London

I've been really lucky. I haven't gone to a million places and actually I've only been to 8 countries (which is still a lot for an average person), but I have been able to visit London twice in my life. This is a city worth visiting and staying for as long as you can.

The first visit I had was almost ten years ago when I was 25. I went by myself, it was the first time I ever traveled overseas. I was so nervous. It was not the best trip. A woman died on the plane, the airline lost my luggage, I got ripped off at the money exchange place, and my hotel (which was in East Croydon) lost my reservation. I was unprepared, scared, and alone. It was a learning opportunity.
I quickly found the bus, learned the tube system and rails. Made it to Stonehendge, Bath, Winchester Cathedral, tower of London, watched a rugby match with strangers, had fantastic meals, and on my last night I got drunk with some Scottish/South African DJs I met in a bar. In a nutshell, London is an easy place to get along and it still is relatively safe if you don't take major risks and you pay attention (getting drunk with strangers was a bit careless, I was completely at their mercy, I am not endorsing this).

One thing I truly regretted from the last time is I did not get to go to Harrod's. I made Randy promise we would go to Harrod's. They recently added the 5th floor, "Shoe Heaven". It truly was amazing. The thing I didn't know about Harrod's is they have a bakery, fromagarie, butcher, and all sorts of fancy delicious food. I thought they were only clothing, but they have cavier too!  I shopped around, looking at hats, dresses, and even swimsuits. Then I found the champagne bar. It was pricey, but I figured it was an experience purchase, so I had a flute and people watched.

Randy had some items on his list as well. He wanted to see the Ice Bar in town. We met up with some friends, Eric and Stacey, they happened to be visiting London at the same time. We all went in the freezer and had shots. They were delicious and cold because they came in glasses made of ice.  It was fun and the ice created amazing pictures.

Big Ben is, well, big. Basically it's just a giant old clock, but it's beautiful and at night it is particularly stunning. On the other side of the Thames was the London Eye, which is a giant Ferris wheel looking thing. It does not blend. It is amazing how completely out of place it looks next to the old buildings, but the view from the top of it is amazing.

The Tower of London is a must see. It currently has beautiful red ceramic poppies covering its usually green lawns. This is in rememberence of World War I. It is an amazing display. The history of this structure and the way the city has been built around it is extraordiary and worth a look. Also, it is where the crown jewels are held.

London is like many other European countries and it is a mixture of old and new. It reminds me of Boston (which I suppose it should because Boston was kind of designed to be like London) and it also reminds me of Grand Rapids, where I live now). The imposing river cutting right through the middle, the buildings are large, but not too large, not New York or Chicago large, and the reminders of it's history everywhere.  It has struggled by having more than its fair share of tragedy with fires, revolutions, and plague. It has maintained, in fact thrived. The stone buildings, palaces, businesses, and tourism industry continues to grow. I really didn't see as many homeless as I have in other places I've been, like Paris or even recently in Edinburgh. I expected more, but I didn't see it.

Transportation in the city is easier than a lot of places. They have the London Underground (The tube system) which is a series of subways moving all around the city.  On the surface there are light rails which travel to many places all around the outside of the city, and the buses travel just about anywhere a person can go. You can buy a card and put money on it to use throughout the city. The card works on  the tube, buses, and the rail system.

The Double Decker buses are immensely popular tourist attractions and they are helpful in finding places around town. If you visit and you buy a pass on one you can get off and on as you please and it will take you to most destinations, however they don't run past 7pm (1900).

Buckingham Palace is where the Queen's main residence is located. Kind of like it's her home address. There are ancient and dangerous barbs surrounding the grounds. Kind of like a prison. They are on top of the fence and they look more painful and awful than barb wire.

One thing we may have found cheaper and more effcient is the London City Pass. It provides transportation and admission to many musuems.  London has a lot of is museums. There are musuems for children's toys, shoes, all sorts of crazy stuff. We were only there for three days so we did not try this, but it actually looks like a good deal to go to tourist destinations.





Where we went and some website to check out and help you with your trip:

http://www.londonpass.com/?aid=60&utm_source=bing&utm_medium=cpc&refcd=MS9855707805b_AZpass_AZcity_AZlondon&tsacr=MS1169809015

http://www.attractiontix.co.uk/tickets/london-eye

http://www.goldentours.com/tower-of-london?utm_source=bing&utm_medium=cpc

http://www.viator.com/tours/London/The-Original-London-Sightseeing-Tour-Hop-on-Hop-off/d737-3302OT?pref=204&aid=m3053

Oatman, Arizona: the WildWest

My father-in-law took us on a tour of Arizona. He drove us to Oatman and this is a place where the wild west is still a way of life. They have staged gun fights, an old historic jail, and burros everywhere. The burros are pretty crazy. You can buy a bag of feed and feed them in the streets. They are awful, noisy, and smelly. They demand you feed them as if they owed something. Some of them were laying down and taking naps. They whole thing was pretty surreal.













               
The downtown area is historic because it is the home of an old mining community. The buildings are historic and the few people that live there have major restrictions on building or reconstructing any of the old down town buildings, as in, they can't. As an student of Anthropology I completely understand what a hot dry climate does to preserve things and being in Oatman I experienced this first hand. The buildings are still in good condition despite their age and the fact they are built with wood, not stone. Everything creeks as you walk on the wooden floors.

We ate lunch at the old hotel restaurant. There were dollar bills plastering the walls. I had seen this before in other old mining towns in Arizona. I never knew what it meant, or what it was and I was kind of confused by the large velvet picture of Willie Nelson in the middle of the room. So in my mind I thought this was some sort of alter to Willie with maybe the dollar bills as alms? Although it didn't make any sense because, like I said, I've seen the dollar bills posted on walls before in other mining towns.   The man who was singing Willie Nelson songs and looking exactly like Willie started explaining. He said that the bills were how the miners paid for drinks. They wouldn't hold up well in the mines, so they would write their names on them and post them on the wall. That way when they came back they could get more drinks until it was used up. Like a tab of sorts. It sounded like a confusing situation to me and an easy way for a bartender to get a good tip.

So, for history, gun fights, and souvenirs, if you are traveling around Arizona and you want to see the wild west, find Oatman.

Scotland: Shooting Skeet

Growing up my best friend's father repaired guns for a living.  I have seen, handled, and and even in a my positions in retail, sold firearms. A lot of people I know hunt, I've gone with them. I've even taken classes to get my CPL (Concealed Pistol License). All of this has been in an effort to curb my fear of guns. It causes a great deal of anxiety for me, I'm not really sure why. Anyone who knows me knows this. I stress out at the thought of selling them, handling them, shooting them, watching other people shoot them, and hearing about them.  It was unimaginable  would participate in shooting.

This obviously was something I wasn't planning on doing. When we were invited to this fantastic wedding in Scotland (Thank you and congratulations Lauren and Neil) one of the activities they planned was skeet shooting (or also called inanimate bird shooting).  Randy got very excited.

Brian got five out of five on one round. He was excited. 

I was apprehensive. My husband asked me to go, I told him I would just sit back and take pictures. This is my comfort zone.  My anxiety wanted me to stay away completely, I almost didn't even go at all, but I thought it would be interesting at least for the pictures.


When it came time to sign up, I was encouraged to give it a try. When the pencil broke signing my name I thought it was a bad sign.  It wasn't. It just meant the pencil needed to be sharpened and my name would look like a 3 year old wrote it. I shook it off.

It seemed a lot less restrictive than it is in the states. For example, we didn't have to fill out a bunch of forms or even a waiver. We didn't have safety goggles, but we did have ear muffs which helped to narrow down the sound so the instructor's voice so we could focus on how to aim.

Part of curbing the stress of the situation (for me) is understanding what I'm doing and watching how others handle the situation. When I was up I asked a lot of questions. I had him show me different parts of the gun and watched him load it, turn the safety on and off. He was even kind enough to let me take a practice shot just so I could see how the recoil felt.

It wasn't nearly as bad as I thought it was, we used a type of double barrel shotgun (the zombie killing kind) and we shot at the disks as they flew through the air. We got to do 5 birds each turn, 4 times. We shot at 20 of the lifeless stone flyers over the course of an hour or so. Some of the people in our group hit a lot of them. It was an amazing feeling the first time I hit one. Major adrenaline rush. Then followed by disappointment when I couldn't hit the next one. I got 5 out of 20 total and figured that was pretty good for a person who wasn't even going to show up. When I mentioned that it was hard on the shoulder he switched to a different kind of shotgun cartridge for me, "it will be lighter" and it was. Overall, they were very thoughtful and careful, which is exactly as I would hope.

I'm glad I went on this little excursion. The last part, which scared me the most and seemed to break all the rules of handling guns, we all took pictures of ourselves pointing the gun at the camera. The instructor showed us it was empty each and every time.  This made me happy.

Edinburgh, Scotland: National Gallery, Scott Monument

I once met a Scottish man in a bar while I was in London. He told me several times how magical Scotland is and how someday I should visit. He was very, very drunk, but as the saying goes, "the drunk man's words are the sober man's thoughts" and ten years later I found myself in this magical place.

The national animal of Scotland is the unicorn. As if that was not charming enough the hotels we stayed were doubly so.  The dichotomy of the 300 year old building with brand new fixtures became standard around the city. Every where we went there was new technology mixed with ancient structures. It was incredible. There was WiFi everywhere around town which was nice because international data was not an option on this trip.

The first place I noticed when I we entered the city center was The Scott Monument. Love at first sight for me. It has these dark corners and points. Curvy arches and amazing statuettes create a Gothic atmosphere all around and it's very imposing on the other structures. I find it interesting that there was a giant glass H & M across the street but it took nothing away from it's beauty.  The buses, taxis, and cars, drive right past it reminding me that this is a very alive city.

A little history is always good. The monument was built in 1840 and completed in 1844. It is dedicated to Sir Walter Scott, a Scottish writer. The reason it's so dark in spots is because of the industrial revolution and coal was used as energy. It stained a lot of buildings in the area.  It was 287 steps all the way to the top and the fee was 4 Pounds (about 7 USD). They only take cash and the man at the door was difficult for me to understand, but had a good humor about it.  One interesting part of the architecture is the statues are all attached by wire on to the building to prevent them from falling or pieces of them falling off on to the ground. I appreciated the safety portion of this and it didn't really impact the way the structures look from the ground.  There is no elevator or lift and the stairwell is very narrow so beware if you are claustrophobic. It gets worse after you take the second and third set of stairs. There are three levels like a platform, after the first initial set of stairs

Some of the greatest parts of the lovely city of Edinburgh were actually free or very affordable to see. The Scottish National Gallery was one of these interesting places.  This is the home to many great European works of art. Many of them had crazy stories which went with them. There was one about a woman who had a man's head cut off because he objected to the marriage of her daughter. The actual painting is her showing the head to her husband with a fork in the tongue of the severed head. A woman was explaining this scene to her children and it got awkward, there are several paintings like these, but this does not mean children should not go in, the images aren't really scary and if you just read the placard next to them it is easier to understand them.

Also free is the cemeteries which are excited to walk around because they are so old. This one is the tomb of the Scottish philosopher David Hume. There are many other but I think homeless people might occasionally sleep in there, I found some blankets and stuff. It added to the creepiness of the cemetery.

There are many other things to see in Edinburgh, like the castle and the parks. There is too much info to put into one blog, so there will be another on the city, possibly two. (It was a very large city).