best.

I woke up this morning at 5:05am to one of my roommates poking me to wake me up, since my alarm clock going off for several minutes didn't. Woops. I bumbled all my stuff together, bought an underground ticket to Paddington station, and made it there 15 minutes before my train to Cardiff was supposed to leave. The problem was that none of the ticket booths were open yet, which meant I had to use an automated things, and I had really no idea what I was doing. Asking around didn't help any.

I ended up buying a one-way ticket for way more than I had expected, and jumping on the train just as they locked the doors and it took off. I spent the nearly two hours going over some of the family history paperwork my mom had sent with me. I arrived just before ten, and grabbed a sandwich to eat. I then spent the next hour trying to figure out their horrid bus system to figure out how to get to my car rental place. I stared at their maps and posters for the entire hour, as well as my maps and things, and it made no sense to me whatsoever. None of the numbers and stops on one map would coorelate with another. I finally asked a bus driver on his break to help me, and he got me on the right bus and told the driver which stop to let me off at.

Once I was all settled in my seat, I noticed it had a sign next to it that it was supposed to be reserved for elderly or handicapped. Well, there were no elderly or handicapped on the bus, so I didn't feel so bad. Of course, the first stop was at the Cardiff Elderly and Handicapped home, and they all came pouring in. Awkward.

So, I finally get to the car rental place, where I am charged way more than I expected (noticing a theme yet?) for a Vauxhall car, which looks/feels/drives exactly like a VW Golf.

Driving here is absolute hell. It's like I'm having to drive in a mirror: everything seems backwards and/or upside down. But, that I can deal with. What I cannot deal with is driving AND navigating. The british/welsh have never had the bright idea of streets at 90 degree, or even consistent street signs. Their signs, rather than on a post at every corner, are up at SOME corners, back on the buildings. Unless they aren't. So, I study my maps before I take off, but while I am driving I really have no way to tell where the heck I'm at. So, I make some random turns that vaguely resemble the directions I was supposed to turn, then I get lost and pull into a lot to look at the map. Rinse and repeat.

Somehow, I stumbled onto the street my Hostel was on. I parked the car, kissed the ground, and walked around until I found it. I've got a top-story room with a neat view. The hostel is clean and small, and the people are friendly.

After checking in, I was supposed to go to the Welsh Folk Life Museum to film/photograph... Welsh Folk Life. After studying the map, I set off. The museum was supposed to be about three miles from my hostel, but it took me over twenty minutes to get there. At one point, I was on the freeway. Another point, crossing some bridge downtown. I stopped and talked to some girl on the street, who seemed very scared by me, but gave me directions.

I got there 2.5 hours before they closed. I had grand plans to see the whole place, and film/photograph it all. About an hour later, I had to change plans, and started running around like a madman, trying to get everything that was relevant. At the last I made a mad dash for the giftshop. They were locking the door as I ran up, but I begged and pleaded to be let in. They wouldn't do it, so as they were locking that door, I ran around to the back door and rushed in before they could lock it. I grabbed a thing or two that looked interesting as I ran by, paid for it, and left. Then I repeated the whole driving thing to get back to my hostel.

I didn't bother to go inside, but instead went down the street to a cybe cafe (the one at the hostel as retarded calculator-button style keyboards), emailed my mom in hopes of hearing some kind words to relieve the stress, then went out to find a record shop that was supposed to be in the area.

It turned out to be closed, but I did manage to find the center of the Cardiff nightlife. High Street is quite the place to be on Saturday night. All kinds of people, in their best duds, going here and there, with clubs, restaraunts, and pubs all along. I found some little Indian shop and bought some Curry Chicken (the only thing I've had since the tuna sandwich at 10am). After eating, I decided to blog then sleep. And, so I sleep.

Friday record shopping

I decided that if I had any hope of getting all my clothes PLUS my purchase back in my suitcase for my trip to Wales tomorrow, I was going to have to unload the DJ mix CD demos I had brought, which made today my record shopping day. My main destination was IMO records, which I had discovered was way south, barely in greater london. I hadn't taken a train anywhere, but I figured this would be a good time to learn the system for my trip tomorrow.

I took the tube to Victoria Station, and bought a ticket out to Sutton. I didn't really figure out the system until the end of my trip, but I think I've got the hang of it now. I got there with just an address, and soon found that it was on the opposite end of the looooong street that I had arrived at (there was another stop within a 100 yards of the store, I later discovered). I had a nice refreshing walk through Surrey, which is definitely more laid back and rural than central London.

IMO Records storefront is quite small, with just the newest/most popular releases on the walls, three turntable listening stations, a couple tables of flyers, shelves of tapepacks, and one internet station. The real shopping is done on the internet station, and then you hit the "print list" button (look for it on the site, under the shopping cart stuff!) and it prints a list down the hall in the back where the guy at the front counter runs back and finds everything on your list. There was a constant flow of people in and out, and I was too timid to do much talking. So, even if something was out and on the wall that I wanted to hear, I listened to it online. I also saw Spinback walk through a time or two. I eventually picked out my list and printed it up. The guy at the front counter was very nice, and found them all for me. We chatted for a bit, and he did some research for me so I could avoid paying the VAT tax stuff. He gave me a list of used record stores around london to check for hardcore stuff. A couple of the best ones it turns out are way out at the edge of london, so I dunno if I'll make it to them. He also gave me some extra flyers and IMO Records bags to take home. Quality place!

I rode the train back into London, dropped off my records at the Hostel, then decided that the nice weather and sunlight would probably be a good time to take some pictures. My sister had told me the top of St Paul's Cathedral is excellent, so I headed down there. I got there at about 5:15, and it turns out that most of the church closes at 4:00 so they can have their evening service at 5. I got to listen to the service for a bit, snapped a few photos outside (none allowed inside), then headed towards Green Park. I walked through the park, took some photos, then as it got dark I headed for Oxford street to check out some of the record stores I head been told about. I found Reckless Records and Vinyl Exchange on a side street off Oxford, along with a bunch of other record shops that were closed that late. Both had tiny hardcore sections, with nothing desireable whatsoever. The people working at each said they rarely get in hardcore. Apparently there used to be a few shops that regularly dealt in used hardcore, but they have all closed down. I'm gonna see if I can get a confirmation on the stock at some of the ones in outer london, and if they'll have a decent amount, maybe spend half a day trekking out next week.

After that I came back to the hostel to start repacking and preparing for my trip to Wales. The amount and complexity of the information I've got is beyond daunting. It's downright scarey and discouraging. I hope I survive this trip. I've been so rediculously busy, that I haven't even been able to look at it. And now that I do, I can't even comprehend any significant portion of it. I just now noticed that I'm supposed to catch a 7am train. Which means I need to get up in six hours if I'm to have a prayer of making it.

I'm going to bed. Hopefully I can do some reading on the train there.

Thursday marathon

I managed to get up at around 8am this morning, and chatted with the only other guy remaining in my room now. He's a Japanese student here for a few days on vacation. It was interesting sharing different histories.

After I got cleaned up and out, I walked a few blocks to the post office to mail some postcards. Once I left, I noticed that it was about an hour and a half until the changing of the guard at Buckingham palace. I originally wanted to get to the zoo before the crowds, but I decided that the zoo will be there later/another day, whereas the changing of the guard won't. So, I rode the tube to St James station, noticing more tourists get on at every stop.

I showed up at Buckingham palace just under an hour before the ceremony was to start, and there was already a rediculous crowd. It was several people deep out from the fence, and oodles of people up on the elevated area around the statue in the courtyard. I managed to find a spot right behind a pillar where there was only one person, and a big pillar, in front of me. So, 45 minutes later the whole thing started. A band marched in and played some songs, some gaurds marched around in big furry hats, and shoved their guns around in various rhythmic patterns. I took some pictures and video as best I could from where I was.

As soon as that was over I rushed through the crowd to get back on the tube before everyone else. Luckily I was using the St James station, and most people use the Victoria station (since it has all the signs for buckingham palace around it). I made it to the London Zoo shortly after noon. I sprung for the extra £3 for a guidebook and map, and am kinda glad I did. The place is huge, and there's no way I could have seen everything without a good plan. I stayed until the zoo closed at 5pm. I walked by every exhibit, and watched both the demonstrations they did. I saw tigers, bears, pirahna, giraffes, and a bunch more. I took a ton of pictures and some video. It was such a nice change of pace from the tourist traps like Buckingham palace, etc. It was pretty much exclusively locals at the zoo, and was very laid back, quiet, and not crowded at all.

The zoo is on the oposite end of Regents Park from my hostel, so I took the opportunity to walk through it. It's at least a 20 minute walk, if you go straight through. I just have to say that Americans need to learn a thing or two about parks from the british. This thing was huge, well groomed, and clean. It had beautiful gardens, soccer fields with locals playing, boating ponds, and all kinds of birds and things.

The British Museum is THE most popular destination in london, with 5.7 million visitors annually. As such, I had originally thought I'd skip it. But, I found out that it's open until 8:30 (as opposed to 6pm) thurs-fri, so I thought maybe I could miss the crowd by showing up at 6:30pm. That place is amazing. And huge. It took me several minutes just to walk to some exhibits. I saw dozens of mummies, touched one of the stone heads from Easter Island, took pictures of the Rosetta stone, and so much more. Absolutely amazing. I might go back there, if I find myself with some extra time.

I got back to my hostel at nearly 10pm and realized I had been so busy I hadn't eaten anything since breakfast! So, I went out looking for something in the neighborhood, which turned out tough. The south end of Regents Park is mostly offices and things. I found one pub open, but they weren't serving food that late. The bartender pointed me to a french place on the corner, and I went down there. I instantly felt out of place, as I was in a t-shirt and jeans and had obviously been out all day, while it was a little bit of a ritzy (yet inexpensive) place. I turned on the best manners I have, and managed to walk out of there with the waitresses smiling goodbye, and the owner thanking me for coming and holding the door for me. Leaving too large of a tip helps. I just laid down £10 for the bill and headed for the door, and didn't really think until I was down the street that I had left nearly a £3 tip. So much for eating cheap!

London Dungeon and Madame Tussauds

We got up at about 7am, since it takes the whole crew so long to cycle through the showers. Once we were out with the grumpy group, we drug everyone down to the pub we had been to the night before, since they were advertising a huge british breakfast for £2.50. We got there only to find it didn't open until 10am, so we got on a tube and headed to the London Dungeon. We were once again way early, so I talked the grumpy group into heading over to London Bridge (just upriver from Tower Bridge, that we had been to before). The pedestrian traffic was crazy, because everyone was commuting acrossed to work right then. We took some pics, and Matthias and I grabbed breakfast muffin sandwich things from a stand (kinda like a Sausage McMuffin w/Egg from McDonalds, only with authentic stuff and not crappy).

We went through the london dungeon, which I was quite disapointed with. I had discount coupons, but it was still £15. It seemed like they rushed us through it, and it was really just a cheap disneyland-style tourist trap. It was supposed to be scarey, but the scariest part was really just thinking that something really bad was going to be around the next corner... which it wasn't. I did manage to pick up some history on London's dark side (the plagues, tortures, etc), which was OK.

When we got out, it was a a quarter till eleven; that gave us 45 minutes to get to Buckingham Palace for the changing of the guards. This only takes place every other day at this time of year, and we weren't sure if it was supposed to happen today. In fact, I'm still not sure. It didn't happen today, but there were signs all over saying it can be cancelled due to weather. This was the rumor going through the crowd, even though it was merely a light mist coming down.

We then went to madame tussauds; talk about overpriced! £22!! That's almost $45 USD! That, plus the fact that it was nearly a two hour wait to get in left a bad taste in my mouth. On the plus side, there were more amazing wax statues that you could shake a stick at. Tons and tons of them, plus you could walk over and pose with nearly each one. And, it had a Dark Side of London part that was only a little bit shorter than the London Dungeon, and actually way scarier. Plus, a planetarium thing that was really great, giving a guided tour of the solar system. So, despite the rediculous price, it was a pretty decent visit.

After that we ate at a pub right acrossed the street called The Globe (which I am told is famous), then walked down Baker Street (passing all kinds of touristy Sherlock Holmes stuff) to Oxford Street, which is a fairly upper class shopping district. I picked up some souveniers, then stopped at HMV. I managed to pilfer a total of five HHC CDs for less than 10 pounds, and walked out quite happy.

After that, I decided to head back to the hostel to get a jump on preparing for bed tonight. Money is starting to get a bit short on the trip, but I think I can keep a handle on it since the rest of the trip I'll be all by my lonesome. The rest of the group kinda turned up their noses at all the little shops and bakeries the locals eat at, and instead insisted on going only to fancy sit-down resteraunts and famous pubs and paying usually around £8-£10 (nearly $20) per meal. I'm perfectly content to grab a pastry or something at a little bakery stand, or even the cheap/free meals at my hostel, so that'll eliminate a big expense.

Tomorrow I hope to get up early and hit the London Zoo, which is just on the other side of Regents Park from my Hostel. Then, either the London Library again, or maybe out to IMO records.

I have to admit that I'm getting nearly to the end of my mental list of things I wanted to see in London, but I'm sure a quick look into a tourist book and I'll have another huge list. Plus, I'd be content to just wander through a park for the day, really. The parks here are absolutely gorgeous, and it's refreshing to see locals actually come to the park just to lay around, play ball with their dog, etc. Nobody does that in america anymore, except maybe for the mexicans.

Portabello Road

Since I didn't get up until way late Tuesday, I decided to head over to Portabello Road. It's a famous open market, where you can buy anything from turnips to watches to motorcycles. Kinda like a giant flea market. It's rather significant to my family, because it's a rather major part of the movie Bedknobs and Broomsticks, which we used to watch a lot.

Since it was a weekday it wasn't especially huge. I head it gets rediculous on the weekends. But, it was three blocks of carts and shops all along the street. Took some pictures, and wandered for a bit. Looked for something to buy, but didn't see anything I couldn't do without.

After that, I headed towards the Holiday Inn to catch up with the rest of the group, since they had talked about the London Eye. I caught them in a local pub, having just come from their assessments at the school. We talked for awhile, then headed to the hotel. I could no longer coax them into doing the London Eye, so Matthias, Kyle, and I went out looking for a very famous D&B club called Fabric. We didn't find it, but were told it was closed on a weekday anyhow. It was pouring rain, and we were getting quite soaked, so, we stopped at a really nice pub. It was friendly, clean, and cheap, so we sat and dried off untill they closed at 11pm.

We tried to take a bus back, which was a comedy of errors. It reminded me of the spongebob episode where he is waiting at a bus stop and the bus never comes, but as soon as he steps away for a split second, one goes whizzing past. So, we walked back to the hotel. They were talking about taking in more sights in the morning, and I didn't want to oversleep again and miss that, so I just crashed on the floor at their hotel.

Abbey Road

Monday was a pretty relaxed day; the rest of the group I'm in is starting to get quite visibly worn out and grumpy. In a way, I'll be glad to be mostly on my own after today; I'm nowhere near worn out or tired, and I have SOOOOOO much more I want to see! On the other hand, many of the sights aren't quite as fun if you don't have someone to share and discuss them with. I do wonder how well they'll get around, as I've been the navigator for the trip.

Anyhow, so monday we got up pretty late, but had some plans of places we wanted to go. They all had their heart set on Abbey Road, and they had to explain to me that's the street the Beatles are walking acrossed in that famous picture. After a short tube ride, and a ten minute walk, we were there. Not being a big beatles fan, I have to say I didn't really appreciate the significance, but I snapped a few pictures and laughed at the dozens of people trying to take pictures as they walked acrossed - which is rather difficult because it's a very busy street!

My hostel that I'll be staying in for the rest of the trip (except for my three day stint in wales later) is just a short distance from there, so we rode over there and I checked in. Next I hoped to stop by Regents Park right acrossed the street, and Portabello Road a short distance away, but others were not as enthusiastic about going much of anywhere else at all.

So, we went back to the hotel, and ate at a local pub. A couple of them headed out to the airport to pick up Matthias, and I went down to the local net cafe to blog my rave party. I hung around long enough to say Hello to Matthias, and get a sample of some of the excellent German candy he brought, then headed to my hostel.

My first night here was rather interesting. I didn't show up until nearly midnight, and felt very bad because everyone else was asleep, so I just shoved my bags in the corner and crawled into bed in my clothes. I didn't wake up this morning until eleven (woops!). Showering and changing was rather awkward because everyone else was gone except the cleaning ladies. I managed to get that all done, and am now washing my clothes so I'll have something to wear for the next few days. Afterwards I hope to stop by Portabello Road, then head out to the school where the rest of the group is doing their placements tests and stuff. They had mentioned they might do the British Eye tonight, and I do wanna do that with them. I might also look into finding my way to Sutton tonight to check out IMO records. Tomorrow they're going to try for the London Dungeon and the wax museum, and I do wanna do those with them as well. After that they head home, and I'm completely on my own!!!

Whew, I'm finally all caught up on my blog!!!

Hard rock cafe

I slept in late Sunday, recovering from my wild night partying. When I finally got up, everyone else had tried to go to the Wax Museum, but the line was so rediculous they just went to a couple gift shops and came back. We decided to head out to the Hard Rock cafe. Once there, we were informed there would be a two hour wait, due to the fact that two huge tour groups had just showed up, and were taking up the entire resteraunt. So, we took their little reservation pager thingy, and went acrossed the street to the store. The vault downstairs was open, and we got to go inside and see a bunch of amazing memorabilia: jackets, caps, guitars, and other instruments of dozens of famous rockers.

I bought a couple t-shirts, and then I convinced Kyle, Seth, & Deonne to walk down the street to Hyde Park with me. I very much wanted to go to Speaker's Corner, though they weren't really keen on the idea of walking that far. I wheedled and wheedled until they gave in, and we arrived there just as it was getting dark. What a sight! Random people would get up on a box or chair or anything, and start just talking about anything (usually politics or religion) to anyone who would listen. Several people had large crowds around them, and people in the audience were as much a part of the discussion as the speaker himself. Very interesting.

We made it back to the cafe JUST as the pager went off. We went inside and ordered our american-style burgers and things. Our GORGEOUS waitress was very friendly, and sounded like she might have been american herself. All around the resteraunt were screens playing (quite loudly) music videos of rock, new and old. The walls were also covered in various guitars and jackets and pictures and other bits of rock history.

After that we headed back to the hotel, I hopped online for awhile, then we all went to bed.

Transmission

It was such a whirlwind night, that I'm sure to forget something, or get some names wrong. There were so many DJs and MCs that played that night, that I'm having trouble keeping it all straight in my head, so I'm just going to lay it down as best I can right now, and come back and add things in once I get home and get my head on straight again.

Since we had gotten up early, and walked miles during the day, I napped for a couple hours at the hotel in order to be able to stay up for the entire party. Before heading out, I checked the directions, and they made it sound like the venue was just down the street from the tube stop, with signs the whole way. It was obvious I was going the right way on the tube, as every stop along the way collected more and more ravers. At the tube stop, there were scalpers selling tickets, and random ravers all over. They all hopped onto a bus, which I initially wasn't gutsy enough to do, since I had not yet looked into bus travel. I saw one sign that said Alexandra Palace train station was down a certain street, so I headed in that direction for about ten minutes, where I got lost in a rather scary, dark area of town. I managed to find my way back to the tube stop, and found some friendly-looking people at the bus stop to talk to. They told me that the palace was about a 15 minute walk away, but if I wanted to ride the bus all I needed was my tube travelcard. So, I caught the next bus, along with a few dozen ravers. We were absolutely PACKED into the bus!

I finally got to the venue shortly after 9pm. It's absolutely HUGE, and took a few minutes just to walk from where the bus dropped us at the back, to the doors at the front. They had set up oodles and oodles of barriers for people to wait in line, disneyland-style. Since I was a bit late arriving, it was just a matter of walking through them all to the front doors. There was a short wait to get through the security checks, but not bad. I had wisely decided to brave the weather and go without a coat, so I would not have to check it in and out. Once inside, it took me quite some time just to locate all the rooms, since the venue was so rediculously massive. The main entryway had all sorts of ferns and statues, and is mainly what you see on the Alexandra Palace website. There was then a main hallway, which had a couple rooms off to each side. The One Nation D&B room was off to one side here, and was absolutey huge. It had plenty of room to hold several thousand people comfortably, and at the peak of the night it was PACKED! One side of this room had been barriered off and was the Raindance Oldschool arena. I spent some time in here, but unfortunately it wasn't properly ventilated, and got quite hot. The next area was actually one big HUMONGOUS room, at least as big as a couple football fields, which had been divided into the hardcore arena, the house arena, the trance arena, and the carnival area (complete with rides and SlamminVinyl merch booths!). There were also bars scattered around, serving drinks (at rediculous prices, even water was £2). After getting my bearings, I went to the merch booth and bought a program, which had a map of the areas, as well as all the timeslots.

The sound and lighting systems were absolutely amazing. Each room had a huge laser system, and TONS of lights. I have never, ever seen lighting trusses that large or elaborate. The entire sound system was by Function 20 (I think) which I had never heard of in the states, but was quite impressive. The speakers themselves looked very futuristic and swoopy, and had loads of bass and volume. The volume was so high that I could hardly make out the sounds until I put in my earplugs. My ears were still a bit sore at the end of the night, even though I had earplugs in the entire time. Suprisingly, I was the ONLY person I saw the whole time that had earplugs (in the USA, a very healthy portion would have them in). Everyone there must be completely deaf if they listen to it like that every weekend. I also was amused at the amount of people with horns, which you NEVER see at american parties. Even whistles are disapearing, and were rather hated by much of the crowd anyhow. But, the british love their noisemakers at the parties, which really adds to the fun IMO.

By now Kevin Energy, Sharkey, and Marc Smith were just going on, which was the first act of the night that I was really looking forward to. I got in and managed to make my way nearly to the front just as they were coming on stage. I can't remember who the MC was at the time, but it was great to see Sharkey get on the mic through most of the set (and periodically through the rest of the night).

In fact, I saw a number of things that night that I hadn't heard in years, and I thought were only in days gone by for UK raves, most notably Sharkey on the mic during his set, and Brisk, Hixxy, and Slipmatt scratching during their sets. Even Dougal fooled around with a bit of scratching on a beat for awhile.

As I'm not much of a freeform, I used this time to explore and get a feel for everything. I also spent a fair amount of time in the Raindance oldskool room, since Billy Bunter was playing in there at the time. I was rather hoping he'd play some of his later '95-'96 stuff, but it was pretty much just ~'92 oldschool like everyone else in there played. Too bad nobody mixed it up at all; I heard a couple songs three or four times that night.

I made a point of being back in the Hardcore room for Brisk's set. He played a lot of newer stuff, a lot of forthcoming NG/BB material. Quality stuff, if not a bit more freeformish than my tastes again. But, there was definitely a hint of his cheesy roots here and there. I absolutely LOOOOOOOOOVE the new mix of airhead he played near the end; I rocked out and sang along to that like crazy. If I remember right Whizzkid was on the mic for much of this, and I really enjoy his MCing. This is one of the first times I've seen what he actually looks like, and I must say he's different than I expected. But, a class act nonetheless: he really works with the crowd.

Next up was Breeze and Styles, who played one new Raverbaby hit after another. Being a behind-the-hardcore-times american, I didn't recognize most of the stuff, but it was all quite good. I found it amusing to see Breeze having so much trouble mixing. He really butchered a couple, and seemed to have a lot of trouble the entire time. This seemed to me like one of the crowd favorites of the night, as everyone was going completely mental. MC Storm also made his first appearance during this set, and it was great to see him again. I got to play at a party with him in Seattle a couple years ago, and the energy he brings is unforgettable.

Sy & Seduction played B2B next, which I thought was an interesting matchup, but turned out to fit really well. Sy, as always, scratched like mad while laying down smoooooooooth mixes to bass-heavy tracks. He and Storm had a couple really great scratch battles, which I managed to capture on some video clips in my camera. And, it was a real treat for me to see Seduction, one of the very originators of hardcore. He's definitely getting up there in years, but still has an amazing stage presence and energy - as opposed to slipmatt, who to me always seems like he's really just fed up with it all, and wants to move on. But, Seduction and Sy were definitely a class act. Storm even ran off the stage down to the crowd a couple times to get people hyped up. I was hoping that he'd come down near me so I could ask for a shoutout, but wasn't that lucky. Others would bring pens and find scraps of paper or cardboard that they'd write their names onto, then hold them up towards the stage. He would pick a couple every once in awhile and mention their name. I had always wondered how/why people got shoutouts at these big parties, so it was interesting to see how it worked. Though, it was dissapointing for me, since I hadn't brought anything to write with!

Next up was Dougal & Whizzkid. Being an old cheeser at heart, I was a bit dissapointed to not hear some good old cheese from him, but it was a solid set of Essential Platinum stuff nonetheless. I spent a good portion of this time in the oldschool room... wondering why Ratpack wasn't on. But, Herman played a good set anyhow. He was another on my list to see that night, and I'm glad I did. Not sure who the MC was during his stuff.

I rushed back to the hardcore room at 3:45 to catch Scott Brown... but he was nowhere to be seen. He came rushing in at a couple minutes to 4:00, and seemed to have some big animated story to tell Dougal about why he was late. He took over the decks, and played a great set of trancecore and very gabbery stuff. Quite tasty!

During most of Dougal & Scott Brown's sets, I was right on the very front of the crowd near one side of the stage, and several times Whizzkid had pointed me out and smiled at me, because I was singing along to most of the songs and pumping my fist in the air (a common thing for people to do to hardcore in america, but nobody seemed to do it here). A couple times he even imitated me and pumped his fist right back at me. After Scott Brown's set, as Mark EG was going on, I ran to the barrier near the side of the stage and managed to get Whizzkid's attention as he came down off the stage. He came over and shook my hand, and I asked him if he was going to be on the mic again. He said he wasn't sure, but maybe a bit later. I told him that I had come all the way from the USA to be there, and wondered if I could possibly get a shoutout. He said: "Oh yeah, sure! Lemme go up and talk to the MC now. Wait right here!" He went up on the stage and talked to the MC for a bit, and pointed down at me a couple times. Then then MC (I'm not sure who it was) said "I want to give a shoutout to Shaun. He's come a long fucking ways to be here tonight, all the way from the USA. Maximum respect!" I gave a big thumbs-up to him, and as Whizzkid came back down off the stage I shouted for him, and he came back over. I gave him a big "Thank You!!", and shook his hand again. It absolutely made my night! I can't wait to get the tapepack of the night and hear my name!!!

I hung around for a minute to watch Mark EG's antics (what a nut!), then went in to catch the Ratpack in the oldschool room. I stayed for most of their set, which was great. Still a few tracks that EVERYONE else played that night, but quality stuff, and they are true legends. I had a good dance, and sang along to a lot of it. I stayed for the first bit of Slipmatt's set, as well. I had high hopes that he'd play some of his later stuff, but got to hear some classic SMD instead. I even got to hear him scratch some, which I thought I would never see live!

I then made it back into the hardcore room to hear Storm & Hixxy close out the night. I was suprised how packed it still was; in america, things start really thinning out after about 3am. It was getting a bit thinner here, but still going quite strong. Hixxy played a nice selection of new raverbaby, and actually scratched for quite a bit! Storm was absolutely classic as well. A great end to the night!

After the party, everyone cleared out quite quickly, leaving a very messy venue (there were NO garbage cans anywhere, but thousands of ravers drinking water and alcohol from plastic bottles). As I was coming down the steps, MC Storm stepped out and started walking alongside me. I told him I'd come all the way from the USA to see him, shook his hand, and thanked him for a wonderful night. I mentioned that I had my picture taken when I played with him in Seattle, which he didn't remember. I'm not suprised, he played multiple events every weekend! We talked for a few minutes as we walked about that party, and some Indian mask he got while there. He's truly a great guy!

I walked all the way back down to the tube station, and chatted with people along the way. I met some girl from canada, who was very cute and nice. I got back just as the rest of the crowd was getting up, then managed to sleep for a few hours before getting up to go around with them.

So, far I've managed to locate myself in one picture online. I'm in the red shirt all the way over to the left:
http://www.choons.net/v3/community/gallery/slammin260305/S3010108

Olde London

We got up early this morning, trying to beat the crowds to the London Dungeon and the Tower of London. It turns out that you have to get up REAL early to beat the crowds on a saturday, especially easter weekend. The line was rediculous at the London Dungeon, so we went acrossed the river the Tower of London, which still had rediculous lines, but it's much bigger so we figured it wouldn't be as bad.

Once we got our tickets, we got inside just in time to catch a tour leaving. The beefeaters give the tours; in the old days, these were the guys that tasted the royalties food to test for poison, and later become kinda general gaurdsmen for the castle. It was a great tour, with unending interesting information. The line to see the crown jewels wrapped around the entire castle. I really wanted to see them, but not that badly. We checked out the White Tower, which was the armory, looked around some more, and by then it was already getting fairly late. We stopped at at a little shopping area by the London Dungeon, sat down for a bit, and checked out the gift shops.

We then went to the Elephant & Castle shopping centre, which I had never heard of, but apparently is famous. It was very lower-class and dingy, and reminded me of the malls in Mexico. It was all caribean and south american people and shops, which was quite interested. I was hungry by then, so we ate at a Columbian resteraunt. I had Lengua Criole (sp?), which was cow tongue in a tomatoe sauce of some sort, with rice and the things kinda like french fries that are still unidentified.

Probably the most interesting thing about the mall were the headphone dancers. As we entered the mall, I noticed big signs all over saying "NO CAMERAS!!". Once inside, all through the mall were dozens people wearing headphones and absolutely rocking out. They were dancing around the place like crazy, many in big groups in the middle. It was quite a sight! Kyle and I tried to discreetly take some video with the cameras, but within about fifteen seconds a security gaurd descended out of nowhere and told us to get lost.

We then went back to our hotel so I could catch a couple hours of sleep before heading to my rave party that night, which will be the subject of its own post.

Bumbling through the sights

Yesterday we got up early and decided to brave the "tube", check out the school that they came over for, and then hit Piccadily Circus. We fumbled around the tube station for awhile, trying to figure out the system. It turned out the be simpler than we were making it out to be: the city is divided into zones,and you can buy a ticket to a specific stop, or get a travelcard that's good in certain zones, and for certain days. We bought one day travelcards for zones 1-3, since that covered everywhere we needed to go.

The tube maps are very well laid out. I've ridden subways in a few cities (New York, Washington DC, San Francisco), and I really think that the london tube is one of the easiest to get around on. You just find out what line your destination is on, which direction it is, and hop on until you reach your stop. Sometimes you may have to stop and switch lines, but it's simple and everything has very easy to read signs. Swipe your travelcard at the exit, and you're done.

The area that the school is in turned out to be a stark contrast to the noisy, cramped, busy Kings Cross that our hotel is in. It's mostly residential houses, with parks and all sorts of casual businesses. We found the school, which was a 10-minute walk from the tube station, then ate a fish-and-chips shop. It was quite good, and definitely different from having fish and chips in seattle or something. Dunno if I can explain it, it just tasted different. And, my fish had a lot of bones in it, but apparently I was the only one.

We then got back on the tube and got out at Piccadily Circus. The tube station exit right at the center of the square, right by the statue thing in all the pictures. We took pictures, and admired the view for a bit. We then pushed through the huge crowd and into Virgin Records (we were actually looking for Tower Records, but didn't see it right away). It wasn't nearly as big as I expected, but it was VERY refreshing to see a music store with a larger dance section than hiphop section. In fact, the hiphop section was one small little shelf, while the dance/electronic section was a whole area of the store. I picked up a few hardcore CD, listened to Moby's new album, and then we left. We originally started wandering around, looking for Tower Records, but somehow we wandered into trafalgar square. From there we accidentally wandered into St James Park, then to Buckinham Palace, then Big Ben and Westminster Abby. It was seriously all an accident, but all of these sights are so close together. We just kept saying "hey, it looks like there might be something around that corner", and sure enough...

After all that walking, everyone was pretty tired, so we headed back to the hotel. Kyle & Deonne crashed right away, but I talked everyone else into going down to Tower Bridge, since it's supposed to be quite a sight at night. There are so many interesting sights there, since it's the oldest area of london. We wandered around the tower bridge (which was astounding), and stumbled onto the London Dungeon (which we are going to tour once the weekend is over), and the Tower of London (which is hardly a tower, but more like a big castle).

When we got back we managed to get Deonne back up to run down to McDonalds with us. We had been intriqued when we saw a sign about a Curry Chicken sandwich, and wondered what else was different. It turned out that the rest of the menu was basically the same. They do make a huge fit if you special-order anything. Deonne asked for no lettuce on his chicken sandwiches, and the girl made a rolled her eyes and had to walk back and tell the cooks. I've noticed that resteraunt personell in general are not as friendly as in America. Plus, Deonne didn't make it clear enough that he only wanted sandwiches, so he go two meals. We also got some Cadburry Egg Mcflurries, which are TO DIE FOR!

Oh also, Cadburry stuff is everywhere. Like, the Cadburry bunny eggs. They are huge here, and there are Cadburry machines every ten feet in the tube, and at nearly all major venues and locations. They sell a huge variety of different chocalates, besides the eggs. And, there is an interesting selection of pop here. Cans and bottles are all smaller (portions of pretty much all food/drink items are smaller here, which is probably why people here are so much thinner and better-looking than the average americans you see on the streets), because they are all easy fractions of a liter. The common bottles are half liter, rather than a 20oz. We have all fallen in love with this apple soda. In fact, we've bought out the supply at the convenience store near our hotel.

Sleep is good.

Wow, it's nice to have a good nights sleep.

So, the flight yesterday was pretty cool. Every seat had its own movie screen, with all sorts of good stuff playing, plus a cool GPS thingy that showed you exactly where the plane was. Made it kinda fun to watch outside the window and watch for the cities as you went over. If that little brat hadn't been crying the entire time the plane was in the sky, I probably would have slept just dandy. Especially after that huge meal they fed us. Pasta, salad, all kinds of stuff.

When I landed, I had to go through "passport control", which had the longest line I've seen outside of disneyland. The line went through a barrage of switchback thingies, and then down the hall as far as you could see. After going through that, I thought that customs was going to be a real pain. Instead, it was a long hallway/room lined with tables and a few customs agents... doing nothing. Everyone just walked through the hallways and on out.

I had four hours after my flight landed before everyone else landed, which turned out to be a good thing because it took my awhile to get my bearings and figure out how to get from terminal 4, where I landed, to terminal 3, where they landed. Plus, I had some time to take a much-needed nap on a bench, and woke up just as they arrived.

Our driver showed up just as they came out of the terminal, and he loaded us and our bags in. Paul almost got in the driver's seat, thinking it was the passenger's, and we all thought that was funny. The drive to the hotel was crazy, our first experience of London driving. There is no other word for it other than "insange". The rules of the road seem to all be optional, with all the cars, bikes, and pedestrians drifting in and out of lanes, running through stops, etc, etc.

Once we got situated in our hotel, we took a walk around the neighborhood to get our bearings and figure out where things are at. We ate at a very busy, authentic Italian place. It was quite good, and different.

Since nobody was able to sleep on the flight, we all went back and went to bed. Even though we were all very excited, we all slept very well.

Net access from our hotel is rediculously expensive, so I'm having to use it at a local shop. This means that I often won't be able to post pictures when I post, or maybe at all. It also means that posts will be infrequent. But, I hope to be able to keep a bit of a log.

Whew!

I'm keeping everyone awake right now by staying here typing, so this is going to be short.

The flight was as pleasant as British Airways could make it, but miserable due to a screaming kid the ENTIRE FLIGHT in the seat in front of me. I've had maybe five hours of sleep in the past two days.

I'm at my hotel now. The shuttle ride here was a trip, in so many ways. The drivers here ARE INSANE! And, not just the drivers: the pedestrians, bikers, and motorcyclists too. Plus, I saw three Lamborghinis and four Astin Martins on the way here, among about a hundred other interesting cars.

Had some great pasta at a local Italian resteraunt. Mmmmmm...

OK, will post more tomorrow.

Leaving

Tomorrow morning I get in a car and drive to Seattle for my flight to London. I've got a non-stop 9.5 hour flight, and will be arriving around noon on the 24th. I'm currently trying to stay up as late as possible in hopes that I'll just be able to sleep for the majority of the flight. It's 1:30am, and I still feel like I've got a ton of packing to finish.

The guys I'm going with are all in a local rock band called Jainism. They've been accepted to a music academy in London, and this is their trip to take placement tests, find apartments, etc. I just happened to have a bunch of paid time off at work that I need to burn by the end of April, so I decided to tag along. The group includes Matthias (singer, and my former Circuit City co-worker), Deon (bass, whose name I'm surely mispelling), Kyle (drummer), Seth (guitars) and Kyle & Seth's parents.

I'm actually staying a week longer than them, because I had that much PTO to burn. It's going to give me the opportunity to go to Wales and do some family history filming for my mom, who is putting together a very elaborate video.

Back to packing...