Mind the Gap

I got in to London late Thursday night, took the express from Gatwick Airport into Victoria Station before meeting my friend Beth. We caught a quick bite to eat at McDonald´s (one of the few places that was open) which was very fancy compared to the ones at home. Beth and her roommates live in Westminister not far from the Marble Arch tube stop.

On Friday, our highlights were Westminister Abbey and the Tower of London.

Westminister Abbey

Beth

The other side of the abbey

Tower of London
The White Tower inside the Tower of London


The model
Poor lion

Saturday, we stopped in Trafalgar Square and had a quick look at Buckingham Palace (which is very anticlimactic)
With Buckingham Palace in the background

After that, we headed out to Richmond to see Kew Gardens, which opened for the season that day.






We also stopped at the British museum, which houses the Rosetta Stone, along with a whole bunch of other stuff that really isn´t British.

Other than that, I had the obligatory lunch of fish and chips, a couple of pints at a local pub, and had a good time hanging out with Beth and her roommates.

Cheers!

I promise to have more up later. I had an incredible, albeit brief, time in London this past weekend. Everything was great, accept for the weather. It was rainy and FREEZING all weekend (so back to pictures of me looking cold). The top one is fairly self-explanatory, the bottom is in front of Martin Tower, which is part of the Tower of London.

More Galicia Pics

Patio garden in the Royal Hotel near the Cathedral of Saint James

The old medieval facade

It was windy, but atleast it wasn't raining!
We had blue sky, which is rare in Galicia
Night shot of the cathedral
Left to right: Matt, Dana, Erin, Tori, Kay, Erum, on the boat we took around the harbor.
Trying not to be blown off. Kind of reminds me of the whale-watching cruise in Australia, minus my crazy long hair.
My first mussels. Most likely pulled out of the ocean that day and steamed with a little bit of lemon. I probably ate more than 30.
Feeding a seagull.
Again, beautiful weather. I think it's funny to see pine trees right next to the ocean. The country side was very green, but also rocky, so driving through the mountains reminded me of home.
I owe this picture to the influence of my father and brother (although dammit, my camera didn't focus on the flower). Any picture that turns out well should be attributed to them. I wouldn't even know to set my ISO higher in dark cathedrals...

Sunday we took a tour of the roof of the cathedral. It was interesting to see its modifications over the years. The original was built in the 11th century, but the Baroque facade didn't go up until the 18th century, supposedly to protect the original.

Galicia

Will post more later......Yeah, so you can be jealous if you want.

Random stuff

• So we have real big weekend coming up of.......well studying. Maybe I'd forgotten our purpose for being here, but my professor's sure didn't, so we have midterms next week. My friend Jill (who's studying in Florence) is coming and I may see a friend from high school (Brittney) who's currently in Barcelona.
  
• The next four weekends I'll be traveling. Next weekend we'll be in Santiago de Compostela, in Galicia, which is home to the Cathedral of St. James, one of the most famous in all Europe. Another cathedral, yay! Other highlights include a catamaran river trip with drinks and mussels.
  
• I've told some people about this, but my 20 month-old little home-stay "brother" is amazing. His father is in a rock band, wears his hair long, and could very much be a product of the 60s if he were older. Anyway, the kid, Miguel, can identify the Beatles, knows their first and last names, and can also identify Elivis and Marylin Monroe. All this, yet he still sometimes calls me "Andrew," the student who lived here last semester.
  
• Speaking of wow, I was talking to a Spanish person last week, and when I told him I was from Colorado, he told me I had the "look of a cowboy." Words escape me.
  
• I started an "intercambio" (exchange) today, where they basically pair you with a Spanish student and you practice Spanish and they practice English. Alekos is the guy they paired me with. He's originally from Santander, Cantabria and his major is in translation. Should be a fun guy to hang out with.
• I have steady internet now, so I should be able to post with more regularity.
  

Misplaced landmarks

So some of you have heard this already, but I thought the rest of you would appreciated it.
It´s always interesting to find out what Spaniards know about the United States. When I tell people I´m from Colorado, I usually get a couple of reactions. The first is "Colorado...Aspen!" which is understandable, but the other one I usually get is, "Colorado....Grand Canyon!" which always takes me by surprise. I explain patiently that "El Gran Cañon de Colorado" is, in fact, in Arizona, and the confusion comes from that the river that runs through it is the Colorado River. If they aren´t already, I leave them dumbfounded when I tell them it would take me 12 hours to drive there.