A Week Full of Things I Love

After a great Spring Break, I figured it would be only natural that the week back would be a downer. On the contrary, this week has been a lot of fun!

Tuesday night, we had a fun St. Patty's Day. Everywhere downtown was so crowded, but we actually took a nice break from everything and sat on the Trafalgar Square monument for a while.
Picture: Left to Right--Amanda, Ashley, Katherine, Me


On Wednesday, with my History of London class, we went to the reconstructed Globe Theater. It has hands down been my favorite trip of the class. We took a fairly brief tour of the inside of the theater by a Globe tour guide. It was a pretty day, so it was not difficult to imagine seeing a show in the roofless theater. Although, shows are staged there no matter what the weather. We also had time to go to the giftshop, and I bought refrigerator magnets of Shakespearean insults and a graphic novel of Hamlet. If they have a more detailed tour, I would really like to be able to go back.Picture: Me in front of the Globe Stage

After seeing the Globe, we walked around the South Bank a little more to see the original sites of The Rose Theater and The Globe Theater.

On Wednesday night, we attended a concert at Scala, a venue near King's Cross Station. We saw GirlTalk, which consists of a man and his MacBook. He makes remixes out of beats and lyrics from Top 40 and classic music, rock, rap, everything. For example, he might make a remix out of the hook from 'Tiny Dancer' and then throw Lil Wayne rap over it. The concert was one big dance party, and we danced for two hours straight in a jam packed room!

On Thursday night, I went to see Avenue Q with Rachel Weinthal. It was such a funny musical and the way a lot of people describe it is an R-rated Sesame Street. Hilarious! It was not really like any musical I had seen up until this point. I'm used to Rogers and Hammerstein musicals or classics such as Phantom or Les Mis with clear morals, simple songs, and clean cut characters. This was definitely not one of those shows, and it was refreshing. Some of the things were a little questionable...but when the puppets said inappropriate things, it was only funny rather than offensive.

My roommate and her friend that has been visiting for over a week went to Paris for the weekend, so Friday was a really nice day for me. I was able to catch up on all the sleep that I had missed from Spring Break and this past week, and then do a lot of homework. We went to dinner at Da Marios, a great Italian place in our neighborhood. It is the same restaurant that we saw Dustin Hoffman a few weeks ago, but we didn't see him again this time.

On Saturday, the musical bug hit us again, and we went to the Novello Theater is Covent Garden early Saturday morning to get some tickets for Spring Awakening at a cheaper, day of show rate. We were able to get seats, good ones at that. While we were on that side of town, we walked across London Bridge, explored the South Bank a little more, and then crossed back over to city London on the Tower Bridge.
Before dinner, a group of us (Caroline, Christina Jones, Rachel, and Katherine) went to eat at a Mexican place called Los Locos in the theater district. I didn't know very much about Spring Awakening before going to the show, other than that it was supposed to be amazing and that it won a lot of Tony's. I could not be happier that I went to see it. It was such a beautiful and heartbreaking musical. The staging of the show was very minimal, and musical numbers were very uniquely stage. Even the lights were awesome! Everyone in my group simply loved it...but a couple in front of us left at intermission. I think that they didn't love the themes of the play...eek!

It has been a very cultured week. I don't have anything specific planned for next week, but I know that, in London, anything can come up!

Spring Break '09

This Spring Break has been the best on record.

We started out in Athens, Greece. We arrived on Friday night at the Athens airport, took a cab to our hotel, settled in, and then headed out to dinner. We ate at a traditional Greek place, and I got a Greek omlette with feta and a Mythos beer. There are two native Greecian beers: Mythos and Alfa. Both are very hopsy and good. After that, we collapsed into bed in preparation for a long day of sightseeing.
The next morning, a large group of us gathered together (Katherine, Amanda, Christina Rine, Christina Jones, Caroline, Erica, and me) and climbed up to the top of the Acropolis. It was so amazing. We went up a really neat way, winding up back roads and getting to see some beautiful Greek homes and churches. Picture: Parthenon

Seeing the Parthenon was an amazing experience, similar to seeing the Sistine Chapel or Westminster Abbey. It is something that you read about, see pictures of, but never really understand until you visit it. We spent about an hour on the Acropolis, taking lots of pictures and enjoying the view.
We next visited Hadrian's Arch and the Temple of Zeus. After seeing them, we decided to have a nice leisurely lunch. The restaurants there are very competitive for business, so we were able to finagle free wine and free dessert from one restaurant. They had amazing chicken souvlaki, which is chicken marinated and fired on a grill with peppers and onions.
Later, we went back to the hotel for a bit of a breather and said goodbye to our friends. We rode up Lycabettus Hill, the highest point in Athens. The view was breathtaking, and we could even see the ocean! After the hill, it was time for dinner, and we searched out a gyro place. DELICIOUS. The restaurant gave us free shots of ouzo, and we finally got to say 'OPA!' as we toasted with the other Greek patrons.

The next morning, we had to wake up at 5:00 in the morning to make our 7:30 am ferry. The ferry was very nice, but it got pretty stormy on our way over there. Even through the rain, it was gorgeous passing all the islands. Finally, around noon, we arrived on Naxos. The rain cleared up right as we got there. We really took that afternoon to relax and watch some American T.V. (Friends and Mr. and Mrs. Smith) and grabbed dinner at a great gyro place. Once again we got free shots at the restaurant, this time of a liquor called Citron.

The next morning, we woke up and headed out to the Temple of Apollo. It was up on a rock, and after we looked at the temple for a while, we layed out on the rocks in our swimsuits. It was a beautifully sunny day. I didn't want to get in the water, but I was walking on one of the rocks, slipped, and slid halfway into the freezing water. It was pretty funny, but my tailbone was bruised for a couple of days.Picture: Roommate and I on the beach in Naxos

We were randomly walking around Naxos, looking at shops, when a man yelled to us that we should come to Escoba for a great dinner. Since Katherine is from Texas and loves her Tex-Mex, we were down for that. We went back to the room, took a nap, got dressed, and went to Escoba. The dinner was great, and eventually we started the dancing.
We spent our second day in Naxos in much of the same way, spending time on the beach and laying out in the sun. I even got a little sunburned on my face. We went out for dinner at a very traditional Greek dinner with AMAZING Greek salad. The Greek salads are so fresh and amazing...the tomatoes are sweet and juicy, the cucumbers are refreshing, and the huge blocks of feta are out of this world. We headed back to Escoba that night, as it was the only nightclub/bar open in Naxos during the offseason.
I was very depressed on Wednesday morning when we had to leave on the ferry from Naxos. I am adament that I will go back to Greece again one day.

Picture: Houses on the hill in Naxos

Our trip on Tuesday was exhausting. I think we took every form of transportation, minus helicopters or a Segway. We rode the ferry to Athens, a subway to the end of the line, a taxi to the airport, a plane to London Luton, a bus from the airport to the train station, a train to the Tube station, the Tube station to Gloucester Road, and then a walk home down Gloucester. And in about six hours, I had to be up for a flight to Dublin.
We were back to Luton the next morning and off to Dublin. The flight was only about 40 minutes long, and we arrived in Ireland around 1:30.

We were booked to stay in a hostel, which was quite an experience. We were in a room with 10 other girls, and slept in bunk beds. But the hostel was in a great part of town and only ten minutes away from the center of town. The first night we were in Dublin, we went to a comedy show which was HILARIOUS. I couldn't stop laughing at the comediens, and their accents made everything a little bit funnier.
We explored Dublin and saw the sights that were there...Dublin Castle, Trinity College, Christ Church, and St. Patrick's Cathedral.
We also went to the Guinness Storehouse. I have found that I am not the biggest fan of Guinness. It is a coffee-y beer, and I think that it has t be an acquired taste. But the museum itself was very interesting, and I was able to force down about half of my free drink at the Gravity Bar.
Picture: Teeny Jones and I being skeptical about our Guinness

We were able to get a taste of the pubs in Ireland by walking around Temple Bar. Temple Bar is mostly a nightspot, but there is also a fresh market there on Saturdays with delicous crepes, sasuages, fresh cheeses, seafood, etc. Temple Bar is an area, but the famous pub is THE Temple Bar. It was really crowded, but tons of fun with lots of 80's and 90's music, singing, and drunk Irish men.
By Sunday, needless to say, I was exhausted. But this Spring Break will go down in history as the best one ever, no contest.

--There are more pictures of my travels on Facebook!

Plans!

As of tomorrow at 4:20, I will be done with midterms!
That means that I will be free to go on my Spring Break. I am leaving for Athens, Greece Friday afternoon and after spending a few days there, I will be spending a relaxing 4 days on the beautiful Greek Island of Naxos (Google it!).
After Greece, we are flying to Ireland to spend the weekend before St. Patty's Day on the Emerald Isle.

I will report back with lots of details, stories, and pictures!