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Last day in new York
Last night we got to bed super late but got up fairly early anyway. Charles went around the corner and got the 3 of us some lovely cream cheese bagels from the bakery. We had breakfast with Melissa and talked about what to do today.
First we caught the F train to Bowling Green to see the statue of the Charging Bull. I thought that it was together with the bear but they're separate. It was literally covered with tourists and surrounded with people taking pictures of their friends. Most people liked taking photos with its bottom. Then we walked down to the water's edge and looked out to the Statue of Liberty. She was really far away. The whole place was super busy and crazy. Next we took the 4 train uptown to East Village where we met Melissa at the Strand bookshop. It's a really pleasant multiple storey shop with antique books and interesting stuff. I saw a book on Star Wars crafts, like chewbacca sock puppets and stuff. It was awesome.
Next we walked to a thrift store nearby where melissa suggested. It was pretty rad. I bought a couple of jumpers which I think I'll wear all the time. Then we walked for a billion kilometers to a nice place to eat. It was so hot! Lunch was at a pulled pork place which was nice. Then Charles and I caught the train back to Brooklyn while Melissa rode her bike. We were in a rush because we needed to get to the airport by about 4:45 and it was about 2:30. The subways in New York are so hot, it was super unpleasant.
We said goodbye and managed to hail a taxi to take us to the airport. It was stressful because the traffic was so bad, and we were only just in time.
The first flight was fine, we arrived at LA airport quite late, around 10pm local time which was 1am New York time. We had to get a shuttle bus between terminals which was totally lame but we managed. I'm writing this from the second plane. We had a little sleep and are awake now even though we should still be sleeping since it's 4am at home. There are lots of upset children around us, particularly two little brothers behind us who are kickers. When we get to Sydney, we are catching the Murrays bus back to Canberra getting in at 12:30.
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Thursday, August 18, 2011
Saturday, August 13, 2011
Friday the 12th - last day!
Today is our last full day in America. We got up a bit late and bought croissants from the bakery around the corner, and ate them with Melissa in their backyard. Lovely.
Then we had a few things on the agenda. First we went uptown to 5th avenue again because we wanted to see Tenders Button Shop. As predicted, it was amazing and really cool. The buttons were sometimes hugely expensive, but many were rare or old or imported. I didn't buy any because the shop people were scary.
Next we took a train way downtown to East Village, where there is apparently a lot of bargain shops. Maybe we were doing it wrong, but we didn't see many bargains or shops. It was a bit desolate but also super hot. We stopped in Starbucks to refresh ourselves and decided to walk to Chinatown. It was sort of far and super hotty hot.
Weird lunch.
Chinatown crept up on us and all of a sudden everything was foreign. We weren't tempted to go in any shops. Then super suddenly, we were in Little Italy! Somehow it was a lot more pleasant than Chinatown.
We kept walking north and ended up at NoLita (north of little Italy), which is a pretty fashionable district. Keeping on walking we ended up at Broadway street, where we were last night! I saw an Irregular Choice shoeshop (regular readers may remember I bought my doggie shoes there in London). There were 4 shop assistants and they took turns asking us if we wanted help. Some took more than one turn! Super annoying. Then we went to H&M again and I bought that jacket finally. I had dreams about it last night and I'm pretty sure it goes with every item of clothing I own.
Our weird dinner was at a bad japanese place. It seemed like they were making the food from a picture... Completely wrong!
We finally got to relax at the basement jazz club: "Small's" where we were going to watch the first set of the night. Melissa was already there and we agreed it was a good show and a fun atmosphere.
The quarter was led by the bass player and played mostly his originals, for our own memory we wrote down some of the songs:
Delayed, The Overture, Grains of Sand, Fragments from Providence for L.C.R.,
After the show we wandered around the west village and found a place for a drink and a long chat. A wonderful New York summer night!
Then we had a few things on the agenda. First we went uptown to 5th avenue again because we wanted to see Tenders Button Shop. As predicted, it was amazing and really cool. The buttons were sometimes hugely expensive, but many were rare or old or imported. I didn't buy any because the shop people were scary.
Next we took a train way downtown to East Village, where there is apparently a lot of bargain shops. Maybe we were doing it wrong, but we didn't see many bargains or shops. It was a bit desolate but also super hot. We stopped in Starbucks to refresh ourselves and decided to walk to Chinatown. It was sort of far and super hotty hot.
Weird lunch.
Chinatown crept up on us and all of a sudden everything was foreign. We weren't tempted to go in any shops. Then super suddenly, we were in Little Italy! Somehow it was a lot more pleasant than Chinatown.
We kept walking north and ended up at NoLita (north of little Italy), which is a pretty fashionable district. Keeping on walking we ended up at Broadway street, where we were last night! I saw an Irregular Choice shoeshop (regular readers may remember I bought my doggie shoes there in London). There were 4 shop assistants and they took turns asking us if we wanted help. Some took more than one turn! Super annoying. Then we went to H&M again and I bought that jacket finally. I had dreams about it last night and I'm pretty sure it goes with every item of clothing I own.
Our weird dinner was at a bad japanese place. It seemed like they were making the food from a picture... Completely wrong!
We finally got to relax at the basement jazz club: "Small's" where we were going to watch the first set of the night. Melissa was already there and we agreed it was a good show and a fun atmosphere.
The quarter was led by the bass player and played mostly his originals, for our own memory we wrote down some of the songs:
Delayed, The Overture, Grains of Sand, Fragments from Providence for L.C.R.,
After the show we wandered around the west village and found a place for a drink and a long chat. A wonderful New York summer night!
Friday, August 12, 2011
Wednesday 10th
Wednesday we were to leave the Gerbers but we didn't want to get to New York too early because Melissa was working until 10pm anyway. We left the Gerbers around 11am and drove to Boston, where we were going to meet a friend of mine who I had not seen in about 6 years, Samantha.
Sam was at school with me in years 8 - 10 and we were super good friends. She is a diplomat kid so they moved every 3 years and she went to Thailand. I always missed her super lots at school and still miss her sometimes. Anyhow we were to meet her at her work at the Rowland Institute at Harvard, which is basically a science lab where Harvard university pays students to research. Sam was not a student at Harvard but somehow got a job doing neuroscience there. She took us up to see the lab. I was immediately weirded out because she was always very into animal rights etc and I never pictured her cutting up brains.
We went for lunch at The Cheesecake Factory which obviously specializes in cheesecake but is also a restaurant that sells one billion dishes. I had chicken and mashed potato stuff, jammie had a tuna thing, and Charles had a burger. It was huge! Super large! My thing turned out to be the biggest and I ate nearly all of it! Then we shared a bit of cheesecake. Mistake! We were full all day!
So it turns out that Jammie does not kill the animals she works with. She was horrified at the notion! She works with rats and does use electrodes to measure brain activity but afterwards the rats go back in with the others and are normal. They do not get disposed of and only have tiny holes in their head that didn't hurt. I was really relieved. She said that she refuses to kill them unless they are old and sick, and they are treated as well as any house pet. Interesting! It was great to catch up with her because she is just as wonderful a person as I remember.
After our lunch we said goodbye to Jammie and went to a mall. We were super full - unpleasantly full. We went to a Best Buy and Charles bought some gear for his iPhone. That was all we bought there apart from a coffee.
Then we drove down to Newbury Street, which we visited with Erin and liked a lot. It is the cool place to be in Boston! The best shop was Betsey Johnson, Wichita is a designer who make pretty frilly dresses. We also visited Urban Outfitters which has an interesting style and also sells nicknacks.
Unfortunately we overstayed our parking - by like a minute - and received a parking fine of a whopping $25. I thought it was a bit mean to book us so soon after the expiry. We were cheesed off so left the city. It was about 5:30 and peak hour but we got onto the highway immediately and were fine. The drive was long and lame and we went through another storm! Poor Charles was headachy but we managed. Stopped for a late dinner at a mcdonalds at Southbury, which is some non town. As we got closer to New York City, the roads got smaller and the traffic got more unpleasant and busy and insane. I was navigating and Charles was amazing.
We finally arrived in Brooklyn and found a car park. Gosh we were tired! Melissa found us and we went pretty well directly to bed!
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
Sam was at school with me in years 8 - 10 and we were super good friends. She is a diplomat kid so they moved every 3 years and she went to Thailand. I always missed her super lots at school and still miss her sometimes. Anyhow we were to meet her at her work at the Rowland Institute at Harvard, which is basically a science lab where Harvard university pays students to research. Sam was not a student at Harvard but somehow got a job doing neuroscience there. She took us up to see the lab. I was immediately weirded out because she was always very into animal rights etc and I never pictured her cutting up brains.
We went for lunch at The Cheesecake Factory which obviously specializes in cheesecake but is also a restaurant that sells one billion dishes. I had chicken and mashed potato stuff, jammie had a tuna thing, and Charles had a burger. It was huge! Super large! My thing turned out to be the biggest and I ate nearly all of it! Then we shared a bit of cheesecake. Mistake! We were full all day!
So it turns out that Jammie does not kill the animals she works with. She was horrified at the notion! She works with rats and does use electrodes to measure brain activity but afterwards the rats go back in with the others and are normal. They do not get disposed of and only have tiny holes in their head that didn't hurt. I was really relieved. She said that she refuses to kill them unless they are old and sick, and they are treated as well as any house pet. Interesting! It was great to catch up with her because she is just as wonderful a person as I remember.
After our lunch we said goodbye to Jammie and went to a mall. We were super full - unpleasantly full. We went to a Best Buy and Charles bought some gear for his iPhone. That was all we bought there apart from a coffee.
Then we drove down to Newbury Street, which we visited with Erin and liked a lot. It is the cool place to be in Boston! The best shop was Betsey Johnson, Wichita is a designer who make pretty frilly dresses. We also visited Urban Outfitters which has an interesting style and also sells nicknacks.
Unfortunately we overstayed our parking - by like a minute - and received a parking fine of a whopping $25. I thought it was a bit mean to book us so soon after the expiry. We were cheesed off so left the city. It was about 5:30 and peak hour but we got onto the highway immediately and were fine. The drive was long and lame and we went through another storm! Poor Charles was headachy but we managed. Stopped for a late dinner at a mcdonalds at Southbury, which is some non town. As we got closer to New York City, the roads got smaller and the traffic got more unpleasant and busy and insane. I was navigating and Charles was amazing.
We finally arrived in Brooklyn and found a car park. Gosh we were tired! Melissa found us and we went pretty well directly to bed!
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
Tuesday 9th
On Tuesday we were hanging out with the friends we were saying with in Hamilton. We got up early and went to Gloucester (small fishing town) for the morning. Breakfast was held at a really popular cafe. I already posted a photo of charles' meal, and mine was frty porridge with a hash on the side. Hash here is potato and corned beef and other delicious stuff all mixed and mashed up and fried. Yum.
Then Alison and I went to a vintage clothing shop. It was super amazing because of the range of stuff. There were some very very old clothes in great condition! They also had huge amounts of old jewelry. bought a hat that i think is probably only from the nineties but I love. Photos have already been posted of the hat!
Then we went to a record shop that sold billions of CDs and records. Cool!
Then we all went to Market Basket which is their local huge supermarket. We had wanted to visit a huge supermarket. The Gerbers totally hate this place for some reason. There was a lot of choice and a lot of awful looking food, but I didn't find it too depressing. There was a whole aisle of paper. Also we learnt that Americans can't say "toilet paper", it's called "bath paper" here. Americans don't go to the toilet.
Then it was home because Ralph needed his sleep and was very naughty and grumpy. We al. Just hung out at home all afternoon watching television. Charles and I went for a little walk around the grounds. Lovely.
After dinner the two of us went and bought ice cream, it was amazing.
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
Then Alison and I went to a vintage clothing shop. It was super amazing because of the range of stuff. There were some very very old clothes in great condition! They also had huge amounts of old jewelry. bought a hat that i think is probably only from the nineties but I love. Photos have already been posted of the hat!
Then we went to a record shop that sold billions of CDs and records. Cool!
Then we all went to Market Basket which is their local huge supermarket. We had wanted to visit a huge supermarket. The Gerbers totally hate this place for some reason. There was a lot of choice and a lot of awful looking food, but I didn't find it too depressing. There was a whole aisle of paper. Also we learnt that Americans can't say "toilet paper", it's called "bath paper" here. Americans don't go to the toilet.
Then it was home because Ralph needed his sleep and was very naughty and grumpy. We al. Just hung out at home all afternoon watching television. Charles and I went for a little walk around the grounds. Lovely.
After dinner the two of us went and bought ice cream, it was amazing.
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
Today - Thursday the 11th
We missed a few days of posting because of super tiredness. Sorry. Today was super long and busy so this post is not for the faint hearted!
Today we woke up at Melissa's beautiful house and took the car to Hertz in Brooklyn. It was a bit Difficult but we managed okay. Then we walked around the pretty brooklyn streets and found a nice looking cafe to have breakfast called Iris cafe. It was really nice and friendly and a comfy atmosphere.
Then we took the subway to central to visit central park. It turns out that it is a really big park! It's three avenues wide and like 50 streets long. Streets are narrower than avenues but it's still super long! W wandered around for a while and saw where Miss Piggy rollerskated in The Muppets Take Manhattan. We also walked up to Strawberry Fields where there's the John Lennon memorial. There were one billion tourists there. There were also bands, sunbathers, horses and carriages, a zoo, a huge pond, ducklings, etc etc. Fun! But hot.
We realized pretty soon that we were super hot and thirsty and also that we had $1.98 total. We left central park and walked along 5th Avenue where all the big brands are. First we went to the Apple store (another one) because Charles had heard it was good. It was actually really loud and really full of large Americans standing in front of all the stuff we wanted to look at. Disappointing!
We wanted to find a Starbucks to check our emails and quench our thirsts, and we found one in the Trump building. We didn't notice when we went in, but it is actually a huge skyscraper. We were so thirsty. The building was entirely made of orange marble and the floors were very slippery and there was a waterfall. The entire building had one set of toilets in the basement. Weird.
Next we visited Tiffany and Co. We particularly ogled the engagement rings and wedding bands, knowing that we could not afford any of them. It was super fun to look. Diamonds are really sparkly, pictures do not do them justice. They are very pretty gems. We had fun (Charles too).
We looked at the other shops on the street and particularly visited H&M, where Chrissy found some things she really liked, a floaty chiffon spotty blouse and a winter jacket. She didn't buy either.
Next we walked to the Museum Of Modern Art (MOMA) and went to a cool exhibition called Talk To Me, about humans interaction with objects and computers. Chrissy's favorite was a piece about a small robot that only goes forwards and has a label that said "I'm heading for MOMA, point me in the right direction!" and there was a video of it roaming around a park getting helped by people who notice it stuck in gutters and going the wrong way.
After MoMA we wanted to go to uniqlo which was a train ride away in soho. It was super busy which was a bit annoying because Charles wanted to try on about 30 pairs of pants. Eventually he narrowed it down to two and bought both. We went to H&M there as well, but it was too busy to buy anything so we had to leave.
Then we got totally lost trying to get back to Brooklyn and took refuge in a cupcake shop. We tried to take one train but it was the wrong one and it took a bit of figuring out to get us on the right track! But we arrived in Brooklyn eventually and had dinner. Chrissy had grilled vegetables and Charles had a vege risotto. Yum.
Then we went to meet Melissa at Brooklyn Bridge Park where there was an outdoor movie event. The film... Breakfast At Tiffany's! Coincidence! We only got there halfway through the film but we got to see the good end bits. There were thousands of people at this park! It was nuts finding Melissa. She popped up and waved and when she sat down again we couldn't see her any more. She got us.
And now we're back at the apartment chilling out! We'll work out how far we walked today and I bet it's in the tens of kilometers. Our legs and feet are very unhappy!
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
Today we woke up at Melissa's beautiful house and took the car to Hertz in Brooklyn. It was a bit Difficult but we managed okay. Then we walked around the pretty brooklyn streets and found a nice looking cafe to have breakfast called Iris cafe. It was really nice and friendly and a comfy atmosphere.
Then we took the subway to central to visit central park. It turns out that it is a really big park! It's three avenues wide and like 50 streets long. Streets are narrower than avenues but it's still super long! W wandered around for a while and saw where Miss Piggy rollerskated in The Muppets Take Manhattan. We also walked up to Strawberry Fields where there's the John Lennon memorial. There were one billion tourists there. There were also bands, sunbathers, horses and carriages, a zoo, a huge pond, ducklings, etc etc. Fun! But hot.
We realized pretty soon that we were super hot and thirsty and also that we had $1.98 total. We left central park and walked along 5th Avenue where all the big brands are. First we went to the Apple store (another one) because Charles had heard it was good. It was actually really loud and really full of large Americans standing in front of all the stuff we wanted to look at. Disappointing!
We wanted to find a Starbucks to check our emails and quench our thirsts, and we found one in the Trump building. We didn't notice when we went in, but it is actually a huge skyscraper. We were so thirsty. The building was entirely made of orange marble and the floors were very slippery and there was a waterfall. The entire building had one set of toilets in the basement. Weird.
Next we visited Tiffany and Co. We particularly ogled the engagement rings and wedding bands, knowing that we could not afford any of them. It was super fun to look. Diamonds are really sparkly, pictures do not do them justice. They are very pretty gems. We had fun (Charles too).
We looked at the other shops on the street and particularly visited H&M, where Chrissy found some things she really liked, a floaty chiffon spotty blouse and a winter jacket. She didn't buy either.
Next we walked to the Museum Of Modern Art (MOMA) and went to a cool exhibition called Talk To Me, about humans interaction with objects and computers. Chrissy's favorite was a piece about a small robot that only goes forwards and has a label that said "I'm heading for MOMA, point me in the right direction!" and there was a video of it roaming around a park getting helped by people who notice it stuck in gutters and going the wrong way.
After MoMA we wanted to go to uniqlo which was a train ride away in soho. It was super busy which was a bit annoying because Charles wanted to try on about 30 pairs of pants. Eventually he narrowed it down to two and bought both. We went to H&M there as well, but it was too busy to buy anything so we had to leave.
Then we got totally lost trying to get back to Brooklyn and took refuge in a cupcake shop. We tried to take one train but it was the wrong one and it took a bit of figuring out to get us on the right track! But we arrived in Brooklyn eventually and had dinner. Chrissy had grilled vegetables and Charles had a vege risotto. Yum.
Then we went to meet Melissa at Brooklyn Bridge Park where there was an outdoor movie event. The film... Breakfast At Tiffany's! Coincidence! We only got there halfway through the film but we got to see the good end bits. There were thousands of people at this park! It was nuts finding Melissa. She popped up and waved and when she sat down again we couldn't see her any more. She got us.
And now we're back at the apartment chilling out! We'll work out how far we walked today and I bet it's in the tens of kilometers. Our legs and feet are very unhappy!
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
Wednesday, August 10, 2011
More photos!
Christina before her xylophone concert. There were pretty flowers outside the music building.
Playing Fluffy Ruffles with the marimba band and singer.
Christina and our new friend Roger, from the vibes workshop.
The whole xylophone gang. Evan, Chris, singer Courtney, other Chris, Sean, Bob Becker, Ben, Harvey, Christina, David, Tracy, Rose, and Rick.
Christina with Bob.
Playing Fluffy Ruffles with the marimba band and singer.
Christina and our new friend Roger, from the vibes workshop.
The whole xylophone gang. Evan, Chris, singer Courtney, other Chris, Sean, Bob Becker, Ben, Harvey, Christina, David, Tracy, Rose, and Rick.
Christina with Bob.
Photos from the last few days!
Charles playing at the vibes concert!
Charles and our good friend Carolyn who attended the vibes workshop!
A squirrel eating pizza.
Charles and our good friend Carolyn who attended the vibes workshop!
A squirrel eating pizza.
Monday 8th
Today we spent the morning doing fun stuff with our friends. We went to the university where Jonathan works and had a look around. It was like hogwarts!
Then we drove to Beverly which is a little suburb that has shops. Charles had a coffee and Alison and I walked to a thrift shop called Beverly Bootstraps. It was really good and I bought a cardigan to replace the one i lost in New York and a black blazer. It only cost me $4 altogether!
After that we went home for a quick sandwich and then Charles and I started driving to Boston to see our Friend Erin. It took us about an hour to get there because in the middle of the trip is started pouring with extreme rain so we had to slow down a lot. Then it cleared up by the time we arrived, or it hadnt started raining yet in Boston. Anyway we got to her house somehow because I am an amazing navigator through one-way streets and misleading signs.
We walked to a local cafe and had some coffees and cake. We also talked to her fiancee, our good friend, on FaceTime!1 It's video phone calling! Awesome! Erin is getting married and so are we so we talked Wedmin (wedding administration). While we were there it started storming outside again but it stopped by the time we left.
Then we actually went into town in her (Sam's) car and went to the Apple store and then to a wedding dress boutique! Erin had been there many times so had their number in her phone and called to make sure we could come. Since it wasn't a real appointment I couldn't try any on, but I was cool with that because they were all one billion dollars. We just had a brief look. Some of the dresses were so heavy they were difficult to pick up off the racks. Weird. You'd have to be a super strong bride to carry that stuff all day.
Then we realized that it was pouring with rain outside AGAIN, so we ran over the road to Anthropologie, a women's clothing and homewears shop. They had some really beautiful things, including two whole displays full of different knobs! I can't wait to have a house with cheap furniture so that I can put new knobs on all the drawers and doors. They were amazingly beautiful!
Then it stopped raining again so we went to a beautiful Tapas restaurant. It was busy but we could just get a seat. We had corn on the cob with delicious stuff on it, fish balls, potato wedges with saucy stuff. It was lovely!
Then we went back to the Apple store and ... I bought an iPad. It's really great. Now I can use FaceTime while Charles is away and I can have Internet everywhere. Yay!
Then we walked along some of the cool shopping streets of Boston. There was a shop that only sold vintage cowboy boots and hats and jackets. So interesting! There was a dress shop that was pretty much the same as modcloth.com. I tried on a gorgeous dress that had a camel print and had a cute collar, but it was massively overpriced. We stopped for ice-cream which was super nice!
Back at Erin's house we hung out and watched Masterchef and I un-boxed my new iPad and we looked at wedding magazines. Then Charles and I started the drive home again! We got back at around 11:20 and went to bed soon after!
Then we drove to Beverly which is a little suburb that has shops. Charles had a coffee and Alison and I walked to a thrift shop called Beverly Bootstraps. It was really good and I bought a cardigan to replace the one i lost in New York and a black blazer. It only cost me $4 altogether!
After that we went home for a quick sandwich and then Charles and I started driving to Boston to see our Friend Erin. It took us about an hour to get there because in the middle of the trip is started pouring with extreme rain so we had to slow down a lot. Then it cleared up by the time we arrived, or it hadnt started raining yet in Boston. Anyway we got to her house somehow because I am an amazing navigator through one-way streets and misleading signs.
We walked to a local cafe and had some coffees and cake. We also talked to her fiancee, our good friend, on FaceTime!1 It's video phone calling! Awesome! Erin is getting married and so are we so we talked Wedmin (wedding administration). While we were there it started storming outside again but it stopped by the time we left.
Then we actually went into town in her (Sam's) car and went to the Apple store and then to a wedding dress boutique! Erin had been there many times so had their number in her phone and called to make sure we could come. Since it wasn't a real appointment I couldn't try any on, but I was cool with that because they were all one billion dollars. We just had a brief look. Some of the dresses were so heavy they were difficult to pick up off the racks. Weird. You'd have to be a super strong bride to carry that stuff all day.
Then we realized that it was pouring with rain outside AGAIN, so we ran over the road to Anthropologie, a women's clothing and homewears shop. They had some really beautiful things, including two whole displays full of different knobs! I can't wait to have a house with cheap furniture so that I can put new knobs on all the drawers and doors. They were amazingly beautiful!
Then it stopped raining again so we went to a beautiful Tapas restaurant. It was busy but we could just get a seat. We had corn on the cob with delicious stuff on it, fish balls, potato wedges with saucy stuff. It was lovely!
Then we went back to the Apple store and ... I bought an iPad. It's really great. Now I can use FaceTime while Charles is away and I can have Internet everywhere. Yay!
Then we walked along some of the cool shopping streets of Boston. There was a shop that only sold vintage cowboy boots and hats and jackets. So interesting! There was a dress shop that was pretty much the same as modcloth.com. I tried on a gorgeous dress that had a camel print and had a cute collar, but it was massively overpriced. We stopped for ice-cream which was super nice!
Back at Erin's house we hung out and watched Masterchef and I un-boxed my new iPad and we looked at wedding magazines. Then Charles and I started the drive home again! We got back at around 11:20 and went to bed soon after!
Sunday 7th
On Sunday Charles and I picked up Bob Becker to take him to Philadelphia airport. Then we kept driving north to get to Boston.
The drive was kind of interesting and also kind of horrible. Through the cities there were traffic jams and big things and billions of signs. We stopped at one rest stop that had no wifi and huge lines for the toilet and was ridiculously busy and hot and loud. Gross.
We stopped again at mcdonalds which was actually nice. Free Internet and a delicious cheeseburger.
In Massachusetts it was suddenly a lot greener and there were forests and lakes everywhere. We arrived at our friends' house about 7 hours after leaving Philadelphia airport. We had driven through Delaware, new York, conneticut, Massachusetts, and new jersey. Petty good for one day! Finally arrived, we ate delicious food, played with the baby, watched iron chef America and went to bed.
The drive was kind of interesting and also kind of horrible. Through the cities there were traffic jams and big things and billions of signs. We stopped at one rest stop that had no wifi and huge lines for the toilet and was ridiculously busy and hot and loud. Gross.
We stopped again at mcdonalds which was actually nice. Free Internet and a delicious cheeseburger.
In Massachusetts it was suddenly a lot greener and there were forests and lakes everywhere. We arrived at our friends' house about 7 hours after leaving Philadelphia airport. We had driven through Delaware, new York, conneticut, Massachusetts, and new jersey. Petty good for one day! Finally arrived, we ate delicious food, played with the baby, watched iron chef America and went to bed.
Friday 5th, Saturday 6th.
Haven't posted in a while whoops!
Friday was a petty average day for the xylophone people, but it was the last day for the vibes workshop and the day of their concert. The concert went well for everyone! Charles played in your quiet place by Keith Jarrett. He was great! After the concert we went out with some of the vibes people for a drink at Buffalo Wild Wings. Lovely!
Saturday was the final day for the xylo workshop. We had all morning off so Charles and I went to collect the car from Hertz. We got a cute little zippy car. In the afternoon I went in to rehearse with everyone. After rehearsal Charles and I went into town and bought some Delaware t-shirts.
The xylo concert went well too and we all got photos with Bob Becker afterwards. Then the other kids were going to some house party so Charles and I got pizza and ice-cream instead. Yum.
Photos later!
Friday was a petty average day for the xylophone people, but it was the last day for the vibes workshop and the day of their concert. The concert went well for everyone! Charles played in your quiet place by Keith Jarrett. He was great! After the concert we went out with some of the vibes people for a drink at Buffalo Wild Wings. Lovely!
Saturday was the final day for the xylo workshop. We had all morning off so Charles and I went to collect the car from Hertz. We got a cute little zippy car. In the afternoon I went in to rehearse with everyone. After rehearsal Charles and I went into town and bought some Delaware t-shirts.
The xylo concert went well too and we all got photos with Bob Becker afterwards. Then the other kids were going to some house party so Charles and I got pizza and ice-cream instead. Yum.
Photos later!
Friday, August 5, 2011
Thursday 4th August
Today Charles had more seminars with David Friedman, famous for his book "Vibraphone Dampening and Pedalling". He went through a really interesting exercise for discovering sounds on the vibes by transposing chord voicing up and down diatonically depending on which scale you're in. In the afternoon, he played a little duo concert with Tony Miceli which was very interesting.
Christina had a long listening session in the morning. As it turns out, one of her favourite rags, "Fluffy Ruffles" is actually a song! For voice! The words are something like: "Fluffy Ruffles, She's the something or other, all the boys adore her etc etc".
In the afternoon she had improvisation lessons which were REALLY hard and then she had ensemble rehearsals. Charles got an early mark so he got to see some of the end of Chrissy's last session.
In the evening there was a party at Harvey's friend's house. It was great. We had a great time teaching people how to say Australia correctly ("uh-straya"). We also had a nice talk with Bob Becker and learned that he enjoys Fred Astaire films and Harry Potter. So there.
Christina had a long listening session in the morning. As it turns out, one of her favourite rags, "Fluffy Ruffles" is actually a song! For voice! The words are something like: "Fluffy Ruffles, She's the something or other, all the boys adore her etc etc".
In the afternoon she had improvisation lessons which were REALLY hard and then she had ensemble rehearsals. Charles got an early mark so he got to see some of the end of Chrissy's last session.
In the evening there was a party at Harvey's friend's house. It was great. We had a great time teaching people how to say Australia correctly ("uh-straya"). We also had a nice talk with Bob Becker and learned that he enjoys Fred Astaire films and Harry Potter. So there.
Yesterday - Wednesday!
Yesterday was Wednesday, which was my third day of classes and Charles' fourth. David Friedman came to teach the Vibes class today. He's a really amazing vibes player and a cool guy!
So as usual we went to get coffee and breakfast at Saxby's over the road from the university. Delicious! Then we went to our respective classes. I had a listening session where we heard lots of really old xylophone recordings from before the 1920s. It was very interesting!
In the evening was the "Vibes Hang", a internet-streamed concert which was going live on Tony Micelli's website. There was a drummer and a bassist there too to play with all the vibes players. There were lots of jazz tunes. Charles and I did our duo version of Triplets and everyone thought it was super great!! There were comments like "i'd hate to follow that" etc etc. Lots of people have been telling us how much they liked it, and we even got some compliments from Bob Becker. Here's a photo of him rehearsing with some of the other workshop participants:
Bob Becker played a version of Dance of the Octopus by Red Norvo which he had arranged. It was super lovely - that's a tune I'm actually currently learning. I video recorded it on Charles' camera so I can refer to it later. It was so lovely.
After the concert finished at about 8:30 Charles and I went for a long walk down main street looking for a place to eat. We ended up going to this weird 50s-themed cheeseburger restaurant. It was amazing! It had a bar with cute metal stools and pink neon lights everywhere. The music was all from 1053 2CA and there were cutouts of Elvis, the Fonze, and Betty Boop. I ordered a milkshake (because that's what you DO) and we both got cheeseburgers and chips. Yum!
So as usual we went to get coffee and breakfast at Saxby's over the road from the university. Delicious! Then we went to our respective classes. I had a listening session where we heard lots of really old xylophone recordings from before the 1920s. It was very interesting!
In the evening was the "Vibes Hang", a internet-streamed concert which was going live on Tony Micelli's website. There was a drummer and a bassist there too to play with all the vibes players. There were lots of jazz tunes. Charles and I did our duo version of Triplets and everyone thought it was super great!! There were comments like "i'd hate to follow that" etc etc. Lots of people have been telling us how much they liked it, and we even got some compliments from Bob Becker. Here's a photo of him rehearsing with some of the other workshop participants:
Bob Becker played a version of Dance of the Octopus by Red Norvo which he had arranged. It was super lovely - that's a tune I'm actually currently learning. I video recorded it on Charles' camera so I can refer to it later. It was so lovely.
After the concert finished at about 8:30 Charles and I went for a long walk down main street looking for a place to eat. We ended up going to this weird 50s-themed cheeseburger restaurant. It was amazing! It had a bar with cute metal stools and pink neon lights everywhere. The music was all from 1053 2CA and there were cutouts of Elvis, the Fonze, and Betty Boop. I ordered a milkshake (because that's what you DO) and we both got cheeseburgers and chips. Yum!
Wednesday, August 3, 2011
Tuesday 2nd of August
Today was Charles' third day of classes and Christina's second. As usual we went to the cafe over the road for breakfast before going to classes.
This morning Chrissy had a lecture about the history of the marimba and xylophone, plus a lot about how they are made and how they differ. Turns out there's no difference between a marimba and xylophone, except that the xylophone sounds an octave higher than written.
At lunch time, we ate pizza and then Charles and I went to have a play. Bob Becker was hanging out in the xylophone room playing all by himself! Charles asked if we could play for him and we played our duo version of Triplets. He thought it was pretty good! He suggested that we perform it at the "Vibes Hang" session tomorrow night. Yay!
After lunch, the group split into two to rehearse people's individual solos with the marimba band accompaniment. Here's a photo of me playing!
This morning Chrissy had a lecture about the history of the marimba and xylophone, plus a lot about how they are made and how they differ. Turns out there's no difference between a marimba and xylophone, except that the xylophone sounds an octave higher than written.
At lunch time, we ate pizza and then Charles and I went to have a play. Bob Becker was hanging out in the xylophone room playing all by himself! Charles asked if we could play for him and we played our duo version of Triplets. He thought it was pretty good! He suggested that we perform it at the "Vibes Hang" session tomorrow night. Yay!
After lunch, the group split into two to rehearse people's individual solos with the marimba band accompaniment. Here's a photo of me playing!
I think I did pretty well. Some people were not very well prepared or had no idea what the marimba band would sound like. I'm lucky that Gary makes us play so many rags.
Charles' Day: First we talked about technique and grip for a while, which was pretty boring. The tune of the day was C Jam Blues so everyone has to learn it by tomorrow. After lunch there was a boring malletkat session (Charles already knows everything about malletkat!) so he practiced instead with some new friends. In the afternoon, a violin player came in to talk about how she plays jazz with a vibraphone player.
For an early dinner, Charles and Christina and their new friend Carolyn went to a place called "Home Grown". It had really nice food! We had a really nice time talking. Then we all went to the vibes evening session where the violin lady played tunes with all of the students. Charles played "In Your Quiet Place" and it was really lovely. We both went to practice after that session, and stayed in until about 10pm, when we got too tired.
That's it for today!!
Tuesday, August 2, 2011
Today was the first day of the Xylophone workshop! Chrissy said that everybody had to play a rag they had chosen so that the teacher (Bob Becker) could see them play. It was scary! They also did exercises in improvisation and technique which all sound very interesting.
In Charles' vibraphone workshop the teacher had a bass player visit in the evening and everybody got to play a standard in a little trio with somebody else playing drums. Charles played Blue Bossa, which is a bit boring, but he doesn't know many songs from memory so his options were limited!
Chrissy went out to have dinner with the other Xylophone kids (literally they are all underage except for her) at some Buffalo Wild Wings place which looked like an RSL club and had televisions and pokies and only served giant spicy chicken things. Before ordering, the kids started talking about "kegs" and "getting stoned", so she half-faked jet-lag related illness and went to join Charles in the vibes jam.
We had a late dinner at the burrito place in town since it's Monday, you get to spin a wheel and win something when you buy a burrito. Charles won getting his burrito for free so that was good!
In Charles' vibraphone workshop the teacher had a bass player visit in the evening and everybody got to play a standard in a little trio with somebody else playing drums. Charles played Blue Bossa, which is a bit boring, but he doesn't know many songs from memory so his options were limited!
Chrissy went out to have dinner with the other Xylophone kids (literally they are all underage except for her) at some Buffalo Wild Wings place which looked like an RSL club and had televisions and pokies and only served giant spicy chicken things. Before ordering, the kids started talking about "kegs" and "getting stoned", so she half-faked jet-lag related illness and went to join Charles in the vibes jam.
We had a late dinner at the burrito place in town since it's Monday, you get to spin a wheel and win something when you buy a burrito. Charles won getting his burrito for free so that was good!
Monday, August 1, 2011
Photos of today - Sunday 31st July.
Last night's GIANT PIZZA. This picture doesn't do justice to how large it really was. I could only eat one slice and I was very VERY hungry!
Candid photo of the vibes workshop I took while waiting to be shown to a practice room. The guy in the middle is Harvey Price, and Charles is sitting on the left. There were a lot of people with vibraphones!
I chose an antique Deagan xylophone to practice on. It's cute!
The view from the window of my practice room. That building is where the vibes workshop is, the xylophone stuff is separate. People were playing with their dogs on that grass!
Us in the mirror!
More about today soon!
Sunday, July 31, 2011
more pictures!
empire state
long face
the quest for Lolita shops CONTINUES!
misty Brooklyn bridge
bustin' makes me feel good.
America! 30th July - New York to Newark, DE.
Today I woke up very tired but Charles was totally okay. We went to a Starbucks for breakfast and used their free wifi. YES.
We wanted to go to Kinokuniya bookshop, even though there's one in Sydney. They are a Japanese shop and have lots of nice Japanese magazines. On our way there we came across the New York Public Library - from Ghostbusters! We were really excited and went inside to look. It was a lovely old building with marble floors and wooden ceilings. We had fun. We are such nerds.
At Kinokuniya we bought a magazine each and then went upstairs to a cafe. They had Japanese foods up there that we really liked! I drank a giant iced coffee. We got really dehydrated walking around in the sun all day.
We went back to the hotel to collect our bags and got a cab to the big station. There were one billion people there and it was pretty loud and awful. We didn't know what track our train was leaving from until they announced it, and then there was a huge bunfight to get to the train. Literally hundreds of people trying to get down a tiny escalator with huge bags - crazy. Luckily we found a seat together.
I fell asleep on the train which was dumb of me, but when I wasn't asleep the scenery was really beautiful. Green and leafy and lots of quaint houses.
At Newark we were chucked out of the train. The man organising our workshops, Harvey, picked us up along with another guy from Switzerland. Harvey was really nice and friendly. We first went to the School of Music to meet some people (not everyone was there yet), and then he gave us our room keys and took us to the dorms. The dorm room is really strange. It's got lino floor, two very tall beds, two tiny desks, and a sink. It's kind of militaristic. The bathroom adjoins our room and the guy next door's room. So I hope he doesn't walk in on me in the shower (there's no lock weird weird weird).
We walked back to the School (Harvey said it would be an 8 minute walk and it took like 20) and all went out to dinner down the road. We went to an Italian place. Charles and I decided to share a small pizza. When it came, it was 14" wide. And thick too! It was so huge. I could only manage one piece and Charles only one and a half. We brought it home in a box and will have it for breakfast (I'm not really looking forward to that).
And that's it! Photos to follow!
We wanted to go to Kinokuniya bookshop, even though there's one in Sydney. They are a Japanese shop and have lots of nice Japanese magazines. On our way there we came across the New York Public Library - from Ghostbusters! We were really excited and went inside to look. It was a lovely old building with marble floors and wooden ceilings. We had fun. We are such nerds.
At Kinokuniya we bought a magazine each and then went upstairs to a cafe. They had Japanese foods up there that we really liked! I drank a giant iced coffee. We got really dehydrated walking around in the sun all day.
We went back to the hotel to collect our bags and got a cab to the big station. There were one billion people there and it was pretty loud and awful. We didn't know what track our train was leaving from until they announced it, and then there was a huge bunfight to get to the train. Literally hundreds of people trying to get down a tiny escalator with huge bags - crazy. Luckily we found a seat together.
I fell asleep on the train which was dumb of me, but when I wasn't asleep the scenery was really beautiful. Green and leafy and lots of quaint houses.
At Newark we were chucked out of the train. The man organising our workshops, Harvey, picked us up along with another guy from Switzerland. Harvey was really nice and friendly. We first went to the School of Music to meet some people (not everyone was there yet), and then he gave us our room keys and took us to the dorms. The dorm room is really strange. It's got lino floor, two very tall beds, two tiny desks, and a sink. It's kind of militaristic. The bathroom adjoins our room and the guy next door's room. So I hope he doesn't walk in on me in the shower (there's no lock weird weird weird).
We walked back to the School (Harvey said it would be an 8 minute walk and it took like 20) and all went out to dinner down the road. We went to an Italian place. Charles and I decided to share a small pizza. When it came, it was 14" wide. And thick too! It was so huge. I could only manage one piece and Charles only one and a half. We brought it home in a box and will have it for breakfast (I'm not really looking forward to that).
And that's it! Photos to follow!
America! July 28th, 29th.
Charles and I are in America now! I am here to attend the Bob Becker Ragtime Xylophone workshop and Charles is here to attend the Jazz Vibes course. Anyway!
We stayed at the Formule 1 in Sydney the day before the flight on the 28th. The flight was 14 hours to LA, and then another 5 hours to New York. We left at 10am on the Thursday and arrived at 5:30pm on the Thursday! It was hard convincing ourselves that only 8 hours had passed instead of 22.
We took a taxi to our hotel in New York - the 30 30 hotel in midtown, Manhattan. After a brief rest we took a walk and then had a late dinner at a restaurant outside our hotel.
Sleep was not had that night! Jetlag attack!
On Friday the 29th, we got up at about 10:30 (accidentally slept in) and went for a walk down to a shop I wanted to visit called Tokyo Rebel. They import Japanese fashions and it's really nice. The walk was very hot and humid, it was cloudy but one thousand degrees. We went to a park on the way and saw squirrels! I'd never seen squirrels before!
At the shop I tried on a beautiful Victorian Maiden dress that I really wanted, but I wasn't prepared to spend that much money. Instead I bought a little tote bag by Baby, The Stars Shine Bright. It's really cute.
Me and my bag (looking pretty tired):
After that we went to a really nice cafe and had lunch. What we ate:
BBQ'd asparagus with cheese and pepper and lemon - very nice!
Giant burger and giant amount of lovely chips!
After lunch we meandered back to our hotel where we had a little rest. I was feeling really bad with jetlag. Charles was tired but seemed to be feeling okay.
At 6 we took several trains out to Brooklyn to meet Charles' cousin Melissa. Subway trains are air-conditioned, but the stations are NOT. They are very hot and stuffy. It's disgusting. At Brooklyn Melissa showed us the beautiful view of the river and Manhattan. Then it started raining. We popped back to her house to get something and then went out to walk to a restaurant. It was raining SO HARD that their front steps had turned into a lake. I just took my shoes off and waded through because there was no way round. We went to a restaurant called Rice whose specialty was rice. I had dumplings though. It was lovely to talk to an Australian.
Around 9 Charles and I went back to our hotel totally exhausted. Despite our tiredness we still couldn't sleep! Worst ever!
We stayed at the Formule 1 in Sydney the day before the flight on the 28th. The flight was 14 hours to LA, and then another 5 hours to New York. We left at 10am on the Thursday and arrived at 5:30pm on the Thursday! It was hard convincing ourselves that only 8 hours had passed instead of 22.
We took a taxi to our hotel in New York - the 30 30 hotel in midtown, Manhattan. After a brief rest we took a walk and then had a late dinner at a restaurant outside our hotel.
Sleep was not had that night! Jetlag attack!
On Friday the 29th, we got up at about 10:30 (accidentally slept in) and went for a walk down to a shop I wanted to visit called Tokyo Rebel. They import Japanese fashions and it's really nice. The walk was very hot and humid, it was cloudy but one thousand degrees. We went to a park on the way and saw squirrels! I'd never seen squirrels before!
At the shop I tried on a beautiful Victorian Maiden dress that I really wanted, but I wasn't prepared to spend that much money. Instead I bought a little tote bag by Baby, The Stars Shine Bright. It's really cute.
Me and my bag (looking pretty tired):
After that we went to a really nice cafe and had lunch. What we ate:
BBQ'd asparagus with cheese and pepper and lemon - very nice!
Giant burger and giant amount of lovely chips!
After lunch we meandered back to our hotel where we had a little rest. I was feeling really bad with jetlag. Charles was tired but seemed to be feeling okay.
At 6 we took several trains out to Brooklyn to meet Charles' cousin Melissa. Subway trains are air-conditioned, but the stations are NOT. They are very hot and stuffy. It's disgusting. At Brooklyn Melissa showed us the beautiful view of the river and Manhattan. Then it started raining. We popped back to her house to get something and then went out to walk to a restaurant. It was raining SO HARD that their front steps had turned into a lake. I just took my shoes off and waded through because there was no way round. We went to a restaurant called Rice whose specialty was rice. I had dumplings though. It was lovely to talk to an Australian.
Around 9 Charles and I went back to our hotel totally exhausted. Despite our tiredness we still couldn't sleep! Worst ever!
Tuesday, January 4, 2011
3rd January!
(Christina)
Today we just wanted to do some relaxing shopping in Oxford to take advantage of the New Year sales. There were a few shops that we each particularly wanted to visit, so we arranged our walking tour around those stops.
My cold has developed into a bad cough, and now Charles is showing symptoms. I hope that his cold will not be as severe as mine. He was a bit grumpy today, which I totally understand - the first day of a cold feels like impending doom.
So the first place we wanted to go to was the Monocle shop - not a shop that sells monocles, but a shop run by the magazine/brand Monocle. Charles loves reading Monocle, which is a magazine written for super rich, first-class flying, travelling, executive, arty writer types. Charles is not all of those things, but he does like reading the magazine because it's interesting. Anyhow they sell stylish things that are mostly collaborations with other expensive brands. There were Porter/Monocle bags that Charles liked, but that were also all over 200 pounds. We had a fun time looking but didn't buy anything.
Next stop was Vivienne Westwood! There were two shops - one for men and one for women. Charles spent a while in the Mens shop and LIsa and I went to the Ladies' shop. They had lots of beautiful VW/Melissa shoes but NOT the Dragonball ones that I really like. They were all on special too… The clothes were lovely, but all were designer prices - too much. Anyhow it was super nice to visit such an iconic English brand.
Then it was lunch time! We went to a "Pret a manger" which serves really fresh delicious sandwiches and stuff. It was really nice! I didn't feel like eating anything at all because my throat was all swollen but the food was SO NICE I ate almost all my sandwich. Awesome!
That was at about 3pm (late lunch) and it was getting overcast and horrid outside. We walked around for a while and I spotted an Irregular Choice shoe shop - the brand Irregular Choice makes really awesome, sometimes bizarre shoes. It was an exciting shop and I ended up buying a beautiful pair of shoes that were on special!
Then we went to the Lomography shop that was just round the corner - didn't buy anything but it was fun.
Lisa didn't buy anything all day, because yesterday while Charles and i were at my family's house, she bought TWO JACKETS. She deliberately didn't go into any tempting shops today!
We went to a bookshop and Charles bought a science fiction book while Lisa and I browsed books about Madrid - she's going there tomorrow while we're going back to Sweden! Then it was to Marks and Sparks to get some salads for dinner, and then home on the tube. Since then we've just been watching telly and eating!
It's been a super lovely holiday!
Monday, January 3, 2011
2nd December 2011
Christina
Today Charles and I had arranged to go and see my sister-in-law Natasha's family, who live in Greater London. First we went to have a look at Buckingham Palace (much more simple than Versailles). Then we took a Southern Railway train from Victoria to Purley, where Natasha's dad picked us up. I'm still quite sick today, but my sickness has moved from my nose to my chest. Bad! Oh gosh will this awful illness never end. I hate it.
We had a really good time at their house! We found Natasha's brother particularly charming, as he is really interested in maths and talked to Charles about algebra for ages. Lunch was a delicious curry!
After that Charles and I took the railway and then the underground to Camden Town, where we met Lisa and shopped around. I bought two dresses immediately. Crazy! We stopped for a cupof tea when I started to flail, and then took the underground to Chinatown, where Lisa and Charles tried to make me eat something. Dudes and ladies, I was so not hungry. I stopped talking because every time I did, I coughed a gross painful cough which was gross and painful. The restaurant was a lovely Japanese place that was REALLY Japanese and was super nice. Lisa had Unagi Don (fried eel with egg and onion mixture on a bowl of rice) and Charles had oyakodon (Same as Lisa's except chicken instead of eel). I had delicious miso soup and some salted beans (sounds weird but is like snow peas cooked with salt - nice). Then i started to REALLY fail so we took the metro home! Now it's 9pm - I think I did pretty well feeling so sick. Charles and Lisa are real blessings, so kind.
Tomorrow - last day of the holiday!
Sunday, January 2, 2011
1st January 2011! New Year's Day!
Christina
Today we all slept in because it's new year's day and NOBODY wakes up early on new year's day. After breakfast downstairs and a Berocca (apparently it helps give you back your B-B-Bounce) and in my case, another Sudafed, we went and took a metro to the Natural History Museum. I've been watching a series on ABC about this museum and was really looking forward to it! (plus it was free).
First we visited the Dinosaurs exhibition! It was awesome! They had the bones of lots of dinosaurs and lots of interesting facts and pictures and stuff. It's one of those cool museums that have history facts and information AS WELL AS objects - I guess that's because it's aimed at children too. There were SO many kids and parents there. Lots of kids being frightened by the big animatronic t-rex. Lisa didn't quite understand our fanaticism about the dinosaurs - she doesn't yet understand that dinosaurs are AWESOME.
Then we went to an exhibition about MAMMALS. It was great. There were heaps of old taxidermied animals which is sad but also interesting. I saw how big a moose is! It's big (not as big as 3 school buses though). Mammals are often categorised by how many toes they have, which seems kind of arbitrary to me.
After a nice lunch at the cafe and another Sudafed, we walked over the road to the Victoria and Albert Museum. I'd heard they have a lot of interesting fashion stuff. This is a HUGE museum and has one billion exhibits. Unfortunately, the fashion exhibits were closed for refurbishment, but that still left plenty to look at. At one point we found ourselves in a huge gallery with only wrought iron stuff, like gates and fences and keys and stuff. My favourite was a room that was just full of lace. There was also heaps of fabric and embroidery samples from centuries ago. I loved it (lisa got a bit bored i suspect). There was a big amount of theatre stuff, like costumes and sets and advertising and stuff. Fascinating! There were also big paintings by Raphael and lots of giant sculptures and a hall of jewellery. We didn't have time to look at everything and we would have been there for 6 hours if we had tried to.
We were pretty tired after that, and there were no shopping places open (being new year's day), so we came home and watched TV for a while. I started to feel really awful and decided not to go out again. Lisa and Charles went out to Sainsbury's and bought me tissues, a greek salad, and 3 different types of cold medicine. They are so nice! Now they've gone out to have dinner in Chinatown (wherever that is). I await their return with bated breath to see how it went. I feel bad for staying home tonight, but I think I would've felt much sicker if I went out. I've been having a nice time playing on the internet.
Saturday, January 1, 2011
31st December 2010
(Christina)
Today is the last day of the year! Gosh! We woke up in our lovely big triple hotel room and had breakfast downstairs at the hotel. I have a really bad cold (terrible runny nose) but decided to soldier on. Unfortunately, we don't have free internet here in the hotel, so we trooped off to Starbucks around the corner to use theirs. We had to buy special membership cards and charge them with money to get a login! Crazy. Annoying. So we did that. My cold decided to get worse then and so Charles took me to a pharmacy and we asked for some medicine. I was given some sudafed (the real stuff), which is nice.
We took the underground to Notting Hill, where we went to Portobello Road markets. It was super fun! We didn't buy anything, but had a great time looking at all the interesting shops. There was a shop that sold both Hunter gumboots (lisa wants some) AND Melissa shoes (I love them). There wasn't much there to interest Charles particularly, but he had a good time too. We had lunch at a SUPER DELICIOUS gourmet burger place, which was totally filling and awesome.
After lunch, we headed back to the station and trained to St Paul's Cathedral. But when we wanted to go inside to have a look, we found that it was 12 pounds! 12! That's expensive! I was super cross because I think it's WRONG to charge to see a place of worship. It would be okay if they'd asked for a donation. Imagine how many other people are turned off by the price! I think it's not in their interest to charge so much. I have opinions.
So we walked to the Tate museum of modern art, which was just over the river. The best thing was a huge room with what looked like gravel on the floor, but was actually porcelain painted to look like sunflower seeds. Hundreds of thousands of porcelain sunflower seeds! We watched a documentary about it and it looks like the artwork is more about the people who made the seeds rather than the work itself. It was really interesting and heartwarming. It was made in a small town in China which had become a bit bankrupt so the business really helped bring the town back to life.
Other exhibitions were on surrealism and other modern art. Surrealism is cool, but other modern art seems to mostly consist of guts and creepy stuff.
Then we were hungry again! There was nowhere to eat near there so we randomly took the metro to Green Park station, thinking it might be busier. It wasn't, and we walked for ages not seeing anywhere to eat. Finally found a "japanese" place which was really disgusting but we ate there anywhere and it was okay. Then we continued walking in the same direction and began seeing millions of eateries and NYE revellers. It was a happening part of town! Lots of big lights and big city. It kind of went to my head, and I started to feel horrible so we went home. Now we're home watching Die Hard 4 or something, listening to the police cars zooming around outside. We're right over the road from a police station, it's not a bad part of town or anything :-)
PS every time Charles and I hear sirens or see a policeman, we just immediately think of the theme from the Bill. Dun-nuh, dun-nuh, DAH!
Today is the last day of the year! Gosh! We woke up in our lovely big triple hotel room and had breakfast downstairs at the hotel. I have a really bad cold (terrible runny nose) but decided to soldier on. Unfortunately, we don't have free internet here in the hotel, so we trooped off to Starbucks around the corner to use theirs. We had to buy special membership cards and charge them with money to get a login! Crazy. Annoying. So we did that. My cold decided to get worse then and so Charles took me to a pharmacy and we asked for some medicine. I was given some sudafed (the real stuff), which is nice.
We took the underground to Notting Hill, where we went to Portobello Road markets. It was super fun! We didn't buy anything, but had a great time looking at all the interesting shops. There was a shop that sold both Hunter gumboots (lisa wants some) AND Melissa shoes (I love them). There wasn't much there to interest Charles particularly, but he had a good time too. We had lunch at a SUPER DELICIOUS gourmet burger place, which was totally filling and awesome.
After lunch, we headed back to the station and trained to St Paul's Cathedral. But when we wanted to go inside to have a look, we found that it was 12 pounds! 12! That's expensive! I was super cross because I think it's WRONG to charge to see a place of worship. It would be okay if they'd asked for a donation. Imagine how many other people are turned off by the price! I think it's not in their interest to charge so much. I have opinions.
So we walked to the Tate museum of modern art, which was just over the river. The best thing was a huge room with what looked like gravel on the floor, but was actually porcelain painted to look like sunflower seeds. Hundreds of thousands of porcelain sunflower seeds! We watched a documentary about it and it looks like the artwork is more about the people who made the seeds rather than the work itself. It was really interesting and heartwarming. It was made in a small town in China which had become a bit bankrupt so the business really helped bring the town back to life.
Other exhibitions were on surrealism and other modern art. Surrealism is cool, but other modern art seems to mostly consist of guts and creepy stuff.
Then we were hungry again! There was nowhere to eat near there so we randomly took the metro to Green Park station, thinking it might be busier. It wasn't, and we walked for ages not seeing anywhere to eat. Finally found a "japanese" place which was really disgusting but we ate there anywhere and it was okay. Then we continued walking in the same direction and began seeing millions of eateries and NYE revellers. It was a happening part of town! Lots of big lights and big city. It kind of went to my head, and I started to feel horrible so we went home. Now we're home watching Die Hard 4 or something, listening to the police cars zooming around outside. We're right over the road from a police station, it's not a bad part of town or anything :-)
PS every time Charles and I hear sirens or see a policeman, we just immediately think of the theme from the Bill. Dun-nuh, dun-nuh, DAH!
30 December
(Charles)
Today was our big day to go to London! So when we woke up we organised our things and moved out of the room. We left our bags at the hotel and went out to walk around Paris for the day.
Our favourite bit of Paris is the Marais Quarter, near our hotel. So many interesting shops. We just walked and walked and found nice things to look at.
Towards the end of the day we wandered around St Martin's Canal which was also interesting. We found a shop there called "Mutant Mutant Mutant Mutant" which looked awesome and WAS AWESOME. It sold super cheap bright tights and socks which are Chrissy's favourite thing. Lucky us for finding it.
Then we met Lisa to get the Eurostar to London, our seats were a group of four facing each other so we could have intelligent conversation all the way.
In London we found our hotel in the west end, near victoria station. It's nice area, not very far from the queen. so that's nice.
The room is big and comfy, BUT the "internet in all rooms" is expensive! 2 pounds per hour! Ridiculous!!
So we can't upload the blog yet! Bad alert.
So, time for sleep now and walking around tomorrow!!
Thursday, December 30, 2010
29th December
Today we wanted to go to Versailles. We were feeling a bit tried from yesterday so we slept in and then we went out to Republique and got a huge delicious breakfast bread thing. It was delicious. Chrissy thought it was smaller than it was, and then it was 3 times bigger. She ate one third.
Then we caught the train to Versailles. This took a while. Ad then when we were in Versailles we went to the ticket office before we got to the palace and didn't have to wait in line. Charles got in free since he's a resident of the EU and is under 26, but Chrissy had to pay 20 euro.
Then we went up the Chateau and we went in the entrance. It was totally confusing and we didn't know where to go. We went into the main chateau museum and it was a long tour of identical rooms which were confusing and forgettable, even though each one was amazing. The highlights were the room with a thing in it, and that other thing that was in a room. Refer to photos.
Then we went to the garden which was all snowy and slushy and slippery and we walked a LONG way looking at all the fountains that were off, and eventually we got to the second building which was called the trianon which was kind of more interesting i thought. The last building was called the little trianon, and then there were a collection of little whimsical farm buildings made for marie-antoinette to play in. Then we had to walk back to the main house which was SO HARD, oh my god, it was bad. then we stopped for McDonalds but it was too late for lunch and i felt bad, we both felt bad.
Then we got the train back, but instead of going home which would be sensible, we went to Muji. Chrissy bought a bag because her other bag strap BROKE! And then instead of getting a train home we decided to walk home, which was also totally crazy, but we passed some interesting shops, including a bookshop which was totally interesting.
Then we got some salads from the better bakery, then we got home at ate them and they were super delicious, oh my gosh. now our legs hurt. Our last full day in Paris!
28th December
(Christina)
Oh no! We forgot to blog for a day! We got home so late last night that we were too tired. It was a huge day!
First off we met Lisa at Republique as always, and she took us to an AMAZING bakery we'd never seen before. We had ham and cheese croissants which SOUNDS pretty average but was actually totally amazing. We felt full and energised.
We wanted to go to Printemps, which is a department store. We found a brochure with a 10% discount at Printemps so thought it might be interesting. On the way we went to UniQlo, which is a Japanese brand that just sells basic clothes - not fancy ones, but good quality and fairly cheap. I was thrilled to find that they had a bunch of dresses that were a collaboration with Milk - another Japanese brand that is usually to expensive for the likes of me. But since it was a collaboration with UniQlo, they were only 19 euro! So I bought one. I also FINALLY bought a jumper (thanks mum and dad) which is warm grey cashmere. Charles bought a scarf and a new plain black t-shirt because he was sick of all his old plain black t-shirts.
We finally got to Printemps, but it turned out to be exactly the same as La Fayette - all really expensive name-brands. Boring! We took the metro to the Champs-Elysses and went to a museum called Palais de Tokyo. It was only - ONE EURO - for each of us to enter. The price was 1 euro for "artists" and "students studying art" so we claimed to be art students which is kind of TRUE. We didn't need to prove anything!
The gallery was interesting contemporary art, my favourite piece being a sculpture that was a circle of jeans with concrete in them instead of legs. We had lunch at the museum too! It was fairly cheap!
Next we walked up the Champs-Elysses again - this time with Lisa. She and I went to Sephora, the big cosmetics shop, and she bought some nail polish and I bought some extreme red lipstick. It's rad! We walked all the way up the street to the Arc, took some photos, and then took a metro away from there.
Next stop was dinner. Lisa had a place she wanted to take us that was on the left bank. It was a pretty classy place! I had "vegetable soup" which turned out to be "vegetable" singular, pumpkin. Lisa had the duck, which was not off, and Charles had a delicious beef… stew. (his imagination was broke). They were all really yummy! Right outside the window next to our table there was someone in a Smart Car who was totally parked in by these two other huge cars. We enjoyed watching him do a 7-point-turn to escape. In Paris people just bump into the other cars to get in and out of a parallel park.
Next - Tour d'Eiffel! We took a metro there and immediately went right to the top. I was so scared! The lift goes fast and it makes your ears pop because the tower is SUPER TALL. It was foggy at the top so we couldn't really see anything, which is kind of a relief because it's scary at that height! We went down to the second level and could see lots from there. By the time we left it was about 10:30 and way past our bedtime! So we went home to bed! The end!
Tuesday, December 28, 2010
27th December
(Charles)
Today was our BIGGEST day YET.
We met at the bakery at République for breakfast croissants and pain au chocolat. YUM. We sort of wanted to go the the Champs Elysses again, but some museums over there were closed on Mondays so we decided to visit Montmartre instead.
SO, we hopped in a metro out to Montmartre and wandered around for a while trying to find our way up the hill to the big church, Sacre Coeur. The church was nice, but the view from the top was really interesting. As it was approaching coffee-o-clock, we stopped for espresso and cakes. YUM.
Suddenly I realised (with the help of LP) that there was a Dali museum in Montmartre. Christina suddenly got sparkly eyed and so we had to go, so we wandered around a bit more to find it. The museum was pretty good, a small gallery with mostly sketches and sculptures, it was a bit busy for a really relaxed look, but it was worth seeing and pretty cheap. Probably the best bit was the Dali quotes on the walls. He was clearly completely mad and totally awesome.
NEXT, Lomography Shop Paris! I've wanted to go to a lomography shop for ages and finally we were able to go to the Paris gallery store. I was very relieved to find it open since lots of things were closed most of the day. They had ALL the fun cameras and films and things. I bought some interesting film and an awesome case for MY Diana mini camera. (Chrissy has claimed the camera AND the case. So that's that).
Lisa and I want Lomo LCA+ cameras but they're too expensive! (250eu!!)
NOW was the time for walks in the Bastille area. We somehow decided to walk because it wasn't too far and because the big train stations are a bit tiring to figure out all the time (Gare du Nord is closest to the Lomography shop). So we walked to République and then got a metro two stops. Suddenly it became clear that it was lunchtime and we quickly stopped to eat. After food, we started walking around an "area of interest" according to LP, in the first street we found a cool contemporary art gallery, lots of great windows, and a little cute clothes shop where the shop assistant / designer was actually sewing while looking after the shop. Sometimes Paris is just too cool. As it got darker, we found more shops and more people came out to walk around. It was super fun running around all the cool shops.
Eventually we ended up at the Pompidou Centre and took lots of cool photos.
Dinner was in two parts -- first, Crepes, second, super cheap pizza, salad and wine from a touristy sort of Italian restaurant. I ate too much cheese.
It was basically a super rad day. We three are an awesome travel team!
Monday, December 27, 2010
26th December!
(Christina)
We met Lisa at around 10:30 today an went straight to some markets in the south of Paris. They were fun markets - lots of stalls and interesting stuff, mostly antiques. I bought a hair thing and Lisa got a little set of kitchen scales. It was obscenely cold and both of my feet went numb. We stopped to have brunch at a bakery.
Then we took the metro to the left bank - or the south bank - to see a cool museum that Charles found, Fondation Cartier pour l'Art Contemporain. It turned out that the exhibition was about a particular French comic book artist called Jean Giraud or Gir or Moebius. It was super interesting and awesome. I wish I could read French!!
Then we walked around the cool streets on the left bank, over the river from Notre Dame. We went to Shakespeare and Co bookshop (a famous English-language bookshop, mostly run by poets and authors and beatniks), and had lunch at another bakery. It was all very pretty, but not many shops were open because everything shuts on Sundays.
Home now yay! Another dinner of home made sandwiches!
PS. In Paris we mostly eat sandwiches. The bread is soooooo nice.
PS. In Paris we mostly eat sandwiches. The bread is soooooo nice.
Sunday, December 26, 2010
Christmas in Paris!
Today was Christmas! yay! Unfortunately, we were both feeling a bit sick so we took the day off from doing too much stuff. Chrissy wanted to go to church, so we went to a service at Notre Dame this morning. There was a nice choir, but we were so far back that it all sounded a bit washy and unclear. Even though everything was in French, I found it only slightly more boring than a regular church service. so, not that bad?
For lunch we settled for macdonalds, since we were too tired to find somewhere good... Boring. In the afternoon we watched Xena and then for dinner we went to a supermarket and got stuff to make sandwiches. Bread in Paris is generally SUPER DELICIOUS. Yum.
More interesting stuff tomorrow!
For lunch we settled for macdonalds, since we were too tired to find somewhere good... Boring. In the afternoon we watched Xena and then for dinner we went to a supermarket and got stuff to make sandwiches. Bread in Paris is generally SUPER DELICIOUS. Yum.
More interesting stuff tomorrow!
Saturday, December 25, 2010
24th December - Christmas Eve!
Today was the second day of our two-day museum pass, so we met Lisa early to go to as many museums possible! We were a museum viewing three-headed monster!
First we went to the Louvre, obviously, and headed straight for the Mona Lisa. Lisa and I lost Charles on the way there and discovered that we'd overshot the entrance to the Mona Lisa room by about 50 metres! Poor Charles thought we'd left him forever! Anyhow the Mona Lisa was pretty okay, much smaller than I thought, and kind of annoying to view because of all the billions of people there. BILLIONS.
Other things we looked at at the Louvre: Venus, Ramses, a MUMMY, various Egyption relics, Ancient Greek stuff, lots of paintings of Jesus. Charles and I would like to go back again! It was really good and we hardly saw anything, even though we were there for over two hours.
THEN we went to another museum called Musee des Arts Decoratifs (or something). It was all about hand made stuff and design, I think. We mostly looked at a bunch of fashion by famous designers (Vivienne Westwood, Jean Paul Gaultier, Christan Dior), which was cool. Then we went into a gigantic maze of rooms with art deco stuff, art nouveu stuff, old chairs, renaissance stuff. We felt tired and wanted to leave, but to get out you had to go through another gallery of "animal" stuff, which included crocodile skin boots, a giant metal rhinocerous, and also chairs made in the shape of dogs. At the end I didn't really know what the museum was trying to achieve. We also noted that there were about 5 floors we didn't even look at.
Following that, we walked in the freezing cold snowy weather to Musee d'Orangerie, which is famous for housing some of Monet's Waterlilies. The museum was basically two large oval rooms with four huge curved paintings covering almost the entire wall space. Look it up! Awesome. And beautiful too.
We were tired after three museums, so took a train to a place where Lisa said was a good Japanese restaurant. We all had ramen, and it was pretty good DESPITE the staff all being Chinese (lisa overheard their conversation - she's a handy person to have around).
We went to a famous department store called Galleries LaFayette which was in full-on crazy mode because everyone was buying last minute presents. We saw lots of fashion by famous designers (Vivienne Westwood, Jean Paul Gaultier, Christian Dior), which all had dresses for thousands of euros! A BIT out of my price range, you guys!
After we got all crazied out, we all went home. The end! Happy Christmas!
First we went to the Louvre, obviously, and headed straight for the Mona Lisa. Lisa and I lost Charles on the way there and discovered that we'd overshot the entrance to the Mona Lisa room by about 50 metres! Poor Charles thought we'd left him forever! Anyhow the Mona Lisa was pretty okay, much smaller than I thought, and kind of annoying to view because of all the billions of people there. BILLIONS.
Other things we looked at at the Louvre: Venus, Ramses, a MUMMY, various Egyption relics, Ancient Greek stuff, lots of paintings of Jesus. Charles and I would like to go back again! It was really good and we hardly saw anything, even though we were there for over two hours.
THEN we went to another museum called Musee des Arts Decoratifs (or something). It was all about hand made stuff and design, I think. We mostly looked at a bunch of fashion by famous designers (Vivienne Westwood, Jean Paul Gaultier, Christan Dior), which was cool. Then we went into a gigantic maze of rooms with art deco stuff, art nouveu stuff, old chairs, renaissance stuff. We felt tired and wanted to leave, but to get out you had to go through another gallery of "animal" stuff, which included crocodile skin boots, a giant metal rhinocerous, and also chairs made in the shape of dogs. At the end I didn't really know what the museum was trying to achieve. We also noted that there were about 5 floors we didn't even look at.
Following that, we walked in the freezing cold snowy weather to Musee d'Orangerie, which is famous for housing some of Monet's Waterlilies. The museum was basically two large oval rooms with four huge curved paintings covering almost the entire wall space. Look it up! Awesome. And beautiful too.
We were tired after three museums, so took a train to a place where Lisa said was a good Japanese restaurant. We all had ramen, and it was pretty good DESPITE the staff all being Chinese (lisa overheard their conversation - she's a handy person to have around).
We went to a famous department store called Galleries LaFayette which was in full-on crazy mode because everyone was buying last minute presents. We saw lots of fashion by famous designers (Vivienne Westwood, Jean Paul Gaultier, Christian Dior), which all had dresses for thousands of euros! A BIT out of my price range, you guys!
After we got all crazied out, we all went home. The end! Happy Christmas!
Friday, December 24, 2010
23 December
Paris blog 2010/12/23
Paris was very snowy today! Totally annoying! The air isn't that cold, so the snow is sort of wet and sticks to you, BUT, the wind is super cold and annoying. So, we all agreed that it was too cold to wander around and we decided to do museums today and tomorrow. We met Lisa at Republique and bought a Paris Visite pass for 5 days so that we don't have to keep finding change for the metro all the time. We decided to do the Centre Pompidou first because it looks so interesting. The line to get in wasn't too bad and we bought 2 day Paris Museum passes. The first thing that happens at the Pompidou centre is that you have to go around the outside of the building on the escalators. This is totally awesome. The view was great, even though the weather outside was frightful. We took a lot of photos at the top. The main galleries are modern art to 1980 and then 1980+ and the 1980+ section had a focus on women artists. It was totally awesome.
We then spent AGES in the bookshop and interesting thing shop. Lots of books were on special, but they were usually really heavy and annoying. Lisa and I agreed that we wanted a cool book for around 10 euros which was small enough to carry with us. We couldn't find anything meeting all three conditions.
LUNCH was at a nice place nearby that specialised in grilled cheesy sandwiches. Nice and inexpensive.
THEN, we wanted to do another museum, but it was pretty late, so we went to Musée de Arts et Metiers since I remembered it was pretty small. Getting in was a bit weird. They wanted us to produce our museum passes to get ANOTHER ticket, and then a lady waved us through while trying to get us to join a tour or something which we didn't care about and then ANOTHER person scrutinised both tickets. Weird. We had no idea what was going to be on at this museum, but the temporary exhibit was a retrospective on video games and it was totally rad. The focus was playing the games and they had lots of representative games from the last 30 years set up and ready to play. Obviously, NES had Super Mario Bros, Gameboy had Tetris, N64 had Goldeneye, there was Lemmings (Chrissy played) etc. It was super awesome. We were all blown away.
The rest of the museum was a bit dusty and tired but was still reasonably interesting (or maybe we were tired).
Luckily the museum shop wasn't selling awesome video games and consoles or charles may have spent all his money.
THEN we got tired and had to come home! Baguette and salad for dinner from the boulangerie. Yum.
Extra info: We went to a supermarket and got some deserts and some more bottled water. When we got home, the water turned out to be all salty. Weird? Who wants to drink salty water??
Thursday, December 23, 2010
December 21st!
21 December
Here's a blog post detailing what we did yesterday, since we were too tired to write a blog.
We got up at 4:30 from our hotel in Stockholm and went directly to Arlanda airport. I was feeling cautious excitement at the possibility of being in Paris by noon, and Charles was feeling cautiously grumpy at being woken up so early. We DID make it to Paris, and we took the train into town. Paris metro stations are easier to navigate than Japan ones because people aren't in such a pushy hurry, and because the signs aren't in Japanese. French is easier to read than Japanese in English.
We got to our hotel to find that it is PRETTY small. I could not swing a cat in here! If I wanted to swing a cat. It has a place to sleep and a place to wash, so it's okay really.
We went out immediately and had lunch at a local lebanese place. Nice! Then it was straight to the Champs-Elysses for a walk. We walked all the way along the lovely street, looking at the pretty Christmas market stalls and the big shops. It was pretty similar in feel to Omotesando-dori in Harajuku, the same wide street with big fancy shops and big fancy people. We had a good look at the Arc de Triumphe at the end, and agreed it was pretty good. Here's Charles wearing it like a hat!
Here's me eating it!
We just walked back down the Champs-Elysses again. Stopped at Louis Vuitton to see what all the fuss was about, but I still don't really like chequered bags.
THEN we took the metro to the stop near the Eiffel Tower, and saw the Eiffel Tower. It's really big and cool! There were lots of christmas market stalls there too and we enjoyed looking through them. Charles bought a crepe with nutella in it… delicious. At the actual tower, there were one thousand dudes selling stuff. Mostly they were selling miniature Eiffel Towers, which they carried around on huge rings and shook about. Some people were selling hats and scarves, because it was really cold, and some were selling animatronic barking dogs. Some really annoying dudes were selling roses which they kept shoving in my face. The WORST dudes were the ones trying to tie a string around my wrist and then get 2 euro for it.
Anyhow we saw the lights come on, but it wasn't super spectacular because it was so foggy! What a terrible day to go up the tower! Good thing we didn't go up. Saving that for a better day.
Then: home to our hotel! Yay what a lovely day! By the way, there's a REALLY NICE view of Paris from our window. Not like a spectacular panorama, but a nice view of parisian streets. Cute!
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