Bootsy's Adventures Over the Pond-Abrigded

[Bootsy Whoosh]

Hey all! I'm BAAAAAAAAAAAAAAACK!!!! Well, some of you have been wanting to hear about my trip, so here goes....

Now first off let me say, no one needs to tell Bootsy that she has a tendency to be long winded at times, and I don't want to bore anyone to tears by taking too long to tell about what happened and stuff, so I think I'll try posting it in little chunks, let you all digest it, ask questions if you want, etc., and then move on.

So to begin....my general feelings about Europe is that it's great to visit but I wouldn't want to live there (with the exception of the Netherlands and Scotland). There are a lot of little things in Europe that made me appreciate the little things back home. Let's start with this one: street signs. Now most places that I have been to in America have street signs out on little posts at every corner, easy to find and read, often in bright reflective colors. Not so in Europe! Pretty much all street signs (assuming you can find them), are attached to the facades of the buildings on the corners of streets. Not altogether bad once you get used to knowing where to look for 'em, but it gets exceedingly frustrating when you are half lost and can't find a street sign. This is because they don't post signs at every single corner, like we are used to. Sometimes you have to walk for blocks to find another street sign. I don't know if this is intentional, or if they fell down, or what...but it is frustrating for the tourist. Additionally, they often place the signs at such an angle on the building that if you are standing directly under the building, you can't see the sign. More than once I had to cross the street just so I could read the street sign on the building I had been standing right next to!

So the first place we went was London. Getting there was uneventful. London was cool and ranks probably around 3rd or 4th on my list of favorite places I went (stay tuned for 1 and 2!) Probably my favorite attraction there was the Tower of London. (I like all the history-rich gory medieval type places). My mom tripped and fell flat on her face at the Tower, which is I'm sure a story we'll be telling for the rest of our lives. I also loved the Houses of Parliament and Westminster Abbey. Some police guy who worked at Parliament told us that Parliament is the most beautiful building in London, and I think it's probably true, unfortunately the public only has very limited access. I sat in on a disscussion for a short while....they were talking about the economic situation of Scotland....at 9:30 PM! I wouldn't have expected them to be working so late....

I loved Westminster Abbey....it's just so.....old! I really dig looking at all that old stuff, and touching stones and door handles that are like 1000s of years old. If you ever go, it is WELL worth the extra pound to gain entrance to the Abbey Museum and the....the...the something else that I can't remember the name of right now. (I think it was called the pict or something). Basically it's just a tiny room, but it's the oldest part of the Abbey. When you go ask the worker to point out to you the holes left in the rock by the scaffolding used by William the Conqueror's men! Cool stuff!

I also really liked-of all things- the London Underground. It was my first ride on a subway, and silly me, I think it was kind of fun (though I suppose it would quickly loose its charm if I had to ride it every day of my life). Some of the "Tube" stations were decorated quite nicely, and I reckon it's pretty clean as far as subways go (at least far cleaner than the Paris Metro!) It's also ridiculously easy to use-trust me-it looks a little daunting at first, but it's a piece of cake! Just don't forget to "mind the gap", lol....they always say that when getting on and off the trains.

Oh yeah, the British Library was pretty cool...seeing the Magna Carta and Gutenburg Bibles and all. And the British Museum was nice, but it was overwhelming in its size. I also couldn't help being struck with the feeling that all this stuff should be returned to the countries it was stolen from (let's face it folks, these treasures were stolen), and although there wouldn't be much to the British Museum if they got rid of them, I think they should do the right thing and return at least some of them. But at any rate I suppose there's nothing I can do about that...it was cool seeing the REAL Rosetta stone (there's a fake one at my University's library, but of course nothing compares to the real thing).

Madame Tussaud's was way cooler than I thought it would be. Initially I didn't want to go at all, but I knew my mom wanted to go, so we did. I don't care so much for seeing wax figures of celebrities or heads of state (though I just could not resist getting my picture taken with Patrick Stewart [Capt. Jean-Luc Picard for those not in the know!]...he really was life like, I wager one of the best ones there, and I'm gonna see how many people I can fool with that pic!!) But the part I liked best was the dungeon area, where they showed torture devices and what medieval life was like and things. They talked about who Madame Tussaud really was (her job was making wax figures of aristocracy that had been killed....that's how the whole thing got started...). They also have there the guillotine that killed Marie Antoinette, which I'm sure pisses off the Conciergerie in Paris (more on that later!)

We also went to like a million palaces, because my mom is into the Royal Family. We saw Kensington Palace (former home of late Princess Diana), St. James Palace and Coventry House (home of Prince Charles and late Queen Mum respectively, both of which you can't go into so we just took a pic from the outside), and of course, the Grandaddy of London palaces, Buckingham. We couldn't go inside because the Queen was in residence, but we did actually SEE the Queen, something that I was told by a few UK citizens that they haven't ever done. Not that it was any huge deal....we were all waiting for the changing of the guard...I was a little peeved that I couldn't get close to the gates to see because lots of people were already there, but suddenly someone yells "It's the Queen!" and the sea of people parted, giving me access to the front! Yippie! I turned around and did indeed see the Queen, looking all tiny in her little chauffered car and pill box hat thingy. I didn't bother to rush over and try to take a picture because I wasn't about to give up my spot and I was too far away anyway. Then after the changing of the guard (which took WAY longer than I thought it would) we saw her on her way back to the palace. We were much closer this time and I tried to take a picture, but who knows if it came out of not...

Well I guess I'll stop talking about London for now. I might have something more to add later, I don't know...if you have any questions feel free to ask. I probably will only be coming here every other day or so, so I'll post some more in a few days! Coming up: Bath, Brussels, and Bruges, OH MY!

[80sTrivia]

Sounds like you had a blast in Europe!!! I love travelling in Europe as well and London is fantastic! Looking forward to reading more about your trip in upcoming posts!!!

[dawsongirl]

Cool! I can live out a trip to Europe through you!

[Kay Scarpetta]

Originally posted by Bootsy Whoosh
Then after the changing of the guard (which took WAY longer than I thought it would)

Don't the guards stand there for about 14 hours before changing? And is it true that they have to stand very very still? Ha, maybe my dad was lying........

[Penny Lane]

Welcome back Bootsy! And thanks for the travelogue! I have always wanted to go to the British Isles(London especially). Glad you got back home safe and sound.

[Czas na Zywiec]

Originally posted by Bootsy Whoosh
Let's start with this one: street signs. Now most places that I have been to in America have street signs out on little posts at every corner, easy to find and read, often in bright reflective colors. Not so in Europe! Pretty much all street signs (assuming you can find them), are attached to the facades of the buildings on the corners of streets. Not altogether bad once you get used to knowing where to look for 'em, but it gets exceedingly frustrating when you are half lost and can't find a street sign. This is because they don't post signs at every single corner, like we are used to. Sometimes you have to walk for blocks to find another street sign. I don't know if this is intentional, or if they fell down, or what...but it is frustrating for the tourist. Additionally, they often place the signs at such an angle on the building that if you are standing directly under the building, you can't see the sign. More than once I had to cross the street just so I could read the street sign on the building I had been standing right next to!

Tell me about it. The pain and suffering! Luckily I had relatives to take me around when I was in Europe.

[Kitt]

Thanks for taking the time to tell us about your trip Bootsy. I'll be looking forward to hearing more. And like Penny Lane said, glad you got back safe and sound. I was beginning to wonder.

[Beruche]

Welcome Back


Oh and BTW London Rox thats where Cats started...anyway....welcome back again.

[Cokies]

You're back! Gosh, I was starting to get bored around here.

[Mossopp]

Welcome back Bootsy!!
I've been waiting for you to return to the boards cos I'm dying to hear your thoughts on Scotland!!
Sorry about the appalling state of our street signs - it's like that everywhere here. It's a real pain in the arse but you get used to it.

And Karli - your dad is right. The guards have to stand really still. They're not allowed to react to anything. You could go right up in their face and start screaming at them and there's nothing they can do about it - they have to just stand there, staring straight ahead!

[Kay Scarpetta]

Originally posted by Mossopp
And Karli - your dad is right. The guards have to stand really still. They're not allowed to react to anything. You could go right up in their face and start screaming at them and there's nothing they can do about it - they have to just stand there, staring straight ahead!

LOL! Maybe when I go to Ireland I'll somehow get to England, and get close enough to chuck a rock at one of them....THEN the'll hafta react!

[Cokies]

Wait, off topic here, but I just noticed that Mossopp and I have the exact number of posts! (Well, this will be one up)

Anyway, Bootsy, you must tell us of your other adventures abroad.

[Bootsy Whoosh]

Hello all....adding another chapter to the Europe adventure....

Thanks everyone for wishing me well and welcoming me back. I did make it back safe and sound, except for this European Death Cold....I started sneezing in Scotland and I have been sick ever since (going on 3 weeks now...) I'm not really too sick, I just have a cold I cannot shake! Bummer....silly European germs that I am not resistant to...I seriously can't even remember the last time I had a cold before this, and it feels very bizarre to have a cold in the middle of June!

Speaking of being sick...Chapter Two in our installment of Things in Europe That Make Me Appreciate America: Pasteurized Milk! Now as far as I could tell, milk was pastuerized everywhere in the UK...so I was OK there.....but there are some places on the mainland where milk is not pastuerized, and when I was in Germany I got really sick and we had to stay in half the day (let's just say I had to run to the bathroom alot, which is why we had to be confined to the hostel). Now I am not absolutly sure it was the milk that did me in, but I think it was, because my mom had a tiny glass of it, and she got a little sick, but I had two big glasses of it, and I got really sick! And there really wasn't anything else that day I had eaten that would've made me sick..
One last note on being sick...if you ever go to Paris, eat at the crepe stands at your own risk. I think it is wiser to go to a crepe restaurant....my last day in Paris I got two crepes at a stand, because I looooooove crepes and since it was my last day...I splurged...before I even got done eating them all (I only had like half of each) I started feeling a little sick. I saved the crepes thinking I might eat them later that day, but it got to the point where I couldn't even look at or stand to smell the crepes, (I still can't and even the thought of them makes me feel a little quesy even now) so I had to thrown them out (one of them was filled with Nutella, and after that I couldn't even stand the smell or sight of Nutella)...Anyway....I got really really really sick the next day...which was lovely because that was the day we had to spend about 8 hours on trains going from Paris to Edinburgh...imagine having to run to the bathroom frequently (for 2 reasons no less) when you are trapped on a train...with screaming kids next to you....and we were in the "quiet" coach....GRRRRR!!! Anyhoo, I think the problem was, crepes have eggs in them, and they just sit huge stacks of them out like all day, not even refrigerated or anything, so I think they got spoiled or something, because crepes were all I ate that day, and as soon as I vomited up the last bit of crepe, I started feeling better. Hope that wasn't too graphic or disgusting for you all....

To answer Karly's (I see we are spelling it with a "y" now....?) question, as Mossopp said the palace guards do have to stand still (except for when they hut around and pace back and forth and stuff), but they do 24 hours shifts, not 14. At least that's what I'd always heard.... And Mossopp....Scotland was the last place I went, so you'll just have to be patient...muhahahahahaha Maybe I'll PM you a few things sometime....but suffice it to say, as a small preview of things to come, I have nothing but good things to say about Scotland!

And one last note about London....I forgot to mention that I saw both Cats (now no longer playing there) and Les Miserables while I was there.

So ok....our last day in London we wanted to take a day trip to Bath...we show up in Paddington Station and some guy working there tells us that if at all possible we shouldn't go to Bath that day...well it was our last day in England so we had to go that day or not go at all! The reason he said that was, unbeknownst (sp?) to us, there was some big soccer finals that day in Cardiff, Wales (which is west of London, as is Bath, for those unfamiliar with the geography). Both teams in the tourney were London teams (Arsenal and Chelsea), which meant masses of people from London were heading west that day, and droves would be heading back east that night after the game... well we decided to go anyway, but we didn't get to bath til about 1PM, and we were a little nervous about being able to make it back to London so we left at like 5:30PM (Not that it really mattered anyway....everything in Bath shut down at like 5 PM....that's another thing....in general things close really early in Europe compared to America....and like nothing I saw was open 24 hours). So anyhoo....Bath is a really old town that used to be occupied by the Romans, and they had a huge expanse of public baths there (hence the name...) So basically the main draw is the Roman baths. However, Bath was also very popular with the aristocracy in Victorian times, and it was considered the place to take a vacation...Jane Austin lived there, and I guess some of her novels are set there (I've never read any of them, but that's what they told me on the tour). Bath also has some lovely gardens, and I guess supposedly there's some flower competition in the UK, and there have been a few times when the officials have asked Bath not to enter, because every time they enter they win. So anyway, we took a tour of the baths, which was interesting...and for 50 pence you could drink some of the water from the hot springs there which supposedly has healing properties....I figured, eh, you only live once, so I tried it. It was warm (which for some stupid reason I was not expecting..."hot springs" should have tipped me off though ) and it tasted very metallic. I was interesting to see how the Romans had devised a way to heat the rooms and the floors by controlling how the steam flowed. Anyway, there wasn't much else to see there, but we did have tea (my mom wanted to have "high tes" which is when they serve the little finger sandwhiches and stuff, but they didn't serve it where we went). So anyway, we had tea and scones and clotted cream and all that rot...

Ok well I've already blathered alot today, so I'll save Belgium for another day....

And as for pictures....I am still in the process of getting them developed, and as for my digital pictures, I don't think I'm even going to bother to upload them until I get a USB port on my CPU, so I can use my card reader...so basically what that means is I'll work on getting some pictures on sometime that you all can look at. I think I might try to get one of those online photo albums or something and just give you all the address, instead of clogging things up here with them. But still, I can't make any promises, but I will try.....

[Lynn]

Thanks for sharing your travel adventures with us! I can't wait to hear more. Sounds like you had a great time. (Except for the little run-in with the bad food )

Originally posted by Bootsy Whoosh

I also really liked-of all things- the London Underground. It was my first ride on a subway, and silly me, I think it was kind of fun (though I suppose it would quickly loose its charm if I had to ride it every day of my life). Some of the "Tube" stations were decorated quite nicely, and I reckon it's pretty clean as far as subways go (at least far cleaner than the Paris Metro!) It's also ridiculously easy to use-trust me-it looks a little daunting at first, but it's a piece of cake! Just don't forget to "mind the gap", lol....they always say that when getting on and off the trains.

When I was in London, I thought the Underground was fun too! And I also thought it was easy to use. When I tried to get somewhere by walking I would get lost and I'd have to get on the tube to figure out how to get where I was going.

[Cokies]

Originally posted by Bootsy Whoosh
Hello all....adding another chapter to the Europe adventure....








So ok....our last day in London we wanted to take a day trip to Bath...we show up in Paddington Station and some guy working there tells us that if at all possible we shouldn't go to Bath that day...well it was our last day in England so we had to go that day or not go at all! The reason he said that was, unbeknownst (sp?) to us, there was some big soccer finals that day in Cardiff, Wales (which is west of London, as is Bath, for those unfamiliar with the geography). Both teams in the tourney were London teams (Arsenal and Chelsea), which meant masses of people from London were heading west that day, and droves would be heading back east that night after the game... well we decided to go anyway, but we didn't get to bath til about 1PM, and we were a little nervous about being able to make it back to London so we left at like 5:30PM (Not that it really mattered anyway....everything in Bath shut down at like 5 PM....that's another thing....in general things close really early in Europe compared to America....and like nothing I saw was open 24 hours). So anyhoo....Bath is a really old town that used to be occupied by the Romans, and they had a huge expanse of public baths there (hence the name...) So basically the main draw is the Roman baths. However, Bath was also very popular with the aristocracy in Victorian times, and it was considered the place to take a vacation...Jane Austin lived there, and I guess some of her novels are set there (I've never read any of them, but that's what they told me on the tour). Bath also has some lovely gardens, and I guess supposedly there's some flower competition in the UK, and there have been a few times when the officials have asked Bath not to enter, because every time they enter they win. So anyway, we took a tour of the baths, which was interesting...and for 50 pence you could drink some of the water from the hot springs there which supposedly has healing properties....I figured, eh, you only live once, so I tried it. It was warm (which for some stupid reason I was not expecting..."hot springs" should have tipped me off though ) and it tasted very metallic. I was interesting to see how the Romans had devised a way to heat the rooms and the floors by controlling how the steam flowed. Anyway, there wasn't much else to see there, but we did have tea (my mom wanted to have "high tes" which is when they serve the little finger sandwhiches and stuff, but they didn't serve it where we went). So anyway, we had tea and scones and clotted cream and all that rot...

Gosh, I cannot wait until I make my way over there...(12 days and counting...) I'm going to Bath as well. It's near the end of my trip, right before London. This is a great precursor guide of sorts. I appreciate it.