Okay, so I wrote the last entry on Tuesday, but posted it Wednesday, so I have to go back to catch up on Tuesday's events. I got to Rotterdam and met my friend there at the station, had a glass of juice to wake up a bit, then we went off to see the town. She used to run her own company of 'city hosts' to take people around the city, so it was fun to have her as my personal encyclopedia of knowledge about Rotterdam and get to hit the highlights of the town really quickly :) I got to see where most of the city was wiped out in WWII and the few remaining buildings, take a water taxi through the harbor, and walk through the shopping area. We only had a couple hours, because the plan was to rent a car and drive back to her house in Oostvorne, and the rental place closed at 6pm. So we picked up the car, which was quickly named Yoko, and I silently prayed I would remember how to drive a manual transmission without much trouble!! And I did - huge relief! It was fun to drive again, and helpful to have Eveline to navigate me through the city. We got to her house, changed into comfy clothes, and headed out on bike - very Dutch - everyone rides bikes everywhere here, it's so cool - to the beach! Beautiful day, we walked for a bit, then realized we had to get food at the store before it closed at 8pm, and it was 7:45 and we were 2 miles away! So we ran back to our bikes, and hoofed it to the store- my poor legs didn't know what hit them, I hadn't ridden a bike in ages, and here I am going as fast as I can! It was fun though, and we made it just before they shut the doors to get some wine, cheese, hummus and bread, and ride back home. :) Decided then to go back to the beach with the wine and watch the sunset, which was soo nice. We had a lovely time chatting and relaxing, and trying to take photos jumping off the sand dunes, resulting in really bad pictures and much hilarity. When the sun had set, Eveline said, well we should head back, you've got the bike with a light. And I stood up, the blood rushed to my head and I said, um, this could be interesting, I've had a bit too much wine on an empty stomach!! We managed to get back in one piece - fortunately it's a small town and there was no traffic. It was quite funny to get off my bike and not be able to walk so straight - that was a new experience!
Wednesday morning I got up and drove to Culemborg for my meeting, which fortunately wasn't too hard to find - no thanks to google maps, who haven't quite figured out how to give directions within Holland. Getting back was much more of a fiasco, but I made it! Worked a little more from Eve's house, then we loaded up Yoko and headed to Amsterdam. Eve is going to San Francisco for 3 weeks, so she had all her bags ready to fly out and I was all set to fly back to the UK, so it was a perfect how our timing worked out. We got to Amsterdam, returned the car, checked in our hotel, and went over to the city center to meet another one of her friends for dinner and a drink. I was completely shattered at this point, haven't slept very much in the last week, so I was ready to go back to the hotel at 10. I'll have to come back sometime to do more of a wild Amdam night maybe.
I missed my flight this morning because I forgot to allow enough time to walk from the hotel to the train station...I sure hope I'm getting all of these stupid mistakes out of the way in one trip, I can't handle going through the mania of this one again. I had to pay a fee and rebook for the Amdam-Stansted flight leaving 30 minutes later, so I'm now on the train back to london from Stansted, which is further out than Gatwick. Sigh. At least I'm almost there, and will be at work soon.
Thursday, August 30, 2007
Wednesday, August 29, 2007
whew!
Can I just say that living in London is so amazing it's exhausting? I'm on a train in the Netherlands now, which is this sweet double-decker train. So of course I'm on the top level so I can see the countryside :D Going from Amsterdam to Rotterdam, where I meet a friend. Tomorrow I have the business part of my trip, but today I get to play a little.
This weekend was crazy, Notting Hill Carnival was on Sunday and Monday - supposedly the biggest street carnival in Europe and I can definitely see why. I have never seen so many people in one place in my life. And I am not exaggerating. Hordes of people milling about through the miles of streets that were closed. One of which, was the street I live on, Ladbroke Grove. So that meant and 7:30 on Sunday morning, the part was warming up outside my window!!! Craziness. I actually ditched the Carnival for Sunday, since by 1:00 I'd heard plenty of carribean flair music for one day, and went to a music festival, Metro Weekender, with Alessandra (flatmate). Yeah, London is so big and so jam-packed of stuff to do that the bank holiday weekend had at least 3 major events going on. Not good for the chronically indecisive! The festival was great, we had VIP tickets through a friend so we had somewhere to eat, drink, sit down, good view of the mainstage, and Alessandra got to meet UFFIE, a female singer/rapper she loves, since we were in the 'artist's lounge'. It was more of an indie rock event, but there were also a couple of tents with DJ's, which was awesome, especially because Two Many DJ's was there, who are just amazing. This only continued to feed my fascination with the house music scene. I'm still definitely more into live music, but there's something about the artistry of a good DJ mixing and creating the dance atmosphere that's growing on me. We got into the after-party, but it was before the main band got there, The Streets, and some random dude with a guitar was playing, so we didn't last long enough for the fun to happen there. Plus, I had spent all day in the sun and the couple ciders I drank weren't sitting so well! So, I added one more check on the list of 'places really hard to get into that i've been looking next to my worst' ;) It was some swanky club in Soho where you sit down a table with champagne flutes and glasses, and the waitresses look better than half the people in there.
So Monday, I wake up to more carnival music, and this time, go out amongst the millions and dance and gawk at the costumes. It was really fun! I was exhausted and had to be up early for my flight today so I only lasted until about 6, then spent about an hour walking what is usually a 10 minute walk. When people become a wall, it's a bit scary!
And now I'm here, in the Netherlands, after a stressful morning - I forgot my passport. !!! First time ever. All I can think is that somehow my subconscious thinks it's like a within-the-US trip, it is only an hour flight, and so cheap and easy to get to...however, still an international flight, and I still have to have my passport. sigh. So I missed the flight, went back and got my passport, and then came to the airport and just barely made the new flight. Sheesh. I hope that was both the first and last time I do something as stupid as leave behind the only thing that's absolutely required.
This weekend was crazy, Notting Hill Carnival was on Sunday and Monday - supposedly the biggest street carnival in Europe and I can definitely see why. I have never seen so many people in one place in my life. And I am not exaggerating. Hordes of people milling about through the miles of streets that were closed. One of which, was the street I live on, Ladbroke Grove. So that meant and 7:30 on Sunday morning, the part was warming up outside my window!!! Craziness. I actually ditched the Carnival for Sunday, since by 1:00 I'd heard plenty of carribean flair music for one day, and went to a music festival, Metro Weekender, with Alessandra (flatmate). Yeah, London is so big and so jam-packed of stuff to do that the bank holiday weekend had at least 3 major events going on. Not good for the chronically indecisive! The festival was great, we had VIP tickets through a friend so we had somewhere to eat, drink, sit down, good view of the mainstage, and Alessandra got to meet UFFIE, a female singer/rapper she loves, since we were in the 'artist's lounge'. It was more of an indie rock event, but there were also a couple of tents with DJ's, which was awesome, especially because Two Many DJ's was there, who are just amazing. This only continued to feed my fascination with the house music scene. I'm still definitely more into live music, but there's something about the artistry of a good DJ mixing and creating the dance atmosphere that's growing on me. We got into the after-party, but it was before the main band got there, The Streets, and some random dude with a guitar was playing, so we didn't last long enough for the fun to happen there. Plus, I had spent all day in the sun and the couple ciders I drank weren't sitting so well! So, I added one more check on the list of 'places really hard to get into that i've been looking next to my worst' ;) It was some swanky club in Soho where you sit down a table with champagne flutes and glasses, and the waitresses look better than half the people in there.
So Monday, I wake up to more carnival music, and this time, go out amongst the millions and dance and gawk at the costumes. It was really fun! I was exhausted and had to be up early for my flight today so I only lasted until about 6, then spent about an hour walking what is usually a 10 minute walk. When people become a wall, it's a bit scary!
And now I'm here, in the Netherlands, after a stressful morning - I forgot my passport. !!! First time ever. All I can think is that somehow my subconscious thinks it's like a within-the-US trip, it is only an hour flight, and so cheap and easy to get to...however, still an international flight, and I still have to have my passport. sigh. So I missed the flight, went back and got my passport, and then came to the airport and just barely made the new flight. Sheesh. I hope that was both the first and last time I do something as stupid as leave behind the only thing that's absolutely required.
Thursday, August 23, 2007
Obligation
So I haven't written in a while - just when I thought I was settling into a routine of capturing the events of my London life, I slip back up! It's weird, this feeling that I have to record my existence by writing about it - I have felt this 'obligation' to write since I was in high school. I started a journal then and have never really stopped - it's just far less regular and now takes an online form. Interesting.
But back to the objective - write about life. :) Problem is, now I can't even remember two weeks ago...guess that means nothing all too eventful happened! The weather was really nice one more weekend, and then just fell apart.
ACH! I just lost everything I wrote! I thought it was auto-saving, but no, I'm left to re-write everything I just said. I hate that, it never comes out as interesting the second time around. sigh.
soo....I will just hit the highlights, I was talking about the two nights out I had this week - once last night with a co-worker whom I love, but we had never actually hung out until yesterday, and the other on Wednesday night, with a friend in town from spain. The topic both evenings ended up at one point or another talking about thriving off meeting new people, experiencing life, and enjoying different cultures, etc. My friend last night was saying how she just clicks with people like that - you can tell right away, there's something about 'us' ;) Culture addicts.
I'm curious about the phenomenon that was the rest of my Wednesday evening with Justine - the noticeably frequent attention we got all night from men! Staring, chatting up, giving business cards to the restaurant - it was crazy! I'm sure a lot of this came because Justine is quite attractive, but she said just as I did, that this never happens to her on her own. Is there something about the combination of two reasonably pretty girls? What is it about having two instead of one? We came up with the fact that we were laughing and talking and looked happy and approachable, but not much else. And more interestingly, what is is about a girl on her own, or with 3 other people, that makes such a difference that you never get more than a slightly prolonged glance?
On a tourist side, I got to see Dover castle and teh WWII tunnels on Monday, since I took the day off, with my friend Daniel. It was funny looking at all the war stuff and thinking how 60 years ago, I wouldn't have known him, let alone been good friends! (he's German). 60 years really isn't that long, especially in comparison with the rest of the castle, which was around in like 1100 something! Sunday was Windsor castle - I'm checking things off pretty well here lately! I'll be a first-rate tour guide when people start rolling in for visits :)
Okay I'm not going to write anymore and risk another erasure. Will try to be better about writing more frequently too, so there's less to forget and less to lose!!
But back to the objective - write about life. :) Problem is, now I can't even remember two weeks ago...guess that means nothing all too eventful happened! The weather was really nice one more weekend, and then just fell apart.
ACH! I just lost everything I wrote! I thought it was auto-saving, but no, I'm left to re-write everything I just said. I hate that, it never comes out as interesting the second time around. sigh.
soo....I will just hit the highlights, I was talking about the two nights out I had this week - once last night with a co-worker whom I love, but we had never actually hung out until yesterday, and the other on Wednesday night, with a friend in town from spain. The topic both evenings ended up at one point or another talking about thriving off meeting new people, experiencing life, and enjoying different cultures, etc. My friend last night was saying how she just clicks with people like that - you can tell right away, there's something about 'us' ;) Culture addicts.
I'm curious about the phenomenon that was the rest of my Wednesday evening with Justine - the noticeably frequent attention we got all night from men! Staring, chatting up, giving business cards to the restaurant - it was crazy! I'm sure a lot of this came because Justine is quite attractive, but she said just as I did, that this never happens to her on her own. Is there something about the combination of two reasonably pretty girls? What is it about having two instead of one? We came up with the fact that we were laughing and talking and looked happy and approachable, but not much else. And more interestingly, what is is about a girl on her own, or with 3 other people, that makes such a difference that you never get more than a slightly prolonged glance?
On a tourist side, I got to see Dover castle and teh WWII tunnels on Monday, since I took the day off, with my friend Daniel. It was funny looking at all the war stuff and thinking how 60 years ago, I wouldn't have known him, let alone been good friends! (he's German). 60 years really isn't that long, especially in comparison with the rest of the castle, which was around in like 1100 something! Sunday was Windsor castle - I'm checking things off pretty well here lately! I'll be a first-rate tour guide when people start rolling in for visits :)
Okay I'm not going to write anymore and risk another erasure. Will try to be better about writing more frequently too, so there's less to forget and less to lose!!
Monday, August 6, 2007
Google thinks I'm German
I think Google sometimes outsmarts itself. A large part of my job is working with our German ISBN offering and thus 'reading' German emails, getting translations from German co-workers, downloading German books, etc. So now when I search for something on Google, I get 50% German pages in return, with German text describing the results! It's pretty funny. Maybe the universe is trying to tell me I should learn German instead of Spanish...hmm...interesting, especially when you add the fact that I hang out a lot with a friend who is German, and one of my flatmates grew up in Germany. Maybe Google satellites are linked to searches too, and my blog, so that it's all this huge connected big brother conspiracy... :D
I had another incredible weekend - it's all a bit much, I keep wondering what I did to just make everything suddenly click into place and be awesome! I went out after work on friday with co-workers to a local pub, then found out it was the birthday of a guy I had met a couple weeks ago, so I went along to that and had a blast. Met some really cool people, including a guy who I started talking to about golf for some reason. He goes, "I don't know how spontaneous you are, but I'm going with a friend of mine to play tomorrow and you're welcome to come"! So of course I jump at the chance, get up Saturday morning and unpack my golf clubs from storage - creating a flurry of bubble wrap, newspaper and golf balls, burying my room in a mess it has just barely recovered from. Then I brave the Notting Hill weekend crowd of tourists, trying to injure as few as possible with my flailing irons, make it onto the tube, and ride 45 minutes across London to get to Essex, where my new friend picks me up and off I go for a beautiful day in the sun, playing well and then awful, with nice views of the English countryside. It was lovely. :)
Headed home around 6, quite tired and happy - fortunately the crowds had subsided so I had less trouble maneuvering my way through the tube stations and buses. When I walked in the door, my flatmate was just about to go meet some friends for dinner, so I quickly changed and had some nice Italian food outside on Portobello road, ending with tiramisu and espresso, then stopped by where one of the guys was DJ-ing and had a drink and a dance...finally back just before ten to shower and collapse. It's amazing how much I crammed into 24 hours!
Sunday was another gorgeous day, so I went to Greenwich with a friend and chilled out in the park, saw the meridian, the Queen's House, the Thames, went to the market, got some ice cream, threw the frisbee, bought Harry Potter finally and read the first chapter out loud - that was fun, brought back all these memories of reading aloud in the car with my family on road trips. :) Finished the day at nice pub on the patio for a cider and fish and chips, then headed back home, again, just before 10 - this time to clean up the disaster zone that was my room.
And now I'm back at work...using my lunch break to daydream about being outside. It really stinks that I have to put in the 40hours staring at a computer screen to be able to enjoy the fascinating life that is London...ah well, it's worth it I guess.
I had another incredible weekend - it's all a bit much, I keep wondering what I did to just make everything suddenly click into place and be awesome! I went out after work on friday with co-workers to a local pub, then found out it was the birthday of a guy I had met a couple weeks ago, so I went along to that and had a blast. Met some really cool people, including a guy who I started talking to about golf for some reason. He goes, "I don't know how spontaneous you are, but I'm going with a friend of mine to play tomorrow and you're welcome to come"! So of course I jump at the chance, get up Saturday morning and unpack my golf clubs from storage - creating a flurry of bubble wrap, newspaper and golf balls, burying my room in a mess it has just barely recovered from. Then I brave the Notting Hill weekend crowd of tourists, trying to injure as few as possible with my flailing irons, make it onto the tube, and ride 45 minutes across London to get to Essex, where my new friend picks me up and off I go for a beautiful day in the sun, playing well and then awful, with nice views of the English countryside. It was lovely. :)
Headed home around 6, quite tired and happy - fortunately the crowds had subsided so I had less trouble maneuvering my way through the tube stations and buses. When I walked in the door, my flatmate was just about to go meet some friends for dinner, so I quickly changed and had some nice Italian food outside on Portobello road, ending with tiramisu and espresso, then stopped by where one of the guys was DJ-ing and had a drink and a dance...finally back just before ten to shower and collapse. It's amazing how much I crammed into 24 hours!
Sunday was another gorgeous day, so I went to Greenwich with a friend and chilled out in the park, saw the meridian, the Queen's House, the Thames, went to the market, got some ice cream, threw the frisbee, bought Harry Potter finally and read the first chapter out loud - that was fun, brought back all these memories of reading aloud in the car with my family on road trips. :) Finished the day at nice pub on the patio for a cider and fish and chips, then headed back home, again, just before 10 - this time to clean up the disaster zone that was my room.
And now I'm back at work...using my lunch break to daydream about being outside. It really stinks that I have to put in the 40hours staring at a computer screen to be able to enjoy the fascinating life that is London...ah well, it's worth it I guess.
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