Blogs from Islington, Greater London, England, United Kingdom, Europe

I've been to London so many times, it's always a treat to try and find something I haven't seen or done. Since it's always changing, it isn't too difficult to accomplish. Today was a day for staying close to home. I took the opportunity to pay close visits to the 2 tallest new additions to the cityscape: the Gherkin (aka 30 St Mary Axe) and the Shard, the tallest building in the EU. Frankly, I just wanted to see them up close, and when I did, I moved on. I got to cross over London Bridge twice, and I got to see things in the distance that I had already seen up close - Tower Bridge, the Tower of London, St. Paul's, the Thames. I finally got around to seeing Platform 9 3/4 at King's Cross ... read more

Upon arriving in London I realized how much the locals drink tea. To fit in with the culture, I not only went to afternoon tea once, but twice, and would do it again if I had more time. The only thing I knew about afternoon tea was that it is very proper and there are various mini sandwiches and scones served. To prepare for the occasion, I dressed in a more conservative dress just in case others were wearing similar clothing. I was a tad overdressed compared to the others, but in general, high tea was what I expected it to be—formal, yet relaxed. The room at the hotel was very spacious, with white tablecloths neatly hugging all the tables. The waiters calmly stood by and attended to my every need. The mini tray of sandwiches, ... read more

Upon arriving in the UK, my nerves were shattered by cultural euphoria. I had trouble transporting myself from the airport to Nido and was forced to take the underground. I spoke to an elderly gentleman dressed in a pink tie and shirt who reinforced some of the stereotypes I had of the Brits. He was quick to comment on the amount of luggage I had and promptly suggested I should have taken a different underground line. I was completely taken back by his confrontation and felt like a sore thumb sticking out. He came off as very rude; however, despite the man’s comments, I was eager to try new things, meet new people, and adapt to the culture. The second stage, cultural confrontation, was one in which I lost the cultural euphoria and felt frustrated with ... read more

Okay, so Paris IS all it's cracked up to be. WOW. I had such an incredible weekend in the most visited city in the world. The group (about 100 in all) left on Saturday morning from St. Pancras International on the Eurostar train. Of course it was delayed so we lost an hour, but we still managed to do so much! Upon arriving we took a long way to our hotel to see the major sites like the Eiffel Tower, Opera House, and Arc de Triomphe. By this point in the day the group was incredibly famished and the hotel served us sandwiches and tarts. Although it was kind of sad given that all the sandwiches had meat on them and literally had chunks of butter. Not my cup of tea. Instead, I ate the tarts. ... read more

So this post is going to be a very random collection of thoughts mainly because I want to have 20 posts! Here are some random thoughts, updates, and feelings: Sunday I actually slept in. Yes, slept until 10 AM. Sleep is marvelous when you don't get any for days! Since it was raining I thought it would be a good idea to finally hit the gym and burn off all those pesky pounds. I managed to do an hour on the elliptical. Yay, hooray! Now if only I could keep that up every day... Following my very exciting workout session, Stav and I decided to go to Baker Street, which is famous for Sherlock Holmes (a museum, store, hotel, etc.) and shop. Instead of expanding our horizons with Sherlock Holmes, we went into a Beatles store ... read more