A Word from Alex

So, Alex decided he would write a blog post to contribute his thoughts and feelings about when he hopped across the pond to visit. Here it is! Ask me about the unabridged version if you'd like to read more:

Prologue

So I’m supposed to write my own account of the events of the now infamous London vacation for Anna’s blog and I’m at a loss. There is no way that I can describe all of the awesomeness of our experiences in writing, especially since I am not the journalist in the relationship. It’s cliché but you really had to be there to understand. However, reading both of our blogs along with looking at the pictures on Facebook and watching the videos on Anna’s blog (she needs to put up the rest of them b-t-dubs) can give you a pretty good idea of what went down and how much I love this girl.

So this vacation started long before my February 11th flight. I had bought 1000 dollars worth of Red Sox tickets to resell in order to make the money for my flight and expenses (also, I just wanted to go to some games this summer). I guess people don’t like to scalp tickets during an economic recession, lame. I still have some tickets to Sox vs. Yanks if you want to go and throw rocks at A-Roid or hold up signs that say something like “GOT BOLI?”. Let me know, I’m broke. I ended up buying my plane ticket in mid-January despite going into debt because there was no way I could go four months without seeing Anna. I didn’t tell her I was coming because I like to give her surprises so I mailed a copy of my itinerary to London so she would just open it one day and freak that I was coming. Wah wah, the letter got lost in the mail and I ended up telling her a few weeks later so she wouldn’t plan another trip or something that weekend. Anyways, the trip was set, Anna was planning an amazing itinerary which she wouldn’t share with me (apparently someone likes surprises too), and I was going through the motions of stupid SED methods courses and counting down the days.

Chapter 1: February 11th 2009, a day that will live in infamy

So the big day finally arrived. I had scheduled all of my final presentation for the previous Monday so I had two full days to run errands, pack, and mentally prepare myself for going to a country that can somehow take over the entire world but doesn’t know how to cook a decent meal. I got up early to get ready (early is a relative term. That day 10 am was early. Haha. How much I would give to not have to get up at 6:15 every morning now to go student teach). I first went to Shaw’s to buy Anna some American food like she requested. Does it get any more American than Mac ‘n Cheese, PastaRoni, Triscuits, and Milano cookies? I also went to the bank to pick up my pounds (damn money is too wide to fit in regular American wallets, stupid English). That day it was an unseasonably 60 degrees in Boston (which I would later explain to my students was because the jet stream had shifted northward allowing warm air from the tropics to extend into New England) so I decided to go for a run on the esplanade. This was immediately followed by a trip to fit rec. You see, I wanted to get so exhausted that I would be able to sleep the entire time on the plane. Because I am such a perfect specimen of muscle, it took me a few hours at the gym to get sufficiently tired, I guess that’s what happens when you take primobolin, right A-Rod? At this point I went back home to get my luggage and headed to the airport. Logan’s international terminal is way nicer than the rest of the place, I think they are trying to make people think we are classier than we really are when they first get to the country. My flight left Boston at 6pm EST. I sat next to a British couple who were visiting their daughter in Maine. They asked me if I was “on holiday”. What? Don’t British people know how to speak English? I took some Tylenol PM to hasten my sleep and plugged into the plane’s armrest radio (Some British Akon wannabe was on named Lemar. He was pretty good. Check it out on YouTube. Weight of the World and If She Knew are pretty sweet songs). When I woke up the couple next to me had grabbed me a dinner. Which reminds me, British Airways makes every American company look like shit. They are friendly, everyone has their own TV, and the food is great. Sadly I think the airplane food was better than a lot of the food I ate in London. The meal consisted of chicken with pasta, salad, bread and butter, pie and custard, water, and all the free wine you could drink. Before falling back asleep I noticed on the TV map that we were over the mid-Atlantic ridge and got excited about Earth Science. When I woke up from this second nap there was a breakfast in front of me. Did this couple go to Hogwarts or something? Food just seemed to materialize in front of me. Because of the 5 hour time difference it was now 4 am on Thursday February 12th GMT so they were serving breakfast 2 hours after they served dinner (surprisingly wine was still available). We touched down in London half an hour earlier than scheduled at 5 am. Anna was supposed to meet me at 6am…time for a nap.

Chapter 2: February 12th 2009, ‘ello ‘ello

Turns out Anna’s train was running late so she didn’t show up until 7. In the meantime I read an issue of Ski Magazine and got pissed off that I don’t get spring break because of student teaching so I can’t go visit Aaron in Denver and go skiing this winter. Anna arrived looking all flustered but still as beautiful as ever. She didn’t see me so I called her over and gave her the best and biggest huggums ever! Talk about warm fuzzies! Anna bought me my Oyster Card for the week (lame version of a Charlie Card that you have to scan when you get on AND off the train). London is so ridiculously expensive! The card for 6 days cost 30 something pounds which is over 45 dollars. My monthly Charlie Card cost 50 bucks. Boston 1, London 0. Read carefully here, the following is the first thing that happened when I got to London: Anna’s Oyster card didn’t work so she had to talk to the attendant. I had already gone through the gate so I was watching this scene unfold from afar. The tube worker tried to get Anna’s phone number and get her to go on a date with him. Stupid London men. First 5 minutes with Anna in London and I see her get hit on. Going to be a long two more months…

We hop on the tube to Cockfosters (heh. It sounds really funny when the PA lady with a polite British accent says it) to head to her Aunt Glenna and Uncle Robin’s house. Thank God she has relatives there or we would have had to sleep in her bunk bed. At Glenna’s we unpacked and immediately took a nap. Remember that for my body it was 4 am at this point. Anna had no excuse. When we woke up a few hours later we hopped on one of those cool double decker busses (I insisted on sitting on the top) and rode it in to the Buckingham Palace area. Along the way we passed the Chelsea Football Club stadium. It was kind of cool. I took pictures to show Tim. Traveling by bus was much better than riding the tube because we were able to see more of London. It is a very beautiful city (not as beautiful as Boston though). Every street looks like Bay State and there are parks and gardens everywhere.

We got off the bus and walked over to Buckingham Palace. It was kind of cool, not really impressive for a palace (for a sweet ass palace keep reading about the Tower of London in Chapter 4). After the required tourist photo of the guards with the big fuzzy hats and the front gate we walked through St. James’ park heading towards Parliament. The park was really cool. There were many types of birds all over the place and people feeding huge flocks of pigeons. It reminded me of the scene in Mary Poppins when Mary is showing the children the snow globe where the old women in feeding the birds for tuppins a bag.

Side Notes about Marry Poppins:

1) I immediately started singing the song. “feed the birds, tuppins a bag. Tuppins, tuppins, tuppins a bag”
2) Anna questioned my singing skills which I ignored
3) Anna has never seen Mary Poppins. That’s almost grounds for a break up.
4) I wondered what stairs the woman was on in the movie during that song and if we could go see them. Should ask Mom about that one.
5) What is a tuppins
6) Saw some sidewalk paintings later and made a reference about jumping into them and having a horse race. Anna really needs to see that movie so I don’t sound so stupid.

Also in this park were the coolest squirrels ever. They must have learned over the generations to beg for some of the food that people were feeding to the birds. They would run up to you, stand on their back legs, and hold up their arms for food. I could imagine them with their little British accents saying “please sir, may I have some more”. It became my goal to feed one while I was there. Stay tuned. We then continued to walk around to Parliament and Big Ben (more like medium Ben, Cornell’s clock tower isn’t much smaller). Meanwhile, Anna had her nose suck in her London travel guide book trying to find out how to get to Leicester Square (Anna fix my spelling) because she had a surprise for me. We took the tube and turns out we were going to see We Will Rock You! THE F&*ING QUEEN MUSICAL!! WAAAAAAAAHH *holds up rock devil horns and screams like 80’s hair metal lead singer*!!!!! Before the show (concert) started we decided to go to a pub for dinner and drinks. I was excited. Fish n chips and awesome English ales right? Wrong. The food sucked, I would much rather have a fish fry in Boston. The beer was gross and tasted like natty light mmmm. Went to another pub for some cider and then headed to the show.

So the show… I can see why critics panned the thing. There really was no set, little dialogue, and a ridiculous plot. Apparently some company took over the world hundreds of years in the future (i.e. Wall-E) and has homogenized culture. All instruments were destroyed because they encouraged kids to rebel. So our protagonists (who all had names from Queen songs) had to study the ancient religion of Queen music and find Brian May’s lost guitar and save the world. Far fetched but AWESOME. All the actors could sing like Freddy Mercury and the band has bitchin’. By the end, everyone in the audience was singing along, waving their arms, stomping the beat to We Will Rock You and holding up cell phone lights. They sang Bohemian Rhapsody after the curtain call and I realized that Queen is the best band ever. Between the draining excitement of the show and jet lag, we went back to Glenna’s and went to bed early.

Chapter 3: February 13th 2009, Let’s do touristy things!

We got a late start that day but it was worth it for the most amazing and comfortable sleep we both had in a long time. We had “breakfast” if you can call English food that (needless to say I bought a box of Cheerios that night to eat the rest of the trip) and then took the bus down to Westminster Abbey. That place was pretty sweet. Very cool to see so many monuments and graves of monarchs and famous people. I especially enjoyed seeing Isaac Newton and Charles Darwin because science turns me on. We spent a few hours there. The architecture was really inspiring too. We also managed to sneak into some courtyard that was closed for the day and took some illegal photographs. I am going to model my backyard after that place.

By the time we left the abbey the sun was starting to break through the clouds so we thought then would be a good time to go on the London Eye. The thing is freaking expensive for a ferris wheel. It was worth it though because in the 35 minutes it took to go around we got amazing views, awesome pictures, and I managed to freak Anna out by talking about bungee jumping (which I still really want to do). After the Eye we were both super hungry so we went to find some food. Subway seemed appetizing because it was American but apparently the Subway’s in London don’t make bread. How the hell are you supposed to make a sandwich without bread?! We went to a little Italian café instead and although it was 3 or so in the afternoon we both got breakfast foods. Delicious. Then it was time for a nap back at Glenna’s and dinner with Anna’s aunt and uncle. (Glenna's food was great!) That night we went out to a club nearby. It was a salsa themed place with Spanish music, Coronas galore, and Hispanic people dancing up a storm. I obviously fit in but Anna felt too white so we had to leave. We proceeded down the street to a more traditional pub. They were playing Abba and Queen music and everyone was singing along and drinking straight out of pitchers. My kind of place. Unfortunately London pubs close at midnight (who would have thought that Boston night life actually goes late compared to some places) so we met up with some of her abroad friends and went to a club. This place looked like one of the vampire clubs from the first Blade movie where it is in the basement of a building, all dark inside, with a few red lights providing an eerie glow. They had a DJ playing contemporary music but with a jazz band accompanying it. Weird but pretty fun. The place was packed though because it was the only place left open that late. We danced it up none the less.

Chapter 4: February 14th 2009, BEST VALENTINE’S DAY EVER!!

Anna had a whole day of activities planned for us on Valentine’s Day so she wanted to get an early start. We had a delicious breakfast of Cheerios, got dressed up all fancy (she looked soooooooo beautiful) then managed to catch a ride with Glenna and Robin to the Tate Modern art museum. Modern art is not my thing. I would take the MFA or Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum any day. Classical art tells stories, actually looks like real things, and requires artistic talent. Most modern art looks like something I could have painted in kindergarten. Oh well. Still pretty cool to see some original Picasso’s, Dali’s, Miro’s and Monet’s. Just being with my baby on Valentine’s Day makes anyplace the perfect place to be. After leaving the museum we walked down the pier a bit to Shakespeare’s Globe Theater (theatre if you are from England and don’t know how to spell). The place was so small that it must be really intimate to see a show there. I told Anna that she should go back in the spring when they start putting on productions. We then walked across a pedestrian bridge heading towards St. Paul’s Cathedral where we managed to get an amateur photographer to take a bunch of pictures of us looking all cute together. On the other side of the bridge I bought some candied nuts from a street vendor because I was starving and kept hoping that I would see a squirrel I could feed some too. We went into St. Paul’s but couldn’t go up to the galleries at the top because as mass was about to start. Still, the place was really amazing. I wondered if the steps out front were the ones from Mary Poppins. Anna thought I was crazy that I was always thinking about feeding squirrels and Mary Poppins scenes while on vacation. We had a few hours to kill before our 9:30pm mystery activity so we walked around the area for a bit, got coffee at a café, ate some Subway (this one had bread), and I stole a rose from a restaurant window for Anna. She loved it.

We then walked a few blocks over to the Tower of London. Screw Buckingham Palace, this is where I would live if I were King. This castle kicked so much ass. The place was huge! I wanted to take a tour but they were closed for the night. That is one activity we didn’t get to do that I regret. Right next to the castle was Tower Bridge. We got some really great postcard worthy pictures of it all lit up. I wanted to go up and look at it but Anna wouldn’t let me. Meany. From there we stopped in a nearby grocery store and picked up wine for later that night. The restaurant we were going to had a 45 minute wait so we went down and sat by the river and drank our bottle of wine together. Very romantic. Dinner was nice. We both got gnocchi which was delicious but not as good as Massamino’s. Anna was pretty buzzed by this point haha. After dinner we walked over to the bridge and she finally let me go up on it! Turns out she had got tickets to a jazz and champagne reception on the observations walkways that span the two towers of the bridge! She is such a good girlfriend. We hiked up all the steps to the top and were greeted by soft red and pink lighting, a waiter with champagne glasses, and smooth live jazz music. We had an hour to enjoy the view, take photos, drink champagne, dance, and talk about how much better our Valentine’s Day was than all of our friends’. Needless to say we stole the glasses. They are currently sitting on my desk in my room waiting for the day we can celebrate Anna’s return home. On the train ride home Anna was hit on by a lesbian who apparently is dating Miss Belize but thought that Anna was gorgeous (like Ithaca) and smart. Why is everyone in London hitting on my girlfriend? Ugh!

Chapter 5: February 15th 2009, Museum Hopping

We started the day by going to the Natural History Museum in South Kensington near Anna’s flat. I was excited because I love rocks, it was Darwin’s bicentennial, and Anna told me they had a great mineral collection. The place was mobbed though because it was the first day of school vacation so everyone was there with their families. Stupid kids trying to learn. Anna was right, the mineral collection was awesome, I must have looked at it for an hour while Anna kept asking if we could leave. Sorry babe, you’re dating an Earth Science teacher. If you don’t like it there are plenty of people in London who have been trying to pick you up. After the museum we stopped at a café to eat lunch. By this point in the vacation we were both so broke that we packed our own lunches. PB and J hell yeah! Next we were off to the Victoria and Albert Museum which had more classical art including a whole room filled with huge murals done by Zach’s favorite ninja turtle, Raphael.

From the museum we walked up into Hyde Park which was awesome. More to come on that next chapter. We saw a tiny pile of snow that was the remains of the giant snowman Anna made during the blizzard two weeks before. Anna then took me back to her flat. It is a really nice neighborhood and would be a beautiful place if two or three people lived in it instead of five. I won’t go into details here but you can imagine. After a snack at the flat Anna wanted to go home but I insisted on dragging her across town to Kings Cross station to see platform 9 ¾ of Harry Potter fame. Anna was not happy, maybe if she had finished reading the books she would have been more excited to go. I was glad that we went because it was so super cool! There was luggage cart that was cut in half and placed against the wall so it looked like it was half way through the magic entrance with a platform sign above it (everyone knows that there is not supposed to be a sign there otherwise Muggles will find it, duh) where you could pose. We went back home to bed early that night because Anna had a final the next day.

Chapter 6: February 16th 2009, My Last Day ☹

Because the BU abroad program is dumb they decided to give Anna an all day take home final on my last day in London. She was up at 8 working on her essays, while I slept in. When I woke up we had to go back to Kensington because the BU abroad program is stupid and scheduled a mandatory internship meeting during a time when people were supposed to be working on their finals. While Anna was in her meeting I explored Hyde Park to kill the time. Even though it was the middle of February the grass was green, flowers were blooming, and many animals were out and about (it’s going to suck for the English when global warming stops the Gulf Stream). I took a lot of pictures of the birds in this big central pond and even got a sweet video of this one swan grooming (Anna gets it). I met up with Anna after her meeting and we went back to Hyde Park for the two hours before her other stupid BU abroad program meeting. On the way we stopped to get some snacks and some seeds so I could attempt to feed a squirrel!! I bought an English candy bar called a Yorkie which has the tag line “it’s not for girls” and the O on the label is one of those circles with the line through it symbolizing no with a girl stick figure in the middle. Hilarious. I don’t know how you can market something that says not for girls but it worked because I bought one. Anna said I was acting like a 7 year old because I was eating a not for girls candy bar, drinking an apple juice, and asked her to tie my shoe when it came undone. Heh.

Hyde Park was beautiful at sunset. We walked along this one central river which was very relaxing and a nice therapeutic way to end an amazing vacation. We fed all of the seeds to this cool swan which I named Swantinio and watched as some dog tried to get a stick out of the water for 10 minutes. Good times. On the way out of the park I saw a squirrel and luckily had a few seeds left in my pocket! OMG what a great bookend for my trip! Anna was in a rush to get to her meeting so she wouldn’t wait and watch as I fed the squirrel. She missed a great, defining moment of the vacation. After her meeting we headed back to her aunt’s place for the night. We stopped and got Pizza Hut on the way for dinner which might have been the best meal I had all week. I have a new respect for American food now. We spent the night packing, relaxing, and enjoying our last few hours together.

Epilogue

The next morning we were up at 8 and on the train heading towards Heathrow. Saying goodbye was so hard knowing that it would be another two months until I got to see my baby again. The flight left London at 11 and got back to Boston at 1 because of the time difference. I was so jet lagged but had to go to class from 4-7 (aka 9-12 my body time) which was rough. I walked in a few minutes late and was freaked out because we had a guest speaker who was from the UK and talking with a British accent. I thought I had left London already!

In retrospect my London vacation was the best $700 I ever spent. I am so glad that I was able to go visit my wonderful girlfriend and she where she is living and what she is experiencing this semester. It was also my first time out of the country excluding Canada. I love Anna so much and cannot imagine going a whole semester without seeing her. The trip reemphasized to me just how much I love her and how much she means to me. I would go across the world to spend time with her. I will never forget the time we shared during those five insanely fast days; they will become another chapter to the continually lengthening book of adventures together. I cannot wait until she comes home.

Alex