Hello to all of you followers of kelandrewbrock (the few and the faithful)! This is our final overseas post. Our travels have been wonderful but exhausting, and now we're ready for a vacation from our vacation!! ;)
So our last stop was Berlin. Andrew and I arrived Thursday evening after a long drive from Warsaw. Apparently, Poland has no motorways, so the drive was especially difficult along two-lane highways with lots of lorries driving slower than we would have liked. We went to bed relatively early so that we could get up early the next morning and do an all-day walking tour that our friend Sharon recommended. The walking tour we took was the Best of Berlin tour on Friday morning, and I definitely recommend it to anyone going to Berlin. The guide (whose name slips my mind, unfortunately) was very thorough and well versed in Berlin's past and present. The website says the tour last "6+ hours", but I think he was going to go well past seven hours, which sounds really long, but you can skip out early if you wish though you probably won't want to because it's so interesting. Just make sure to wear comfortable shoes!
Anyway, so Andrew and I did that all day on my birthday and then rushed back to our hotel to meet the Frasers, who were flying all the way from London to celebrate my birthday with us and see us off to Atlanta! Andrew had made us reservations at a really nice restaurant on top of the Reichstag building, which houses Germany's parliament. The food was great; we ordered German champagne that was surprising good! Andrew arranged for cake with a candle, and he and the Frasers sang "Happy birthday" to me! Then the hostess at the restaurant brought me a present from the restaurant! It was a coffee cup and saucer with the Reichstag building on it! The Reichstag building is a really beautiful building, and the views from the roof (where the restaurant is located) are amazing. Here's a little video of it (sorry it's so dark and goofy, but we were having a good time after dinner).
After dinner we went to this bar that we'd walked past on our tour earlier that day. It was called Clärchens Ballhaus. We were the only tourists there; I'm sure. Hardly anyone we tried to talk to spoke any English, though we shared a table with a nice German couple and talked to them for ages with me translating everything in my very broken and limited German! Then someone gets the wild idea to tell the band that it's "meine dreizig Geburtstag" (my 30th birthday), and the announce it and call me over. Here's what happened next...
In case you can't understand the lyrics (I barely could, and I was reading them off the page!) or (like me) have never heard this song in your LIFE, here they are:
SAN FRANCISCO NIGHTS
(Burdon / Briggs / Weider / Jenkins / McCulloch)
Eric Burdon & The Animals - 1967
[This is the part that the band leader reads out loud at the beginning, when I clearly am clueless as to what's going on.]
This following program is dedicated to the city and people of
San Francisco, who may not know it but they are beautiful and so
is their city this is a very personal song, so if the viewer
cannot understand it particularly those of you who are European
residents save up all your brand and fly trans love airways to
San Francisco U.S.A., then maybe you'll understand the song, it
will be worth it, if not for the sake of this song but for the
sake of your own peace of mind.
Strobe lights beam create dreams
walls move minds to do
on a warm San Francisco night
old child young child feel alright
on a warm San Francisco night
angels sing leather wings
jeans of blue Harley Davisons too
on a warm San Francisco night
old angels young angels feel alright
on a warm San Francisco night.
I wasn't born there perhaps I'll die there
there's no place left to go, San Francisco.
[And this is the part where the band leader makes me take it over on my own for a bit!! Yikes!]
Cop's face is filled with hate
heavens above he's on a street called love
when will they even learn
old cop young cop feel alright
on a warm San Francisco night
the children are cool
they don't raise fools
it's an american dream
includes indians too.
Wow. That was some night! Thank you Andrew and the Frasers and the staff at the Reichstag building restaurant and the German couple and the band at Clärchens Ballhaus for making my 30th birthday one that I will NEVER forget!
Love to all,
Kelly
01 November 2009
28 October 2009
24 October 2009
23 October 2009
22 October 2009
19 October 2009
18 October 2009
16 October 2009
15 October 2009
13 October 2009
12 October 2009
10 October 2009
09 October 2009
07 October 2009
Day 3: Driving to Bordeaux
We took a pit stop on the way to Bordeaux to see Mont St Michelle, a gothic cathedral atop a small mountain surrounded by mudflats.
05 October 2009
02 October 2009
01 October 2009
Goodbye, London!
So Andrew and I have finished our stint in London and are spending the entire month of October driving through Europe as our last hurrah. We've decided to do video updates during our trip, which we'll post when we can as we're traveling (depending on when we get hotels with good internet access).
We' hope you enjoy traveling with us as we see the world!
Sorry for the shaky camera during some of these first ones. The cab was already waiting outside, so I was kind of in a hurry!
We' hope you enjoy traveling with us as we see the world!
Sorry for the shaky camera during some of these first ones. The cab was already waiting outside, so I was kind of in a hurry!
30 July 2009
Hampton Court Palace and Greenwich!
Hampton Court Palace!
This weekend Andrew and I went on our first two of many upcoming day trips. We’ve realised that we’re about to leave the UK , and we’ve hardly even seen the UK ! Europe, yes, but not the UK . So this weekend we knocked two places in London (but very far out for us) off our list: Hampton Court Palace and Greenwich.
At Hampton Court Palace, there were loads of activities happening. They had performers dressed up as courtiers who simulated the celebrations that happened after the wedding of King Henry VIII to Kateryn Parr, his sixth wife.
We arrived mid-morning and wandered around for a bit before the festivities got underway. We explored the Base court and the Clock Court (with the beautiful clock), and then wandered on inside.
In Henry VII's apartments, they had set up a great dining hall with a full set head table (only minus the food) and tapestries from Henry's time covered the walls.
Then we met a courtier at Base Court who was led us to congratulate the King and his new bride!
Next, we wandered down to the cookery, where they were doing a special live presentation demonstrating how they prepared a lavish wedding banquet using authentic Tudor methods.
They even provided robes for everyone to wear to the festivities. (Andrew and I tried them on, but opted not to wear them.)
Afterward, we wandered around the gardens for a while before heading to the café for lunch. We ate authentic Tudor beef pies with chips (ie, fries) and seasonal vegetables.
After lunch, we headed straight for the garden maze, where we had agreed that we would race to the finish. Andrew, of course, beat me to the centre. I have no sense of direction whatsoever and get really disoriented in mazes!
Then we went to the back gardens to claim our spot ahead of time for the impending swordfight and falconry display.
We'd brought a blanket with us, so we plopped down on the grass and claimed one of the best spots. Andrew almost immediately fell asleep in the sun.
After a day full of Tudor fun, we headed home to have an icy beverage in our backyard!
Greenwich!
On Sunday we got up early again and headed to Greenwich. Greenwich houses the Royal Observatory, where the Meridian line runs (hence Greenwich Mean Time). We saw the clock, and Andrew set his watch to it.
Then there was an amazing display of Britishness in which all the tourists actually, of their own accord, formed a queue to line up and have their picture taken standing on the line in front of the sculpture. No one had specifically organised the queue; the people just did it. We were amazed. So we wanted the picture, too, and we got in line. All of a sudden, we were bombarded with a huge group of students (possibly Italian?), who either did not notice or completely ignored the queue, and they started jumping in line and breaking in front of everyone.
Andrew to the rescue! He and the guy behind us walked over and started policing the queue, making all the students respect the line of people waiting and go to the back. They were not pleased, but they obeyed! Everyone else in the queue was so thankful!
While that was going on, I was dealing with my own breaker. Some guy, who didn't speak a lick of English, came up and stood in front of me. I tapped him on the shoulder and asked him if he was with the two girls in front of me.
"Yes," he said (I later realised this is possibly the only English word he knows). So I stood there a minute, and then a woman came up and joined him, and she was motioning to someone else. Meanwhile, neither of them had spoken to the two girls in front of me, nor had they acknowledged his prescience, so I then realised he was not, in fact, with them.
I got right up next to him, so that I was kind of nudging him and the woman out of the line and was back behind the two girls, and I said, loudly, "I'm [pointing to myself] behind them [pointing the girls in front of me]. Y'all [pointing to they guy and the woman] need to move to the back of the queue [pointing to the end of the line]." (I hoped that with all the pointing, they would understand.)
Then the woman behind me, whose boyfriend was helping Andrew police the front of the queue, piped up and said, "Yeah. And I'm behind her [pointing to me], so don't try and nudge in here, either!" He ended up moving behind her, and the people back there either never noticed, didn't care, or were too afraid to speak up.
While we were standing in line for the picture, we got to see the Greenwich Time Ball rise and drop. The Greenwich Time Ball is a giant red ball on top of the Flamsteed House, and is one of the world's earliest public time signals. At 12:55pm every day, the ball rises half way up it's mast, and then at 12:58pm it goes up the rest of the way, and at 1pm exactly it falls to mark the hour.
Then we finally got our picture on the Meridian line!
We wandered through the Flamsteed House, the time galleries (which was basically a clock museum) and the astronomy galleries. Oddly enough, we bought a kitchen scale in the gift shop. I have no idea why they had a kitchen scale for sale in the gift shop of the Royal Observatory, but they did, and I needed one, so we bought it! The Royal Observatory sits on a great hill, and the views of London are wonderful.
After we'd seen enough of the Observatory, we wandered around Greenwich Park for a while. They were having a concert in the Park, and we eventually made our way there, but it started to rain, and we were hungry, so we went and had lunch in the café.
After lunch, we wandered into the heart of Greenwich, looking for the Tourist Information Centre so that we could get a map. The TIC was supposed to be right across the street from the Cutty Sark, the great ship that burned in 2007 and is going through major renovations now; we'd looked up the location on it's website before we left. However, when we arrived, we discovered that it had moved! You'd think it'd update its own website (apparently, now it has – I just checked).
Anyway, as we were making our way to the new location, we happened to pass Greenwich Market, so we popped in there on the way back from getting the map. It was a really great market! On a much smaller scale than most of the London markets we've visited, the Greenwich Market had all kinds of neat crafts and artwork and goods. Loads of wonderful smelling food, too; we were so disappointed that we'd lunched at that terrible café in the park!
Next we went to the Old Royal Naval College to see the Painted Hall
and the Chapel of St Peter and St Paul. Both were amazing and very impressive.
After that, we were some worn out puppies, and it was nearing five, so we headed back to the train station and home!
This weekend Andrew and I went on our first two of many upcoming day trips. We’ve realised that we’re about to leave the UK , and we’ve hardly even seen the UK ! Europe, yes, but not the UK . So this weekend we knocked two places in London (but very far out for us) off our list: Hampton Court Palace and Greenwich.
At Hampton Court Palace, there were loads of activities happening. They had performers dressed up as courtiers who simulated the celebrations that happened after the wedding of King Henry VIII to Kateryn Parr, his sixth wife.
We arrived mid-morning and wandered around for a bit before the festivities got underway. We explored the Base court and the Clock Court (with the beautiful clock), and then wandered on inside.
In Henry VII's apartments, they had set up a great dining hall with a full set head table (only minus the food) and tapestries from Henry's time covered the walls.
Then we met a courtier at Base Court who was led us to congratulate the King and his new bride!
Next, we wandered down to the cookery, where they were doing a special live presentation demonstrating how they prepared a lavish wedding banquet using authentic Tudor methods.
They even provided robes for everyone to wear to the festivities. (Andrew and I tried them on, but opted not to wear them.)
Afterward, we wandered around the gardens for a while before heading to the café for lunch. We ate authentic Tudor beef pies with chips (ie, fries) and seasonal vegetables.
After lunch, we headed straight for the garden maze, where we had agreed that we would race to the finish. Andrew, of course, beat me to the centre. I have no sense of direction whatsoever and get really disoriented in mazes!
Then we went to the back gardens to claim our spot ahead of time for the impending swordfight and falconry display.
We'd brought a blanket with us, so we plopped down on the grass and claimed one of the best spots. Andrew almost immediately fell asleep in the sun.
After a day full of Tudor fun, we headed home to have an icy beverage in our backyard!
Greenwich!
On Sunday we got up early again and headed to Greenwich. Greenwich houses the Royal Observatory, where the Meridian line runs (hence Greenwich Mean Time). We saw the clock, and Andrew set his watch to it.
Then there was an amazing display of Britishness in which all the tourists actually, of their own accord, formed a queue to line up and have their picture taken standing on the line in front of the sculpture. No one had specifically organised the queue; the people just did it. We were amazed. So we wanted the picture, too, and we got in line. All of a sudden, we were bombarded with a huge group of students (possibly Italian?), who either did not notice or completely ignored the queue, and they started jumping in line and breaking in front of everyone.
Andrew to the rescue! He and the guy behind us walked over and started policing the queue, making all the students respect the line of people waiting and go to the back. They were not pleased, but they obeyed! Everyone else in the queue was so thankful!
While that was going on, I was dealing with my own breaker. Some guy, who didn't speak a lick of English, came up and stood in front of me. I tapped him on the shoulder and asked him if he was with the two girls in front of me.
"Yes," he said (I later realised this is possibly the only English word he knows). So I stood there a minute, and then a woman came up and joined him, and she was motioning to someone else. Meanwhile, neither of them had spoken to the two girls in front of me, nor had they acknowledged his prescience, so I then realised he was not, in fact, with them.
I got right up next to him, so that I was kind of nudging him and the woman out of the line and was back behind the two girls, and I said, loudly, "I'm [pointing to myself] behind them [pointing the girls in front of me]. Y'all [pointing to they guy and the woman] need to move to the back of the queue [pointing to the end of the line]." (I hoped that with all the pointing, they would understand.)
Then the woman behind me, whose boyfriend was helping Andrew police the front of the queue, piped up and said, "Yeah. And I'm behind her [pointing to me], so don't try and nudge in here, either!" He ended up moving behind her, and the people back there either never noticed, didn't care, or were too afraid to speak up.
While we were standing in line for the picture, we got to see the Greenwich Time Ball rise and drop. The Greenwich Time Ball is a giant red ball on top of the Flamsteed House, and is one of the world's earliest public time signals. At 12:55pm every day, the ball rises half way up it's mast, and then at 12:58pm it goes up the rest of the way, and at 1pm exactly it falls to mark the hour.
Then we finally got our picture on the Meridian line!
We wandered through the Flamsteed House, the time galleries (which was basically a clock museum) and the astronomy galleries. Oddly enough, we bought a kitchen scale in the gift shop. I have no idea why they had a kitchen scale for sale in the gift shop of the Royal Observatory, but they did, and I needed one, so we bought it! The Royal Observatory sits on a great hill, and the views of London are wonderful.
After we'd seen enough of the Observatory, we wandered around Greenwich Park for a while. They were having a concert in the Park, and we eventually made our way there, but it started to rain, and we were hungry, so we went and had lunch in the café.
After lunch, we wandered into the heart of Greenwich, looking for the Tourist Information Centre so that we could get a map. The TIC was supposed to be right across the street from the Cutty Sark, the great ship that burned in 2007 and is going through major renovations now; we'd looked up the location on it's website before we left. However, when we arrived, we discovered that it had moved! You'd think it'd update its own website (apparently, now it has – I just checked).
Anyway, as we were making our way to the new location, we happened to pass Greenwich Market, so we popped in there on the way back from getting the map. It was a really great market! On a much smaller scale than most of the London markets we've visited, the Greenwich Market had all kinds of neat crafts and artwork and goods. Loads of wonderful smelling food, too; we were so disappointed that we'd lunched at that terrible café in the park!
Next we went to the Old Royal Naval College to see the Painted Hall
and the Chapel of St Peter and St Paul. Both were amazing and very impressive.
After that, we were some worn out puppies, and it was nearing five, so we headed back to the train station and home!
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