OrangeJuicy Journal

I can’t seem to get motivated to write any sort of decent post lately. The store has been AMAZINGLY busy, despite this economy, and I’ve been working an extra day to help things along.

I’ve started twittering, so if you need your OrangeJuicy fix, you can subscribe over there. Mostly just silly stuff. But the “microblog” format is really working for me right now. Also: if you’re offended by coarse language, well, I use it. But you know that already, I imagine. Also, Swurl is pretty cool, it pretty much logs every move I make on the internet.

Oh and, two plugs before I go:
- Our new Xmas CD for 2008
- Ben (my brother in law) wrote a cool game for iPhone/iPod touch that you should buy. It’s only $2, you can totally afford that.

Welcome, everybody who’s following the links to my armwarmer tutorial! All of a sudden everybody’s linking to it! I suppose it’s armwarmer season again!

Hey, just for fun… can you spot my shoulder on Mason-Dixon Knitting? (give up? it’s in the 6th photo.)

SATURDAY, 9-20-2008

We slept in this morning and then had breakfast in Bernd’s flat. It was actually afternoon by the time we eventually left. We took a train that goes in a loop around the first district. It was above ground, so it allowed us to check out some historic buildings such as the museums of natural history and art, and the parliament building.

We then went to St. Stephen’s Cathedral, which was built in the 14th century. The hearts of the ruling emperors are actually kept below the cathedral in the crypt (the bodies themselves are buried in a separate crypt elsewhere). The building was beautiful, but I probably would have been a little more impressed had I not just seen Notre Dame and Sacre Coeur. Aryn picked up a commemorative medallion to add to her collection and we were on our way. (There was an American tourist complaining loudly about how she was “All Churched Out” - which we found amusing.)

Next we walked through a market called Naschmarkt, where we saw some delicious looking baked goods and a wide array of fruits and vegetables. We considered buying ingredients for diner but decided it would probably be better to not shop while hungry, so we stopped off at a restaurant called Deli for lunch. We randomly met Bernd’s older sister there, which was quite funny.

We then picked up a pumpkin and some Turkish bread for dinner, thinking we would make pumpkin chili or soup or something. We were hoping to continue the tour at that point, but it was a dreary day and we were feeling cold, so we decided to go to a coffee shop to warm up first. (We met Bernd’s younger sister here, also by coincidence!)

Once we were warmed and sufficiently caffeinated, we walked over to Museums Quarter (the MQ) to look at the architecture and browse the museum gift shops for souvenirs that we have so far been terrible about buying for anyone but ourselves. It was then time to go back to the apartment and get read for the opera! (It was rainy and grey and I hardly took any photos this day…)

We went to see Die Zauberflöten (The Magic Flute) at Volksoper, which was great. I had hoped there would be English subtitles, but alas it being a German-language opera in a German-speaking country, that didn’t happen. We needed Bernd to give us a plot synopsis at intermission to avoid being totally lost, but it was still very enjoyable. The soprano who sang the part of the queen of the night was especially talented.

It was then about 10:30, so we went back to Bernd’s flat again to continue our tradition of eating meals at odd times. Bernd made a pumpkin soup because he was very excited to try out his new hand blender, and it was quite tasty. I believe we went to bed around 12:00 or so.

SUNDAY, 9-21-2008

Today Aryn and I got up to find that Bernd and Leni had laid out an extensive breakfast spread for us. I think they are much more hospitable hosts than we are when people come to stay with us in Brooklyn. Once we had eaten and I had shaved for the final time with my awkward travel shaving cream (hooray!), we set out for the Imperial Palace, Shonbrunn.

First we just walked around the gardens, which were beautiful. Whoever is responsible for shaping the hedges definitely has their work cut out for them. Today was another rainy day, but it was still nice to stroll along the promenade, checking out the sculptures and elaborate fountains and such. We also saw some red squirrels finally. (In London I was disappointed to see it was mostly American Gray Squirrels.)

Next we went on a tour of the palace itself. The audio tour was very educational – we learned a great deal about Franz Joseph, the last long-term emperor of Austria, and his wife, the legendary Sisi. Overall the décor wasn’t quite as elaborate as the Napoleon apartments in the Louvre, but still a pretty ornate rococo design. Aryn was bummed that there were no commemorative medallions, but she was thrilled to pick up a Sisi Pez dispenser instead. (Best souvenir, ever!)

We then walked around the grounds a little more, following the path up a large hill that gave us a great view of the palace and the gardens. At the top we stopped in a fancy cafe for some tea and cake. While we were in there it started raining harder, so we took our time and hung out for awhile longer. It’s odd, but we somehow encountered very little rain the whole time we were in London, and yet Vienna was rainy pretty much non-stop.

Next we took the subway back to the first district and went to the Mozarthaus museum. It was built in one of the apartments he lived at in Vienna. He actually had 13 apartments while in the city and this is the only one that still survives. He lived there for three of his most productive years, when he wrote The Marriage of Figaro, among other masterpieces.

The audio tour was very informative and gave a scholarly account of his life, as well as described what the apartment would have been like in the 18th century. My only complaint is that the actual artifacts they had on display didn’t have a whole lot to do with the audio guide, so it was a little slow and not quite as interactive as it could have been if more historical documents had survived from that era. Still, it was very educational and not nearly as mobbed as most of the tourist destinations we’ve visited these last two weeks. (I was hoping for a Mozart Pez in the gift shop, but no such luck… though google tells me they do exist!)

We then went back to Bernd’s flat to take advantage of his internet, because we had to check in for tomorrow’s flights online in order to get our seats assigned. It’s really a very strange system British Airways has. Once that was done, we took the tram and the subway to dinner.

The restaurant we ate at was very nice, and Aryn and I both told Bernd that if he has any more vegetarian guests to entertain / feed, he should definitely take them there. They have an interesting system for paying the bill in Vienna, where the waitress comes to your table, you tell her what you had ordered, and she adds up your bill right there. You then decide how much you want to tip them, pay accordingly, and get change. I suppose it would make things awkward if you received bad service and intended to stiff the waitress on the tip.

At the end of the evening we went back to the apartment and watched Casablanca before going to bed. We have somehow managed to make it through our whole lives without seeing the movie until now,and actually Aryn will continue her streak, as she slept through pretty much the whole thing. (I was just tired. I sleep through most movies.)

MONDAY, 9-22-2008

After breakfast we only really had time to do one thing before heading for the airport, so we went to the Postal Savings Bank, which is near the train that goes to the airport. The building itself is pretty spectacular to look at from the outside just because it is so unique, but the interior is even more impressive. (This is one of the few specific buildings that I remembered from my history classes, that I had told myself if I ever went to Europe, I had to see them. And it was even better in person than in my textbook!)

Everything was designed by Otto Wagner, who won a competition with his architectural submission in 1906 or so. Aryn tells me that the style of the building is something like Art Deco, (it’s pre-Art Deco, but it looks like Art Deco. Wagner was way ahead of his time.) but to me, not knowing anything about art history, it looks somewhat like a Terry Gilliam movie. The air vents in particular look like something out of 12 Monkeys.

There is also a little museum that gives more information about the history of the bank, which was very interesting. They even had a deposit slip on display from when Franz Joseph came to make a deposit, which was filled out: Name – Franz Joseph; Occupation – Emperor of Austria; Address – the Imperial Palace. Very funny.

Sadly, it was then time to go. Bernd got us safely on the train and we were on our way. What a fun vacation! And the best part is that there’s still plenty more to do in all of these cities for the next time we come.

{Vienna Flickr set}

{Full 101/1001 List}

MONDAY, 9-15-2008

There was a fire in the chunnel last week, and as we feared, it delayed our train ride from London to Paris. Still, it definitely could have been worse. The fire shut down one of the two tunnels, so the other one had to serve traffic in both directions at reduced speeds while the damaged side is worked on. We arrived at the train station around 11:30 and managed to get on the 3:04 train to Paris. Again, it could have been worse.

We got into Gare du Nord around 7:30 and walked to our hotel. My first impression as that Paris is dirtier than London, but I tried to withhold judgment until I had seen more. Also our guide book warns tourists to stay away from that particular train station at night, so it is hardly indicative of Paris as a whole.

We found our hotel without too much trouble, a cute little old building on a cute little old street in Montmartre. It has a nice little balcony overlooking the street at as well. The down side is that the room is tiny, our “double bed” is actually two twin beds pushed together, the shower is miniscule, and we’re on the sixth floor with no elevator. (They called it the 5th floor, and it was a spiral staircase!) I guess the hike up the stairs will at least help us work off all the crepes and croissants we will surely be eating.

After checking in, we walked around the neighborhood a little bit and stopped at Restaurant Kifak for falafel. We then picked up some desert at a middle eastern-looking pastry shop and brought them back to our room to eat. Tomorrow – the Louvre!

TUESDAY, 9-16-2008

So the Louvre was closed. True story – it seems one of the drawbacks to having 3-4 year old guidebooks is that the prices and hours of operation for all the places we want to go are out of date. So once we had taken the metro to the first arrondissement and located the Louvre, we decided to walk around a bit.

We followed the Seine along the north bank (which is actually called the right bank) and crossed over to Ile de la Cite, which is the larger of the two Parisian islands in the Seine. After taking some pictures of the Palais de Jusice, we found our way over to Notre Dame.

We took some obligatory exterior photos and then went inside, which was absolutely stunning. The scale of the walls and immense stained-glass windows is just breathtaking. We didn’t much feel like standing in line to go up top, but what we saw inside the cathedral was amazing. Taking pictures was supposedly not allowed, but everyone else was doing it, so Aryn took some too. She also started her collection of souvenir medallions with a coin that features the Madonna and child on one side and Notre Dame on the other.

Next we crossed over to Ile St. Louis and looked in some attractive and pricey shops. Then it was up to the fourth arrondissement for Le Centre George Pompidou, which was also closed, unfortunately. I swear we wouldn’t have this problem if there were internet access in our hotel so that we could double check these things before making the trip over there.

Speaking of internet access, Aryn took advantage of the free wi-fi outside the Pompidou, and we set off to find a yarn shop she had heard about. We stopped for a panini on the way, which they actually make on a baguette, which they then press flat. I ordered nutella and banana, which I got a weird look for, but it was on the menu and it was tasty, so there you go.

We then went to La Droguerie, where Aryn admired their yarn and other knitting goodies, before settling on a book of baby knitting patterns. Next we embarked on a long walk (a good chunk of which was up-hill) to Montmartre and la Basalique du Sacre-Coeur.

As we trekked up the endless stairs, Aryn commented that all the benches were facing the wrong way, away from the basilica. Once we finally reached the top and turned around, we understood. This section of Montmartre is built on a hill already, so to climb up all those steps gave us a fantastic view of the city.

After staring in awe for a bit, we ventured inside the basilica, which was beautiful. Not quite as gigantic (and not nearly as old) as Notre Dame, but still stunning. Glancing at the plaques accompanying some of the monuments and individual prayer areas made me wish I had brushed up on my French before coming.

Before leaving we decided to go crazy and spend the €5 each to go up in the dome. If you ever visit Paris and are up for a 300-stair climb, you absolutely have to do this. (This was my favorite thing we did in Paris, I think.) Yes, the winding staircase was a little intense, but the view once we finally reached the top was unreal. It also seems to attract far fewer tourists than Notre Dame for some reason. All I can say is that it is absolutely worth the price. We could see all the way to the Eiffel Tower and beyond on the horizon.

Finally it was time for dinner. We stopped for egg and cheese crepes and some tourist shopping in the neighborhood before heading back to our hotel. (We also happened upon the store where they filmed Amelie, which was very exciting for me!) The 102 steps to the 6th floor seemed much more manageable this time. (Joe seems to have developed some OCD lately, he kept counting things like this…)

WEDNESDAY, 9-17-2008

Today we got up early (by our standards) so that we could take advantage of the free hotel breakfast, which we had just missed yesterday. We then took the metro down to the Louvre, where we stayed from about 10:00 to 5:30. That’s a lot of museum viewing.

Even with all the art on the walls, it’s easy to become distracted by the Louvre itself. The building is a work of art, absolutely huge and grand in every respect. Most of the rooms had elaborate paintings on the high ceilings to represent the country of origin for the works in that section. Aryn and I frequently found ourselves gazing in awe at the walls and ceilings instead of the exhibits themselves, particularly in the Apollo Gallery.

With so much to cover in one day, I think we did a pretty good job of seeing all the exhibits we wanted to see. We are always fans of Egyptian collections, and the stone sarcophagi here definitely trump the decaying wooden ones at the British Museum in London. I was also blown away by some of the antique Iranian art, especially the giant column from the Capital of Apadana.

Other favorites include the Napoleon apartments, the Medieval Louvre, and the Venus de Milo. Of the massive collection of paintings, I probably enjoyed the Rubens Room the most, though it was a little overwhelming all at once. So many of the paintings at the Louvre are on such a huge scale, and they are housed in these enormous galleries, so I sometimes found myself getting a little disoriented.

The Mona Lisa was about what we expected – a mob of people swarming around a small picture of a lady behind glass. For the most part I actually found that I enjoyed the less popular collections the most, such as the Africa / Asia / Oceania rooms, which were nearly deserted and totally silent. I can’t imagine anyone coming away from an experience like the Louvre and honestly saying that the Mona Lisa was their favorite part, but maybe that’s just me.

So after the better part of 8 hours, with only a short break for muffins and water, we were ready to move on. We took a brief stroll in the gardens across the street and set out for the Eiffel Tower. Once we crossed the Seine, we stopped by a grocery store for some brie and lemonade, and then picked up a baguette at a nearby boulangerie. I could tell it was good because we saw several people walking in the opposite direction with delicious-looking baguettes, and the smell got better and better as we approached.

We got to the park by the tower around 7:00, where we sat on the grass and ate our meal. It was quite picturesque, really. And the food was tasty tool. We then took some pictures of the tower as the sky grew darker and the lights came on. We had hoped they might flash or change color or do something else to dazzle us, but they just glowed a muted bluish purple. We didn’t go up in the tower, but from the ground it looked beautiful. (Can anyone tell us why everyone was taking photos of their friends jumping in front of the Eiffel Tower? We must have seen about 20 people do it, and we felt like we must be out of the loop somehow.)

By that point the wind had chilled us to our bones, so we got back on the metro and took it up to our hotel.

THURSDAY, 9-18-2008

Today we escaped the bustle of Paris, such as it is, and took the train up to Giverny after breakfast. Technically it was the metro to a train to a bus, which took us to the house Monet lived in, where his gardens are still intact, along with the quirky house décor.

The house itself is quite interesting – each room painted a different bold color, the furniture all perfectly coordinated with the walls. There were several original Monets hanging in the sitting room, just humble canvasses on the walls. It was quite a shift from the ornate gold frames and giant arches we saw yesterday at the Louvre.

Monet also apparently had an affinity for Japanese wood block prints, of which he had amassed a sizable collection. It was especially interesting to see how they fit in the various rooms with their bold color schemes. Aryn is now trying to convince me to decorate our future house similarly.

Next we went out to see the garden. I haven’t studied Monet’s work at all, but Aryn had made me read Linnea In Monet’s Garden the night before, so I felt like I was prepared. The water lilies weren’t blooming in full force this time of year, but we still saw a lot of flowers. Maybe it was just Linnea’s influence, but the green bridge over the pond was probably the highlight for me. When asked what her favorite part was, Aryn said “everything.” (The whole experience was very surreal to me, it was like you were actually stepping into one of his paintings. It was totally amazing.)

We had to set a decidedly slower pace for ourselves than with the Louvre yesterday, so that we could really appreciate everything and not accidentally finish our visit in an hour. Once we felt like we had experienced the garden fully, we wandered about Giverny a bit. We saw the cemetery where Monet and some of his family are buried, as well as some old houses which may or may not have been actual tudor.

Giveny is extermely small – it’s mostly just Monet’s house, a couple restaurants, and some hotels. The food was mostly out of our price range, so we each had an ice cream cone and took the bus back to town. We then had to wait about an hour and a half for our train, which would have been fine, except my stomach was grumbling at this point. (I feel asleep as soon as the train left the station, Joe was quick to point out that the same thing happened to Linnea in the book!)

We got back into Paris around 7:00 and decided to go to the Indian restaurant next to our hotel called Arun. I know it must seem like we eat nothing but Indian food, but tis one was right next door, so we had to try it out. The food tasted all right, though it ended up giving me a stomach ache later. It was kind of interesting to see a menu with the Indian names of the dishes and French descriptions though. After dinner we decided that we were both quite tired and went back to the hotel for an early night.

FRIDAY, 9-19-2008

We checked out of the hotel after breakfast, left our bags there, and took the metro down to the 5th arrondissement to check out the markets on Rue Mouffetard. Aryn got herself a brooch and we each got a pastry for later. We had pretty much just eaten, but we couldn’t help ourselves. They just smelled so good.

Next we walked down to the 14th arrondissement, which was considerably farther than I had guessed based on my brief assessment of the map. We eventually got to the entrance to the catacombs and went down yet another endless winding French staircase. (Seriously, what is with the French and their damn spiral staircases??)

Once at the bottom, we walked through the dimly lit tunnels for awhile. I complained about not having enough head room and Aryn took pictures of the piles of bones lining the walls. I wouldn’t recommend it for anyone who suffers from the slightest bit of claustrophobia, but otherwise it was pretty cool. (I thought it was really awesome, until I stopped to thing about how each of these skulls was an actual person, and then I got thoroughly creeped out!)

After the catacombs I was actually feeling kind of sick, possibly from the Indian food the night before, or possibly something else entirely. At any rate, I didn’t much feel up to further wanderings, so we took the metro back up to our hotel at the opposite end of the city, collected our things, and headed for the airport.

To actually get on the appropriate train proved quite an ordeal, as the ticket machines only took coins or credit cards, and our credit cards don’t seem to work in these machines in Europe, probably because they don’t have the little chip on them. Anyway, we tried to get change from some of the stores, but somehow no one spoke English today, and those that did treated us pretty disdainfully. All the ticket booths we found, to actually buy a ticket from a person, were somehow closed.

Eventually we found the one window in the entire station that was open and purchased our tickets. At that point, we were definitely ready to leave. We hadn’t had any bad experiences with people having animosity to us as tourists the whole time in Paris, until somehow everyone in the entire train station was mean to us. It was really pretty strange. (I cried. It was not a good way to end our stay in Paris.)

So we took two more trains out to the airport, went through the usual rigamarole, and finally boarded our plane. While in the airport I also started feeling a little better and finally ate my almond croissant, which was tasty. Aryn also hadn’t really eaten all day, not because she was sick, but because she just doesn’t eat very much.

Our plane landed in Vienna at about 11:00 pm and we found Bernd there waiting for us. He helped us buy subway tickets and we were on our way to his flat. Aryn and I were surprised that we didn’t have to go through customs or show our passports to anyone, but apparently it’s very easy to travel between countries within the EU.

Back at Bernd’s flat, we had some spaghetti and I was introduced to a drink that is part white wine, part sparkling water, and a little bit of some mysterious sweet reddish liquid, which I thought might be grenadine but I am told it is not. Whatever it was, the drinks were good.

We also met Bernd’s girlfriend Leni, who is very sweet. She is apparently a fan of Sex in the City and was thrilled to hear Aryn’s story about meeting the actress who plays Miranda at the knitting store. We then looked at a map of Vienna and discussed possibilities for tomorrow, and went to bed a little after 2:00.

{Paris Flickr set}

{full 101/1001 list}

Here it is, the long-awaited travel journal. This was written by Joe, but you’ll see occasional comments from me in italics. I took the pictures, except for ones I’m in, of course. I’m posting in three parts, one for each city, because these are long!

TUESDAY, 9-9-2008

Our vacation began with us making it through airport security very quickly, with an hour or so to kill before our plane boarded. Takeoff was actually a few minutes early, and we made it into London skies about an hour ahead of schedule. Unfortunately Heathrow only allows a limited number of planes to land before 6 am, so we had to circle around for awhile prior to landing.

Once we de-boarded, we navigated Terminal 5 (which was recently built and is quite nice) and took the Tube into Kensington. In our sleepy daze, we were momentarily distracted by a decoy Holiday Inn across the street from the one we were staying at, evidently built to confuse jet-lagged tourists. Mission accomplished, Holiday Inn.

We then checked in to the correct hotel, where we found ourselves stuck in a smoking room. But since we were too exhausted to complain (much), we fell asleep around 9 am, which felt to us like 4 am.

WEDNESDAY, 9-10-2008

We woke up a few hours later feeling a little more like ourselves again, and set out walking toward Westminster in the early afternoon. The first historical landmark we stopped by was Buckingham Palace. We didn’t see the changing of the guard, but we did catch some exaggerated arm movements from one of the guards as he paced back and forth, which was pretty cool.

The next two stops were Westminster Abbey and the Houses of Parliament, both of which are huge and impressive, especially when considering just how much older they are than any similar buildings in the US. We opted not to pay the steep price of admission at either institution, but instead hung around outside for awhile and took pictures.

We then walked up to Trafalgar Square and sat by the fountain for a bit. After a brief rest we wandered off through Picadilly Circus and some of Soho, stopping to eat our meal for the day at a cheap little Indian restaurant in Bayswater called Lahori Tabaq. It would prove to be some of the most delicious food we would eat on our whole trip.

On the walk back to our hotel we cut through Hyde Park, where we stopped to watch the geese along the Serpentine. There was what I deemed to be an inordinate amount of fun runners on the path, but I suppose we were more in their way than they were in ours.

Once out of the park, we stopped to take a couple quick pictures at the Albert Memorial and Royal Albert Hall. We then swung by the Tesco located a couple blocks from the hotel to pick up some breakfast necessities.

Back at the hotel, we asked the lady at the front desk if there was any chance of us switching to a non-smoking room, but we were told we would have to wait until tomorrow. Not content to only be shut down once, we also asked if the hotel offered wireless internet service, which we were told is available for £10.

Lacking a better form of protest, we swiped some chocolate intended for the hotel’s “platinum club” or some such thing. Reasonably satisfied, we headed up to our room, put our perishables in the fridge, which was more or less room temperature, and went to bed.

THURSDAY, 9-11-2008

Our previous day’s walking apparently drained us a little more than we realized, because we were unable to do anything but sleep all morning. Once we were sufficiently rested, we got on the Tube again and rode it to Leicester Square. The Tube is a fast and clean source of public transportation, but I can’t say I’m fond of the strategically placed metal bars that whacked my head by the doorway.

After some mis-navigating we found ourselves at Liberty, a large department store that Aryn had wanted to visit for its famed haberdashery. (Yarn. It turned out to be mainly stuff that we carry at work. I really wanted to buy some of their adorable sewing kits, but they cost too much for me to justify!) My stomach then insisted that we stop for lunch, so we grabbed a sandwich at a little place called Enjoy. Aryn was finally successful at tapping into someone’s wireless internet network and sent off a couple e-mails. (We also stopped at a place called Candy Cakes for the sugariest cupcake, ever.)

Our next stop was the British Museum, which we are big fans of because it is free. Much like at the Met back in NYC, we were mainly drawn to the Egyptian collection, which included several mummies. I thought it was a little creepy that these mummified corpses had been raided from their tombs for our appreciation, but Aryn was quick to point out that all of the art at the museum had been more or less stolen from one culture or another. Still, there was some very nnice stuff there. A Japanese tapestry with a vividly painted tiger on a rock was particularly impressive.

After the museum, we wandered around for a bit in Covent Gardens. I saw an interesting looking occult book store, but I ended up wimping out and didn’t go in. We stopped for dinner at a falafel place called Gaby’s, which was pretty good, although New York has kind of turned us into falafel snobs at this point. (It was breaded, not unlike fish and chips.) We then walked around a little more, but most of the stores had closed and it was only the bars that were still open. Neither of us much felt like a pint, so we found the Tube and went back to the hotel. They were able to get us moved into a non-smoking room, but of course that didn’t stop me from snagging some more platinum club chocolate.

FRIDAY, 9-12-2008

It seems the gray skies of London don’t wake us up as reliably as the sun in New York, or at least that’s what we attributed Friday’s accidental oversleeping to. Once we eventually hauled ourselves out of bed, we had a quick breakfast and hopped on the Tube.

We got off at Waterloo Station and walked along the south bank of the River Thames. After taking some pictures of the historic architecture across the river, we took a quick look at The Eye, deemed it too expensive, and made our way along the bank to the Tate Modern. Hooray for free museums in London!

We stopped by the museum gift shop, feeling like we really should have bought ourselves some souvenirs by this point, but our cheapness won out and we left empty-handed. Next we wandered about Lower Marsh, checking out the various merchants and hoping to find something tasty to eat. We failed to find any food, but we did manage to make a stop at I Knit London, where we were completely ignored by the whispering shopkeepers. (It didn’t stop me from buying a skein of yarn… which turned out to really be the only souvenir we bought in London at all.)

Next we took the Tube across the river and walked around looking for dinner. We eventually settled on La Piazza, where we ate some moderately priced Italian food, though there were apparently cover charges in addition to the cost of bottled water, which resulted in the bill being higher than expected.

Again, we are cheap people.

We then got on the Tube again and rode it to Tower Hill, where we got some pictures of the Tower of London just before sunset. Embracing our inner tourists, we then embarked on a walking tour of the East End, featuring the various haunts of Jack the Ripper. Overall it was very educational but not quite as spooky as we might have hoped.

Lastly we took the Tube back to the hotel, evidently trying to get our money’s worth out of our day passes. Aryn set the alarm clock to ensure that we get up on time for once tomorrow.

SATURDAY, 9-13-2008

We successfully managed to get out of bed on time and took the Tube out to meet Aryn’s friend Kate and her husband Graeme at Kew Gardens. They brought their three-month-old daughter Lily along as well, ensuring that plenty of conversations about babies would come up. It was especially nice of them to come along, as they have membership cards with the botanical gardens and were able to get us free passes, thus continuing our streak of doing fun activities for free.

Aryn intended to recreate a picture from Joan and Obi’s wedding day, on a park bench under a willow tree somewhere in the gardens. We couldn’t find the exact spot, but we were able to locate a reasonable facsimile, and I did my best to reproduce Obi’s pose exactly. I think overall the endeavor was pretty successful.

Also in Kew Gardens we went on a treetop walk along a platform built 18 meters above the ground. Graeme commented that we would have an easier time seeing the city’s skyline if it weren’t for all the trees surrounding us, but I suppose that’s the point of doing to the gardens in the first place, isn’t it?

Next we stopped for lunch at the cafe within the gardens, where Aryn and I enjoyed some tasty tomato soup. We sat at our outdoor table for awhile, chatting about London and making faces at Lily.

We then took the bus back to their house in Ealing. It was our first ride on a double decker bus, and it turns out buses in London are just as efficient as buses in NYC when it comes to giving Joe motion sickess. After a brief rest in our new friends’ living room, we got in their car and Kate drove us to 15 Castlebar Hill, so we could get a look at the house Joan and Obi lived in when they were first married (and also when Corina was born).

Next we took the Tube back to Kensington, where we bought some snacks at the Waitrose and stopped at our hotel for a quick rest. Finally we walked around Kensington a little more, before settling on a disappointing little Indian place for dinner. Incidentally, we happened by another Indian restaurant that looked much more promising on our post-dinner stroll, but no matter. (We spent the evening watching the Proms on the BBC, and when they were showing fireworks on the screen, we looked out the window, and could see them over Hyde Park.)

SUNDAY, 9-14-2008

Today we changed it up a bit by taking the Oxford Tube (which is actually a bus) out of London to visit our other friend named Kate and her husband James. After initial confusion about where we were meeting (life is so much more complicated when we can’t use our cell phones), we met up and went about touring Oxford.

Classes don’t start until next month, so there weren’t many students about, and many places were closed for Sunday, but we were still able to take in some great architecture. It’s pretty incredible to think that people still go to school in these buildings that are hundreds and hundreds of ears old. It certainly makes a stark contrast to the bricks and cement of Purchase.

We then visited some pubs to get a taste of the scholarly experience in Oxford. First up was The Eagle and the Child, also known as The Bird and the Baby, where C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien once met with their literary group the Inklings to review works in progress. An article on the wall also claimed that it was the basis for the Prancing Pony from the Lord of the Rings, which may or may not be true. I enjoyed a pint of English ale, experienced a group urinal for the first time (really more like a porcelain wall with a trough at the bottom), and then it was time to move on.

The next stop was The Gardener’s Arms, a great vegetarian pub where we also had dinner. Their veggie burgers were tasty, the chips (fries) were plentiful, and they were happy to let me sample a couple different beers before committing to a pint. We ate and drank our fill, and also rehashed middle school and high school memories with Kate, which was fun.

The last place on our tour, The Turf Tavern, is a 13th century pub that is still popular with Oxford students today. It doesn’t have an entrance on a main street and is only accessible by back alleys, which I thought was interesting. I sampled a couple more local beers and sat down at our table with another pint. Aryn couldn’t be convinced to have anything more adventurous than water, but I think she had a good time too.

We then said good night and got back on the bus, which connected us with the Tube. Unlike the NYC subway, the Tube shuts down at midnight, so we had to make sure and not linger too long. We managed to get back to our hotel by 11:45 to rest up for Paris.

{London Flickr set}

{full 101/1001 list}

Yeah, we got back from Europe 10 days ago…

Nya’s getting married this weekend, and things are totally crazy. She, her fiance and my nephew stayed here for 3 days on their way upstate, they’ve gone now. And I’m going up tomorrow.

The good news is that Joe kept a meticulous travel journal, which we will be posting here, as soon as I have enough time to sit down and put all the pictures in. RIght now I barely have time to check my email!!

Joe and I are leaving on our long-awaited honeymoon (four years later…) in a week. We’re going to London, Paris, and Vienna

I’m so excited, I haven’t been able to focus on much else for several weeks now.

Does anybody have any recommendations for anything in those cities? I’ve got some good leads, but I’m getting conflicting info about which museums to visit and things like that. What’s your favorite?

And any suggestions on vegetarian food is greatly appreciated. (I’ve seen the happy cow link - anything else?) That’s about the only thing I’m really worried about!

Me: I’m not sure about the fit on these pants, what do you think?

Joe: See how the leg is tapered? It makes you look wider at the top than you are.

Me: Oh my god, have you been watching What Not to Wear without me?

Testing if I can post from my iPod.

I can!

I’ve had this FIRA chest from Ikea since middle school, I think. I’ve stored various things in it, but lately it’s been storing my seed beads. I sorted them into the drawers by color, but always ended up opening all the drawers to find the right color. I decided to cover the drawers with origami paper. This was a simple project.

The steps were:

1. Choose paper. (this step took the longest. And I didn’t find a satisfactory black and white print.) My colors were pink/purple, yellow, orange, green, blue, black/white. (I guess I don’t have any red?)

2. Chop paper to size. My drawers were 3 1/4 x 5 1/8 inches, but it looks like the newer ones are different sizes.

3. Run trimmed paper through my Xyron. I have recently rediscovered my love for this thing. I used it to adhere all of the Nya’s invitations too.

4. Peel and stick the paper to the drawers.

5. Trim with a blade around notch.

Simple and so cute!